Theorising Attitude Towards Islamic Financing Adoption in an Integrative Model of Behavioural Prediction : A Proposed Conceptual Framework

Halal Food and Islamic finance industry in Malaysia have been reported to be the two fastest growing Shari’a-compliant industries with an annual growth rate at 15% to 20%. Despite being the largest market in Islamic finance, there is a low penetration of Islamic financing among halal business operators in Malaysia. In fact, there is a limited empirical research on the linkage between halal food industry and Islamic finance industry. Thus, it is important to examine the connection between these industries. Besides, a study on the attitude of business operators towards Islamic financing is important to identify what factors may have influenced the attitude of halal business operators in choosing their financing method to either conventional or Islamic financing. This study aims at theorising attitude towards Islamic financing adoption using the Integrative Model of Behavioural Prediction (IMBP). An empirical study is conducted by reviewing literature and seven antecedents of attitude identified for the study. The proposed antecedents that influence attitude of food service business owners towards Islamic financing adoption include religion obligation, business support, cost benefits, reputation, customer service quality, Islamic financial literacy and Halal literacy. The research findings contribute towards new theoretical knowledge by discovering factors affecting the attitudes towards the adoption of Islamic financing in businesses using the IMBP theory. Besides, it may further help the government and policy makers in formulating strategies and policies related with the development of halal industry especially in integrating the halal production and Islamic financing