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Islamic Banks Customers’ Intention to Adopt Green Banking:
Extension of UTAUT Model
Mohamed Bouteraa1*, Raja Rizal Iskandar Raja Hisham2, Zairani Zainol2
1 Ph.D. in Islamic Finance and Banking, Islamic Business School, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia
2 Senior lecturer at Islamic Business School, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Accepted: 1 May 2020 | Published: 15 May 2020
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Abstract: Go green is the need of the hour for survival in all scopes due to the side effects of financial development which has resulted in climate change and environmental damage.
Banks can certainly play a proactive role in financial development and ecological preservation. Banks of this kind is named as “Green Banking”. Green Banking (GB) means guaranteeing eco-friendly financial activities and thus the elimination of internal and external carbon footprints. GB initiatives and practices are useful for the environment, banks, and customers. This conceptual investigation attempts to review the literature on GB in the scope of the UAE as far as GB adoption is concerned. It has also proposed an innovative model by integrating the religiosity as an important determinant to the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in order to capture customers’
intention to adopt GB within the Islamic bank as well as extend the literature and validate the UTAUT model in the GB studies. Overall, studies of GB adoption are still limited and need further investigation, particularly from the Islamic perspective.
Keywords: Green banking, eco-friendly practices, Sustainable Development, Religiosity, Intention to adopt
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1. Introduction
Presently, Go Green is taken as very renewable and buzzword amongst the scholars, financial and banking sector and most people of the world due to the alarming climate change and global warming (Zhixia, Hossen, Muzafary & Begum, 2018; Samina & Hossain, 2019; Yin, Kirkulak-Uludag & Zhang, 2019). Banks are among the main funding options for commercial projects, that could play a significant role by leading funds and encourage the stakeholders on environmentally friendly projects (Thombre, 2011; Masukujjaman & Aktar, 2013; Sharifi &
Hossein, 2015; Shaumya & Arulrajah, 2017). In other word, banks are the key drivers for the environment protection, playing a constructive position and environmental issues that would allow business and stakeholders to invest in environmental management, relevant technology, and management systems (Choudhury, Salim, Mamoon, Bashir & Saha, 2013; Gupta, 2015).
The banking sector could contribute to environmental protection by implementing the concept of GB (Ganesan & Bhuvaneswari, 2016; Gupta, 2015).
GB is a new financial-world trend that arose in 2009 with the launch of the first Green Bank located in Mt. Dora, Florida, USA (Nadu & Nadu, 2018). GB concentrates on economic, environmental, and social dimensions that make banks sustainable by combining their
122 operational improvements and the use of IT in banking business activities (Nadu & Nadu, 2018). Also, GB is known as environment-friendly banking, ethical banking or sustainable banking that endorse environment-friendly practices (Tara et al., 2015; Trehan, 2015;
Building & Kumara, 2017; Drakshayani, 2019). In general, the GB is an inclusive bank activity taken to denote, beyond profit-making, which includes improving welfare and strengthens socioeconomic justice whereas reducing the environmental threats and shortages by linking economic, environmental and social considerations to sustainable development growth (SDG).
GB's Islamic perspective takes a very holistic approach. This offers a theological viewpoint centred on the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah, providing a stronger theoretical foundation for a person’s relationship with the natural environment along with his life objectives (Kunhibava, Ling, & Ruslan, 2018). The concept of GB is mentioned many times in the Quranic verses. Specifically, the Islamic perspective of GB covers spiritual, moral and material obligations. For instance in Surah 2 verse 60 translated by Maududi (1970): “Eat and drink of what Allah has provided and do not spread disorder on the earth”. Also, In Surah 28, verse 77: “But seek, through that which Allah has given you, the home of the Hereafter; and [yet], do not forget your share of the world. And do good as Allah has done good to you. And desire not corruption in the land. Indeed, Allah does not like corrupters”.
In corresponding, it is agreed among scholars that Islam is a green religion, as well as the theory of GB guidelines are in line with Maqäsid shariah (Julia et al., 2016, 2018; Al- Jayyousi, 2017; Uddin & Ahmmed, 2018; Julia & Kassim, 2019). Taken together, GB and Islamic banking are intertwined because Islam promotes resource conservation, cleanliness, integrity and social responsibility all of which are also GB's slogan (Uddin & Ahmmed, 2018).
GB practices are not only to protect and safeguard the natural environment but also to contribute to the banks’ profitability and sustainability as well as to avoid risks involved in business operation. GB improves banks' operating efficiency, decreases susceptibility to manual errors, supports a bank minimize risks, costs, strengthens its reputation and gains from sales opportunities. GB helps the bank reduce emissions and save banks ' expenses by minimizing solid waste, reducing energy use, carrying out recycling activities and generally creating a good bank image among the stakeholders (Meena, 2013; Shaumya & Arulrajah, 2017). Additionally, a number of empirical studies confirm that GB practices improve the banks’ financial performance (Linh & Anh, 2017; Scholtens, 2017; Finger, et al., 2018;
Laguir, et al., 2018).
Beyond the GB usefulness for the environment and banks, It also helps consumers by delivering alternative sources to financial services in the context of reliable and efficient service delivery and strong protection and efficiency at reduced cost rates. Biswas (2011) concise the major benefits of GB directed to customers as follows: cashback credits to all new and existing account holders shifting into green; rationalization of the usage of paper by providing unrestricted access to the majority of banking transactions by E-Banking, Mobile Banking, E-payment, and E-Statement could be produced and emailed to customers; Online account opening process for launching Green Account; E-remitting services for the remittance of funds to foreigner banks which is a exclusive service. Added Meena (2013), green customers will benefit from loans at a comparatively lower interest rate and longer payback period, as banks implement renewable loans with financial incentives for environmentally friendly projects and initiatives such as green vehicles (i.e. electrical or
123 hybrid), green commercial projects, green building ventures, infrastructure and house loans to install solar power, etc.
Despite the wide range of benefits of GB to the environment, banks, and customers, in some developing countries, this trend is quite new as some regions are still in low adoption of eco- friendly products and services which is an issue of concern. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) environmentalism is a problem that requires serious action. The UAE is ranked the world’s number one for having the biggest ecological footprint for a long stand-up period (The World Wide Fund for Nature, 2010; Government.ae, 2018; Worldatlas, 2019).
Furthermore, the World Bank Group (2018) reported that the UAE has recorded a high pollution level and violent CO2 carbon emission increase that released through human and business activities. Relating this to the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCAE, 2017) and UAE Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW, 2015a), despite the wide green technology and government support, GB is a challenging task in the UAE which is at the primary stage of adoption among customers and private businesses. In order to gain insights into this issue, the UAE-MoEW, in cooperation with the UAE Central Bank (CB) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), conducted the first national survey to identify the adoption level of GB products and services in the UAE. Surprisingly, the finding shows that the majority of the green products and projects have either failed or were abandoned and other projects received very low adoption or to some extent were rejected, only 8% of respondents have adopted the green project, 4% have a green account, 3% have a green auto-loan, green personal loan and green bonds/Sukuk, meanwhile, less than 1% adopted green building loans; what is striking is that the rest of the green products were entirely rejected (UAE-MoEW, 2015a) as displayed in Figure 1. The striking finding was 59% of respondents do not have future intentions to adopt the GB products and services (UAE-MoEW, 2015a). These frightening statistics prompt the importance of delivering bank customers with accurate tools to solve the problem immediately as this phenomenon raises numerous issues and problems of sustainably.
Figure 1:Adoption of Green Banking Products and Services in the UAE.
Source: (UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, 2015a).
124 Even though banks have launched numerous forms of well-structured GB products and services to expand and accelerate green finance practices on the way to support the UAE Green Agenda 2030 vision to diminish environmental deprivation and to guarantee the sustainability of financial sector (UAE-MOCCAE, 2017); but such measures will not be successful; unless the consumers are willing to adopt these environmentally friendly banking services. Therefore, the study is motivated to investigate customers’ determinants of low adoption by initially applying the full UTAUT model in order to enhance the current situation and to improve the adoption of GB.
According to Sayani and Miniaoui (2013), religious element is very important concern in business transactions for the UAE’s households. Sayani and Miniaoui (2013) confirmed that all the attributes related to Shariah-related characteristics are very important among the UAE’s Islamic bank customers. Notably, Islamic faith is the official religion of the UAE, the majority of UAE’s citizens and residents are Muslims (Kaakeh, et al., 2019). Hence, to capture the Islamic banks customers’ behaviour in the UAE is not restricted only to the factors proposed by the UTAUT model “i.e. performance expectancy (PE), efforts expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating condition (FC)” but religious characteristics also could be a crucial determinant as customers’ shared values dimension.
Intrinsically, this study extends the UTAUT model by proposing the shared values dimension with consideration of the main five levels of religiosity that describes the degree and the extend of the religious commitment of the customers, which is anticipated to effect the intention of Islamic banks’ customers to adopt GB in the UAE.
1.1 Theoretical Framework
This study will rely on the UTAUT model of Venkatesh et al., (2003) as the theoretical framework for examining the customers’ intention to adopt GB because the GB products and services are very much related to the elements of information technology (IT). The UTAUT model offers a suitable resource for bank policymakers to evaluate the performance for new technologies and to support them comprehend the drivers of GB acceptance to planning initiatives proactively.
The original UTAUT is framed with four essential determinants of adoption and usage IT namely: PE, EE, SI and FC and up to four moderators of key relationships that are Gender, Age, Experience, and Voluntariness of use. The UTAUT model confirmed to be strong in capturing individual’s adoption behaviour in numerous studies (e.g Venkatesh et al., 2003;
Venkatesh & Zhang, 2010; Venkatesh, 2012; Iqbal et al., 2016; Iqbal et al., 2017a; Iqbal et al., 2019). The UTAUT model explained 70% of the variance to behavioural intention (BI).
However, the UTAUT model has not been widely used in GB adoption studies. Furthermore, among the limited studies of GB, they failed to test the full UTAUT model in the context of GB which highlights the shortage of UTAUT model within the GB adoption context. Beside the original constructs of the UTAUT model it is imperative to consider individuals’
religiosity. Particularly, Muslim societies which is influenced by Islamic restrictions like the UAE (Sayani & Miniaoui, 2013). In addition, relatively rare researches have applied religiosity factors to comprehend users’ intention to adopt GB. Therefore, this study extends the UTAUT model by suggesting religiosity as one possible factor that could influence the customers intention to adopt GB.
The present study proposes a rational choice model of GB adoption as displayed in Figure 2 to empower scholars in order to recognize the drivers of customers intention to adopt GB, as well as it provides guidance for policymakers, decision-makers, Central Bank and Banks’
125 marketing managers as this study enlighten them by providing a better understanding about the actual issues and challenges that are facing the customers’ adoption of GB to design the proper interventions to increase the GB adoption that would drive the principles of sustainability, environmental protection, and socio-economic development.
Figure 2: Conceptual Research Model Source: Developed by the authors
1.2 Proposed Constructs
1.2.1 Behavioural Intention
Behavioural Intention (BI) is one of the dependent variables for the UTAUT model (Venkatesh et al., 2003) and for this study. BI is a person’s willing degree to use innovative high-tech (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh et al., 2003). BI is a substantial predictor of the actual usage behaviour of information technology (IT) (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh et al., 2003, 2011, 2012). According to Venkatesh et al. (2003), BI was predicted by PE, EE, and SI.
In the current study, the actual behavior (GB adoption) measurement is exceptionally challenging due to a lack of bank customer's information. Because banks’ databases are not accessible for external researchers due to banks’ high secrecy law. Once the respondents’
profile is absent, they are unlikely to get traced and hard to gain an approach to them. Thus, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) claimed that the best predictor of an individual’s behaviour will be a measure of his/her intention to perform that behaviour. The use of behavioral intention to predict actual behavior is supported by the UTAUT model (Venkatesh et al., 2003), the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein, & Ajzen, 1975) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991). This theoretical argument is endorsed by a many empirical studies in different environments, whereas Individuals’ intention is strongly correlated with the actual behavior (Venkatesh & Zhang, 2010; Venkatesh et al., 2011; Iqbal et al., 2018;
Bashir, , 2019; Kaakeh et al., 2019). Hence, this study concluded that the intention to adopt GB is a valid proxy of actual GB adoption behavior.
126 The intention from the perspective of Islam is a critical matter that should be taken into consideration. Islam is a comprehensive religion and social life scheme by combine beliefs, morals and behaviour (Bouteraa, 2019b). Intention transparency is the main aspect of the acts of Muslims. Islam urges Muslims to anticipate their intention before performing any action, whichever material or spiritual. In Islam, actions are not considered, unless they are performed with a person’s intention. For the reason that acts are measured only on the basis of the intention and each person shall have only what he/she intended. It is evidenced from the following hadith that intention is the key element to assess Muslim’s behaviour as a judgment of actions whether it will be accepted or otherwise. Thus, the Prophet Mohamed PBUH affirms:
"Verily actions are by intentions, and for every person is what he intended. So, the one whose ‘hijrah’ (migration) was to Allah and His Messenger, then his ‘hijrah’
was to Allah and His Messenger. And the one whose ‘hijrah’ was for the world to gain from it, or a woman to marry her, then his ‘hijrah’ was for what he made
‘hijrah’ for. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)”
1.2.2 Performance Expectancy
Performance Expectancy (PE) is the extent to which an individual believes that using a particular system would be more beneficial to him/her and would improve the performance of the task (Venkatesh et al., 2003). PE proved to be a robust predictor of the intention to use technology-related elements (Venkatesh et al., 2003; 2012) and its effect was moderated by age and gender. In the context of GB adoption, enormous empirical studies confirm that PE is an important determinant to capture individuals’ intention and behaviour (Iqbal et al., 2019;
Iqbal et al., 2017, 2018, 2016). However, all those studies were empirically conducted within a limited geographical scope as well as within a single conventional commercial bank.
Therefore, this study is motivated to conduct the empirical investigation within all the Islamic banking sector in the entire UAE in order to get more robust data and generalized findings.
Hence, the hypothesis is as follow:
H1: PE significantly affects customers’ intention to adopt GB.
1.2.3 Effort Expectancy
Effort Expectancy (EE) is the level of convenience and usability that people feel when using a specific information system (Venkatesh et al., 2003). In the original UTAUT model, EE was found to be a significant predictor of the intention to use technology systems, but this significance was only salient at early phases of usage (i.e. with limited experience); as users become more experienced with the system, the significance of EE decreased. In the same study, EE was moderated by age and gender. In the setting of GB adoption, many empirical studies confirm that EE is an imperative element to measure individuals’ intention and behaviour (Iqbal et al., 2019; Iqbal et al., 2017, 2018, 2016). Yet, all those investigations were directed within a limited geographical area and within a solo conventional bank. Therefore, this study is encouraged to conduct the empirical investigation within all the Islamic banks operating the entire UAE to get more robust data and comprehensive findings. Hence, the hypothesis is as follow:
H2: EE significantly affects customers’ intention to adopt GB.
1.2.4 Social Influence
Social influence (SI) Refers to the degree to which the views of the other relevant parties influence the actions of the person regarding the usage of innovative technologies (Venkatesh
127 et al., 2003). This construct was adapted from similar constructs from previous models like TRA, TAM2, TPB, MPCU, and IDT. In the UTAUT model, this construct had a significant effect on users’ BI to use technology and was moderated by age, gender, and experience. Its significance was salience at the early stages of use and as individuals become more experienced with the system, the effect of SI diminished (Venkatesh et al., 2003). SI revealed to be a significant predictor on individuals intention to perform a particular behaviour;
numerous studies confirmed this relationship in various contexts (Amin, et al., 2011; Koe and Rahman, 2014; Noor, et al., 2018; Walintukan, et al., 2018). However, hard to find an empirical investigation that confirms this relationship in the context of GB adoption.
Therefore, this study will examine the effect of SI on the customers’ intention to adopt GB adoption within all the Islamic banks operating the entire UAE to get more robust data and comprehensive findings. Hence, the hypothesis is as follow:
H3: SI significantly affects customers’ intention to adopt GB.
1.2.5 Facilitating Conditions
According to Venkatesh et al., (2003), Facilitating conditions (FC) refers to the availability of the required technical resources for the customer to support the implementation of a specific technology. On the other hand, the provision of resources such as user access to computers or the Internet also contributes to a higher rate of acceptance for advances in technology such as GB (Iqbal et al., 2018). FC revealed to be a significant predictor of individuals’ behaviour to perform a particular behaviour; numerous studies confirmed this relationship in various contexts (Dwivedi, Rana, Jeyaraj, Clement, & Williams, 2019; Venkatesh et al., 2003, 2011, 2012). Meanwhile, the most noted studies that examined the effect of FC on the individual’s behaviour are (Iqbal et al., 2019; Iqbal et al., 2017, 2018, 2016). Yet, all those investigations were directed within a limited geographical area and within a solo conventional bank.
Furthermore, the relationship from FC to BI absent in the UTAUT model should be comprised. Therefore, this study will examine the relationship between FC and customers’
intention to adopt GB adoption within all the Islamic banks operating the entire UAE to get more robust data and comprehensive findings. Hence, the hypothesis is as follow:
H4: FC significantly affects customers’ intention to adopt GB.
1.2.6 Religiosity
Religion is one of the components of the shared value which has the most influential determinants of human behaviour (Bouteraa & Al-Aidaros, 2020; Nurhayati & Hendar, 2019).
Diverse religious groups have different beliefs, including Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, etc. Such values and beliefs cannot be ignored in social sciences studies.
Religiosity is related to one’s faith in the lord and the extent that the person takes the path determined by the lord (Singhapakdi, Vitell, Lee, Nisius, & Yu, 2012). So, Religiosity is characterized as a belief in God, followed by a devotion to the principles founded by God (Bakar, Lee, & Hazarina Hashim, 2013). Thus, religiosity reflects the degree to which a set of values, awareness, ritual engagement and feelings directs one's attitude and behaviour (Glock
& Stark, 1965). Furthermore, it is faith that defines forbidden and unforbidden actions that affect customer decisions. In Hinduism, beef is forbidden while it is not in Islam; Pork eating is forbidden in Islam and Judaism; in contrast, it is permissible in Christianity. Religion actually affects what customers think, what they like and what they do not. Accordingly, it shows that religion captures customers attitude and behaviour(Bouteraa & Al-Aidaros, 2020).
Therefore, religiosity is a very important determinant in every decision-making process that leads a person to behave legally and ethically.
128 Islam is the second-largest religion in the world with more than 1.9 billion followers after Christianity. In Islam, Allah is the source of supremacy, and the entire beings are required to obey His commandments. The scheme of life in the Islamic faith is known as Shari’ah. The five main pillars of Islam are Shahadah (confession of faith), Solat (Pray five times a day), Zakat (almsgiving), Sawm Ramadan (Fasting Holy month), and Hadj (pilgrimage). In Islam, banned elements and actions are called Haram, while permitted things are named Halal.
Muslims are required by faith to check products and actions to ensure they are Halal. Besides, the Islamic teachings allow them to shy away from the consumables which are in question.
Religion may generally be described as a solid belief that governs human existence (Bouteraa, 2019a). However, for this analysis to be carried out, a more specific description of religiosity was required. In keeping with Rehman & Shahbaz Shabbir (2010), the paradigm used to operationalize religiosity was defined as having five dimensions: ideological, ritualistic, intellectual, consequential, and experimental. The ideological dimensions comprise the general beliefs related to religion that are beliefs about Allah SWT and prophets SAW. The ritualistic dimension consists of the typical activities set by religion like Zakat, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage. The intellectual dimension refers to the degree of Muslims’ awareness about religion. The consequential dimension is the importance and concern of the religious aspect of Muslims; while the experimental dimension refers to the Muslim’s proper practicality of Islamic teaching.
It is an important aspect to mention that the concept of GB is relevant to the religion of Muslims, which considers the values of ethics and social accountability as important principles (Bouteraa, Raja Hisham, & Zainol, 2020; Julia et al., 2016; Uddin & Ahmmed, 2018). Islam requires people to not involve in any unethical financing activities (Chaouch, 2017) As Islam promotes the wealth creation, environment conservation, and social justice, which are GB's maxims (Uddin & Ahmmed, 2018). Therefore, religiosity is very important as a determinant of an individual’s intention to adopt GB, particularly within the Muslim majority societies like the UAE.
Although religiosity is reported to have a significant influence on individual’s BI in different contexts, including determining their tendency toward the adoption of new products (Hanudin, et al., 2011; Bananuka et al., 2019; Harun, et al., 2015; Nurhayati & Hendar, 2019). However, the influence religion has on individuals’ GB adoption remains under research; scarcely investigations approve this relationship between religiosity and BI in the context of GB adoption. The aim of this research is to address this gap by gathering Evidence from the UAE which is a Muslim majority country with the world’s eldest Islamic banking system, by investigating the impact of religiosity on Islamic banks’ customers' intention to adopt GB products and services. Hence, the hypothesis is as follow:
H5: Religiosity significantly affects customers’ intention to adopt GB.
1.2.7 Moderators
Normally, individuals have diverse opinions regarding a certain phenomenon (i.e. they perceive the phenomenon and interact with it differently depending on their special and distinctive characteristics, values and experiences) (Hair, et al., 2014). If a study’s respondent is accounted for as a single set without recognizing the specific attributes of different groups, that might drive the study findings to be biased or misleading (Hair, et al., 2014). For this reason, the current study has included four attributes to be examined as moderators. Within the
129 study’s new context four moderators of the original UTAUT model of Venkatesh et al., (2003) will be examined, gender, age, experience and voluntariness to use.
1.2.7.1 Gender
Gender is an important sociocultural factor that can influence an individual’s behaviour regarding a certain issue (Gefen & Straub, 1997). The original UTAUT model investigated the effect of gender as a moderator and showed that its effect was significant on the determinants of adoption (i.e. PE, EE, SI). As active as these streams of research have been, none has dealt with the possible impact of moderation effect of gender on GB studies. The original UTAUT work (Venkatesh et al., 2003) makes reference to gender differences. However, subsequent researches like (Aldosari, 2012; De Veer et al., 2015; Venkatesh et al., 2003; Venkatesh, et al., 2011) examined the moderation role of gender, but the results still unclear due to inconsistency findings. Moreover, gender is not examined in GB adoption models yet.
Furthermore, scarcely to find studies examine the moderation role of gender between PE, EE, SI and in the context of GB adoption. Thus, this study will initially examine the moderation effect of gender between PE, EE, SI and the customers’ intention to adopt GB adoption in order to validate and increase the robustness of the UTAUT model. Hence, the hypothesizes are as follow:
H6: Gender will moderate the effect of PE on the customers’ intention to adopt GB H7: Gender will moderate the effect of EE on the customers’ intention to adopt GB H8: Gender will moderate the effect of SI on the customers’ intention to adopt GB
1.2.7.2 Age
Age was considered as a moderator in previous technology adoption studies. However, the effect of this variable was context-dependent; in other words, its effect was not uniformed through different settings and studies. Within the original UTAUT (Venkatesh et al., 2003), the age had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between PE, EE, and SI with BI. Similar findings were reached within the healthcare context (Venkatesh et al., 2011), where age was the only factor that had a moderation effect on the study relationships.
However, within another technology adoption studies, the age factor did not show any moderation effect (Aldosari, 2012; De Veer et al., 2015; Ifinedo, 2016). Besides, age is not tested in GB adoption models. Furthermore, scarcely to find studies examine the moderation role of age between PE, EE, SI and FC on the intention to adopt GB. Thus, this study will initially examine the moderation effect of gender between PE, EE, SI and the customers’
intention to adopt GB adoption in order to validate and authenticate the UTAUT model.
Therefore, the hypothesizes are as follow:
H9: Age will moderate the effect of PE on the customers’ intention to adopt GB H10: Age will moderate the effect of EE on the customers’ intention to adopt GB H11: Age will moderate the effect of SI on the customers’ intention to adopt GB H12: Age will moderate the effect of FC on the customers’ intention to adopt GB
1.2.7.3 Experience
Experience refers to a person’s involvement or exercise of a certain action over a period of time (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). The original UTAUT theory found that the effect of experience as a moderator was significant on the independent variables EE, SI, and FC (Venkatesh et al., 2003). However, within previous technology adoption studies the age factor show inconsistent results moderation effect (Dong, et al., 2017; Sharif Abbasi, et al., 2011; Shi
& Chow, 2015; Venkatesh et al., 2003, 2011). Moreover, hard to find studies examine the
130 moderation role of experience in the context of GB. Thus, this study will originally test the moderation effect of experience between PE, EE, SI and the customers’ intention to adopt GB adoption in order to validate and endorse the UTAUT model. Therefore, the hypothesizes are as follow:
H13: Experience will moderate the effect of EE on the customers’ intention to adopt GB H14: Experience will moderate the effect of SI on the customers’ intention to adopt GB H15: Experience will moderate the effect of FC on the customers’ intention to adopt GB
1.2.7.4 Voluntariness of use
Voluntary of use refers to the degree to which an individual is free to decide if he or she should or not should use IT(Venkatesh et al., 2003). The argument is that the less voluntarily a person uses GB, the higher his or her intention is to use the framework. If a person is not obliged to use GB, he or she is less likely to use GB. The original UTAUT model proposed the voluntariness of use has a strong moderating effect on the relationship between FC and BI.
These relationships confirmed by many empirical technology adoption studies in a different context; however, this crucial relationship yet bot been confirmed by in the GB adoption models. Hence, this investigation will primarily test the moderation effect of voluntariness of using GB between FC and the customers’ intention to adopt GB adoption in order to validate and extend the literature of the UTAUT model. Consequently, the hypothesis is:
H16: Voluntariness use of GB will moderate the effect of FC on the customers’ intention to adopt GB.
2. Research methodology
This paper proposed a conceptual model consisting of the important constructs influencing customers’ intention to adopt GB within Islamic banks in the UAE. Hence, the explanatory sequential Mixed-method approach is proposed to attain the study’s research objectives. The significance of this approach can be derived from the notion that it combines the strengths of the quantitative and qualitative methods together (Creswell, 2012; Saunders et al., 2012). The Preliminary surveyed quantitative method will be performed to examine the constructs affecting the GB adoption among customers to test the proposed hypotheses and to arise with validating results and generalized conclusion. Afterward, a qualitative investigation will be directed using semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions among the bank’s top managers for the aim of triangulating and complement the important constructs that affect costumers’ behaviour with a focus on the religious characteristics.
More so, the questionnaire’s items will be adapted/adopted from previously published studies to fit the GB context of the current study. For the proper sample size selection, the G*Power technique will be used due to the absence of the population size (No exact statistics for bank customers available). However, the stratified random sampling technique will be adopted in the current study. Nonetheless, to estimate the proposed model, SEM-PLS will be used for measurement and the structure model. Subsequently, an interview protocol will be developed by the authors based on the objective of the study the contracts of the study’s framework.
The current study will conduct the empirical investigation within all Islamic banks operating in the UAE in order to get more robust and generalized results. According to the latest report of UAE Central Bank (2019), the total number of Islamic banks in the UAE is five (05) fully- fledged Islamic banks with the sum of 259 branches across the country, namely: Dubai Islamic
131 Bank (DIB), Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB), Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB), Noor Bank (NB) as highlighted in Table 1.
Table 1: Islamic banks’ branches Distribution in the UAE
State ADIB DIB EIB SIB NB Total
Abu Dhabi 35 11 09 03 03 61
Dubai 15 30 33 06 10 94
Sharjah 08 14 10 20 01 53
Ajman 01 02 01 00 00 04
Ras Al Khaimah 03 03 02 01 00 09
Umm Al-Quwain 01 01 01 00 00 03
Fujairah 03 02 01 01 00 07
Al-Ain 14 06 05 02 01 28
Total 80 69 62 33 15 259
Source: (Central Bank of the UAE, 2019)
In terms of the geographical scope, the study will cover the entire country of the UAE including the (07) seven emirates namely; Dubai, Abu Dhabi together with Al-Ain island, Ajman, Sharjah, Ras al Khaimah, Fujairah, and Umm al-Quwain in order to get more robust data and generalize the finding of the study across the all banking sector.
3. Conclusion and Future Recommendations
In conclusion, the findings of this research can serve banks in general and GB providers particularly. Mostly with information for promotion decisions on how to attract customers to adopt GB products and services. Religiosity plainly subsidized to predict the customers’
intention to adopt GB, especially within the Muslim majority nations. The managerial implication here is that setting and developing effective strategies targeting “Religiosity” will transfer individuals’ behaviour to increase the acceptability of GB. Furthermore, the results of this study could participate in improving in transforming customers’ behaviour towards GB.
Lastly, the study theoretically contributed to the literature by extending the UTAUT model and integrating the shared values factors by introducing five new dimensions of religiosity which is deemed to be an important factor. The study indicates the importance of the proposed model and the potential to extend it for upcoming investigations in individual behaviour experiments. Future researches might investigate empirically the effects of additional social factors on individual intention like individual factors, organization factors, technology factors, and environmental factors for further validation of the proposed model and exploration of new dimensions.
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