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This research designed, optimized and tested a context-specific scale to evaluate public sector employees' pension choices.

The authors developed the scale using a comprehensive process of interviews and focus groups with experts across academia and finance. The authors used the refined scale to collect data from 564 faculty members in public sector universities following a multistage systematic cluster sampling technique. The findings revealed diversity in choice across different socio-economic and demographic variables.

The results revealed that items related to the defined benefit pension system explain most of the data variance and are preferred widely. This is followed by a preference for monetizing pension benefits and a defined contribution system. These findings indicated the need for flexible pension plans.

Therefore, the progressive movement towards monetization and the shift from defined benefit to a defined contribution pension system due to economic pressures must be accurately calculated and introduced where it is suitable.

Although the theory of introducing a defined contribution pension system and monetization system is appealing, its practical implementation may not be encouraging for all employees.

The purpose of this study is to explore the necessity for developing Islamic sustainable and responsible investment (i-SRI) criteria based on environmental, social and governance issues.

To address the above objective, this study adopted a qualitative method via content document analysis and interviews with experts.

Based on the analysis, this study discovered five primary aspects that lead to the necessity for developing i-SRI criteria. First, Malaysia has yet to develop i-SRI criteria. Second, the absence of i-SRI criteria will eventually lead to Shariah issues. Third, any Islamic financial instrument is bound to encounter numerous issues and challenges, thereby making it difficult to be marketed globally if it does not have a proper and standardized framework. Fourth, the establishment of i-SRI criteria can serve as a key reference point for the players in the industry, including investors, policymakers and other parties. Finally, the development of i-SRI criteria can play a vital role in enhancing the current Islamic capital market products offering in Malaysia.

There are several implications identified in this study. First, continuous research on the i-SRI criteria can offer numerous benefits to the regulatory bodies and policymakers who can use the findings in their decision-making process. Second, in terms of investors, the results can help them to make better investment choices by referring to the i-SRI criteria. Third, this study will be valuable to the academicians in terms of opportunity to explore a new research area, i.e. the i-SRI criteria, besides adding to the extant literature on this topic which is still scant currently.

This study discovered five primary aspects that lead to the necessity for developing i-SRI criteria.

This paper aims to examine the level and the relationship between the perception of the performance of takaful operators and the customers’ intention in using medical takaful card among public sectors in Kedah, Malaysia.

A quantitative research methodology was advocated to answer the objectives progressively. Data were collected from questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS v22. In total, 313 respondents were selected from three public sectors in Kedah, Malaysia.

The review found that the level of customers’ perception of performance towards the customers’ intention in using medical takaful card was high. Besides, the findings concluded that a positive moderate relationship was observed between the perception of the performance of takaful operators and the customers’ intention in using medical takaful card among public officers in Kedah, Malaysia.

There were three major limitations of this paper. These limitations are further explained in the conclusion.

This study has provided some major implications. First, on behalf of the public sector institutions, the results of this study clearly showed that the intention of the public sector officers in using medical takaful card should be increased. Second, on behalf of the industry, this study could acknowledge them to improve their performance to increase efficiency, creativity and innovation to create a good impression among consumers. Third, the previous theory and literature related to the perception of performance is suitable to use even in the event that the takaful industry has been proven.

The paper is useful to takaful operators to provide a good perception of their performance in the process of influencing the customers, especially among the public sector officers, to enrol in the medical takaful coverage.

The purpose of this study was identifying factors that encourage property tax payment among property owners, specifically from the residential property segment within the Malaysian context. This aim is derived from existing evidence which clearly indicates a steady annual increase in property tax arrears from non-complying property owners as reported by the local governments (LGs).

This research was conducted using a survey method where a questionnaire was used as the research instrument in garnering the necessary study data. The collected data was analyzed through quantitative means towards gleaning study findings to fulfil the set objectives. The analyses used within this study were reliability analysis, descriptive analysis and factor analysis.

Research findings indicate that there are five factors that encourage property tax payment, namely, the proactive action capability of LGs; stimulation of payment; quality of staff and service; reliable tax foundation and governance; and smart expenditure. The identification of these factors has the potential to act as a mitigation mechanism for LGs to alleviate the issue of property tax arrears.

The findings of this study may be used by LGs in developing a comprehensive action plan to encourage property owners to pay taxes. The study findings are exploratory in nature, based on the locality of the LG selected in this study, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP). As such, the findings may not be considered as a generalization of the property tax situation throughout Malaysia as study data was only collected from the administrative region of MBPP. However, these findings can still be used as a basis in establishing similar studies within other LGs which demonstrate similar characteristics with MBPP.

In the Malaysian scenario, the focus of the previous studies on property tax arrears revolves around actions that have been taken by LGs to encourage the payment of property tax. However, in this study, the determination of encouraging factors is no longer referred to LG perspectives but was investigated from the taxpayer dimension. This approach allows new mitigating ideas to be developed and adds value in the context of a different perspective towards establishing a more practicable action plan in reducing property tax arrears.

The practices of sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) among Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) nowadays still rely on the existing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. However, based on observation, some of the existing criteria listed by the reports of certain authorities and organizations do not seem to be aligned with Shariah principles. Therefore, this study aims to investigate those criteria to help develop Islamic-SRI (i-SRI) criteria based on the ESG concept.

This study adopted the qualitative method via content analysis of documents and interviews with experts.

Based on the analysis, a set of i-SRI criteria is developed based on the ESG concept, of which 33 elements are environmental, 50 elements are social and 26 elements are governance issues. Overall, this study finds that there is no obvious contradiction with the Islamic philosophy in the existing ESG criteria, with the exception of four criteria, i.e. promoting human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of censorship and freedom of association under social criteria. These four existing criteria are not aligned with Islamic teaching and not appropriate with Islamic ESG criteria.

The creation of Islamic ESG criteria can assist relevant authorities to improve the current ESG criteria and to embed an Islamic perspective within it.

This study developed a set of i-SRI criteria, which may be suitable as a source of reference to relevant parties.

This study aims to examine the institutional investors’ preferences for internal governance mechanisms (internal audit function and audit committee effectiveness) in an emerging country like Malaysia.

A sample of 2,020 yearly firm observations in Bursa Malaysia over the period 2009-2012 is used. The two-stage least squares using instrumental variables (IV-2SLS) analysis is used to examine the relationships. To corroborate the findings of this study, a regression based on a one-year lag of the independent variables is used. Furthermore, ordinary least square regression and Generalized Method of Moments using instrumental variables (IV-GMM) are used.

Positive associations are found between the internal audit function and audit committee effectiveness and the institutional ownership.

These findings imply that institutional investors gravitate to firms that have high investment in internal audit function and effective audit committee. These findings are consistent with the conjecture that institutional investors try to minimize monitoring and exit costs and meet their fiduciary responsibility by investing in better internal audit firms.

This study offers insights to policymakers interested in enhancing internal governance mechanisms to attract institutional investors.

Limited empirical studies have examined the relation between internal governance mechanisms (internal audit function and audit committee effectiveness) and institutional ownership. This study adds to the existing literature on the importance of internal governance mechanisms by documenting an association between internal audit function and audit committee effectiveness and institutional ownership in an emerging country like Malaysia.

On 1 April 1978, the Israeli peace movement burst into world consciousness when an estimated 25,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv to urge the administration of Prime Minister Menachem Begin to continue peace negotiations with Egypt. A grassroots group called Peace Now is credited with organizing and leading that demonstration. Today, the “peace camp” refers to left‐wing political parties and organizations that hold dovish positions on the Arab‐Israeli conflict and the Palestinian issue. While some figures in the Labor Party view themselves as the peace movement's natural leader, political parties further to the left like the Citizens Rights Movement (CRM) and Mapam are more dovish. In the last 10 years, many grassroots peace organizations have, like Peace Now, formed outside the political party system, with the goal of influencing public opinion and eventually having an impact on policy makers. Peace Now is still the largest, most visible and influential of those organizations.

Throughout the extant studies on Islamic work values, many variations in the concept of Islamic work values were found. This has created some confusions and misunderstandings on what is the core of Islamic work values that is highly emphasized by Islam. The unanimity of Islamic work values is fundamental to Islamic organizations, and businesses in particular, as it indicates ethical, effectiveness and religious reputations of the organizations. This paper aims to identify the core Islamic work values based on Islamic legal texts (the Qur‘an and the Hadith as the two main Islamic sources), the writings of Islamic scholars and then to have experts verify whether or not the identified work values are core Islamic work values.

The paper used a qualitative approach where Islamic legal texts (the Qur’an and the Hadith) as well as the writing of Islamic scholars were used as a main reference to identify the core Islamic work values. These identified core Islamic work values were later verified by the muftīs. The verification assessment involved six muftīs from Malaysia.

The final result revealed that 14 core Islamic work values have been verified by the muftīs. These 14 considered core Islamic work values are essential work values of Islam which are important to achieve effective work performance.

The findings presented are useful for managers and employees in Islamic organizations to decide on what Islamic work values that should be given more precedence and to be practised in their organizations.

This is a novel study that combines two approaches, the Islamic legal texts and muftīs verification regarding the work values obtained that can be accepted as the core Islamic work values. Therefore, these findings can be a guide for many future studies in the area of Islamic work values.

This study aims to examine the effects of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the firm risk of Bursa Malaysia listed firms. Also, this study examines the moderating effect of CSR between TMT heterogeneity and firm risk.

This study uses panel regression models to test the hypotheses. The sample of this study is Bursa Malaysia non-financial listed firms from 2013 to 2017 with 3,055 observations.

This study finds significant effects of TMT age and tenure heterogeneities on total risk. Effects on idiosyncratic risk are evident only within age heterogeneity. Further, this study finds negative effects of CSR on total and idiosyncratic risks. CSR significantly moderates the relationship between total TMT heterogeneity and firm systematic risk.

This study reduces the literature gap by providing useful insights on the effects of CSR activities and TMT heterogeneity on firm risk. The findings can also provide hints to investors to assist them in assessing firm risk based on TMT heterogeneity and firms’ CSR. This study can also benefit shareholders in their attempts to mitigate the risk of their portfolio by investing in firms that are socially responsible as firms with high CSR suffer lower total and idiosyncratic risks.

Previous studies have emphasised on the influence of TMT characteristics and CSR on firm performance. However, studies that investigate the effects of TMT heterogeneity and CSR on firm risk are limited in the context of Malaysia.