Determinants of halal meatconsumption in France

Karijn Bonne and Iris VermeirHogeschool Gent, Department of Business Studies and Public Administration,

Gent, Belgium

Florence Bergeaud-BlacklerUniversite de Mediterrane, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie, Marseille, France, and

Wim VerbekeGhent University, Department of Agricultural Economics, Gent, Belgium

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of halal meat consumptionwithin a Muslim migration population using the theory of planned behaviour as a conceptualframework. The role of self-identity as a Muslim and dietary acculturation in the host culture isexplored.

Design/methodology/approach – Cross-sectional data were collected through a survey with 576Muslims mainly originating from North Africa and currently living in France. Data were analysed bymeans of independent samples’ t-tests, correlations and stepwise multiple regression.

Findings – A positive personal attitude towards the consumption of halal meat, the influence of peersand the perceived control over consuming halal meat predict the intention to eat halal meat amongMuslims.

Research implications/limitations – Limitations include the use of a convenience sample and thefocus on only two individual characteristics related to religious food consumption, namely self-identityand dietary acculturation. Additional individual characteristics such as trust, values or involvementcould improve the predictive power of the model.

Practical implications – Practical implications extend to food policy decision-makers and foodmarketers who might pursue identity – and/or acculturation-related strategies in their distributionand communication efforts targeted at the growing halal food market segment in Western Europe.

Originality/value – This study is one of the first studies investigating the determinants of halalmeat consumption in general and a first application of the theory of planned behaviour within a food,religion and migration context, i.e. halal meat consumption decisions in a Muslim migrationpopulation in France. In general, this study indicates that the predictive power of the classic TPB inthis very specific context is limited.

Keywords Consumer behaviour, Meat, Religion, Islam, France

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionImpact of religion on food consumptionAmple evidence has been provided that religion can influence consumer attitude andbehaviour in general (Delener, 1994; Pettinger et al., 2004), and food purchasingdecisions and eating habits in particular (Mennell et al., 1992; Steenkamp, 1993; Steptoeand Pollard, 1995; Swanson, 1996; Shatenstein and Ghadirian, 1997; Asp, 1999; Mullenet al., 2000; Blackwell et al., 2001). In many societies, religion plays one of the mostinfluential roles shaping food choice (Musaiger, 1993; Dindyal, 2003). Many definitions

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British Food JournalVol. 109 No. 5, 2007

pp. 367-386q Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0007-070XDOI 10.1108/0070700710746786

of religion exist. Within the context of this paper we adhere an anthropologicalviewpoint on religion that analyses religion ethnographically. In this anthropologicalview, religion is an institution consisting of culturally patterned interaction withculturally postulated superhuman beings (Spiro, 1973). This viewpoint on religionexplains thus the cultural influences on religious expression.

Although religion has been a significant force in the lives of many individuals, itsexact role in consumer food choice is rather unclear (Delener, 1994). The impact ofreligion on food consumption depends on the religion itself and on the extent to whichindividuals interpret and follow the teachings of their religion. Most religions forbidcertain foods (for example pork in Judaism and Islam, or pork and beef in Hinduismand Buddhism) except for Christianity that has no food taboos (Sack, 2001, p. 218). Theconsumption of animal products, and more specifically meat and meat products is moststrictly regulated in cases where religious considerations prevail (Shatenstein andGhadirian, 1997).

One of those religions with food prohibitions is Islam. It is a religion governed byrules and customs built on five pillars, which every Muslim has to observe: shahadahor witnessing; salat or prayer; zakah or charity; sawm or fasting and hajj or pilgrimage.In addition to these, Muslims have to follow a set of dietary prescriptions intended toadvance their well being. The halal dietary laws determine which foods are “lawful” orpermitted. These laws are found in the Quran and in the Sunna, the practice of theProphet Muhammad, as recorded in the books of Hadith. They prohibit theconsumption of alcohol, pork, blood, dead meat and meat that has not been slaughteredaccording to Islamic rulings. In reference to Islam, halal is an Arabic word meaninglawful or that what is permitted and allowed by the lawgiver (Allah), whereas harammeans unlawful or prohibited (Regenstein et al., 2003)

Although religions may impose strict dietary laws, the amount of people followingthem may vary considerably. Hussaini (1993) states that 75 per cent of Muslims in theUS follow these above-mentioned dietary rules in contrast with only 16 per cent ofJews. Factors explaining differences in adherence to religious dietary prescriptionspertain among others to social structures, e.g. origin, immigration, and generationdifferences (Limage, 2000; Bergeaud-Blackler, 2001; Saint-Blancat, 2004; Ababou, 2005;Bergeaud-Blackler and Bonne, 2006).

Halal food marketInvestigating consumer decisions towards halal meat is topical, first, given the halalfood market size and its evolution, and second, given the policy relevance of the issue.The Canadian International Markets Bureau (Bergeaud-Blacker, 2001) reported aninternational halal food trade of $150 billion a year. The total spending power ofMuslims in the US was estimated at $12 billion in 1999 of which $3 billion for meat andpoultry (Riaz, 1999). Although there is no estimation yet for halal trade in the EU, thepotential market size as expressed in terms of the Muslim population is substantial, i.e.estimated between 12 and 18 million individuals before EU enlargement (BBC News,2005). As we mentioned before, 75 per cent of Muslims would follow their dietary rulesin the US (Hussaini, 1993) meaning that even after having emigrated most Muslimsstill eat halal. Assuming that this percentage can be applied for Muslims in Europe,since they are migrates too; this would yield a potential halal food market of about 10million consumers in Europe.

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The halal meat chain is adapting to newly emerging consumer interests like animalwelfare and convenience in cooking and eating (Bonne and Verbeke, 2006). Majorretailers such as Carrefour or Albert Heijn are now testing to include halal meat in theirassortment. Previous attempts in a retail environment were often unsuccessful becauseof lack of insights in food consumption behaviour of Muslims. Fundamental problemsthat arise are the different definitions of halal meat and the different qualitycertifications. These problems are expected to soon become important food policyissues in many European countries (Bergeaud-Blackler, 2004a).

In the past, Muslims simply avoided foods that did not meet their dietary standards.Nowadays, Muslims are making their presence felt socially and politically and arerequesting halal labeled food products (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004). Therefore, marketers,certifying organisations and policy makers need better insights in halal meatconsumption.

This research has two major objectives. The first objective of this study is toinvestigate Muslim consumer behaviour towards halal meat in France using theclassical Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as a conceptual framework. The secondobjective consists of measuring whether – within a religion and migration context –the validity and predictive power of the TPB is influenced by accounting for religiousself-identity and dietary acculturation.

Conceptual frameworkMany different models have been proposed to explain consumer behaviour towardsfood in general (Sparks and Shepherd, 1992; Thompson et al., 1996; Conner and Sparks,1996; Grunert et al., 1996), however, no study has ever focused specifically oninvestigating the determinants of halal meat consumption.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1985, 1991) postulates threeconceptually independent determinants of behavioural intention: attitude, subjectivenorm and perceived behavioural control. Attitude is the psychological tendency that isexpressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour(Eagly and Chaiken, 1995). Subjective norm assesses the social pressure on individualsto perform or not to perform certain behaviour i.e. the motivation to comply withsignificant others’ views. Perceived behavioural control is described as perceptions ofthe extent to which the behaviour is considered to be controllable. It assesses thedegree to which people perceive that they actually have control over enacting thebehaviour of interest (Liou and Contento, 2001). Perceived behavioural control is ofgreater interest than actual control since it refers to people’s perception of the ease ordifficulty of performing the behaviour of interest (Verbeke and Vackier, 2005). The linkbetween perceived behavioural control and behaviour suggests that consumers aremore likely to engage in behaviours they feel to have control over and are preventedfrom carrying out behaviours over which they feel to have no control. Control factorssuch as perceived availability may facilitate or inhibit the performance of behaviour(Conner and Armitage, 1998; Verbeke and Lopez, 2005; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist,2005; Verbeke, 2005). For example, low perceived availability of halal meat may hindersomeone from its consumption as shown for instance in the case of sustainable foodconsumption (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006).

In addition, Conner and Armitage (1998) suggest incorporating habit measures aspredictors of behaviour in the TPB. Habit is defined as behaviour that has become

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automatic and is beyond an individual’s awareness. Several studies using TPB to foodrelated behaviour have successfully included habit as an independent predictor ofintentions (Verbeke et al., 2004; Honkanen et al., 2005). Therefore, habit will be includedas a separate component of the TPB.

In the present study, the influence of the classical components of the Theory ofPlanned Behaviour on intention to consume meat is measured within an ethnicminority population of Muslims originating especially from North-Africa and currentlyliving in France. For them, eating foods that meet the religious prescriptions can beconsidered to be an expression of religion. Therefore, we argue that meat consumptiondecisions within a religious context could differ significantly from purchase situationswhere religion does not play a key role. By extending the model with self-identity anddietary acculturation, the influence of the cultural and more specific religious context inwhich halal meat is consumed is investigated.

Self-identity can be interpreted as a label that people use to describe themselves. It isassumed to be the result of social interaction and the cause of subsequent behaviour(Biddle et al., 1987). Self-identity reflects the extent to which an actor sees him- orherself as fulfilling the criteria for any societal role, for example “someone who isconcerned with green issues” (Sparks and Shepherd, 1992). Previously, some studies ofTPB to food related behaviour have successfully included self-identity as an additionalpredictor variable (Sparks and Shepherd, 1992; Sparks et al., 1995; Bissonnette et al.,2001; Cook et al., 2002). Others, however, have not found self-identity to influencebehavioural intention (Povey et al., 2001; Robinson and Smith, 2002). Conner andArmitage (1998) concluded that the effects of self-identity may depend on thebehaviour in question. Here, the influence of self-identity “as a Muslim” will beinvestigated through differentiating consumers who highly identify themselves asbeing a Muslim from consumers with a rather low identification with being a Muslim.

Acculturation in general is used to denote the process by which a racial or ethnicgroup, usually a minority, adopts the cultural patterns such as beliefs, religion, andlanguage of the host culture (Jamal, 1996; Laroche et al., 1999). Hence, it is the mannerin which cultural identity may or may not change when an individual is exposed to anew majority culture (Goetz, 2003). Since the focus of this study is on food behaviour ofimmigrants we chose to measure dietary acculturation referring to the process thatoccurs when members of a minority group adopt the eating pattern or food choices ofthe host culture (Negy and Woods, 1992; Satia et al., 2000). Liou and Contento (2001)successfully added acculturation as a predictor variable for intention to engage inreduced-fat diets among Chinese Americans. Similarly to self-identity, dietaryacculturation is added to the theoretical framework to investigate whether consumerswho are highly versus lowly dietary acculturated rely differently on personal attitude,subjective norm or perceived behavioural control to make their halal meatconsumption decision. The resulting framework is presented in Figure 1.

Research hypothesesHalal meat consumption is shaped by the Islamic dietary prescriptions and could beconsidered a religious expression. Exploratory research using the Means-End-ChainTheory confirmed that the attribute “ritual slaughter” is strongly linked to the value“faith”, next to other values like “health” and “tradition”, meaning that Muslimconsumers eat halal meat in order to follow and express their religious teachings

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(Bonne and Verbeke, 2006). In a related vein, Bergeaud-Blackler and Bonne (2006)showed that religion is a very important motivator for eating halal meat. Moreover,Bergeaud-Blackler and Bonne (2006) described how eating halal is part of a Muslim orIslamic identity among Muslim migrates. In general, identity may be a critical issuewhere individuals or communities feel a threat to significant cultural symbols (Burton,2004). For Islam, most researchers hold that Islam refers to a religious identity,especially in situations of “foreignness”. Consequently, the extent to which anindividual considers him/herself a Muslim, could influence the decision makingprocess concerning halal meat (Biddle et al., 1987). Previous research shows thatsomeone can strictly follow the dietary rules and eat halal meat without following otherreligious prescriptions (Bonne and Verbeke, 2006). Possibly, these individuals considerthemselves less as Muslim and are less motivated to comply to religious rules and/orpeer group pressure, while they are more inclined to follow their personal attitudes. Onthe contrary, individuals with a higher Muslim identification could be more inclined tofollow Islamic rules and customs and therefore be more open for peer influence. Inaddition, based on differences in the level of individualism and collectivism of Westernversus Islamic cultures (Hofstede, 2003), we can expect differences in the relativeweights of the predictors of the TPB (Van Hooft et al., 2004). In more individualistic(e.g. Western culture) people perceive themselves as autonomous and independent ofthe group and prioritise personal goals over collective goals which would lead to ahigher use of personal attitudes versus social norms in behavioural decisions. On theother hand, in collectivistic (i.e. Islamic) cultures, people tend to perceive themselves asinterdependent with their group and tend to strive for in-group rather than personalgoals. Behaviour is then guided more by anticipated expectations of others or social

Figure 1.Conceptual framework:

theory of plannedbehaviour with

application to halal meatconsumption

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norms of the in-group than by personal attitudes (Van Hooft et al., 2006). Therefore, thefollowing hypothesis is set forth:

H1. Individuals with a lower (versus higher) self-identification as a Muslim, willrely more on individual factors like personal attitude, personal moral normand perceived behavioural control compared to the motivation to comply.

With respect to acculturation, Liou and Contento (2001) concluded in their study anincreased predictive power of the regression models with individuals who are moreacculturated. More specifically, when the degree of acculturation increased, theirindependent variables (amongst others attitude, health concern, self-efficacy) predictedbehavioural intention significantly better. Verbeke and Lopez (2005) found thelanguage-factor in acculturation and time of residence to influence Hispanics’ foodconsumption in Belgium. Furthermore, previous exploratory research showed that timeof residence measured as generation, associates with drivers to consume halal meat(Bonne and Verbeke, 2006). Following the above, we posit the second hypothesis as:

H2. The predictive power of the TPB components for behavioural intentionimproves with the degree of dietary acculturation in the host culture.

MethodSampleCross-sectional data were collected through a survey in France. Participants wererecruited during a yearly meeting of Muslims (22ieme Rencontre Annuel desMusulmans de France) in Paris organised by the UOIF (Union of French Islamicorganisations)[1] between the 25 and the 28 of March 2005. A stand was hired next toIslamic organisations and three Moroccan students speaking French and Arabic wereengaged as poll-takers. For interviewing participants, respondents were selected basedon convenience or the judgments of the researchers and poll-takers (conveniencesample), and were then invited to complete the self-administered questionnaire whichtook about 20-40 minutes. In total, more than 600 surveys were completed of which 576were valid for analysis.

All respondents were halal meat consumers since the objective was to explain thedeterminants of halal meat consumption. Other selection criteria were age (above 18years), place of residence (France), and being involved with meat purchasing decisionswithin the household. Sample characteristics are presented in Table I.

Questionnaire and scalingThe survey used a structured questionnaire in French, which was pre-tested andrefined prior to field work. The questionnaire included items measuring thecomponents of the proposed model of the TPB. Behavioural intention was measured onan eight-point scale (ranging from 0 to 7) asking “How many times do you intend to eathalal meat in the next seven days, today included” (Conner and Sparks, 1996). Attitudewas measured through the statement “Halal meat is important to me” (Magnussen et al.,2001; Bissonnette and Monaco, 2001; Robinson and Smith, 2002) on a five-point scaleranging from “totally disagree” to “totally agree”. This item corresponds withmeasuring personal relevance as a facet of involvement (Laurent and Kapferer, 1985),which basically acts as a motivational force in consumer decision-making. Themeasure of subjective norm consisted of multiple items to assess the motivation to

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comply. They were phrased as “To what extent do you take the encouragements to eathalal meat of the following people or institutions into consideration?” on a five-pointscale from “Not at all” to “Very much” for partner, family, friends, religious authorities,children and the Islamic community in general (Conner and Sparks, 1996). Personalconviction was measured with the statement “Eating halal meat is a personal choice”on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “totally disagree” to “totally agree”. Perceivedbehavioural control was measured with the item “How much control do you feel youhave over eating halal meat” on a seven-point scale ranging from “No control” to“Complete control” (Conner and Sparks, 1996). Perceived availability was measuredusing four items, pertaining both to product and information availability (“Halalproducts are readily available”, “There are a lot of choice possibilities in halalproducts”, “Information on halal labels is clear”, “There is sufficient informationavailable on halal products”) on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “totallydisagree” to “totally agree” (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006). Also, habit was measured ona five-point Likert scale from “totally disagree” to “totally agree” using the statement:“Eating halal meat is something that I do without reasoning” (Verplanken and Orbell,2003; Honkanen et al., 2005). Self-identity was measured using the statement “Iconsider myself a Muslim” (Sparks and Shepherd, 1992; Povey et al., 2001; Robinsonand Smith, 2002) on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “totally disagree” to “totallyagree”. To assess dietary acculturation, respondents were asked to indicate their typeof preferred food on a five-point scale ranging from “French” (1) to “Country of origin”

Gender: Male 53.1Female 46.9

Age: # 25 years 37.326–35 years 35.936–45 years 16.546–55 years 7.7. 55 years 2.6

Region: Ile de France 65.1Out of Ile de France 34.9

Family: Single 54.4Married/living together 40.3Divorced/widow 5.3

Origin: French 4.2Algerian 32.6Moroccan 37.7Tunisian 11.6African 3.5Other 10.5

Generation: 1st generation 47.82nd or 3rd generation 52.2

Education: No diploma 6.9Certificat BEPC/brevet college 7.7BEP CAP 11.5BAC, BTS, BAC þ 2 37.5Licence Maıtrise, BAC þ 3 BAC þ 4 18.2DEA DESS PhD 18.2

Note: n ¼ 576

Table I.Socio-demographic

characteristics of thesample (per cent of

respondents)

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(5) (Liou and Contento, 2001). This scale was reversed for further analysis, i.e. a highscore indicates higher dietary acculturation in subsequent analyses. All items weremeasured through a five-point scale, except for intention and control which wererecoded to a five-point scale for further analysis.

Finally, the questionnaire included relevant socio-demographics such as age,gender, nationality, origin, place of residence, level of education, occupation, maritalstatus, and number and age of children.

Method of analysisAfter editing and codification, the data were analysed using SPSS 12.0. Internalreliability consistency of the multi-item TPB concepts is assessed using Cronbach’salpha, factor analyses were performed, mean scores and standard deviations of allvariables are reported. Further, the analysis includes independent samples’ t-tests forcomparison of means, linear correlation and multiple regressions to examine thedeterminants of halal meat consumption.

ResultsThe Cronbach’s alpha value for “motivation to comply” and “perceived availability”was 0.91 and 0.80, respectively, and only one factor was extracted for both conceptsindividually in exploratory factor analysis. Behavioural intention, attitude, personalconviction, habit, control, self-identity and dietary acculturation were measured usingsingle items.

Characteristics of the respondentsThe characteristics of the respondents presented in Table I show that slightly moremen (53.1 per cent) than women (46.9 per cent) completed the survey. In general, itseems like men are mainly responsible for meat purchases in North-African countries.42 per cent of the respondents declared that male and female are equally responsiblyfor meat purchases and 38 per cent that mainly the husband is responsible. Withrespect to age, our sample consisted mainly of younger respondents (73.2 per centunder 35 years of age) (Mean age ¼ 31.1 years; SD ¼ 10.1) and relatively more single(54.4 per cent) completed the survey compared to married or living togetherrespondents (40.3 per cent). Respondents originated mainly from Morocco (37.7 percent) and Algeria (32.6 per cent), i.e. the two main migration populations in France.First generation, i.e. those migrates born abroad, compose 47 per cent of the sampleand second (those born in France or who came at or before the age of six years) or thirdgeneration account for 52 per cent of the sample. Around two thirds of the respondentslive in Paris and Paris suburb (Ile de France) while the rest reside in other Frenchregions. A majority of respondents benefited from higher education: 37.4 per cent havepassed their Baccalaureat (seven years of secondary school, giving access to highereducation) and 36.4 per cent obtained a higher degree diploma. Only 26.1 per cent havea diploma lower than Baccalaureat.

Descriptive statisticsTable II presents the mean scores, standard deviations and correlations of thecomponents included in the TPB. All mean scores are presented on a five-point scale(1 to 5) and are positively scaled. In general, participants rate halal meat consumption

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as high in importance. We can expect that involvement is activated because theproduct (i.e. halal meat) is perceived as being instrumental in meeting important needs,goals and values (i.e. being a Muslim). In addition, our sample considers the opinion ofothers relatively important, while halal meat consumption is strongly considered to bea personal choice. Respondents believe that they have control over their own eatingpattern but are significantly less convinced of the availability of halal meat(paired-samples t(576) ¼ 10.04; p , 0.001). In addition, they do not consider halalmeat consumption an automated process as indicated by their relative low score on thehabit item. Finally, they predominantly consider themselves to be Muslims and theystill prefer food from their country of origin compared to French cuisine.

It should be noted that in general, Muslims living in France tend to retain theiroriginal dietary behaviour (dietary acculturation score: M ¼ 1.77) despite the sampleaverage stay in France is 20.5 years (SD ¼ 11.54) and 53 per cent of the sample is bornin France. Furthermore, the less dietary acculturated a person is, the more he or sheintends to buy halal meat, the more importance one attaches to halal meat, the moreone claims to be influenced by family, friends and religious institutions and the morepersonal control over eating halal meat is perceived. Self-identity is positivelycorrelated with the importance attached to halal meat on the one hand and theperception of control on the other hand. Independent samples’ t-test also showed thatespecially first generation respondents consider themselves to be “a Muslim”(t(576) ¼ 2 3.19, p , 0.01). It is not clear though, whether second generation considerthemselves less a Muslim or whether they are more severe in accepting themselves tobe a good Muslim; for example, when one does not comply the five prayers a day he orshe could not fully consider him- or herself to be “a Muslim”.

Some interesting correlations are found between the TPB concepts and time ofresidence or the generation the individual belongs to. A significant correlation wasfound between generation and habit (r ¼ 0.129, p , 0.01) and supported by anindependent samples’ t-test resulting in the second and third generation Muslims torely more on habit when buying halal meat as compared to the first generation(t(576) ¼ 4.13, p , 0.001). Muslims born in France are also more convinced that eatinghalal meat is a strictly personal choice (t(576) ¼ 5.38, p , 0.001). Time of residence andacculturation are only slightly correlated (r ¼ 0.094, p , 0.05).

Finally, correlation analysis shows a significant positive correlation betweenintention and attitude, motivation to comply and control (Table II). Personal conviction,habit and availability are not correlated with the intention to eat halal meat. Thehypothesised determinants of intention are not totally independent. Attitudes arepositively correlated with motivation to comply and control. A significant and positivecorrelation is, furthermore, found between motivation to comply and personalconviction on the one hand and habit on the other hand. In addition, perceivedavailability is positively correlated with the perception of control. Despite beingsignificant, the correlations between the hypothesised determinants of intention arerelatively low, hence not imposing limitations from eventual multicollinearity infurther regression analysis.

Determinants of behavioural intention – total sampleSeveral stepwise multiple regression models were tested. First, a model is regressedwith the three classical determinants of intention, more specifically attitude, subjective

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norm (distinguishing between motivation to comply and personal conviction),perceived behavioural control measured as control and perceived availability, andhabit. Next, regression model results are compared for individuals with low versushigh levels of self-identity (H1) and low versus high dietary acculturation (H2).Estimates and goodness of fit statistics are presented in Table III.

For the total sample, attitude towards halal meat, motivation to comply andperceived control are significant predictors of intention, while personal conviction,perceived availability and habit are not significant. Thus, perceived availability doesnot turn out to be a barrier to consume halal meat for Muslims living in France. Inaddition, habit or the degree to which one eats halal meat as an automated processseems to have no influence on intention to eat halal meat. Nor seems halal meatconsumption determined by personal conviction. The classical determinants (attitude,social norm and perceived control) are thus significant for intention to consume halalmeat. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the resulting coefficient estimates (rangingfrom 0.08 to 0.19) and the explained variance (R 2 ¼ 0.06) are rather low as comparedwith previous research on food consumption using the TPB framework. We will returnto this issue later.

Role of religious self-identity (H1)Next, we looked at the possible differential predictive value of the TPB componentsdepending on the level of individual’s self-identity. Respondents were classified in twoself-identity categories using median split (low, high). The intentions of Muslims with alow self-identity (R 2 ¼ 0.236) are determined by their personal attitude towards halalmeat consumption and by their personal conviction. However, for Muslims with a highself-identity, intentions are influenced by attitude, motivation to comply and perceivedcontrol. In other words, both consumers who consider themselves to be more or lessMuslim are primarily guided by the importance personally attached to halal meat.Furthermore, consumers who consider themselves less as being a Muslim, believe thattheir consumption decision is a matter of personal conviction, while consumers with ahigher Muslim identity are more prone to take the opinion of other important personsand institutions into account (in addition to their feeling of control). More (versus less)“religious” consumers are more sensitive to the norms and rules prescribed by theirreligion, while less (versus more) “religious” consumers make more “egocentric” (i.e.considering one’s own opinion instead of other one’s opinions) consumption decisions.Our hypothesis that the degree to which a consumer considers him- or herself a Musliminfluences the decision making process for halal meat is confirmed. Furthermore, wehypothesised that the lower the self-identification with Islam, the better thepredictiveness of intention to eat halal meat. Indeed, the proportion of explainedvariance in intention is highest for low self-identity consumers (R 2 ¼ 0.236), herewithyielding the best performing TPB model of our analyses.

Role of dietary acculturation (H2)After classifying respondents in two dietary acculturation using median split (low,high), results show that only attitude towards halal meat consumption predictsintentions for low dietary acculturated consumers (R 2 ¼ 0.027), while highacculturated consumers’ intentions are predicted by perceived control in addition toattitude (R 2 ¼ 0.113) (Table III). Low acculturated Muslims’ meat consumption

Halal meatconsumption in

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0.01

00.

863

0.00

30.

962

Habit

0.00

20.

963

20

.147

0.27

50.

017

0.72

70.

057

0.34

72

0.07

40.

311

Note:

Est

imat

esp

rese

nte

din

ital

ics

are

sig

nifi

can

tat

p,

0.10

orlo

wer

Table III.Multiple regressionpredicting intention toconsume halal meat, forthe total sample (n ¼ 576)and different levels ofself-identity and dietaryacculturation

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decisions are solely influenced by the personal relevance or importance attached tohalal meat. In contrast, more dietary acculturated Muslims’ intention to consume halalmeat are also determined by the control they feel to have over eating halal meat. Withthese findings we can confirm our hypothesis that dietary acculturation influences thepredictive power of the TPB components; the predictiveness of behavioural intentionimproves with the degree of dietary acculturation. Motivation to comply did notinfluence behavioural intentions for both high and low acculturated consumers.Furthermore, the non-significance of habit and perceived availability could possibly beexplained by the reasoned or highly important character of halal meat consumption(see before), independent of the level of dietary acculturation in the host culture.

DiscussionThis study shows that in general halal meat consumption is determined by a positiveattitude, the pressure of others and the perceived control. Perceived availability doesnot influence halal meat consumption contrary to findings by Verbeke and Lopez(2005) who found that lack of ethnic ingredients in the food market and their high costis a barrier for Hispanics in Belgium to retain their eating habits. Possibly, theimportance or personal relevance attached to halal meat (which is high in our samplegiven the specific religious context) dominates over preference for convenient, readilyor easily available food products. Consumers who are highly (versus lowly) involvedwith a product perceive the availability of a product less as a potential barrier forbehaviour, and might be willing to devote more time and effort on obtaining theirdesired product. This has yet been shown for instance in the case of sustainable foodconsumption decisions (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006) and can be confirmed byexploratory research which concluded that Muslims are willing to put considerableeffort in obtaining halal meat (Bonne and Verbeke, 2006). An other explanation for thenon significance of perceived availability could be an improved availability of halalproducts in France the last ten years as suggested by Bergeaud-Blackler and Bonne(2006).

Furthermore, consuming halal meat is no automated process. This is in contrastwith findings from Verbeke and Vackier (2004) for non-halal or regular meatconsumption decisions in Belgium. In general, our sample disagrees with the statementthat eating halal meat is a rather automatic process (i.e. without reasoning). Probably,consumers with high as well as low intentions to eat halal meat consider halal meatconsumption as a well thought over process that can explain the non significance ofhabit. The low score on automaticity of halal meat consumption is in accordance withthe high level of personal importance attached to halal meat consumption. A highlyimportant product is usually attained through a reasoned decision-making process(Vermeir and Verbeke, 2005). Additional grounds for reasoned decision-making in thecase of halal meat can be found in the fact that mass media information about eventualfrauds with halal meat (e.g. containing pork) has been spread recently(Bergeaud-Blackler, 2004b).

The item personal conviction was added to assess Muslim’s personal choice forhalal meat consumption in contrast with peer’s pressure or their motivation to complywith this influence of others. The authors are aware that this is an operationalisationwithin TPB, which has not been validated through previous research. Nevertheless,within the focus of this study (i.e. meat consumption within a religious and migration

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context) inserting personal conviction to the model was considered relevant to coverthe hypothesised determinants of halal meat consumption. Hence, the item has provedto be successful in predicting intention to eat halal meat for a subgroup of Muslimconsumers. Further effort to conceptualise this issue in specific food consumptiondecision contexts is recommended.

Splitting the total sample in groups with different degrees of self-identity showedthat the less a Muslim identifies himself with Islam, the more eating halal meatbecomes a personal conviction without being influenced by others and despite religiousprescriptions. Although Islam prescribes meat consumption to be halal, it remainsindividual’s own personal choice to eat halal or not. Those consumers, especiallyMuslims of second or third generation, do not follow blindly the dietary rules but theymake a well thought over decision. Once this decision is made, halal meat consumptioncan become habitual (see a positive correlation between personal conviction and habit):they do not have to repeat thorough active reasoning for every purchase orconsumption decision. This finding explains the tendency of habitual behaviouramong second generation in exploratory research (Bonne and Verbeke, 2006). A strongpersonal conviction for consuming halal meat among young Muslims also corroboratesBergeaud-Blackler and Bonne (2006) who declares that eating halal is an expression ofa rising Islamic attitude towards foods or clothing among young Muslims in France.Eating halal has become a means for an Islamic devotion and a sign of an identityreserved to the Muslim community (Bergeaud-Blackler and Bonne (2006)).

With respect to dietary acculturation, Muslims tend to retain their dietary habitsdespite a relative long stay in the host country. Even Muslims born in France preferdishes from their parent’s country. This finding corroborates Liou and Contento (2001)who also reported a low dietary acculturation score among Chinese Americans, as wellas with Park et al. (2003) who reported that food habits may change most slowly whenindividuals migrate to other cultures. Time of residence and acculturation are slightlycorrelated meaning that the longer someone lives in the host country, the more hebecomes dietary acculturated, corroborating (Verbeke and Lopez, 2005).

Contrary to Liou and Contento (2001), no significant negative correlation was foundbetween dietary acculturation and habit. Nevertheless, we did find halal meatconsumption to be more habitual among second generation Muslims as suggested byprevious research (Bonne and Verbeke, 2006; Bergeaud-Blackler and Bonne, 2006).

Furthermore, the more a Muslim is acculturated, the better the predictive power ofthe TPB components as concluded also in the study of Liou and Contento (2001) withina Chinese-American sample. However, we did not find subjective norm to influencebehavioural intentions for both high and low acculturated consumers unlike Liou andContento.

ConclusionsThe purpose of this study was two-fold. First, the Theory of Planned Behaviour wasused to investigate halal food consumption in France. In general, the classical TPBdeterminants of intention explain only little variance in intention to consume halalmeat and the regression coefficients are low compared to other food choice studiesusing the TPB. Apparently, the consumption of halal meat for Muslims is quitedifferent from the consumption of “regular” meat or other foods for non-Muslims. Thereligious associations attached to halal meat probably make this decision more

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important for the Muslim consumer, which could lead to a different decision-makingprocess, including a specific set of predictors. Therefore, and second, we added twodeterminants that are associated with food decisions within a religion and migrationcontext (i.e. self-identity and dietary acculturation) that could help us better understandthe concept of religious meat consumption decisions. We can conclude that in general, apositive personal attitude towards the consumption of halal meat, the influence of peersand the perceived control over consuming halal meat contribute to predicting theintended consumption of halal meat among Muslims. Perceived availability of halalmeat does not seem to be a barrier for consuming halal meat; neither is consumptionstrongly driven by habitual behaviour in the sense of behaviour displayed “withoutthinking”.

Muslims with a low Muslim self-identity intend to eat halal meat not only becausethey find it very important for themselves, but also as their personal conviction,whereas Muslims with a strong Muslim self-identity are rather influenced by peers intheir social environment, their attitude towards halal meat and the degree of controlthey feel to have over eating halal meat. When considering the degree of dietaryacculturation, low acculturated Muslims rely completely on their positive attitudetowards halal meat whereas high dietary acculturated Muslims rely on attitude andperceived control.

We can conclude that the more Muslims accustom their dietary behaviours and theless they identify with their religion, the more the classic model of the TPB becomesvalid. Nevertheless, it might be wrong to conclude that the TPB model only workswithin western populations since it has been successfully used by van Hooft et al.(2004, 2006) in explaining job search behaviour among ethnic minorities in theNetherlands. Further research is needed to investigate the validity of the TPB modelwithin this population.

Our research has some practical implications. First of all, our results show that thedecision-making process that precedes halal consumption is different from regularmeat consumption decision-making processes. Consequently, different marketingtechniques should be used to stimulate halal meat versus regular meat consumption. Inaddition, different “decision” segments exist within the halal market (i.e. segments thatbase their decision on different variables). Muslims with a low Muslim identity can bemotivated through communications to buy halal meat by slogans that focus on theindividual’s opportunity to makes his/her own choice while Muslims with a highMuslim self-identity would be more appealed by messages focussing on the socialimportance of consuming halal on the one hand and the control consumers have overattaining halal meat on the other hand. In addition, the halal food consumption ofhighly acculturated Muslims could also benefit from enhancing control feelings.

The present research is the first research studying halal meat consumptiondeterminants with Islamic respondents. The rather low regression scores are a bitdisappointing but give us an idea of which variables are important in understandingand predicting halal meat consumption. Several methodological, conceptualisation andoperationalisation issues could explain the rather low regression coefficients. Possibly,the behaviour under investigation (i.e. halal food consumption) is a sensitive subject forthe respondents because of its religious association. Research on a “neutral” topic (jobsearch behaviour) with a similar respondent group in the Netherlands (Van Hooft et al.,2006) did result in higher regression coefficients of the TPB variables denoting that the

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low regression coefficients in our study are probably caused by the topic of the studyand not by the specific population itself. This study also faces some limitations tomethodology used. We opted for including a number of potential determinants of halalmeat consumption, but other characteristics could also have been considered (inaddition to the items in the present study), such as trust (Stefani et al., 2005), moralobligation (Shepherd, 1999), involvement or values (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006).Future research could investigate other individual characteristics that are important inreligious food decisions. Furthermore, several constructs were measured as singleitems instead of multi-item constructs. In addition, it might be possible that thephrasing of some of our statements is responsible for the low regression coefficients(e.g. motivation to comply). In hindsight, because of the sensitive, religious, nature ofthe topic, some questions like social or subjective norms, personal norms and personalrelevance could be asked more indirectly. Finally, the sample was taken from Franceonly; respondents were selected using convenience sampling; and they were contactedduring a specific event. Each of these issues imposes limits on drawing generalisationfrom our findings to the broader Muslim migrant population living in WesternEuropean countries. Nevertheless, our findings shed some initial lights on the validityof the TPB, extended with religious self-identify and dietary acculturation, forexplaining halal meat consumption decisions among the immigrant Muslim populationin France.

Practical implications extend to food policy decision-makers and food marketerswho might pursue identity- and/or acculturation-related strategies in their distributionand communication efforts targeted at the growing halal food market segment inWestern Europe.

Note

1. A first religious meeting of this kind was organised in the early 1980s for members of theIslamic associations in France. Now, this yearly meeting has become an international eventreassembling more than 50,000 (according to the UOIF) Muslims, especially originating fromNorth-Africa and residing all over France and even in neighbouring countries. During thesefour days, visitors attend conferences, buy books, clothes or other things at the many standsavailable and pray. Some Muslims consider this yearly meeting as a pilgrimage and installthemselves for four days of prayer and religious exchanges; others just visit the fair for oneday with some friends or family to pass a nice day. The UOIF was founded in 1983 when 15Islamic organisations located in Frances major cities felt the need to exchange experiencesand coordinate their efforts. Today, the UOIF regroups about 200 organisations. Its maingoal is to meet the cultural, social, educational and humanitarian needs of Muslims inFrance. The UOIF’s activities are: financial and legal assistance for building or buyingmosques, organisation of seminars, diffusion of practical information for Muslims (forexample a prier calendar), summer camps for children and regional and national meetingssuch as the one at “Le Bourget” in Paris, France. For further information: www.uoif-online.com

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Further reading

Armitage, C.J. and Conner, M. (1999), “The theory of planned behaviour: assessment of predictivevalidity and perceived control”, British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 35-54.

Bonne, K. and Verbeke, W. (2006), “Values informing halal meat production and the delivery ofhalal credence quality”, Agriculture and Human Values.

Bureau des marches internationaux, Direction generale des services a l’industrie et aux marches,Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada (2001), Rapport surle marche des produitsalimentaires halal, Bureau des marches internationaux, Direction generale des services al’industrie et aux marches, Agriculture et Agroalimentaire.

Geertz, C. (1972), “Religion as a cultural system”, in Lessa, W.A. and Vogt, E.Z. (Eds), Reader inComparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach, Harper & Row, New York, NY,pp. 167-78.

Peterson, L.R. and Roy, A. (1985), “Religiosity, Anxiety and meaning and purpose: religion’sconsequences for psychological well-being”, Review of Religious Research, Vol. 27,pp. 49-62.

Corresponding authorWim Verbeke can be contacted at: Wim.Verbeke@UGent.be

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