Factors Contributing to the Intention to Use Digital Platforms for Islamic Financial Education Among Malaysian Young Adults

The importance of Islamic financial education has been widely discussed in previous studies. Statistics prove that individual financial problems arise yearly and were argued to be due to the lack of education in Islamic finance. Thus, many studies suggest integrating digital platforms in Islamic financial education to enhance quality and accelerate learning. To be known as the Islamic Financial Hub, it was essential for Malaysia to be the first country to follow the development trend by prioritizing Islamic financial education. However, the study of the use of digital platforms for Islamic financial education is still in its infancy, and only a few learning platforms are available for Islamic financial education. This research, therefore, focuses on the factors contributing to the intention to use digital platforms for Islamic financial education among young adults in Malaysia. The conceptual framework adopted and adapted from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) theory. The study then distributed a questionnaire developed based on the theoretical framework using an online platform. The data was analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) before conducting the Structural Equation Model (SEM) using SPSS Amos. The findings of EFA show that from 40 items developed for this study, only 31 are reliable for conducting SEM. After conducting SEM, another three items were deleted to get the fit model of SEM. To conclude, the hypothesis of this study shows that social influence, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, and interpretive flexibility significantly affect the intention to use digital platforms for Islamic financial education among Malaysia’s young adults. Besides, Islamic financial knowledge did not significantly affect young Malaysian adults' intention to use digital platforms for Islamic financial education. As for that, future studies suggested looking deeper into the factor of Islamic financial knowledge that resulted in not being significant towards intention to use digital platforms for Islamic financial education. The study results can provide insight into the development of applications, especially in the field of education, in addition to helping the government realize more effective digital platforms for financial education.