“Analysis of factors influencing intention to purchase halal Japanese food: The moderating role of religiosity”

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the desire to purchase halal Japanese cuisine using the theory of planned behavior and religiosity as a moderator. The study employs the structural equation modeling partial least square (SEM PLS) method to analyze data obtained from questionnaires administered to 202 Muslim consumers at halal Japanese restaurants (Ramen Ya, Marugame Udon, and Sushi Tei). The findings demonstrate that attitudes (β = 0.228, p = 0.074), subjective norms (β = 0.198, p = 0.076), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.133, p = 0.035), and religiosity (β = 0.459, p = 0.000) significantly affect the intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal. In addition, halal awareness (β = 0.593, p = 0.000) and religiosity (β = 0.227, p = 0.039) also have a significant positive effect on attitude. However, the presence of religiosity does not significantly moderate the relationship between attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control towards purchase intention. Although religiosity does not act as a moderator, the outcomes of this analysis are expected to be useful for the Japanese halal cuisine sector, notably in countries with a majority Muslim population, to consider religiosity as an essential factor in increasing purchase intention.


INTRODUCTION
The term halal indicates permissible.In contrast, foods called haram have a greater harm or content that harms humans and violates the law (Alam & Sayuti, 2011).Halal products can be defined as products following Islamic law and far from being forbidden in terms of content and non-content (Vizano et al., 2021).In addition, halal and haram products are among the most critical factors for a Muslim daily (Atief et al., 2022).Consuming food and drink that is lawful and good for health is also something every Muslim must fulfill (Siregar & Alam, 2018).The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center (RISSC) reports that 86.7% of Indonesia's entire population, or 231.06 million individuals, identify as Muslims (Sari, 2023).
Food or drinks that are said to be halal come not only from the raw material but also from the processing, the way to get it, the packaging, the cleanliness, and the distribution (Imtihanah, 2022).With the rapid development of the food and beverage industry, culinary origins from Japan are slowly starting to surface and indoctrinate Indonesian people to try new culinary delights without having to go far to their native land.The behavior of Muslim consumers about cuisine is very diverse, but it can be a step to fulfill all their needs by using and consuming goods and services (Mu'arrofah et al., 2020).

LITERATURE REVIEW
A consumer's purchase interest is known as purchase intention (Ashfahany et al., 2023).There are four aspects of intention: behavior, goals, situation, and time (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975).Individuals who buy halal products have fulfilled their role as devout Muslims (Ibrahim & Ismail, 2015).When a consumer intends to buy food at a Japanese restaurant, the consumer may also be carried away by buying behavior at a Japanese restaurant.The greater the consumer's intent to act in a specific way, the more probable a behavior will occur (Ajzen, 1991).
The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is an expanded theory from the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975).However, it became a theory that led to research pertaining to the conduct of humans (Ajzen, 1991).TPB explains that there are three independent variables, namely attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.In TPB, behavior is a function of intention to do something (Sniehotta et al., 2014).Individuals will review other factors before doing something (Setiawan & Setyorini, 2015).
Religiosity is the level of deepening an individual attitude regarding how much the individual is committed to religion and what is taught by his religion (Johnson et al., 2001).Religion can affect attitudes because faith places the basic moral principles of an individual (Hasyim, 2022).This proves that religiosity and attitude have a positive connection (Abd Rahman et al., 2015).In addition, religion can affect individual attitudes, behavior, and decisions in buying food (Pettinger et al., 2004).
Their religious beliefs may also influence consumers' interest in consuming halal food (Aziz et al., 2019).Some religions have certain restrictions on consuming food (Ambali & Bakar, 2014).Consumers will buy a product if it is convincing (Sharma et al., 2017).
Awareness is understanding an object or event (Aziz & Chok, 2013).Halal awareness is information about whether the food consumed is good or not, as well as what items are halal and suitable for consumption by Muslims (Mutmainah, 2018).Attitude, environment, and knowledge can affect an individual's halal awareness (Setiawati et al., 2019).Individuals who have an awareness of halal products means that these individuals have a particular interest in halal products (Azam, 2016).Halal awareness can be determined through the positive attitude of consumers.Consumers with a positive attitude toward halal awareness are very influential and profitable (Alam & Sayuti, 2011).The attitude of a person's concern for a halal food product can be seen through its cleanliness and halal certification (Febriandika et al., 2023).Muslim consumers who are strong in their religion will pay attention to whether the products and ingredients are manufactured according to Islamic law (Aziz & Chok, 2013) 2020) also demonstrate how familiarity with the term "halal" affects the desire to purchase products bearing that designation.
Subjective norms are individual beliefs about the decision to engage in a certain action (Damit et al., 2019).The term "subjective norm" relates to a type of social coercion that exists to regulate participation in a specific behavior (Ajzen, 1991).Social normative encouragement through close friends, relatives, family, co-workers, organizations, or institutions is a function that forms subjective norms and can shape individual behavioral intentions (Garg & Joshi, 2018).Normative encouragement strongly influences consumer intentions and motivation to believe in the beliefs of others (Bekoglu et al., 2016).The closest person has the greatest impact as one of the triggering factors for consumer behavioral intentions (Damit et al., 2019).
If the purchase of food labeled halal is someone's social will, consumers will choose to buy it.So, in this case, subjective norms are a form of social pressure that impacts purchasing decisions for food labeled halal (Alam & Sayuti, 2011).Furthermore, Billah et al. (2020) show that subjective norms significantly and positively affect the decision to purchase halal cuisine.
Perceived behavioral control means a performance simplicity or complexity of a preferred behavior (Ajzen, 1991).According to Ajzen (2001), it is a form of one's belief about factors that can facilitate or prevent someone from carrying out certain behaviors.
Perceived behavioral control can affect individual intentions toward behavior either directly or indirectly (Efendi, 2019).
The more factors that support a person in carrying out a behavior and the fewer factors that inhibit a person from carrying out a behavior, the higher the perceived behavioral control (Vizano et al., 2021).The higher perceived behavioral control leads to a greater intention to perform the behavior.If many factors influence individual behavior to buy food labeled halal, then individuals will tend to buy food labeled halal (Alam & Sayuti, 2011).
Attitude is the main thing that must be studied in order to interpret individual intentions (Aziz et al., 2019).The formation of attitudes is based on a person's belief in his behavior (Agistya & Khajar, 2022).Attitude is a view about something liked or disliked and a form of consumer belief that has a real impact and influence on an intention or desire to behave (Setyorini, 2013).Attitude is a form of overall assessment of a behavior that shows a person's good or bad in doing something (Vizano et al., 2021).A person's behavior determines how a person behaves.A positive attitude is an individual's preference as a form of reaction in treating something well.A negative attitude is an individual preference that shows a bad reaction or rejection of something (Ramandhanty et al., 2021).
Individuals with a positive attitude can increase their purchase intention toward halal products.
With consumers' positive attitude toward the halalness of a product, it can be interpreted that this is an interest from the consumer's personality toward halal food (Astuti & Asih, 2021).Therefore, attitude positively and significantly affects the intention to buy food labeled halal (Bashir et al., 2019).Mu'arrofah et al. ( 2020) also demonstrate a positive and significant effect of the attitude on the intention to purchase halal cuisine.Thus, all studies conclude that consumers' attitudes affect their intent to purchase halal-labeled products.
A moderator variable is one that, when included in an analysis, makes it easier to see how one variable affects another (Aguinis et al., 2017).Baron and Kenny (1986) argue that if the predictor variable is inconsistent, it must present a moderating variable.It is necessary to know why religiosity was chosen as a moderator variable.Lindridge (2005) explains that religiosity can form an individual's intention.This is because the independent variable on purchase intentions of halal Japanese food can yield positive outcomes when consumers' religiosity toward halal Japanese food is high.
Following the theoretical framework (Figure 1), hypotheses can be formulated to determine whether these theories are valid and to prove them through statistical analysis: H1: Religiosity positively and significantly affects attitudes toward Japanese food labeled halal.
H3: Halal awareness positively and significantly affects attitudes towards Japanese food labeled halal.
H4: Attitude positively and significantly affects the intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal.
H5: Subjective norms positively and significantly affect the intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal.
H6: Perceived behavioral control positively and significantly affects the intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal.
H7a: Religiosity strengthens the relationship between attitude and purchase intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal.
H7b: Religiosity strengthens the relationship between subjective norms and purchase intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal.
H7c: Religiosity strengthens the relationship between perceived behavioral control and purchase intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal.

METHODS
For this investigation, a quantitative methodology is employed.Questionnaires were sent out to a sample of 202 customers of halal-certified Japanese

PBC1-PBC4
Halal Awareness (HA1): I believe that Japanese food with a halal label is safer and suitable for consumption.(HA2): I ensure that the ingredients contained in the Japanese food I will buy are halal.(HA3): I always pay attention to halal information when I am going to eat something.(HA4): I always make certain that I can make sound decisions on purchasing Japanese food labeled halal.(HA5): I buy Japanese food labeled halal because the people around me are Muslims.

HA1-HA5
Religiosity (R1): I buy Japanese food labeled halal because I understand halal and haram as taught by Islam.(R2): Buying Japanese food labeled halal is part of my religious identity.(R3): I will refuse if there is an invitation to eat Japanese food that is not halal.(R4): I know that Allah forbids his servant from consuming food containing pork, blood, and intoxicating drinks.

IP1-IP6
Note: *items indicated by italic have been eliminated since they did not pass the validity test and reliability test.
restaurants in order to gather information for this study.Table 1 shows variable operationalization.
The study uses a five-point Likert scale, with 5 "strongly agree" and 1 "strongly disagree."The data processing method used SmartPLS 3.0 software.The total population in this survey is 202 consumers at Japanese restaurants labeled halal.
Respondents are Muslims who have purchased halal food products at Japanese restaurants, such as Marugame Udon, Ramen Ya, or Sushi Tei.

RESULTS
To test the data, the study uses convergent and discriminant validity.Discriminant validity testing ensures that each cross-loading value must have a value > 0.70 because this value can prove the presence of discriminant validity.Each indicator's correlation with a given variable must be larger than any other variable's.The calculation from the discriminant validity test using the AVE square value found in the Fornell-Larcker criterion is shown in Table 3.The hypothesis testing in Partial Least Square (PLS) can be called the inner model test (Vizano et al., 2021).The test was carried out by testing the significance of the effect of exogenous and endogenous variables using the t-statistics test on the output of SmartPLS 3.0.To find out the values of significance and R-squared, the study uses the bootstrapping technique (Table 5).The R-Square value in Table 5 for intention to purchase (IP) is 0.709, indicating that the model's structure is considered strong.This means that the intention to purchase (IP) can be explained by religiosity, halal awareness, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control with 70.9%.Variables beyond this analysis explain 29.1%.

Discriminant validity findings in
According to the findings, religiosity has a significant impact on attitudes.This is demonstrated by the original sample of 0.227, with a t-statistics value of 2.017 and a p-value of 0.039, which means it has a significant value at an error rate of 1%; H1 is supported.Religiosity also has a significant influence on purchase intention.This can be demonstrated by an original sample of 0.459 with a t-statistics value of 4.737 and a p-value of 0.000, which means it has a significant value at an error rate of 1%; H2 is supported.
Halal awareness significantly influences attitudes, as evidenced by the original sample of 0.593, with a t-statistics value of 6.271 and a pvalue of 0.000, which means it has a significant value at an error rate of 1%; H3 is supported.
Meanwhile, attitude has a significant influence on purchase intention.This can be seen from the original sample, which was 0.228, with a tstatistics value of 1.792 and a p-value of 0.074, which means it has a significant value at an error rate of 10%.Therefore, these results indicate that H4 is supported.
Subjective norms have a significant influence on purchase intentions.This is supported by the original sample of 0.198, with a t-statistics value of 1.776 and a p-value of 0.076, which means it has a significant value at an error rate of 5%.Consequently, these findings indicate that H5 is supported.Perceived behavioral control significantly influences purchase intention, as evidenced by the original sample of 0.133, with a t-statistics value of 2.115 and a p-value of 0.035, which means it has a significant value at the error of 1%.These findings, therefore, indicate that H6 is supported.
The role of religiosity as a moderating variable is represented through H7a, H7b, and H7c, which state that religiosity moderates the connection between attitudes toward purchase intentions of halal Japanese cuisine, religiosity moderates the correlation between subjective norms toward purchase intentions of halal Japanese food, and religiosity moderates the connection between perceived behavioral control toward the intention to buy halal Japanese food.Religiosity does not have a significant impact on consumer propensity to buy, as evidenced by H7a with 0.058, a t-statistics value of 0.648 and a p-value of 0.571, which means it has no significant value.For H7b, 0.082 with a t-statistics value of 1.178 and a pvalue of 0.239 means it has no significant value.For H7c, 0.094 with a t-statistics value of 0.820 and a pvalue of 0.413 means it has no significant value.

DISCUSSION
According to the outcomes, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control have an influence on the desire to purchase Japanese cui- Religiosity also positively influences the intention to buy halal Japanese cuisine.Similar findings were found by Awan et al. (2015).The greater the religiosity of consumers, the greater their purchasing power for halal Japanese cuisine due to their strong religious beliefs.
Halal awareness positively and significantly influences attitudes toward Japanese food labeled halal.Individuals with high awareness of the halalness of a Japanese food product can have a positive attitude toward Japanese food products.These results are consistent with those of Aziz and Chok (2013), who claim a significant difference in halal awareness of individuals in purchasing halal products.Individuals with high halal awareness will ensure product ingredients and devote close attention to facts pertaining to a product's halal status before buying it.
Attitudes have a positive major impact and are significant in buying decisions for Japanese cuisine labeled halal.The outcomes correspond with a previous inquiry conducted by Lada et al. (2009), who identified a positive and significant connection between attitude and purchase intention because, with high individual attitudes, the intention to buy will also be higher.Individuals tend to look for and buy Japanese food that is clearly halal and already has a halal logo and certification, such as Marugame Udon, Ramen Ya, and Sushi Tei.
Subjective norms positively and significantly influence the intention to purchase Japanese food labeled halal.These outcomes align with Marmaya et al. (2019), who stated that subjective norms positively and significantly influence intention.This is because friends, family, co-workers, relatives, or other closest people have the greatest impact as one of the triggering factors to consider while buying halal cuisine.
Perceived behavioral control positively and significantly influences purchase intentions for Japanese food labeled halal.The higher the perceived behavioral control of an individual toward purchasing halal products, the higher the probability of doing so.The conclusions align with those of Bashir et al. ( 2019), who provide evidence of a positive and significant correlation between perceived behavioral control and purchase intention.This proves that a person prefers to buy Japanese food, which is more expensive but has been trusted for its halal status, than Japanese food, which is relatively cheaper but less reliable for its halalness.
Religiosity, which moderates the relationship between attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, does not significantly influence the decision to purchase halal Japanese cuisine.The conclusions from this investigation are consistent with Memon et al.
(2020), who state that religiosity, which moderates the perceived behavioral control variable, does not have a significant value on purchase intention.The logical conclusion is that the religiosity variable affects intention directly and indirectly through attitude as a mediating variable.However, in this study, religiosity does not act as a moderating variable; religiosity does not strengthen the connection between attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on purchase intention.

CONCLUSION
The focus of the investigation is to explore the factors that could impact people's propensity to purchase halal-labeled Japanese cuisine.The inquiry revealed a positive correlation between attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, religiosity, and halal awareness to purchase halal cuisine among Japanese consumers.However, it also shows that religiosity, which moderates attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, does not affect the intention to buy Japanese food labeled halal.Attitude acts as a mediator between religiosity and intention, affecting intention both directly and indirectly.In this study, religiosity does not, however, function as a moderating factor.The association between attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control on purchase intention is not strengthened by religiosity.
The analysis is projected to benefit the Japanese halal cuisine business, particularly in nations where Muslims make up the majority, as well as increase understanding of the intention to buy halal Japanese cuisine.The recommendations are addressed to other researchers to increase the purchase intention for halal Japanese culinary items by using other variables that have not been found in this study.
Several limitations exist in the undertaken analysis.The subjects are only limited to Muslims in Indonesia, so further research can cover a wider area and other religions.Many different halal Japanese cuisine items are included in this survey, as opposed to a single one, so future research is anticipated to be capable of further testing by focusing more on one ethnic food and making comparisons with other ethnic foods that can influence purchase intention of halal Japanese food and produce better results.

Figure 1
Figure 1.Research model

(
IP1): I am prepared to pay additional money for a Japanese restaurant that sells halal food.(IP2): When buying Japanese food, I will consider halal food.(IP3): I will suggest my close friends buy Japanese cuisine labeled as halal.(IP4): I intend to buy Japanese food labeled halal because I feel guaranteed it is.(IP5): I am prepared to wait longer to buy halal Japanese food.(IP6): I intend to buy halal Japanese cuisine in the future.
. Setiawati et al. (2019) demonstrate a favorable and statistically significant connection between halal knowledge and preferences for halal-labeled foods.Pradana et al. (

Table 1 .
Variable operationalization Attitude (AT1): I like to buy Japanese food labeled halal.(AT2):Ialways look for Japanese food labeled halal.(AT3):Halalfood products are important to me and many people.(AT4):Ialways look for the halal logo before buying Japanese food at a Japanese restaurant.(AT5):EatingHalal Japanese food is my own choice.AT1-AT5 Subjective Norm (SN1): I believe most of the people closest to me choose to consume halal Japanese cuisine.(SN2):Myfamily prioritizes halal-labeled Japanese food products.(SN3):Myfamily and friends recommend that I should purchase Japanese cuisine products labeled as halal because the ingredients are guaranteed according to Islamic law.(SN4):I will follow the opinion of my family and friends and intend to buy Japanese food labeled as halal.(SN5):Thepeople closest to me think that Japanese food with a halal label is more important than Japanese food that is famous but does not yet have a halal label.(PBC1):It is easy to find Japanese food and Japanese restaurants labeled halal around where I live.(PBC2): I am cautious in choosing Japanese food products whose halal status is unclear.(PBC3): Japanese food labeled halal MUI/BPJH is slightly more expensive, but I have no difficulty with it; I can still afford it.(PBC4): I will take my time to pay close attention to Japanese food products that have the MUI/BPJH halal label because that is important to me.

Table 2 .
The study employs Cronbach's alpha value and composite reliability for reliability testing.The hypothesis is confirmed if it meets all the specifications for convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability tests.Factor loadings, Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, and average variance extracted

Table 5 .
R-square value