Intention to use halal-certified bakery ingredients among online Muslim entrepreneurs : application of extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model

Abstract

The development of halal industries has created more business opportunities for entrepreneurs. Although there is growing literature in Halal management and consumerism, empirical studies that focus on both bakery ingredients and online entrepreneurs are limited. To fill this gap, factors that influence intention to use halal-certified bakery ingredients among online entrepreneurs are investigated. A quantitative method was used in this study. The data were obtained from 165 online Muslim entrepreneurs in Malaysia by using convenience sampling. The adopted questionnaire was used as a re-search instrument, grounded by the Theory of planned behaviour (TPB). In this study, the TPB model was extended by including additional components to measure self-identity, moral obligation, and barriers. Descriptive analysis and exploratory factor analysis were conducted through a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Partial least squares (PLS), a variance-based structural equation modelling method was adopted to test the hypotheses. The results obtained based on the path analysis showed that attitude and subjective norm of the entrepreneurs both are statistically significant in influencing intention to use halal-certified bakery ingredients. In contrast, perceived behavior control, self-identity, and moral obligations of entrepreneurs had no significant influence on intention to use halal-certified bakery ingredients. Thus, to improve intention and usage behaviour, intervention should be made on the attitude and subjective norm of respondents. In addition, to complement the study on determinants of intention to use halal-certified bakery ingredients, this study also assesses whether an intention to use halal-certified bakery ingredients is different de-pending on the demographics of the online Muslim entrepreneurs. Using one-way ANOVA, results showed that there were no significant differences in the intention of using halal-certified bakery ingredients among entrepreneurs with different gender, ages, education levels, residency and income. There were also no significant differences in intention among those who sold different bakery products, and how long they have been selling their bakery products. Limitations, theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed.