Determinants of Zakat Payment to Zakat Institution

Abstract

The Zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam, is a financial resource for Islamic states in addition to taxes. Given the importance of Zakat funds for the economy and society, Zakat collection and distribution institutions have been established. This chapter was interested in the behavior of individuals in setting up a Zakat institution in the Tunisian context. The authors have studied the factors that affect the intention to pay Zakat to Zakat institutions. To do this, a questionnaire was administered to 100 people. The authors obtain three types of information: attitude towards Zakat, attitude towards institutions, and information related to the intention to pay Zakat to Zakat institutions. The authors have estimated by the binary logit model the relationship between the intention to pay Zakat to Zakat institutions and four factors: trust, quality of service, proximity, and the level of understanding of the Zakat principles. Three of them are significant.