Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to apply the extended theory of planned behaviour (ETPB) to investigate the factors influencing the intention to give zakāt on employment income.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws the required data through a survey in three main cities Makkah, Medina and Jeddah in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The final data sample is consisting of 650 useable questionnaires to analyse the objective of this study.
Findings
The study finds that moral norm, injunctive norm, descriptive norm and past behaviour have a significant influence on the intention to pay zakāt on employment income. The perceived behavioural control and attitude have a negative and weak impact on the intention to give zakāt on income.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study can be useful for the policymakers and regulators to enhance peoples' awareness to give zakāt to eradicate poverty and inequality in Muslim societies. zakāt is for the deprived people, so the consequences of this study might help to improve their liveability.
Originality/value
This study is unique because it identified the behavioural factors that affect the peoples' intention to give zakāt in KSA have yet to be profoundly explored in the literature. This study has gathered primary data and applied the ETPB to identify the factors influencing the zakāt compliance behaviour in KSA.
Keywords
Citation
Ur Rehman, A., Aslam, E. and Iqbal, A. (2021), "Factors influencing the intention to give
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Aziz Ur Rehman, Ejaz Aslam and Anam Iqbal
License
Published in Islamic Economic Studies. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
1. Introduction
Zakāt is the third fundamental pillar of Islam that plays a crucial role in the redistribution of wealth to the less fortunate Muslim community to eradicate poverty (Ismail Abdel Mohsin, 2020). Zakāt is an act of worship that encompasses not just the spiritual aspect but the socio-financial dimension of individuals and society (Al-Qaradāwī, 1999). Zakāt is an essential instrument for social justice as it leads to increased prosperity in this world and increases the religious merit (thawab) in the hereafter as its payment purifies individuals from sins (Dhar, 2013).
On the subject of zakāt, the Holy Qur'ān states: “Take from their wealth (O Prophet) charity to purify and bless them, and pray for them—surely your prayer is a source of comfort for them. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” (Qur'ān 9:103). Zakāt is closely linked with sadaqah and tax, but it has more importance than tax because it is mandatory, being a directive from Allah (SWT), whereas tax is imposed by the administrative authority (e.g. government). Thus, the responsibility of the local authority to utilize the zakāt fund for the benefit of society like as childcare, food subsidy, education, health care, housing and public transportation for the poor (Awaliah-Kasri, 2013; Huda et al., 2012a, b).
Despite knowing that zakāt is a religious obligation, many deem paying zakāt as an outflow of resources and wealth, but Islamic ideology considers it a purification and an increment in wealth (Muammar and Heikal, 2014). Zakāt has lots of benefits individually as well as socially (Ismail Abdel Mohsin, 2020). Personally, it diminishes the tendency in one to be greedy and self-centred. Psychologically, it helps in reducing social inequalities in each society by transferring wealth from the affluent to the poor. Thus, zakāt works against the concentration of wealth by redistributing it to the less-privileged segments of the society, which would immensely contribute to alleviating poverty (Ismail Abdel Mohsin, 2020). Furthermore, it creates opportunities to improve the life quality and condition of the Muslim Ummah as well as the society at large (Abdullah et al., 2015).
Zakāt is a critical mainstay of Islam that means dispensing an abundance of riches to the poor. Nevertheless, it is practised only by a small number of people due to lack of knowledge about various aspects of zakāt (including weak understanding about the individual and collective responsibility regarding zakāt), lack of socialization of the rich with the poor and lack of intention of the muzakki in cleansing his wealth and carrying out this as moral and social responsibility (Muammar and Heikal, 2014). With regard to the theory of reasoned action (TRA), attention is influenced by attitudes and injunctive norms (Bidin and Idris, 2009). Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), Sapingi et al. (2011) concluded that attitudes, perceived behavioural control and injunctive norms affected the person's attention to pay zakāt. Several studies use the same theory and get diversified results (Azman and Bidin, 2015; Huda et al., 2012a, b; Sihombing, 2015). Thus, the factor in identifying the intention to pay zakāt stayed illusive, and the assessment of zakāt quality needs further examination. So, for this purpose, the current study is empirically investigating the factors that affect the intention to pay zakāt in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
This study contributes to the existing literature on zakāt in several ways. First, this is the first study that applied extended theory of planned behaviour (ETPB) to identify the factors that affect the intention to give zakāt in KSA. Moreover, the present research collectively employed all three norms together: the injunctive norm, the descriptive norm and the moral norm to evaluating the zakāt compliance behaviour, which is ignored by the past literature. Thus, the finding of this study provides more comprehensive guidelines to strengthen the policies for the collection and distribution of zakāt in KSA. Second, most of the prior empirical studies on zakāt are predominantly focussing on Malaysia, Pakistan and Indonesia. Thus, this study extended the understanding of zakāt in the Middle East. Finally, on an individual level, the contribution of this study will raise awareness and motivation to the Saudi Muslims to pay zakāt as Muslims are obliged to promote what is right and wrong. To the best of our knowledge, the current study is novel as this is the only empirical investigation carried out so far to identify the influential factors that are affecting the intention of the Muslims of KSA to pay zakāt.
The remaining parts of the article are organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the related literature on zakāt compliance behaviour and formulates the hypothesis. Section 3 details the research methodology, and section 4 explains the empirical results and discussion. Section 5 presents the conclusion of the study.
2. Literature review
2.1 Zakāt in Islam
Zakāt is one of the fundamental pillars of Islam; therefore, it is mandatory for every Muslim. Muslims are required to give a specific percentage of their wealth to some designated and rightful beneficiaries of zakāt. The word zakāt is mentioned very clearly in the Holy Qur'ān (in 19 Suras and 32 Verses) and clarified in Ḥadīth. The recipients of zakāt have also been elaborately enumerated in the Holy Qur'ān as follows:
“Zakāt expenditures are only for the poor, needy, employed to collect [Zakāt], bringing hearts together [for Islam], freeing captives [or slaves], those in debt, cause of Allah, [stranded] traveller – an obligation [imposed] by Allah, and Allah is Knowing and Wise” (Qur'ān, 9:60).
As one of the main pillars, zakāt payment and distribution are mandatory in Islam. Islam is a religion that promotes social justice in all aspects that is only within a person's capacity. For this reason, there are specific criteria (i.e. nisab and haul) for the obligation of zakāt on every person. The first set of rules for paying zakāt is for a person to reach puberty, to be sane and to be a free Muslim. Once those conditions are fulfilled, then the person's wealth should also enter the nisab requirement, i.e. the minimum amount of wealth required for paying zakāt, which is equivalent to the market value of 87.5 g of gold or 612 g of silver or equal amount any of the gold and silver. It should be noted that not all forms of wealth are liable for zakāt. Agricultural products and livestock, mineral, marine products, jewellery, gold, trade and money which reach or which are more than the nisab are liable for zakāt. Likewise, wealth should be growing or has the potential to develop for it to be eligible for zakāt (Al-Qaradāwī, 1999).
2.2 Factors affecting zakāt compliance behaviour
TPB is an extension of the theory of reasoned action and was proposed by Taib et al. (1991), which predict the link between attitudes and behaviour. Taib et al. (1991) added perceived behavioural control and subjective norms to assess the particular behaviour. TPB is considered as one of the most commonly used theories to explain and predict the behaviour (Huda et al., 2012a, b). Thus, a gap remains between intention and action caused principally by the individuals who express a positive expectation to practice yet do not act. Therefore, additional variables (past behaviour (PB), attitude (ATT), descriptive norm (DN), injunctive norm (IN), moral norm (MN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) were introduced in the ETPB to improve TPB's explanatory power of the behaviour (Andam and Osman, 2019; Muammar and Heikal, 2014; Mukhibad et al., 2019; Sapingi et al., 2011). Therefore, the present study evaluates ATT, PBC, IN, DN, MN and PB to analyse the intention to pay zakāt.
2.2.1 Attitude
ATT is a psychological tendency based on one's beliefs to help needy people (Shook and Bratianu, 2010). The past prominent studies found several factors that are affecting the ATT to pay zakāt (Huda et al., 2012a, b; Kashif et al., 2018; Kashif and De-Run, 2015; Linden, 2011). The ETPB stipulates that attitude influences intention to give zakāt, which implies that an individual with a positive attitude towards paying zakāt is more likely to have the purpose of paying zakāt on their wealth. It is supported by several prior studies which conclude that a positive attitude to give zakāt translates into an intention to give zakāt (Saad and Haniffa, 2014; Saad et al., 2020; Muammar and Heikal, 2014; Rehman et al., 2021). Based on this reason, the following hypothesis is developed.
Attitude has a positive influence on the intention of paying zakāt.
2.2.2 Perceived behaviour
Based on the ETPB, PBC has a significant influence on the intention to give zakāt. While people who have PBC over paying zakāt from their employment income are more likely to have the intention to give zakāt (Bin-Nashwan et al., 2020; Saad et al., 2020). There are mixed results on this finding from the previous studies. Knowles et al. (2012) and Linden (2011) found that the easier it is to donate, the more likely the person is to intend to give zakāt. In contrast, some studies found a significant influence of PBC on the intention to give zakāt (Huda et al., 2012a, b; Saad et al., 2020; Kashif and De-Run, 2015; Muammar and Heikal, 2014). Therefore, based on the ETPB and the findings of prior studies, the present research formulated the following hypotheses:
Perceived behavioural control has a positive influence on the intention of paying zakāt.
2.2.3 Injunctive norms
The IN are one's perceptions and assumptions about others' expectations of specific behaviours that one will or will not perform. According to ETPB, normative components (i.e. IN, DN and MN) influence the intention to give zakāt (Sapingi et al., 2011). The assumption holds that the more perceived social pressure by the underlined group (injunctive norm), the more a person is likely to provide zakāt from their employment income (Huda et al., 2012a, b). Kashif and De-Run (2015) in Malaysia found that the perceived social pressure influences the intention to donate money in the context of Muslim majority countries like Malaysia. Besides, some studies found an insignificant relationship between the IN and the intention to pay zakāt (Linden, 2011). Thus, the relationship between IN and intention to pay zakāt is still unclear. Therefore, based on the ETPB, the present study proposes the following hypotheses:
Injunctive norm positively influences the intention of paying zakāt.
2.2.4 Descriptive norms
Based on ETPB, DN perceive that the reference group committed to pay zakāt (Haji-Othman and Alwi, 2017). In this case, the higher the perception, the more likely a person would emulate the behaviour intention to pay zakāt. The study conducted by Andam and Osman (2019) stated that the DN have a significant effect on the intention to pay zakāt on employment income. It shows the higher the perception, the more likely a person would emulate the behaviour intention to pay zakāt. Zakāt is not only motivated by religious factor but also by self-satisfaction and organizational factors (Bin-Nashwan et al., 2020). In contrast, some studies showed an insignificant relationship between DN and the intention to give zakāt albeit in the context of the Southeast Asian countries (Kashif and De-Run, 2015) and advanced countries such as England (Linden, 2011) and Australia (Smith and McSweeney, 2007). However, consistent with the ETPB and the general view of previous studies, the present study developed the following hypothesis.
Descriptive norms positively influence the intention of paying zakāt.
2.2.5 Moral norms
MN posit that paying zakāt is a personal responsibility of a person to help others in need. Moral norms depend on ethics, which are perceived as right or wrong (Andam and Osman, 2019). Moreover, MN can be decisively having a specific influence on intention. Linden (2011) stated that MN have the most substantial influence on intention. Several studies on charitable paying behaviour also affirmed that moral norms have a significant impact on the intention to pay zakāt, particularly in the context of Malaysia (Kashif and De-Run, 2015) and in Australia (Knowles et al., 2012; Smith and McSweeney, 2007). This study, hence, extends prior research in investigating the MN relationship with zakāt compliance behaviour. Thus, based on the ETPB, the present study constructed the following hypotheses:
Moral norms have a positive influence on the intention of paying zakāt.
2.2.6 Past behaviour
ETPB explains that past behaviour shows the person engagement in paying zakāt in the past, thus the higher the likelihood to intend to repeat the same action in the present. The prior studies have employed PB in predicting charitable paying behaviour (Muammar and Heikal, 2014). The finding of several studies confirmed that the more a person had given charity in the past, the more it is likely for that person to repeat the same behaviour in future (Kashif and De-Run, 2015; Knowles et al., 2012; Smith and McSweeney, 2007). Likewise, studies on zakāt compliance behaviour asserted that there is a significant positive correlation between PB and the intention to give zakāt. This implies that those who had engaged in the behaviour of paying zakāt in the past are likely to have the intention to pay zakāt (Muammar and Heikal, 2014). Therefore, consistent with the ETPB and the findings discussed above, the present study formulated the following hypotheses:
Past behaviour has a positive influence on the intention of paying zakāt.
Most of the researchers are examining the behaviour to pay zakāt by investigating the demographic variables such as age, gender, education, marital status, income and several dependents that are influencing on the intention to pay zakāt (Hassan et al., 2013). Also, the study on zakāt compliance has identified several factors that comply with the theory of TRA (Bidin and Idris, 2009) and TPB (Huda et al., 2012a, b). Most of the studies on zakāt compliance are from Malaysia (Mustafa et al., 2013), Indonesia (Awaliah Kasri, 2013; Huda et al., 2012a, b; Muammar and Heikal, 2014), Pakistan (Ahmad et al., 2018; Suhaib, 2009) and Bangladesh (Belal and Ali, 2013). However, only a few studies are available that investigate the zakāt compliance behaviour of the Muslims in KSA (Ummulkhayr et al., 2017). Thus, the current study attempts to fill the gap in the literature by testing the ETPB with the most recent primary data from three main cities of KSA to investigate the actual factors that affect zakāt compliance behaviour. ETPB is unique because it added several factors like PB, IN and descriptive norm that are influences on the intention to pay zakāt rigorously (Muammar and Heikal, 2014; Sapingi et al., 2011). Moreover, KSA is the birthplace of Islam and should be an example to the other Muslim majority countries in terms of the institutionalization of zakāt and compliance. To the best of our knowledge, there is minimal literature on factors affecting the intention to give zakāt in the KSA. Therefore, the present study evaluates ATT, PB, IN, DN, MN and PB that are affecting the intention to pay zakāt in Figure 1.
3. Research methodology
3.1 Sample
Keeping aligned with the research objectives, the data for this study were collected via questionnaires distributed in an online survey. This method is relatively economical and offers more convenience to the respondents (Rowley, 2014). A total of 900 questionnaires were distributed to employees of the various institutions, including private schools, state universities and different government offices such as the Department of Islamic Institution and Islamic Community, private institutions and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in three main cities Makah, Medina and Jeddah in KSA. A total of 697 questionnaires were retrieved, among which 650 are useable for the data analysis. The response rate is 77%, which is acceptable for data analysis. The details on the distribution and collection of questionnaires are presented in Table 1.
3.2 Research instrument
The study adapted various questions from previous studies (Haji-Othman et al., 2017; Kashif and De Run, 2015; Saad et al., 2010). The questionnaire is organized into two sections. The first section focuses on the demographic variables. Section two is categorized into seven sub-sections for all items (attitude, perceived behaviour control, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, moral norms, past behaviour and behaviour intentions). This study used five-point Likert scales (for example, 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) to ask the response of the respondents. In the first subsection, the factor “attitude” to pay zakāt is measure through eight items adopted from (Saad et al., 2010). Secondly, the PBC adapted from the Haji-Othman et al. (2017) encapsulated five different elements. Third and fourth, the IN (perceived social pressure by a relevant group) and DN (the perception that the mattered group gives zakāt) have four items each. Fifth and sixth, MN and PB intention measured, adopted from Kashif and De Run (2015), have four and five items, respectively. In the last section, the intention to pay zakāt comprises of five items. The questionnaire is displayed in Table A1.
3.3 Model specification and econometric model
This study employed the standard multiple regression to analyse the factors that affect the intention to give zakāt on employment income. Standard multiple regression is used because it can determine the relative influence of various factors to the intention to give zakāt and also has the ability to identify the outliers and anomalies. Furthermore, autocorrelation also identified through the Durbin Watson and also recognized the reliability and validity of the data. To examine the factors that affect the intention to give zakāt (H1–H6), the following regression model is developed:
4. Results and discussion
4.1 Descriptive statistics
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of dependent and independent variables. The mean and standard deviation (SD) value of attitude are 4.68 and 0.69, respectively. This result implies that the Muslims in KSA have a favourable attitude towards paying zakāt. The mean and SD value of perceiving behaviour are 4.23 and 0.63, which represent that the employees perceived themselves to have control over the payment of zakāt on their wealth. The mean and SD value of injunctive norm are 4.31 and 0.62, respectively, implying that most of the respondents are perceived to have the most influential social pressure to give zakāt on their income.
The mean and SD value of DN, at 4.22 and 0.64, indicate that most of the reference group gives zakāt on their wealth. Similar to the IN, the majority of the people have the mean score of 4.31 and 0.62, indicating a high intention to pay zakāt on their income. The mean and SD value of MN are 4.54 and 0.51, which is relatively high and suggests that employees in KSA were paying zakāt as their moral responsibility to help others. Regarding PB, the mean and SB value are 4.05 and 0.76, showing that the people have given zakāt on their income in the past. Lastly, the mean and SD value of intention are 4.19 and 0.68, which indicates that employees in KSA have strong intention to give zakāt on their income.
4.2 Reliability test
Table 3 shows the internal consistency, internal reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity. The composite reliability is within an acceptable range (0.77–0.91) and all the AVE values are more than 0.5. Moreover, concerning Cronbach's alpha coefficient, all the values are above the threshold level of 0.7. Overall, the results show that the entire values are valid and reliable for analysis (Wooldridge, 2010).
4.3 Correlation matrix
Table 4 shows that ATT, DN and PB positively and highly correlated with intention. MN and IN have a positive but moderate correlation with intention. In contrast, PBC has a positive and weak correlation with the intention. The range of the collinearity shows that there is no severe problem of collinearity in the model because all variables are less than 0.8. Besides, there is no multicollinearity issue in the data, none of the variance inflation factor (VIF) is more than the utilized edge level of 10 (Wooldridge, 2010).
4.4 Multiple regression
Table 5 shows that the value of adjusted R-square explains 67% of the variation in the intention to give zakāt, and there is no issue of autocorrelation among the variables. The results show that DN, PB, MN and IN have a positive and statistically significant relationship with the intention to give zakāt. In contrast, PBC and ATT have a negative and statistically significant relationship with the intention to pay zakāt. The results indicate that H1 and H2 are negatively supported to the intention to pay zakāt and H3, H4, H5 and H6 positively supported the intention to pay zakāt in KSA.
ATT is the most influential factor that affects human perception towards performing a particular behaviour and most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology. The significance of ATT refers to its usage in predicting diverse aspects of the investigation. The current study found that attitude has a weak negative influence on intention to pay zakāt, similar to the findings of Muammar and Heikal (2014) that ATT is the most inadequate predictor of intention in Indonesia. Moreover, Kashif and De-Run (2015) found an insignificant relationship between ATT and intention to donate money in Malaysia and McClaren (2015) stated that ATT did not individually predict the ethical behaviour.
The negative expectation of employment leads to developing a negative attitude towards the behaviour of paying zakāt. Moreover, it will contribute to shaping the intention of performing the behaviour which is paying zakāt to the General Authority of zakāt and Tax (GAZT) in KSA. The finding of this study is parallel with the results of the charitable paying literature (Mencarini et al., 2015; Smith and McSweeney, 2007). According to ETPB, the more favourable attitude a person has towards a given product/service, the more likely that person is to buy or use that product/service (Haji-Othman et al., 2017). For instance, the negative attitude of the people to pay zakāt might be because of a lack of trust. AlLami (2009) stated that the zakāt system of KSA is being ineffective because the system lacks accountability, transparency and efficiency. Another reason Huda et al. (2012a, b) found is that zakāt payers perceived zakāt as a personal matter resulting in not needing an intermediary to fulfil the obligation. Therefore, they have a negative attitude towards payment of zakāt.
Moreover, the study found that PBC has a negative relationship with intention to pay zakāt in KSA. In fact, PBC is a strong predictor of decision-making in social settings (Chun et al., 2013). Several reasons that might affect the negative attitude towards paying zakāt to the GAZT, i.e. organizational policies, and codes of ethics have been found to influence PBC in work settings (Kashif and De Run, 2015). The PBC factor could have been decisive if an influential and explicitly communicated ethical culture can encourage a feeling of empowerment. Furthermore, Kashif et al. (2018) stated that acting as a binding force which supports the managers in their decision to remain ethical will affect the communication between the public and the managers in the GAZT. The negative influences of PBC on the intention to give zakāt referred that they do not have the ability and power to facilitate this behaviour, which is paying zakāt to the GAZT. When actual control mitigates the intention and motivation of performing a particular behaviour, it will inevitably decrease (de Leeuw et al., 2015). It shows that the employment of different Islamic institutions does not have the power to facilitate the adoption of the behaviour which is paying zakāt to the GAZT.
4.4.1 Positive influential factors to give zakāt
IN is defined as the perceived social pressures of the reference group (Smith and McSweeney, 2007). The study finds a positive and significant relationship between IN and intention, which refer that people are influenced by the social pressure of the reference group when deciding to give zakāt on their yearly wealth like the Muslim majority countries like Malaysia (Kashif and De Run, 2015) and in Pakistan (Kashif et al., 2018). This finding inferred that donors from developing countries in South Asia and KSA seem to be influenced by social pressure. However, Muslims usually feel a different level of social norms from others when they decide to give zakāt on their income. Moreover, the religious leaders also play an essential role regarding the obligation to pay zakāt on income through spiritual talks by the scholars (Abdullah and Sapiei, 2018).
DS refers to the perception of whether the significant group performs the behaviour (Smith and McSweeeney, 2007). The study finds that the DS have a positive influence on the intention to give zakāt on wealth. It shows that the more the perception that others give zakāt, the more likely one would intend to give zakāt on wealth. The result of this study is not in line with prior studies on the charitable paying literature because they found an insignificant relationship between DN and intention (Knowles et al., 2012; Linden, 2011; Smith and McSweeney, 2007). It is perceived that people who are donating money does not translate the intention of giving money to charitable institutions. Similarly, Knowles et al. (2012) found that the payment of charity by others does not influence the other people's intention to donate in the future.
In fact, normative beliefs comprise injunctive and descriptive beliefs. The former refers to the importance of the referent persons (e.g. close friends, teachers and parents). For instance, when a person believes that the referent persons want him to perform individual behaviour, this will encourage him to do so (de Leeuw et al., 2015). While the latter refers to a person's belief on whether a vital referent is likely to perform behaviour or will achieve it. Therefore, the approved and common behaviour will motivate a person to complete it. However, Smith and McSweeney (2007) discussed that DN does not influence intention because the predictor can only explain anti-social behaviours such as illicit drug use and alcohol. Thus, the finding of this study shows that DN influences intention to do pro-social behaviour like paying zakāt.
Moral norms are structured to emphasize personal feelings of responsibility rather than direct perceived social pressure (Smith and McSweeney, 2007). This study finds that moral norms have a positive relationship with the intention to give zakāt. It shows that the higher moral value the people have, the more likely they prefer to give zakāt. On the other hand, the charitable paying literature in the context of developing countries such as Pakistan (Kashif and De Run, 2015) and developed countries such as the UK (Linden, 2011) and Australia (Knowles et al., 2012; Smith and McSweeney, 2007) also found that MN has a significant impact on the intention to donate money to charitable institutions. It is agreed that MN are a distinct factor which has a massive effect on intention (Knowles et al., 2012; Linden, 2011). Smith and McSweeney (2007) stated that when it comes to paying zakāt, it is more likely for people to feel a religious obligation. Most of the respondents in this study possess sufficient knowledge of zakāt and related subject owing to working in different Islamic institutions. Burgoyne et al. (2005) found that a sense of personal obligation was an essential reason for charitable paying, indicating that charitable paying is a behaviour that includes a moral component.
The past behaviour has a positive influence on the intention to give zakāt. According to Knowles et al. (2012), people who have been given zakāt in the past are more likely to have a positive attitude towards paying zakāt in future. Some studies supported the argument that past behaviour is a predictor of unique variance in intentions to pay zakāt (Awaliah Kasri, 2013; Haji-Othman et al., 2017; Aslam et al., 2020; Muhammadak and Aaadb, 2016). Some studies found that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour (Haji-Othman et al., 2017) and some other studies have argued that past behaviour is a stronger predictor of behaviour than ATT or PBC (Saad et al., 2016). Lastly, this study found that the more the people have intention to pay zakāt obligation in the past, the more they are influenced by their decision to give zakāt on wealth.
5. Conclusion
The objective of this study is to identify the factors influencing the intention to give zakāt on employment income in the context of the KSA. The research was conducted through an online survey in which 900 questionnaires were distributed to employees working in various Islamic institutions in three main cities of KSA. The multiple regression approach was used to determine the relationship between the factors identified in ETPB (i.e. ATT, PB, IN, DN, MN and PB) on intending to give zakāt. MN, IN, DN and PB were found to have a significant favourable influence on the intention to give zakāt on employment income. In contrast, ATT and PBC have a negative influence on the intention to give zakāt, increasing its salience through intervention programmes may lead to zakāt compliance. For this purpose, the religious leaders may highlight the benefits of paying zakāt and its positive outcome to the beneficiaries and society as a whole in their sermons to promote positive attitude which would lead to the intention to give zakāt. Based on the findings, government approval or disapproval influences the people to give zakāt. Also, parents should teach their children as early as possible the favourable attitude of paying and helping others in need (attitude) and demonstrate in practice the attitude to them by their own example (descriptive norm).
This study contributed to expanding the existing knowledge in several ways. First, it provides and enriches the zakāt literature in the KSA. Further, the study assists the religious organizations, interested groups and individuals in promoting zakāt payment system by the formulation of policies, programmes and activities. Second, the study can serve as a guide to strengthen the local institutions in the collection and distribution of zakāt fund more effectively and efficiently. Third, the study findings can be used as the basis to determine which factors the institutions should concentrate the most on and which the least to increase the propensity of payment of zakāt by the people of KSA. For this purpose, the GAZT may provide an opportunity to the people to give their suggestions on how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency to improve the zakāt revenue. Finally, on an individual level, the contribution of this study will raise awareness and motivation to the Saudi Muslims to pay zakāt as Muslims are obliged to promote what is right and abhor what is wrong. In addition, special seminars and workshops about zakāt will encourage professionals to increase zakāt awareness and Islamic knowledge.
Although this study has identified factors influencing the intention to give zakāt on income in KSA, the study has some limitations. These limitations provide directions for researchers to conduct researches in the domain of zakāt compliance behaviour. The present study only focuses on the employees in KSA. However, future research can take a mixture of private and government job employees with large sample size. Furthermore, the study pooled the data from different cities in one data set, while future research with a larger sample can compare the various cities as well as with other countries. Future studies may also explore additional behavioural aspects that have possible effects on zakāt compliance behaviour. Lastly, the present study tests the relationship between the factors identified by ETPB and intention, and it does not verify the relationship between the intention and the behaviour control which is part of the limitation of the study.
Figures
Distributed and collected questionnaires
| Department/Agency | Distributed | Collected | Response rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic institutions | 270 | 221 | 81% |
| Private institutions | 300 | 241 | 80% |
| Islamic banks | 150 | 109 | 72% |
| Government institutions | 180 | 126 | 70% |
| Total | 900 | 697 | 77% |
Descriptive statistics
| Variables | Number of respondents | Mean | Std. Deviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attitude | 650 | 4.68 | 0.69 |
| Perceived behavioural control | 650 | 4.23 | 0.63 |
| Injunctive norm | 650 | 4.31 | 0.62 |
| Descriptive norm | 650 | 4.22 | 0.64 |
| Moral norm | 650 | 4.54 | 0.51 |
| Past behaviour | 650 | 4.05 | 0.76 |
| Intention | 650 | 4.19 | 0.68 |
Internal consistency, reliability and convergent validity
| Variables | Number of items | Composite reliability | Cronbach's alpha | AVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attitude | 8 | 0.83 | 0.94 | 0.73 |
| Perceived behavioural control | 5 | 0.87 | 0.93 | 0.65 |
| Injunctive norm | 5 | 0.82 | 0.86 | 0.72 |
| Descriptive norm | 5 | 0.83 | 0.84 | 0.66 |
| Moral norm | 4 | 0.76 | 0.87 | 0.65 |
| Past behaviour | 4 | 0.84 | 0.85 | 0.75 |
| Intention | 5 | 0.85 | 0.90 | 0.77 |
Correlations matrix of regressors
| Variables | BI | ATT | PBC | DN | MN | In | PB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BI | 1 | ||||||
| ATT | 0.552** | 1 | |||||
| PBC | 0.232** | 0.673** | 1 | ||||
| DN | 0.647** | 0.451** | 0.392** | 1 | |||
| MN | 0.445** | 0.562** | 0.451** | 0.491** | 1 | ||
| IN | 0.457** | 0.648** | 0.543** | 0.390** | 0.672** | 1 | |
| PB | 0.764** | 0.567** | 0.464** | 0.571** | 0.491** | 0.523** | 1 |
| Variance inflation factor | 2.32 | 1.90 | 2.41 | 2.23 | 3.22 | 2.56 | |
Note(s): BI, intention; ATT, attitude; PBC, perceived behaviour control; DN, descriptive norm; MN, moral norms; IN, injunctive norms; PB, past behaviour and **p < 0.05 (2-tailed)
Multiple regression analysis of intention to give zakāt
| Variables | Beta | T-Stats | Sig | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Constant) | 0.523 | 2.15 | 0.031** | |
| Attitude | −0.163 | −1.832 | 0.065* | Not Supported |
| Perceived behaviour control | −0.312 | −5.364 | 0.000*** | Not Supported |
| Injunctive norms | 0.286 | 4.548 | 0.000*** | Supported |
| Descriptive norm | 0.610 | 7.559 | 0.000*** | Supported |
| Moral norms | 0.223 | 2.586 | 0.008** | Supported |
| Past behaviour | 0.257 | 3.325 | 0.001*** | Supported |
| F-statistic | 79.76 | R-Square | 0.694 | |
| Prob. (F-stat) | 0.000b | Adjusted R-Square | 0.672 | |
| Durbin–Watson | 2.06 | Standard Error of Estimate | 0.4235 |
Note(s): *p > 0.05; **p > 0.1; ***p > 0.001
Questionnaire
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Appendix
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees and editor of the journal for their extremely useful suggestions to improve the quality of the article.