Explaining intention to use the Islamic credit card: an extension of the TRA model

Purpose – The Islamic credit card is a type of banking product offered by Islamic banks. Given the importance to the Islamic credit card to Islamic banks, the study is aimed at identifying the factors determining the Malaysian bank customers’ behavioral intention to use the Islamic credit card. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing upon the Theory of Reasoned Action (the TRA model), this study proposes a modified model to examine the acceptance factors of attitude, subjective norm and perceived financial cost within the Islamic credit card context. The study used multiple regression model in order to examine the impacts of these explanatory variables on the intention to use the Islamic credit card. The model is tested using survey data from 257 respondents. Findings – The results reveal that attitude, subjective norm and perceived financial cost significantly influence the Islamic credit card intention to use. Of these, attitude was first ranked factor explaining intention to use the Islamic credit card. Research limitations/implications – The research suffers from two limitations. The first limitation is related to the generalization of finding whilst the second limitation is related to the limited measures employed in the current work. Despite these limitations, this research is significantly contributed to the body of knowledge in the area of Islamic credit card, at least at exploratory level. Practical implications – Information gathered from the study will serve as a basis for more future works in the area of Islamic credit card. The theory developed in the current study’s model could also be generalized into other contexts of Islamic banking products and services. Practically, branch managers of Islamic banking institutions could of prime importance to extend the findings of the study for the better future planning of their Islamic credit card offerings. Originality/value – Importantly, the study extends the applicability of the TRA model into Islamic credit card context. Few studies have conducted over the years under this context in Malaysia.