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JIMA
14,5 Firms’ commitment to Halal
standard practices in the food
sector: impact of knowledge
1260 and attitude
Received 8 October 2021 Nurul Hudani Md Nawi, Puteri Hayati Megat Ahmad and
Revised 6 January 2022
Accepted 9 February 2022 Habibie Ibrahim
Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universiti Malaysia Sabah,
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, and
Norazah Mohd Suki
Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia,
Sintok, Malaysia

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of knowledge and attitude on firms’
commitment to Halal standard practices in a developing nation’s food sector. Additionally, the moderating
effect of gender on this association is explored.
Design/methodology/approach – The partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM)
technique is used to analyse the results of a self-administered questionnaire completed by 200 internal Halal
executive officers of multinational corporations and small and medium enterprises in a developing nation’s
food sector.
Findings – The empirical findings reflect the significant role of attitude in influencing firms’ commitment to
Halal standard compliance in the food sector and thereby contribute towards improving organisational
performance. In more detail, male respondents were more likely than female respondents to have a favourable
attitude toward Halal standards in the food industry. Additionally, a positive attitude can influence how
employees are judged on their adherence to Halal standard processes. This encouraging outcome is the result of
joint efforts by all government agencies, statutory bodies and private organisations involved in Halal practices.
Practical implications – Halal food producers should engender greater commitment to Halal standard
practices within the buyer–supplier relationship due to the crucial nature of Halal concerns in food
production. They should place a premium on strategic planning to safeguard the integrity of Halal food for
consumption.
Originality/value – This study considerably advances the existing body of knowledge by applying the
consumer decision model to explain the relationships between knowledge, attitude and firms’ commitment to
Halal standard practices in the food industry of a developing nation, with gender serving as a moderating
variable. The empirical findings addressed the research gap by offering noteworthy insight into a subject that
has received minimal attention in prior studies.
Keywords Halal food, Knowledge, Attitude, Commitment, Halal standard, PLS-SEM
Paper type Research paper

Journal of Islamic Marketing

Introduction
Vol. 14 No. 5, 2023
pp. 1260-1275
The rise of the Halal industry has become a global concern due to the strict enforcement of
© Emerald Publishing Limited Islamic requirements in respect of food consumption. Indeed, the global Halal food and
1759-0833
DOI 10.1108/JIMA-10-2021-0333 beverages market is expected to grow from US$2.09tn in 2021 to reach a total market size of
US$3.27tn by 2028 (Fortune Business Insights, 2021). The largest markets are East Asia, the Halal standard
Middle East and North Africa, which account for around 55% of the global market, and the practices in the
important players in the worldwide Halal food market are Al Islami Foods, Cargill, Inc.,
Nestle and Unilever. Customer and supplier firms are responsible for implementing an
food sector
effective Halal assurance system based on the three zeros, namely, zero limits (no haram
substances in production), zero defects (no production of haram products) and zero risks (no
risk of loss) (Ali et al., 2021), as well as the five major components, i.e. Halal kosher
standards, system audits, analysis of critical control haram, Halal guidelines and Halal 1261
databases, which are essential in developing a strong Halal food supply chain that aspires to
less vulnerability to contamination (Vlajic et al., 2012).
Commitment to Halal standards of practice is critical for an organisation wanting to
comply with Shariah rules. This means that while organisations employ people from a
variety of different work backgrounds, they must ensure that all those employees, whether
they are local citizens or expatriate labour from a different cultural milieu, demonstrate their
unequivocal commitment to Halal standard practices and ensure that the validation
requirements for the Halal certificate and the indicators relating to product quality and
working conditions are met (Aramyan et al., 2007; Silalahi et al., 2021). Lack of management
commitment is known to be the main barrier to implementing Halal logistics (Susanty et al.,
2021b). People, processes and resources must work collaboratively to ensure that Halal
products are Sharīʿah-compliant across the supply chain and this involves commitment on
both the customer and supplier sides to avoid the risk of haram or syubhah and to guarantee
that Halal items are served to both the customer and supply firms (Abd Rahman et al., 2015).
It is, therefore, necessary for an organisation to possess complete knowledge of and
favourable attitudes towards Halal practices if it wishes to effectively implement and
sustain the adoption of the standards (Othman et al., 2016, 2017). Besides, Supian
and Abdullah (2019) have shown that normative commitment, continued commitment and
affective commitment all have an effect on Halal business performance.
In Malaysia, the Manual Procedure for Malaysia Halal Certification (Third Revision)
2014 (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, 2015) requires that any Halal industry
seeking to obtain a Halal certificate establish internal Halal committees comprised of
representatives from various units. These are essentially the heads of the pertinent units,
which may include leadership, management, retail management and operations
management. Additionally, the MS 1500: 2009 – Halal Food Standard (Department of
Standards Malaysia, 2009) outlines the roles and responsibilities that an organisation must
fulfil when delivering its products or services in accordance with Halal requirements. This
enables organisations to evaluate their compliance with Shariah and Halal standards by
comparing their practices to those required for certification as specified in acts, standards,
rules and or guidelines.
Mukhriz (2011) noted that 70% of Halal certificate holders in Malaysia are non-
Bumiputra businesses, implying that the Halal supply chain must be genuinely Halal from
the point of origin to the point of consumption. However, it is debatable whether the
authorities can effectively monitor the safety and quality of food prepared in Halal food
establishments (Susanty et al., 2021a) since there are many factors that influence the
implementation of Halal logistics. In Indonesia, for example, Susanty et al. (2021a) found
that internal factors such as corporate image and reputation, social responsibility and Halal
integrity and external factors such as customer pressure, government support and
competitive pressure all significantly affect the implementation of Halal logistics. Thus, it is
critical for authorities to maintain control over this situation, as failure to do so may result in
sub-standard food being prepared on food premises. As the final link in the food chain
JIMA before it reaches the customer, food facilities should be examined for food hygiene and
14,5 safety to avoid providing consumers with sub-standard food and causing food illness (Ali
et al., 2021).
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of knowledge and attitude towards
firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in a developing nation’s food sector.
Additionally, the moderating effect of gender is explored on this association. The empirical
1262 finding is unique and significant because it provides critical input for Halal food producers
and management of the various units and divisions in the food sector in their development
of policy for employees to comply with while also taking employee welfare and Shariah
requirements into account. Furthermore, the findings indicate to food producers and
managers the need to continually strengthen their commitment to adopting and
implementing -compliant practices to better serve the consumer market and business
market and remain reputable and competitive in the food industry.
The second section of the paper reviews the related literature, and the third presents a
description of the methods adopted in the study. The findings from the research are detailed
in the fourth section, and in the fifth section, there is a discussion of these. The final section
outlines future research directions.

Literature review
Consumer decision model
The consumer decision model (CDM) was used to decipher the critical parts of product
choice behaviour, including information sources, brand awareness, confidence, attitude,
purchase intention and purchase actions (Howard, 1989). The CDM emphasises the critical
role of messaging from many information sources in assisting consumers in recognising a
brand and assuring them of a product’s quality. When a consumer develops a favourable
attitude and confidence towards a product, his/her willingness to acquire it improves, and
when a consumer’s desire reaches a certain level, he/she becomes more likely to make a
purchase. Prior research on the CDM has indicated that improved product information can
increase consumer attitudes and confidence regarding purchase intentions (Demeritt, 2002;
Glifford and Bernard, 2006; Pieniak et al., 2010). Given that the purpose of this study is to
determine the factors that influence firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices, specific
determinants such as knowledge and attitude are chosen as the major variables in the
suggested model. The sections that follow describe the conceptual model and the hypotheses
tested in this study.

Commitment to Halal standard practices

Commitment is the readiness to make financial, physical or relational resources available in
response to consumers and global market conditions (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Petrick and
Quinn, 2001). A successful supply chain is predicated on mutual trust and commitment
among its partners (Supian and Abdullah, 2019). The scholarly works of Kwon and Suh
(2005, p. 27) asserted that “any enduring business transactions among supply chain partners
require a commitment by two parties to achieve their common supply chain goals.” Thus, all
parties play a vital role in ensuring that the integrity of the Halal supply chain is maintained
at the highest level. Top management must strive to gain strong commitment from
employees to ensure that the organisation’s goals can be achieved. Halal commitment,
practice and compliance are measured in two ways (Silalahi et al., 2021). Firstly, auditing in
terms of Shariah includes the profile of the applicant, documentation review, ingredients,
labour, processing, storage, packaging and labelling, equipment, transportation and
distribution. Secondly, auditing in terms of technical aspects includes: waste management
and waste treatment systems, buildings and the whole premises. The scholarly works of Halal standard
Hassan et al. (2015), Othman et al. (2017) and Rahem et al. (2021) have addressed the practices in the
importance of knowledge and attitude in Halal practices in different contexts. Hassan et al.
(2015) applied a qualitative research method to evaluate executives’ knowledge and skills in
food sector
implementing the internal Halal assurance system (IHAS) in Halal food premises. And a
study by Othman et al. (2017) investigated the perspectives of Halal committee members in
multinational corporations (MNCs) and the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on how
the industry’s knowledge, attitude and sensitivity to the government’s current policy
1263
regarding the Halal certification process influence organisational performance. Another
study on Halal practices by Rahem et al. (2021) assessed the link between pharmacists’
attitudes and readiness to manufacture certified Halal medications. This present study
builds on this growing body of knowledge by measuring firms’ commitment to Halal
standard practices via an examination of the aspects of knowledge and attitude, as
described in the subsequent sections.

Knowledge
Knowledge refers to facts, feelings and experiences of a person or group (Abd Rahman et al.,
2015). This study considers knowledge as the mastery of information by the members of the
Halal committee towards the concept of “Halalan thoyyiban” and the procedures adopted by
the government. Knowledge of relevant Islamic practices is a major contributor to the
development of Halal products, as highlighted by Abdul Manaf et al. (2013). Firstly, there is
an explicit reference to the clarity of knowledge and what is spoken, which is available in
various forms, whether these be in documents, standard operating procedures, blueprints,
etc., and secondly, there is tacit knowledge, which is located within the minds of employees
but which is hard to express with words and the knowledge held in organisations, which
results from the thoughts and views of each individual as a whole (Hall and Adrianni, 2002).
Existing religious knowledge and practice are the key determinants and pillars of Halal
management organisations (Muhammad Haziq et al., 2015). A high level of knowledge
relating to Halal aspects, including knowledge of the ways and means of compliance with
the processing, preparation and nutritional support, is required to increase performance
(Mohd Suki and Mohd Suki, 2018; Muhammad Haziq et al., 2015). And organisations that
possess a strong ability to use their embodied knowledge system experience significant
growth in their performance (Santhanam and Hartono, 2003). In a similar vein, Othman et al.
(2017) found a positive impact between knowledge regarding the Halal certification process
and organisational performance. Moreover, Hassan et al. (2015), in their qualitative study of
Halal food premises, ascertained that executives performed the IHAS mostly based on their
knowledge of Islam since they lacked of awareness of the IHAS requirements. Given the
above discussion, the following proposition is made:

H1. Knowledge has a positive effect on firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices
in the food sector.

Attitude
Attitude is associated with three main components: cognitive, affective and behaviour
(Ma’arof, 2007). This study understands attitudes as the thoughts of Halal committee
members about their roles and responsibilities in respect of Halal certification. From the
perspective of Islam, attitude is linked to two conditions, these being mahmudah (good)
and mazmumah (bad). According to Preffer (1998), different operating practices have a
JIMA positive impact on the achievement of performance. This argument is analogous to that
14,5 advanced in a study by Noraini (2007) that showed attitudes translated into action
appear to be connected with the performance of the organisation. Othman et al. (2017)
affirmed that Halal committee members’ attitude regarding the Halal certification
process had a significant and positive influence on the organisational performance.
Preceding studies like those of Nik Maheran et al. (2009), Talib et al. (2015), Othman
1264 et al. (2017) and Zailani et al. (2015) have acknowledged that the attitude towards
responsibility and maintaining the integrity of the industry plays an important role in
every Halal chain and includes staff, materials, products, manufacturing processes,
transportation and storage. Sadeeqa et al. (2013), in their study regarding the services
rendered by Malaysian medical practitioners, found that a sense of responsibility in
giving the right information about drugs and their contents enables patients to be more
confident in using Halal medicines. The same study reported that patients agreed to
recommend the purchase of genuinely Halal medicines despite their greater expense. By
the same token, Rahem et al. (2021) also confirmed that a positive attitude affects
pharmacists’ readiness to produce certified Halal drugs. This shows that although some
organisations are bound by rules that are viewed globally to safeguard the common
good, those organisations nonetheless also believe that attitude plays a vital role in
fulfilling religious obligations that are manifested in the form of process and practice.
Given such an understanding, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H2. Attitude has a positive effect on firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in
the food sector.

Moderating role of gender

The disparities in gender lead to variation in decision-making and information processing
abilities (Hoyer and MacInnis, 2010). Women’s decision-making differs from that of men,
according to Eagly and Wood (1991), and this difference is linked to the function of gender,
which determines how people should behave in society. Social role theory (Biddle, 1986)
indicates that consumers behave differently according to their expectations of themselves
and others. Thus, the activity of a person doing a specific function can be predicted based on
the individual’s anticipation of performing that duty (Zhang et al., 2017). Both men and
women, according to Wang (2010), encounter a variety of roles that can lead to conflict and
overload. These experiences serve as a blueprint for steering behaviour. Furthermore,
according to the social role hypothesis, women are characterised by emotional traits, while
men are characterised by instrumental ones (Deng et al., 2010). Zhang et al. (2017) observe
that gender role theory predicts men to behave as bold and independent, while women are
taught to be more sociable, emotional and compassionate towards others. As a result of
these considerations, the following hypotheses are formulated:

H3. Gender moderates the relationship between knowledge and firms’ commitment to
Halal standard practices in the food sector.
H4. Gender moderates the relationship between attitude and firms’ commitment to
Halal standard practices in the food sector.
In keeping with the aforesaid discussions, Figure 1 illustrates the proposed theoretical
framework for the present study.
Methodology Halal standard
Participants and procedures practices in the
This quantitative study gathered data from a self-administered questionnaire distributed
among 200 employees of the MNCs and the SMEs in the food sector in Sabah, Malaysia. A
food sector
purposive sampling technique aimed at internal Halal executive officers was used, and 112
questionnaires that were capable of analysis were obtained, resulting in a valid response rate of
56%. This sample size was satisfactory as it surpassed the threshold of 100 set by Hair et al.
(2019) and Reinartz et al. (2009). Internal Halal executive officers are charged specifically with 1265
ensuring effective Halal management according to the standards in Clause 5.2 of the Malaysian
Halal Certification Procedure Manual, Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (2015),
which requires each organisation to have an internal Halal executive officer.

Questionnaire development and instrument

The questionnaire was designed to include four sections. Section A requested respondents’
demographic information (gender, age, academic profile and service duration), while the
other sections focussed on the measurement instruments (see Table 1). Section B addressed
the aspect of knowledge and included six items borrowed from Othman et al. (2016), Section
C considered the aspect of attitude through the use of five items adopted from Sadeeqa et al.
(2013) and Section D comprised a 14-item set of statements related to the firms’ commitment
to Halal standard practices adopted from Othman et al. (2016). The items were measured on
a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Statistical techniques
Descriptive statistics were obtained via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer
programme version 23 to assess the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.

Knowledge H1
Firms’ Commitment to
Halal Standard Practices
H2
in the Food Sector
Attitude
H3
H4 Figure 1.
Proposed theoretical
Gender framework

Variable Scope of measurement No. of items Source

Knowledge Measure Halal understanding and 6 Othman et al. (2016)

its implementation based on the
act and regulations set by the Halal
certification body
Attitude Measure cognitive, affective and 5 Sadeeqa et al. (2013)
behavioural aspects Table 1.
Firms’ Commitment to Measure firms’ commitment 14 Othman et al. (2016) Scope of
Halal Standard Practices towards Halal practice measurement
JIMA Additionally, a partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach
14,5 using the SmartPLS 3 package was used to analyse the data. This software is suitable for
analysing non-parametric data, is robust in assessing structural models and can accept
smaller sample sizes (Hair et al., 2019).

Data analysis
1266 Descriptive of organisation and Halal committee profile
Table 2 details that 60.7% of the total respondents were from SMEs and 39.3% from MNCs.
In respect of the maturity of the firms represented, 19.6% had been established between 1
and 10 years, 25% between 11 and 21 years, 21.4% between 21 and 30 years, 23.2% between
31 and 40 years and 10.7% for more than 40 years.

Partial least squares-structural equation modelling

PLS-SEM was analysed via a two-stage analytical technique, namely, the measurement
model and the structural model.

Measurement model assessment

The measurement model was evaluated through the psychometric properties of the
construct measures, these being via analyses of its reliability, convergent validity and
discriminant validity.

Characteristics Category Frequency (%)

Organisation’s profile
Company category SMEs 68 60.7
MNCs 44 39.3
Establishment period 1–10 years 22 19.6
11–20 years 28 25.0
21–30 years 24 21.4
31–40 years 26 23.2
>41 years 12 10.7
Halal committee profile
Gender Male 52 46.4
Female 60 53.6
Age 18–25 year 18 16.1
26–35 year 56 50.0
36–45 year 21 18.8
>45 year 15.2 15.2
Academic profile SPM 35 31.3
Service duration Diploma 27 24.1
Degree 34 30.4
Master 8 7.1
PhD 2 1.8
Others 6 5.4
1–5 year 57 50.9
4– 10 years 24 21.4
11–15 years 16 14.3
Table 2. 16–25 years 8 7.1
Organisation and >25 years 7 6.3
Halal committee
profile Note: SPM = Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia
Reliability analysis Halal standard
The reliability analysis was checked using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability. practices in the
Table 3 shows that Cronbach’s alphas ranged from 0.732 to 0.874 and the composite
reliability ranged between 0.830 and 0.909. All of these readings surpassed the cut-off value
food sector
of 0.700 as suggested by Hair et al. (2019), thus signifying adequate internal consistency of
all constructs.
1267
Convergent validity
The convergent validity of the construct measures was assessed through factor item
loadings, composite reliability and average variance extracted (AVE). Table 4 details that
the factor item loadings ranged from 0.655 to 0.911, which exceeded 0.6 as suggested by Hair
et al. (2019). Ten measurement items were discarded for not meeting the aforesaid criteria.
These items were an item of attitude (i.e. S1) and nine items of firms’ commitment to Halal
standard practices (i.e. AP_B3.16, AP_B3.17, AP_B3.18, AP_B3.20, AP_B3.21, AP_B3.22,
AP_B3.24, AP_B3.25 and AP_B3.26). The composite reliability values extended beyond 0.7
(Hair et al., 2019), and the AVE values were bigger than the recommended value of 0.500 by
Hair et al. (2019), ranging from 0.550 to 0.666. These results infer that the convergent validity
of the constructs was satisfactory. Moreover, there are no cross-loadings between items in
this study.

Discriminant validity
The discriminant validity was evaluated via two forms of assessment; i.e. the square root of
the AVE values was greater than the inter-construct correlations and the heterotrait-
monotrait (HTMT) ratios were less than 0.85. Table 5 shows that the square roots of the
AVE (emboldened) were beyond the off-diagonal correlations, and the HTMT ratios were
below 0.85 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Hair et al., 2019; Henseler et al., 2015). Henceforth,
discriminant validity was established.

Standardised Cronbach’s Composite Average variance

Variable Item loading alpha reliability extracted

Attitude 0.732 0.830 0.550

S2 0.692
S3 0.713
S4 0.791
S5 0.768
Knowledge 0.847 0.887 0.570
PgtI 0.689
Pgt2i 0.801
Pgt2ii 0.846
Pgt2iii 0.836
Pgt3 0.655
Pgt4 0.679
Commitment to Halal 0.874 0.909 0.666
Standard Practices
AP_B3.19 0.798
AP_B3.23 0.758 Table 3.
AP_B3.27 0.809 Reliability and
AP_B3.28 0.797 confirmatory factor
AP_B3.29 0.911 item loadings
JIMA Variable Items Attitude Knowledge Commitment to Halal Standard Practices
14,5
Attitude S2 0.692 0.349 0.271
S3 0.713 0.396 0.414
S4 0.791 0.671 0.481
S5 0.768 0.325 0.446
Knowledge PgtI 0.382 0.689 0.291
1268 Pgt2i 0.370 0.801 0.337
Pgt2ii 0.428 0.846 0.354
Pgt2iii 0.564 0.836 0.302
Pgt3 0.366 0.655 0.205
Pgt4 0.579 0.679 0.376
Commitment to Halal AP_B3.19 0.486 0.405 0.798
Standard Practices
AP_B3.23 0.481 0.397 0.758
AP_B3.27 0.433 0.307 0.809
AP_B3.28 0.364 0.327 0.797
Table 4. AP_B3.29 0.495 0.278 0.911
Cross-loadings
between items Note: Values in italics represents item loadings for the respective constructs

Variables Attitude Knowledge Commitment to Halal Standard Practices Mean SD

Attitude 0.742 4.801 0.756

Knowledge 0.603** 0.755 4.020 0.768
Commitment to Halal 0.560** 0.424** 0.816 4.099 0.845
Table 5. Standard Practices
Discriminant validity
(HTMT criterion) Notes: ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed); the square roots of the AVE in italicface

Structural model assessment

The structural model was measured based on the standardised beta coefficients and the t-
values of the hypothesised relationships. A bootstrapping method (5,000 resamples) was
used for estimation. The results of hypothesis testing are presented in Table 6. Precisely, H1
posited that knowledge has a positive effect on firms’ commitment to Halal standard
practices in the food sector. Further examination of the standardised beta coefficient of this
relationship showed that b 1 was 0.136 with t-values = 1.881 and p > 0.05, inferring that
knowledge has no significant effect upon the firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices
in the food sector. Thus, H1 is not supported. The subsequent hypothesis, H2, postulated
that attitude has a positive effect on firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in the
food sector. The standardised beta coefficient ( b 2) of this relationship was 0.478 with a t-
values = 6.599 and p < 0.05, signifying that attitude significantly influenced the firms’
commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector, thereby sustaining H2 as
expected.
Figure 2 displays the PLS-SEM algorithm model of which the R2 of the present study
was 0.325, which exceeded 0.10, a threshold set by Falk and Miller (1992). The results
infer that 32.5% of the variance in the dependent variable (i.e. firms’ commitment to
Halal standard practices) is explained by the independent variables (i.e. knowledge and
attitude).
Moderating effect of gender Halal standard
A multi-group analysis (MGA) using the permutation approach was adopted to explore the practices in the
moderating impact of gender on the connection between knowledge and attitude with firms’
commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector. These linkages were represented
food sector
by H3 and H4. It was decided to use this approach since PLS-SEM is non-parametric in
nature and does not have to abide by the restrictions of the distributional assumption
(Hair et al., 2019). Confidence intervals and p-values are generated by the permutation
method, which uses bootstrap sampling techniques. The results reveal that the predicted H3 1269
that gender moderates the relationship between knowledge and firms’ commitment to Halal
standard practices in the food sector is not supported by the data due to its p-values being
more than 0.05. As a result, there is no difference between the gender groups. On the other
hand, there is good support for H4 that gender moderates the linkage between attitude and
firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector. Henceforth, the statistical
differences between groups were established at a 5% level between men (p1 = 0.074) and

Path Standardised beta S.E. C.R. t-value Results

H1 Knowledge —> Commitment to Halal 0.136 0.072 0.072 1.881 Not supported
Standard Practices
H2 Attitude —> Commitment to Halal 0.478* 0.073 0.073 6.599 Supported
Table 6.
Standard Practices Summary of
hypothesis testing
Notes: *p < 0.05; S.E: standard error; C.R: critical ratio; R-square: 0.325 results

Figure 2.
PLS-SEM algorithm
model
JIMA women (p2 = 0.119), indicating the effect of these relationships is stronger for male
14,5 employees than female employees.

Discussion
This study examined the effect of knowledge and attitude on firms’ commitment to Halal
standard practices in a developing nation’s food sector. Additionally, the moderating effect
1270 of gender on this association was explored. Four hypotheses were put forth (see Figure 1).
Specifically, H1 tests whether knowledge has a positive effect on firms’ commitment to
Halal standard practices in the food sector. Contrary to what was expected, the results of the
PLS-SEM approach reveal that knowledge does not significantly affect firms’ commitment
to Halal standard practices in the food sector, and therefore, H1 was not supported. The
insignificant result infers that the relationship undoubtedly undermines the authority of
Halal certification and the efforts of relevant government agencies to ensure that the Halal
food industry can translate the Halal concept initiated by the government into the concept of
Halalan thoyyiban. In other words, grasping the concept of Halal is insufficient in the Halal
food industry; it must be followed by the practice of permissible acts, rules and laws, as well
as the possession of knowledge of the circular current that must be observed in light of
recent technological breakthroughs. This result contradicts the conclusions of earlier studies
such as those by Mohd Suki and Mohd Suki (2018) and Santhanam and Hartono (2003), who
obtained findings that the knowledge aspect was of substantial importance. The present
study’s results also contrast with those of Muhammad Haziq et al. (2015), which found the
practice of legal operations in the Halal food sector is based on Halal executives’ scientific
knowledge as well as their knowledge of Islam, meaning that those executives had a proper
focus on the established Halal assurance system.
Further examination of the effect of attitude on firms’ commitment to Halal standard
practices was postulated in H2. The path estimates and t-values of this relationship show
that attitude had a positive and significant impact on firms’ commitment to Halal standard
practices. Thus, H2 was retained. This finding reflects the significant role of the positive
attitude of employees in influencing firms’ commitment to Halal standard compliance in the
food sector and thereby contributes towards improving organisational performance. The
positive attitude towards compliance with Halal standard processes in the Halal food
industry is evident as the internal Halal committees play significant roles in developing,
monitoring and controlling the implementation of the Halal assurance system based on the
guidelines provided. They ensure the enhancement of their organisations’ skills and
knowledge, particularly concerning compliance procedures for the conduct of Halal matters,
and they take responsibility for any decisions relating to Halal practices during regular
meetings. Additionally, the internal executive officer who is an appointed member of the
said committee plays an important role in increasing awareness and understanding of the
concept of Halalan thoyyiban throughout the company, implementing the demands of bi
Amr al-ma’ruf Nahy wa al-Munkar in building Halal integrity; and simultaneously in
managing and developing the basic needs of the Halalan thoyyiban application (Mustafa
Afifi and Azlin, 2014), which acts as a control and Halal assurance for the company
internally. This study’s findings corroborate those of Nik Maheran et al. (2009) and Talib
et al. (2015), who all found attitude to play a meaningful role in strengthening control and
internal organisation assurance as well as in keeping up with the current policy related to
Halal standard practice. Moreover, the results are also in accordance with the findings by
Othman et al. (2017), Rahem et al. (2021) and Zailani et al. (2015) that the human capital
factor includes attitude affects towards the strategy of the Halal orientation standard (staff,
materials, processing, storage and transportation).
 Further analysis of data was undertaken on the moderating influence of gender in the Halal standard
associations between knowledge and attitude to firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in the
practices in the food industry in H3 and H4 using the permutation approach of the MGA.
This analysis revealed that gender insignificantly moderates the relationship between
food sector
knowledge and firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector. Therefore,
H3 was not reinforced. The results implies that male employees were found to be no more
likely than female employees to claim a great knowledge or and greater commitment to
Halal standard practices in the food sector. Again, this is an outcome that contradicts 1271
previous findings, such as those of Abdul Manaf et al. (2013) that knowledge of Halal
aspects, as well as general knowledge possessed by employees, contribute to the
development and growth of the industry of Halal products. However, the earlier studies did
not explore the role of gender on these connections, whereas the present study has included
this factor. Interestingly, the subsequent hypothesis, H4, captured good support that gender
moderates the relationship between attitude and firms’ commitment to Halal standard
practices in the food sector. The finding deduces that differences do exist since male
employees in the food sector have a more favourable attitude than female employees and
this significantly contributes towards greater firm commitment to Halal standard practice.
Enhancing the attitude, role and function of human capital via the creation of enterprise-
wide Halal committees within firms is deemed necessary. These findings corroborate
industry input of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (2015) about the
Malaysian Government’s efforts to enhance the Halal industry by focussing on human
capital and internal controls in organisations.

Conclusion
This study makes a significant contribution to knowledge by applying the CDM to examine
the relationships between knowledge, attitude and firms’ commitment to Halal standard
practices in Malaysia’s food sector, with gender serving as a moderating factor. The most
intriguing finding in the study was that there was a positive linkage between attitude and
firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector. Furthermore, the study
provided evidence that there was a gender difference in the aforesaid relationships, with
male respondents in the sample showing more likelihood of reporting a favourable attitude
and engendering a commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector than female
respondents. Surprisingly, the study disclosed that knowledge was not a significant
predictor of firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector. Moreover, this
linkage was not moderated by gender differences as male employees were found to be no
more likely than female employees to report having sound knowledge and a firm
commitment to Halal standard practices in the food sector.
In regard to practical implications, Halal food manufacturers should foster stronger
dedication to Halal standard practices within the buyer-supplier relationship due to the
critical role of Halal issues in food production. They should prioritise strategic planning to
safeguard the integrity of Halal food for consumption. Additionally, they should emphasise
the positive attitude in the food industry and the unwavering commitment on the part of
firms’ employees and supply chain partners as these significant linkages and the
meaningful role of gender differences are central to organisations and particularly so during
difficult economic circumstances. Thus, compliance with and commitment to Halal standard
practices should be encouraged and extended to all functions within a corporation to assist
other units or departments in addressing Halal issues holistically with both male employees
and female employees. Halal food producers can use the empirical findings from this study
to develop Halal business management and marketing strategies, as well as to help with
JIMA other critical decisions, as they work to accomplish their goals, particularly in the context of
14,5 Halal food manufacturing.
While this study has added new perspectives to the literature published thus far, it does
have certain limitations that could be handled in future research. Firstly, as the study
evaluated the relationships between knowledge, attitude and firms’ commitment to Halal
standard practices in Malaysia’s food sector, it may not be possible to generalize, and
1272 therefore, additional research is recommended to test and validate the findings in a range of
settings beyond Malaysia for cross-cultural comparison. Particularly, the study’s R2 value
(32.5%) in terms of firms’ commitment to Halal standard practices implies that further
contributing factors can be investigated, such as Islamic branding (Wilson and Liu, 2010,
2011), Halal phenomenon (Wilson, 2014). Secondly, while this study has shown
advancement on previous works by introducing gender as a moderating variable, other
variables such as income and age may have some explanatory value, and therefore, future
research could be undertaken to include such effects and thereby generate valuable
empirical findings for managerial and actionable decision-making and increase commitment
to Halal standard practices. Individuals with varying incomes and ages might react
differently to each construct of knowledge, attitude and commitment to Halal standard
practices.

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1275
About the authors
Nurul Hudani Md. Nawi is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology and Education (FPP),
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, since 2001. She holds a degree in Humanities (Psychology) at
International Islamic University Malaysia and master in Industrial and Organization from Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2001. Then she obtained her PhD in Social Psychology from Universiti
Putra Malaysia (UPM).
Puteri Hayati Megat Ahmad was a Senior Lecturer at the FPP, University Malaysia Sabah. She
holds a degree and masters in Counselling and Guidance from UPM and PhD in Psychology from the
University Malaysia Sabah (UMS). Her speciality is in the drug abuse counseling and motivational
interviewing. She is a registered counsellor and has been appointed as one of the committee member
of Malaysian Board of Counsellor and members of Chinese Association Motivational Interviewing of
Hong Kong.
Habibie Ibrahim received the BSc degree in Human Development from the University of Putra,
Malaysia, in 1998 and the MA in Social Work and Social Care and PhD degrees from the University
of Bradford, England. Since May 2014, she has been with the Faculty of Psychology and Education,
UMS, where she was a Head Program for Social Work Program, 2014–2018, became a Senior Lecturer
in 2008. Her current research interests include emotion, emotional intelligence, religiosity and child
and family social work practice.
Norazah Mohd Suki is a Professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia. Her research interests
include marketing, consumer behaviour, etc. She is the recipient of Malaysia’s Research Star Award
2018, Highly Commended Paper in the 2015 and the 2017 Emerald Literati Network Awards for
Excellence, Winners of the Seventh Annual Awards Excellence in Research Journal, etc. She has
mentored several postgraduate students and published more than 300 papers in referred journals,
book chapters, books and conference papers detailing her research activities, on top of coordinating
and participating in several research projects. She is also the editor of several SCOPUS indexed
books. Norazah Mohd Suki is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: azahsuki@yahoo.
com

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