Consumer behaviour towards willingness to pay for Halal products: An assessment of demand for Halal certification in a Muslim country

The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the factors affecting Muslim consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for Halal food, products and operations by employing theory of reasoned action.

This study has used quantitative research methodology and collected data from 350 questionnaires from a densely populated city of Pakistan. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

The results show that the concerns about Halal, religiosity, perception of usefulness of Halal and product ingredients have a significant impact on WTP for Halal foods, while attitude has an insignificant impact on WTP. Moreover, the extent of demand for Halal certification is significantly affected by WTP.

The study highlighted the concerns of the Muslim consumers with respect to Halalness of the products and operations despite living in a Muslim country. It is recommended that the policy makers, food authorities and health institutions should conduct regular inspections of foods, products and producers’/manufacturers’ operations to ensure that all the procedures from manufacturing of the raw material till the finished goods follow Islamic principles to make them completely Halal.