Determinants of Attitude towards Islamic Financing among Halal-certified Micro and SMEs: A Preliminary Investigation

Islamic finance and Halal are Shariah-compliant business sectors sharing similar values, market and principle. Despite similarities, there has been disconnection between Islamic finance and Halal sectors. In Malaysia, the disconnection is witnessed by low penetration of Islamic financing among Halal industry players. Being a true Halal operator, business must not only focus in Halal production but importantly finance the business in Halal-based financing; however, this has not been achieved. The need to ensure that holistic Halal concept by making Islamic financing part of the Halal production is essential. The purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of the survey instrument in dertermining the attitude towards Islamic financing among Micro and SMEs in Halal production. A survey questionnaire is distributed to 30 Micro and SMEs at Halal exhibition using random sampling technique as the preliminary investigation. The study findings justify further refinement and show that the survey instrument is appropriate in a wider study of a representative sample of the Halal industry.