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The purpose of this study is to establish the relationship between relative advantage, social influence, trust, compatibility, knowledge and adoption of Islamic banking among non-Muslim bank customers in a Muslim zone of Nigeria.

Usable questionnaires were received from 350 participants. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the relationships between latent unobserved constructs. Composite reliability and average variance extracted were used to test the reliability and validity of the instrument. This study uses the correlational research design to test the hypotheses.

The findings indicate that relative advantage, social influence, trust and compatibility significantly influence adoption of Islamic banking among non-Muslim customers in a Muslim zone of Nigeria. However, knowledge of Islamic banking operations does not significantly influence adoption of Islamic banking.

The existing literature focuses on factors that influence the adoption of Islamic banking, without due emphasis on non-Muslims. The religious divides of Nigeria compel this research to determine the factors that influence the adoption of Islamic banking among non-Muslim customers. Hence, this research seeks to bridge the gap in the existing literature by embarking on an investigation using innovation diffusion theory to identify factors influencing the adoption of Islamic banking among non-Muslim customers in the Nigerian context.

The purpose of this study is to develop a model for the study of Islamic bank choice and to test the significant importance of the constructs that influence bank customers to choose Islamic bank in a pluralistic-secular nation.

Total of 348 conventional and Islamic bank customers were sampled. Five-point Likert-type question containing 27 bank selection items was used in collecting primary data. Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability and average variance extracted are used to test the reliability and validity of the instrument. Also various descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and one sample T-test are equally used in analyzing the work.

Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors. They are Islamic ethics, convenience, Islamic bank services awareness and physical evidence. Furthermore, the factors that show significant importance in the choice of Islamic banking are Islamic ethics and Islamic bank services awareness. The result equally shows that people are aware of Islamic banking.

This study provides insight on the factors that influence the selection of Islamic banking, an innovative banking concept. This study has obvious management and theory implications. Also, the study will assist the bank managers in developing effective marketing strategy to increase the market share.

This study reports Islamic banking selection criteria in a pluralistic-secular Nation. The study also developed a model that can be used in studying the choice of Islamic bank in special type of environment. Thus, Islamic banking is a new reality in the Nigerian financial scene.

Islamic banking is an emerging product in Nigeria; it has evolved as a new reality in the Nigerian financial scene since 2011. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for the study of Islamic banking adoption behavior among bank customers in Nigeria.

This study is a literature and theoretical review of past studies to develop a comprehensive framework for the study of Islamic banking adoption behavior in Nigeria.

In this conceptual study, the researcher identified 12 independent variables, namely, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, trialability, uncertainty, promotional efforts, awareness, customer involvement, perceived information quality, profit/loss sharing and religiosity, as suitable variables for the study of Islamic bank adoption in Nigeria.

As Islamic banking is an innovative and unique product, which differs from conventional banking, it is hopeful that upon validating the framework, it will provide useful insight on the adoption behavior of Islamic bank customers in Nigeria.

This study will be useful to Islamic banks in gaining and maintaining their existing customer, and policymakers, regulators and other relevant stakeholders will be able to strategize in accordance with their respective assignments toward the development and growth of the Nigerian financial industry.

Most previous studies concentrated on product attributes of innovation adoption. But, this current study inculcated the consumers’ attitude and perception toward adoption of Islamic banking. Thus, the authors then propose several factors that can influence adoption of Islamic banking in Nigeria.

As part of the strategy to curb the rising unemployment among Nigerian undergraduates, entrepreneurship subjects were made compulsory in the curriculum of all the higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Nigeria. The idea is to trigger strong desire for enterprise creation rather than remaining job seekers among the undergraduates upon graduation. Accordingly, this paper aims to determine predictors to entrepreneurial intentions among university students in Muslim community of Northern Nigeria.

Theory of planned behaviour was extended to include compatibility and educational support. The model was empirically tested and was analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling technique on a sample of 312 higher institution students in Zamfara State.

The finding shows that entrepreneurial intention is taken as a function of educational support, compatibility and perceived behavioural control. The extended model has predictive relevance, and it explained 36 per cent of variance in entrepreneurial intention.

The inclusion of compatibility has a unique effect on this study; no study has tested the effects of compatibility in entrepreneurial intention. In addition, no study has been conducted in a core Muslim state in Northern Nigeria, where most of the economic policies are Islamic-driven and unemployment rate is relatively high. In addition, no study has been conducted in the context of necessity entrepreneurship using TPB.

With the increasing presence of Islamic banking to Nigeria’s banking space and its relative success in the predominantly Muslim Northern region, the question of its prospect in the predominantly non-Muslim southeastern Nigeria becomes legitimate and urgent. Thus, the purpose of this study is to predict the prospect of Islamic banking in Southeast Nigeria.

Three research questions were posed to address this objective. First, is there significant relationship between knowledge of Islamic banking concept and its prospects in Southeast Nigeria? Second, is there significant relationship between the relative advantage (principles) of Islamic banking concept and its prospects in Southeast Nigeria? Third, is there significant relationship between customers’ religion and prospects of Islamic banking concept in Southeast Nigeria? The study analyses using Pearson correlation, factor analysis with regression, t-test and ANOVA.

Knowledge of Islamic banking and prospects of Islamic banking show weak positive relationship and very low mean. In other words, Islamic banking is not well-known; therefore, the prospects of Islamic banking slightly depend on knowledge about Islamic banking. Furthermore, the relationship between Islamic principles and prospects of Islamic banking shows only 5 per cent impact, which means that factors other than Islamic principle will drive the prospects of Islamic banking in Southeast Nigeria. Two factors loading from factor analysis are “profit sharing” and “forbid of some business activities”. Finally, profit sharing influences the prospects of Islamic banking, while prospects of Islamic banking will be impeded by customers’ religion.

The study was conducted in Southeast Nigeria which contains a small size of sample; the research adopted convenient sampling technique and a limited number of measures in the model. Nevertheless, the study provides new information about an emerging Islamic market.

Most previous studies concentrated on product attributes of innovation adoption or patronage. But this current study inculcated the consumers' religion, as it affects the prospects of Islamic banking in Southeast Nigeria. .

Religion is one of the factors that are considered in developing marketing strategy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of religion (Islam and Christianity) in the relationship between SERVQUAL dimensions and satisfaction of hotel guest in Nigeria.

The data for this study was collected from 400 hotel customers in Nigeria (Zamfara and Anambra), and was analyzed using structural equation modeling technique (Amos). Also, composite reliability and average variance extracted were used to test the reliability and validity of the instrument.

The study found that religion has a significant moderating effect on the service quality dimensions and hotel guest satisfaction. In other words, there is significant difference on how Muslim and Christian hotel guests evaluate service quality dimensions and satisfaction. Moreover, the result shows that the empathy and assurance dimensions are the most important significant predictors of guest satisfaction. Moreover, religion has significant positive effect on guest satisfaction.

The study shows that religion significantly moderate the service quality dimensions. Therefore, the hotel management should focus on providing training programs that will enable the employees to offer superior personalized services to strengthen and nurture long-term guest relationships.

The inclusion of moderating effect of religion made this study very unique. Furthermore, the peculiarity and religious sentiments of the Nigeria business environment made this work outstanding.

The purpose of this paper is to examine affective commitment, normative commitment, and continuance commitment in a cross-national context to identify if the effect of country-specific cultural orientation on organizational commitment of faculty in higher education functions invariably in different countries.

The work expands on Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three-component model of organizational commitment. It includes relevant literature review on ten countries and the results of a survey of university faculty members, assessing their institutions’ human resources practices and their effect on organizational commitment. Basic descriptive statistics were performed on nominal and interval data, means, medians, and standard deviations were computed, and tests of mean equivalence, including ANOVA tests, were performed. In certain instances, Pearson and Spearman correlations were computed to ascertain correlation, and χ² tests for randomized response were used, while Cronbach’s α test helped to establish survey instrument validity.

Though certain differences may exist between different countries and cultures with respect to the three-component model of organizational commitment, there is strong evidence of the existence of invariance and, thus, generalizability of the model across cultures.

Cultural studies have focused on differences in organizational commitment at national levels. Further attempts to identify the universality of factors leading to organizational commitment should account for culture in the study of employee-related globalization issues in higher education institutes. Knowledge of cultural impact is also useful from a managerial perspective, and for the design of relevant strategies.

National context plays a major role in shaping the nature of educational institutions. This study brings out the need for a deeper understanding of invariance in organizational commitment (inter-alia, through the three-component model).

This study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between organizational commitment and its various antecedents, including human resources management practices, for faculty in higher education institutes.

Igba-Boi model of entrepreneurship incubation among the Igbos in south-eastern Nigeria records outstanding and robust successes in producing entrepreneurs with global impact. Therefore, the need to understand its nature, process, driving force, challenges and make suggestions to reinvigorate it has become urgent and valid. Also, with the persisting overbearing influence of Western and lately Asian philosophies in the development of business theories and practice, it is long overdue to mainstream Africa's entrepreneurial philosophy into extant discourse; this chapter contributes to this effort. Such an attempt follows the belief that Africans with their indigenous systems hold higher hope for the development of the continent. Since the rest of the world had at some point in history leveraged on Africa's civilisation to forge ahead, this chapter argues that Africa stands to contribute to the global search for efficient incubation of entrepreneurs using the Igba-Boi model. The chapter is guided by and framed with reviewed publications, philosophies and theories that explain Igbos' construction of social realities and worldview. Structural functionalism and conflict theories offer in-depth insight in explaining the success story of the Igba-Boi institution. The chapter, in particular, adopts the Igbos' interpretation of their cosmos, its eschatological implications in explaining their tenacity and doggedness in successfully meeting all the requirements for graduating from Igba-Boi incubation system. By discussing Igba-Boi as a socioeconomic institution, this chapter draws attention to areas of neglect for improvement in order to harness its high potentials for enhancing its contribution to business practice in Africa and development of the continent.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that constrain women petty traders' access to microcredit, and the innovative measures they have initiated in order to counter these constraints.

The paper is based on in‐depth interviews with women micro‐entrepreneurs drawn from a convenience sample of 20 petty traders in the market town of Awka – the capital of a state in Eastern Nigeria.

The paper identifies three main constraints – internal, socio‐cultural and policy induced – as the key moderating influences on women petty traders' ability access to micro‐credit.

Considering the sample size and research context, the generalisation of the findings may need to be interpreted with caution. However, the paper finds evidence of most of these findings in other studies on other contexts.

This paper posits that the lack of access to credit promotes market exclusion, and deepens the socioeconomic and political vulnerability of women as a consequence. Such vulnerability has prompted these microenterpreneurs into venturing to alternative sources of credit in the form of “Women August Meetings”. The paper has far reaching implications for public policy support geared towards “leveraging” and mainstreaming these initiatives for maximum outreach.

Previous research in the area of micro‐credit access seem to have paid limited attention to the peculiar challenges of this segment of society, i.e. petty traders, who incidentally also form the bulk of occupants at the bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid.

This paper aims to examine the factors that are responsible for the poor credit recovery among micro‐finance institutions (MFIs) that disbursed a United Nations Development Programme's micro credit in Anambra State, Nigeria.

A total of 97 MFIs were surveyed out of a total of 129 MFIs in Anambra State in 2007. A ten‐item researcher developed questionnaire on a four‐point Likert scale was used to measure MFIs' staff assessment of factors that were responsible for poor credit recovery. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data, and conclusions and implications of the findings are presented.

From the findings of this study, it is evident that multidimensional factors contribute to low credit recovering by the MFIs. These factors can be summarised under borrowers' wrong attitude to credit repayment, MFIs' staff weak skill and corrupt tendency, and poor infrastructural provision by the government. Arguably, these factors have direct effect in encumbering genuine effort at alleviating poverty in Nigeria through the instrumentality of micro credit. This calls for a change in strategy especially on the part of the MFIs in reducing the incidence of low credit recovery.

The paper offers fresh insight that would offer better understanding of the informal sector of the financial system in Nigeria that has hitherto received limited research attention.

This paper is informative in terms of the imperativeness for public policy adjustment and firm‐level competencies required for better operation of the MFIs in Nigeria. This would translate into creating viable micro‐credit sector to support current plans to eradicate poverty and foster the development of the “bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid”.

Addresses issues related to micro credit in a highly challenged and isolated context.