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This research examines the effect of water conscientiousness (WC) on consumers' purchase intentions and behaviours towards sustainable apparel. Through this exploration, the research aims to show how consumers' awareness of water conservation connects with their purchase choices for sustainable apparel.

Drawing on the norm activation theory, this research developed a theoretical framework and tested it using structural equation modelling and mediation analysis. This research focuses on the unique context of Jordan, a region grappling with severe water scarcity. Data were collected using an online survey with 222 completed questionnaires retained for data analysis.

The results indicate that WC does not have a significant direct effect on purchase intentions of sustainable apparel (PISA). This finding challenges the assumption that conscientiousness towards water scarcity would drive prosocial behaviours such as purchasing sustainable apparel. However, the findings reveal a full mediation effect of perceived environmental apparel knowledge (PEAK) and perceived environmental concern (PEC) on the relationship between WC and PISA. Such a finding raises awareness of the need to develop consumers' PEAK and PEC by educating them on the importance of WC and the effect of the apparel industry on water preservation. A significant relationship exists between PISA and purchase behaviour of sustainable apparel (PBSA), affirming the role of intentions in driving sustainable purchase behaviours of consumers.

This study provides novel insights into the role of WC in facilitating PISA and PBSA by testing a theoretical model that incorporates various environmental factors. Likewise, it extends the geographical scope of sustainability research and underscores the importance of considering diverse environmental conditions when studying consumer behaviour. The findings provide insights for marketers and policymakers in water-scarce regions, enabling them to develop strategies to promote sustainable apparel consumption.

This research aims to investigate the influence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on the diffusion rate of innovation in the context of entrepreneurial firms in emerging markets. It examines a comprehensive model for the effect of eWOM dimensions (including Content, Intensity, Positive Valence and Negative Valence) on the diffusion of innovations. Thus, it provides new insights on how entrepreneurial firms can use eWOM as a communication tool to facilitate the diffusion rate of innovations in emerging markets.

A quantitative approach was adopted, consisting of 215 responses from Jordan. Data were analysed using Linear regression analysis tools.

A significant relationship exists between eWOM dimensions (Content, Intensity, Positive Valence and Negative Valence) and the Diffusion Rate of Innovations. In emerging markets, eWOM content highlights critical information regarding consumers’ sentiments towards new products (including features, price, design), which consumers use in judging innovations. Especially when there is a high volume of eWOM about a new product, consumers are likely to gain reassurances regarding their purchase decisions. Specifically, the valence of eWOM (including reviews, complaints and suggestions) generate adoption/risk-aversion attitudes towards new products. Consequently, entrepreneurial firms must carefully analyse eWOM regarding their products and integrate them into their marketing strategy. 10;

This research extends the eWOM literature by developing a comprehensive model for the effect of eWOM dimensions on the diffusion of innovations. Additionally, it sheds new light on the effect of eWOM valence on consumers’ attitudes towards innovations. Finally, it provides significant theoretical and managerial implications and future research direction to deepen our understanding of the effect of eWOM on entrepreneurial firms.

The main purpose of this research is to figure out the most effective determinants that play a vital role in enhancing the effectiveness of the internal Sharīʿah audit in the Islamic banking industry.

This paper reviews the existing literature to build comprehensive knowledge that would assist in determining the main factors that impact on the effectiveness of Sharīʿah audit in Islamic banks.

This research proposes a conceptual framework of factors that impact on Sharīʿah audit effectiveness in IBs based on previously published studies. The proposed framework includes external and internal factors as well as internal Sharīʿah audit structure, process and requirements.

First, the regulators need to provide a detailed framework for Sharīʿah audit which covers the main requirements for effective Sharīʿah governance. Second, Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) need to pay more attention to following the Sharīʿah audit process in order to achieve the objective of effective Sharīʿah governance. Finally, the dearth of empirical research on the role and effectiveness of Sharīʿah audit in Islamic banking highlights the need to develop an appropriate methodology to enhance the study of the effectiveness of Sharīʿah governance practices.

The Sharīʿah ensures compliance with its rules and regulations and enhances the soundness and credibility of the Islamic finance industry. This study identifies a number of issues that require further investigation in order to establish a better system of Sharīʿah audit and to identify the factors that affect Sharīʿah auditing practices. This paper is unique in covering the main elements that have influence on the effectiveness of Sharīʿah audit and proposes them in one framework.

This study aims to determine antecedents of market discipline. A model was constructed by extending the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore the cognitive, psychological and social factors that influence the market discipline in the form of withdrawal behavior.

This study applied a quantitative approach by surveying 181 Indonesian retail investors in Sharia mutual funds, which were represented by civil servants. The samples were collected using the purposive sampling technique. This study used the partial least square–structural equation model to analyze the data.

The results revealed that the Islamic financial literacy, the attitudes toward withdrawal, the subjective norms and the perceived behavioral control had a positive significant effect on the withdrawal intention, whereas financial risk tolerance had an insignificant impact. Then, all the exogenous variables and intention to withdraw had a significant contribution in explaining market discipline. Contrary to the proposed hypothesis, the attitude toward withdrawal had a negative impact on market discipline. The structural model indicated that the TPB could be extended by adding some exogenous variables (i.e. Islamic financial literacy and financial risk tolerance) in determining the intention to withdraw and withdrawal behavior, which indicated the market discipline in Sharia mutual funds.

This study was limited to individual investors who work as civil servants. This study did not accommodate different demographic factors such as age and gender, which influence fund withdrawal behavior.

The government must focus on the inclusion of market discipline in Sharia mutual funds’ regulation to encourage the risk management disclosure, specifically that related to Sharia compliance.

Previous studies applied a traditional finance theory to predict market discipline, but this study contributes to filling the theoretical gap by explaining the market discipline from a behavioral finance perspective that was found in Sharia mutual funds.

This study aims to analyse the existing literature on the utilisation of financial technology (FinTech) in the Islamic social finance (ISF) sector, focusing on tools, applications and benefits. From this study, it is to provide insights for literature or for practitioners on how FinTech can be used in ISF, such as using blockchain (tools) in waqf (application) that can help to enhance transparency and trust (benefits) with donors. It is important to explore new available tools or applications in ISF markets so that such effort can benefit the industry in promoting its growth.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out using Reporting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses (ROSES) which has been based on quality evaluation criteria, beginning with 41,945 entries in Scopus, 25,386 entries in the Web of Science and 1,590 entries in the Google Scholar databases and ending with 35 articles from data abstraction and analysis, all of which focus on tools, applications and benefits of FinTech in ISF sector.

This review yielded three primary themes and eleven sub-themes addressing FinTech, namely applications (four sub-themes: crowdfunding, blockchain, banking service and peer-to-peer (P2P), tools (three sub-themes: waqf, zakat and sadaqah), as well as benefits (four sub-themes: transparency, innovation, inclusiveness and efficiency).

This study emphasises on innovative application of FinTech used in ISF industry which focuses on applications, tools and benefits of FinTech to the industry. However, the findings indicate that there is plenty of room for future investigation. The current work outlines several methodological issues and concerns as well as provides recommendations for future research. Various challenges associated with FinTech applications include inadequate regulations, complex permit application procedures, misuse of FinTech for terrorist financing, the existence of fraudulent FinTech companies and consumer disputes in the FinTech sector concerning ISF. There are few in-depth studies on the possible use of FinTech models in ISF, compared to studies focusing on upcoming challenges. This study also highlights the methodological limitations in previous research efforts, which can be used to improve future studies in this area. To offer a more comprehensive analysis, additional search keywords and engines that have not been included in this study could be used in future investigations with different methodologies.

For practitioners, the paper has significant managerial consequences. The analysis provides insights into real-life opportunities, limits and solutions for improving performance management by looking at FinTech applications from a larger and more diverse perspective. The practitioners, especially the State Islamic Religious Council, can recognise the benefits of using FinTech technology in ISF (waqf, zakat and sadaqah), namely under their jurisdiction.

This systematic literature assessment identifies critical knowledge gaps that must be addressed such as the applications of FinTech that are still ambiguous, with certain applications not completely embraced in the ISF industry. This study uses SLR technique to categorise literature, identify gaps in current studies and provide recommendations for the research issue (Paul and Criado, 2020), instead of using the other previous methodology such as content analysis or qualitative review. Hence, FinTech is considered an innovative or new approach in ISF industry.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the two components of market discipline, investment account holder (IAH) monitoring and the consequent reaction of the Islamic banks in GCC countries for the 2004–2013 period, including the recent financial crisis of 2008.

We address the research question that Investment Account holders (IAH) in GCC countries suc as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Bahrain and United Arab Emirates (UAE) monitor their banks. Regression analysis was used to examine the dependence level of profit-sharing investment account (PSIA) growth rate on bank risk characteristics (CAMEL variables). Then, the reaction of banks by regression influencing CAMEL variables of one-lagged period on PSIA growth rate was verified.

The results provide evidence of the first component of market discipline, i.e. the IAH monitoring, in KSA, Bahrain and UAE. The common result to the three countries is that market actors are concerned with accounting information on capital adequacy. However, in UAE, they are also interested in assets performance, whereas they look more at earnings in Bahrain. The results show evidence of the second component in Bahrain; the bank reaction to IAH monitoring and subsequently IAH discipline in Bahrain. Finally, the results do not support any impact of the financial crisis.

The sample size is small although it is constituted by banks having a sufficient number of observations.

This study highlights the importance of IAH discipline, which would help prudential bank monitoring by regulators and wealth development for both investors and managers. It should increase the disclosure of relevant information as for the part of effective accountability of Islamic banks’ governance.

This study contributes to the literature on market discipline by dealing with Islamic banks. It is one of the very few studies to investigate IAH discipline in Islamic banks and the second component of market discipline, i.e. the influence of monitoring on banks.

Using the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study investigates factors influencing the adoption of cryptocurrency in Bangladesh.

Data were collected from 346 members of the general public through a structured web survey using snowball sampling. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and assess the reliability and validity of the measurement model.

The results show that knowledge of cryptocurrency, benefits of use (perceived usefulness), attitude and challenges all have a significant impact on the adoption of cryptocurrency.

This study was conducted in a single country, relied on self-reported data and used a cross-sectional design, which limits the ability to draw causal inferences. Future research could explore the factors that influence the adoption of cryptocurrency in different countries and regions and incorporate additional variables to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the drivers of intention to use cryptocurrency.

This study contributes to understanding the factors driving the adoption of and intention to use technology-based services, providing insights that can inform the design and implementation of future technology-based services.

This paper aims to explore the impact of digitalisation on waqf activities, focussing on blockchain, crowdfunding and artificial intelligence to predict future trends in digitalisation within waqf activities.

The study used a quantitative approach to combine the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT) to comprehensively analyze the elements that affect the adoption of digital technology. SmartPLS software conducted the data analysis after collecting the data using SPSS. In this study, 310 respondents comprising Muslims who contribute to waqf were collected.

This research provides important insights into the elements influencing future behavior and can help policymakers promote and facilitate the digitalisation of waqf activities, not only in Malaysia but also in similar situations worldwide.

Analysis indicated that four hypotheses were validated, implying that effort expectancy, compatibility, observability and trialability are significant determinants affecting intention. The findings suggest significant potential for further research. This paper delineates numerous methodological challenges and concerns while proposing recommendations for further research. Future research could use additional search phrases and engines not incorporated in this study to provide a more comprehensive overview. This study primarily concentrates on the applications of waqf development, digitalisation, blockchain, crowdfunding and artificial intelligence.

The four hypotheses regarding facilitating condition, performance expectation, relative advantage and social influence were not supported as they were found to have no significant impact on intention. For practitioners, based on the findings, it can give some insight into digitalisation’s influence on the intention of contributing to waqf in society. As for the researchers, there could be some ideas to study other than the factors mentioned in this study, as well as the supporting literature for their studies.

This paper provides useful insights on how emerging technology can potentially disrupt the traditional waqf landscape. It emphasizes the unique contributions of digitalization in improving transparency and accessibility, blockchain in ensuring security and trust, crowdfunding in mobilizing resources and artificial intelligence in optimizing decision-making processes.

This paper aims to investigate if perceived security, trust and perceived privacy affect both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Also, the study explores if trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use influence consumers’ intentions to use the e-payment system which is supported by testing the moderation effect of gender on the intention to use such systems in the higher education institutes.

In total, 850 participants from United Arab Emirates (UAE) universities have filled an online questionnaire prepared for these aims. The survey instrument is composed of 22 items. The primary data was used to test the study model, proposed constructs and the study hypotheses using the Smart PLS Software.

The research confirmed that perceived security, trust and perceived privacy affect both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Also, the study found that trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have anticipated the significance of consumers’ intention to use e-payment system which is found also moderated by gender. Research outcomes indicated an important contribution towards the acceptance of e-payment systems and the common design of e-commerce systems.

Research outcomes have indicated an important contribution toward the acceptance of e-payment systems and the common design of e-commerce systems. Additionally, this study helped in increasing the reader’s understanding of various aspects of e-commerce, specifically consumers’ trust and privacy protection which consequently allows the online sellers to formulate appropriate strategies and actions imperative to serve the online purchasers and target the internet users.

This study aims to examine the impact of country governance and other potential bank-specific characteristics and macroeconomic condition determinants on bank productivity in the period of 2006–2016.

The productivity level of total 167 banks selected from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore are evaluated using the data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist productivity index method. A panel regression analysis framework based on ordinary least squares, a fixed effect and a random effect models then are used to identify its main determinants.

The empirical findings indicate that the total factor productivity changes of Islamic banks is higher than conventional banks. The liquidity and global financial crisis influence both banks’ productivity. Bank size, credit risk, market power, management efficiency and inflation merely influence Islamic banks’ productivity. On the country governance dimensions, voice and accountability are found to positively influence both banks’ productivity. Regulatory quality and rule of law (RL) significantly influences the conventional parts. Political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, RL and control of corruption negatively influence the banks’ productivity, but this influence is only significant for the Islamic banks.

Country governance has received surprisingly little attention in the banking industry over the past few decades. Majority of the studies that examine the effect of governance on bank performance have focused more on the micro governance dimension. Thus, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no study has been done to address the effect of country governance on the productivity of the Islamic and conventional banks.