Assessing the awareness and perception of waqf among business owners in Gombe State, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose

The literature about the dynamics of Muslims' awareness and perception of waqf has been generally scarce,especially in Nigeria. As renewed efforts are emerging to develop a new waqf regime in the country, this study examines this aspect in Gombe metropolis, Nigeria, with a view to identifying the key factors shaping people's perception and awareness towards waqf.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the objective of this study, primary data were collected through a survey among 494 business owners in the Gombe metropolis. The data were then analysed using probit and Tobit regression models.

Findings

The study found that altruistic behaviour, religiosity level, educational level and young age are among the factors that determine people's perception and awareness towards donating to waqf among business owners in Gombe. Altruism and young age embolden businesspersons to recognise the effectiveness of waqf institutions in solving socioeconomic challenges.

Practical implications

The findings of this study imply that waqf has huge potential in the study area and that with well-structured, organized waqf education programmes within the business community using diverse avenues, a robust waqf sector can be developed.

Originality/value

As far as the study area and the entire Nigerian Islamic economics and finance landscape is concerned, the study has explored a novel research area. Given the infant stage of empirical studies on waqf in Nigeria, there are virtually no previous attempts to examine the awareness and perception of businesspersons towards waqf; variables that are key to the development of an effective sector.

Citation

Abdu, M., Lamido, A.A. and Jibir, A. (2023), "Assessing the awareness and perception of waqf among business owners in Gombe State, Nigeria", Islamic Economic Studies, Vol. 31 No. 1/2, pp. 130-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/IES-02-2023-0006

1. Introduction

Waqf (Islamic endowments) is one of the most exclusive and fast-expanding Islamic economic tools in the world. Today, in many Muslim countries like Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia, waqf has been managed and advanced into one of the socio-economic institutions of Islam that support numerous activities and help to address various socio-economic challenges, including poverty, unemployment and illiteracy (Maulana and Darmastuti, 2020). Historically, waqf has served as a source of not only economic development, but also a source of socio-civilizational renewal and advancement and has championed the progressing of Muslim communities into cultural, political, economic and intellectual self-sufficiency. At the peak of the effective functioning of the waqf sector, Muslim nations, relying hugely on a waqf-based economy, became exporters of goods, services, intellectual development and international socio-economic relations.

For over 1300 years, the waqf institution has grown and remained the most widespread and impactful manifestation of Muslim philanthropy (Rashid, 2012). As established by authoritative studies (see Gaudiosi, 1987; Rashid, 2018), it was through its interaction with the Islamic civilization, that the West came to learn the concept of waqf which it later studied, expanded and developed into the present concept of Trusts, Foundations and Endowments, which have today become an independent sector of the global economy.

The value of waqf is, however not only historic, but also contemporary and modern. Hudzaifah (2019) stresses that waqf as a monetary instrument in Islam could be a substitute way to increase national income that can resolve the shortage of public goods. This is because if waqf is properly run and managed skilfully by a sound institution, it can aid in expanding social welfare, accomplish people's rights and lessen society's economic challenges (Qurrata et al., 2020). Waqf also provides investment prospects in education, religion, health and other areas of human endeavours. Waqf funds can also be used for promoting small businesses (Ismawati and Anwar, 2019). In fact, it has been argued that waqf stands as an important socio-economic institution with the required dynamism for the overall transformation of the Muslim world by providing sustainable access to social goods and public services, including healthcare, education, infrastructure and utilities (Haneef, 2018). Its ability to contribute to the actualization of most of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) has also been acknowledged (Haneef, 2018; World Bank, 2019).

Today, waqf is used in providing access to basic and higher education, promoting high level scientific research, engendering sustainable environmental protection and preservation and facilitating the growth of small and medium enterprises in several Muslim communities. With the growing establishment of waqf-based higher educational institutions across the globe, the emergence of big waqf corporations and the ever-increasing deployment of technology in waqf mobilization and management, a new era has set in towards making waqf a standalone socio-economic institution with multidimensional potentials for contributing to sustainable development.

The recent renewed interest in waqf globally has led to the emergence of some remarkable steps towards promoting waqf as a socio-economic institution in Nigeria. This has sparked the establishment of governmental and private institutions working towards its institutionalization in different parts of the country. Within the context of this development, Gombe State has also had its share of the waqf awakening with the emergence of the first waqf managing institution in the last five years. Even though Gombe State is a Muslim-dominated State, however, the notion and perception of waqf are comparatively new when likened to two traditional practices such as sadaqah and zakat. Thus, understanding the awareness and perception of people – especially the business community, on waqf remains an important task.

Although there are few studies on Muslims' awareness and perception of waqf activities (Adeyemi et al., 2016; Hassan et al., 2021; Ismawati and Anwar, 2019; Shukor et al., 2017; Qurrata et al., 2020), however, most of these studies are carried out in few Islamic/Muslim countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, among others. To the best of our knowledge, there has not been any in-depth survey of awareness and perception of Nigerian Muslims on waqf. Thus, this study aims to explore the levels of awareness and perception of Muslim businessmen about waqf in Gombe State of Nigeria.

This study seeks to achieve three main objectives. First, the paper expands the burgeoning empirical discourse on waqf – its perception and awareness among people which contribute to the debate on waqf as a tool for promoting societal welfare. The study also provides empirical evidence that sheds new insights on the perception and awareness of businesspersons about waqf, which is currently scant. Second, by utilization of various techniques and various measures of different variables, the study intends to provide unique and robust findings that would guide practitioners in making relevant policies for the improvement of waqf activities and its sustainability. Third, waqf remains an important issue in the Islamic world due to the fact that it has a significant effect in reducing poverty and inequality agenda of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Therefore, this study aims at identifying policy priorities that will help practitioners to draft programmes toward utilizing waqf in the reduction of poverty and inequality in line with the SDGs. It is against this backdrop that the paper proceeds to discuss the concept of waqf and the determinants of its perception and awareness in Gombe metropolis.

2. Literature review

2.1 Conceptual review

In recent times, the word endowment or charity within the Islamic context is not something new for Muslims and non-Muslims. Nevertheless, when the concept turns into “waqf” [1], some people might not be aware of it – including Muslims. The word waqf originated from an Arabic word ‘waqafa’ - meaning to hold, to confine and to stop while in Sharī‘ah, waqf means voluntary, permanent, or irrevocable dedication of a portion of one's wealth – in cash or kind - to Allah (Kahf, 1999; Shukor et al., 2017).

Hassan and Ab Rahman (2018) defined waqf as the property given to be used by the community associates for Islamic religious matters. Waqf is a permanent charity which includes money, assets and others that would benefit the Muslim community (Abd Mutalib et al., 2019). Waqf from the economic perspective can be defined as the investment of funds and other assets in creative properties that provide either usufruct or revenues for future consumption by individuals or groups of individuals (Pirasteh and Abdolmaleki, 2007).

From the legal perspective, waqf is a holding certain property, preserving it for the confined benefit of certain philanthropy and prohibiting any use or disposition of it outside its specific objective (Kahf, 1999). According to Kahf (1999), waqf is defined as holding a property (e.g. land, cash and slipper) and preventing its consumption for the purpose of repeatedly extracting its usufruct for the benefit of an objective representing righteousness and philanthropy. Thus, waqf remains a unique concept in that it has durable, unchallengeable and irrevocable features (Adeyemi et al., 2016; Hassan et al., 2021; Shukor et al., 2017). The giver's objective in contributing is to get reward from God in the next world (Hassan et al., 2021). Some waqf elements may be moved around (Hassan et al., 2021). Waqf is divided into two types, namely conventional waqf and cash waqf (Rusydiana and Rahayu, 2019). These two types of waqf have differences in the objects. This study considers all forms of waqf in the analysis of its perception and willingness among Muslims.

2.2 Theoretical underpinning

On the theoretical ground, there are numerous theories developed by scholars in an attempt to explain the behaviour of individuals in making decision and intention. They are mostly anchored within social philosophy framework. For instance, theory of reasoned action developed by Fishbein and Ajzen (1980) defined person's intention as individual's positive or negative appraisal of execution the behaviour. Similarly, Daryl (1972) propounded the theory of self-perception which depend on on questions connected to the philosophy of the mind. The theory of planned behaviour maintains that intentions (i.e. readiness to act) are the most proximal determinant of behavior (Ajzen, 1985). The theory deals with attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control of people.

Similarly, self-perception is simply seen as the mind-set, feelings and internal conditions that materialise when they ascend from situations in which the essence of that perception occurs (Daryl, 1972). This theory depends on issues related to “philosophy of mind.” which resulted from individual judgement of something on the basis of proof which may likely differ from other people's judgement.

2.3 Empirical review

From the perspective of empirical studies, there is plethora of studies conducted to explore the perception and awareness of different categories of Muslims including students, businessmen and employees, among others. Many factors have been unravelled as responsible for influencing the perception and awareness of people to contribute to cash waqf. For instance, knowledge about waqf is assumed to be one of the factors influencing perception and willingness to contribute to waqf and partake in waqf activities among Muslims. There are many studies that found that knowledge contributes significantly to perception and willingness among Muslims on waqf (Hassan et al., 2021; Kasri and Chaerunnisa, 2021; Lampatan and Mahaini, 2020; Shukor et al., 2017). This implies that people with more knowledge are more confident in contributing to waqf. However, there are studies that found that knowledge has no significant influence on waqf contribution. For instance, Huda et al. (2022) knowledge has no significant direct effect on the intention of contributing to the endowment.

Similarly, promotional factors also play a role in giving the Muslim communities an understanding of waqf (Adeyemi et al., 2016). Inability to promote waqf contributions and practises and activities can have a huge impact on people's willingness and perception (Hassan et al., 2021). On top of that, several closely related studies demonstrate that these marketing and promotional tools have been used positively and substantially in promoting all forms of waqf (Adeyemi et al., 2016; Ahmad, 2019; Amalia, 2019; Fauzi et al., 2019; Hudzaifah, 2019). Aaccess to information media has a significant impact on people's perception of cash waqf (Ahmad, 2019). Therefore, raising awareness of the Muslim communities in order to increase involvement in waqf activities remains instrumental.

Islamic religiosity is the degree to which a person is dedicated to his religion, which is mirrored in his attitude and behaviour over time (Ahmad et al., 2015). Many studies found that waqf behaviour are based on Islamic religiosity (Kasri and Chaerunnisa, 2021; Rizal and Amin, 2017). This is because it is believed that charitable giving should be based on faith, sincerity and belief that God will offer more rewards for the giver in the hereafter (Ibrahim, 2015; Rohman et al., 2020; Qurrata et al., 2020). The connection between religion and perception is demonstrated in the results of Kate et al. (2017) and Shukor et al. (2017) that the religious level of Muslims significantly influenced their perception of waqf. Mokthar (2018) believes that Islam influenced not only the perception of cash waqf but also its support. In another study by Osman et al. (2016), religious adherence is found to have a positive relationship with intentional waqf. Zulkiflee et al. (2015) also stress that sufficient Islamic knowledge can instil an individual's intent and willpower to do charity in the form of waqf.

It is also observed from the literature that one's level of religiosity is important cutting-edge forecasting one's intention (Adeyem et al., 2016). This explains that the higher the Muslim donors‟ belief in Allah's S.W.T rewards on those who give (infaq) their wealth in the way of Allah S.W.T, they will receive a bounty of Allah‟s blessing and reward, the higher the motivation of the individual's Muslim donors to participate in cash waqf giving behaviour. It indicates that waqf tools are commonly known for religiously-based purposes rather than broadening the scope to socially-based purposes. Other likely factors of influence could be other network characteristics, such as information quality and trust strongly influence people perception about waqf.

Awareness is also seen as a crucial factor influencing willingness and perception of Muslims to contribute to waqf and engage in waqf activities. Abd Aziz and Noh (2019) stress that people who are better informed about waqf will guide them to improve their efforts in donating more to the society. Again, Arum et al. (2018) found that Muslim with sound financial literacy skills may separate investments that include prohibited features, like usury and resort to waqf. Mustofa et al. (2020) opined that the effectiveness of waqf management promotes people's perception and awareness on waqf.

Awareness is also seen as the extent of a person's understanding of a particular phenomenon based on the basis of knowledge and willingness from within themselves which is influenced by other factors. In term of awareness, the majority of Muslims in Malaysia is aware that waqf is used to assist the poor and the needy (Ibrahim and Ibrahim, 2013). However, a study by Puad et al. (2014) found that most people believe that waqf can only being contributed by Muslims but not to non-Muslims.

Additionally, the Muslim society still does not realize the importance of waqf for economic development due to the lack of information. In a study carried out by Karim and Murad (2010) found that the majority of people have commonly assumed that the waqf instruments are only limited to building mosques, schools and other religious centres needed for religious activities. Bin Abdul Razak et al. (2022) found that due to a lack of information and awareness regarding the waqf, the Muslim societies lack adequate knowledge on the importance of waqf as a tool for promoting economic growth and prosperity.

Ridhwan et al. (2014) found that a low level of awareness is one of the factors contributing to the reason why Islamic financial planning is not widely practiced among Muslim countries. Similarly, Abd Aziz and Noh (2019) state that in an attempt to raise awareness of waqf among Muslims as a poverty reduction tool reveal that inadequate knowledge and lack of awareness on waqf is a barricade to explore waqf potential. This finding is supported by Faiz (2014) who said that there is still a lack of awareness to contribute to waqf among a majority of Muslims.

Knowledge and awareness are linked and many studies conducted confirm the connection between the level of education and awareness of charitable donations like waqf. For example, Nor and Sari (2022) found that many of the respondents are aware of waqf and have been donating over the years through the cash waqf platform. Similarly, Jatmiko et al. (2023) reveal that religiosity directly or indirectly affect cash waqf intention. Kasri and Chaerunnisa (2022) examine the role of knowledge, trust and religiosity in influencing the intention to donate cash waqf online among Muslims in Indonesia. The findings suggest that knowledge and religiosity play a positive role in explaining people's awareness on cash waqf. This is because Muslims are aware about waqf as a matter of religious rites, they may not understand its operational mechanism (Adeyem et al., 2016). It can be seen that, when people have basic awareness about a phenomenon, it increases their willingness to participate.

Previous studies also established that a lack of transparency in the plan and implementation of the waqf program by waqf institutions will cause a loss of public confidence in charitable waqf (Shukor et al., 2017). Ahmad and Rusdianto (2020) demonstrates that the accountability and transparency of waqf institutions will upsurge public perception and willingness in contributing to waqf.

3. Data and methodology

3.1 Description of study area

Gombe state was carved out of old Bauchi state and made a state in 1996 with a slogan “Jewel in the Savannah”. It is in the centre of the Northeast of Nigeria, thereby strategically borders virtually all other states in the region. The state borders Adamawa and Borno states to the east, Bauchi state to the west, Taraba state to the south and Yobe state to the north. The average temperature of the state is more than 30 °C during hottest months (March–May) with an annual average rainfall of 850 mm (Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC, 2022).

National Population Commission (2017) estimated Gombe state's population to hover around 3.26 million in 2016. Following the Commission's population growth rate of 2.5%, the state's population can be estimated to be 3.88 million in 2023. And its landmass is about 17,100 Km². Like other northern states, Gombe is agrarian and famous for cultivating beans, cassava, maize, tomato, groundnut cottons, gum arabic, millet, rice, fruits and vegetables. Gombe state's nominal GDP stood at about ₦1.24 trillion (about US$2.43 billion) in 2017 with agriculture and service sectors contributing more than 18 and 55% respectively to the GDP (National Bureau of Statistics, 2019).

Gombe state has 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) including Akko, Balanga, Billiri, Dukku, Kaltungo, Kwami, Shomgom, Funakaye, Gombe, Nafada/Bajoga, Yamaltu Deba. The focus of this study is Gombe metropolis, which is largely dominated by Gombe LGA) — that is the state capital — while Akko, Kwami and Yalmatu Deba LGAs constitute the remaining parts of the metropolis (see a map of Gombe state in Figure 1). We have chosen metropolitan area because it is a true representative of the state and most of important business centres or markets are in the area.

3.2 Data collection and instrument

This study seeks to collect data directly from business owners of the major commercial centres in the metropolis to assess their awareness of and perception on Waqf principles and mechanics of operation. This target population is deliberately chosen given their precedents (at least in the history of Islamic/Muslim world) in deploying this noble Islamic financial model (waqf) to ameliorate many developmental challenges in the society. For instance, the pioneer founders of awaqf (plural of waqf) were generally from business class: Umar Bin Khattab's waqf of the Khaybar land, Abu Talha's Bayruha orchard and Uthman Bin Affan's Ruma water-well, etc (Lamido and Haneef, 2021). The instrument for data collection is a structured questionnaire consisting of majority closed-ended questions with few open-ended ones. The questions are constructed in plain English to the understanding of the respondents.

3.3 Sample size and sampling techniques

Given the dominance of informal activities in the metropolis, it is hard to come by a formal figure of business owners in the state. This study focuses on business owners retailing or wholesaling the following commodities: boutiques, construction materials, cosmetics and jewelleries, foodstuffs, fruits and vegetables, textiles, communication accessories, etc. They also include handcrafters such as blacksmiths, tailors, ‘vulcanizers’, repairers of computers, watches, of electrical and electronic appliances, etc. The choice of this population is generally informed by the fact that the commercial centres in Gombe metropolis are dominated by these business activities. They are informal because the business operators are not obliged by the government to get registered before starting up. Hence, the target population is indefinite or unknown. To compute a representative sample size for the business owners, we employ Z score formula for unknown population as specified in equation (1):

(1)n=Z2P(1−P)e2

Where n is the sample size; Z stands for critical value of a confidence level; P stands for proportion of the target population in the overall population; and e represents level of precision or margin of error. Suppose the confidence level for our study is 99 percent so that Z = 2.326, p = 50 percent and e = 5 percent. This means n = 541.01 ≈ 541. A total of 600 copies of questionnaire is instead administered to reduce the rates of attrition and nonresponse(s) as well as other associated problems of fieldwork.

This study targets business owners stationed in particular business centres (not the mobile ones). The reasons being that there could be problem of repeated responses for the mobile or open-air business owners. We utilize three-stage sampling technique to draw the sampled units. First stage deals with designation and identification of the commercial areas as clusters. Our target population is concentrated on the locations of the important markets: New Market, Old Market, Tudun Hatsi, Tunfure Commercial area, New Mile 3, Bye Pass, Tashan Dadin Kowa, Liji and BCGEA, among others. In the second stage, we apply both judgemental and simple random sampling techniques to select some clusters. Our judgemental sampling technique is based on the size of the markets and importance in terms of number of business activities taking place there. On the basis of the technique, we first select New Market, Old Market and Tudun Hatsi as they are the biggest and equally the most important commercial centres in the metropolis. Given the relative importance of Tunfure Commercial area, New Mile 3, Bye Pass and Tashan Dadin Kowa in terms of not only the business but also their strategic locations [2], we also select them as well.

Following a simple random technique of pick-and-obey approach [3], we draw the following small commercial centres: Tashar Shongo, Kasuwar Mata and Arawa commercial centre. Therefore, we carry out the survey in 10 clusters whereby we allocate 100, 60 and 20 copies of the questionnaire to each of the largest centres, each of the relatively important centres and each of the small centres respectively. In the last stage, we first divide the copies of questionnaire based on the lines of business and distribute them according to the proportion of the activities in a market. The study uses systematic sampling technique, by administering copies of questionnaire from first shop until where the copies allocated to the area finish, to draw the sampled respondents.

3.4 Summary statistics and correlation analysis

Table 1 reports the characteristics of the respondents reflecting how representative is the sample. The table reveals that business men dominated the sample as about 77% of the respondents are male. In the table, most of the business owners surveyed are single (59.34%). Majority of them have secondary education (34.17%), bachelor's degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) (23%) and Diploma/National Certificate in Education (NCE)/Professional qualification (22.08%). This means more than 70% of the respondents are literate and have the capacity to read and digest the questions in the questionnaire. Table 1 also indicates that more than 66% of the business owners surveyed are from urban areas. In terms of the business activity, the respondents are drawn from the key activities in the centres so that they can be highly representative. Provision, handcrafts and textiles slightly dominate the activities from which the respondents are drawn.

The average monthly income of the respondents is ₦50,650.6 (US$110.04) with a standard deviation of about ₦71,259.44 (US$154.82). The table further signifies that the average age of the respondent is roughly 33 years with 12 years as standard deviation while 10.14 years are the mean years of experience engaging in the particular line of business. Table 1 finally depicts that the business owners have, on average, 3 and 5 employees and dependants respectively.

Table 2 presents the results of pair-wise correlations between the key variables in the model. Overall, there are weak correlations between the variables; only that there are relatively strong correlations between age and income (0.399), between religiosity and trustworthiness (0.366), between age and gender (male) (0.309) and between gender (male) and income (0.232). Thus, this implies there would not be a problem of multi-collinearity in the estimated models. Because, all the correlation coefficients are way lower than 0.50.

3.5 Model specifications

The goal of this study remains to explore socioeconomic factors determining waqf awareness and perception among business owners in Gombe metropolis. Given that this study is underpinned within an eclectic theory, we argue that level of waqf awareness and perception among business owners are functions of altruism, economic, religious factors, trustworthiness, etc. In the literature section, we have developed hypotheses proposing that various factors come into play to determine the waqf awareness and perception among Muslims. Inter alia, equation (2) clearly specifies the key drivers of the awareness among business owners:

(2)Owawi=ζ0+ζ1Altri+ζ2Convi+ζ3Econi+ζ4Relgi+ζ5Trusti+μi

Where Owaw_i stands for degree of overall waqf awareness among business owners; Relg_i represent the respondents' level of religiosity reflecting both level of and efforts to acquire knowledge of Islamic tenets vis-a-viz the commitments of the respondents to practice the principles. Altr_i is the respondents' level of altruism, which is other-regarding behavior, whereby a person is not just self-interested but is also concerned with the welfare of others in the society. Trust_i represents respondents' level of trust and confidence in all Islamic charitable organizations. Econ_i is a vector of economic variables like income, business owner's level of education, age and so on; and Conv_i is a vector of controlled variables including gender, marital status, etc. μ_i is the error term and ζ_1-5 are the parameters to be estimated.

Equation (3) specifies the empirical model for Waqf perception:

(3)Owpci=ψ0+ψ1Altri+ψ2Convi+ψ3Econi+ψ4Relgi+ψ5Trusti+ϑi

Where Owpc_i stands for overall Waqf (negative or positive) perception among business owners in the study area. The explanatory variables in equation (3) remain as defined under equation (2). ϑ_i is the error term and ψ_1-5 are the parameters to be estimated.

While bearing in mind that the extant studies are skewed towards cash awaqf, this study explores differential determinants of overall and cash awaqf awareness among business owners. It is expected that the factors vary from one form of waqf to another.

3.6 Measurements of variables and estimation techniques

Dependent and most of the independent variables are measured using many items just to come up with their multidimensional and robust proxies. In other words, we construct simple indices to serve as proxies of dependent and some of the independent variables in the models. These indices are explained below:

Dependent Variables: Overall Waqf Awareness is an index of waqf awareness computed by taking mean value of responses on 17 questions relating to respondents' knowledge of waqf principles. First, each response is coded as follows: 1 for Yes and 0 for No. Then, we sum up the coded values and divide the sum by 17 (number of responses/questions). Similarly, Overall Waqf Perception is an index reflecting the supposed (in)effectiveness of waqf institution in solving developmental challenges of society including empowerment, job creation, skill development, etc. This is also computed first by binarily coding responses on 17 items regarding the perception and then we take the average value to represent the overall perception. The average value should therefore lie between 0 and 1, which is a sort of left- and right-censored variable. Cash Waqf Awareness is a binary dummy where Cash Waqf Awareness is coded 1 if a respondent answers that waqf covers only cash; otherwise, it is coded 0.

Independent Variables: Indices of religiosity, trustworthiness and altruism are also computed by first ordinally coding their respective items and then computing their respective mean values. Religiosity measures the depth of a respondent's knowledge of general Islamic principles, how committed he/she is to practising Islamic rites and how adhered he/she to Islamic-driven interactions. It also incorporates the degree of the respondent's Islamic spirituality in terms of saying the routine supplications and the frequency with which the respondent reflects about the life after death. Thus, there are 5 items on religiosity: Islamic knowledge, practice, interaction based on Islamic tenets (Mu'amulat), Islamic spiritual strength (Azkar) and reflection of life in hereafter. Trustworthiness measures the confidence level of a respondent in Islamic charitable organisations, how he/she perceives the organisations to be professional, transparent and have good organisational relationship. We, therefore, employ 4 to construct an index of trustworthiness: accountability, organizational relationship, professionalism and transparency. Altruism signifies the extent to which a respondent cares about the wellbeing of others or how selfless he/she is. In this regard, we utilize 5 items to construct an index of altruism: compassion for economic independence, strong desire for a society that is free from ignorance, dream of a society with strong food security, readiness to allocate a portion of one's earnings to community development and care for one's neighbours. Note that each of these items is coded as follows: 0 for not, 1 for poorly, 2 for moderately and 3 for highly. Hence, their mean values lie between 0 and 3. All these indices are expected to improve the respondent's waqf awareness and positive perception of the institution.

Economic explanatory variables include taking natural logarithm of the respondent's monthly income. As an economic variable, we ordinally code educational levels as follows: 0 for no formal education, 1 for primary, 2 for secondary education, 3 for diploma, NCE, A-level and professional qualification, 4 for bachelor's degree or HND, 5 for master's degree and postgraduate and 6 for PhD. Controlled variables consist of the respondent's age, binarily coding gender and marital status.

For the overall waqf awareness and perception models, we apply Tobit regression model that deals with selection bias problems arising from censoring of the dependent variables. Recall that overall waqf awareness and perception variables are all left-censored at 0 and right-censored at 1. Tobit model is estimated using Maximum likelihood (ML) while avoiding the problem of unboundedness associated with ordinary least squares (OLS) estimator. Hence, the coefficients of OLS in this case are highly inconsistent leading to spurious findings (Wooldridge, 2010). Equation (4) specifies the econometric form of Tobit model:

(4)yi*=xi′β+μi where yi=0 if yi*≤0 or yi=1 if yi*≥1 and yi=yi* if 0<yi*<1

y_i^* is the for index of overall Waqf awareness or perception, which is below-truncated at 0 and above-truncated at 1; x_i′ is a vector of all explanatory variables; and μ_i is the error term, which is independently, identically distributed (iid) [μ_i ∼ IN(0, σ²)]. Since Tobit model is estimated using ML, then equation (5) specifies the ML for our Tobit model:

(5)L=∏yi>01σf(yi−xi′βσ)∏yi≤0F(−xi′βσ)

Maximizing this likelihood function with respect to β and σ (variance of the estimates), we compute ML estimates of these parameters. Π is the operator for the censoring or truncation.

For Cash Waqf awareness models, we apply Probit regression model, which also uses ML method to estimate the probability of occurrence of an event conditioned by changes in certain explanatory variables. Probit regression model assumes that the error term has a normal distribution function (Maddala, 1992). In equation (6), we specify a typical binomial probit regression model:

(6)Prob(yi=1|xi)=Φ(xiβ+εi)

Where Prob(y_i = 1|x_i) is the propensity for the occurrence of cash waqf awareness as occasioned by changes in the explanatory variables (x_i); Φ is normal cumulative distribution function and n = 1, 2, …, nth term. β’s are the parameters of the explanatory variables to be computed; and ε_i represents error term, which is also iid, that is ε_i ∼ IN(0, σ²).

Since the standard normal transformation Φ(·) restricts the probability to fall between 0 and 1, equation (7) specifies the cumulative normal distribution for the error term of Probit regression model.

(7)Prob(yi=1)=12π∫−∞ZieS22ds where Zi=Φ−1(Prob)=xiβ

s is the standardized normal variable; and ds stands for density. We are majorly interested in the marginal effects of the independent variables in the estimated Probit regression model, and as such, we specify the marginal effect in equation (8):

(8)∂Prob(yi=1|xi)∂xik=∂E{yi|xi}∂xik=Φ(xi′β)βk

Where ∂ is the operator for partial derivative. Equation (8) is a sort of partial effect of a variable while holding others constant.

4. Presentation and discussion of results

In Table 3, the business owners surveyed appear to be reasonably informed about the basic and intermediate principles of an awaqf. For instance, 92.31% of the respondents affirms that waqf can also include non-cash items while only 34% of them do not know that awaqf does not cover only fixed or immovable assets. About 82% of the business owners confirms that they are in the know that an awaqf can be solely established to cater for one's family members whereas roughly 44% of them are oblivious of the fact that waqf is not a religious obligation.

With respect to perception, Table 3 shows that the vast majority of the respondents are highly confident that waqf activities are effective in ameliorating many developmental challenges including poverty, unemployment and essential services.

For example, the table suggests that more than 90% of business owners perceive that waqf can be used to reasonably reduce poverty, to considerably empower women, and the instrument has the potential for educational development in society. Roughly, 90% of the respondents perceive that waqf can provide business-oriented skills, significant job opportunities and to achieve Maqassid (objectives of) Sharī‘ah. Approximately, more than 70% of them perceive that the preferred objectives of permanent waqf should be building and/or maintaining mosques, cemeteries, provision of Islamic and Western education, skills development, and medical services, and serving the needy/poor people.

Figures 2 and 3 graphically reveal the pattern of overall indices of waqf awareness and perception are skewed towards the positive end in which, on average the business owners are well-informed of about 75.07% of the principles and mechanics of awaqf. The figures reflect again that the average respondents perceive about 94% of waqf activities to be effective in solving the socioeconomic problems of the people. The figures confirm further that the indices are both left- and right-truncated at 0 and 1 respectively, which informs the application of Tobit regression model.

4.1 Waqf awareness results

Table 4 reports the results for overall waqf awareness models based on data from business owners in Gombe metropolis. The baseline model suggests that male gender, educational level, altruism and religiosity are the key determinants of overall waqf awareness among the sampled business owners in Gombe metropolis. An increase in altruism improves the waqf awareness by 33.1% point among the respondents. This is far-fetched as selfless people are always in search of avenues through which they can improve the well-being of others in society. Given the eternal and never-ending rewards from generosity in Islam, altruistic individuals are even more motivated to get to know more about waqf so that they can be donors. This finding aligns with those of Bulut and Korkut (2022) and Soleimani and Kiaee (2021). Similarly, high religiosity raises the overall awareness of waqf by 12% point. Of course, highly religious Muslim business owners tend to be well-informed about the principles of waqf as they listen to a series of Islamic preaching that could educate them about the institution. Table 4 also shows that as the education level improves the overall awareness of waqf goes up by 3.27% point. Western-educated Muslim individuals could be highly curious to learn about the fundamentals of awaqf and the finding is in line with Echchabi et al. (2015). Model 2 in Table 4 reports that interacting altruism with educational level significantly enhances the level of awareness by almost 3% point.

This means altruistic business owners with high formal education could be motivated to learn about the instrument in their quest to find areas where they can dedicate their resources for others' welfare. Model 3 presents that the interaction of religiosity with education level boosts the overall awareness by 1.74%. This implies that being Islamically religious and with a high formal education make the respondent highly informed about the rudiments of waqf. In Model 4, being altruistic and religious at once spur awareness by approximately 14% point. The significance of the sigma attests to the appropriateness of tobit models.

Model 1 in Table 5 illustrates that being highly altruistic could make the respondents to be aware of only cash waqf as the probability is roughly 54% point. Given that business owners deal with huge cash, the selfless among them may be aware of only cash form of the waqf. This finding is corroborated by positive impact of the monthly income. The propensity to be aware of only cash waqf increases by about 5% as the income soars.

However, being religious, high formal educational level and young age lower the chances of the business owners to be aware of only cash waqf by 25, 12 and 5.13% points respectively. These categories of people could have different sources of information that may allow them to be aware of not only cash but also non-cash waqf.

Age-squared raises the probability for the respondent to be aware of only cash waqf by 5.5% point, perhaps, at old age people lack access to information about different forms of awqaf. Model 2 in the table further illuminates that being altruistic and formally educated at once brings down the chances for the respondents to be aware of only cash waqf by 10% point. Again, Model 3 in Table 5 displays that being religious and formally educated at the same time reduce the chances to be aware of only cash waqf by 5.8% point. This is plausible as religious and educated persons are highly inquisitive; they tend to ask questions and seek to be knowledgeable about important issues such as Islamic tenets or institutions. Hence, they are less likely to be ignorant of non-cash waqf. In the same model, trustworthiness is negatively significant suggesting that the probability goes down by 10% point. High trustworthiness pushes the respondents to search for alternative awaqf institutions.

4.2 Waqf perception results

In Table 6, the baseline model depicts that altruism advances the effective perception of waqf by 44% point. Selfless people are always on the look for ways to positively impact the lives of others in the society.

Thus, they could easily perceive Islamic endowment as an effective means to improve the welfare of others. This is consistent with the findings of Soleimani and Kiaee (2021). Similarly, being a young business owner raises the effective perception of waqf by 1.7% point while being old diminishes the perception by 1.54% point. Given the life experience of the elderly people, they could have second thoughts as regards the effectiveness of the instrument. In relation to females, male business owners have a lower tendency to perceive waqf as effective by 8.5% point. The interaction terms in Models 2, 3, 4 and 5 clearly reveal that altruism with trustworthiness, altruism with high income, religiosity with altruism and religiosity with high income make the respondents to perceive awaqf as an effective pathway to solving developmental challenges in the society. Like Qurrata et al. (2020), we observe in Models 2 and 3 that religiosity raises the positive perception of waqf by 10% point.

It could be inferred from the preceding analysis that there are areas of convergence and divergence in terms of key factors driving waqf awareness and perception. The results of waqf awareness have made it possible for the researchers to answer the research questions on what factors shape the waqf awareness of business owners among business owners in Gombe metropolis. What drives the perception of the respondents on the effectiveness of awqaf or otherwise as a tool for ameliorating development challenges? For example, altruism, educational level and religiosity are key determinants of overall waqf awareness among business owners in Gombe metropolis. These are a pointer that enlightenment is the key to making the persons be well-informed about the institution. Altruism stimulates business owners to be quite aware of the endowment in their efforts to be beneficial to society. The interaction terms in the models validate further that the variables are also important factors, in their pairs, in promoting awareness. Again, educational level, religiosity and young age make the business owners less probable to be ignorant of non-cash waqf items given their human capital endowment and access to different sources of information. However, income, old age and altruism may likely make the people to be ignorant of non-cash waqf activities. Additionally, altruism and young age encourage the business owners to perceive waqf institution as effective in resolving many socioeconomic challenges plaguing our society. Also, when altruism is interacted with trustworthiness, with income and with religiosity as well as interaction of religiosity with income, the interaction terms improve the positive perception of waqf institution. However, old age and male-gender discourage the persons from perceiving the institution as efficacious.

5. Conclusion and policy implications

Islamic economists have almost and always agreed that awqaf remains an important institution to reckon with in terms of dealing with societal predicaments resisting conventional economic approaches. Community mobilisation and participation are sine qua non for sustainability and efficient performance of the awqaf institutions. Nonetheless, people have to be well-informed about the philosophies and mechanics of the awqaf before perceiving it as effective, thereby subsequently committing themselves to participating in and supporting the institution. Taking for granted a limited awareness of awqaf institution in Gombe metropolis, this study explores how altruism, economic factors, religiosity and trustworthiness of Islamic charitable organizations shape the awareness and perception of awaqf institution among business owners in the study area. The study is motivated by the paucity of empirical literature on the subject matter in Nigeria and North-eastern part of the country, in particular, despite the dominance of Muslims in the country. The study collects primary data from the business owners in the commercial centres of Gombe metropolis and, analyses the data using probit and tobit regression models. We also construct indices of overall awareness and perception as well as indices of altruism, religiosity and trustworthiness.

The findings reveal that altruism, educational level and religiosity are key determinants of overall waqf awareness among business owners in Gombe metropolis. The interactions of altruism with educational level and with religiosity as religiosity with educational level have further certified the findings. These are a precursor to the fact that human capital development is crucial in clearing the ignorance of awaqf institution in the study. In the same token, altruism inspires the business owners to be quite mindful of the Islamic endowment in order that they benefit the society through it. Interestingly, educational level, religiosity and young age lower the tendency for the business owners to be uninformed of non-cash waqf instruments in view of their access to many sources of information. Conversely, income, old age and altruism could make the people to be ignorant of non-cash waqf activities.

Furthermore, altruism and young age embolden the business owners to recognise the effectiveness of waqf institution in solving socioeconomic challenges tormenting our society. Moreover, the interactions of altruism with trustworthiness, with income and with religiosity as well as interaction of religiosity with income inspire the positive perception of waqf institution. But then again, old age and male-gender dampen the persons from perceiving the institution as efficacious.

Given the relative representation of most Nigerian ethnic groups in the study area, we can safely infer that some or all of the findings of this study could be applicable to Muslim business owners in other parts of the Nigeria. Like in many Muslim-dominated societies of developing countries, at least in Africa and Asia, Northern Nigerian Muslims are conservative in adhering to Islamic injunctions in most of their dealings. We can also conjecture that some or all of the findings of this study could be valid to Muslim business owners in those societies.

In an effort to include waqf institution as an instrument of achieving a number of sustainable development goals (SDGs) including poverty reduction, no hunger, etc., the stakeholders should leverage the educational avenues to enlighten the public about the importance of the institution. In doing so, the stakeholders would be able to shape the perception of waqf. The stakeholders may take advantage of Islamic religious activities and people quest for eternal rewards (altruism) to boost people knowledge about an awaqf and mould their perception about the institution. The stakeholders could devise group-targeted awareness campaigns educating all segments of the population according on their levels of altruism, age, education, gender, trustworthiness of the Islamic charitable organisations and religiosity. The preaching should be tailored towards raising the people's desire for more rewards from their creator so that the wealthy ones could dedicate their resources to Islamic course.

Figures

Figure 1

Map of Gombe state

Figure 2

Overall Waqf awareness

Figure 3

Overall Waqf perception

Table 1

Socioeconomic-demographic characteristics of the respondents

	Dummy variables
Variables	Category		Frequency	Percentage
Gender	Female		114	23.27
	Male		376	76.73
Marital status	Married		196	40.66
	Single		286	59.34
educational level	No education		34	7.08
	Primary education		28	5.83
	Secondary education		164	34.17
	Diploma/NCE/Professional qualification		106	22.08
	Bachelor's degree/HND		110	22.92
	Master's degree/Postgraduate		8	1.67
	PhD		2	0.42
	Informal Education and Others		28	5.83
Locality	Rural		152	33.33
	Urban		304	66.67
Business activity	Provision		82	17.98
	Hawking		22	4.82
	Vegetables/Fruits		48	10.53
	Communication Accessories		32	7.02
	Construction Materials		28	6.14
	Handcrafts		60	13.16
	Textiles		56	12.28
	Cereals		34	7.46
	Others		94	20.62
	Continuous variables
	Mean	Standard Deviation	Minimum	Maximum
Monthly income (₦)	50650.6	71259.44	1,000	500,000
No. of dependants	5	5	0	35
Age (Years)	32.91	11.91	13	87
No. of employees	2.65	2.64	0	15
Years of experience	10.14	8.31	0	35

Source(s): Authors' computations

Table 2

Pair-wise correlation matrix

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Age	1
2	Gender	0.309	1
3	Educational level	−0.057	0.075	1
4	Income (ln)	0.399	0.232	0.084	1
5	Altruism	−0.052	−0.085	−0.010	−0.061	1
6	Trustworthiness	0.060	0.126	0.131	0.095	0.056	1
7	Religiosity	0.073	−0.008	0.165	0.007	0.109	0.366	1

Source(s): Authors' computations

Table 3

Level of Awaqf Awareness and Perception among Gombe Business owners

Variables	Category		Frequency	Percentage
Awareness	I have ever heard the word ‘Waqf’		406	83.54
	I know how ‘Waqf’ operates		272	56.20
	Waqf differs from Sadaqah		370	77.41
	Waqf can be temporarily designed		286	60.59
	Waqf is not a religious obligation		204	44.16
	Waqf does not cover only fixed or immovable assets		154	33.92
	Waqf can be established for family members		390	81.93
	Movable assets can be donated as Waqf		390	84.42
	Non-Muslims can be Waqf beneficiaries		348	75.32
	Waqf properties can be replaced, converted, substituted and exchanged		354	77.97
	A Waqf donor can benefit from his/her own Waqf		354	76.62
	A rich person can be a Waqf beneficiary		326	69.96
	A poor person can contribute to Waqf		378	80.77
	Awaqf of shares is permissible		328	72.57
	There is no adequate legal framework for Waqf in Nigeria		244	53.04
	Waqf does not cover only cash		300	64.10
	Waqf can include non-cash items		432	92.31
Perception	Waqf is instrumental to achieve Maqassid (objectives of) Sharī‘ah		408	89.08
	Waqf can provide business-oriented skills to people		424	89.83
	Waqf can provide significant job opportunities		420	89.36
	Waqf can reduce poverty reasonably in our society		428	92.24
	Waqf can contribute considerably to women empowerment		426	91.03
	Waqf has potential for educational development		430	91.88
	Community health can be enhanced through Waqf		432	92.31
	Building and/or maintaining a mosque is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		412	96.26
	Building and/or maintaining cemetery is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		276	71.88
	Establishing and/or maintaining Islamic education is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		408	96.23
	Establishing and/or maintaining Western education is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		302	75.50
	Family empowerment is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		338	84.08
	Business empowerment is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		346	85.22
	Provision of medical services is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		352	88.44
	Serving the needy/poor people is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		380	90.91
	Skills' development is the preferred objective of permanent Waqf		370	89.81
	There are other preferred objectives of permanent Waqf		244	85.31
	Index
	Mean (%)	Standard Deviation (%)	Minimum (%)	Maximum (%)
Overall awareness	75.07	20.08	0	100
Overall perception	93.95	13.76	0	100

Source(s): Authors' computations using STATA 14

Table 4

Tobit Models on Overall Waqf Awareness among Gombe Business owners

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Variables	Baseline	Altruistic-edu	Relig-edu	Altruistic-relig
Age	−8.03e-05	0.00819	0.00398	0.00837
	(0.00644)	(0.00680)	(0.00684)	(0.00685)
Age squared (1/100)	6.19e-05	−0.0102	−0.00447	−0.0109
	(0.00910)	(0.00975)	(0.00985)	(0.00982)
Gender	0.0763***	0.0637**	0.0671**	0.0697**
	(0.0290)	(0.0309)	(0.0299)	(0.0304)
Educational level	0.0327***			0.0297**
	(0.0123)			(0.0123)
Income (ln)	0.00455	0.0129	0.00735	0.0156
	(0.0104)	(0.0104)	(0.0108)	(0.0102)
Altruism	0.331***		0.425***
	(0.103)		(0.113)
Trustworthiness	−0.0115	0.00408	0.0234	0.00901
	(0.0308)	(0.0321)	(0.0300)	(0.0318)
Religiosity	0.119***	0.150***
	(0.0344)	(0.0372)
Altruism*Edu. Level		0.0297**
		(0.0133)
Religiosity* Edu. Level			0.0174***
			(0.00514)
Altruism* Religiosity				0.139***
				(0.0321)
Sigma	0.0529***	0.0557***	0.0557***	0.0558***
	(0.00651)	(0.00646)	(0.00711)	(0.00657)
Log-likelihood	−49.1434	−59.0392	−58.9990	−58.7284
F-statistics	405.69***	482.14***	499.44***	489.20
Observations	392	392	392	392

Note(s): Robust standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1. Only Significant interaction terms are reported in the table

Source(s): Authors' computation using STATA 14

Table 5

Marginal effects of probit models on only Cash-Waqf awareness

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Variables	Baseline	Altruistic- education	Relig-education	Relig-altruism
Age	−0.0513***	−0.0512***	−0.0490***	−0.0443***
	(0.0170)	(0.0167)	(0.0166)	(0.0164)
Age squared (1/100)	0.0549**	0.0574**	0.0505**	0.0459**
	(0.0232)	(0.0230)	(0.0228)	(0.0230)
Gender	−0.0650	−0.0990	−0.0445	−0.0544
	(0.0793)	(0.0763)	(0.0744)	(0.0744)
Educational level	−0.117***			−0.134***
	(0.0307)			(0.0301)
Income (ln)	0.0492**	0.0385**	0.0535***	0.0464**
	(0.0193)	(0.0189)	(0.0194)	(0.0191)
Altruism	0.537**		0.489**
	(0.238)		(0.238)
Trustworthiness	−0.0705	−0.0574	−0.0981*	−0.0934
	(0.0572)	(0.0577)	(0.0551)	(0.0571)
Religiosity	−0.247***	−0.242***
	(0.0746)	(0.0747)
Altruism*Edu. Level		−0.0959***
		(0.0302)
Religiosity*Edu. Level			−0.0575***
			(0.0106)
Altruism* Religiosity				−0.0588
				(0.0619)
Log pseudolikelihood	−159.8311	−165.0323	−161.5979	−166.6868
Wald χ2(8)	63.70***	58.26***	62.05***	56.47***
Observations	384	384	384	384

Note(s): Robust standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1

Source(s): Authors' computation using STATA 14

Table 6

Tobit model on overall Waqf perception

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Variables	Baseline	Altruistic-trust	Altruistic-income	Relig.-altru	Religiosity-income
Age	0.0178***	0.0309***	0.0297***	0.0296***	0.0192***
	(0.00632)	(0.00676)	(0.00681)	(0.00667)	(0.00611)
Age squared (1/100)	−0.0154*	−0.0313***	−0.0297***	−0.0302***	−0.0168**
	(0.00782)	(0.00851)	(0.00855)	(0.00838)	(0.00774)
Gender	−0.0847*	−0.115**	−0.118**	−0.102*	−0.0948*
	(0.0482)	(0.0506)	(0.0516)	(0.0525)	(0.0497)
Educational level	0.0126	0.00343	0.00230	0.00393	0.0185
	(0.0204)	(0.0218)	(0.0218)	(0.0208)	(0.0179)
Income (ln)	0.0148	0.0242**		0.0265**
	(0.00988)	(0.0107)		(0.0109)
Altruism	0.440***				0.467***
	(0.0895)				(0.0884)
Trustworthiness	0.0341		0.0545	0.0510	0.0504
	(0.0360)		(0.0386)	(0.0394)	(0.0400)
Religiosity	0.0696	0.0980*	0.106**
	(0.0508)	(0.0508)	(0.0521)
Altruism*Trust		0.0786**
		(0.0332)
Altruism*Income			0.0266**
			(0.0106)
Religiosity* Altruism				0.123***
				(0.0444)
Religiosity*Income					0.0181*
					(0.00996)
Sigma	0.0812***	0.0932***	0.0930***	0.0930***	0.0830***
	(0.0237)	(0.0226)	(0.0228)	(0.0231)	(0.0256)
Log-likelihood	−231.0419	−234.9396	−235.7412	−233.8329	−231.8484
F-statistics	212.95***	225.26***	221.09***	223.16***	206.61***
Observations	392	392	392	392	392

Note(s): Robust standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1. Only Significant interaction terms are reported in the table

Source(s): Authors' computation using STATA 14

Notes

1. Waqf is a plural of awaqf

2. They are mostly close to residential areas and motor parks

3. We write the names of the small commercial centres on pieces of paper, squeeze and mixed the papers, and then pick 3 of them.