This article explores and consolidates the factors that influence the donor’s trust from cross-disciplinary literature, and we put factors from these different fields to the test in one topic: the donor’s trust in the fundraiser organisation. Grounded on the literature, we can say that there are nine themes of constructs that influence trust. This research utilised a quantitative survey approach and PLS-SEM as an analysis platform to analyse the data collected. We have discovered that our respondents who represent donors strongly agree that their trust is heavily influenced by perceived security, rule of law, organisational personnel personality, communication effectiveness, reputation, perceived integrity, and perceived competence. Cross-disciplinary studies are profoundly helpful towards deeper knowledge and enhance the learning experience and enable the transfer of ideas across many areas of study easier. The findings should contribute to the theoretical knowledge specifically on trust antecedent in the philanthropy setting and other disciplines. The findings presented in this paper may also be useful as input for fundraisers to build and strengthen the level of their donor’s trust. This article explores and consolidates all factors that influence donor trust, which has been published in the literature and presents the results from the cross-examination of these factors.

This study aims to develop a conceptual framework to identify the readiness of SMEs to implement the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in connection to Change efficacy, change valence and contextual factors, and Management Support. The study proposed a conceptual model adopted and modified from the work of Wainer (2009) by considering the implementation strategy. It is expected that the readiness will be enhanced. Moreover, non-implementation of the standards will make the comparability of financial statements of SMEs among countries difficult for investment analysis. Based on the literature reviewed, we have used the organizational readiness for change theory to conceptualize the relationship between the variables. Most previous studies considered only the direct connection between the variables and in listed entities. The goal of this study is to add to the existing body of knowledge, enable owners of SMEs to know the level of readiness in terms of IFRS implementation and regulators & the standard-setting bodies to use this information to detect the information of the entities which are reluctant or ready to implement the IFRS for SMEs.

Management engages in earnings manipulation for different reasons. This article argues that low-growth firms with high free cash flow will opt for income-increasing earnings management in order to obscure the low profits derived from their investments in negative net present value (NPV) projects. On the other hand, we argue that the listed companies might be interested in being listed in the first market due to its privileges and to preserve the competitiveness, through managing their earnings upwardly, so that they can satisfy the condition of achieving a particular earnings limit. This article should advance the body of earnings management literature in the Jordanian context by examining the effect of the moderating role of an independent audit committee (IAC) in the association between surplus free cash flow (SFCF) and income-increasing discretionary accruals (DAC). Further, this is the initial empirical attempt to investigate the moderation effect of IAC between stock market segmentations (SMS) and positive DAC. The results of this current study offer original and beneficial information for the Jordanian government and other countries with a similar institutional environment because the study promotes the application of applying IAC as an efficient tool to constrain management behaviour towards manipulation of the accruals. On top of that, this research offers information concerning the prevailing situation of earnings management practices and corporate governance in Jordan, in which shareholders, local and international investors, policymakers, regulators and academic researchers are interested. Finally, panel data analyses and various statistical techniques are employed to derive conclusions.

Purpose ― This study aims to discover how Islam, as a religion, influences its believers to contribute in the form of gifts, donations or charity, generally referred to as tabarruʿ. Design/Methodology/Approach ― Structural equation modelling analysis was used to investigate the online questionnaire responses from 402 Muslims who have contributed to charity. Findings ― The study finds that only targhīb (reward) and tarhīb (threat) have a significant positive relationship with tabarruʿ, while iḥsān (excellence) and ukhūwah (brotherhood)―despite showing positive influence―are not significant. It also highlights that the influences of targhīb and tarhīb are more robust when the respondent has a higher level of education. Originality/Value ― To the best of the authors’ knowledge, only a few studies on the influence of religion on charitable behaviour have been carried out. So far, no study has looked at the determining variables from the standpoint of Islam. Research Limitations/Implications ― Due to constraints of time and research funding, the sample population was not drawn from all states in Malaysia. The sample was restricted to Malaysians in Sabah, Malaysia. Practical Implications ― This study highlights that non-profit organisations in Malaysia, especially those from an Islamic background, should be able to organise their fundraising strategies with an emphasis on the factors of targhīb and tarhīb.

This study is primarily concerned with borrower behaviour in the context of microfinance financing repayment. The high non-performing loans (NPLs) incurred by microfinance institutions are one of the contributing factors to the failure to achieve the objective of poverty alleviation. This study used the quantitative approach, and structured questionnaires were distributed among respondents in Peninsular Malaysia who were selected via multistage random sampling. The results of the analysis showed that borrowers’ repayment behaviour was affected by their characteristics and accountability. Moreover, religiosity and business performance did not have a significant direct relationship with repayment behaviour. This research also found that accountability played a significant positive role as a mediator between borrower characteristics and repayment behaviour. This study makes a significant contribution to the knowledge of microfinance programmes, in which it explains repayment performance plays an important role in order to improve the social economy and alleviate poverty. The result also contributed to the practical aspect by suggesting ways to improve service and screening approaches to identify early warning signs and some factors that are potentially related to borrower behaviour.

The objective of this paper is to explore the determinants, namely corporate structure, practitioners' roles, and promotional factors, influencing customers' intentions to engage in financial transactions with Islamic banks in the specific context of Bangladesh Islamic Banking (IBB). The study employs a qualitative approach, relying on recorded focus group interviews involving 60 Islamic bank customers (IBC), specifically focusing on their experiences with IBB's banking services and transactions. The findings underscore the pivotal role played by corporate structure, practitioners' roles, and promotional factors in shaping customers' decision-making processes regarding their intention to conduct financial transactions within the IBB. However, there are certain limitations to this research, and recommendations are provided for IBB to incorporate into their marketing strategies, with the aim of positioning Bangladesh as a prominent Islamic banking hub. This paper contributes to the existing literature by concentrating on the research pertaining to the intention of individuals, who currently maintain bank accounts with IBB, to engage in financial transactions. It delves into the three key attributes that draw this specific customer group towards selecting IBB, with a particular focus on the IBC for their banking transactions.

The study examine the relationship between ownership structures and financial performance in listed companies in Iraq. The aim of this study is to look into how ownership structure affects financial performance in listed companies in Iraq. The research framework is developed based on agency and stakeholder theories and addresses gaps in the current literature. A sample size of 72 were selected from the Iraqi stock exchange for the fiscal years (2017-2021). Data will be gathered primarily from annual reports (secondary data) of Iraqi public traded companies and will be analyzed using Stata software to analyze the final hypotheses of the proposed model. In the most developing countries same as Iraq listed company donate to GDP and supply employ. Although the respect of the important roles Iraq listed company. Their expansion is mostly constrain by a number of factors, such as the existence financial crises. This study is complimenting the previous studies by investigating how ownership structure affects financial performance. Hence, our study contributed to the literature and practitioners by extending the agency and stakeholder theories and providing guidelines to policy makers about improving financial performance.

This is an extension of an earlier study that examined the relationship between information disclosure on donor commitment related to waqf institution. Data was obtained from a sample of 558 individuals in Malaysia who are a repeating cash donor to waqf. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) test using SmartPLS was used for data analysis. The findings indicated that future information disclosure and waqif (the person who gives waqf) significantly influenced the latter’s commitment. Additionally, the waqf, or trust in English, plays a role as a mediator between future information disclosure and governance information disclosure to the waqif’s commitment. This theoretical contribution has a practical implication as well in that, it indicates to the waqf or trust to disclose their report to donors to ensure sustainable collection.

This paper seeks to explore the impact of access to finance and financial literacy on the SMEs performance in an Islamic context. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design by employing 255 SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The findings showed a positive mediating effect of access to finance on the relationship between financial awareness, financial attitude and SMEs performance while access to finance does not mediate the nexus between financial knowledge and SMEs performance. Subsequently, the findings revealed that access to finance have positive effect on SMEs performance. This study also found that access to finance increases the positive relationship between financial literacy and SMEs performance. The role of religiosity was found to positively increase access to finance towards affecting SMEs performance. The findings of this study provide SMEs with the knowledge to increase their religious practices to access government Islamic funds, i.e., Mudarabah and Musharakah while Islamic banking firms should increase their Islamic products and services to attract SMEs in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between religiosity and branding on small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs’) performance in Saudi Arabia. It also examines the mediating role of financial literacy on the relationship among Islamic religiosity, branding and SMEs’ performance. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts the purposive sampling technique in three major commercial cities, namely, Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Qassim to sample 100 SMEs each, resulting in a total sampling of 300 SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the hypotheses formulated in this study. The structural equation modeling is aided with the help of Smart-PLS software. Findings This study finds that Islamic branding (on customer, compliance and origin) significantly affect financial attitude, while Islamic religiosity affects financial awareness among the SMEs. Findings reveal that there is a mediating role of financial awareness on the relationship between Islamic branding and Islamic religiosity with the SMEs’ performance. No mediation effect was recorded for financial attitude and financial knowledge. Further investigation reveals that financial attitude, financial awareness, Islamic branding (compliance and origin) and Islamic religiosity were the most significant determinants of SMEs’ performance in the context of Saudi Arabia. Research limitations/implications This study is conducted on SMEs in Saudi Arabia only. Further studies are required to examine SMEs in other Islamic countries and regions to improve the explanatory power of financial literacy on Islamic religiosity and Islamic branding for improved SMEs performance. Originality/value This study establishes that Islamic religiosity and branding could further increase the predictive power of financial literacy on SMEs’ performance. This study concludes that efforts to improve financial literacy should be religion-based as well as culture-based depending on where the SMEs are located so that specific strategies can be implemented, to enable the conducive growth of the SMEs and maximize the contribution of the SMEs to economic growth.

The main objective of this paper is to seek an Islamic perspective on environmental taxes. The paper infers the significance (and legitimacy) of environmental taxes. A qualitative approach, based on in-depth semi-structured interviews, was selected as the research method for this study. The nine respondents in this study were selected based on their experience and basic knowledge of Fiqh Al Muamalat and its practical applications within the Islamic finance system. The Holy Qur’an, the authentic Sunnah, and the views of past and contemporary Islamic scholars on the issue of environmental taxes were also sought and utilized as part of the methodology. The findings of this study showed that the respondents held different views regarding the legitimacy of environmental taxes. One group stated that there is no legitimate impediment to the imposition of environmental taxation because it can be considered a fine or penalty for those who damage society and the environment and is therefore justifiable. In addition, if the tax is used to adopt pollution-fighting measures, it will be more Shariah-compliant, as it will be considered to be in the interest of the public good. By contrast, the second group had a different view. Although this study was not comprehensive, it is significant because it forms the genesis for future studies on the subject. This paper enhances the theoretical understanding of the tax system and environmental protection used by organizations within the Shariah framework. It adds a new discussion to the body of knowledge by examining environmental taxes from the perspective of Shariah, which is noticeably absent from the literature and a novelty in the case of both emerging and developed economies due to the lack of empirical studies on the subject. This approach is expected to enlighten the Islamic countries and encourage governments, policy makers, and society (individuals and corporations) to contribute knowledge and clarify the determinants and legitimacy of environmental taxes for prospective scholars.

The objective of this paper is to examine the impacts of stock market segmentations (SMS) and surplus free cash flow (SFCF) on income-increasing discretionary accruals. The study also provides the initial evidence regarding the influence of audit quality (AQ) as a moderating variable on those relationships. A sample of non-financial firms was taken from the list of Amman Stock Exchange over the period 2013-2019. Using Huber-White’s sandwich estimator for pooled OLS regression, the current research presents empirical evidence harmonious with the prediction in all hypotheses. Further, the findings document that a Big 4 auditor weakens the SMS-DAC and SFCF-DAC associations, which suggests that the role of Big 4 audit firms is effective in mitigating management’s opportunistic behaviour. However, the reported results provide beneficial information to investors, regulators, external auditors, policymakers, shareholders, and other countries with similar institutional environment.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of public governance and economic growth on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in Egypt, Morocco, Mauritius, Nigeria and South Africa. It also assesses the trend of CSR performance in these countries over time. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a sample of five countries in Africa for the period 2012-2017. The multivariate regression model was used in testing the research questions/hypotheses. Robustness tests were performed to provide evidence to strengthen the findings of the study. Findings Findings suggest that both good governance and economic growth are significantly positively associated with CSR performance. However, while good governance has a relatively substantial effect size, economic growth has a small effect size. Overall, both variables have a considerably low confidence interval ratio and therefore stand a good chance of holding up in future research. Research limitations/implications The analysis is limited to within-country effects, thereby forgoing the opportunity to explain between-countries effects. Second, the sample size is relatively small because of the limitation of data availability on CSR in Africa; hence, population generalization is not intended but theory generalization. Practical implications Findings have implications for studies on CSR performance in Africa that fail to consider the socio-political and socio-economic level of development as contextual variables in the research design. Originality/value Prior studies on CSR have focused majorly on CSR performance–corporate financial performance relationship. Furthermore, there are several calls in the literature for research for a new direction on CSR in the context of developing countries, especially Africa. This paper responds to these literature gaps.

Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of Islamic and conventional banks profitability in the Middle East and North African (MENA) regions. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study utilises multiple regres-sion analysis using a panel data model to identify profitability determinants through convenience sampling of Islamic and conven-tional banks across eight countries operating in the MENA region, between 2008 to 2016. Research findings: This study found that the profitability of con-ventional banks measured by ROAE was higher than that of the Islamic banks. Furthermore, the liquidity and financial risk were proven to have a negative significant relationship with profitability, while the diversification strategy and human capital efficiency had a significant positive relationship with Islamic banks. The moderation effect of economic development was positive in terms of liquidity and financial risk, but negative on the diversification strategy. For conventional banks, cost leadership strategy had a significant negative relationship with profitability. The external variables including inflation rate and industry concentration had a significant effect on profitability. The moderation effect of economic development was negative with regards to the cost leadership strategy, and positive with regards to the financial risk-taking strategy. Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study is supported by relatively new theories in the field of finance, using the contingency theory, and resource-based view theory. By utilising the added economic value for measuring the Islamic bank's profitability, in addition to the investigation on the moderation effects of the country's income level, this is deemed a relatively new method. Practitioner/Policy implication: This study will benefit bank managers in selecting their strategies and capabilities wisely to improve their bank's profitability. Research limitation/Implications: The existence of political and economic crisis during the research scope and the sample size was greatly affected by the unavailability of data.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to give another perspective on the definition of doubtful activities (Shubuhat) in the context of Islamic finance activities. Design/methodology/approach This study used qualitative approach from interviews with experts in Islamic finance and religious scholars. Findings This study highlights the synthesized Shubuhat definition from the previous studies and the contemporary religious experts. Therefore, the definition of Shubuhat has been conceptualized to Islamic finance in this study. This proposes a novel operational definition of Shubuhat from the Islamic finance perspective. Originality/value This study would enlighten the Ummah and contribute to knowledge to provide clarification on the Shubuhat fundamentals for further investigations and with more detailed description of the Shubuhat. Also, this study introduces a value chain of Sharīʿah-compliance by adding the elements of Shubuhat to the general understanding of Sharīʿah-compliance which has been generally understood as having the elements of halal and haram.

Currently, research on health supervision service and physicians’ wellbeing has grown rapidly. However, the literature on health supervision service and physicians’ wellbeing and service attachment are scarce especially in the context of Bangladesh. A quantitative study was performed and the data were collected using the purposive sampling method. A survey was performed among 192 physicians from different public and private hospitals in Bangladesh. The data were analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM) by partial least square (PLS) approach using SmartPLS 3.2.8. This study has found a significant positive relationship between health supervision service and physicians’ wellbeing (p < 0.01). Besides, physicians’ wellbeing was found to have a positive influence on their service attachment (p < 0.01). The study provides inputs to the policymakers in formulating policies in the development of Bangladesh’s health sector and health supervision service. However, with limitations, the generalizability of the study results needs attention due to the unavailability of the sample frame.

The regulations related to corporate governance mechanisms such as the sensitivity of pay and performance of chief executive officers, board characteristics, and watches outside of those that are well connected in related party transactions (RPTs)in Malaysia are struggling from the monitoring and enforcement of good corporate governance. The primary aims of this study are to investigate the gap that exists in Malaysian company failures due to appropriate related party transactions and to evaluate the impact of good corporate governance on shareholders' confidence in related party transaction (RPTs) disclosures from the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) of regulations. In the year 2000, a study was done by Claessens that examined the data of 236 Malaysian public organizations. The study found the dominancy of a large block of shareholders in organizations in addition to weak institutional structures. This chapter focuses on the usage of related party transactions undertaken to benefit Malaysian companies which have led to financial reporting disclosure information.

To sustain a competitive advantage, organisations should procure resources and use it towards this objective, which would ultimately lead to superior performance. Academics and business professionals consider the most valuable resources of an organisation are good reputation. Performance of infaq receive by private Islamic schools is closely related to the donating behaviour of the donors. In today’s highly competitive and resource-scarce environment, the private Islamic schools as non-profit organisations must create a positive image and reputation to gain the public's favour and trust and consequently, more donations. As the number of private Islamic schools increased yearly, each school needs to identify its competitive advantage in order to be more attractive in the eye of the stakeholders. Using a cross sectional survey design, this study intended to explore the relationship of reputation and competitive advantage to the financial performance of infaq received by private Islamic schools in Malaysia. The SmartPLS (v. 3.2.9) software was used to run the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique and the findings showed that the competitive advantage is influenced by reputation, however the competitive advantage does not lead to superior performance of infaq received by private Islamic schools in Malaysia. It is hoped that future studies focus on separate studies involving pondok institution, tahfiz schools as well as SRI and SMI to obtain more comprehensive results.

This paper aims to propose a conceptual framework to clarify the talent management practices and its effects on the sustainable performance of faculty members to build a sustainable higher educational institution from an Islamic work ethical perspective in South Asian context, especially in Bangladesh. This study is primarily a conceptual paper focusing on objectives which are determined to the influence of talent management practices and sustainable performance of faculty members and the strong effect of Islamic work ethics between talent management practices and sustainable performance of faculty members. The paper also shows after analysing the previous literatures and identifying a strong research gap on the aspects that limited research found which uses the 'Theory of Maqasid al-Shariah' to explain about the talent management practices and sustainable performance of faculty members with the strong effect of Islamic work ethics to become a competitive higher educational institution. Based on in- depth discussion and meta-analysis, this paper suggests a new conceptual model to increase the sustainable performance of faculty members with strong Islamic work ethics and the competitiveness of the higher educational institutions.