An empirical investigation of Islamic banking in Pakistan based on perception of service quality

This study examines the perception of bank customers regarding service quality of the Islamic banks as well as conventional banks in Pakistan. In today's global and border less market, service quality is gaining importance for successful survival of banks. This study is important due to an emerging trend of Islamic banking practices in Pakistan besides conventional banking to replace Riba based products with the Sharia'h compliance products. Data were collected from 720 bank customers by using stratified random sampling. It is found that the perception of customers of Islamic banks regarding service quality is higher than the perception of customers of conventional banks. The results indicate that there is significant difference in perception of service quality among customers of Islamic banks on the basis of gender but there is no significant difference in service quality perception of male and female customers of conventional banks. The study has a number of implications for bankers, policy makers and academicians. It provides a guideline to Islamic banks for provision of marketable products to meet expectations of male and female customers according to their specific requirements. This study enables policy makers and bankers to make effective and quality oriented arrangements to have satisfied and delighted customers for long term benefits. Academicians are required to conduct research in the banking sector for beautiful blending of theory and practice to analyze the quality of services for increased satisfaction among bank customers. Key words: Islamic banking, conventional bank, bank customers, service quality.