Factors Determining Indonesian Muslim Behavior in Purchasing Halal Food: A Preliminary Study

Halal food and consumer behavior are hot issues in scholarly publications. However, research exploring the factors determining consumer decisions through exploratory studies is still rare. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the factors determining Indonesian Muslims' purchasing of halal food. We focused on halal food for Muslim consumers and 140 questionnaires were distributed. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used for data analysis. The findings showed that three main factors determine Muslim purchase decisions for halal food: halal awareness, religiosity, and the safety quality of halal food. A novel model of halal food consumer behavior that implies the application of Halalan-tayyibah in Islamic teachings, namely the integration of halalness with product safety and quality. The study also implies that business players must pay attention to halal aspects in all business processes, from manufacturing to marketing, for the halal food value chain to be fully fulfilled.


INTRODUCTION
The topic of halal food is becoming increasingly significant as the worldwide Muslim population grows.Interestingly, even in non-Muslim nations, there has been a shift in behavior and favorable sentiments towards halal food (Damit et al., 2019).This condition demonstrates that the halal products and food market has a significant potential market share.Providing halal food is emerging a new trend in both the consumer and commercial industries (Lada et al., 2009).According to the State of the Global Islamic Economy (SGIE) Report 2022, Indonesian halal food items now rank second out of the top ten in the world, up from fourth the previous year (Dinar Standard, 2022).Indonesian Muslims know the need to purchase halal products (Gojali & Asih, 2020) and halal food (Yasid et al., 2016).Halal is considered a sign of trust, comfort, and safety (Fadholi et al., 2020) because Halal is a principle in Islamic teachings that governs what Muslims are permitted and banned from consuming (Ishak et al., 2020).Thus, a Muslim who consumes must rely on the provisions of Islamic law.Therefore, a study of the decision to purchase halal products must demonstrate the empirical realities of Muslim consumer behavior and halal issues.From a marketing standpoint, it becomes a reference in marketing strategies about providing halal products to Muslim customers.In Indonesia, halal product standards and recognition are provided by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and are mentioned on the packaging of each product (halal logo).
The research findings by Said et al. (2014), Muhamed et al. (2019), andHosseini et al. (2020) found that religiosity is an essential factor in the behavior of halal food consumers in Malaysia.Suleman et al. (2021) demonstrate that religiosity influences consumer perceptions and behavior regarding buying halal food in Pakistan.Thus, Chinese Muslims' religious commitment is focused on purchasing halal products (Hong et al., 2019).Likewise, religious associations make essential decisions for Muslim consumers in China on halal meat (Setiawan & Mauluddi, 2019).In terms of purchase intention, religious factors are also a consideration for consumers to buy a halal food product in Thailand (Billah et al., 2020), in the United Kingdom (Elseidi, 2018), in Pakistan (Awan et al., 2015), in Saudi Arabia (Azam, 2016), in India (Khan et al., 2020), and in Lebanon (Farah, 2021).Thus, religious factors significantly mold consumer attitudes towards halal products (Gojali & Asih, 2020).Furthermore, safe food has affected Malaysian and non-Muslim purchasing behavior (Lee et al., 2016).In line with research findings by Yang & Huang (2017), the quality, safety, and packaging of Halal food products have a considerable impact on the buying behavior of non-Muslim consumers in China.Similarly, food safety concerns and health awareness impact halal food purchasing behavior in Thailand (Billah et al., 2020) and Malaysia (Ismail et al., 2018).Moreover, trust is a determinant factor in the motivation to consume halal meat in Turkey (Sherwani et al., 2018).Halal certification also plays an essential role in shaping the attitude of Muslims towards halal food in Malaysia (Khalek, 2014).Likewise, Jaiyeoba et al. (2020) claim that the halal certification mark or logo and halal brand quality are essential elements in customers' purchase decisions in Nigeria, and the halal logo has a positive impact on halal food purchasing intention in Thailand (Billah et al., 2020).According to the TPB Model, attitudes affect consumer behavior toward halal food (Abu-Hussin et al., 2017;Damit et al., 2019;Billah et al., 2020;Suleman et al., 2021).In addition, halal awareness has influenced the purchase of halal food in Saudi Arabia (Azam, 2016;Bashir et al., 2019) in South Africa, Fadholi et al. (2020) in Indonesia, and Jaiyeoba et al. (2020) in Nigeria.This aligns with the findings of a literature review by Maulina et al. (2020) and Secinaro and Calandra (2021) that halal awareness is an essential factor in consumer behavior towards halal food.
According to Ajzen (1985Ajzen ( , 1991)), the TPB model was used to determine Muslim consumers' behavior towards halal food.According to this theory, behavior is determined by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (beliefs about internal and external barriers that can hinder the behavior from being carried out).Many researchers develop TPB with additional constructs, and religiosity is a construct addition to the TPB for explaining Muslims' behavior (Iranmanesh et al., 2020).Thus, this study investigates the factors that determine purchase behavior towards halal food and demonstrates and validates whether religious concerns are indeed a determining factor in purchase decisions, as stated in a previous study by Muflih & Juliana (2021), Billah et al. (2020), andMaulina et al. (2020) that consumer behavior towards halal food through systematic mapping studies found that the majority of behavioral research related to purchasing intention, consumer perception, perceived value, awareness, willingness to pay, trust, and impulse buying.
Based on previous studies, this study explores what factors influence the use of halal food products, such as research recommendations by Helmyati et al. (2019).The target audience of this research is Muslim consumers who have purchased and used halal food products.This is based on the results of many previous studies, which examined more purchase intention (Maulina et al., 2020) than actual behavior.In addition, previous studies have used more approaches to the TPB (Amalia et al., 2017;Helmyati et al., 2019;Iranmanesh et al., 2020) and TRA (Lada et al., 2009).However, future research can use intention as an antecedent of halal food purchasing behavior (Ashraf, 2019).Thus, this study aims to explore the actual behavior of Indonesian Muslim consumers when purchasing halal food products.
Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that several factors impact halal food purchasing behavior.Hence, it is crucial to examine the factors influencing Indonesian Muslims' decisions to buy halal food.In order to contribute to the theory of Muslim consumer behavior decisions, particularly consumer purchasing of halal food, this research is preliminary research on the factors determining halal food consumer behavior.The novelty of this research is that factors determining halal food consumer decisions by the exploratory study are still uncommon.

METHODS
This study employed a quantitative method, collecting cross-sectional data through online and offline questionnaire surveys to Muslim consumers of halal food products.The population in this study comprises all Muslim consumers in Indonesia who have purchased halal food products.The sampling technique used purposive sampling with criteria: only Muslim consumers who have purchased halal food products, both halal in substance and those certified as halal by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).Because this research is a preliminary study, the sample size of this study is 10 x 14 indicators (variables) = 140 samples (Muslim consumers).
Based on the findings of previous studies and the characteristics of Indonesian Muslim consumers towards halal food, this research investigation used 14 indicators (variables) to identify the factors that determine Muslim behavior in purchasing halal food, namely obeying the religious rules, religious beliefs affecting overall daily activities, avoiding foods that are not labeled halal, always making sure the product is halal, paying more for food with the halal logo, understanding sharia principles, Muslimmajority neighborhoods, Halal-labelled food is good for consumption, Consuming halal food because of the surrounding environment, selecting food products based on the halal label, Halal food safety confidence Healthy of halal-labeled food products, Halal food according to MUI standards and a good view of the halal restaurant.This factor analysis is exploratory factor analysis (EFA) type R, and it is used to determine the structure produced from existing elements or to summarise the data included in the original variables into a new set of parameters or factors.As a result, by eliminating 14 observation variables, this research determined the elements of purchasing behavior for halal food from a Muslim perspective.Verify factors using the Keizer-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett test scores.According to Hair et al. (2019), the extraction approach employs principal component analysis with varimax rotation, and the EFA loading factor criterion, as well as the significant factor loading criteria based on sample sizes ranging from 120 to 150, are applied (0.50).So, the factor loading used in this study with a sample size of 140 is 0.5.The obtained factor analysis results will be evaluated for validity using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) technique using the SEM approach to determine whether an indicator can measure a construct or a factor.The construct validity test was performed using the standard values of average variance extracted (AVE) > 0.5 and construct reliability (CR) > 0.7 according to the Hair et al. (2019) formula, which is as follows: AVE = , whereas CR = .

RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
Based on the characteristics of the respondents, the bulk of Muslim customers who buy halal food are female (60.00%), while just 40% are male.The average age of respondents, particularly those between 20 and 25 years (76.43%), 26 and 31 years (11.43%), and above 44 years (7.14%), dominates the age range of respondents.This data shows that millennials dominate halal food customers.Table 1 shows the demographics of the respondents in further detail.Furthermore, EFA analysis is used to answer the study objectives, which were carried out using a variety of tests such as the KMO value test, Barlett's test, and the MSA test.To be tested, the KMO value of each examined component must be higher than 0.5 and have a significant value of 0.5.Meanwhile, the MSA must be greater than 0.5 (Hair et al., 2019).
Based on Table 2, the KMO value for the analysis of factors that determine Muslim consumers' behavior in halal food is 0.789 or > 0.5, with a significance of 0.000, indicating that the indicator meets the standards for future testing.The MSA value contained in the anti-image correlation then shows the overall value of each indicator of Muslim consumer behavior in purchasing halal food, obtaining a value of MSA > 0.5 where: obeying religious rules (X1), which is 0.918; religious beliefs affect overall daily activities (X2) by 0.742; avoiding foods that are not labelled halal (X3) by 0.749; always making sure the product is halal (X4) by 0.891; paying more for food with the halal logo (X5) by 0.825; understand sharia principles (X6) by 0.864; live in a Muslim-majority neighborhood (X7) by 0.827; halal-labelled food is good for consumption (X8) by 0.818; consuming halal food because of the surrounding environment (X9) by 0.748; selection of halal food based on the halal label (X10) by 0.798; halal food safety confidence (X11) by 0.577; healthy halal-labelled food products (X12) by 0.834; halal food according to MUI standards (X13) by 0.761; and a good view of a halal restaurant (X14) by 0.775, so that the factor analysis can be continued.Furthermore, factor analysis is carried out with principal component analysis (PCA).The first step is to consider the value of commonality.Hair et al. (2019) state that the communality value must be greater than 0.5.The results of the commonalities analysis found that there were four variables whose values were less than 0.5, namely X1 (0.410), X7 (0.420), X9 (0.462), and X14 (0.483).So, all four are removed.After X1, X7, X9, and X14 were removed, all variables had communality values > 0.5 (table 3).However, after continued factor analysis (rotated component matrix), there was a cross-loading on X6, which formed two factors with a value of 0.584 in the first and 0.548 in the second factor, so X6 can be excluded from the factor analysis.However, the commonality value in X5 is found below 0.5, which is 0.463.So, the X5 was removed from the model.matrix process is carried out using the varimax rotation method, which allows a more precise and more real factor distribution.So, three factors determine the behavior of Muslim consumers when purchasing halal food.Table 4 shows the summary results of EFA through varimax rotation.Following the reduction of the indicators to three factors as described above, the next step is to name each factor based on the qualities of the indicators that comprise the factor.The factors are then identified as halal awareness, religiosity, and the safety and quality of halal food.The first factor consists of halal-labeled food is good for consumption (X8), always making sure the product is halal (X4), selection of halal food based on the halal label (X10), and halal food according to MUI standards (X13), so this factor can be named "halal awareness".The second factor consists of religious beliefs that affect overall daily activities (X2) and avoiding foods that are not labeled halal (X3), so this factor can be named "religiosity".And the last factor is formed by halal food safety confidence (X11) and healthy halal-labeled food products (X12), so it can be called "safety and quality of halal food."Furthermore, the validity and reliability of these three factors can be assessed using SEM Amos and the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) technique with the loading factor criterion > 0.5, AVE > 0.5, and CR > 0.7 (Hair et al., 2019).Based on the validation analysis of these factors, the factorial structure of Muslim consumer behavior towards halal food and the loading factors standard can be seen in Figure 2. Based on the CFA analysis, the validation results of the formed factors can be summarised in Table 5. Figure 2 and Table 5 illustrate that each constructed factor has an average factor loading value of more than 0.5 and Cronbach's alpha reliability greater than 0.6.However, in terms of AVE, one element has a value less than 0.5, namely factor 1. However, it is still maintained since the loading factor has a value greater than 0.5, Cronbach's alpha is more significant than 0.7 (0.746), and the CR value is more significant than 0.5 (0.884).These results indicate that the factors that determine the behavior of Muslim consumers in purchasing halal food have good reliability with a Cronbach's alpha value > 0.7, and the correlation of each indicator item to the total factor is all above 0.5.Thus, the indicators that make up these factors are declared valid and reliable to measure the behavior of Muslim consumers in purchasing halal food.Based on the preceding investigation's main findings, three factors determine Indonesian Muslim customers' purchase of halal food.As assessed by a favorable attitude, Etikonomi Volume 22(2), 2023: 263 -276 concern for the halal concept will influence behavior in consuming or purchasing halal items.Halal awareness is a conscious condition in which a Muslim knows what is halal, understands the proper slaughtering method, and prioritizes halal food for eating (Awan et al., 2015).Halal awareness is vital in understanding health and safety, influencing non-Muslim consumers' choice to buy halal food products (Bashir, 2020).This condition aligns with the fact that awareness of the halal principle influences Muslim and non-Muslim Malaysians' purchasing intentions for halal food (Lee et al., 2016).Thus, awareness of halal has an impact on halal food purchasing (Azam, 2016).
Similarly, regarding halal awareness and halal food purchase intentions, our findings demonstrate that halal awareness determines halal food purchasing decisions.In line with the finding by Muslichah et al. (2020), awareness of halal food significantly impacts purchasing decisions for halal food.Despite the findings by Jaiyeoba et al. (2020) that halal awareness has no significant impact on halal product purchasing decisions in general, halal awareness is also driven by religiosity because religious beliefs influence Muslim customers' awareness of halal food (Yasid et al., 2016).Thus, religiosity positively moderates the relationship between awareness and halal food purchasing decisions (Muslichah et al., 2020).Based on the literature review, one of the literature clusters on halal food is the relationship between awareness and halal food (Secinaro & Calandra, 2021).Therefore, the higher one's religious life, the higher the awareness of buying and consuming halal food.
Even though our study shows that halal awareness is related to the halal label (logo) based on MUI standards, halal awareness regarding halal labels is an implementation of the religiosity of a Muslim consumer.This condition shows that Muslim awareness of the need to consume halal food comes from respecting religion (Secinaro & Calandra, 2021).This fact further clarifies the literature showing that religiosity influences purchasing decisions for halal food and can also moderate halal awareness towards purchasing decisions.
Based on the results above, our findings illustrate that religious beliefs influence a Muslim's daily behaviors, including purchasing Halal food.Religiosity contributes essentially to shaping the behavior of Muslim consumers in choosing halal products (Gojali & Asih, 2020).In Islam, a Muslim must prioritize religious prohibitions on consumption and pay attention to the halal elements of a product.Previous research findings showed that religious factors influence a person's decision to buy halal food products, such as the findings by Hong et al. (2019) that Tionghoa Muslims have religious loyalty and pay attention to halal product ingredients when buying.Religious value (halal concern) was the most significant factor in determining purchasing behavior for halal food products (Muhamed et al., 2019).Religiosity is crucial in consumer purchase intention (Farah, 2021).Likewise, on the halal label (halal logo), religious beliefs are more clearly indicated by halal-certified food (halal logo) by the MUI.This means the halal logo affects buying behavior and consumer loyalty (Quoquab et al., 2020).This result aligns with the findings by Jaiyeoba et al. (2020) that halal certification marks are the most influential factors contributing to consumers' buying decisions.Food labels (the halal logo) influenced consumers' attitudes toward consumer purchasing behavior (Abdul Latiff et al., 2016).
Based on the findings above, it can be explained that religious factors greatly determine the behavior of Muslim consumers in buying halal food products because Muslim religiosity has positively correlated with halal importance (Ijaz, 2022).Suppose the behavior of consumers is the desire to buy.In that case, religious commitment positively affects the willingness to pay for halal food (Hosseini et al., 2020).The actual behavior of religiosity positively moderates the relationship between awareness and halal food purchasing decisions (Muslichah et al., 2020), and even the consumption of halal food mediates the relationship between religiosity and physical well-being (Suleman et al., 2021).On the other hand, religion/spirituality has become a more important topic in enterprises (Raco et al., 2019).This condition shows that religion has influenced personal characteristics in social and economic behavior (Rietveld & van Burg, 2014).Hence, the religiosity factor becomes an essential factor in the behavior of Muslim consumers towards purchasing decisions of a product.
Based on the study's results, halal products' safety and quality shape decision-making behavior in purchasing halal food.This study is in line with Secinaro & Calandra (2021) that one of the factors Muslims consider in using halal products is the safety and quality of halal food.This result means that product quality, other than religious factors, is an essential factor that is considered in the behavior of consumers of halal food products.The safety and health of halal-labeled products have positive and significant implications for Muslim consumers' attitudes towards these halal-labeled products.Food safety concerns and health consciousness positively influence buying halal food products (Elseidi, 2018).Food safety concerns and health consciousness positively influence buying halal food products (Billah et al., 2020), and food quality also positively affect the willingness to pay for halal food (Hosseini et al., 2020).
In addition, halal food has become a consideration in the behavior of Muslim and non-Muslim consumers (Maulina et al., 2020;Billah et al., 2020).The attitude towards halal food of non-Muslim consumers influences the repurchase intention (Damit et al., 2019).Safety food also contributes to Muslim and non-Muslim Malaysians' intentions to purchase halal food (Lee et al., 2016).Also, the quality and safety of halal food products significantly impact the buying behavior of non-Muslim consumers in China (Yang & Huang, 2017).Therefore, companies need to pay attention to Islamic principles, especially the safety and integrity of halal food, in every process of producing and marketing halal food (Secinaro & Calandra, 2021).Because Muslim consumers with religious beliefs insist on ensuring that their products are not "haram" and contain unclean ingredients, they are safe from disease and maintain their health.This condition is referred to in the Qur'an as the concept of "halalan tayyibah" (halal and suitable), which means that apart from being halal according to Islam, the product must be reasonable and healthy for consumption.Halal-labeled food must reflect the concepts of Halal and Tayyib, Halal as a subject, and Tayyib as a process, simplifying the Halal certification procedure.The main goal of Tayyib is to produce clean and pure food, which can be achieved if the food is produced according to Islamic principles (Alzeer et al., 2018).

CONCLUSION
Based on the study's findings, three major factors determine Indonesian Muslims' purchasing decisions for halal food items: halal awareness, religiosity, and the safety and quality of halal food products.This result demonstrates that Indonesian Muslim customers are already halal-conscious in purchasing food products, demonstrating the implementation of Islamic teachings regarding the commandment of halalan-tayyibah.This result demonstrates that halal awareness manifests itself in purchase intentions and actual behavior towards halal food products.Likewise, religiosity, safety, and quality of halal food are essential factors for Muslim consumers in purchasing halal food, especially certified halal food.This result conforms with the Qur'anic requirement that every Muslim must pay attention to Islamic principles in consumption, which is referred to as halalan-tayyibah in the Qur'an (lawful and good).The study also proves that religiosity is an important factor influencing Muslim consumers' behavior in purchasing halal food products.
The finding contributes to the development of Islamic consumer behavior theories and models and managerial implications in developing the halal product industry and halal food.This study provides a preliminary examination of the factors determining Muslim consumers' buying of halal food products.Likewise, business actors need to pay attention to the halal element in every halal food business process, from production to marketing, to realize the halal food value chain.The policy implication of the study is that the government needs to encourage and provide convenient services for the halal industry and SMEs in halal certification to create a halal ecosystem and strengthen the global Islamic economy.Because Indonesian halal food is ranked second in the world, integrating halal safety food and halal certification policies is essential for developing the Indonesian halal food industry.
Three general factors are formed based on the component analysis showing the distribution of 8 indicators from the previous 14 indicators.Then, the rotated component Etikonomi Volume 22(2), 2023: 263 -276

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Structure of factor validation