The determinants of intention to accept Islamic finance products in Nigeria : the moderating effects of financial inclusion

This study examined the level of intention to accept Islamic Finance Products (IFPs) in Nigeria and the moderating effects of financial inclusion on the relationship between attitude towards IFPs, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, knowledge of IFPs, perceived benefit, perceived government support, religious obligation, service quality, gender, ethnicity and intention to accept IFPs. The quantitative study used the cross-sectional method to collect 357 samples using closed ended questionnaires. The data was analysed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was adopted as the underlying theory to test 21 postulated hypotheses. The results show a high intention towards accepting IFPs. Similarly, 14 hypotheses (67%) are supported, out of which attitude towards IFPs, perceived behavioural control, knowledge of IFPs, perceived government support, religious obligation, gender, and ethnicity show significant direct relationships with intention to accept IFPs while subjective norms, perceived benefit and service quality are not significant. The results show that financial inclusion can moderate the relationship between attitude towards IFPs, subjective norms, perceived government support, religious obligation, service quality, gender and intention to accept IFPs, compared to perceived behavioural control, knowledge of IFPs, perceived benefit and ethnicity which are not significant. The results also show that the variables in the study address 74.5% of the needed determinants (R-Squared=74.5%) with a large effect size and predictive relevance of 38.04% and 42.57% respectively. Consequently, the study recommends that the government and its development partners should institutionalise the low cost IFPs such as Qardhul Hassan for the less privileged Muslims and strengthen Islamic Microfinance (IsMF) institutions. The government‟ s emphasis should be on those regions suffering from high rates of financial exclusion in order to achieve its target of reducing the current financial exclusion rate of 41.6% to 20% by 2020