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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the real estate investment performance portfolio decision-making of the insurance firms by the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act in reducing the housing deficit in Nigeria. The insurance companies' gross premium, real estate investment and return on investment trends for the period 2014–2019 were evaluated, to determine the extent of their investment in real estate in Nigeria, this ought to have reduced the shortfall in housing.

Both primary and secondary sources were used. Cronbach’s alpha was used for testing the reliability. The Friedman mean rank with Chi-square was used for different types of real estate investment properties and for reasons for investing in real estate by insurance companies in Nigeria. The test for normality was conducted using the Shapiro–Wilk and Spearman correlation for the significance. The percentage and the data envelopment analysis frontier model were used for measuring performance and efficiency.

The results showed that the majority of real estate investments made by insurance companies were in commercial and land buying and reselling and that their performance was below average. However, their motivation for investing is not toward the NHF Act but rather for diversification and increasing their capital.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies in Nigeria that looked at how well insurance firms have performed investing in real estate as required by the NHF Act. However, the new Act, the National Housing Fund (Establishment) Act of 2018 which was put on hold due to flaws, affected data availability beyond 2019.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence people’s behaviour in paying zakat, explore their perceptions of the institutions, examine the factors that influence their trust and analyse the impact of trust on their behaviour in paying zakat to the institutions.

A questionnaire was distributed to 740 potential Zakat payers in the Federal Territory, Malaysia. In designing the questionnaire, a systematic literature review, focus group discussions and pilot study were conducted. Descriptive analysis and partial least squares structural equation model were used with SmartPLS software.

The result shows that trust, intention to pay zakat and age of the respondents have statistically significant impacts on people’s behaviour to pay zakat through institutions. Intention to pay zakat is influenced by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. In addition, the main common concerns expressed were lack of awareness of the importance of paying zakat, lack of transparency in zakat administration, especially in collection and distribution, and inefficiency in administration and distribution. Moreover, trust in the institutions could be established if the institution is able to fulfil its mission of collecting and distributing zakat to the entitled Asnaf and improve their welfare, as trust not only has a direct impact on people’s behaviour, but also strengthens people’s intention and influences their behaviour to pay zakat to the institutions.

This study focuses on a specific geographical area and zakat institution; hence, the study’s generalisability is limited. The use of self-reported and cross-sectional data may introduce bias and fail to capture the dynamic change of trust, intention and behaviour across time. The proposed solution of leveraging digital platforms may provide numerous hurdles and obstacles for adoption by the zakat institution.

This study shows the significant role of trust in influencing people’s intentions and behaviour in supporting organisations. Therefore, it can serve as an indicator of the performance or success of a particular institution. Thus, there is a need to find strategies to gain people’s trust by improving their ability, integrity and benevolence in performing their tasks.

The chapter provided a comprehensive overview of lean construction as a transformative paradigm within the building industry. It delved into the core principles, tools, and techniques of lean construction, emphasising its advantages and the challenges associated with its implementation. Furthermore, it highlighted the pivotal role of lean construction principles in streamlining building excellence during the construction stage. The chapter also explored the concept of lean construction for stealth construction, presenting practical applications and a case study to illustrate its efficacy. Overall, it offered a synthesised understanding of lean construction’s significance, potential, and challenges, concluding with a general summary of its implications for the building industry.

The purpose of this paper is to challenge the view that there is nothing wrong with fiat money, debt and interest or Islamic banking, by re-examining the monetary performance of the USD, analyzing US economic projections of debt at interest and evaluating the contribution of Islamic banking within a financial system that does not recognize the Shari’ah.

This paper constructs gold and commodity price indices from 1792 to 2023 to re-examining the performance of the USD over the long-term; through library, document and content research, analyzes the impact of debt and interest on the US economy and re-examines whether US institutions are offering genuine Islamic financial alternatives.

US$1.00 in 1792 is now worth less than US$0.01 in 2023. The monetary balance sheet of the USD is now 97% backed by debt. Within the next 10 years, the USA will be unable to service its debt. There has been no progress in Islamic banking in the USA, with all products involving risk-free debt transactions priced at interest.

By adopting a monetary theory of value, the devaluation of the USD resulted in increased prices due to the debt-based fiat standard and an exponential increase in public debt and interest.

The USD and the US economy are unsustainable in the long term, and US Islamic banks should transform into Islamic investment managers.

Muslims should create and preserve wealth through genuine Islamic intermediation based on Islamic partnerships and Islamic social finance.

The US fiat standard is debt organized into currency, which is exponentially increasing and confiscating wealth through inflation and transferring it via interest to the banking system. US Islamic banking products replicate the practices of conventional banks.

Audit firms have a strong historical tradition of professionalism, but they are also commercial entities. This study aims to investigate the relationship between auditor cash compensation and office-level financial performance.

This study uses proprietary compensation expense and financial performance data from audit offices in China. Using the ordinary least squares regressions, this study tests the association between per capita compensation and office-level financial outcomes.

This study provides evidence that audit offices offering higher compensation achieve more profitable performance, as reflected in increased market share, higher return on assets and greater operating profit margins. Mechanism tests suggest that reductions in auditor turnover, driven by compensation incentives, partially account for this performance improvement. Additional tests show that the benefits of compensation incentives are particularly pronounced in audit firms licensed to conduct listed firm audits or when accompanied by staff training and technical development. Furthermore, both partner-level and staff auditor compensation significantly enhance office-level financial performance. The results might be of interest to both practitioners and regulatory bodies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the relationship between auditor cash compensation and audit-office profitability. The findings highlight important policy implications for audit firms seeking to retain high-caliber auditors and maximize their economic benefits through human capital investments, including compensation, education, training and technical development.

This study aims to explore the perception of Algerian Zakat payers regarding the adoption of technology within the Algerian Zakat Fund.

A survey was administered to a convenience sample of 460 Algerian Zakat payers. The survey was designed by combining the Extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM 2) and Theory of Reasoned Actions (TRA) frameworks to provide an in-depth understanding of the factors that influence the model acceptance among the Algerian Zakat payers. The findings were subsequently analyzed to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity as well as composite reliability. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the causal relationship among all proposed constructs.

The data reveal that all the hypotheses from the TAM 2 and TRA theories were supported, demonstrating the model’s significant acceptance among Algerian Zakat payers.

The originality of this study lies in its unique combination of both the TRA and the Extended TAM 2 within the context of Zakat. It examines the integration of the aforementioned theories to assess the acceptance of Algerian Zakat payers to the suggested Zakat Fintech-based model. This model is specifically tailored to address the challenges encountered by the Algerian Zakat Fund, offering innovative solutions to enhance management and governance mechanisms while aligning with Islamic financial principles.

This paper aims to explore whether academic librarians at the Universities of Technology (UoTs) in South Africa have the pedagogy and digital skills to implement a digital pedagogy approach for online teaching.

A mixed-method approach in the form of a sequential explanatory design was selected to explore the topic in which the quantitative was followed by the qualitative phase. Instruments used included an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to explore the pedagogy and digital skills of academic librarians at UoTs in South Africa.

The quantitative results and findings revealed that academic librarians lacked the pedagogy and digital skills for online teaching. Similarly, results and findings in the qualitative phase also showed academic librarians lacking these skills for online teaching. Consequently, the results and findings derived from both phases were triangulated and the cohesive nature of the data was absolute.

(i) Library schools include an elective module covering pedagogy and teaching with technology for librarians; (ii) library professional bodies create opportunities for academic librarians to develop pedagogy and digital skills; and (iii) higher education libraries need to create knowledge-sharing opportunities to improve the pedagogy and digital skills of academic librarians with teaching portfolios.

Higher education libraries and library schools must promote the teaching identity of academic librarians by helping them improve their pedagogical and digital skills for online teaching.

This topic requires further exploration as academic librarians are fast becoming integrated into the teaching and learning agenda of institutions globally.

The current study is novel in that it explores the pedagogical and digital skills of academic librarians at UoTs in South Africa for online teaching.

This paper aims to examine the antecedents of adoption intention of profit-sharing investment deposits (PSID) among Moroccan customers.

Applying an extended version of diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and using a non-probability sampling technique with convenience approach, a quantitative survey was developed and administered to 171 Islamic banking users. Structural equation modeling was then used to evaluate the significance of relationships between the various variables under study using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 26.0 statistical packages.

Empirical findings of the structural analysis indicated a significant direct relationship between adoption intention and six out of seven variables: perceived relative advantage, perceived compatibility, perceived complexity, perceived risk, religiosity and social influence, all of which had a significant effect on Moroccan customers’ intention to invest their funds in profit-sharing based deposit instruments, whereas customer awareness exerted an insignificant positive effect.

The absence of a longitudinal study tracking the actual adoption behavior is the main limitation of this study. Furthermore, data were collected solely from Islamic banking users. Finally, despite being insightful, the empirical findings should be generalized with caution since the sample was purposely selected by the banks’ management.

This study implied that participatory banks should pay substantial attention to risk perceptions, as PSID adoption intention is typically inhibited by high perceived risks associated with these products. Moreover, this study provides great indications to Moroccan regulators and policymakers on a number of issues related to this emerging business.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first attempt to confirm the effectiveness of the Rogers’ DOI in examining the intention to adopt a financial innovation in the Moroccan context. It is also the first of its kind to address customers’ apprehensions regarding profit-sharing investment products.

Rapid technological advancement has transformed businesses especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. This has led to digital transformation in a larger scale during the COVID-19 pandemic since there were restrictions in terms of mobility, contributing to the surge of online shopping. While many people have adopted technology during that period, some others are still struggling to adopt to the new norm. This chapter investigates the impact of digital transformation across operations, marketing, customer service, accounting, and finance areas. Not a single department can work in silo, hence it is vital to observe the digital transformation in the main business areas to create a competitive advantage besides being resilience to both internal and external factors that influence the business operation. This can provide insights to the business on the overall value creation in converting inputs to output. The technological advancement takes place at a fast rate; thus, the business will need to be agile in adapting to the changes. This chapter will explore the nature of adoption and ways to go about it in the different business areas to avoid haphazard technology adoption which can have an adverse impact on the business. The large organizations like multinational corporations are not an exception to face pressure in coping with the fast-paced technology evolvement, alongside with the SMEs. However, this should not hinder the SMEs from engaging in digital transformation.

Corruption remains a major issue in Indonesia, necessitating the commitment of various parties, including higher education institutions, to prevent and combat it. The primary aim of this study is to ascertain the extent of commitment by Indonesian universities, as expressed through their mission statements, in creating effective, accountable and transparent institutions (SDG No.16). This is examined by analyzing the amount of fraud and anti-fraud information disclosed on their websites. In addition, this study compares the commitment of public and private universities in disclosing anti-fraud information on their websites.

This study used content analysis of university mission statements and anti-fraud information disclosures on the websites of 25 public and 25 private universities in Indonesia, using the University Fraud Prevention Disclosure Index.

The findings indicate that public universities disclose mission statements encompassing a greater integrity structure compared to private universities. Consequently, public universities are more likely to disclose anti-corruption prevention efforts as part of their commitment to realizing SDGs No.16 than private universities.

The analysis was conducted over a limited timeframe, with the possibility of periodic updates on university websites.

There is limited research examining university mission statement disclosures and the level of anti-corruption disclosure in higher education institutions in developing countries, such as Indonesia.