Sustainability of Islamic Social Banking: A Systematic Literature Review

Islamic banking should transcend conventional commercial banking, extending its reach to all segments of society through diverse product and service offerings, distribution channels, and sustainable initiatives. While Islamic banks are assessed based on financial performance metrics, they face challenges in quantifying their social impact. This is partly due to the absence of a clear conceptual framework defining Islamic social banking and its overarching themes. This paper seeks to systematically review and consolidate the sustainability aspects of Islamic social banking. A systematic review was identified literatures by electronic open-access database searches (Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Emerald Insights). The study applied specific inclusion criteria, including publication dates from 2018 to 2022, country, methodology, model/theory, and dimension. It performed a narrative synthesis and systematic analysis in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) search methodology. Initially, 599 studies were identified from various sources, but after applying the selection criteria, 15 relevant studies were retained. Recommendations include conducting more qualitative studies, adopting a standardized systematic review method for research synthesis in Islamic social banking, and employing complementary searching techniques such as citation tracking, reference searching, and expert consultation. Overall, there is a scarcity of research in Islamic social banking, and this study contributes to addressing this gap.