Awareness of financial institutions’ employees towards Islamic finance principles in Russia

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the awareness level of Islamic finance principles among employees of financial institutions in Moscow, Russia. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative method is used with a Likert scale questionnaire. A survey was conducted to 310 financial institutions’ employees to determine the level of their awareness of major Islamic finance principles. The sample population is selected using the judgment sampling technique. A descriptive analysis with frequency, percentage and weighted mean are used to analyze the data. Findings The study finds that the level of awareness of financial institutions’ employees towards Islamic finance is low. This is probably due to the minority of the Muslim population and geographically far from to the countries where Islamic finance is being implemented. All respondents have a good education background, thus implementing some training sessions for its employees or hiring some outside specialists could transfer the knowledge and widespread the adoption of Islamic finance instruments. Originality/value The academic institutions such as universities in Russia could play a pivotal role to offer Islamic finance-related subjects, while the government as a regulatory body, should support the Islamic finance initiatives.