This paper aims to present an account and discussion of Imam Ali’s view on poverty and socio-economic justice. The concept of socio-economic justice is of utmost importance in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an account and discussion of Imam Ali’s view on poverty and socio-economic justice. The concept of socio-economic justice is of utmost importance in Islamic teachings.
Design/methodology/approach
This exercise is based on examining Nahj al-Balagha, a tenth century collection of sermons and letters of Imam Ali Ibn Abutalib.
Findings
First, in Imam Ali’s view, socially just outcomes can only be achieved through just means and procedures. Second, acute and visible inequalities and side-by-side co-existence of extreme wealth and poverty in a society point to the existence of socio-economic injustices. Third, a society that is suffering from severe and continuous socio-economic injustices or, in other words, acute poverty and inequality will cease to prosper and develop. Fourth, the main objective of an Islamic governance system is to adopt policies, institutions and procedures that would reduce or eliminate socio-economic injustices. A government that fails to reduce socio-economic injustices, in Imam Ali’s view, has failed in its main mission of protecting the rights of the public and ensuring their prosperity. Finally, regardless of government action or inaction, each individual in a society is also responsible to reduce socio-economic injustices to the best of his/her knowledge and ability.
Originality/value
This paper aims to present the first comprehensive account of Imam Ali’s view on poverty and socio-economic justice and it could prove to be practically useful to modern Muslims and non-Muslims alike, whatever their position in society.
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With an extensive range of information available at the swipe of a finger, the smartphone has become a ubiquitous tool for augmenting conversation. Users of English as a lingua…
Abstract
Purpose
With an extensive range of information available at the swipe of a finger, the smartphone has become a ubiquitous tool for augmenting conversation. Users of English as a lingua franca (ELF) often rely on such technology to help establish friendships by using them to sustain intersubjectivity. But how do they manage the multiple involvements this entails, such as participating in current talk while searching for linguistic items?
Methodology/approach
This study employs multimodal Conversation Analysis to undertake a detailed account of the way two young people, a Japanese male (22) and an Indonesian male (16) incorporate smartphones into their lingua franca English interaction. The analysis is based on naturally occurring conversations video-recorded by the Japanese participant, while both boys were living with an American homestay family.
Findings
The analysis explores the role of the smartphone in forward-oriented repair, including how the interactants, look up unfamiliar words, delay turn progressivity to fit those words into the turn-in-progress, and use images to accompany an unclear term. Speakers also occasionally abandon a look-up in order to reformulate the turn without the smartphone, relying instead on their own interactional competence.
Originality/value
The study offers insight into the way young people use smartphones as an affordance to manage and repair aspects of their L2 talk, enabling them to enhance their current interactional competence by drawing on the vast range of semiotic resources the phone possesses. Ensuring understanding is essential for developing and maintaining friendships, and for this particular peer culture of lingua franca English speakers, smartphones are a key tool for accomplishing that. As such, the study will be of interest to researchers and educators in the fields of both technology and interaction.
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As publishers and academia swiftly head towards e-textbooks, it is important to understand how students feel about using e-textbooks as a primary learning tool. This paper…
Abstract
As publishers and academia swiftly head towards e-textbooks, it is important to understand how students feel about using e-textbooks as a primary learning tool. This paper discusses results of a small-scale study looking into how a group of language learners view and use e-textbooks as learning tools in ESL classrooms. The paper concludes by offering teaching implications that could ease integrating e-textbooks in language classrooms in a more effective and efficient manner.
Ahmad Ali Jan, Fong-Woon Lai, Syed Quaid Ali Shah, Muhammad Tahir, Rohail Hassan and Muhammad Kashif Shad
Sustainability is essential to the ongoing operations of banks, though it is much less clear how Islamic corporate governance (ICG) promotes economic sustainability (ES) and…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability is essential to the ongoing operations of banks, though it is much less clear how Islamic corporate governance (ICG) promotes economic sustainability (ES) and thereby prevents bankruptcy. To explore the unexplored, this study aims to examine the efficacy of ICG in preventing bankruptcy and enhancing the ES of Islamic banks operating in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study measures ES through Altman's Z-score to analyze the level of the industry's stability and consequently examines the effect of ICG on the ES of Islamic banks in Pakistan for the post-financial-crises period. Using the country-level data, this study utilized a fixed-effect model and two-stage least squares (2SLS) techniques on balanced panel data spanning from 2009 to 2020 to provide empirical evidence.
Findings
The empirical results unveiled that board size and meetings have a significant positive influence on the ES while managerial ownership demonstrated an unfavorable effect on ES. Interestingly, the insignificant effect of women directors became significant with the inclusion of controlled variables. Overall, the findings indicate that ICG is an efficient tool for promoting ES in Islamic banks and preventing them from the negative effects of emerging crises.
Practical implications
The findings provide concrete insights for policymakers, regulators and other concerned stakeholders to execute a sturdy corporate governance system that not only oversees the economic, social and ethical aspects but also provides measures to alleviate the impacts of potential risks like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social implications
Examining the role of ICG in alleviating bankruptcy risk is an informative and useful endeavor for all social actors.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first efforts to provide evidence-based insights on the role of ICG in preventing bankruptcy and offers a potential research direction for ES.
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Ghada A. El-Kot and Ronald J. Burke
This study aims to examine the relationship of the Islamic work ethic (IWE) and individualism among a large sample of supervisors working in Egypt, replicating earlier work by Ali…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship of the Islamic work ethic (IWE) and individualism among a large sample of supervisors working in Egypt, replicating earlier work by Ali (2005, 1987).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 484 male and female supervisors working in manufacturing organizations using anonymously completed questionnaires, 48 per cent response rate.
Findings
Measures of IWE and individualism were highly reliable and significantly and positively correlated (0.39, p < 0.001), replicating Ali’s work. Males and females scored similarly on both measures. Younger mangers were more individualistic, again supporting Ali’s findings. The Egyptian sample also scored very high on both measures, as do samples from other countries. Factor analysis of the IWE suggested two interpretable factors and the possibility of creating a shorter version of the IWE.
Research limitations/implications
An interesting question becomes why are levels of economic performance in these countries relatively low despite very high levels of commitment to the IWE? This raised the issue of potential social desirability in the measure of IWE. Future research must include indicators of both individual and work unit performance to examine this further.
Practical implications
Suggestions are offered on ways that organizations can develop reliable and valid measures of the IWE and examine their relationships with actual job and work group performance.
Originality/value
Supports continuing research on the usefulness of the IWE concept and measures in management research.
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In 2020, Sports Illustrated proclaimed its “Sportsperson of the Year” as something dubbed “the activist athlete,” choosing five athletes – LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, Patrick…
Abstract
In 2020, Sports Illustrated proclaimed its “Sportsperson of the Year” as something dubbed “the activist athlete,” choosing five athletes – LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, Patrick Mahomes, Naomi Osaka, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif – that represented the term. Like so many athletes who came before them, these athletes vividly demonstrate the potential of sport to shine a spotlight on critical issues in society, yet again solidifying how sport does not exist merely as some kind of escape, but is a major stakeholder in global campaigns for social justice.
This chapter historicizes the contemporary resurgence of athlete activism, largely connected to the reawakening of Black Lives Matters (BLM) in 2020, within what journalist Howard Bryant has called The Heritage, with athletes who acknowledge and accept the charge to use their spotlights for those who have none. From the turning point of the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, which saw collective movements of African-American athletes culminate in the powerful Black power protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, a protest that built upon the legacies of so many, to the ongoing debates that surround the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Rule 50, athletes have long understood how sport serves not only as an integral part of society but also as an agent for change. Contemporary cries for athletes to “shut up and dribble” echo past claims that sport takes place on a level playing field that transcends politics. The history of sports demonstrates otherwise, as athletes embody every imaginable, intersectional, classification of political actor.
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Afzaal Ali, Mehkar Sherwani, Adnan Ali, Zeeshan Ali and Mariam Sherwani
This paper aims to apply the concept of traditional branding constructs, i.e. brand image, brand perceived quality, brand satisfaction, brand trust and brand loyalty to a less…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to apply the concept of traditional branding constructs, i.e. brand image, brand perceived quality, brand satisfaction, brand trust and brand loyalty to a less explored field of halal brand products – halal brand image, halal brand perceived quality, halal brand satisfaction, halal brand trust and halal brand loyalty. Second, the present research is an effort to empirically validate the interrelationships among branding constructs such as brand image, brand perceived quality, brand satisfaction, brand trust and brand loyalty in a holistic framework to confirm whether these branding constructs also work for the halal brand in the same way to gauge Chinese Muslims consumers’ purchasing intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used cross-sectional data from 481 Chinese Muslim students at 9 universities located in 3 cities of China through face-to-face and online survey methods. Data were collected from the consumers of halal milk brand. A theoretical model with the hypothesized relationships was tested with the help of the structural equation modelling procedure.
Findings
The results suggest that halal brand image has a significant and positive influence on the halal brand perceived quality, halal brand satisfaction, halal brand trust and halal brand loyalty. Similarly, the halal brand perceived quality, halal brand satisfaction, halal brand trust and halal brand loyalty significantly influence consumer halal brand purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
This study is conducted in the halal food sector of China and specific religious and migration contexts. Further investigations of the halal food purchasing behaviour of local Muslims, as well as international Muslim students in those Western countries which are famous destinations for international students for education, could yield varying results.
Practical implications
The outcomes achieved are helpful for commerce and government organizations for policy development to better meet the burgeoning demand for halal products by Chinese Muslims. These are also very helpful for producers and exporters who intend to penetrate the halal market in non-Muslim-dominant countries such as China.
Originality/value
Studies on understanding Muslim consumers’ purchasing behaviours in non-Muslim countries are limited. Given the fact, numbers of Muslims seem a smaller amount of China’s total population, but their total numbers are large compared with total numbers in many Muslim countries. Therefore, understanding their purchasing behaviours for halal products and influential determinants concerning such purchasing behaviours adds to the literature and helps the industry to better serve and capitalise on the growing market.
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Mohammed Awad Alshahrani, Muhammad Zafar Yaqub, Murad Ali, Imane El Hakimi and Mohammad Asif Salam
Building on social cognitive theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to discern the innovative work behaviors of organizational employees as the process by which…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on social cognitive theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to discern the innovative work behaviors of organizational employees as the process by which they generate, develop and implement new and valuable ideas, practices, products or procedures shaped by entrepreneurial leadership by reinforcing intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy under the boundary condition of a firm’s innovative climate.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used partial least squares-based structural equation modeling on a sample of 203 employees of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Saudi Arabia.
Findings
This study found that entrepreneurial leadership improves employees’ innovative work behavior by successively enhancing their intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy. Furthermore, the analysis confirmed that a firm’s innovative climate significantly moderates the strength of the indirect mediation effect between entrepreneurial leadership and employees’ innovative work behavior through sequential mediation.
Practical implications
The findings of this study yield substantial theoretical and practical implications resulting from a fine-grained understanding of the instrumentality of entrepreneurial leadership in fostering employees’ innovative work behavior. Effectively orchestrating these psychological mechanisms could enable entrepreneurial leaders to alleviate their behaviors.
Originality/value
This is an original study that outlines the importance of aligning entrepreneurial leadership and an innovative climate to shape intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy in employees’ innovative work behavior. It demonstrates how entrepreneurial leadership enhances innovative work behavior through the sequential mediation of intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy under the boundary condition of an innovative climate.
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Nabil Hussein Al-Fahim, Ali Ahmed Ateeq, Zahida Abro, Marwan Milhem, Mohammed Alzoraiki, Tamer M. Alkadash and Muskan Nagi
The purpose of this research was to investigate at the influence of technology acceptance model (TAM) characteristics including perceived ease of use, perceived compatibility, and…
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to investigate at the influence of technology acceptance model (TAM) characteristics including perceived ease of use, perceived compatibility, and perceived security on the perceived utility and actual use of mobile banking among Yemeni academics. It also investigated the function of perceived utility as a moderator in the link between TAM variables and mobile banking adoption. The sample size was 251 respondents who worked at universities in Yemen and were chosen using stratified random selection. According to the findings, perceived compatibility and perceived security had a substantial positive influence on perceived usefulness and real mobile banking use; however perceived simplicity of use had no effect on mobile banking usage. According to the results, perceived usefulness slightly mediated the association between perceived ease of use and security and mobile banking use, whereas it completely mediated the relationship between perceived compatibility and mobile banking usage. Overall, the research proved the significance of TAM elements in academics’ use of mobile banking in Yemen, offering a credible empirical framework for studying mobile banking usage in this setting.
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The present paper aims at defining and analyzing the techniques, strategies, and challenges in translating the euphemism of two English interpretations of the Holy Quran. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The present paper aims at defining and analyzing the techniques, strategies, and challenges in translating the euphemism of two English interpretations of the Holy Quran. The first is the translation of Abdullah Yusuf Ali (14 April 1872–10 December 1953), whereas the second is the translation of Arthur John Arberry (12 May 1905–2 October 1969).
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative approach that is introduced through a theoretical framework thatdiscusses and elaborates on the term “euphemism”. After that, the study uses analytical approaches in order to define and analyze the techniques and strategies in translating the euphemism of two English interpretations of the Holy Quran.
Findings
The results elaborate on the techniques used by the two translators to translate the euphemisms of two English interpretations of the Holy Quran.
Originality/value
The reason for selecting these two translations is to find the different techniques and approaches of both Eastern and Western translators. The main analysis of the study is based on Newmark’s perceptions about the techniques and strategies of translation.