Awareness and willingness of Islamic banking among Muslims- A Pakistani Perspective

Abstract

This study aims to explore the awareness and willingness of Muslim toward Islamic Banking in Pakistan. Subsequent to financial crises during the past few decades, Islamic banking has attained global acceptance and has gained a momentum in emerging economies as a substitute for the conventional (interest-based) banking. As Pakistan ranks second in terms of Muslim population globally, it is quite spontaneous to analyze the concept of Islamic banking in a Pakistani perspective. To collect data total 209 sample size were used and collected form Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karachi. The results concede that majority of the respondents lack an understanding of how Islamic banking works. The results further concede that majority of the respondents are willing to go for Islamic banking if informed properly and offered better customer experience. The results suggest that Islamic banking organizations need to frame effective communication strategies to increase awareness among the population about how Islamic banking operates. By exploring the awareness and willingness of Pakistani Muslims, the current study takes an important research gap into account and, therefore, enriches the existing Islamic banking literature.