The Influence of Competency towards the Performance of Islamic Banking Industry in Malaysia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of competency which comprises of technical and behavioral competency among the employees of Islamic banking towards the performance improvement of Islamic banking industry in Malaysia. The study needed to be conducted due to the unfavorable achievement of Islamic banking industry after three decades of its establishment. Islamic banking needs to be more aggressive in providing competent human capital in line with the development of Islamic banking industry. The study related to the Islamic banking has been widely conducted but the use of McClelland and Spencer & Spencer theories to examine the effect of technical and behavioral competency towards the performance improvement of Islamic banking industry in Malaysia is still limited. Therefore, the first objective of the study is to determine the influence of technical competency among the Islamic banking employees towards the performance improvement of Islamic banking industry in Malaysia. The second objective is to find out the influence of behavioral competency among the Islamic banking employees towards the performance improvement of Islamic banking industry in Malaysia. Quantitative approaches through self-administered questionnaire were adopted and analyzed by using SEM-PLS. The total number of respondents is 370, where cluster and random sampling is used to select the respondents from each branch of Islamic banks in Malaysia. The results showed that both variables technical competency (β = 0.317, t = 4.484 p < 0.05), and behavioral competency (β = 0.294, t = 3.594 p < 0.05) were significantly influencing the improvement Islamic banking industry performance. Finally, this study has significant implications to the relevant parties to provide competent and highly performance human capital to the Islamic banking industry in Malaysia. The recruitment should not merely base on the experience and educational level but also taking into highly consideration positive personal attributes, attitudes and values. This is because the career in Islamic banking is not merely a career but a responsibility and sincerity which both are required in every aspect of the working environment.