Crowdfunding for Islamic Banking and Finance Research: Model and Potential Research Interests

Abstract

Research in academia is crucial for universities in Malaysia, as the Ministry of Education aspires to enhance the quality of tertiary education and promotes innovation in the country. However, insufficient funding has restrained the activity of university research. To address this situation, the crowdfunding has become a new alternative for academic research support. This study investigates two main issues regarding crowdfunding in Islamic banking and finance research, namely, suitable crowdfunding model and potential research field selection by donors. The study employed a qualitative method. Several interview sessions were conducted with religious councils, financial institutions, crowdfunding platforms, and finance scholar. The findings show that 1) the most suitable crowdfunding model to support Islamic banking and finance activities is reward-based crowdfunding and 2) three potential research fields identified are products, services, and investment. Therefore, this study offers guidelines to implement crowdfunding for Islamic research and suggestions to create a research crowdfunding platform in universities.