Determinants of attitude and intention towards Islamic financing adoption among SMEs halal producers / Mariatul Aida Mohamed Jaffar

Attitude is vital in explaining human behavior and it has been the key interest in social psychology and consumer behavior studies. In marketing practices, an attitude of a consumer is essential in establishing the link between customer's attitudes with behaviour. Based on this reason, attitude and behavioural intention are the primary focus in the current investigation. This study sets out to bridge the gap between Halal and Islamic finance sectors. Islamic finance and Halal are two Shariah-compliant business sectors sharing similar values, market and principles. Despite similarities, Islamic finance and Halal are disconnected. A Halal business must not only produce Halal products, but importantly finance their business using Shariah-compliant or Islamic financing; and this has not been practised. Although Islamic banks have been established in Malaysia for more than three decades, there are only 5% of Halal players use Islamic financial products. Based on this issue, this study seeks to examine the attitude of SMEs Halal producers to adopt (among non-users) or continuously adopting (among users) Islamic financing in their Halal business, thereon to assess their behavioural intention. Specifically, this study aims at investigating the 'salient beliefs factors' as the determinant of attitude towards Islamic financing adoption.