THE DETERMINATION OF CONSUMER TENDENCIES TO HALAL PRODUCTS: A CASE STUDY OF KASTAMONU

THE DETERMINATION OF CONSUMER TENDENCIES TO HALAL PRODUCTS: A CASE STUDY OF KASTAMONU Abstract Halal product is the one which the Muslims are allowed to consume according to the Quran. When it is looked at the literature, it can be said that ‘halal’ concept has been spreading in different sectors such as tourism, food, drink etc. In that environment, people try to consume logically in terms of their religious belief. From the Islamic perspective, it has being worked on that situation in order to see the current tendency of people and spread it to the large inhabitants. The purpose of this study is to look at the tendency of local people in Kastamonu to halal products and determine the current position of them. Questionnaire technique which is one of the quantitative research methods has been used in this research. Results have been analyzed in consideration of a statistical program. The findings showed that the most important points for local people live in Kastamonu are: they will continue to buy halal certified products, they think halal products are good for health and balance of affordable price-good quality about halal certified products needs to be preserved. Keywords: Halal Products, Tendency of Consumers, Islam. Özet Helal ürün, Kur’an’a göre Müslümanlar tarafından tüketilmesine izin verilen şeylerdir. Literatüre bakıldığında, turizm, yeme-içme vb. farklı sektörlerde helal konseptinin yayıldığı söylenebilir. Bu çevrede, insanlar kendi dini inanışlarına göre mantıklı bir şekilde tüketimde bulunmaya çalışmaktadır. Islami bakış açısıyla bakıldığında, bu durum üzerinde insanların mevcut eğiliminin görülebilmesi ve bunun geniş çevrelere yayılabilmesi adına çalışmalar yapılmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Kastamonu’da yaşayan halkın helal ürünlere olan eğiliminin ölçülmesi ve onların mevcut pozisyonlarının belirlenmesidir. Bu çalışmada, nicel araştırma yöntemlerinden olan anket tekniği uygulanmıştır. Araştırma bulguları bir istatistiksel program aracıyla analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın bulgularına bakıldığında, Kastmaonu’daki yerel halkın helal ürün satın almaya devam edeceği, helal ürünlerin sağlık için yararlı olduğu ve helal sertifikalı ürünlerde uygun fiyat-iyi kalite dengesinin korunması gerektiği maddeleri en önemlileri olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Helal Ürünler, Tüketici Eğilimleri, İslam. INTRODUCTION Consuming is an indispensable need for all people around the world. Dressing, using personal care products, cleaning equipment, having trips, staying in different accommodation establishments and food and drink are the main and common products and services. Many people try to spend effort in order to consume products and services in a healthy way. Those points are also mentioned in religions books. Qur’an is one of them. According to Qur’an, people have to consume everything in halal way. There are many factors that affect consumers’ purchasing decisions. One of them is religious belief which is signified as a cultural factor. In the studies related to marketing, it is justified that religion, one of the key elements of culture, has a strong impact on consumer behavior and buying conduct (Essoo and Dibb, 2004: 684; Soesilowati, 2010: 153). Consumers may not buy products or services because of not to find them appropriate in terms of their religious belief while consumers sometimes buy something by acting in accordance with their religious belief. At this point, ‘’halal product’’ concept engages as an effective component in terms of product preferences of consumers on their religious belief (Kurtoglu and Cicek, 2013). Halal product is defined as an output which does not contain any forbidden element according to Islamic rules; prepared, processed, carried and stored in an area which is purified from those components; and which does not any connection directly with food that is prepared by not taking into account any rules (Ambali and Bakar, 2014: 5). According to one so confidential book, ‘The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam’, which was written by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, worldwide respected Islamic scientist and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, the locution Halal is described as, ‘’That which is permitted, with respect to which no restriction exists, and the doing of which the law-giver, Allah, is allowed’’ (Al-Qaradawi, 2013: 25). Hence, Halal has a meaning which is ‘allowable’ as to Islamic teaching (Sharia law). Additionally, halal can be also evaluated as one of five movements that categorizes the morality of human action in Islam, others being Fard (mandatory), Mustahabb (proposed), Makruh (disliked), and Haram (forbidden) (Faruki, 1966). From the Islamic view, when it is looked at the halal term in tourism, it as described above points to any implementation or operation in tourism which is ‘allowable’ according to Islamic teaching (Battour and Ismail, 2016). For being a halal product, there are also some crucial points except Islamic rules. Many different authorities can certify the product as halal. A lot of countries from different parts of the world, as well as primary food producers and exporters, are taking initiatives to capitalize upon the blowing up potential of the world-embracing market for halal products and services. Those countries do not only concentrate on the production and supply of halal products and services, but also halal certification. For instance, Turkey, Pakistan, Brunei and Bangladesh have been working on the improvement of halal certification procedures and brokers. Halal certification is not valid only for Muslim countries, but also countries like Thailand and Singapore have some developments and implementations on halal certification. Furthermore, some Muslim foundations, for example, IFANCA (Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America), are involved in halal certification, too (World Halal Forum, 2011). (Halal Certification.pdf). When it is looked at Turkey, GIMDES (Association for the Inspection and Certification of Food and Supplies) and TSE (Turkish Standardization Institute) play key roles in terms of halal certification. It is thought that the majority of local people in Kastamonu are conservative. That is why the researchers tried to explore the current situation of consumer tendencies to halal products in this research. Also, the definitions of halal and halal product have been given by predicating to different sources. Then, literature review has been scanned and some important researches related to the topic have been expressed. The researchers aimed to determine the tendency of consumers in Kastamonu to halal products whether they are interested to consume those products or not. Increasing people’s awareness on halal products will be the main magnificent contribution in this study. LITERATURE REVIEW ‘Halal product’ term contains any kind of goods or services that people can consume. Tourism, food, drink, cosmetics, cleaning materials can be shown as examples. There can be seen some essential studies on this topic. According to the study done by Carboni et al. (2016) for Tunisia, it has been showed up that Muslim consumers from the tourism sector and the academic field began to request determined requirements significantly. In this case, attracting Muslim tourists is regarded a decent business chance in an increasing number of Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Despite Tunisia is a Muslim-majority country, there is not any particular effort in order to attract more tourists and demand halal products. That research demonstrated that tourism operators are growing into persistently more familiar with the worldwide opening up to goods deliberated for Muslim consumers. Occasions presented by this segment have been identified and proactive manners towards Muslim-oriented tourism have emerged as a differentiation instrument. In another study, it was understood that Bangladesh has great opportunities to enhance Islamic tourism as the country has many natural beauties, Islamic heritage, cultural and archeological heritage, historic heritage which can be potential tourism destinations. In this case, different establishments including Organization of Islamic Conference might play a key role. The authors have determined issues in developing Islamic tourism in Bangladesh. Additionally, they have presented some measures to improve that new tendency of tourism to expedite economic growth in Bangladesh (Fahim and Dooty, 2014). Japan, as a country, started to improve its halal tourism business because of the demand from the Muslim market. Goods and services for Muslims began to spread remarkably. People and foundations are conscious of the implications of the huge compliance against Halal. That is why halal tourism is going to be one of the niche products for the tourism sector in Japan (Gakkai, 2016). According to Samori et al. (2014), halal food standard has been developing in Malaysia by taking into account consumers’ tendency. That standard in Malaysia changes all regulations related to food and beverages into a standard to be adhered to by producers and marketers. This standard gives a decent advantage to Malaysia in order to promote itself in the global arena. As the leader of halal sector, the Malaysian government has been created essential plans to enhance and encourage participants in the sector. For the overall users, this standard gives guarantees quality in food and drinks while for the particular Muslim consumers, the standard reveals solutions for their doubt in food purchasing. At the same time, in the academic area, both pure science and humanities are able to venture into halal study as both sciences have varied importance in developing the halal industry (Samori et al., 2014). In a research has been studied in Malaysia and Brunei by Dali et al. (2009), consumers’ consideration about halal product has been examined. Also, the prices of those halal certificated goods have been investigated whether the consumers find them expensive or not comparing with non-halal certified products. By the end of research, it has been identified that consumers’ evaluations about halal products have been gathered under 11 factors which are promotion, place, attractiveness and quality, halal certification, price, sample product, market demand, small and medium scaled producers, halal certification for Muslim companies, the differences between halal certified and non-halal certified products and clear work. It was figured out that promotion, place, price, market demand, small and medium scaled producers and clear work factors play key role in terms of perceiving halal certified products more expensive than non-halal certified products (Kurtoğlu and Cicek, 2013). The current developments show that movements by Muslims to non-Muslim countries have been increasing rapidly. Thus, those countries needed to meet Muslims’ needs and ways of life and they began to enhance their capacities in order to cater according to their preferences. In a paper done by Halkias et al. (2014), it finds out the case of Italy, where a big action is being made to present halal goods and even accommodation and facilities that cover the main tenets of Muslim belief. A different research aimed to investigate the applicability of ‘’Theory of Planned Behavior’’ so as to measure the intention of halal cosmetic products preferences of Malaysian consumers. In that study, it was found that subjective norms are positively associated with the intention and attitude of preferring halal cosmetic goods. Furthermore, it has been figured out that attitude has had a small influence on intention of preferring halal cosmetic products (Aziz et al, 2010). Wan-Hassan and Awang (2009) looked into administrative and promotional works about halal food of the restaurants operated in New Zeland. Consequently, the results demonstrated that the majority of restaurants mentioned that Muslim tourist market is not important for them. Furthermore, those restaurants are unwilling to promote halal products and those food and beverage businesses do not want to put any sign in this direction just out of the places. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The researchers began to study this topic by asking ‘’How is the tendency of people in Kastamonu to halal products?’’ A research question explains what kind of teaching and telling attempt the research has (Maxwell, 2005: 62). The purpose of this study is to look at the tendency of local people in Kastamonu to halal products and determine the current position of them. A purpose of a study is a kind of findings that will able to be found by the end of a research (Kucuk, 2014: 105). This study is important on behalf of seeing the tendency in Kastamonu and stepping forward at that topic. Population and Sample In this study, descriptive research method has been used. Descriptive researches are kinds of researches that find out the features of variables which are taking part in a fact (Türker, 2011). Local people live in Kastamonu formed the population of study. In this population, the authors have decided to the sample. Simple random sampling, one of the random sampling methods, has been implemented in the research. In random sampling, which is the most basic one of probability-based sampling techniques, it is given the fair chance to each factor in research population (Gurbuz and Sahin, 2015). Measuring Tool The data has been collected by questionnaire technique which is one of quantitative research methods. When the authors prepared the scale, they have benefited by a research named, ‘’A study on the Preferences of Consumers of Halal-Certified Products: A Case Study of Istanbul’’ that done by Ozdemir et al. (2014). As can be understood from the reliability test, this measuring tool is reliable to use it. Data Collection The authors have handed out 340 questionnaires to the people who stay in apartments by drop-collect method. 1 week later, the surveys have been collected by the authors, but 15 of them were in valid. That is why 325 surveys have been taken in to account. RESEARCH FINDINGS The questionnaire has been implemented to 325 respondents by drop and collect technique. In those 325 participants, cooks, farmers, retired, waiters, state officers, students and drivers have formed the majority of respondents. According to the results, socio-demographic features and tendency of consumers to halal products can be seen tables below: Table 1: Demographic Information of Participants Variables Distribution n % Gender Male 222 68,3 Female 103 31,7 Total 325 100,0 Age 18-24 150 46,2 25-39 98 30,2 40-49 42 12,9 50-64 31 9,5 65+ 3 0,9 Missing 1 0,3 Total 325 100,0 Marital Status Single 189 58,2 Married 132 40,6 Missing 4 1,2 Total 325 100,0 Education Degree Uneducated 4 1,2 Literate 12 3,7 Primary education 94 28,9 High school 80 24,6 Associate degree 33 10,2 Undergraduate 68 20,9 Master 24 7,4 Doctorate 3 0,9 Other 4 1,2 Missing 3 0,9 Total 325 100,0 Monthly Income (TL: Turkish Liras) Less than 1000 TL 109 33,5 1001-2000 TL 98 30,2 2001-3000 TL 66 20,3 3001-4000 TL 37 11,4 4001 and over 14 4,3 Missing 1 0,3 Total 325 100,0 As can be viewed from the table above, in 325 respondents, males were the majority with the number of 222 (68,3%) while female respondents were 103 (31,7%). When it is looked at the ages in Table 1; 18-24 age group has constituted the biggest part of respondents with 150 (46,2%) while 98 (30,2%) of respondents were in 25-39 age group. Only 3 (0,9%) people were 65 or over years old with the minimum number. Table 1 also tells us; 189 (58,2%) of respondents were single while 132 (40,6%) of them were married. The answers that 4 (1,2%) respondents had given are not valid. In the education part of research, many different degrees have been occurred. For example, 94 (28,9%) respondents are ‘primary education’ graduates. ‘High school’ graduates follow them with 80 (24,6%) participants. Just after them, the bachelor respondents has the third biggest number with 68 (20,9%) according to the results. On the other hand, 4 (1,2%) participants emphasized that they have never studied in a school while 3 (0,9%) respondents have ‘doctorate’ degree. 3 (0,9%) of respondents have given invalid answers. Different monthly incomes of respondents can be seen in Table 6 above. The participants who have ‘less than 1000 TL’ monthly income is dramatically high with the number of 109 (33,5%). Following this, 98 (30,2%) respondents mentioned that their monthly income is between 1001-2000 TL. The participants have ‘4001 and over’ monthly income occur the minority with the number of 14 (4,3%). 1 (0,3) respondent’s answer is invalid. Table 2: Halal Certified Product Used No Halal Certified Product Used Frequency Percent 1 Personal care products 16 4,9 2 Food 167 51,4 3 Cleaning equipment 16 4,9 4 Personal care products and food 35 10,8 5 Personal care products and cleaning equipment 3 0,9 6 Food and cleaning equipment 25 7,7 7 Personal care products, food and cleaning equipment 59 18,2 Missing 4 1,2 Total 325 100,0 It has been also asked whether the respondents use the halal certified products or not. The question was ‘’Which kind of products group that have halal certification do you use? (You can mark more than one option). According to the answers, 167 (51,4%) of total respondents have mentioned that they consume ‘halal food’. 16 (4,9%) respondents mentioned that they use halal certified ‘personal care products’ while the same number had been formed for ‘cleaning equipment with the number of 16 (4,9%). 59 (18,2%) people agreed that they use halal certified ‘personal care products, food and cleaning equipment’ while only 3 (0,9%) respondents emphasized that they use halal certified ‘personal care products and cleaning equipment’. The answers had been given by 4 (1,2%) respondents were invalid. They have been mentioned in Table 2 as missing answers. Table 3: Reliability Test Cronbach’s Alpha Cronbach’s Alpha Based on Standardized Items Number of Items 0,923 0,925 19 ‘’Tendency of Consumers to Halal Products’’ part of the survey which is formed by 19 variables has been tested in order to see whether it is reliable or not and it seemed that the scale is reliable with the number of 0,923. Table 4: Tendency of Consumers to Halal Products No Tendency of Consumers to Halal Products Numbers of Respondents Mean 1 Consuming halal certified products is beneficial for health. 324 4,12 2 I am going to continue to buy halal certified products. 324 4,13 3 Halal certified products always satisfy consumers’ expectations. 322 3,67 4 Advertisements of halal certified products lead me to buy them. 319 3,60 5 If the product I will buy has halal certified, it becomes one of the reasons affects my purchase choice. 324 3,91 6 Balance of affordable price-good quality about halal certified products needs to be preserved. 323 4,09 7 Even halal certified products cannot be found in the city that I live in; I buy them by online shopping. 319 3,26 8 I suggest to my friends and surroundings the halal certified products that I buy, too. 323 3,96 9 I am willing to pay more to the halal certified products. 320 3,43 10 I am willing to take a long haul in order to buy halal certified products. 321 3,44 11 Buying halal certified products gives warm-and-fuzzy to me. 321 3,94 12 Halal certified products are more proper for palatal delight. 319 3,92 13 I also care to packaging while I buy halal certified products. 322 3,91 14 The brand of halal products is important. 324 3,99 15 I prefer to buy halal certified products after I try the sample one. 314 3,87 16 It is difficult to find halal certified products. 321 3,36 17 I take care to use the halal certified cleaning equipment. 323 3,50 18 It is important for me to buy halal certified products. 321 4,08 19 I think, nutritive value of halal certified products are higher than others. 323 3,80 (1: Totally Disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Neutral, 4: Agree, 5: Totally Agree) In the last part of survey, tendency of consumers in Kastamonu to halal products has been tried to determine by 19 expressions. Those statements have measured how far local people in Kastamonu are enthusiastic to consume halal certified products. Scoring was like that: 1: Totally disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Neutral, 4: Agree and 5: Totally Agree. Although the number of respondents answered this questions change, it can be still said that almost all of respondents expressed their ideas to the statements. The number of respondents replied to the expressions can be seen in Table 4. As can be seen from Table 4; according to answers by given 324 respondents, they emphasized that they will continue to buy halal certified products with highest average which is 4,13. Following this, 324 respondents believe that halal certified products are good for health with 4,12. Apart from those, ‘Balance of affordable price-good quality about halal certified products needs to be preserved’ and ‘It is important for me to buy halal certified products’ expressions also have high mean average with 4,09 (323 respondents) and 4,08 (321 respondents). When it is looked at the minimum averages of expressions; according to the opinions given by 319 respondents, people are not willing to buy halal certified products by online shopping if they do not find in the city they live in. The mean of this expression was 3,26 which is between ‘Neutral’ and ‘Agree’. Additionally, 321 respondents have given ideas to ‘It is difficult to find halal certified products’ with the average of 3,36. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The world has been giving more and more options and opportunities to the people. Many things from different sectors became easy to reach for people. At this point, humanity may forget about their health condition. Halal products are the good examples of healthy ones. Every detail about human health had been thought in Qur’an. So, as it is known, halal term comes from the book. As a new trend, halal products may include lots of things such as food, hotel, cleaning equipment, personal care products etc. For determining the consumers’ tendency, the authors of this research have done the study by implementing questionnaire in Kastamonu. According to the results, as it had been already mentioned in research findings part, some important points regarding the tendency of consumers have been occurred. For instance, halal certified products have been mentioned as a benefit for health with a high average of agreement. Willingness of continuing to buy halal certified products also has been emphasized by respondents. Furth ermore, most of the respondents agreed that buying halal certified products is important for them. According to expressions that participants answered in Table 4, it can be said that people live in Kastamonu have high tendency of consuming halal certified products. In the light of this information, those recommendations might be given: Promotions about halal products can be created on stands in order to raise the awareness, Benefits of using halal products can be transmitted by brochures, Number of halal markets can be increased, Halal products’ prices can be reduced to satisfy more people. References Al-Qaradawi, Y. (2013). The lawful and the prohibited in Islam: Shoruuk International. Ambali, A. R., & Bakar, A. N. (2014). People's Awareness on Halal Foods and Products: Potential Issues for Policy-makers. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 121, 3-25. Aziz, A., Amin, M., & Isa, Z. (2010, October). The perception to choose Halal Cosmetics products: An empirical study for Malaysian consumer. In 6th International Conference on Business, Management and Economics. 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