Patronage Prospects of Islamic Banking and Finance in Ghana
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This research studied the Ghanaian banking consumers’ awareness of, and willingness to patronize Islamic banking in Ghana. The study sought to find out whether a relationship existed between consumers’ religious and educational backgrounds, and their awareness of, and willingness to patronize Islamic banking. The study also ascertained the level of consumer involvement for Islamic banks in Ghana, and what factors motivated people’s choice for Islamic banks. With the use of questionnaires and quantitative tools for analyses, the study revealed that that the levels of awareness of, and willingness to use Islamic banks is low among Ghanaians. It was also revealed that Muslims were not more willing to use Islamic banks than non-Muslims. On the other hand, people who had had tertiary education were more willing to patronize Islamic banking than consumers who did not have that level of education. In addition, consumer involvement for Islamic banks was also found to be low in Ghana. The research findings show that the biggest motivating factor for the Ghanaian to save with an Islamic bank is because of the Islamic bank’s aim of entrepreneurship promotion, whilst the biggest motive to borrow is because of the bank’s interest-free nature. It is therefore recommended that Islamic banks who aim to set up in Ghana do so with people who have attained tertiary education as their target market. They should also focus on their interest-free nature and entrepreneurship promotion features as their differentiating factors.