Food supply chain integrity: the need to go beyond certification

The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual model adopted from a strategy-structure-performance paradigm for investigating the fit between the supply chain integration and halal food supply chain integrity and the impact of halal food supply chain integrity on firms’ performance in a Malaysian context.

This study comprises a sample of a halal manufacturing firm in Malaysia. A cross-sectional research design was used in this study. Data were gathered based on mailed and personally administered questionnaires. SmartPLS was used to analyse the 254 valid responses.

The research findings indicate that internal integration and strategy have positive impact on halal food supply chain integrity. The study results confirmed that customer integration and supplier integration contributes to halal food supply chain integrity. It also finds that halal food supply chain integrity has a significantly positive impact.

The results suggested that a strategic collaboration with the supplier pivoted around the quality and integrity of the raw materials should be undertaken.

The results from this study supports that the managers should adopt all halal food supply chain integrity components to achieve a superior performance. Even though some of the components did not yield significant results in terms of their relationships with firms’ performance, these dimensions were generally related to the standardised industry requirements, such as certifications.

The findings are original and unique and are based on established theories from the literature on supply chain management practices. The research findings are useful to academics and policymakers interested in fostering a halal supply chain in Malaysia.