Hybrid Rationality behind Customers’ Choices of the Islamic Banks : An Experience of Bengkulu, Indonesia

Abstract

The article aims to reveal the rationality behind the customers’ choices of Islamic banks in Bengkulu province. For this purpose through exploring the possibility of unification between instrumental rationality and Islamic rationality, it will be identified empirically the essence of the customers’ choices of Islamic banks in Bengkulu, Indonesia. The analysis deployed a grounded theory approach. The data obtained was qualitative by involving at least 15 (fifteen) participants who volunteered and spread across several Islamic banks in Bengkulu Province. Therefore, an in-depth interview was conducted as a strategy to collect data related to the rationality behind customers’ choices for the product of Islamic banks in Bengkulu province. The main findings of this study is: “hybrid rationality was successfully identified behind the customers’ choices of Islamic banks in Bengkulu province. This rationality is a unification between instrumental rationality and Islamic rationality based on religiosity values—Sharī‘ah compliance. It is an evidence for categorizing the consumers’ choices of Islamic banks in Bengkulu as “the hybrid rationality.”