An empirical study on banks' clients' sensitivity towards the adoption of Arabic terminology amongst Islamic banks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the sensitivity of the banks' customers towards the adoption of Arabic terminology in the Islamic banking industry. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 100 respondents who were mainly banks' clients was surveyed through personally administered questionnaire and only 60 questionnaires are usable for the study. The remaining 40 questionnaires were rejected due to incomplete answers and error. The survey executed based on convenience sampling method. The study was conducted at Shah Alam for nearly two and a half months and the city chosen due to the exclusivity of the city's demographic; significant availability of white collar employees as its residents which illustrate a high income population, high literacy and high academic qualification. Findings – The majority of the respondents agree that Arabic terminology gives competitive edge to the Islamic banks but at the same time they indicate that the catchy Arabic name will give them difficulty in gaining fast information about and comprehension of the product. The trend depicted by the non-Muslims respondents when answering the questionnaire indicates that, in many cases, they are at the negative side on every statement given. Thus, it signifies a need from the Islamic banking side to manage this issue, since the non-Muslims are majority clients of the industry in Malaysia. Research limitations/implications – The response rate of 60 per cent for this study is considered good. However, the availability of more respondents would give higher rate of representation. Practical implications – This paper provides insights for the interested parties to know the banks' clients' needs from the Islamic banking sector and will help to increase the number. Originality/value – This paper measures the responses of banks' customers towards the adoption of Arabic terminology, in a multi-racial society in which limited study has been done.