Purpose This paper aims to model consumers’ decision to use halal logo on packaged food products. The model primarily tests the importance of country of origin (COO) of a halal logo as an indicator for assessing credibility of a halal logo, and its relevance in consumers’ decision to use the logo in packaged food purchase. Design/methodology/approach A data set from a survey of 559 respondents from two countries was used to test eight hypotheses that were developed based on a modified theory of planned behaviour framework, using partial least squares procedures. Findings Halal certification logo was found to have COO effect on consumers’ evaluation during purchase decision of food items. Consumer uses information on the COO of a halal logo to assess the logo’s credibility in delivering the halal food standard. The construct, along with the constructs of religiosity and its interaction terms, subjective norms and attitude, explains consumers’ intention to consider the halal logo during packaged food purchase. Research limitations/implications Generalization of the findings is limited to the packaged food industry and to the consumer groups surveyed in the two countries. Practical implications There is a need for marketers to recognize Muslim consumers’ sensitivity towards the origin of a halal logo in choosing the right logo for their products. Logo certifiers may want to consider adopting marketing strategies to market their certification as a credible marker of a halal food standard. Originality/value The effect of COO of halal logo and its influence on consumers’ decision to use the logo in purchase decision are new to the literature.

Purpose – This study aims to provide insights on the influence of Muslim consumers’ knowledge on products subjected to contemporary fatwa ruling and their subsequent cognitive and behavioural responses. Design/methodology/approach – MANOVA and MANCOVA were used to examine the influence of religious orientation on young Malaysian Muslims’ product knowledge, and the extent of religious orientation and gender on Muslim consumers’ attitude and behaviour towards three contemporary fatwa rulings of products. Findings – Respondents’ religious orientation differentiates their knowledge on fatwa prohibition ruling of selected brand and behaviours. Consumers’ religious orientation and gender explain consumers’ behavioural responses to variables of the Theory of Planned Behaviour for three behaviours. Evidence suggests that ruling types affects (conditional and unconditional) consumers’ responses. Research limitations/implications – Greater insights are provided on Muslims’ motivation to search information of controversial products, and their subsequent perception and behavioural reactions to controversial products. Findings are limited to the Malaysian Muslim consumers. Practical implications – The fact that contemporary fatwa reached young Muslim generations indicates that managers have to be wary of fatwa to predict Muslim consumers’ marketplace behaviours. Social implications – A significant number of young Malaysian Muslims are keeping abreast with contemporary fatwa. This suggests that they received an early and substantial exposure to Islamic way of life through their socialisation. Originality/value – This study offer insights into the understandings of the young Muslim generation regarding contemporary fatwa on products, and revealed significant findings in relation to consumer product knowledge and religious influences on consumer behaviour.

Purpose Research on Muslim consumers has increasingly highlighted the significance of measuring religiosity. However, there is an apparent lack of uniformity in measuring religiosity across literature on Muslim consumer research. This paper aims to critically review the approaches used to measure religiosity in existing research on Muslim consumers. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviewed 39 studies selected from the Journal of Islamic Marketing from 2010 to 2017. Based on critical reviews of these studies on Muslim consumers, a number of observations and recommendations were made on approaches to measure religiosity. Findings Evident influence of religiosity on Muslim consumers was observed across the spectrum of the reviewed studies. The main issues in selecting the measures of religiosity include limited discussion on rationalizing the choice of a particular measure of religiosity and little consideration of the Islamic context. Research limitations/implications Based on the review, it is recommended that the process of searching, selecting and adopting a particular religiosity construct should be rationalized based on Islamic context. Adoption of Western scales should be done carefully with expert reviews. Also, researchers may consider using Islamic religiosity constructs and alternative measures such as qualitative measures of religiosity and spirituality-based constructs. Originality/value As Muslim consumer research is gaining momentum, this paper presents a critical review of the important aspect of measuring religiosity among Muslim consumers. The critical review and recommendations in this paper offer a much-needed theoretical clarity on selecting and using religiosity measures.

Purpose This study aims to examine the effects of enhanced visualization of intangible service value through integration of means-end perspectives on advertising effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach Banking advertisements, incorporating message stimuli derived from salient values desired by the financial consumers and designed to assist message elaboration and stimulate personal relevance, were developed to examine the influence of cognitive connectivity on vividness of intangible service benefits and service advertising effectiveness. Findings The findings demonstrate that greater cognitive connectivity positively affects perceived tangibility, attitude toward the advertisement and attitude toward the brand. Additionally, the results indicated that perceived personal relevance has higher influence on envisioning service components, compared to one’s ability to connect visual cues to perceived benefits and to immediate end-goals. Research limitations/implications This study incorporated visual stimuli limited only to financial security and social recognition. Future research should aim to examine the effects of different types of values on consumers’ elaboration process and their ability to visualize financial services. Originality/value This study extends knowledge of the means-end chain by proposing a means-end cognitive connectivity construct which influences the degree that consumers are able to mentally picture intangible service attributes. This study also provides insight that different values have different degree of influence on one’s ability to visualize service.

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