Antecedents and outcomes of memorable halal food experiences of non-Muslim tourists

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to examine the underlying antecedents of memorable halal food experiences by considering how specific internal factors of non-Muslim tourists – novelty seeking, authenticity and sensory appeal – combine with external factors in a restaurant setting – togetherness, experience co-creation and substantive staging of the servicescape – to effect memorable halal food experiences. The study also examined the relationship between memorable halal food experiences and place attachment.Design/methodology/approachDuring the first week of August 2021, an online survey was used for data collection and shared on Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk) as well as sent to non-Muslim people known to the authors to have had halal food experiences in a tourism setting. A total of 293 valid responses were obtained.FindingsThe results revealed that novelty seeking, authenticity, experience co-creation, substantive staging of the servicescape, togetherness and sensory appeal influence memorable halal food experiences. Furthermore, these experiences positively impact place attachment.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to explore non-Muslim tourists’ memorable halal food experiences.