Are Islamic Finance Products and Services Islamic: A Perceptual Analysis from Malaysia and United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Purpose- This paper aims to find the perception of stakeholders towards Islamic finance in Malaysia and United Arab Emirates. This is a comparative study to find the stakeholders perception across profession, age, gender and country.Design/methodology/approach- primary data has been used to complete this research, which was collected from Malaysia and United Arab Emirates. Data was collected from the stakeholders of Islamic finance which include customers, employees of Islamic banks, Shariah advisors, regulatory officers and others. The research methodology consists of one way-ANOVA and Independent samples T-Test. Findings- the results reveal that there is a difference in perception towards Islamic finance products and services across profession. But across age, gender and country, there is no difference of opinion towards products and services of Islamic finance.Research limitations/implications- sample from only two countries have been collected because of budget and time constraint. So research is just a sample to find the overall perception of stakeholders towards Islamic finance across countries.Practical implications- This study was conducted with the motive to find the perception of stakeholders, whether the products and services of Islamic finance are really Islamic? So this research is justifying whether Islamic banking is Islamic or not.Originality/value- the paper presents the findings of stakeholders towards Islamic finance products and services across profession, age, country and gender. It highlights what the people think about Islamic finance across the countries.

Keywords- Perception, Stakeholders, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Islamic Finance

Paper type- research paper