CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ON PURCHASE BEHAVIOR OF HALAL NUTRACEUTICAL PRODUCTS
Siti Nurunnajwa Shamsudini, Elistina Abu Bakarii & Nuradli Ridzwan Shah Mohdiii Dali
i PhD student, Halal Products Research Institute (IPPH), Univeriti Putra Malaysia.
ii Associate Professor, Halal Products Research Institute (IPPH), Universiti Putra Malaysia.
iii Associate Professor, Faculty Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia.
Abstract
Nowadays, nutraceutical products have gained popularity among the consumers as they claimed the products are good for health benefits. The usage of nutraceutical products is common among Malaysians. Previous research discussed three main factors, which are attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control in explaining consumers’ intention to purchase nutraceutical products. In addition, religiosity and halal logo could be considered as an important variable influencing the purchase behavior of halal nutraceutical products.
This paper aims to propose a conceptual framework for nutraceutical product purchase intention with integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), religiosity and halal logo as the determinants. Further empirical studies can be carried out to test the relationship between the factors and uncover other factors that can help in enhancing the purchase behavior of halal nutraceutical products.
Keywords: Halal, Nutraceutical Products, Conceptual Paper
INTRODUCTION
The global Muslim population in the world, approximately 1.9 billion, and making Islam the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity (Review, 2019). This number is expected to continue to increase by the year. As the Muslim population increasing throughout the world, the awareness of consuming halal also should be increased. In Malaysia, 61.3% of the population are Muslims, which is about 16.32 million. For Muslims, seeking halal is a must to get Allah’s blessing. Keeping away from haram is also part of Muslim responsibility. This value coincides with the words of the Prophet “Searching for halal is obligatory to every Muslim” hadith narrated by
The word ‘Halal’ derive from Arabic words means permissible or not prohibited by Islamic law. This term is not only encompassed for food and drink but all matters in daily life. All meals which are good and clean are halal except those which are prohibited by Islamic law such as haram animals (un-slaughtered animals and pig), cadavers, blood, and food that may harm the body. Haram means forbidden and unlawful to use in Islam. Products that have contaminated with haram sources are also prohibited in Islam. This is in line with the Syariah principle (Maqasid Syariah) in the preservation of life (Hifz Nafs).
Islam prioritizes its people’s health and well-being. Therefore, Muslims are encouraged to eat healthy food and take care of their body entrusted by Allah so they will always be good in health. However, in taking care of health and finding the best medicine and dietary supplement to cure for disease and maintaining health, the halal and haram aspects also must be taken care of. As a Muslim, searching for halal products is obligatory as many products these days offer for cure and health benefits.
Nowadays, nutraceutical products have gained popularity among the consumers in Malaysia as they claimed good for health benefits. Khan et al. (2011) found that usage of nutraceutical products is common among Malaysians. Most of them believe that nutraceutical products safe to be used. These products were used to improve body functions, mental performance, and reduce weight. However, not all nutraceutical products are halal. Therefore, this study tries to examine the factors that influence the purchase behavior of halal nutraceutical products.
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
As the demand for nutraceutical products increased, many manufactures take this opportunity to produce new products in the market. There are many beauty stores and herbal stores all around Malaysia that sell nutraceutical products to consumers.
The sudden increase of nutraceutical products is worrying because not all the products are halal for Muslims. Labadi (2017) claims that many nutraceutical products are not acceptable for the halal-sensitive consumer because they use non-halal gelatin and stearates, alcoholic extracts, and porcine enzymes.
Consumers also should be reminded that not all companies that produce some halal-certified products are solely manufacturing halal unless all the products label with halal certification symbol. Most of the consumer does not know if products are halal because they cannot trace the sources, verify the process, qualify the cleanliness of the packaging from contaminants, nor know if something is tainted. After all, the legislation does not require the product label to list every single ingredient use in manufacturing the product. So, the halal logo should play an essential role in
significant the halal logo in purchasing nutraceutical products among Muslims in Malaysia.
Besides the halal issue, consumer safety is one of the main reasons why this study will be conducted. In 2017, the Ministry of Health Malaysia had issued a list of 162 adulterated products that contain illegal substances and scheduled poisons (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency, 2017)). 53 out of 162 products are under the medicine category, including nutraceutical products. Daud et al. (2017) reported that most of the nutraceutical products tend to make health claims. Examples of health claims usually have been made; they could cure, reduce, or even prevent serious illnesses like asthma, high blood pressure, and heart attack. All these claims are made without any proof and pre-clinical lab tests.
In 2017, a well-known seller of nutraceutical products in Malaysia, D’Herbs Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd was fined RM11,000 by the Magistrate’s Court for promoting two products through misleading advertisements (Bernama, 2017). The company claimed its products could help improve the immunization system and blood circulation. This assertion is contrary to the provision under Section 17(1) of the Food Act 1983. Most of the nutraceutical products in Malaysia are categorized under food products. Unlike pharmaceuticals products, food products do not have to undergo clinical tests to prove their effectiveness. So, the health claims made by sellers could not be right. The products will not just do not give any benefits to health, but it can cause harm to the body as it contains illegal substances or poisons.
Therefore, the halal certification is important as it is promising for safe and quality products for the consumers. In Malaysia, as a requirement to obtain Halal certification, a food safety plan in the form of HACCP or GMP is a requisition(Abdullah Sani & Dahlan, 2015). Products with halal certification can use the halal logo on their label. Consumers, particularly Muslims, as well as those of other religions, accept products with a trusting halal logo. The previous study proved that the halal logo plays an important factor in influencing customers’ product decisions (Budiman, 2019; Mohd Suki & Abang Salleh, 2016; Mutmainah, 2018; Nasution &
Rossanty, 2018; Utami Putri, 2018).
So far, many studies had been done regarding the purchase behavior of nutraceutical products. Most of the studies use the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in explaining the factors that influence behavioral intention to purchase nutraceutical products. However, a few studies study on halal nutraceutical and use the halal logo as one of the variables in their study. Hence, this study tries to fill the gap by examining the function of the halal logo as a mediator in purchasing nutraceutical products.
RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
To determine consumer behavior towards food selection, the theory of planned behavior by Ajzen (1985) will be applied. According to the theory, behavioral intention is determined by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (beliefs about internal and external barriers that may hinder the behavior from being performed). An underlying premise for this study is the belief about nutraceutical products purchasing. TPB is the substantiation of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) made necessary because of its limitation since it does not incorporate volitional control (the degree to which a behavior can be easily performed) in the prediction of behavior (Kurland, 1995)
Therefore, TRA does not predict the behavior in question accurately. Ajzen (1991) review concluded that individual behavior is based on motivation (intentions) and ability (behavioral control). Intentions are a consequence of three determinants, namely behavioral beliefs (which are expected to influence attitude towards behavior), normative beliefs (which reflect subjective norms’ underlying determinants), and control beliefs (which form the basis for behavioral control perceptions) (Ajzen, 1991). All the determinants will lead to a person’s intention to perform the behavior (see Figure 1 for details).
Figure 1: Theory of Planned Behavior by Ajzen (1991)
The proposed framework
By adapting the previous models, the proposed framework is established. Figure 2 depicts the theoretical framework. TPB is the basic theory in developing the proposed model with the extension of two variables, which are religiosity and safety priority.
Attitude
Subjective Norm
Perceived Behavioral Control
Behavioral
Intention Behavior
Figure 2: Conceptual framework and hypotheses for this study
Based on the purpose of this study, the hypotheses can be constructed as follows:
H1: The attitude of consumers will have a positive influence on intention to purchase nutraceutical products.
H2: The perceived behavioral control of consumers will have a positive influence on intention to purchase nutraceutical products.
H3: The subjective norms of consumers will have a positive influence on intention to purchase nutraceutical products.
H4: The intention to purchase nutraceutical products will have a positive influence on the purchase behavior of nutraceutical products.
H5: The religiosity of consumers will have a positive influence on intention to purchase nutraceutical products.
H6: The product safety will have a positive influence on intention to purchase nutraceutical products.
H7: Halal logo has a significant effect in mediating (a) attitude, (b) perceived behavioral control, (c) subjective norm, (d) knowledge, (e) religiosity, and (f) safety towards purchase intention of nutraceutical product.
For the research methodology, a quantitative research design with a cross-sectional research survey is reliable to apply in this topic of study.
Subjective norm / Cue to action Perceived Behavioral
Control / Self- efficacy
Halal logo Purchase intention Attitude
Theory of planned behavior (TPB)
Religiosity Safety priority
Purchase behavior of nutraceutical
products
CONCLUSION
In this study, an attempt was made to conceptually analyze factors that contribute to the purchase behavior of halal nutraceutical products. This conceptual paper proposed a model that describes relationships between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control, religiosity, and safety priority towards intention to purchase nutraceutical products. Hopefully, the proposed framework will be useful for halal manufacturers, marketing practitioners and scholars. Finally, it is recommended for future empirical research to test the proposed framework.
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