Factors influencing participation of youth entrepreneurs in halal food product labelling in Sabah

Malaysia is one of the countries that hold status as a world leader for the Halal economy. Currently, young entrepreneur’s involvement in the halal food industry is increasing due to Malaysia government policy which is providing incentives; continue supports and various strategies or programs to develop this group of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is a good idea for the youth to increase their income besides the young generation nowadays is the asset to the economic development of the country. However, participation in halal food labelling for youth entrepreneur is not easy as they are facing many obstacles that prevent them to participate. Thus, this study was conducted to examine the participation of youth entrepreneur in halal food product labelling in Sabah since it is hard for them to obtain halal certification from JAKIM. Besides, there are a few problems that the youth entrepreneur faces to be a Halalpreneur. The problem is they lack knowledge, experiences, and sort of financing to start up their entrepreneurial activity. The sample size is 60 respondents and was conducted in a few districts in Sabah (Keningau, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tambunan). This study was conducted based on two objectives which are to identify the participation level of the youth entrepreneur in halal food product labelling and to define the most influential factor for the youth entrepreneur’s participation on halal food product labelling in Sabah. For the data collection, a survey method that provides questionnaire was used and the other method was by interviewing— asking questions personally, email or by telephonic conversation. The result appears to be the participation level of youth entrepreneur on halal food product labelling in Sabah is high. Then, most influential factor on the youth entrepreneur participation in halal food product labelling in Sabah is the subjective norm. The significance of this study is to be a reference for the policymaker to make the procedure easier for the youth entrepreneur to apply halal certification since the difficult procedure is one of the obstacles for the entrepreneur to get a halal label for their food products.