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This paper aims to examine the influence of religious backgrounds and religiosity on three dimensions of household finance (the decision to hold secured debt, the likelihood of being in a state of financial distress and the likelihood of being in a state of financial well-being) across a large sample of European countries.

The study uses data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data set, spanning from 2004 to 2018. The authors conduct regression analysis to examine the relationship between religion and household financial choices.

The study finds that belonging to a predominantly Catholic or Orthodox (Protestant) country is negatively (positively) associated with the likelihood of holding a mortgage. Belonging to a mostly Catholic (Protestant) country is negatively (positively) associated with the likelihood of being in a state of financial distress. Belonging to a predominantly Catholic (Protestant) country is positively (negatively) associated with the likelihood of being in a state of financial well-being. These relationships remain robust after controlling for a large number of demographic and economic variables.

In this paper, the authors analyze for the first time the impact of religion on household finance in a wide range of European countries. It is also the first time that the EU-SILC database, which aggregates data on more than three million European households, is used for the study of this topic.

This article explores how social actors negotiate the competing logics they face as a result of their work in organizations subject to institutional complexity. In particular, I theoretically focus on the unique characteristics associated with societal institutional logics, such as religion, family, and the state. Empirically, I analyze religious mutual funds (Catholic, Muslim, and Protestant) in the United States that dwell at the intersection of the competing logics of religion and finance. Through interviews with 31 people who work at religious mutual funds (or fund producers) and content analysis of religious mutual fund material, I focus on the symbolic boundary work that religious fund producers engage in. I find examples of boundary blurring and boundary building and suggest institutional complexity that involves at least one societal logic is especially likely to foster both modes of boundary work. This, I propose, leads to an increased likelihood of enduring institutional complexity.

The purpose of this study is to compare the impact of religion on the financial performance of conventional and Islamic banks in the framework of stakeholders’ theory.

Few studies have focused on studying the impact of religion on banking performance. Although religion represents an external governance mechanism for financial institutions, by using the generalized method of moments (GMM), this topic constitutes a research opportunity. The already modeled variables are collected from 76 countries located on 5 continents. The data were collected from DATASTREAM, banks’ annual reports, WIKIPEDIA and World Bank. It concerns 210 banks of each type during the period (2010–2020).

The author retained that religion negatively affects the financial performance of both conventional and Islamic banks. More specifically, results showed that religion affected the liquidity and solvency of two bank types. It also affected conventional banks’ profitability and efficiency.

I summarized the theoretical contribution in the integration of a new original governance category to enhance its presence with impacts directly affecting the banks’ financial performance. Empirically, the study can be seen as a compass for all stakeholders to consider environmental, behavioral and doctrinal factors in studying the financial performance evolution and to become more competitive in the banking market.

Although conventional banks located in developed countries are different from those existing in emerging countries and Islamic banks located in developed countries are different from those existing in emerging countries, I carried out a diversified study in the global context. Referring to the comparative literature review between conventional and Islamic banks, the study was the first conditional research that compared the impacts of religion on the financial performance of conventional and Islamic banks.

This paper aims to investigate whether and how religiosity (e.g. extrinsic and intrinsic) influences the mediator variables (consumers’ commitment and materialism) in the Islamic bank consumers context. It also examines how the mediators should be influence consumers’ preferences.

In total, 658 Muslim people and Islamic bank consumers were recruited for a survey study and structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses.

The empirical results indicate that religiosity (e.g. extrinsic and intrinsic) has significant and positive effects on consumers’ commitment and materialism, whereas intrinsic religiosity has no significant effect on consumers’ commitment which subsequently influences consumers’ preference. Furthermore, mediator variables (e.g. consumers’ commitment and consumers’ materialism) have partial mediators between religiosity and consumers’ preferences.

The current study was limited to Indonesian Muslim people; there is a future need to study consumers’ attitudes and engagement in religious products and services (e.g. Islamic brands). It is can help practitioners, regulators and researchers to observe the dynamic behavior to elaborate on the impact of religion and Islamic products on consumers’ preference.

The bank managers and regulators should enhance the information of products and services Islamic banks and the difference principle between conventional banks. Moreover, enlighten the consumers about the principle operation of Islamic banks from the perspective of marketing and religiosity.

This study contributes to consumers’ behavior literature and, specifically, for the decision-making process through developing and testing a model of religious determinants toward Islamic bank products, as well as offers new insights into the determinants of religion and consumers’ decision process toward Islamic banking.

Purpose – This chapter shows that Islamic finance does not aim at substituting the conventional financial system, rather it can be used to reform it. It can thus indirectly contribute to its survival.

Methodology/Approach – We first present the peculiarities of the Islamic financial model. We then investigate its prospects: coexistence, integration, substitution? It is the investigation of the strategy and activities of the Islamic banks that allows to address this issue.

Findings – We find that the deliberate strategy is essentially to compete with conventional banks. Consequently, there is a willingness to be part of the conventional system. The study of the Islamic financial system allows to conclude that their emergence serves a purpose. The Islamic financial principles provide a benchmark for improving and reforming the conventional system.

Originality/Value of Paper – The main contribution is to provide a clear answer to the future of Islamic finance, and to present the contribution of Islamic finance to renewal of financial and economic thought.

With the increasing instances of malfeasance and frauds coming to light in the financial services industry, trust has become a key concern for customers. Fortunately, in the case of Islamic Finance, trust is a central tenet, and its importance can be seen through the emphasis of Amanah or trustworthiness that should be present in every financial transaction. However, it has been argued that the principle of trust has not been truly realized in Islamic Finance, or that there are still issues of distrust regarding anything which is obtrusively branded as “Islamic”. In this paper, the author will analyze the reasons for gaps between the expectations and reality of the finance industry today by looking at the main factors contributing to distrust among the different stakeholders and the perceived impact of the distrust on the industry and the general public. It then focuses on the past and ongoing efforts by academia to bridge these gaps between the different stake holder groups with the help of illustrative case studies as well as recommends future steps to be taken to ensure a stronger foundation of trust within the Islamic Finance community.

This study aims to enlighten the effects of Islamic religiosity, Islamic altruism and Islamic debt collection policy (IDCP) on millennials’ acceptability of tawarruq-based ar-rahnu in Malaysia.

This study applies the factors drawn from the Islamic theory of consumer behaviour (ITCB) and uses data obtained from a survey of 267 respondents to examine the impact of these factors on millennials’ acceptability of tawarruq-based ar-rahnu.

The findings indicate that Islamic religiosity, Islamic altruism and IDCP are all important factors influencing millennials’ acceptability of tawarruq-based ar-rahnu.

The study is narrowed down in scope in terms of the broader context of tawarruq-based ar-rahnu and the variables retrieved from the ITCB, which may explain its limited impact.

Considering the effects of the variables investigated in this study might assist enhance product acceptance among consumers.

This study is focussed on tawarruq-based ar-rahnu in the context of the ITCB, taking a different approach than past research on the subject.

Understanding the important patronage factors of Islamic credit card as a new e-commerce banking service is essential for bankers and users. Although some previous studies have focused on the factors that influence adoption of Islamic credit card, there are few empirical research studies that use a well-established adoption model that helps bankers and consumers to accept and use the Islamic credit card. This study aims to provide such a model to facilitate the adoption of Islamic credit card.

In response, a conceptual model was developed that combines the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with perceived religiosity (a new developed construct in this study) and trust to explain usage intention of this new banking product. Accordingly, the data were collected from 327 bank customers, and the results supported the applicability of TAM to describe usage behavior of Islamic credit card. Besides, the newly developed construct (perceived religiosity) increased the TAM power regarding explaining adoption of a new e-commerce banking service.

Theoretically, the results of this study advocate that perceived religiosity increase the TAM predictive power to clarify intention to use. While, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude explained low level of the variance regarding intention to use, by adding perceived religiosity to TAM, these constructs contributed to an increase in the described variance, therefore offering a better explanatory power. In addition, the proposed joint TAM, perceived religiosity and trust explained 57.1 per cent of usage behavior variance. These results are of prime importance, as, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that proves the applicability of TAM for explaining adoption and usage of the Islamic credit card.

The findings of the current study showed that perceived usefulness is an important factor effecting people’s intention to use the Islamic credit card. Consequently, managers need to first ensure that the Islamic credit card and its services are technically sound and work in an appropriate manner. The focus should be on promoting speed, efficiency and effectiveness of this new product. In financial part, there is a need to reduce the interest rate in the long run to encourage potential users to consider the usage of the Islamic credit card and its offered services.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the history and legacy of Islamic finance (IF) in Sri Lanka in the context of the emergence of life finance. It tracks the social life of finance through a genealogy of trust and capital.

The methodology used is qualitative. It is an extended case study using conversations, company documents and newspaper archival research.

Trust, transparency and ethics must be understood locally to have salience. The implicit effect of locally understood ideas of trust that have been built into the movement of capital (via ethical branding and transparency in IF, education and social awareness) can reconfigure relationships between communities in a country that has been ravaged by war.

There have been few studies on IF in Sri Lanka; this study will enrich those offerings. However, they must be understood in relation to the emergence of life finance.

This study presents a new viewpoint on the relationship between finance and social well-being and new categories through which to understand finance.

The implicit effect of locally understood ideas of trust which have been built into movements of capital (via ethical branding and transparency in IF, education, socially aware) can reconfigure relationships between communities in a country that has been ravaged by war.

There have been few studies on Islamic Finance in Sri Lanka; this study will enrich those offerings. But they must be understood in relation to the emergence of life-finance in South Asia.

This paper aims at retracing changing attitudes toward Islamic financial products in international markets over the past three decades, thereby providing an account of their “unexpected” expansion outside of the Muslim world.

This conceptual paper builds on an archival research

969 news articles published in the UK from 1985 to 2014. Although emphasis is put on the decade of fast changing attitudes toward Islamic finance (IF) in global markets (2001-2011), the years prior to (1985-2000) and following (2012-2014) the target period are also investigated.

Starting as an obscure set of practices often associated with religious fundamentalism before the mid-1990s, IF had become a “mainstream” alternative by the turn of the century. A second interpretive break then emerged with the advent of the subprime crisis in 2007-2008, which increasingly conferred to IF an ethical component. Interestingly, both narratives still exist concurrently in the media, even in post-crisis discussions.

The discussion in this paper allows us to explain the findings of the most recent surveys on this topic, which put forward the complex, and sometimes even contradictory, understandings of what IF stands for in global markets.

This is the first archival research on the topic of IF in international markets. Besides bringing to the discussion an interesting historical perspective, it also draws attention to the growing importance of Islam-based financial products in traditionally secular markets.