The Influence Religiosity and Religious Scholars towards Mobile Banking Adoption amongst Islamic Banking Customer Moderated by Urban Rural Differences

Abstract

This study examines the influence religion and religious scholars towards Islamic bank consumers to adopt mobile banking services, which could help in increasing the relatively low usage of mobile banking in Malaysia, as compared to other counties. Drawing upon the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) by means of Partial Lease Squares, this study examines the influence of religiosity and influence of religious scholars on the intention to adopt mobile banking. Religiosity, as in Shariah compliance is an important variable to examine due to the Islamisation of Malaysian society while Ulama, or religious intellectuals, are highly respected and influential in their communities. They give religious advice and issue fatwas to decide if mobile banking complies with Islamic norms. Furthermore, Ulama can promote awareness and trust by highlighting ethical issues and informing their followers about the advantages and practicality of mobile banking. Empirical result shows that Shariah compliance is insignificant while influence of Ulama is among the highly significant variable to influence mobile banking adoption intention in the urban states rather than rural.