Antecedents and outcome of commitment in Islamic banking relationships – an emerging African market perspective

Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the commitment of Islamic banking customers is influenced by trust, relationship expectations and conflict management. In turn, the influence of their commitment on future satisfaction is determined. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive research design was applied and responses were obtained from Islamic banking customers through the application of self-administered questionnaires. A total of 350 completed questionnaires were used in analysing the data. An exploratory factor analysis established the interrelationships of the scales used to measure the study’s constructs. In addition, both the measurement and structural models were evaluated. Findings: Trust and relationship expectations significantly and positively influence customer commitment, while conflict management has no significant influence on the commitment of Islamic banking customers to their bank. In addition, commitment significantly and positively influences the satisfaction experiences of Islamic banking customers. Research limitations/implications: The tested model validates the hypothesised relationships between the trust, relationship expectations, commitment and satisfaction of Islamic banking customers. However, the relationship between conflict management, commitment and satisfaction was not established. Commitment is linked to trust and relationship expectations, as well as its outcome, satisfaction. However, commitment could not be linked to antecedent conflict management. Practical implications: The findings could assist retail banks servicing Islamic banking customers in offering in-depth knowledge of how trust and relationship expectations can foster customer commitment, eventually securing the positive satisfaction of customers. Originality/value: The study focussed on Islamic banking customers and determined the interrelationships between commitment and related constructs. Few studies, however, have examined how commitment relates to its precursors and outcome from an Islamic banking perspective in an emergent African economy.