Public perception of the feasibility of introducing islamic banking in Uzbekistan: a consumer perspective

Islamic banking industry is increasingly playing vital roles in the current financial system. Due to the demandby customers for Islamic banking facilities, its expansion has reached not only Muslim countries but also non-Muslimcountries within three decades. However, there are still few Muslim majority countries such as Uzbekistan where theimplementation of Islamic banking system is lacking. The study has examined the extent of the level of awareness amongthe citizens of Uzbekistan and their willingness to use Islamic banking facilities if Islamic banking were introduced inthe country. The study has adopted Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to examine the factors affecting the customers’behavioral intention to patronize Islamic banking. The findings of the study show that attitude, religiosity and social factorshave significant positive effect towards patronizing Islamic banking facilities while customers’ knowledge carries negativeeffect towards Islamic banking system.