The Acceptance of Halal Food Products Among Non-Muslim Consumers in Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence non-Muslim consumers’ acceptance of halal food products. It proposes a hypothesis that non-Muslim consumers’ acceptance is influenced by halal knowledge, the perceived credibility of the halal logo, the perceived quality of halal products and religious motives. Furthermore, this study also examines acculturation as a moderating variable. This study uses questionnaires to collect data, which were distributed to 268 non-Muslim consumers in Indonesia. The results indicate that halal knowledge, the credibility of the halal logo, the perceived quality of halal products and religious motives positively affect non-Muslim consumers’ acceptance of halal food products. Acculturation moderates all the positive relationships between the independent variables and the consumers’ acceptance. However, in terms of the relationship between the halal logo’s credibility and its acceptance, the results show that acculturation alters the relationship’s direction to a negative one. This paper is one of the first studies investigating halal foods’ acceptance among non-Muslim consumers in a Muslim-majority country (Indonesia).

Keywords:

• Acceptance
• acculturation
• halal knowledge
• perceived halal logo’s credibility
• perceived quality of halal products
• religious motives