An Investigation into Factors that Determine the Adoption of Islamic Banking and Finance: Evidence from Jalalabad, Afghanistan

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The performance of its banks determines a country's economic success, as their key focus is to give support and cohesion to the financial sector regulation by acting as an intermediary between various parties such as individuals, organizations, and governments to conduct depositing and lending money operations smoothly. The majority of the population in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, prefers the non-Islamic banking system over the Islamic banking system due to their unawareness of Islamic services and products. This study aims to investigate the factors that determine the adoption of Islamic banking and finance in Afghanistan. The factors determining the adoption of Islamic banking and finance include religious awareness, social influence, relative advantage, and networking. These factors are considered independent variables, and the adoption of Islamic banking is considered a dependent variable in the current study. The data are collected through a self-administered survey questionnaire among 290 respondents. These respondents include employees of different organizations, students, shopkeepers, and residents of Jalalabad. The collected data was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis using SPSS 22.0. The findings of the study revealed that religion, awareness, and social influence have a significant impact on the intention of the respondents, whereas relative advantage and networking have an insignificant impact on the intention of respondents to adopt Islamic banking in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Most studies suggest a need to educate the public about Islamic banking services and products, and the Islamic banking system must make greater efforts to compete with the conventional banking system in Afghanistan.