Jordanian Criteria for Islamic Banks Selection: Evidence from the Jordanian Banking Sector

This study aims to investigate the criteria of Islamic bank selection for Jordanian customers. In order to achieve this goal, the study tested the hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the ranking of banking selection factors as perceived by customers of Islamic banks in Jordan, in order to answer the following questions: what are the criteria that Jordanian customers highly regard when choosing an Islamic bank?, and what is the ranking of importance of the criteria that affect the decision of choosing the Islamic bank in a dual-banking systems as in Jordan?. Using Friedman Test the preliminary data, which were collected using a questionnaire were analyzed. The finding of this study has shown that the selection of Islamic banks seems to be primarily a mixture of all the 12 criteria that have been tested. In terms of importance, the study showed that friendly personnel, Islamic reputation and image, and product price are in the top three, in order, as expressed by the study sample, while factors like location being near home or work, convenience and environmental practice and impact seem to be the least significant factors by participants when choosing an Islamic bank. One of the most important finding of this study is that Islamic banks in Jordan cannot attract their customers by the religion aspect only; it would require Islamic banks to properly understand the needs and expectations of existing and prospective customers.