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The rapid growth of Islamic banking in Malaysia warrants banking institutions being more proactive and innovative in marketing their products. The purpose of this paper is to re‐evaluate the progress and achievements of Islamic banking in Malaysia, particularly in the area of sales and marketing of Islamic banking services.

This paper adopts a comprehensive literature review from various published sources. All related references were discovered through electronic databases, journals and books in the area of the relevant literature in Islamic finance, banking and services marketing.

The driving force for the growth of Islamic banking and financing products is the corporate clients, and not the Muslim individuals. In fact, the non‐Muslim individuals also use Islamic banking if they find that the service is good and meets their expectations. This paper shows evidence that the marketing activities of Islamic banking products is relatively ineffective compared to the conventional banking products in Malaysia. This paper also discusses the reasons for the ineffectiveness of marketing Islamic banking products at the micro and macro‐level. Depending on religion alone is not the best strategy to attract customers.

The products offered by the Islamic banking system have to compete with those of the conventional banking system. Hence, a continuous review of marketing strategies for Islamic banking products is crucial in every Islamic financial institution.

This paper fulfils a need to study whether the common methods in marketing conventional banking products would be effective in the context of marketing Islamic banking products.

Islamic banking institutions have been in operation for nearly 50 years now and despite having been in competition with much more entrenched conventional rivals have demonstrated remarkable potential for growth and sustainability in different countries in both Muslim-dominated and Muslim-minority jurisdictions. The sustained upsurge in Islamic banks’ operations level to even a double-digit mark is not accidental but a replica of the levels of engagement of customers with Islamic banking institutions among other factors. There are various studies on Islamic banking, which covered wide range of issues, including those on Islamic banks customers’ patronage factors.

Accordingly, this chapter presents discussions on factors that influence customers’ engagement/patronage with Islamic banking. From plethora of studies conducted over long period of time and in different countries, many different factors have been identified as the determinants of customers’ engagements. The factors include but are not limited to customers’ personal attributes such as their understanding, knowledge, and perceptions of banking products, the banking institutions’ related factors such as product pricing, technology adopted by bank, environmental factors, and other myriads of determinants.

Islamic banking contributes significantly to the total assets of Malaysian banking sector. Yet, many argue that Islamic banking in Malaysia does not receive satisfactory support and participation from the public mainly due to poor awareness of its products and services and misconception about the Islamic banking system. It is timely to study consumers’ awareness of Islamic banking in the hopes of providing useful strategies for and assistance with marketing plans. This study is to explore consumer awareness towards Islamic banking products and services across a diverse set of demographic variables.

A quantitative approach was used in this study. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed via convenience and snowballing sampling method to bank customers in a public university in Malaysia, and 817 responses from the survey were used for the analysis. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics were employed to answer objectives of this study.

The findings of this study are anticipated to provide a holistic and comprehensive marketing insight to improve and strengthen Islamic banking in Malaysia.

This study examines the role of demographics such age, gender, race/religion, education level, occupation and income level in trying to understand the issues of Islamic banks’ product awareness. It is well accepted that the consumer’s attitude or behaviour should be studied among others through understanding customers’ demographics.

There are two purposes to this study: first, to identify the status of ḥiyal (legal devices) in the offering of deposit products based on the tawarruq contract in the Malaysian Islamic banking industry and second, to identify the reasons for the widespread offering of tawarruq-based deposit products by Malaysian Islamic banks (IBs).

The study uses the qualitative method that involved interviews with Malaysian Sharī‘ah experts and Islamic banking operations experts.

The findings show that Malaysian IBs resolved to use the tawarruq munaẓẓam contract in deposit products due to several constraints in the existing banking system and in view of customer preferences.

This study solely focuses on tawarruq-based deposit products due to its extensive application in the Malaysian Islamic banking industry.

The implication of the study is that more stringent procedures are required in the offering of tawarruq-based deposit products as they are extensively utilised and have sparked controversy among Sharī‘ah scholars. Moreover, to retain Malaysia's Islamic banking reputation and trustworthiness, new and less controversial contracts must be developed.

This paper discusses the extensive usage of ḥiyal-based contracts such as tawarruq in Islamic banking institutions' deposit products, with justifications from Malaysian Islamic banking experts. The widespread use of the tawarruq munaẓẓam contract in deposit-based product offerings is based on a reasonable view considering the constraints that Malaysian Islamic banking is currently facing, with strict operation procedures by Bank Negara Malaysia to ensure real operations and to avoid fictitious elements. This paper reveals the use of tawarruq munaẓẓam in deposit products which allows the Islamic banking industry to operate effectively under Malaysia's dominant conventional banking system.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual framework that can facilitate investigations concerning the impact of marketing communication and financial consideration on the relationship between customer attitude and purchase intention of Islamic banking products and services.

This conceptual paper is structured based on the extant literature; it provides a review of theoretical perspectives, highlights the gap and illustrates the significance for developing a framework.

The authors identify notable patterns and limitations in previous empirical studies. Specifically, despite increasing interest in Islamic banking customer behavior, prior research has not given much attention to explore moderating effects on the customer attitude–intention link. This has left researchers and bank managers with very limited information to explain the conditions that enhance customers’ attitude and intentions toward Islamic banking products. Based on this backdrop, the paper displays a viable research model with propositions that assess potential moderating effects on the domain relationship.

This paper contributes to Islamic banking and management literature because prior research has predominantly focused on variables that directly influence customers’ behavior. This novel conceptual framework enables managers to better understand their customers and has implications for emerging themes, such as formulating strategies for specific customer groups and internationalization process. In addition, this paper provides a starting point to empirically examine whether and how the proposed moderators affect the link between customer attitude and behavioral intentions to purchase Islamic banking products.

To the best of knowledge, this is the first attempt to introduce relevant moderating variables for investigating the attitude and intention nexus in an Islamic banking context. Furthermore, the authors propose a new measure, namely, profit-loss sharing proportions which could enhance customers’ intention to purchase Islamic banking products.

The Moroccan monetary authorities have implemented an Islamic banking system since 2017 as an alternative to the conventional system. However, the adoption of Islamic banking products and services is not widely accepted by customers. The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual framework to understand the determinants of Islamic banking products and services adoption in Morocco.

This study develops a conceptual framework based on the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI). Thus, with reference to an extensive literature review done regarding adoption studies, the proposed research model integrates perceived attributes of innovation (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity and observability) suggested by the DOI theory. It also integrates other relevant variables that should be considered in the context of this study. These include knowledge, perceived risk and customer involvement.

The proposed conceptual framework demonstrates and justifies the relevance and the applicability of Rogers’ DOI to understand consumer decisions to adopt an innovation in general as well as Islamic banks in particular.

Several studies have examined the factors influencing the adoption of Islamic banks; however, those carried out in the Moroccan context remain very limited. The majority of these studies examine the intention to adopt in the future, whereas the present study seeks to establish a conceptual research model that examines the determinants of current adoption of Islamic banking in Morocco and the continuity of this adoption over time. The novelty of this study is to develop a modified model based on DOI theory which, according to the existing literature, has not yet been tested in the Moroccan context.

The purpose of this study is to determine the level of perception of a Muslim account holder in a conventional bank toward Islamic banking products and to determine the relationship between the perception levels of Nigerian’s account holder’s and their decision to patronize Islamic banking. Personal perception factor is operationalized as opinion or observations, which are able to influence customer’s decision to patronize Islamic banking products and services.

A field survey was conducted and samples drawn using proportionate stratified simple random sampling techniques. Out of the 500 questionnaires distributed by hand, only 304 were returned and 286 were usable for the data analysis using SPSS and PLS Modeling Software.

First, the means for personal perception variable was 4.91 with standard deviation of 1.007. This indicates the good perception level of Islamic products by Muslim account holders in a conventional bank in Kano, Nigeria. The respondents’ level of decision to patronize the Islamic banking products and services was satisfactory. Second, the results also showed that the research framework model, structural model and hypothesis were supported. In the measurement model, the convergent, discriminant validity and reliability/composite reliability of the perception construct were assessed favorably. The results revealed that perception was positively associated with a Muslim account holder’s decision to patronize Islamic banking products.

The study is subject to several shortcomings that limit interpretation of findings. One of the limitations of this study is the use of cross-sectional design for survey research and subjective self-reported perceptual measures in assessing the studies. Hence, the findings of this study cannot be generalized in a larger context across the cultures of other countries.

The implication of this study is for the Islamic banking industry to focus on the people’s level of perception, government support, quality and availability of Islamic banking products and services that would have an impact on customer decision to patronize Islamic banking products. The necessary suggestions on new area of research were recommended for future researchers.

Islamic banks have the potential to exploit and market to various segments of customers extending beyond those who are concerned with the legitimacy of the facility from the Islamic point of view and those who seek service quality, convenience and efficient transactions. To the practitioners in search of patronage of Islamic banking products and services, patronage studies on Islamic banking have so far largely focused on the combination of various religious, reputation, commercial, service satisfaction, staff, confidentiality and convenience factors.

The results of the present study establish the major problem that requires urgent attention needed to strengthen public education toward the distinctive characteristics of Islamic banks and how it may profitably suit the interest of customers in their financial dealings.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect moderation effects of demographic and socio-economic(s) factors on the adoption of Islamic banking in UAE.

Convenience sampling was done on the residents of Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. A closed-ended questionnaire with 30 items was designed and pre-tested before the start of the study. Path analysis and moderation testing were the main analytical approach. A total of 320 respondents completed the survey.

The research revealed that demographic and socio-economic(s) moderators may have direct and indirect moderation effects on the adoption of the Islamic banking in the UAE, which indicates the importance of these factors in the provision of Islamic banking products and services in the UAE.

This study further revealed that these moderators have huge practical implications for Islamic bank managers and marketers as they can exploit these demographics to enhance their market share in the UAE.

In UAE, minimal attention has been directed toward the role moderators would play in the criterion that individual investors would use in the adoption of Islamic banking products and services in a cosmopolitan environment that is experiencing competition from conventional banks.

An extensive review of the existing literature on the adoption of Islamic banking reveals that no empirical research has been undertaken to explore the role played by demographic and socio-economic(s) moderators in the adoption of Islamic banking in UAE and internationally. This study attempts to fill this gap.

Customers are increasingly interested in reading discussions, experiences, recommendations and reviews on social media platforms related to services and products in which they are highly interested. The purpose of this paper is to find the availability of user-generated content (UGC) in the context of Islamic banks and how it can enhance the level of brand engagement and purchase intention of customers.

The methodology for this research is designed by following the features of qualitative research methods and a social constructivism approach. Furthermore, non-directive and semi-structured in-depth interviews are constructed to accumulate research data from marketing teams and customers of Islamic banks. The respondents have been carefully chosen on the basis of purposive sampling and their level of awareness related to Islamic banks.

Islamic banks are more frequently using traditional marketing tools that are unable to enhance levels of information among the targeted population and prove an expensive way of marketing. The findings reveal that Islamic banks lag behind in adopting the latest information exchanging technologies compared to conventional banking systems. A lack of skilled people, reputation and trust, lack of e-marketing strategy and lower levels of investment in social media platforms are major barriers to generate UGC, brand engagement and purchase intention among the targeted market of Islamic banks.

The effective and competent use of various social networking platforms can enhance UGC related to Islamic banking products and services. UGC can generate interactive communication, services reviews, feedbacks, intention to purchase, social influence, social trust and positive customer perception among the targeted population of Islamic banks. The study has summarized and offered practical recommendations to show how Islamic banks can address challenges and enjoy a high level of profitability compared to conventional banking systems.

The present study uncovered the steps that must be taken by the top management of Islamic banks to enhance levels of awareness, online product reviews and recommendations, e-word of mouth and purchase intentions of the targeted market. The study enhanced understanding regarding how a higher level of investment in social networking platforms, safe and secure banking systems and skilled IT professionals can address the challenges of Islamic banks. Furthermore, these factors can create positive UGC, social influence, social brand engagement and purchase intention of customers in Islamic banks. These primary factors must be considered by Islamic banks to compete with conventional banking products and services.

The growth of Islamic banking seems to be tremendous and significant in the context of Malaysia. Moreover, together with Muslim loyalty towards Islamic banking, non-Muslims are also showing positive acceptance towards Islamic banking in Malaysia. Thus, this paper aims to examine the drivers of loyalty among non-Muslim in their adoption of Islamic banking products in Malaysia.

The primary data are collected from the survey administered to non-Muslim clients in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The total number of respondents involved are n = 300. The analysis of data is conducted by using a partial least square analysis.

This study documented that loyalty among non-Muslim Islamic banking customers in Malaysia was mainly driven by convenience, product pricing, reliability and responsiveness, operational risk and security and value added services. Only one variable was found to be insignificant, which was accessibility.

The results from this research is expected to provide important inputs on the critical factors for consideration by Islamic banks in maintaining further loyalty among their non-Muslim customers, thus enhancing the development of Islamic banking in Malaysia.

This paper provides further literature evidence on the factors contributes to loyalty by considering non-Muslims patronization of Islamic banking in Malaysia.