Chapter 4: Exploring the Role of Social and Environmental Values in Shaping Muslim Consumer Religiosity

This paper offers an insight into five Muslim consumer religiosity factors including social and environmental elements that are essential to sustainability. These factors shed some light on understanding Muslim consumer religiosity in their purchase intention of food products and enable more responsible and greener approach to tap into Muslim consumer markets. An exploratory-sequential research mixed method research design was employed in identifying the new Muslim consumer religiosity factors. It involved applying exploratory and confirmatory approaches. Collection of primary data was carried out twice, involving 1,127 Muslim respondents in Malaysia. Data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS 27 for exploratory and confirmatory stages, respectively. This paper proposed Muslim consumer religiosity factors derived from newly developed instrument that offers wider perspectives on religiosity for Muslim consumers in understanding their behavior. These factors are religious belief, norms, environmental responsiveness, social responsiveness, and knowledge. This paper advances new elements of religiosity for Muslim consumers. Nonetheless, further research would enrich the body of knowledge on religiosity and consumer behavior beyond a single Malaysian consumer context. Further replication in different research settings would present value-added insight to the overall Muslim consumer religiosity. Findings would contribute to the rising attention on Halal food industry that encourages more sustainable approach to engaging with Muslim consumers. This could be addressed by understanding Muslim consumers through socio-environmental aspects that act as integral part of Muslim religiosity and consumer behavior affecting their purchasing behavior. Ultimately, it proposes new multidimensional religiosity addressing socio-environmental aspects that are essential to understanding Muslim consumer behavior.