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This paper aims to investigate the behaviour determinants towards cash waqf for productive purposes between two different classes of Muslims: the upper-middle class and the lower-middle class.

Under the Theory of Planned Behavior framework, this study modified previous literature to investigate the determinants of two Muslim classes’ behaviour towards cash waqf for productive purposes. A structural equation model was applied to test the hypothesis, and an in-depth interview was conducted to explain the findings further.

The behaviour of participating in cash waqf for productive purposes differs between the two Muslim segments. Upper-middle-class Muslims’ intentions will not necessarily consider subjective norms, even though they will consider religiosity as their deciding factor. Meanwhile, this study found different results on the influence of attitude, religiosity and subjective norms to intention in the lower-middle-income group. Other attributes such as perceived behaviour control, knowledge, trust and perceived benefits show positive and significant effects on the intention for both income classes of Muslims.

The current findings may not accurately reflect ideal conditions due to the low level of waqf literacy and actual participation of Muslims in cash waqf for productive purposes. Researchers can conduct further studies based on other criteria, such as gender, age, education level or area of residence, using experimental or simulation methods to complement the research.

This study’s findings can support policymakers and related waqf stakeholders to set strategies for cash waqf literacy and participation by providing more detailed information about the differences in Muslims characteristics based on the income classes.

This study specifically modifies the behavioural framework to investigate differences in the behaviour of two classes of Muslims towards their participation in cash waqf for productive purposes in Indonesia.

Exploring the current phenomenon of the cash waqf-linked sukuk (CWLS) program issuance that involves Islamic banks in Indonesia, this paper aims to investigate the key barriers and intentional behaviors in realizing wealthy Muslims’ contribution to the program using the intermediary function of Islamic banks. Moreover, this study provides a conceptual framework to set effective marketing strategies to encourage wealthy Muslims to become cash waqf founders and sustain their contribution.

This qualitative study used a literature review and in-depth interviews to generate insights for developing a model of wealthy Muslims’ behavior toward cash waqf programs held by Islamic banks.

The study identified low trust, literacy and transparency as the biggest barriers to cash waqf contributions, but suggests that a greater role for Islamic banks, personal engagement and innovative product offerings can help to overcome these barriers. The study also identified three new behavioral dimensions that are important for understanding wealthy Muslims’ contributions to cash waqf: personal financial planning, accountability and political issues. Based on these findings, the study proposes 10 strategies for all stakeholders to pursue in the short and medium term to promote cash waqf contributions from wealthy Muslims.

This study only involved respondents from three major cities in Indonesia: Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya because these cities have a large number of wealthy Muslims. Future research can collect more samples from all major cities in Indonesia or other Muslim majority countries, and use other qualitative methodology such as phenomenological, ethnographic, grounded theory, case study or action research. The findings of this study can be the starting point for further research and the proposed conceptual framework requires empirical testing in the future.

The findings of this study can be a basis for policymakers and the Islamic financial industry in formulating marketing, education and socialization strategies for innovative cash waqf programs.

The findings of this study will support the acceleration of cash waqf collection for cash waqf initiatives through Islamic banks. Moreover, with a better understanding of the factors impeding and motivating the most potential Muslim groups to contribute to the innovative cash waqf program, the ultimate goal of higher national socio-economic development becomes more attainable.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate wealthy Muslims’ behavioral factors for contributing to innovative cash waqf held by Islamic banks, from various stakeholder perspectives. It fills a research gap in the literature on innovative cash waqf and behavior.

To better understand the characteristics of Indonesian Muslims, this study uses cluster analysis to group upper-middle-class Muslims based on psychographic variables related to participation in cash waqf for productive purposes.

This study used mixed methods to build and analyse the segmentation of upper-middle-class Muslims towards cash waqf and propose scenarios for a cash waqf model based on the findings.

This study identified six clusters for upper-middle-class Muslims related to the participation in cash waqf for productive purposes. All clusters show heterogeneous values of all factors. Although relatively few Muslims perform cash waqf for productive purposes, the high scores for the economic rational, family and community factors indicate great potential for the development of various cash waqf models for investment purposes. The next challenge will lie in reviewing the “one-fits-all strategy” in the development of program, education and socialisation. Based on the findings, this study proposes three scenarios of cash waqf participation: as wakif only (waqf donor), investor only (capital provider) and hybrid participation (waqf donor and capital provider).

The limitation of this study is the location and object of the sample are only Muslims in Indonesia who are categorised as upper-middle class in terms of their monthly income. Based on this study’s findings, other Muslim-majority countries worldwide have the potential to develop a cash waqf model that is integrated with financial instruments and involves the role of Islamic banking and other Islamic commercial institutions in future research development. Researchers can also attempt to include a simulation or experiment method to construct and validate the proposed cash waqf model based on this study’s findings and to explore other factors that have not been addressed.

The findings of this study can contribute as a foundation for the development of a cash waqf model and business-marketing strategy to increase the participation of upper-middle-class Muslims.

The findings of this study will support the acceleration of cash waqf collection for investment initiatives, which in turn will have a broader social and economic impact nationally.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study constitutes the first attempt to specifically investigate upper-middle-class Muslim segmentation toward cash waqf participation for productive purposes. This study’s knowledge is helpful for various stakeholders such as academia, the Islamic banking industry, regulators and the Muslim community about customer segmentation to Islamic banking products and services related to cash waqf.