Governing halal integrity: Socio-technical pathways to digital transformation and innovation

Abstract

Purpose – This study develops and field-tests an explainable Halal Integrity Risk Score (HIRS) to examine whether IoT-enabled and ledgered traceability can improve halal compliance, strengthen auditability, and support risk-based, maqāṣid-consistent oversight in halal logistics.
Methodology – Using an 18-month panel covering 118 halal-certified facilities and 1,247 product lines (dairy, ready-to-eat meals, confectionery, and frozen meats), this study evaluates a digital assurance system combining IoT sensors (temperature, humidity, proximity, GPS) and append-only traceability records with selective blockchain hashing. Causal effects were estimated through staggered difference-in-differences with event study diagnostics, while the HIRS was validated through logistic modelling, ROC-AUC, Brier score, and calibration assessment.
Findings – Relative to the controls, major non-compliance declined by 16.8%, first-attempt audit pass rates increased by 7.4 percentage points, and traceability completeness rose by 12.6 percentage points. The mechanisms include earlier detection, with temperature-excursion minutes declining by 28.3% and median time-to-intervention shortening from 56 to 19 min. The HIRS demonstrated strong predictive power (ROC-AUC 0.79, Brier score 0.142), confirming that risk features such as segregation proximity and route deviations can support calibrated compliance triage.
Implications – The results suggest that halal digital transformation is most effective when sensing, traceability, risk scoring, and alert governance are integrated into operational routines rather than being deployed as isolated technologies. This provides a roadmap for firms, certifiers, and regulators to transition to data-driven, measurable halal integrity governance.
Originality – This study contributes a field-validated, auditable halal risk metric and causal evaluation framework. This represents a significant step in translating digital traceability into a quantifiable governance tool that aligns technological capabilities with religious compliance requirements.