Factors Influencing Purchase Intentions of Halal Labelled Food Products in Non-Muslim Countries: A Case of Masvingo Urban, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The global market for Halal food products is fast growing. In the past consumption of Halal products was tied to religious obligations and to date the consumption of Halal products has since spread beyond Muslim consumers to non-Muslim consumers globally. Although Zimbabwe has a minority Muslim population that consumes Halal labelled food products, their uptake is on the rise and therefore there is still a great potential for businesses to grow and to grab opportunities in the Halal labelled food market. Since there is still limited research on studies relating to consumer behaviour in relation to consumption of Halal labelled food products in non-Muslim countries, this study was premised on closing this gap. The study sought to establish the determinants of purchase intentions of Halal labelled food products in non-Muslim countries with a special focus on Zimbabwe. The study was done in Masvingo urban using a sample size of 360 participants who were conveniently selected as they patronised various restaurants, food courts, supermarkets and service station kiosks in the city over a period of two weeks. A self-administered questionnaire was administered to respondents who volunteered to participate. Simple descriptive analytical tools such as the arithmetic mean and standard deviation were adopted to analyse results. The overall results revealed that respondents generally agreed that factors such as cultural, economic and personal factors have a strong impact on purchase intention of Halal labelled food products in non-Muslim countries. On the contrary, other determinants such as social and psychological factors have literally no effect on consumer intention to buy Halal labelled food products in Zimbabwe. The study recommended for a further research be done within the same context but with a broader geographic scope since this study was done in only one city in the country.