BEYOND USABILITY: SOCIAL IMAGE AND PERCEIVED USEFULNESS AS DETERMINANTS OF ONLINE CASH WAQF INTENTION AMONG MALAYSIAN ACCOUNTING UNDERGRADUATES

Abstract

This study explores the factors that influence the intention to use Online Cash Waqf among 133 undergraduate accounting students at a single public university in Malaysia and tests the validity of three factors, namely Face Concern, Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness, based on the literature of technology acceptance model and social-influence research. The study employed a survey-based design and analyzed the data using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results indicate that Face Concern and Perceived Usefulness significantly and positively influence the intention to participate in online cash waqf, but not Perceived Ease of Use, with the three predictors collectively accounting for 48.2% of the variance in the intention. In this sample, it seems that usability has a lesser role in driving engagement with digital philanthropy than the social image and perceived benefit of the platform itself. The study also adds to the existing literature on digital Islamic philanthropy, in that it simultaneously tests an image-based mechanism with the TAM's utilitarian predictors in a single model and provides practical recommendations for waqf institutions and platform developers based on the findings of the study, such as the introduction of donor-recognition features on the platform and the reporting of impacts to the donor through transparent reporting. Some of the study's limitations are that it was conducted in one institution of accounting students and that variables like trust, religiosity, and institutional credibility were not included, and need to be added in future research before the patterns found from the study are generalizable to donors in general.