Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern Afghanistan

To retain customers, a high level of service quality is an essential factor in the banking industry. In contrast to the previous government, Afghans are now more driven to follow religion in their daily lives following the Taliban’s 2021 August 15 takeover in the country,while questions about the ex...

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Main Authors: Ziarmal Abdullah, Salina Kassim, Shamsullah Shams, Sharofiddin Ashurov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: İLKE İlim Kültür Eğitim Vakfı 2024-08-01
Series:Türkiye İslam İktisadı Dergisi
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Online Access:https://tujise.org/uploads/2024/08/6_ShamsullahShams_tujise_11-2.pdf
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author Ziarmal Abdullah
Salina Kassim
Shamsullah Shams
Sharofiddin Ashurov
author_facet Ziarmal Abdullah
Salina Kassim
Shamsullah Shams
Sharofiddin Ashurov
author_sort Ziarmal Abdullah
collection DOAJ
description To retain customers, a high level of service quality is an essential factor in the banking industry. In contrast to the previous government, Afghans are now more driven to follow religion in their daily lives following the Taliban’s 2021 August 15 takeover in the country,while questions about the extent of service quality and religious factors that the Islamic banking sector will provide, as well as how to gain customer retention with the needed quality service provision that customers demand or perceive from banks, remain unanswered. Hence, this article aims to determine how religious variables together with service quality factors affect customer retention of Islamic banks in the southwestern region of the country. The data was collected using a heterogeneous purposive sampling (HPS) strategy for all the Islamic banks in the region. To investigate these relationships, the study used factor analysis, and multiple regression with SPSS version 26.00. The study finds that all Islamic banking service quality and religiosity determinants are positively significant in influencing customer retention in the southwestern zone of Afghanistan. Each SERVQUAL dimension had varying degrees of influence on customer retention, with empathy, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and tangibility having the most significant influence. Religious motivation was the most influential element of customer retention concerning religious determinants. This indicates the importance of emphasizing religious motivation and employee-customer connection by Islamic banks. In addition, the findings revealed that a high level of service quality plays a significant role in customer retention in the Islamic banking system.This study combines a cross-sectional analysis with a case study of a particular national zone. As a result, the outcomes might not be generalizable to the entire nation. It would be good to perform these studies because they are conducted similarly in other nations (such as the ASEAN countries). Future research may look into other antecedents of customer retention that were ignored in this study (such as trust and commitment). The findings of the study therefore may assist policymakers in improving the current banking industry by focusing on the Islamic banking system, which would be able to restore service quality and religious motivation among customers as they believe in the Islamic banking system, which will contribute positively to economic growth.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2148-3809
language English
publishDate 2024-08-01
publisher İLKE İlim Kültür Eğitim Vakfı
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series Türkiye İslam İktisadı Dergisi
spelling doaj-art-b9dbcda4d4da42ff90ba83aa82f563052025-02-03T12:01:31ZengİLKE İlim Kültür Eğitim VakfıTürkiye İslam İktisadı Dergisi2148-38092024-08-01112 10613610.26414/A4134Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern AfghanistanZiarmal Abdullah0https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6821-4424Salina Kassim1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7514-8750Shamsullah Shams2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8246-1377Sharofiddin Ashurov3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9100-2113Kandahar UniversityInternational Islamic University Malaysia Kandahar UniversityInternational Islamic University Malaysia,To retain customers, a high level of service quality is an essential factor in the banking industry. In contrast to the previous government, Afghans are now more driven to follow religion in their daily lives following the Taliban’s 2021 August 15 takeover in the country,while questions about the extent of service quality and religious factors that the Islamic banking sector will provide, as well as how to gain customer retention with the needed quality service provision that customers demand or perceive from banks, remain unanswered. Hence, this article aims to determine how religious variables together with service quality factors affect customer retention of Islamic banks in the southwestern region of the country. The data was collected using a heterogeneous purposive sampling (HPS) strategy for all the Islamic banks in the region. To investigate these relationships, the study used factor analysis, and multiple regression with SPSS version 26.00. The study finds that all Islamic banking service quality and religiosity determinants are positively significant in influencing customer retention in the southwestern zone of Afghanistan. Each SERVQUAL dimension had varying degrees of influence on customer retention, with empathy, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and tangibility having the most significant influence. Religious motivation was the most influential element of customer retention concerning religious determinants. This indicates the importance of emphasizing religious motivation and employee-customer connection by Islamic banks. In addition, the findings revealed that a high level of service quality plays a significant role in customer retention in the Islamic banking system.This study combines a cross-sectional analysis with a case study of a particular national zone. As a result, the outcomes might not be generalizable to the entire nation. It would be good to perform these studies because they are conducted similarly in other nations (such as the ASEAN countries). Future research may look into other antecedents of customer retention that were ignored in this study (such as trust and commitment). The findings of the study therefore may assist policymakers in improving the current banking industry by focusing on the Islamic banking system, which would be able to restore service quality and religious motivation among customers as they believe in the Islamic banking system, which will contribute positively to economic growth.https://tujise.org/uploads/2024/08/6_ShamsullahShams_tujise_11-2.pdfislamic bankingcustomer retentionreligiositysouthwestern afghanistan
spellingShingle Ziarmal Abdullah
Salina Kassim
Shamsullah Shams
Sharofiddin Ashurov
Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern Afghanistan
Türkiye İslam İktisadı Dergisi
islamic banking
customer retention
religiosity
southwestern afghanistan
title Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern Afghanistan
title_full Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern Afghanistan
title_fullStr Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern Afghanistan
title_full_unstemmed Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern Afghanistan
title_short Roles of Service Quality and Religiosity in Determining Customers’ Retention in Islamic Banks: Empirical Evidence from Southwestern Afghanistan
title_sort roles of service quality and religiosity in determining customers retention in islamic banks empirical evidence from southwestern afghanistan
topic islamic banking
customer retention
religiosity
southwestern afghanistan
url https://tujise.org/uploads/2024/08/6_ShamsullahShams_tujise_11-2.pdf
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AT shamsullahshams rolesofservicequalityandreligiosityindeterminingcustomersretentioninislamicbanksempiricalevidencefromsouthwesternafghanistan
AT sharofiddinashurov rolesofservicequalityandreligiosityindeterminingcustomersretentioninislamicbanksempiricalevidencefromsouthwesternafghanistan