Halal-Friendly Attributes and Muslims’ Visit Intention: Exploring the Roles of Perceived Value and Destination Trust
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors presented very interesting results of empirical research. Using advanced data analysis methods (SEM), they proved the long-known assumptions that tourists are more likely to rest in destinations that are culturally and religiously closer to each other. I think that representatives of other religions behave like Muslims. The more orthodox the approach to religion, the greater the emphasis on making the destination culturally and religiously friendly. Given demographic trends and the rise in the number of Muslims worldwide, many destinations should pay attention to halal products and services.
The article is methodologically correct. The purpose of the research was formulated. Hypotheses were set and verified using appropriate methods. The conclusions result from the survey research and are of practical use.
My doubts are raised by the size of the research sample - 307 respondents (Muslims). It is too small a research sample to make a generalized inference. Moreover, respondents were from only one Muslim country. However, we know that Muslim countries differ significantly from each other. However, the authors are aware of this research limitation. Doubts are also raised by the demographic characteristics of the respondents - it turns out that the majority of the Muslim society are people with higher education, aged 25-30. Internet research gives such a distorted picture. These people are simply more likely to have access to a computer and the Internet. This is a research error. Moreover, professional groups should be selected differently. Here, 75% of the respondents chose a different profession. What does different mean? This is not a piece of information for us. This demographic feature has been lost. I encourage you to significantly increase the research sample in the future and ensure a better selection of respondents!
An interesting answer in further research may be to find out what has a greater impact on decisions made by Muslims to travel to a specific destination - tourist attractions, nature, brand and image, or halal-friendly products and services?
I don't know the English language perfectly. I don't feel qualified to judge about the English language and style. But for me, in many places, the article is written in too convoluted and hardly understandable language. Certain wording should be simplified. I propose to subject it to a stylistic correction.
Author Response
Response to reviewers
Dear the Editors and Reviewers,
Thank you for allowing us to submit the revised draft of our manuscript titled “Halal-Friendly Attributes and Muslims’ Visit Intention: Exploring the Roles of Perceived Value and Destination Trust” to the Sustainability. We are grateful for the helpful comments and suggestions on our paper. We have used the blue color by coloring the revised texts. Please see the text below, our response to comments. All the page numbers refer to the page number of the revised manuscript file.
Reviewer: 1
Comment 1. My doubts are raised by the size of the research sample - 307 respondents (Muslims). It is too small a research sample to make a generalized inference.
Authors’ response: Thank you for your comments. We have added a short explanation as follows: “The sample size used in the SEM-based articles reviewed, most studies used a sample of between 151 and 400 respondents (99 articles, 47.4%) [94]. A minimum sample size of 200 is usually required for SEM, which is considered to be a large sample method [95].”. Hope that our manuscript is more concise now. (Please see page 7, line 310-312 of the revised manuscript).
Comment 2. Doubts are also raised by the demographic characteristics of the respondents - it turns out that the majority of the Muslim society are people with higher education, aged 25-30. Internet research gives such a distorted picture. These people are simply more likely to have access to a computer and the Internet. This is a research error. Moreover, professional groups should be selected differently. Here, 75% of the respondents chose a different profession. What does different mean? This is not a piece of information for us. This demographic feature has been lost.
Authors’ response: Thank you for your pointing this out. We have revised this part in the conclusion from “In addition, in today’s technology and data-driven world. The message and media are important to communicate between the target groups [132]. They have become an inexpensive way to inform and reach potential target groups [133]. Therefore, promotional marketing or marketing communications is an essential marketing tool to communicate between the target groups [132]. Marketing communication includes personal selling, advertising, promotions, public relations and direct marketing [134]. Directing marketing for sharing with target groups has changed greatly with the emergence of social networking sites, social media and mobile devices (i.e., Facebook, Whatapp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Electronic mail and Mobile applications) [135]. The use of the smart application is quite widespread among generation Y (born between 1980 and 1995) and Z (born after 1995). In addition, these applications make their daily lives easier and faster [136]. Mavletova and Couper [137] studied devices being used in web surveys and found that participation rates for PC web respondents were not higher than for mobile usage. Kim et al. [138] found that respondents used mobile-based applications (63.4%) twice as often as personal computer platforms, especially for the millennial generation (20-38 years old) which accounted for 51.4% of the sample. Furthermore, the first thing many consumers do in the morning is to check their mobile phones since 80 and 81% use the alarm clock function on their devices [139]. Therefore, generations Y and Z are respondents likely to use the mobile-based device in response to web surveys.”. (Please see page 19, line 709-727 of the revised manuscript).
Comment 3. An interesting answer in further research may be to find out what has a greater impact on decisions made by Muslims to travel to a specific destination - tourist attractions, nature, brand and image, or halal-friendly products and services?
Authors’ response: Thank you for your constructive advice. As recommended by the reviewer, we have added a short explanation as follows: “This study found that the Muslims’ perception of the external environment (i.e., halal-friendly attributes) was not directly influenced by their intention to visit a non-Muslim country. In contrast, Muslims' visit intention in decision-making is affected by the role of the internal cognitive state. For example, their perception of products and services, the destination's image and intent to purchase and consume halal products and services”. Please see page 19, lines 696-701 of the revised manuscript.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The biggest shortcoming of the study is the lack of representativeness of the sample, since almost 60% of the respondents are between the ages of 18 and 30. Thus, the work is not about Muslims' Visit Intention, but about Young Muslims' Visit Intention. Therefore, we should either improve the sampling procedure (which is unlikely to be possible, since the research is completed) or change the title and research assumptions.
Author Response
Reviewer: 2
Comment 1. The biggest shortcoming of the study is the lack of representativeness of the sample, since almost 60% of the respondents are between the ages of 18 and 30. Thus, the work is not about Muslims' Visit Intention, but about Young Muslims' Visit Intention. Therefore, we should either improve the sampling procedure (which is unlikely to be possible, since the research is completed) or change the title and research assumptions.
Authors’ response: Thank you for your pointing this out. We have revised this part in the conclusion from “In addition, in today’s technology and data-driven world. The message and media are important to communicate between the target groups [132]. They have become an inexpensive way to inform and reach potential target groups [133]. Therefore, promotional marketing or marketing communications is an essential marketing tool to communicate between the target groups [132]. Marketing communication includes personal selling, advertising, promotions, public relations and direct marketing [134]. Directing marketing for sharing with target groups has changed greatly with the emergence of social networking sites, social media and mobile devices (i.e., Facebook, Whatapp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Electronic mail and Mobile applications) [135]. The use of the smart application is quite widespread among generation Y (born between 1980 and 1995) and Z (born after 1995). In addition, these applications make their daily lives easier and faster [136]. Mavletova and Couper [137] studied device use in web surveys and found that participation rates for PC web respondents were not higher than for mobile usage. Kim et al. [138] found that respondents used mobile-based applications (63.4%) twice as often as personal computer platforms, especially for the millennial generation (20-38 years old) who accounted for 51.4% of the sample. Furthermore, the first thing many consumers do in the morning is to check their mobile phones since 80 and 81% use the alarm clock function on their devices [139]. Therefore, generations Y and Z are respondents likely to use the mobile-based device in response to web surveys.”. (Please see page 19, line 709-727 of the revised manuscript).
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The subject research is very interesting, it offers an insight into the value framework and its creation in the Muslim world.
In the abstract, it would be appropriate to familiarize the reader with the importance of the given issue in the introduction, max. 1 sentence.
Based on the radical increase of the Muslim population, research focused on these values is really necessary, since the values of consumer behavior in the Western world are an often discussed topic.
I recommend adding on the 6th page after Picture no. 1 its explanation and clarification. The given part of the article bears signs of incompleteness and a certain explanation is absent.
Given that this is not a representative sample, I would definitely recommend its expansion in the future. With the given number of respondents, it is really not quite correct to draw valid conclusions.
Only a certain age category is taken into account, it is worth reconsidering to include the generation born earlier in the research. Perhaps it would be appropriate to divide the respondents according to the designation of generations X, Y, Z and also look at special characteristics in the context of tourism.
The essence of paragraph 4.2. I have a question, is it necessary there?
Theoretical Implications is the strongest point of this article. In the end (conclusion), I would recommend expanding the section a little, possibly also with suggestions for the next procedure in the given research.
My advice is to expand the used literature. For e.g. You wrote that "In addition, they should use social media, social networks, and other media in marketing 653 communications". You also mention some of the marketing tools. I think you could mention the study Bencsik (2018) et al, who studied mobile apps usage of different generations and concluded that mobile usage became more frequent than pc usage among respondents. The first thing the consumers use in the morning is the mobile phone since "80 and 81% use the function of alarm clock on their devices." The used literature: Bencsik, A., Machová, R., Zsigmond, T. 2018. Analysing customer behaviour in mobile app usage among the representatives of Generation X and Generation Y. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Volume XIII, Fall 6(60): 16681677.
Author Response
Reviewer: 3
Comment 1. In the abstract, it would be appropriate to familiarize the reader with the importance of the given issue in the introduction, max. 1 sentence.
Authors’ response: Thank you for your advice. As recommended by the reviewer, we have worked on sentence in the abstract. Hope that our manuscript is appropriate now (please see page 1, line 11 of the revised manuscript).
Comment 2. I recommend adding on the 6th page after Picture no. 1 its explanation and
clarification. The given part of the article bears signs of incompleteness and a certain explanation is absent.
Authors’ response: Thank you for the recommendation. As suggested by the reviewer, we have added a short explanation as follow: “This study extended the S-O-R model to the halal tourism context by proposing the halal-friendly attributes as a stimulus, perceived value and destination trust as an organism, and visit intention as a response. Figure 1 depicts the conceptual model and hypotheses.”, this indicates the importance to explain and understand the conceptual model. (please see page 6, lines 270-273 of the revised manuscript).
Comment 3. The essence of paragraph 4.2. I have a question, is it necessary there?
Authors’ response: Thank you for pointing this out. Paragraph 4.2 is necessary. We have revised the contents of paragraph 4.2 “PLS-SEM analysis”, (please see page 8, line 343 of the revised manuscript).
Comment 4. Theoretical Implications is the strongest point of this article. In the end (conclusion), I would recommend expanding the section a little, possibly also with suggestions for the next procedure in the given research.
Authors’ response: Thank you very much for your constructive suggestions. We appreciate this piece of important information. As suggested by the reviewer, we have added more following information. “In addition, in today’s technology and data-driven world. The message and media are important to communicate between the target groups [132]. They have become an inexpensive way to inform and reach potential target groups [133]. Therefore, promotional marketing or marketing communications is an essential marketing tool to communicate between the target groups [132]. Marketing communication includes personal selling, advertising, promotions, public relations and direct marketing [134]. Directing marketing for sharing with target groups has changed greatly with the emergence of social networking sites, social media and mobile devices (i.e., Facebook, Whatapp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Electronic mail and Mobile applications) [135]. The use of the smart application is quite widespread among generation Y (born between 1980 and 1995) and Z (born after 1995). In addition, these applications make their daily lives easier and faster [136]. Mavletova and Couper [137] studied device use in web surveys and found that participation rates for PC web respondents were not higher than for mobile usage. Kim et al. [138] found that respondents used mobile-based applications (63.4%) twice as often as personal computer platforms, especially for the millennial generation (20-38 years old) accounted for 51.4% of the sample. Furthermore, the first thing many consumers do in the morning is to check their mobile phones since 80 and 81% use the alarm clock function on their devices [139]. Therefore, generations Y and Z are respondents likely to use the mobile-based device in response to web surveys.”. (Please see page 19, line 709-727 of the revised manuscript).
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
