Public perception on the feasibility of introducing islamic banking in Uzbekistan : consumer perspective

Abstract

Islamic banking industry is increasingly playing vital roles in the current financial system. Due to the demand by customers for Islamic banking facilities, its expansion has reached not only Muslim countries but also non-Muslim countries within three decades. However, there are still few Muslim majority countries such as Uzbekistan where the implementation of Islamic banking system is lacking. Therefore, the current paper has conducted a feasibility study of Islamic banking in Uzbekistan. The study examines the extent of the level of awareness among the citizens of Uzbekistan and their willingness to use Islamic banking facilities if Islamic banking were introduced in the country. The study has adopted Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to examine the factors affecting the customers’ behavioural intention to patronize Islamic banking. A self-structured survey questionnaire was employed to collect data from a total of 240 (n=240) Uzbekistan banking customers. The data was then analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) software. SPSS was used at the initial stage to perform Descriptive Analysis. AMOS software was employed to run Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Measurement Model, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings of the study show that religiosity and social factors have significant positive effect towards patronizing Islamic banking facilities while customers’ knowledge and attitude carry negative effect towards Islamic banking system. It is hoped that the findings of the study will provide policymakers with the preliminary insights towards establishing Islamic banking in Uzbekistan.