Apart from the expanding adoption of AI chatbots in digital banking, limited research has examined their role in Islamic mobile banking by simultaneously considering customer trust and perceived Sharia compliance. This research examines how AI chatbot service quality affect consumer trust as well as loyalty in Islamic mobile banking services. The investigation adopts a cross-sectional design and the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with 337 respondents; trust is the mediator, and perceived Sharia compliance (PSC) is the moderator. The findings indicate a pronounced positive association of AI service quality with trust, and likewise between trust and loyalty, and that trust partially mediates the influence of AI service quality upon loyalty. Moreover, perceived Sharia compliance exerts a pronounced positive direct influence on customer loyalty, but its interaction with trust produces no significant effect on customer loyalty. These results suggest that AI chatbot service excellence is central to developing customer trust as well as loyalty, while perceived Sharia compliance contributes directly to loyalty but fails to significantly reinforce the link between trust and loyalty. This study provides evidence that AI chatbots are not merely operational tools and likewise interpersonal tools that can help build trust in a faith-sensitive environment. The study adds to the literature by integrating ethical and religious considerations into AI adoption models. It provides practical guidance for Islamic financial institutions and regulators in designing transparent, reliable, Sharia-compliant AI systems.
This study examines the economic implications of qurban for small scale livestock farmers in Indonesia, where the annual Eid al-Adha ritual generates substantial demand for sacrificial animals. Despite its significant economic potential, the distributional effects of qurban on farmer welfare remain unclear. This study aims to evaluate whether increased sacrificial slaughter contributes to improvements in the welfare of smallholder farmers. Employing a quantitative approach with a Difference in Differences (DiD) model and panel data from 32 provinces over the 2017–2021 period, farmer welfare is proxied by the Farmer Exchange Rate Index (NTPT), while sacrificial activity is measured by the number of animals slaughtered inside and outside official slaughterhouses (RPH). The findings indicate that, although NTPT generally increases after Eid al-Adha, the DiD estimates are statistically insignificant, suggesting that qurban does not exert a distinct welfare effect on small farmers. Slaughter conducted through RPHs tends to involve large intermediaries, limiting benefit transmission, while community based slaughter outside RPH shows greater potential for local economic inclusion. Inflation further attenuates real welfare gains. This study provides empirical evidence on the distributive limitations of religious economic activities and highlights the need for more inclusive supply chain policies.
Understanding how entrepreneurs engage with regulatory information is essential for improving the implementation of mandatory halal certification. While previous studies have predominantly relied on surveys and interviews, little attention has been paid to digital behavioural evidence generated through online search activities. This study addresses this gap by investigating entrepreneurial regulatory engagement using Google search behaviour related to Indonesia's halal certification system. A total of 559 search queries were extracted from Google Keyword Planner and refined into 392 analytical queries through lexical normalization and duplicate removal. The dataset was analysed using search-intent classification, thematic analysis, descriptive statistics, and Python-based data processing. The findings indicate that informational searches dominate entrepreneurial search behaviour, followed by navigational, transactional, and procedural searches, suggesting that entrepreneurs primarily seek regulatory knowledge and institutional guidance before engaging in certification procedures. Thematic analysis further reveals that certification processes, institutional information, and general halal knowledge represent the principal information needs. This study proposes a Behavioural Information-Seeking Framework for Halal Certification, demonstrating that digital search behaviour reflects successive stages of regulatory engagement from information acquisition to compliance action. The findings contribute to the literature by extending search-intent analytics to Islamic economic governance and provide practical insights for strengthening digital communication strategies and evidence-based halal governance.
In the era of knowledge-based economies, successful organizations are those that recognize, manage, and leverage intellectual capital (IC) to enhance their activities and improve organizational performance, thereby gaining a competitive advantage. This study aims to identify and examine the role and significance of IC components within Malaysian waqf institutions. Data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to 202 waqf employees across five State Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the path relationships among the study constructs.The findings indicate that human capital, technological capital, and spiritual capital are positively and significantly associated with organizational performance. In contrast, relational capital, structural capital, and social capital were not found to have a significant impact within the context of Malaysian waqf institutions. This study offers novel insights into the strategic role of IC in the performance of waqf institutions, particularly in a non-profit Islamic context. By integrating knowledge and IC concepts, the study provides a foundational framework to better understand and address long-standing challenges in waqf institutions, such as mismanagement and lack of accountability. The findings have practical implications for both Malaysian and global waqf administrators.
This study examines the impact of religious signaling on Sharia retail through the identity-service paradox. Adopting a quantitative explanatory design and PLS-SEM analysis of 251 Muslim consumers in Indonesia, the study investigates the mediation-moderation model that connects Sharia-branded identity, consumer apriorism, perceived Itqan, and retail sustainability. The findings reveal that Sharia-branded identity considerably enhances consumer apriorism, a pre-evaluative cognitive bias that significantly undermines retail sustainability. A religious signal does not necessarily boost trust pervasively, but can bolster suspicion when considered at odds with certain expectations around performance. This finding further demonstrates that perceived Itqan represents operational excellence, and thus mitigates apriorism by restoring the credibility of religious signals. Mediation analysis confirms that the relationship between Sharia-branded identity and retail sustainability partly operates through consumer apriorism, whereas moderation analysis underscores the contingent role of perceived Itqan as perceived operational excellence. This study extends signaling theory by proposing a nonlinear, performance-contingent process in which the credibility of religious identity depends on cognitive assessment and observable operational capability. The results hold implications for the implementation of competence-driven religious branding in competitive retail settings.
