Determinants of investors’ intentions to participate in waqf: Evidence from southwestern Afghanistan

Waqf is an important Islamic charitable institution that can contribute to social welfare and sustainable development, but its success depends largely on people’s willingness to engage in waqf projects. This study examines the role of altruism, trust, and religiosity in investors’ intentions to participate in waqf projects in southwestern Afghanistan. Research Methods: The study adopted a quantitative, cross-sectional design in which a structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data on altruism, trust, religiosity, intention to participate in waqf initiatives, and demographic characteristics. The 399 valid responses were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. The measurement model was evaluated through indicator loadings, construct reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity, and the structural model through collinearity, explanatory power, effect sizes, and bootstrapping (5,000 resamples). Results and Discussion: Altruism (β = 0.199, t = 3.692, p < 0.001), trust (β = 0.427, t = 7.734, p < 0.001), and religiosity (β = 0.139, t = 2.722, p = 0.007) are positively and significantly associated with investors’ intention to participate in waqf initiatives, with trust as the strongest factor, followed by altruism and religiosity. The model explains 35.4% of the variance in participation intention (R² = 0.354; adjusted R² = 0.349). Trust has a medium effect size (f² = 0.243), while altruism (f² = 0.048) and religiosity (f² = 0.023) have small effects. These findings highlight the essential role of institutional trust, altruism, and religiosity in explaining waqf participation intentions. Conclusion: Altruism, trust, and religiosity are important correlates of investors’ intention to participate in waqf initiatives in southwestern Afghanistan, with trust being the strongest. The results underscore the importance of transparency, accountability, and public awareness in building confidence in waqf initiatives. However, the findings should be interpreted cautiously because the study used a cross-sectional design and a convenience sample of male respondents, and they do not imply causality.