Systematic literature review of halal food consumption-qualitative research era 1990-2017

Abstract

Purpose In view of increasing demand of halal foods and to properly address the needs of various types of consumers, the literary inquiries have sprung in this area since start of twenty-first century. However, the number of papers published in reputed journals is still pegged to the lowest ebb. This paper aims to systematically review all qualitative research papers, published in reputed journals, and to give specific directions to future researchers to move on and explore some other required areas. Design/methodology/approach The Campbell collaboration systematic literature review technique was adopted as methodology to screen out relevant studies. A total of 11 qualitative studies qualified the set criteria which have used various qualitative methodologies like interviews, focus groups, observations and netnography. The qualitative data were analyzed through nVivo software by adopting Spiggle’s steps of data analysis. Findings In these selected qualitative studies, around 24 main themes were extracted in total, out of which four themes were repeatedly discussed in most of these studies. Likewise, the details of geographical location of authors, type of methodology used, religious affiliation of respondents, type of journals, most prolific journals and citations of each paper were worked out and given in the form of result tables. Based on the importance of this fastest-growing global food market, it has been concluded that the qualitative research inquiries are still in infancy in this area, and more papers need to be published in reputed journals. Research limitations/implications As per set criteria, only papers published in quality journals were included in this review; therefore, the main limitation of this review is that it has not included other qualitative papers published elsewhere. Practical implications The future researchers can use the results of this study in setting direction of their research in the area of halal food consumption. These results can be used by academicians to know about the extent of research conducted in this area, whereas marketers can make prudent policies based on these explored areas. Originality/value It is claimed to be the first systematic literature review on halal food consumption.