118 | P age Determinants of Halal Purchase Intention: Case in Perlis Noor Afzainiza Afendi 1 , Farah Lina Azizan 2 , Aflah Isa Darami 3 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Available Online May 2014 This study is to determine the factors that influence purchase intention of Halal products among consumers at selected supermarkets around Perlis. 100 were randomly selected to be respondents in this study through the questionnaire. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0. Descriptive analysis and correlation were applied to this study. The results indicated that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control had positive impact on intention to purchase Halal products. It is suggested that future research can be done in fast growing cities and the result that we get will be more comparable and provide workable direction in Halal products. Key words: Attitude; Subjective norms; Perceived behavioral control; Intention to purchase Halal products. 1. Introduction Today, the Muslim consumers have become more conscious and sensitive towards Halal requirements. Muslim consumers are looking for specific products tailored to meet their religious and community needs. They have begun questioning and avoiding goods which were not certified as Halal and which do not have the Halal sign (Sadek, 2001). However, Al-Harran and Low (2008) stated that if the consumers are unable to locate the Halal sign, they would read its ingredients, to seek for the Halal-ness of the products to be consumed. Halal can be linked to religious fervor; and beliefs that is cleaner, healthier, and tastier (Burgmann, 2007). Mainstream supermarkets started to embrace and reach out to this growing community which unequivocally defines itself by faith. Hence, retailers tend to understand the needs of the Muslim consumers are changing and they are committed to meet these evolving demands. That is the ultimate aim of organization which is to understand and meet with the Muslim consumer lifestyles and purchasing behavior can help a company in gaining a better understanding and planning on doing business in order to obtain a critical strategic advantage (Suwanvijit & Promsa-ad, 2009). In that sense, the researchers chose to conduct a study on Muslim consumers’ purchase intention of Halal products, as people usually do what they intend to do.It is important to understand the factors that affect consumers’ purchase intention as it lead to a success of a company, which is agreed by Liaw (2008), as consumers’ purchase intention increased, they will likely to share their experiences with people nearby, which known as word-of-mouth, and will give others their suggestions as well as recommendations. Thus, it will be able to influence other potential consumers to purchase the products, to be more specific, the Halal products, which are seek by Muslim consumers in abiding a set of Halal dietary laws, or prescriptions for advancement of their well being (Ismail & Fatt, 2004). Therefore, by understanding consumers’ purchase intention, supermarkets, hypermarkets and retailers will be able to meet the actual consumers’ needs and wants which will lead to satisfaction among consumers (Espejel, Fandos & Flavián, 2008). It is known that the satisfied consumers will likely to repeat their purchase, or in other words re-patronage the supermarket, which is one of the company’s goals, to make profits in the long-run and to be at a competitive advantage compared to its rivals. At this rate, the researcher will look in deep into several factors which are attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control and the way it influences purchase intention among Muslim consumers. Looking to the scenario, allows researcher to examine the consumers' Halal products purchase intention, as well as applying the Theory of Planned to the study. 1 School of International Studies, College of Law, Government and International Studies, University Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, Kedah, Malaysia, Email:afzainizaafendi@yahoo.com 2 School of Business Management, College of Business, University Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, Kedah, Malaysia, Email: farahlina_azizan@yahoo.com 3 Faculty of Business Management, University Teknologi MARA, 85000, Segamat, Johor, Malaysia, Email: aflah5610@gmail.com