Search results

This paper is aimed at introducing ḥalāl supply chain management (SCM) to the British construction sector, construction supply chains and “SCM”. Ḥalāl supply chains can optimise British construction supply chains by promoting meticulous, qualitative and mutually reinforcing systems. The British construction sector has failed to overcome the inimical, inefficient, fractured and transactional attitudes (collectively, the “complexities”) pervading it and the supply chains beneath it. Construction SCM has been able to introduce change, but with limited profound effect. This is owed to its lack of human agency, proactive quality control systems, as well as other verification and assurance mechanisms. Introducing the Sharīʿa principles encapsulating ḥalāl food supply chains can offer the input needed to optimise current construction supply chains.

This paper adopts an integrative general review of the academic literature pertaining to the British construction sector, construction SCM, ḥalāl food supply chains, ḥalāl assurance and control processes. The extensive literature review is crucial because it will enable introducing “ḥalāl” to construction SCM, hence ḥalāl construction supply chain management (“ḤCSCM”). ḤCSCM will then be applied to one of the most recent British construction SCM systems to identify how ḤCSCM can complement existing systems.

The findings indicate that ḤCSCM can further alleviate the complexities thwarting the British construction sector on a supply chain level. This is attributed to taʿrīf’s tailored identification and traceability processes, iltizām’s cross-lateral monitoring processes and istiqāmah’s Sharīʿa-compliant, assured and verifiable certification system, all of which complement the existing construction supply chain assurance and control processes in the UK.

The conception of ḤCSCM promotes an untapped area in the academic literature. Academicians and practitioners can transplant ḥalāl principles from the ḥalāl food manufacturing sector into the British construction sector – similar to how construction SCM was founded by principles originating from the manufacturing industry. This paper highlights the shortfalls of construction SCM in British construction supply chains and propounds how ḤCSCM can resolve them.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze whether information asymmetry (ASYM) plays a mediating role in the relationship between corporate disclosure and cost of equity capital (COEC) in emerging markets such as Indonesia.

Design/Methodology/Approach: This study is a quantitative study using secondary data obtained from listed manufacturing firms from 2015 to 2017. Purposive sampling was used to select 105 firms. The design of this study was causality research, and the analysis was performed through ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and path analysis.

Findings: The results show that the level of disclosure for corporate social responsibility (CSR), intellectual capital, and enterprise risk management (ERM) reduces the COEC by suppressing ASYM. This finding confirms the argument that managers can reduce their companies’ COEC by reducing ASYM through increased disclosure. These results are controlled by earnings quality (EQL) because that is most relevant to the COEC, as well as corporate size, leverage, and differences in institutional factors.

Originality/Value: This research is based on the central assumption that disclosure enhances the level of information while EQL remains the focus for investors. This research is also the first to study CSR disclosure, intellectual capital disclosure, and ERM disclosure together as a proxy for disclosure. The findings confirm that managers can reduce their companies’ agency conflict by increasing their level of disclosure. Managers can also reduce the COEC by reducing ASYM through increased disclosure. This also implies that increasing the level of disclosure will be effective in reducing the COEC for companies in emerging markets, such as Indonesia.

The purpose of this study is to explore the salience of glass ceiling type barriers in the Lebanese banking sector, based on the perceptions of a sample of Lebanese top and middle level women managers.

Literature review and survey type questionnaire molded after the women workplace culture questionnaire developed by Bergman and Hallberg. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 61 top and middle level women managers, drawn from the context of 12 different banks in the Lebanese context.

The findings suggest that the common precepts of the glass ceiling theory are not supported in the context of Lebanese banks with overall positive inferences and perceptions reported by Lebanese women managers in relation to their work environment and daily work experiences. These findings are explained by the progressive evolution of the Lebanese banking sector over the past few decades.

The value added of this research is to revisit the salience of the glass ceiling in a non‐traditional context, namely Lebanon. While the findings encountered in the banking sector cannot be generalized to the entire Lebanese society, they nevertheless present an unexpected trend and potentially interesting implications stemming from an Arab‐Middle‐Eastern context.

The purpose of this paper is to look at how recent corporate scandals have translated into heightened interest in understanding various facets of corporate governance, notably the effectiveness of boards of directors and the composition of boards with particular attention to the gender dimension. In this context, the current study gauges the perceptions of Lebanese women managers regarding corporate governance issues pertaining to board effectiveness, roles and responsibilities and the benefits of female representation on boards.

The approach takes the form of a literature review and survey type questionnaire deriving from the literature. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 61 top and middle level women managers, drawn from the context of 12 different banks in the Lebanese context.

The findings suggest that Lebanese women managers consider current board performance as not being satisfactory, that women are important board member candidates and that the low representation of women on boards in Lebanon is related to glass ceiling type impediments. They also believed that women board representation can reflect positively on the status of women at work and that government intervention is needed to level the playing field for women in management and at the boardroom level.

The value added of this research is to gauge Lebanese women's perceptions regarding corporate governance issues and the gender dimension, which is of direct relevance/interest to them. Moreover, these expressed perceptions are compared with what is reported in the literature, suggesting overall congruence between the experiences/perceptions of women in various contexts.

This paper provides a quantitative review of the literature on the repercussions of idiosyncratic information on firms’ cost of equity (CoE) capital. In total, I review the results of 113 unique studies examining the CoE effects of information Quantity, Precision and Asymmetry. My results suggest that the association between firm-specific information and CoE is subject to moderate effects. First, the link between Quantity and CoE is moderated by disclosure types and country-level factors in that firms in comparatively weakly regulated countries tend to enjoy up to four times greater CoE benefits from more expansive disclosure—depending on the type of disclosure—than firms in strongly regulated markets. Second, a negative relationship between Precision and CoE is only significant in studies using non-accrual quality proxies for Precision and risk factor-based (RFB)/valuation model-based (VMB) proxies for CoE. Third, almost all VMB studies confirm the positive association between Asymmetry and CoE, but there is notable variation in the conclusions reached when ex post CoE measurers are used.

This chapter addresses one of the most common and long-standing problems among college students, namely depression, as well as a potential consequence of depression, suicide. A formal definition of depression is presented, and symptoms of depression are discussed. Notably, clinical depression is differentiated from “feeling down” or having “the blues.” Common measures of depression for college students are described, and the current prevalence of depression among college students is explored, along with data pertaining to trends and trajectories. Particular attention is devoted to differences in rates and severity of depression among students of various ethnicities, gender identities, disabilities and sexual orientations. Next, the chapter covers various theories about and studies on the causes and consequences of depression, as well as preventive and remedial efforts that students can engage in to minimize the adverse effects of depression. The chapter concludes with a focus on college student suicide, including its prevalence, predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and prevention and treatment of college student suicide.

Empirical accounting research frequently makes use of data sets with a time‐series and a cross‐sectional dimension ‐ a panel of data. The literature review indicates that South African researchers infrequently allow for heterogeneity between firms when using panel data and the empirical example shows that regression results that allow for firm heterogeneity are materially different from regression results that assume homogeneity among firms. The econometric analysis of panel data has advanced significantly in recent years and accounting researchers should benefit from those improvements.

This paper examines the relation between governance (as measured by board and audit committee characteristics) and accounting quality (as measured by abnormal accruals) in a setting where there is no a priori reason to suspect systematic management of earnings. Using data from Singapore and Malaysia, we find both board size and audit committee independence are related to lower abnormal working capital accruals. Furthermore, the relation between audit committee independence and higher quality accounting exists only when the abnormal accruals are income increasing. This suggests that audit committees are effective in the financial reporting process by reducing the level of income increasing abnormal accruals. The results also indicate that audit committees are effective only when all members are independent directors.

This study aims to identify the challenges, promote respective solutions and construct strategies for the implementation of the halal supply chain in Indonesia’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This research used the analytic network process in nine respondents categorised into three groups of relevant stakeholders: government, academia and industry.

Seven essential criteria for the implementation of a halal supply chain in SMEs were identified, namely, the process, packaging, storage, transportation, fundamental aspects, supporting policy and technology. Notably, the high cost of adopting blockchain technology was the most crucial issue, particularly in SMEs.

Through the findings, several critical factors to consider in the implementation of halal supply chains for SMEs were identified. The investment in halal supply chain technology, which incurs a high cost carried by entrepreneurs, is a burden for SMEs. For this reason, further studies are required to formulate and develop cost-effective halal supply chain technology for SMEs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first attempt of comprehensively mapping the barriers and developing strategic solutions to implement the halal supply chain by Indonesia’s SMEs.

This paper aims to review how the metaverse influences and contributes to the halal industry, particularly focusing on halal logistics (HL), halal supply chain management (HSCM) and consumer behavior.

This paper analyzed scholarly studies to investigate existing literature and current as well as future trends in the adoption of the metaverse in HL, supply chains and consumer behavior. The study explores the thematic structure of the current knowledge landscape, identifies research gaps and highlights potential directions for future research at the intersection of the metaverse, supply chain and halal behavior. The authors identified 286 papers that examined the integration of the metaverse with HL practices, supply chain management strategies and consumer behavior in alignment with Islamic principles and standards.

The results indicate a limited number of studies on the successful adoption of the metaverse in HL, HSCM and behavioral research. This paper has proposed a framework for the metaverse-supply chain and halal behavior. The framework can serve as a reference for scholars and practitioners on how to incorporate advanced technology to engage with and predict market demand. Additionally, the metaverse-supply chain framework can be used to align with halal supply chain practices based on customer needs and preferences. The metaverse integrates the virtual world, enabling halal supply chain networks to enhance virtual reality, digital experiences and business performance.

The halal industry can showcase products and services through virtual scenarios, avatars and shops. By developing a halal-compliant metaverse, the halal industry can facilitate activities such as online sales, online payments and virtual marketing, thereby enabling a digital business transformation. Embracing the metaverse can improve business efficiency and influence consumer behavior, decisions and compliance with Shariah principles.

The authors argue that this paper is at the forefront and will serve as a reference for future research. This paper is distinct from existing literature, as it focuses on metaverse adoption and its correlation with a Shariah compliance framework in logistics, supply chain and behavioral aspects. Through its findings, this framework aims to inspire further empirical research and provide guidance and solutions to foster sustainable development in the halal industry.