Psychological needs as underlying forces of halal food purchase intention

Purpose During the past two decades, a tremendous increase in the trend of purchasing and consuming halal food has been witnessed both among Muslims and non-Muslims. However, the research on halal food is still inchoate and needs further exploration. Moreover, there is a dearth of research addressing the impact of intrinsic motivation on halal food purchase intention. This study aims to explore intrinsically motivated halal food purchase behaviour, by means of "self-determination theory," which is based on innate psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Design/methodology/approach A total of 308 responses were yielded from online questionnaires. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was then used to analyze the gathered data. Findings The results reveal that relatedness is the strongest driver of halal food purchase intention, followed by competence, while autonomy is found to be the weakest predictor of halal food purchase intention. The findings give marketers a new line to develop intrinsically motivated strategies with a special focus on close relationships. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is considered the first to explore the impact of "autonomy," "competence" and "relatedness" on halal food purchase intention.