Brand familiarity vs profit-sharing rate: which has a stronger impact on Muslim customers’ intention to invest in an Islamic bank?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of brand familiarity and profit-sharing rate on Muslim customers’ brand trust, perceived financial risk, perceived value and intention to invest in an Islamic bank.Design/methodology/approachA between-subjects experimental design was applied in the study. Six experiments involving two brand familiarity levels and three profit-sharing rates were conducted using a total of 217 samples. Randomization was applied in the study, which generated unequal sample sizes for each group of experiments.FindingsThe findings of this experimental study demonstrated that Muslim customers’ familiarity with the bank’s brand has a significant impact on their brand trust and intention to invest in an Islamic bank. The study also found that the profit-sharing rate has a significant impact on the perceived value both with and without interaction with brand familiarity.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study applies an independent measured design or a between-subjects experimental design, that resulted in unequal sample sizes. In addition, the study also does not control for the types of bank accounts owned by respondents. The design may invite the presence of confounding variables that exist due to individual differences and environmental variables.Practical implicationsThe results show that Islamic bank managers should care about the brand familiarity issue, which strongly influences customers’ brand trust and customer intention to invest in an Islamic bank. In addition, Islamic bank managers should pay attention to the profit-sharing rate given to customers, as it interacts with brand familiarity in influencing customers’ perceived value.Originality/valueThis study examined the impact of brand familiarity and profit-sharing rate on Muslim consumers’ brand trust, perceived risk, perceived value and intention to save in an Islamic bank. The paper provides a shred of empirical evidence to the theoretical relationship between the subjective and objective cues that influence the formation of customers’ trust, perceived financial risk, perceived value and intention in the Islamic bank context.