An exploratory study of Tunisian customers’ awareness and perception of Islamic banks

الملخص EN

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 light of these results, recommendations are presented.