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Background: This paper discusses halal awareness of food micro and small-scale enterprises (food MSEs) in West Java Province, Indonesia. Halal awareness is the first step toward obtaining halal certificates, which confirm that the product is lawful according to Islamic Sharia. Unfortunately, most of the food sold on the market do not have halal certificates due to a lack of halal awareness and intention on the part of the entrepreneurs. Methods: This study aims at measuring the level of halal awareness and the intention of food MSE entrepreneurs to register halal certification. Halal awareness is assumed to be influenced by knowledge of halal and MSEs' entrepreneurial perceptions of the benefits of halal certificates. Furthermore, halal awareness, attitudes, and perceptions of ease of procedures will encourage the intention to register halal certification. An electronic Google Form with a cover letter and a set of questionnaires was distributed to collect data. Structural Equation Modelling – Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) was chosen to evaluate the adopted theoretical models in the exploratory research. Results: The results show that halal awareness is influenced by knowledge of halal and perceptions of benefits. Moreover, halal awareness influences positively the intention to obtain a halal certificate, but the intention is not significantly affected by attitudes and perceptions of procedures for obtaining halal certification. This shows that halal awareness will increase the intention to register halal certification. However, it does not impact attitudes/actions to register for halal certification due to the misconceptions about the procedures for obtaining halal certificates. Conclusions: Micro and small entrepreneurs in West Java Province, Indonesia have a good level of awareness about halal food. However, their products are not halal-certified due to the perceptions of the procedures for obtaining halal certificates, which are relatively complicated and costly for micro and small-scale businesses. |
