Moderating the role of religiosity on potential customer intention to deal with Islamic banks in Oman

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the direct effect of classical predictors of an individual’s behaviour, namely, attitude, subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) on the intention to deal with Islamic banks. The study extended the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by introducing the customers’ religiosity paradigm as a moderator between the classical predictors of the theory and the intention to deal with Islamic banks. Design/methodology/approach By applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) framework, data were collected from conventional banks to investigate the potential Islamic bank customers’ intention. Using self-administered questionnaires, the data were collected from conventional banks in Muscat. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed; however, only 638 were found usable. The structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis and analyse the prediction values of the model in the TPB framework. It is also used to analyse the moderation effect of religiosity on the relation between the predictors and intention. Findings The results of the SEM analysis indicated that attitude, SN and PBC significantly predicted the potential customers’ intention to deal with Islamic banks in Oman. The results of the moderation effect shown that religiosity was a poor moderator of the relation between the attitude and intention as well as the PBC and intention, though, the result shown that religiosity is a partial moderator of the relation between the SN and intention. Research limitations/implications Due to the current study method, the result findings should be generalised with caution. Future studies may introduce other variables to examine the moderation effect between the relation of the predictor and intention of the TPB framework. It also signifies the moderation effect of religiosity on the relationship between the attitude, SN and PBC and intention of the potential customs in the TPB framework. This is considered a theoretical enrichment to the behaviour studies and TPB literature. Practical implications The current study assists the Islamic bank practitioners and regulators to broaden the horizon in considering the practical outcomes from the academic research. The result from this study does not only prove that the TPB seems to be acceptable in explaining the intention and behaviour in the field of Islamic banking but also support the robustness of the ability of TPB in predicting the behaviour and intention in a different research context (Islamic banking and finance). Originality/value This study is an attempt to introduce religiosity as a moderator in the TPB framework with SEM analysis and to explore the moderation effect between the predictors and intention to deal with Islamic banks among Omani’s Islamic Bank Customers. This study endeavours to fill a gap of these moderation effects and how the customers’ religiosity influence customer’s preferences towards Islamic Bank.