Search results

The primary aim of this research is to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the essential elements of Industry 4.0 implementation within Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Acknowledging the MSME sector as a crucial contributor to the Indian economy and industrial development, the study delves into the assessment of MSMEs based on Industry 4.0 components. Additionally, it explores the profound impact of these components on various performance factors, including organizational performance, sustainability performance and human-related aspects. The paper further ranks these identified components based on their significance within the MSME sector.

Employing a combination of methodological approaches, the research utilizes the Best and Worst Method (BWM), Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and calculates the Maturity Index for Industry 4.0 components. The BWM, a recognized multi-criteria decision-making technique, is initially applied to determine the weights and rankings of the identified components. Furthermore, the study evaluates 30 MSMEs, spanning manufacturing and service sectors, through the DEA approach. Industry 4.0 components are treated as inputs, and performance factors serve as outputs. Data for the analysis are collected through questionnaires distributed to the selected MSMEs. Lastly, the Maturity Index for MSMEs is also calculated.

From the result of the BWM method “assistive manufacturing” was found to be a highly weighted key component of Industry 4.0. From the DEA analysis out of 30 MSMEs 13 SMEs were highlighted as being efficient, whereas 17 MSMEs were judged to be inefficient. Furthermore, from the maturity index calculation, overall Maturity Index was determined to be 3.33 which shows that Industry 4.0 is in its initial stage of implementation, but it has gained pace in its implementation.

The research contributes to practical implications by offering a more accurate assessment of the state of Industry 4.0 implementation within MSMEs. The introduced maturity index proves instrumental in pinpointing key components that have received inadequate attention. This information is crucial for MSME managers and policymakers, guiding them in allocating resources effectively, addressing areas requiring attention and facilitating progress in the implementation of Industry 4.0. The study serves as a valuable tool for MSMEs to enhance their overall operational efficiency.

The research’s originality lies in its application of a comprehensive approach, combining BWM, DEA and the introduction of a maturity index for Industry 4.0 components in the MSME context. By employing these methodologies, the study not only identifies influential components but also provides a nuanced understanding of their relative significance. The research contributes significantly to the broader understanding of Industry 4.0 adoption, particularly, in the vital MSME sector within the Indian context. The findings are valuable for researchers, practitioners and policymakers seeking insights into improving the efficiency and effectiveness of MSMEs in the era of Industry 4.0.

This study aims to investigate the antecedents of Halal culinary repurchase intention. This research examines the role of health consciousness, past product quality experience, Halal literacy, subjective norm and attitude on Halal culinary repurchase intention.

This quantitative research involved 500 domestic tourists as the research subjects. This research was conducted in five cities/municipals in West Sumatra, Indonesia. To obtain the data, 500 questionnaires were distributed to research subjects. In addition, this research used partial least square structural equation model to analyze the data.

This study found that health consciousness is a significant antecedent of past product quality experience, subjective norms and attitudes. Subjective norms also significantly influence past product quality experience, attitude and repurchase intention. Moreover, past product quality experience leads to attitude and attitude is a significant antecedent to repurchase intention. Finally, halal literacy is a significant influence factor on repurchase intention.

This study is a cross-sectional study that has focused on one-time data collection. Therefore, this study has a limitation for generalization. Second, it was only conducted in one Muslim country (Indonesia). To obtain more comprehensive and conclusive results, this research can be conducted in several other Muslim countries such as Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Middle Eastern countries. Finally, this study only addressed health consciousness, past product quality experience and Halal literacy as the antecedents of repurchase intention. Future research can add some consequences and antecedents of repurchase intention such as customer loyalty, environmental awareness and perceived risk.

This study reveals that tourists repurchase intention of Halal culinary products is influenced by some factors such as health consciousness, past product quality experience and Halal literacy. Therefore, to increase the tourist repurchase intention, the management of Halal culinary restaurants in tourist destinations must pay attention on product healthiness. In addition, the management should also focus on the customer experience by conducting a survey regarding customer experience in consuming Halal culinary. Referring to the customer evaluation results, the restaurants can improve their product quality. Finally, the management should also pay special attention to customers’ Halal literacy by educating them with Halal food knowledge, which will make them repurchase Halal food in the future.

This study has addresses health consciousness, past product quality experience and Halal literacy as the antecedents of repurchase intention, especially in the Halal culinary marketing context. Previous studies have addressed health consciousness in the food or culinary studies. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is currently no study that examines the relationship between health consciousness, past product quality experience, Halal literacy and repurchase intention, especially in the context of Halal culinary product. Second, this study also revealed the link between health consciousness and past product quality experience in Halal culinary business, which has been overlooked.

This study aims to construct comprehensive index of Tahfiz empowerment taking into account various factors such as social, intellectual, physical and religious, as well as economical. According to Maqasid Shariah, Malaysia has to establish a Tahfiz Empowerment Index (TEI) for the implementation of National Tahfiz Education Policy (NTEP) to ensure that Tahfiz institutions assist students’ development in a productive and meaningful way consistent with Islamic values and national educational objectives.

This study proposes the TEI using Maqasid Shariah to offer an organized framework for evaluating and improving the quality and social relevance of Tahfiz institutions. The TEI weaves the five fundamental aims of Maqasid Shariah – preserving religion, protecting life, fostering intellect, preserving lineage and ensuring economic sustainability – into measurable indicators. Comprehensive review of the literature supports the TEI and its using experts, and the TEI assigns equal weightage to each dimension and has provisions to address biases.

The TEI consists of five fundamental aspects: preservation of religion, life, intellect, lineage and economic sustainability. The results imply that systematic way of evaluating and enhancing performance of Tahfiz institution is crucial as the study proves the institution’s importance in the development of its students.

The TEI provides a systematic framework to be used in future empirical research that searches for the operation of Tahfiz institutions and their outcome. Moreover, it serves as a theoretical basis for further research on Islamic education and its alignment with Maqasid Shariah. It also propounds a holistic and inclusive approach encompassing improvement in educational possibilities.

The TEI has useful managerial and policy implications for the improvement of Tahfiz institutions. It can be used as a benchmark whenever the policymaker is in doubt about the quality, safety and equitable distribution of resources in education to achieve Malaysia’s NTEP objectives. The TEI also provides practical, tangible performance indicators for evaluation and benchmarking, resource allocation and strategy planning. It integrates Maqasid Shariah principles, focusing on areas like spiritual and intellectual development, economic sustainability and community engagement.

The TEI as part of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 contributes to social benefits: integrating the principles of Islamic education and human dignity and social welfare. It erases the existing gaps by providing the necessary means through such practices as offering vocational training to underprivileged students, contributes to social responsibility by enhancing mental health and encouraging services to the community, and ultimately improves community involvement through volunteerism and collaborations. Also, TEI directs the distribution of funds toward programs that should benefit underprivileged learners, thus maintain sustainable fund allocation as well as promoting social responsibility as per NTEP objectives.

This study presents a novel index grounded on Maqasid Shariah which is useful for assessing and improving the Tahfiz institutions. It gives a definite and systematic method of evaluating these institutions’ degrees of empowerments to meet all the diverse roles they play in the society.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the community and environment disclosures and the long-run share price performance of Malaysian initial public offering (IPO) companies.

This study used secondary data through the content analysis of the annual reports and DataStream of 115 sampled IPOs listed on Bursa Malaysia from 2007 to 2015. The present study incorporated weighted least squares and quantile least squares to evaluate the relationship between the community and environment disclosures and IPO performance.

The results show a positive and significant relationship between the extent and quality of community disclosures and IPO performance; while the extent and quality of environment disclosures have a negative and positive relationship, respectively, with IPO performance. These results suggest that community and environmental activities can be considered an effort to enhance Malaysian IPOs.

These results suggest that Malaysian IPO companies should be involved consistently in corporate social responsibility disclosure, i.e. community and environmental activities, as they have a significant impact on the performance of Malaysian IPOs. The findings can facilitate financial institutions and regulatory agencies in driving companies to be more responsible regarding community and environmental disclosures.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides new insights into the relationship between the community and environment disclosures and the performance of Malaysian IPO companies.

This study aims to identify and explore the critical components of Industry 4.0 (IR4.0) talent domains needed by Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students through work-based learning (WBL) programs in Malaysia.

A qualitative research design was employed, involving semi-structured interviews with 11 experts from academia and industry. Document analysis was employed to complement expert interviews, offering an enriched understanding of the IR4.0 talent domains. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and reliability analysis through Fleiss’s Kappa.

The study reveals a consensus between academic and industry experts on the importance of cognitive abilities and professionalism for IR4.0 talent. However, significant discrepancies were noted in the domain of operational work skills, with academic experts agreeing on 12 out of 14 components, while industry experts agreed on only four. This highlights a potential misalignment between academic curricula and industry needs, particularly in operational skills.

This research only involves academics and industry experts in the field of IR4.0. The focus of this research is on the undergraduate WBL programmes at Malaysia’s Polytechnic.

The findings can guide curriculum development in TVET programs, ensuring that students are equipped with the necessary skills to meet industry expectations.

This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on IR4.0 talent development, offering valuable insights into the essential talent domains for TVET students engaged in WBL programs. The findings underscore the need for closer collaboration between educational institutions and industry to ensure that TVET programs are better aligned with the demands of the IR4.0 workforce.

SETARA is a well-known university rating tool in Malaysia. The study aims to enhance the transparency, accuracy, and reliability of SETARA assessment instrument by improving its weighting scheme for the domains, sub-domains, criteria, and indicators.

The study utilized a quantitative research design and collected responses from 29 academic administrators in both public and private higher education institutions in Malaysia. The four steps of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were employed. An AHP questionnaire was developed, adopting the domains, sub-domains, criteria, and indicators of the SETARA assessment instrument. The “Superdecision” software was used to synthesize the pairwise comparison judgments and compute the consistency ratio for all group pairwise comparison matrices.

The AHP-assigned weights differed significantly from those assigned by the SETARA rating system. For instance, the weight for “Input” increased from 20 to 41.05 out of 100, and the weight for “Output” decreased from 40 to 25.52. The new SETARA rating instrument is expected to be used by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) due to its scientifically justified foundation to ensure transparency, accuracy, and reliability.

The study is limited by small sample size for data collection. Future research could benefit from a larger and more diverse sample, including participants from a number of national-level universities and relevant agencies like Malaysia Qualification Agency (MQA) and MOHE. Additionally, the research focused solely on recalculating weights and did not consider modifying the criteria set. Further investigation is needed to determine if some criteria can be added or removed.

This research offers practical implications for refining the SETARA assessment mechanism and improving the quality of higher education in Malaysia. The modified weights provide guidance to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on where to focus their efforts to ensure quality. The transparent methodology introduced by this study can serve as a model for enhancing educational quality evaluations in Malaysia and potentially in other higher education systems worldwide.

The originality of this study lies in its innovative application of the AHP to the SETARA assessment tool, addressing a crucial gap in the assessment process. By providing a comprehensive and transparent methodology for assigning percentages and weights, this research offers a practical blueprint for enhancing the precision and impact of educational quality evaluations in Malaysia and beyond.

Ijara is one of the exchange contracts that is based on selling benefits and services. There are several forms of Ijara: Ijara specified objects, specified work and hiring a private or joint employee. The target of all these is obtaining a benefit. For instance, in the specified Ijara, the lessee desires to obtain a benefit from a specified person in particular, and in the forward Ijara, the purpose is obtaining the benefit in accordance with specified specifications. Indeed, Islamic banks can obtain these benefits through Ijara them from their providers and re-Ijara them to customers upon request. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to determine the Shariah ruling of the Islamic law of Ijara persons' benefits. Moreover, it aims to determine to what extent is it possible to consider Ijara and selling the benefits prescribed in disclosure and as a financing instrument in Islamic banks aiming at providing citizens with services, mainly in the virtual era.

The current research is framed within the descriptive and analytical research through illustrating the nature of Ijara, its conditions, pillars, evidence of its legitimacy and its kinds as well. The methodology used attributes the Quranic verses to their contexts in the Holy Quran and authenticates the noble hadiths of the Prophet.

The current research concludes that it is legally permissible to lease these benefits and re-lease them. However, in the specified Ijara, the hired person must perform the work himself and it is not permissible to be replaced by a third party, whereas in the forward Ijara, the contracted work is permitted to be carried out by a third party as long as it complies with the specifications required and contracted.

This study contributes to the current literature by providing a guide to Islamic banking regulators to promote Ijara in Islamic banking.

This study aims to develop a comprehensive sustainability performance index tailored for Takaful operators. It integrates Maqasid Al-Shariah’s principles with key stakeholders’ expectations, ensuring a holistic evaluation of sustainability practices.

The index is formulated through a multi-step process, beginning with a thorough literature review to identify pertinent economic, social, environmental and religious indicators. Using a Multi-Attribute Utility Theory approach, the process incorporates expert consultations, stakeholder workshops and the analytical hierarchy process. The framework amalgamates diverse sustainability attributes, focusing on regulatory compliance, financial performance, customer satisfaction, workplace environment and community engagement. The final index is tested with data from various Takaful operators to validate its reliability and robustness.

The newly developed index effectively captures the multifaceted aspects of sustainability specific to Takaful operators, offering a balanced assessment across economic, social, environmental and religious dimensions. Findings suggest that while Takaful operators excel in community welfare and ethical compliance areas, there are notable gaps in integrating environmental and social governance factors. The index successfully highlights these gaps, providing a structured framework to enhance the sustainability practices of Takaful operators. Initial applications of the index reveal significant variability in sustainability performance among Takaful operators, pointing to areas needing improvement.

The development of the index is limited by the availability and quality of data from Takaful operators. Future research should aim to improve data collection methods and expand the index’s application to a broader range of operators.

Takaful operators can use the index as a transparent and objective tool to evaluate and improve their sustainability practices, facilitating better decision-making and strategic planning towards achieving sustainable development goals.

By incorporating Maqasid Al-Shariah and stakeholder perspectives, the index promotes socially responsible and ethically sound business practices within the Takaful industry, aligning with broader societal values and expectations.

This paper introduces the first comprehensive sustainability performance index specifically designed for Takaful operators, integrating religious principles with conventional sustainability metrics. The index provides substantial value for researchers, practitioners and policymakers dedicated to enhancing sustainability in the Islamic finance sector.

This study was conducted with the main purpose of recording primary data related to environmental factors, which has become the main criteria in the selection of the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex (SBAC) as the center of the iron smelting industry and trade in ancient Kedah.

To fulfill this purpose, field studies involving drone photogrammetry mapping, augering, core drilling and geophysical mapping methods were carried out.

The results obtained through the application of the method have shown that SBAC has a good environment, which has a wide and deep river flow, the existence of Mount Jerai and the abundance of iron ores, mangrove Merbok and clay.

Resources did not allow for environment studies of the by-products tourism sites as part of the current study.

The study also included a survey and mapping to obtain potential primary data around SBAC in the process of developing it as the center of the world iron industry.

One finding is that attention to heritage policy and protection must be ongoing at all levels of government and the local community to ensure that the survey and mapping data carried out can be developed as a sustainable heritage tourism product.

This study reveals primary data related to the suitability of paleoenvironment in the SBAC development process as a world iron smelting industry area.

The building sector is vital to a nation’s economy, as it has a major influence on economic activity and growth, job creations and the advancement of infrastructure. Intricate challenges that are inherent in crises such as the COVID-19 outbreak lead to material scarcities, project delays, labor shortages, escalated expenses, funding challenges, regulatory obstacles and dwindling investment funds, all of which culminate in costs that are in excess of those budgeted. While numerous studies have explored the ramifications of COVID-19 on project budgets, there is little, if any, data available on forecasting the magnitude of this impact.

This investigation seeks to bridge this knowledge deficiency by devising a predictive tool grounded in an ordinal logistic regression method. An online survey was designed and disseminated to gauge the views of construction field experts about the diverse contributors to excessive costs during the viral outbreak, and a predictive tool, crafted from the survey participants’ feedback.

Findings showed that smaller-scale enterprises and contractor-centric establishments faced greater adversities than medium-to-large ones and consultancy-or-owner-type entities.

The insights from this research shed light on the amplified risk of higher project costs amid health crises or analogous events, underlining the imperative need for fortified risk management approaches to bolster project outcomes. By factoring in demographics, this research offers policymakers a refined lens through which to customize interventions and promote balanced and enduring advancement in the construction industry.