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Islamic mobile
The influence of religion on phone banking
Islamic mobile phone banking services
services adoption
81
Susan Sun
School of Marketing and International Business, Received 3 June 2011
Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Tiong Goh
School of Information Management, University of Wellington,
Wellington, New Zealand
Kim-Shyan Fam
School of Marketing and International Business,
Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, and
Yang Xue
School of Management and Economy,
North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power,
Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects religious affiliation and commitment
have on Southeast Asian young adults’ intention to adopt Islamic mobile phone banking.
Design/methodology/approach – An online self-administered survey was distributed to
Southeast Asian young adults through convenience and snowball sampling and a total of
135 responses obtained.
Findings – The study found Islamic mobile phone banking to be a novelty service, with little consumer
awareness and experience, especially among non-Muslims. Religious affiliation and commitment were
both effective segmentation strategies, as differences in adoption intention were found between Muslims
and non-Muslims, as well as devout and casually religious Muslims. Overall, devout Muslims were
socially-oriented with their adoption criteria whereas casually religious and non-Muslims relied upon
the utilitarian attributes.
Originality/value – The paper contributes to the existing mobile banking adoption literature by
providing evidence of consumers’ adoption intentions toward Islamic mobile phone banking. It also
uses religious commitment in addition to affiliation as segmentation tools, an approach which has not
been used in previous Islamic mobile banking research.
Keywords South East Asia, Islam, Banking, Mobile technology, Young adults, Religious affiliation,
Religious commitment, Islamic banking, Mobile phone banking, Technology adoption
Paper type Research paper

Journal of Islamic Marketing

Vol. 3 No. 1, 2012
pp. 81-98
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
The authors gratefully acknowledge the grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of 1759-0833
China (70902011) for financial support. DOI 10.1108/17590831211206617
JIMA Introduction
3,1 The concept of Islamic banking was introduced in the 1940s. Since then Islamic
banking has grown into a multibillion dollar industry, with over 300 institutions across
75 countries (Khan and Bhatti, 2008). Despite the stiff competition from conventional
banks, Islamic banking enjoyed an annual growth rate of 15 percent, higher than those
of conventional banks (Arekat, 2006). Islamic banks have been found to possess
82 distinctive advantages. For instance, the principles central to Islamic banking which
provide banks with strict guidelines regarding their operations are derived from the
Holy Qur’an. This has enabled the Islamic banking industry to develop a stable and
socially responsible foundation central to its success and survival. This competitive
advantage was particularly evident during the recent economic crisis, which saw many
conventional banks struggling to stay afloat and maintain customer trust due to toxic
investments (Hasan and Dridi, 2010). Not surprisingly, the International Monetary
Fund reported that the value of the Islamic banking and finance industry was expected
to grow to US$1 trillion by 2010 (Cihak and Hesse, 2008). For the growth to continue,
stiff competition is expected between Islamic banks and with conventional banks to
attract and retain customers by offering innovative products and services. The
innovative use of ICT and mobile technologies is known to be an effective strategy to
gain market share. For example, the Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad has adopted mobile
banking as traditional bank branches alone are no longer enough to satisfy customers’
needs (Amin and Isa, 2008). To ensure mobile phone banking services are able to
strengthen Islamic banking’s competitive position, banks must deepen their
understanding of the factors that influence consumers’ decisions to adopt these
services. Existing studies of mobile phone banking adoption offer a good starting point
but have been mainly confined to utilitarian and usability issues. Culture and religion
are associated with distinct values and have been identified as contributing to
consumer behaviours and decision processes (Delener, 1994; Delener and Schiffman,
1988; Essoo and Dibb, 2004; Hirschman, 1982, 1983). Yet this aspect has seldom been
studied in relation to products and services that are embedded with religious values
such as the Islamic mobile phone banking services. Moreover, the majority of Islamic
banks’ customers are actually not Muslim (Amin and Isa, 2008; Ngui, 2004; Saifuddin,
2003). Muslims and non-Muslim customers are equally valuable to Islamic banks. It is
therefore important to also examine the effect religion has on consumers’ intentions to
adopt Islamic mobile phone banking. Gait and Worthington (2008) in their study also
suggested the need for further research on how Muslims and non-Muslims are affected
by religious convictions in their financial decision-making. Hence this timely research
will enhance our understanding of how religious aspects such as affiliation and
commitment influence the adoption of Islamic mobile phone banking services. The
results of this research will enable appropriate market segmentation and customer
education to be conducted in order to maximise marketing effectiveness.

Literature review
Islamic banking
Islamic banking is a set of banking practices developed in accordance with the
principles of the Shari’ah and the laws of the Holy Qur’an which prohibit gharar
(risk or speculation) and the acceptance of riba (interest) (Dixon, 1992). Islamic banks
operate within an “equity-based system” centred on the idea of societal equality
and risk sharing (Dixon, 1992). Islamic banks do not receive money from or conduct Islamic mobile
business with organisations associated with gambling, alcohol, or pork, as these phone banking
products are prohibited under the laws of Islam (Ahmad, 1994). The study of consumers’
attitudes towards adopting Islamic banking has recently received more attention. services
However, there have been conflicting results regarding the factors influencing Muslims’
attitudes to the selection of Islamic banking over conventional banking. While some
have found support for religious motivation as the overall reason behind the use of 83
Islamic banking services (Metawa and Almossawi, 1998; Metwally, 1996; Omer, 1992),
others report consumer decisions to be dependent upon non-religious factors such as
pricing (Ta, 2000), service speed and quality (Hegazy, 1995), and bank reputation
(Erol and El-Bdour, 1989). A study by Zainuddin et al. (2004) showed that besides
religious motivation, the decision-making processes of Islamic banks’ users were
affected by the influences of other people such as spouses, friends, and relatives. These
mixed findings have resulted in some concern and the need for more empirical studies of
the selection of segmentation strategies by Islamic banks (Gait and Worthington, 2008).

Mobile phone banking

Mobile commerce (M-commerce) consists of commercial transactions conducted
through mobile devices via wireless telecommunication networks (Yang, 2005), and
mobile phone banking includes using mobile devices to conduct personal financing via
SMS and the mobile internet.
The factors determining consumers’ intentions to adopt mobile phone banking have
been widely studied by both IT and marketing academics, and they offer insight into the
context of Islamic mobile phone banking. Among the studies which have used
the technology acceptance model (TAM), perceived usefulness (PU) has been found the
strongest predictor of adoption intentions (Kleijnen et al., 2004; Leung and Wei, 2000),
while perceived ease of use has received mixed results (Kleijnen et al., 2004; Leung and
Wei, 2000). In addition, social influence (SN), perceived system quality, perceived
credibility (PC), initial trust, and self-efficacy have been found to positively influence
adoption intentions, and perceived cost and perceived risk have been negatively
associated with mobile banking adoption (Kim et al., 2007; Kleijnen et al., 2004; Luarn
and Lin, 2005; Suoranta, 2003; Suoranta and Mattila, 2004; Yang, 2009). Studies
conducted under other theoretical frameworks have also yielded similar results, where
convenience and service speed have been identified to enhance customer adoption
intention while system safety and service charges have been viewed as inhibitors
(Suoranta, 2003; Suoranta and Mattila, 2004; Yang, 2009). Adoption intentions have also
been found to increase among younger adults below the age of 25 and the elderly
(Suoranta and Mattila, 2004). Essentially, consumers’ intentions to adopt mobile phone
banking are influenced by a mixture of utilitarian attributes, personal attitudinal factors,
external forces, and demographics.

Religion and consumer behaviour

The concept of religion has been treated by many as a multi-faceted construct that
influences individual beliefs, lifestyles, and identities (Cosgel and Minkler, 2004; De Jong et al.,
1976; Glock and Stark, 1965). Religion is also a key determinant of consumption behaviour
through religious laws and individual cognition and conation (Harrell, 1986). Two key facets
of religion frequently examined in conjunction with consumer behaviour are religious
JIMA affiliation and religious commitment. The prior refers to the adherence of individuals to a
3,1 particular religious group (Essoo and Dibb, 2004), and the latter is the degree to which
individuals are committed to that religion (Essoo and Dibb, 2004).
Studies of religious affiliation and consumer behaviour show religious consumers to
differ in their behaviours due to differences in religious philosophies (Berger, 1961;
Gurvitch et al., 1972; Merton, 1937). Among them, Hirschman (1983) identified
84 Catholics to be less concerned with economic factors, Essoo and Dibb (2004) found
Muslim consumers to be more practical and innovative compared to Catholics and
Hindus, and Delener (1994) reported Jewish households’ decision-making to be
dominated by husbands due to high masculinity and power distance within Jewish
households. Religious commitment has been argued to be a greater determinant of
religious behaviour as it shapes motivations and behavioural intentions. Brinkerhoff
(1978, p. 203) contended that: “[there] is more variation within these [religious]
categories than between them”. Indeed, the evidence suggests that individuals with
low religious commitment are less consistent in their religious behaviours and easily
influenced by externalities (Wiebe and Fleck, 1980). By comparison, individuals with
high commitment have been found to be more consistent, along with being more moral,
empathetic, conservative, and traditional (McDaniel and Burnett, 1990; Wilkes et al.,
1986). In relation to consumption practices, orthodox individuals have been found to
show preference for local brands, avoid credit spending, have a high tendency to take
offence at the advertising of controversial products, and place higher emphasis on
customer service, organisational social responsibility, and ethics (Fam et al., 2004;
McDaniel and Burnett, 1990). Although religious commitment has been argued to
influence consumer behaviour, the variable has received little attention and empirical
validation within the Islamic mobile banking literature.

Research model and hypothesis development

The research model for this study is based on the TAM, selected for its strong
empirical validation from the field of mobile phone banking adoption. Perceived ease of
use has been omitted as various studies have found the construct to be less significant
for new technology with young age samples (Kleijnen et al., 2004; Wei et al., 2009). The
TAM posits that individual adoption intentions are dependent upon PU and perceived
ease of use. Perceived ease of use is also a determinant of PU. Since studies of mobile
phone banking have found adoption intentions to depend on more than just PU and
perceived ease of use (Kim et al., 2007; Kleijnen et al., 2004; Luarn and Lin, 2005;
Pedersen and Nysveen, 2003), the present study also incorporates PC, perceived
financial cost (PFC), perceived self-expressiveness (PEX), and subjective norm.
The revised model is shown in Figure 1. All factors have been previously found to
determine mobile phone banking adoption (Kleijnen et al., 2004; Luarn and Lin, 2005;
Suoranta, 2003). Self-expressiveness and SN have also been found to influence
consumers’ purchase decisions (Bonne and Verbeke, 2006; Cohen et al., 2002). Religious
affiliation and commitment are used as moderating variables in the study to examine
how it affects the factors influencing consumer adoption intentions.

Perceived usefulness
Kleijnen et al. (2004) define PU in the mobile service context as “how well consumers
believe mobile services can be integrated into their daily activities”. As explained
 Perceived
Islamic mobile
usefulness phone banking
H1 + services
Perceived
credibility H2 +
85
Perceived H3 –
financial cost Intention to use

H4 +

Perceived self-
expressiveness H5 +

Subjective norm

Religious
affiliation and
commitment Figure 1.
Research model

by Robey (1979, p. 537), “a system that does not help people perform their jobs is not
likely to be received favourably in spite of careful implementation efforts”, and past
studies of mobile banking adoption have consistently found the factor to positively
influence adoption intentions (Kleijnen et al., 2004; Luarn and Lin, 2005). Therefore, this
study hypothesised that:
H1. Higher PU will lead to higher adoption intentions.

Perceived credibility
Wang et al. (2003) define PC as: “the extent to which a person believes that the use of
mobile banking will have no security or privacy threats”. The security and safety of
banks and banking services have been found to be central to customers’ use of banking
services. In the mobile banking literature, PC has also been found to enhance adoption
intentions (Luarn and Lin, 2005), thus it is hypothesised that:
H2. Higher PC will result in higher adoption intentions.

Perceived financial cost

Defined as “the extent to which a person believes that using mobile banking will cost
money”, PFC has been identified as a strong inhibitor on the adoption of mobile
banking (Kleijnen et al., 2004; Luarn and Lin, 2005; Wang et al., 2006). Based on these
findings it is hypothesised that:
H3. Higher PFC will lead to lower adoption intentions.
JIMA Perceived self-expressiveness
3,1 In their study of mobile service adoption, Pedersen and Nysveen (2003) found young
adults’ intention to adopt mobile payment services was highly dependent upon PEX.
Defined as the “importance of social expression of identity and self-identification”,
self-expressiveness is especially important to young adults as their consumption is
highly reflective of their self-identities, creativity, and innovativeness (Goldgehn, 2004).
86 Consequently, it is hypothesised that:
H4. Higher PEX will lead to higher adoption intentions.

Subjective norm
Subjective norm has been found be influential in the purchase of religious products and
technology adoption (Kleijnen et al., 2004; Malhotra and Galletta, 1999; Venkatesh and
Morris, 2000). Referred to as an “individual predisposition to acquiesce to social norms
prescribed by salient reference groups” (Noble et al., 2009), this study hypothesises that:
H5. Higher subjective norm will lead to higher adoption intentions.

Methodology
Sample
An anonymous and voluntary online questionnaire consisting of approximately
30 questions was developed through the Qualtrics software (please refer to the
Appendix for a copy of the questionnaire). The target population was Southeast Asian
young adults, selected for their technological fluency and also due to the strong
presence of Islamic banking in Southeast Asia.
Table I presents the demographic information of the sample. There were slightly
more females than males, with the majority of respondents being above the age of 21.
Malaysians also accounted for the biggest proportion of the respondents.
Table II provides information regarding respondents’ religious affiliation and
commitment. There were a total of 105 Muslim and 30 non-Muslim respondents, but only

Frequency Percentage

Gender
Female 79 58.5
Male 56 41.5
Total 135 100.0
Age
18-20 18 13.3
21-23 66 48.9
24 þ 51 37.8
Total 135 100.0
Ethnicity
Malaysian 86 63.7
Chinese 16 11.8
Indonesian 14 10.4
Indian 6 4.4
Table I. Other 13 9.7
Sample demographics Total 135 100.0
 Islamic mobile
Frequency Percentage
phone banking
Religion services
Islam 105 77.9
Christianity 10 7.4
Hinduism 6 4.4
Buddhism 6 4.4 87
Confucianism 3 2.2
None 3 2.2
Other 2 1.5
Total 135 100.0
Level of Islamic commitment (n ¼ 105)
(M ¼ 7.14, SD ¼ 1.84)
Low commitment
0 1 1.0
1 0 0.0
2 1 1.0
3 0 0.0
4 2 1.9
5 18 17.0
6 11 10.5
7 29 27.6
Total 62 59.0
High commitment
8 19 18.1
9 11 10.5 Table II.
10 13 12.4 Sample religious
Total 43 41.0 affiliation and
Grand total 105 100.0 commitment

three had no religion. The Muslim group was also divided into two groups with high
(n ¼ 43) and low (n ¼ 62) commitment based on the mean commitment value (M ¼ 7.14,
SD ¼ 1.84). The sample size of 135 ensured all three groups (i.e. non-Muslims, low
Islamic commitment, and high Islamic commitment) had a sample size of 30 or above,
making them fairly representative (Roscoe, 1975).

Scales
Table III summarises the number of items and the validity of the scales used for this
study. As the table illustrates, all construct scales originated from two studies on mobile
banking adoption. Luarn and Lin’s (2005) study focused on mobile phone adoption

Construct No. of items Cronbach’s a Source

PU 3 0.69-0.84 Luarn and Lin (2005)

PC 2 0.85-0.91 Luarn and Lin (2005)
PFC 2 0.63-0.96 Luarn and Lin (2005)
PEX 4 0.74 Pedersen and Nysveen (2003)
SN 4 0.63-0.8 Pedersen and Nysveen (2003) Table III.
Intention to use 2 0.88-0.9 Luarn and Lin (2005) Construct scales
JIMA intentions, and all items generated high Cronbach’s a values. By comparison, Pedersen
3,1 and Nysveen (2003) studied the use of mobile phone services among young adults. The
authors found PEX and SN played significant roles in shaping young adults’ decisions
to adopt mobile financial services. All questions were asked on Likert scales ranging
from 1 to 7, with 1 representing “strongly disagree” and 7 representing “strongly agree”.
Drawing upon the existing religious consumer behaviour literature, this study
88 measured religious affiliation by asking the participants to identify their religion (Essoo
and Dibb, 2004; Bonne et al., 2009). As suggested by Essoo and Dibb (2004) this measure
enables individuals to select according to their self-identities without family pressures.
The operationalisation of religious commitment differs among studies, but has included
religious behaviour, experience, and knowledge (De Jong et al., 1976; Glock and Stark,
1965; Wilkes et al., 1986). Mokhlis (2009) argues that although religious behaviour may
provide researchers with indications of one’s religious commitment, it may not always
be valid as individuals’ decisions to exhibit religious behaviour does not always
represent their true feelings (e.g. consuming purely for social acceptance). As a result,
this study allowed consumers to decide based on their own intentions, so individuals
were asked on a scale of 1-10 to select their level of religious adherence (Delener, 1994;
Fam et al., 2004).

Data analysis
Measurement
Data skewness and kurtosis assess the normality of the data by examining whether the
results for each variable form a normal distribution (DeCarlo, 1997). All skewness
statistics were found to be between 21 and 1, and all kurtosis statistics were between 23
and þ3, confirming the data was normally distributed (Cavana et al., 2001; DeCarlo, 1994).
Discriminant and convergent validities were tested through the use of factor analysis
with VARIMAX rotation. All items generated high factor loadings of above 0.4,
indicating high correlations and confirming convergent validity (Cavana et al., 2001). All
constructs apart from PC were found to have discriminant validity. PC was found to be
highly correlated with PU, which was plausible given a number of studies had found PC
to be an antecedent of PU, especially for telecommunications services (Wang et al., 2006;
Wang et al., 2003). To overcome the issue of discriminant validity for the model, we
eliminated PC items from the scales and a Cronbach’s a value of 0.888 was attained for
PU. As a result, the revised factor analysis results are presented in Table IV.

Regression model
As shown in Figure 2, by conducting a regression analysis across the entire sample, we
found that behavioural intention was dependent upon PU (b ¼ 0.401), PEX (b ¼ 0.232),
followed by SN (b ¼ 0.227). PFC was not seen as a significant attribute in respondents’
decisions to adopt Islamic mobile phone banking. The variables helped explain
46.9 percent of the total variance. Although these findings offered support for H1, H4,
and H5, through closer examination with religious affiliation and commitment, it was
further noted that these significant variables did not apply to all consumer groups.

Religious affiliation
The results of the multiple regression analyses for religious affiliation showed
differences in the amount of variance and the significance of variable relationships
 Islamic mobile
Cronbach’s a Factor 1 PU Factor 2 PFC Factor 3 PEX Factor 4 SN
phone banking
Perceived usefulness 0.888 services
PU1 0.838
PU2 0.854
PU3 0.873
Perceived financial cost 0.800 89
PFC1 0.904
PFC2 0.904
Perceived self-expressiveness 0.886
PEX1 0.818
PEX2 0.819
PEX3 0.846
Social influence 0.842
SN1 0.691
SN2 0.852
SN3 0.851 Table IV.
SN4 0.760 Factor loading

Perceived usefulness
0.401*
(5.167)

Perceived financial R2 = 0.469

cost n.s.
Intention to use

0.232*
Perceived self- (2.810)
expressiveness
0.227*
(3.110)

Subjective norm Figure 2.

TAM regression results
for entire sample
Note: *p < 0.05

between Muslim and non-Muslim respondents as shown in Figures 3 and 4. For

Muslims, the TAM explained 31.6 percent of the total variance and behavioural
intention was significantly influenced by PU (b ¼ 0.303) and SN (b ¼ 0.274) at the
p , 0.05 level, and PEX (b ¼ 0.191) at the p , 0.10 level. This suggests that Muslim
respondents’ intentions to use Islamic mobile phone banking mostly depend upon the
service’s usefulness and the opinions of others, followed by the need to express their
values. These findings provide support for H1, H4, and H5.
Compared to Muslims, the TAM explained 46.2 percent of the variance for
non-Muslims, and PU was the only significant determinant of adoption intentions at
the p , 0.10 threshold. This finding implies that non-Muslim consumers’ intention to
JIMA
3,1 Perceived usefulness
0.303*
(3.333)

Perceived financial R2 = 0.316

90 cost n.s.
Intention to use
0.191**
Perceived self- (1.930)
expressiveness
0.274*
(2.967)

Figure 3. Subjective norm

TAM regression results
for Muslims
Note: *p < 0.05, **p <0.10

Perceived usefulness
0.544**
(1.931)

Perceived financial R2 = 0.462

cost n.s.
Intention to use

Perceived self- n.s.

expressiveness

n.s.

Figure 4. Subjective norm

TAM regression results
for non-Muslims
Note: **p < 0.10

adopt Islamic mobile phone banking is based on the greater usefulness of services
offered by Islamic banks. This only offers support for H1.

Religious commitment
For highly committed Muslims, the TAM explained 44.8 percent of the total variance
as shown in Figure 5. For these consumers, SN (b ¼ 0.396) was the most significant
factor driving their adoption intentions, followed by PEX (b ¼ 0.289). This shows
Muslims to be highly concerned about the influence of others during their selection of
Islamic mobile phone banking, and also how it represents their values and identities.
These findings confirm H4 and H5.
 Islamic mobile
Perceived usefulness phone banking
n.s. services

Perceived financial R2 = 0.448

cost n.s. 91
Intention to use
0.289**
Perceived self- (1.699)
expressiveness
0.426*
(2.797)
Figure 5.
Subjective norm TAM regression results
for Muslims with high
commitment
Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.10

In contrast to devout Muslims, the TAM was only able to explain 19.6 percent of the
total variance for casual Muslims as shown in Figure 6. These consumers
demonstrated that their intentions to adopt Islamic mobile phone banking were only
dependent on PU (b ¼ 0.448). Again, this only offers support for H1.
In summary, H1, H4, and H5 were supported across the entire sample. When
religious affiliation was treated as a group variable, H1, H4, and H5 were supported
for Muslims, while H1 was supported for non-Muslims. When religious affiliation was
treated as a group variable, H4 and H5 were supported for devout Muslims, and H1
was supported for casually religious Muslims.

Perceived usefulness

0.461*
(3.013)

Perceived financial R2 = 0.196

cost n.s.
Intention to use

Perceived self- n.s.

expressiveness

n.s.
Figure 6.
Subjective norm TAM regression results
for Muslims with low
commitment
Note: *p < 0.05
JIMA Findings and discussion
3,1 The regression analysis conducted across the sample shows consumers’ intentions to
adopt Islamic mobile phone banking are dependent upon the PU of the service, PEX,
and subjective norm. These findings echo those of other studies conducted in the
context of mobile phone banking. The insignificance of PFC suggests customers are
not particularly concerned about the price of the service, as the cost of using mobile
92 phones is already very low and affordable in Malaysia. Having explained 46.9 percent
of the variance across the sample, the TAM was also found to be a valid framework for
the study of Islamic mobile phone banking adoption.
The key contribution offered by the study is the interesting results generated for
customer adoption intentions when religious affiliation and commitment were applied
to the model. Under religious affiliation, Muslims and non-Muslims did not rely on the
same evaluation criteria when deciding to adopt Islamic mobile phone banking.
Non-Muslims were only concerned with PU, which Ahmad and Haron (2002) and
Gerrard and Cunningham (1997) suggest is the result of having little knowledge of the
principles and symbolic meanings of Islamic banking. By comparison, Muslims were
concerned with PU, PEX, and subjective norm. These also align with the results of
previous studies on Islamic banking, which have found Muslim consumers to be highly
wary of the Muslim values within Islamic banking, and how these values influenced
their personal identities, status, and place within their religious communities (Erol and
El-Bdour, 1989; Hegazy, 1995; Metawa and Almossawi, 1998; Zainuddin et al., 2004).
In addition to religious affiliation, religious commitment also yielded interesting
results whereby casually religious Muslims placed emphasis on PU, and devout
Muslims relied upon PEX and subjective norm. The outcome for casually religious
Muslims was reflected in studies by Bonne and colleagues on Muslims’ consumption
behaviour. The authors argued that as casually religious Muslims feel less obliged to be
guided by their religion, they are more likely to follow their own preferences (Bonne and
Verbeke, 2006; Bonne et al., 2009). By comparison, the emphasis placed on PEX and
subjective norm by devout Muslims indicated a stronger pressure and obligation to
adhere to religious laws, and particular concern about personal image within the
religious community (Erol and El-Bdour, 1989; Gerrard and Cunningham, 1997).
The insignificance of PU was rare among previous studies, however it may be explained
by the respondents’ high level of religious commitment. As Allport and Ross (1967)
wrote “[devout individuals] find their master motive in religion. Other needs, strong as
they may be, are regarded as less of ultimate significance [. . .]” (cited in: Kahoe, 1974,
p. 434). In other words, devout Muslims were only concerned with the religious
motivation aspect of the service, and would consider using the service despite its
usefulness.
In general, the study has demonstrated both religious affiliation and commitment to
be viable segmentation strategies for Islamic banks. However, through further
examination, it was noted that non-Muslims and casually religious Muslims shared the
same evaluation criteria (i.e. PU). This was an interesting finding which may suggest
religious affiliation alone is not a sufficient segmentation frame for Islamic banks. This
proposition was further reinforced as the Muslim consumer group was found to be
heterogeneous in their evaluation criteria.
Howell (1986) argued that religious commitment (referred to as “religiosity”) was a
viable segmentation strategy as it correlated with consumer lifestyle factors such as
innovativeness and psychological wellbeing. By comparison, religious affiliation was Islamic mobile
mostly associated with one’s nationality and ethnicity, which were mostly determined phone banking
by birth (Hirschman, 1983). Cosgel and Minkler (2004) distinguished religious
affiliation and commitment by suggesting only devout individuals possessed a sense services
of “integrity”, which formed the basis for a strong religious identity that drove
consistent religious behaviour. The authors supported their argument by quoting
Halfon (1989, p. 334), who asserted that: “while others can violate a person’s dignity, 93
only the person’s own self can violate his or her own integrity”, thus suggesting
religious commitment has a strong impact on one’s cognitive and conative behaviour.

Managerial implications
In order to achieve competitiveness in Islamic mobile phone banking, Islamic banks
should focus their marketing efforts on promoting the usefulness and image of the
service. In addition, it is highly recommended that Islamic banks segment consumers
based on religious affiliation and commitment. For devout consumers, advertising
messages should focus on the social acceptance and expressive utility offered by the
service, how it will make individuals more a part of their religious community while
enhancing self-actualisation. For casual and non-Muslim consumers, efforts should
focus on improving their perceptions of service usefulness and effectiveness; this may
include emphasising attributes such as service efficiency and time convenience, and
the honesty and knowledgability of employees. Developing advertising messages that
are tailored to the needs of each segment will maximise adoption intentions.

Limitations and future research

The study has several limitations which provide directions for future research. First, as
the sample only consisted of young adults from Southeast Asia, the results could only
be generalised to this age group and region. Future research should consider older
consumers and consider using samples from other regions such as the Middle East
where Islam and Islamic banking have a longer and stronger presence. Further studies
will provide evidence of the significance of age and regionalisation on consumers’ use
of Islamic mobile phone banking. Second, the regression variances in this study were
rather limited due to the number of attributes selected. Future efforts should aim to
increase the evaluation criteria selected for the TAM or adapt other technology
acceptance frameworks such as the theory of planned behaviour, and diffusion of
innovations theory to provide more comprehensive explanations of the factors
influencing consumers’ decisions to adopt Islamic mobile phone banking. Third, the
current study was cross-sectional, meaning it only examined consumer behaviour at
one point in time. Future studies should adopt a longitudinal approach which monitors
the changes in consumers’ adoption intentions as well as the factors driving their
adoption. This would also assist Islamic banks with the evaluation of their marketing
strategies. Finally, since the study only examined adoption intentions, future research
should aim to examine how intentions translate into actual usage.

Conclusion
The study aimed to provide empirical evidence of the factors influencing consumers’
decisions to adopt Islamic mobile phone banking, as well as the effect religion has on
consumers’ use of evaluation criteria. The study found adoption intentions to be
JIMA dependent upon PU, PEX, and subjective norm, although these three criteria were not
3,1 considered by all consumers when they were segmented using religious affiliation and
commitment. The results revealed differences in consumer behaviour between
Muslims and non-Muslims, however further division by religious commitment found
non-Muslims and casually religious Muslims to place emphasis on PU, while devout
Muslims were concerned about the PEX and subjective norm of the service. Based on
94 these results, the study supports the arguments made by various academics ( Delener,
1990; McDaniel and Burnett, 1990; Wilkes et al., 1986) by identifying religious
commitment and religious affiliation as effective segmentation strategies for Islamic
banks offering Islamic mobile phone banking services.

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Appendix. Survey questionnaire

Perceived usefulness
Compared to conventional mobile phone banking [. . .]:
.
I believe Islamic mobile phone banking services will increase my performance when I
bank.
.
I believe Islamic mobile phone banking services will be easier to use.
.
I believe Islamic mobile phone banking services will be more useful for me.

Perceived credibility
Compared to conventional mobile phone banking [. . .]:
.
I believe Islamic mobile phone banking services will offer me more security when I bank.
.
I believe Islamic mobile phone banking services are less likely to give others my personal
information.

Perceived financial cost

Compared to conventional mobile phone banking [. . .]:
.
I believe it would cost a lot more to use Islamic mobile phone banking services.
.
I believe there are more financial barriers (e.g. having to pay more for handset, talk time,
and mobile banking fees) to using Islamic mobile phone banking services.

Perceived self-expressiveness
Compared to conventional mobile phone banking [. . .]:
JIMA .
I believe using Islamic mobile phone banking services will allow me to express more of my
personality to others.
3,1 .
I believe using Islamic mobile phone banking services will allow me to express more of my
values to others.
.
I believe using Islamic mobile phone banking services will give me more status in the eyes
of others.
98
Subjective norm
Compared to conventional mobile phone banking [. . .]:
.
There are more media and advertising recommending the use of Islamic mobile phone
banking services.
.
My friends use more Islamic mobile phone banking services.
.
My family uses more Islamic mobile phone banking services.
.
People familiar to me think I should use more Islamic mobile phone banking services.

Intention to use
.
Assuming that I have access to both conventional and Islamic mobile phone banking
services, I am more likely to use Islamic mobile phone banking services.
.
Assuming that I have access to both conventional and Islamic mobile phone banking
services, I intend to use more Islamic mobile phone banking services.

Corresponding author
Susan Sun can be contacted at: sun.susan@hotmail.com

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