An Exploratory Study of Tunisian Customers’ Awareness and Perception of Islamic Banks

Year 2017, , 0 - 0, 01.07.2017

Naoel Chaouch

https://doi.org/10.25272/j.2149-8407.2017.3.2.01

Abstract

This study explores the Tunisian customers’ awareness
about Islamic banks’ principles and products and their
perception of respecting Islamic banks’ underlying
principles and how they distinguish themselves from
conventional banks. To this end, a survey was conducted
on 100 clients of conventional and Islamic banking. Data
analysis was based on descriptive statistics and the MannWhitney
test. The results pointed to a confined knowledge
of Islamic banking services and products and showed the
presence of a positive public perception of Islamic banks
regarding Islamic standards. However, uncertainty and
skepticism regarding transparency and sharing profits and
losses had been noticed in some clients. The results
additionally showed that clients have a positive perception
of Islamic banks’ ability to compete with conventional
banks. However, doubts were noticed about staff skill and
lack of awareness about the differences amongst Islamic
and conventional banks. The results likewise pointed to a
negative perception of financing price and return on
savings of Islamic banks. In the 

Keywords

Perception, awareness, competitiveness

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