Factors Impacting Purchase Intention toward Shariah Compliant Hotels An Empirical Investigation on Muslim Consumers’ Hotel Patronizing Behaviour

Abstract

With the increasing number of Muslim tourists, the implementation of Shariah Compliant Hotels (SCH), in the hospitality and tourism industry, has emerged as an important issue. Shariah compliance has become an integral factor that affects Muslim consumers’ choice of hotels. Henceforth, the current research has been crafted primarily to investigate the factors that may affect Muslim consumers purchase intention of Shariah compliant hotels. Particularly, this study attempts to determine the association between halal image, halal awareness, religiosity, service quality and purchase intention of Shariah compliant hotels. For the purpose of attaining these objectives, a conceptual framework has been derived in accordance to the findings of prior literature. Later on, as the study in quantitative in nature, primary data have been collected through the employment of self-structured questionnaire from Muslim travelers in Malaysia particularly, Kuala Lumpur. The collected data were later analyzed through the means of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). From the statistical analysis a number of meaningful findings were derived. The outcomes of the study revealed that halal image, halal awareness as well as religiosity are significantly related to Muslim consumers purchase intention toward Shariah compliant hotels whereas; service quality is not significantly associated to purchase intention. The findings of the study will be of great importance to marketers and hoteliers for developing effective strategies in order to cater to the needs of the Muslim consumers. From an academic perspective, the study will open the door for conducting more researches on Shariah compliant hotels in the future.