Islamic Banking Within the UAE’s Multicultural Context: Is It Time for Women-Specific Marketing Strategies?

Islamic finance and banking services have witnessed rapid growth in recent decades and constitute a $2.2 trillion industry. However, an estimated 80% of the potential client base for this industry remains untapped, and banks particularly lack strategies to attract female clients. This mainly owes to a deficit of understanding of the factors that influence women to consider Islamic banks as an option. This research aims to address this gap by examining the factors that influence women to choose an Islamic bank, through a multi-group analysis of Muslim and non-Muslim women in the UAE. By drawing from the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, we seek to identify the factors that guide women’s banking choices, and the effect of religion on such choices. Primary data was gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire comprising three independent variables (Awareness, Bank Attributes, and Social Stimuli), with Customer Choice and demographic data- including religion- being the dependent variables. Structural Equation Modeling was applied, and the results revealed that women's choice of Islamic banks is significantly influenced (up to 90.5%) by Awareness, relative to which Bank Attributes and Social Stimuli are less impactful. MultiGroup Analysis was performed to determine the impact of religion on the relation between these variables and women's banking choices. The effect of Awareness and Bank Attributes is significantly greater on non-Muslim and Muslim females respectively, although religion has no impact on the effect of Social Stimuli, which remains insignificant for both groups. This study's results hold significant implications for how Islamic banks could enhance the awareness of Muslim and non-Muslim women regarding their services, through strategies specifically designed to target these potential customers.