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By the beginning of the third millennium, Euro-American culture, which is usually labelled as global culture, can be encountered in almost every corner of the world, even in remote areas. Not only physical structures but also social structures tend to be affected by the new culture. These phenomena evoke questions about the life and continuity of local traditions in the face of development or globalisation.

The dominant perspective argued that a global culture was being merged through the economic and political domination of the USA, which forced its hegemonic power into local cultures. This expansive cultural wave was regarded as a ‘corrosive homogenizing force’ against cultural diversity. The local culture would eventually give way under the relentless modernizing force of American cultural imperialism. With reference to the rise of Japanese economic domination, however, some scholars indicated that there is a new phenomenon of survival of the local culture. The Japanese adopted a global outlook and adapted to local conditions. This phenomenon however, should not be overly romanticized, due to the fact that global relations between the West and the East, or the North and the South are actually uneven, asymmetrical and unequal. Let alone the majority of developing countries are implementing development programmes that barely copy the capitalist development of Euro-American countries. Aspects of the Japanese experience however, still have influence on developing countries seeking revitalisation.

In developing countries, where development and globalization are taking place, ordinary people and their ordinary settlements are the crucial point of cultural interaction, which has not been well understood in terms of the process itself or the outcomes. It raises fundamental questions about the relationship between broad socio-economic and cultural change, under the general heading of ‘development’, to housing environments, as well as the more intimate relationship at the micro level between dwellers and their dwellings in situation where transformation is carried out by the people themselves. The use of domestic space as a part of culture is certainly influenced by the process of development and eventually results in new environmental outcomes in domestic architecture. This phenomenon could be spotlighted from Kent’s segmentation theory that concerns the relation of culture segmentation to architecture segmentation. It is of interest to investigate the process of architecture segmentation within the development process on the same level of culture segmentation that is still questioned by Kent’s proposition.

This paper investigates this within the context of Indonesia’s development programme. It consists of a detailed empirical study of three Madurese housing environments, which represent a continuum of settlements from the inner city of Surabaya to the inner remote area of Madura Island. Participant observation by living with households, in-depth interviews, measured drawings and photographs were the main methods of data collection complemented by a statistical survey. A projective test using models and in-depth interviews were used to explore peoples’ preferences as a tool to forecast future actions.

The central conclusion to be drawn from this research is that domestic architecture in Madura has undergone a fundamental transformation, mainly since Independence. This transformation is manifested in domestic space organisation and housing style. Although Kent’s theory appears to explain the match between culture segmentation and architecture segmentation, that proposition alone was found inadequate in explaining the differences within the highest levels of culture segmentation. This research found that within the same level of segmentation, the most segmented culture, persist the different architecture segmentation. Other factors, such as changes in the economic system, social structure and social relations, interplay within the development process affecting the different types of domestic space segmentation within the most segmented culture. Furthermore, within the transformation process, where the old and new forms meet, the nuance of hybridisation is always present. People adopted new forms that separated from existing practices and recombined with new forms in new practices. It is a part of people’s adaptation to smooth the transformation process of culture change.

This research aimed to raise awareness about the need for safety measures and features of online food delivery applications (OFDAs) to build electronic trust (e-trust) with augmented purchase intention among customers. Moreover, this study explores the attributes of electronic commerce (e-commerce) and how e-trust influences the purchasing intention of consumers while ordering food through OFDAs including fear of contagious diseases. Determinants of e-commerce in the digital era profoundly impact the performance of enterprises.

Data from 493 food consumers collected from Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Pakistan, who were regular users of OFDAs. To scrutinize the dataset, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the construct validity in this research study. Structural equation modeling (SEM), which is facilitated by Smart-PLS, was employed to examine the direct, moderation and mediation effects of the proposed model.

Results revealed the positive and significant impact of the e-trust on the purchase intention. Additionally, e-trust acted as a mediating factor in the connection between electronic security (e-security), electronic privacy (e-privacy), usability, electronic payment (e-payment), electronic innovativeness (e-innovativeness) and the buyer's purchase intention. Furthermore, the fear of contagious viruses negatively moderated the e-trust and purchase intention that weakened buying behavior.

This research is primarily centered on enhancing the comprehension regarding safety orientation within the context of an evolving restaurant industry. The findings of this study hold substantial contributions for academics, web developers, application designers, OFDAs, restaurants and other businesses since they indicate the attractiveness of OFDAs in generating feelings of pleasure and boosting users' intentions to keep using the application.

This study aims to clarify current thinking about Islamic leadership by returning to the original texts of Islam, the Qur'an and the hadith. These are analysed to identify foundational Islamic leadership prototypes, concepts and ideas. In so doing, the article provides original analysis of the foundations of Islamic leadership, so as to inform current debates about leadership in Islamic regions and communities.

The study consists of content analysis of the Qur'an and the hadith, to identify key concepts within these texts, concerning the nature of leadership. The methodological aim is to develop characterisations of Islamic leadership prototypes that are recognisable to practising Muslims today. In order to ensure this, the content analyses have been presented to academic seminar groups and conferences and refined through subsequent discussions.

Islamic leadership does not rely for its legitimacy upon traditional authority, but rather on rational-legal systems based on unity of purpose, acknowledgement of the one God, and the foundational example of Prophet Muhammad, whose referent and charismatic authority lives on in discussions of the sunnah and the hadith. It is thus vital to refine external or “etic” characterisations of Islamic leadership with an appreciation of leadership prototypes in the Qur'an, the sunnah and hadith.

The scope of this study is limited by the subject matter, the investigation of leadership prototypes in the Qur'an and the hadith. This means that the consideration of historically more recent Islamic thinking about leadership has been left to subsequent study.

Implications for subsequent researchers are the need for critical clarity in discussions of “Islamic” or “Muslim” leadership. Another significant implication comes with the recognition of the overwhelming importance of the Prophet Muhammad's life and sayings in laying the parameters for the subsequent Muslim discussions of leadership.

This is the first use of content analysis to examine the foundational leadership prototypes and concepts embedded in the Qur'an and the hadith, and thus to analyse the Prophet Muhammad as a referent and charismatic leader, whose life set the parameters for the subsequent understanding of Islamic leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concepts of hilah (legal stratagem or legal trick) and makhraj (legal exit) and to examine their relevance and application in the contemporary Islamic financial services and products.

This paper uses the qualitative research approach to provide a theoretical overview of hilah and makhraj literally and technically and to examine their practical applications in Islamic financial products and services. In particular, this paper evaluates several Islamic financial contracts and examines its practices in light of the implications of hilah or makhraj.

The paper finds that there is a glaring difference in perception and application of hilah and makhraj, as argued by some scholars. It has been found that the principle of hilah has been extensively used in the Islamic finance industry as a way to circumvent the riba prohibition. For example, Islamic financial instruments such as bay’ bithaman al-ajil, bay’ al-‘inah, tawarruq, commodity murabahah, musharakah mutanaqisah and, in some cases, the sale and lease back sukuk are found to be tainted by hilah.

Because this is a theoretical paper, it should be explored in more detail, and critical analysis of Islamic financial services and products should be reviewed in line with these two principles to ascertain if the products and services are in line with Shariah requirements and devoid of hilah practices or not and to align the industry with the maqasid al-Shariah.

This paper identifies a serious challenge that Islamic finance practitioners face in product development in their effort to provide more competitive services to their customers. As a result, it demonstrates the need to proactively use makhraj in innovating Islamic financial products and proffering more sustainable and competitive solutions.

This paper discusses a topic that attempts to dispel the suspicious perceptions of some analysts as to the genuineness of Islamic financial practices.

This paper aims to investigate if perceived security, trust and perceived privacy affect both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Also, the study explores if trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use influence consumers’ intentions to use the e-payment system which is supported by testing the moderation effect of gender on the intention to use such systems in the higher education institutes.

In total, 850 participants from United Arab Emirates (UAE) universities have filled an online questionnaire prepared for these aims. The survey instrument is composed of 22 items. The primary data was used to test the study model, proposed constructs and the study hypotheses using the Smart PLS Software.

The research confirmed that perceived security, trust and perceived privacy affect both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Also, the study found that trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have anticipated the significance of consumers’ intention to use e-payment system which is found also moderated by gender. Research outcomes indicated an important contribution towards the acceptance of e-payment systems and the common design of e-commerce systems.

Research outcomes have indicated an important contribution toward the acceptance of e-payment systems and the common design of e-commerce systems. Additionally, this study helped in increasing the reader’s understanding of various aspects of e-commerce, specifically consumers’ trust and privacy protection which consequently allows the online sellers to formulate appropriate strategies and actions imperative to serve the online purchasers and target the internet users.

The purpose of this study is to propose a contemporary human resource management (HRM) framework by zakat institutions, which collect and manage religious alms, both obligatory (zakat) and voluntary (ṣadaqah), in Malaysia.

In doing so, discussions pertaining to the key elements of zakat institutions’ HRM including recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, training and development and compensation are gathered from the existing literature and other sources of information such as zakat institutions’ websites and publications. In addition, zakat officers’ insight on how HRM is practiced at their institutions is gathered through a series of semi-structured interviews and incorporated in the findings of this study.

The paper finds that the state government, by virtue of the State Islamic Religious Council (SIRC), which is the sole trustee of all waqf properties in Malaysia, may have significant influence in formulating the human resource strategies and policies in zakat institutions.

The proposed HRM model can be a useful reference for SIRC in enhancing the current human resource practice in its respective zakat institutions.

The novelty of this study lies in the proposed HRM model applicable to zakat institutions. The model emphasizes the alignment between the zakat institutions’ HRM practice and their zakat collection and distribution goals, as well as zakat management objectives in general.

This study examines the main factors influencing banking customers' behavior toward smart banking services (SBS) adoption in Pakistan. This study extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) by integrating information privacy concern and big brother effect into an overarching conceptualization.

This study adopts theoretical constructs from the related literature and develops hypotheses. An analysis of 385 banking customers was performed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results show that most predictors of behavioral intention, including facilitating conditions, effort expectancy, habit, performance expectancy, hedonic motivation (except for social influence and price value), big brother effect and perceived information privacy concern are significant. Indeed, all predictors of use behavior are also significant. Gender and age differences between individuals further moderate the relationship between UTAUT2 constructs. Moreover, information privacy concern mediates the relationship between big brother effect and behavioral intention.

This cross-sectional study focused only on Pakistan as a developing country, which limits the generalizability of the results.

The roles of social influence and price value must be strengthened by employing marketing strategies and personalized communication. Banks should offer incentives and rewards to customers who recommend SBS to friends and family members. In addition, banks must consider the price factor when offering these services to increase their market share.

This study contributes to the field of technology adoption by providing a unique perspective of SBS adoption in Pakistan. This empirical study is the first to extend the UTAUT2 model by integrating information privacy concern and big brother effect to assess SBS acceptance and use behavior. This study examines SBS adoption issues at the national level, especially in Pakistan.