Search results

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of activity restrictions on the financial intermediation costs in ASEAN countries.

This study used the two-step system generalized method of moments approach to tackle the endogeneity problems. The sample consists of 130 banks from ASEAN countries covering the over 2009–2022 period.

This study provides valuable insights into various dimensions of activity restrictions within the banking across ASEAN countries. The findings highlight that imposing restrictions on activities such as securities, insurance and real estate can significantly elevate intermediation costs, affecting the overall efficiency of the banking sector. Furthermore, restrictions on ownership lead to higher intermediation costs by limiting operational flexibility, thereby constraining banks’ ability to optimize their financial services.

The sample of this study is limited to banks in ASEAN countries and focuses only on the regulations restricting banking activities.

The findings suggest that policymakers should conduct a comprehensive review and potential adjustment of the existing regulatory framework related to restrictions on banking activities to strike an optimal balance between risk mitigation and fostering an environment that enhances banks’ efficiency. In addition, regulators could consider introducing regulatory reforms to ownership-related restrictions to promote greater flexibility and adaptability in the banking sector.

This research contributes to the field of banking by offering valuable insights for policymakers and regulators in ASEAN countries. It provides empirical evidence on the impact of activity restrictions on financial intermediation costs, highlighting key factors for developing more effective regulatory strategies.

This paper aims to explore sociocultural factors as determinants of entrepreneurial emergence and to examine their relative influence (i.e. the influence of each factor) on entrepreneurial emergence.

A survey design with a questionnaire instrument administered to 250 business owners selected randomly from a cross section of businesses was used. The data were analyzed using the descriptive method, pairwise comparison, Kendall’s W test and Mean Rank Statistics.

This study showed that the level of influence of sociocultural factors on the decision to own a business by an individual in Africa varies by factor. Family background is the factor that has the highest influence, whereas religious values has the least influence. Altogether, nine most significant factors influence the choice of business ownership in Nigeria and in Africa generally. These include family background, unemployment, family values, inadequate income, job displacement, stock of social capital, role models, social networks and lack of social security, in that order.

Although some scholars may have explored sociocultural factors as determinants of entrepreneurial emergence, there is no study on their relative influence on entrepreneurial emergence, at least not in the context of Africa or Nigeria in particular. This study extends previous studies by examining the relative influence of the factors, using Nigeria as a reference for Africa. A focus on their relative influence is a new perspective on the study of sociocultural factors as determinants of entrepreneurial emergence.

Spirituality serves as an ethical benchmark for shaping human and brand identity. Only a few studies have recently attempted to examine the impact of spiritual attributes on customer behavior. This study extends the current literature and aims to develop a research model to investigate spiritual brand attributes toward customers’ behavior. The study employs the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model as a theoretical signpost to construct the research model. Driven by this chapter, future research opportunities are presented, and the opportunity for empirical research is also illustrated.

This paper aims to examine the determinants that influence acceptance towards e-wallet apps by extending the technology acceptance model (TAM) among (asnaf), a term used for charity or gift receivers from alms tax distribution institutions also known as donee.

The review of literature and structural equation modelling approach using judgemental sampling on extended TAM and determinants of e-wallet apps’ acceptance related to asnaf (donee) were conducted in a bid to contribute to the factors that are instrumental in determining acceptance of e-wallet services among asnaf.

The findings indicate that the e-wallet app’s service acceptance is determined not only by perceived usefulness, consumer maqasid index and consumer innovativeness but also by subjective norms. On the contrary, consumer maqasid index and perceived ease of use do not lend themselves to be the factor of asnafs’ e-wallet acceptance. The authors extend the TAM model to determine the factors that may be influential in predicting the e-wallet app acceptance by asnaf.

In assessing future outcomes when different sampling techniques are opted for and geographic coverage is expanded, this study should be considered in terms of the limited scope.

This study is intended to serve as a reference for making a significant contribution related to user acceptance factors related to alms tax-based e-wallet apps in asnafs’ context in Malaysia in terms of both theory and practice.

TAM is extended in the context of e-wallet app acceptance among asnafs’. A variable, namely, consumer innovativeness, is tested using the extended TAM model. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, consumer innovativeness in the context of asnafs’ acceptance of e-wallet apps is yet to be tested. Therefore, this paper will be a useful reference for policymakers, technologists, academicians and future researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to present a bibliometric overview of research published in takaful by identifying the most relevant research in this field and the newest trends according to the information in the Scopus database. Several classifications are made, including analyzing the most productive authors, the most influential journals, the collaboration between countries and the highly cited articles.

This paper collected data from Scopus databases from 1989 to 2023. The Bibliometrics, R-Studio, VOSviewer and Excel software were used to analyze the collected data. Bibliographic analysis was applied, consisting of co-authorship, cartographic, co-citation and coupling analyses.

This paper found that the publication and citation of takaful are increasing over time, contributing to significant progress in impact and visibility. Salman, Ghazali, Hassan and Mamat are the most productive authors. Malaysia is the most cited country, followed by the UK, while institutions from Malaysia are leading the publication of takaful literature. In terms of collaboration between countries, network collaboration was found between countries in Asia (Malaysia and Indonesia), Central Asia (Pakistan and Bangladesh), the Middle East (the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain), Europe (the UK) and North America (the USA).

This paper examines the evolution of takaful literature using bibliometric analysis. The findings and potential applications of this research could be very beneficial to scholars and researchers in creating more dynamic improvements in the scientific development of takaful.

Passive design strategies contribute to improving indoor comfort conditions and reducing buildings' energy consumption. For several years, courtyards have received wide attention from researchers because of their significant role in reducing energy demand. However, the abundance of multi-story buildings and the courtyards' incompatibility with them, the courtyard is currently limited. Therefore, it is necessary to search for alternatives. This paper aims to bridge the gaps in previous limited studies considering skycourt as a passive alternative on the vertical plane of the facades in contrast to the courtyard.

This research presents an overview and a bibliometric analysis of the evolution of the courtyard to the skycourt via VOSviewer software and the bibliometrix R package.

The research provided various concepts related to skycourt as a promising passive design strategy, which can be suitable for multi-story buildings, starting with its evolution, characteristics, configurations, benefits, and challenges.

The findings can urge designers, researchers and policymakers to incorporate such an important passive alternative.

Researchers, instructors, educational specialists, faculty members, and decision-makers can provide design motivation for skycourt in buildings, in addition to achieving awareness about skycourt and its significant benefits and its role as an important passive design strategy.

The research highlights the possibilities of the skycourt and its role as a passive design element as an extension of the courtyard in addition to identifying design indicators that help designers determine the appropriate designs.

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of using immersive virtual reality as an innovative and novel technology for managing depression, anxiety and psychological distress among patients with cancer.

The relevant literature was searched and extracted using the following online bibliographic databases: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), ProQuest, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, SAGE Journals and Science Direct, in addition, reference lists for all included studies were thoroughly examined to find relevant articles. This systematic review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards. Several online databases were used to find eligible studies in peer-reviewed journals relevant to the study keywords. The included studies were systematic reviews and clinical trials that used immersive virtual reality–based intervention among patients with cancer and suffering from cancer-related fatigue, older than 18 years and were published in the English language from 2015 to 2024. Two researchers independently contributed to study selections, data extraction and evaluation from different aspects: quality assessment, risk of bias and study synthesis.

A total of 13 published studies were included in this review study: 7 articles were quantitative clinical trial studies and the other 6 were systematic review and meta-analysis studies. The quality of 7 included clinical trials was assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) Quality Assessment Tool for quantitative studies, the overall result showed that 28.6% of studies rated with moderate quality, no study was rated with low quality and (71.4%) studies rated as high-quality study. As well as the quality assessment of all review studies showed that the majority of included systematic reviews and meta-analyses with a low risk of bias and high to moderate power of evidence. The result of this extensive and comprehensive review showed that immersive virtual reality has a significant positive impact on reducing depression, anxiety and psychological distress among patients with different types of cancer.

The findings of this systematic review provide compelling evidence for the transformative potential of immersive virtual reality as a therapeutic intervention for managing depression, anxiety and psychological distress in cancer patients. By synthesizing data from 13 rigorous studies, this review not only underscores the efficacy of this innovative technology but also highlights its role as a novel approach in the psychosocial care of individuals facing the challenges of cancer. This research opens new avenues for integrating immersive virtual reality into clinical practice, paving the way for future investigations that could further elucidate its mechanisms of action and optimize its application in oncology settings.

This study examined Muslim civil officers’ cash waqf giving decisions in Malaysia.

Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the effects of the said factors on the decisions were examined using logistic analysis. A total of 583 Muslim civil officers were involved in this work. The discrete dependent variable measures whether a civil officer is a donor or non-donor cash waqf.

Results obtained indicate significant influences of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and some demographic items on cash waqf giving decisions in Malaysia.

The findings attained were narrowed in terms of chosen geographical settings and the theory used.

This study provides a theoretical benchmark to enhance cash waqf giving decisions, which in turn can affect the waqf collection by the waqf institutions in Malaysia.

This study uniquely develops Muslim civil officers’ cash waqf giving decisions framework (CAGDEF) in measuring cash waqf giving decisions in Malaysia.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-12-2023-0964.

Drawing on psychological development and mixed embeddedness theories, the authors of the present paper seek to identify why some senior individuals in the Egyptian context actively engage in self-employment while others avoid it.

The empirical sample comprised semi-structured interviews with 30 senior entrepreneurs who have pursued entrepreneurial activities for at least one year. Thematic analysis was subsequently used to determine the main ideas in the interview transcripts.

The authors identified the following three categories of motives: cultural (religious considerations, successful global and local role models, networking and social recognition), economic (minimal required business skills and capital, zero tax and no business registration, expectations of profits and guaranteed market and insufficient pension for life needs) and ageing and individual motivations (reviving their civilisational heritage, abundance of time and escaping from loneliness). We consider these as explaining why senior individuals engage in entrepreneurial activities. Moreover, the authors found that the health status of senior individuals, negative influence on pension and limited capital available are the main reasons why some seniors avoid self-employment.

This paper contributes by filling a gap in the literature on senior entrepreneurship, about which empirical studies, particularly in the context of North African economically uncertain countries, such as Egypt, have been limited so far.

This study aims to advance services marketing research by examining how credence claims, such as sustainability messaging, shape social norms and decision-making behaviors among professional service providers (PSPs). It introduces a typology of PSPs based on their integration of sustainability expertise and normative beliefs. In doing so, the study demonstrates service providers’ role in influencing brand recommendations. By positioning PSPs as intermediaries who translate sustainability knowledge into actionable guidance, the research highlights how credible eco-claims drive pro-social behaviors, underscoring the importance of services marketing in promoting pro-environmental actions and fostering societal change.

A sample of 467 veterinarians were contacted from across North America with the assistance of a major pet food supplier. Structural equation modeling measured the degree to which social norms, a belief in eco-claims and sustainability expertise shaped sustainability importance for professionals. A post hoc 2 × 2 typology placed professionals in quadrants based on eco-related factors, with sustainability-based brand recommendations analyzed based on their quadrant placement.

Social norms and sustainability expertise were instrumental in predicting the importance of professionals’ environmental stewardship. The typology determined that each quadrant of professionals reported significantly different likelihoods of recommending eco-friendly products to their clients.

This study introduces a novel perspective in services marketing by linking sustainability messaging to social norms and decision-making. It presents a unique typology of PSP profiles based on sustainability expertise and normative influences. By positioning PSPs as intermediaries who translate sustainability knowledge into actionable guidance, the research emphasizes the service sector’s capability of driving pro-environmental behaviors and advancing sustainable practices.