Determinants of Customer Loyalty towards Islamic Banking among Business Students in Malaysia

Abstract

Customer loyalty plays a pivotal role in sustaining the growth and competitiveness of financial institutions, particularly Islamic banks that operate in accordance with Shariah principles. This study aims to examine the key determinants of customer loyalty, specifically customer satisfaction, service quality, and customer trust, within the context of Islamic banking among business students in Malaysia. The research seeks to identify which of these factors most strongly influences loyalty and to provide empirical insights relevant to Islamic financial management. A quantitative research design was adopted, using structured questionnaires distributed to 335 business students at Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP). The data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 28.0, applying descriptive, correlation, and multiple regression analyses to test the hypothesised relationships between the independent variables (satisfaction, service quality, and trust) and the dependent variable (loyalty). The results indicate that all three variables have significant positive relationships with customer loyalty, collectively explaining 61.6% of the variance in loyalty. Among these, customer satisfaction emerged as the strongest predictor (β = 0.438, p < 0.001), followed by service quality (β = 0.290, p < 0.001) and customer trust (β = 0.123, p = 0.025). These findings suggest that emotional and experiential satisfaction play a more decisive role in shaping loyalty than trust or service quality alone. The study concludes that Islamic banks must prioritise strategies that enhance satisfaction and maintain trust to sustain long-term customer relationships. The research contributes to both the theoretical understanding of loyalty formation and the practical development of customer retention strategies in Islamic banking.