A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE MODERATING ROLE OF RELIGIOSITY

The global halal food market has experienced rapid expansion, yet scholarly understanding of how religiosity shapes consumer behaviour remains inconsistent across geographical contexts. While religiosity functions as a significant moderator in several Asian Muslim majority nations, empirical evidence from Nigeria reveals that religiosity tested as a direct predictor presents a weak and insignificant effect on halal purchase intention. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a theoretical framework grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The framework positions attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control (PBC), as determinants of purchase intention, with religiosity hypothesised as moderating the effects attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control on intentions towards purchase of halal food. Drawing on a synthesis of empirical studies from China, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Nigeria, the paper advances a theoretical framework towards testing four hypotheses. The study makes three contributions: clarifying the context‑ dependent nature of religiosity, refining the TPB framework by allowing, through statistical testing, for the exclusion of Perceived Behavioural Control as being moderated by religiosity, and providing a testable model for Nigeria and similar countries characterised by different halal certifications and limited empirical attention. The study recommends an empirical validation study through survey based structural equation modelling as well as policy efforts to unify halal certification standards to strengthen consumer trust.