Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence farmers' preference for the use of Islamic banks in Turkey and to investigate their knowledge level and perception about Islamic finance.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data used in this study is obtained by drawing a sample of 1902 farmers who are members of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives Union (ACCU) from 37 provinces of Turkey. Pearson's Chi-square test is used to analyze the association between the demographic features of farmers, conventional bank usage and Islamic bank usage. Binary logistic regression model is used to estimate the factors influencing the preference for Islamic banks. Explanatory variables include knowledge on Islamic banking and finance, perception of compliance to religion, saving ability and cost concern along with the control variables of Islamic bank branch number in the region and age of respondent. Robustness check is conducted via alternative models using ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression.

Findings

Less than 10% of the participant farmers use Islamic banks and 59% declare they know nothing about Islamic banking. Age, education level, income level, nonagricultural income level, saving ability, duration of working in agriculture, land size and region are significantly related to farmers' preference of using Islamic banks. Knowledge level, perception of religious compliance, saving ability and cost concern are statistically significant factors that influence the probability of using Islamic banks.

Research limitations/implications

This study does not include the analysis of the relationship between being religious and using Islamic banks because questions related to the assessment of religious practice were excluded due to the ACCU's sensitivity to investigate personal beliefs. Therefore, future studies can expand the scope of this research by investigating religiousness. The sample is chosen from the ACCU members who are already benefiting from a formal source of credit; therefore, the results should not be attributed to all farmers.

Practical implications

Islamic banks and microfinance institutions' further engagement in the agricultural sector and ACCU's implementation of Islamic finance instruments.

Social implications

Islamic banks' further diversification in the agricultural sector and ACCU's implementation of Islamic finance instruments.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate the farmers' perception and preference of Islamic banking in Turkey. The sample size of 1902 is much larger and geographically diversified compared to studies in agricultural finance. This study will be valuable for the agricultural finance empirical studies in Turkey as well as an important addition to the emerging literature on Islamic finance.

中文翻译：

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土耳其农民对伊斯兰银行业务的看法和偏好

目的

本文的目的是研究影响土耳其农民使用伊斯兰银行的偏好的因素，并调查他们对伊斯兰金融的知识水平和认知。

设计/方法/方法

本研究中使用的调查数据是通过抽取来自土耳其 37 个省的 1902 名农业信用合作社联盟 (ACCU) 成员的农民样本获得的。Pearson 的卡方检验用于分析农民的人口统计特征、传统银行使用情况和伊斯兰银行使用情况之间的关联。二元逻辑回归模型用于估计影响伊斯兰银行偏好的因素。解释变量包括伊斯兰银行和金融知识、对宗教信仰的感知、储蓄能力和成本关注以及该地区伊斯兰银行分行数量和受访者年龄的控制变量。稳健性检查是通过使用普通最小二乘法 (OLS) 和逻辑回归的替代模型进行的。

发现

不到 10% 的参与者使用伊斯兰银行，59% 的农民声称他们对伊斯兰银行一无所知。年龄、受教育程度、收入水平、非农收入水平、储蓄能力、农业工作年限、土地面积和地区与农民使用伊斯兰银行的偏好显着相关。知识水平、对宗教合规的看法、储蓄能力和成本问题是影响使用伊斯兰银行概率的统计显着因素。

研究限制/影响

本研究不包括对信奉宗教和使用伊斯兰银行之间关系的分析，因为 ACCU 对调查个人信仰的敏感性排除了与评估宗教实践相关的问题。因此，未来的研究可以通过调查宗教性来扩大这项研究的范围。样本选自已经从正规信贷来源中受益的 ACCU 成员；因此，结果不应归功于所有农民。

实际影响

伊斯兰银行和小额信贷机构进一步参与农业部门以及 ACCU 对伊斯兰金融工具的实施。

社会影响

伊斯兰银行在农业领域的进一步多元化以及 ACCU 对伊斯兰金融工具的实施。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，本文首次调查了土耳其农民对伊斯兰银行业务的看法和偏好。与农业金融研究相比，1902 年的样本量更大且地域多样化。本研究对土耳其的农业金融实证研究具有重要价值，也是对伊斯兰金融新兴文献的重要补充。