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The main purposes of this paper were to assess effects of smallholder farmers access to livelihood capital (e.g. land, livestock and water) on livestock water productivity (LWP) and to evaluate impacts of selected interventions in reducing livestock water demand (per unit of livestock product) and therefore increasing LWP.

A total of 203 sample farm households were selected in intensive and semi‐intensive crop‐livestock systems of Indo‐Ganga basin of India. A household survey was undertaken to capture data on land, water and livestock management. For the analysis, sample farms were clustered into poor, medium, better‐off. LWP is estimated as a ratio of livestock beneficial‐outputs (e.g. milk) to depleted‐water (i.e. evapotranspired water to produce livestock feed). Impacts of selected interventions, on LWP, were analyzed using scenarios developed on a spread sheet model.

The results showed different LWP values among farm‐clusters and levels of intensification. The intensive systems showed higher LWP than the semi‐intensive. In the baseline, dairy water demand to produce a liter of milk was higher than the world average: ranging between 1,000 and 29,000 L. Among the farm‐clusters, variation of LWP was system specific and affected by farmers' access to virtual water trading (i.e. milk and feed). Improving milk productivity, feed quality and feed water productivity reduced livestock water demand per liter of milk substantially and, therefore, the saved water can be used to augment ecosystem services that can mitigate the impacts of climate change.

This paper revealed that in the study systems LWP, in the business as usual scenario, is low. But by improving animal productivity, quality feed supply and water conservation substantial volume of water can be saved.

This paper aims to explore and model the factors of management quality dimension (FMQD) in evaluating banking performance.

The FMQD in evaluating banking performance are explored through the review of literature. The identified factors are modeled using integrated fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) and Matrices’ Impacts Croise’s Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement (MICMAC) approach. Scenario analysis is carried out on the proposed model to study the behavior in a dynamic setting.

The main finding of this study is the prioritization of FMQD in evaluating banking performance. The cohesive model obtained by FCM-MICMAC integrated approach demonstrates that the interlinked factors can be grouped into independent, autonomous, dependent and relay clusters. The results suggest that internal control system is the most influential factor, whereas the business per employee is the most sensitive one in modeling management quality.

This study models the FMQD through expert opinions, and hence, individual bias may influence the results. This study can be further validated through statistical analysis.

The study suggests that practitioners may focus more on these select factors and their mutual interactions to enhance management quality for improving the performance of the banks. The study emphasizes that better clarity and efficient designing of internal processes are the key to management soundness.

This is the first study to explore and model FMQD in banking performance using FCM-MICMAC approach. Validation of the proposed model in a dynamic setting is also relatively new in the banking performance literature.

This paper explores whether data back the claim that imports of armaments are inherently bad for economic growth. Regardless of one's point of view, the production and trade of weaponry is a significant industry with serious economic implications that warrant investigation. The financial repercussions of military spending have been extensively studied, but the economic effects of arms importation remain unknown.

This study adopts a pooled mean group approach to investigate the nexus between arms imports, military expenditure and per capita GDP for a balanced panel of twenty-five of the top arms importers in the world from 2000 to 2021.

The authors find that arms imports and military spending negatively impact GDP per capita in the short run, but military spending is beneficial over the long run. The authors also used the Dumitrescu Hurlin Granger causality test, which revealed a unidirectional causation between per capita GDP and military expenditure, and a unidirectional causal relationship from military spending to arms imports.

This paper is deficient in a few aspects: first, it looks at only those countries comprising the top 70% of arms imports. Second, it omits many political, technological and legal factors that impact arms imports and military expenditures.

This paper looks into the impact of defense spending and arms imports on economic growth for twenty-five nations with the highest share of arms imports in recent times. It is a significant addition to the literature as it resolves the debate of whether or not the military expenditure is wasteful and whether arms imports significantly harm the nation's economic growth.

This paper aims to present a dynamic model for strategic and personalized decision-making in human resources (HR), using data mining techniques to enhance corporate social sustainability (CSS). The focus is on the interconnectedness of employee engagement (EE), enablement and the quality of work life.

The proposed model integrates various HR data, including demographic information, job specifications, payment and rewards, attendance and absence, alongside employees’ perceptions of their work-life quality, engagement and enablement. Data mining processes are applied to generate meaningful insights for senior and middle managers.

The study implemented the model within a production organization, revealing that factors influencing EE and enablement differ based on gender, marital status and occupational group. Performance-based rewards play a significant role in enhancing engagement, regardless of the reward amount. Factors such as “being recognized for competency” influence engagement for women, while payment has a greater impact on men. Engagement does not directly influence the quality of work life, but subcomponents like perceived transparency and the organization’s processes, particularly the “employee performance evaluation system,” improve work-life quality.

The findings are specific to the studied organization, limiting generalizability. Future research should explore the model’s effectiveness in different cultural and organizational settings.

The proposed model provides practical implications for organizations that enhance CSS. Organizations can gain insights into factors influencing EE and enablement by using data mining techniques, enabling informed decision-making and tailored human resource management practices.

This research addresses the societal concern regarding the impact of business activities on sustainability. Organizations can contribute to a more socially responsible and sustainable business environment by focusing on work-life quality and EE.

This paper offers a dynamic model using data mining and machine learning techniques for sustainable human resource management. It emphasizes the importance of customization to align practices with the unique needs of the workforce.

This paper investigates the performance of locally focused equity mutual funds (LFEFs) in Saudi Arabia as compared with the performance of benchmark funds. More specifically, the focal question pertains to whether Shariah-compliant mutual funds (SMFs) and conventional mutual funds (CMFs) outperform their respective benchmarks. Undertaken in the context of Saudi Arabia's economic planning under Vision 2030, the study offers a foundation for determining whether and the extent to which Shariah-compliant investment strategies are competitive—a matter of considerable importance across 57 Muslim countries.

The Carhart four-factor model is applied to a sample of 39 Saudi Arabian mutual funds (MFs) using the monthly net asset value (NAV) per share. The sample period, April 2007 to October 2016, is considered in its entirety and as three sub-periods, i.e. low-, medium- and high-volatility.

The results show that the locally focused equity mutual funds (LFEFs) significantly outperformed their benchmark, i.e. the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI), during the full sample period and the low-volatility period. According to the empirical comparison, the CMFs also outperformed their TASI benchmark for the full sample period and the low-volatility period. However, the SMFs neither outperformed nor underperformed their S&P Saudi Arabia Domestic Shariah Index benchmark. That is, for each of the SMFs included in the sample, the Jensen's alpha was insignificant for both the full sample and all three volatility sub-periods.

In this paper, the four-factor model is used in the context of a single country. The results, therefore, may not be generalizable to the multi-country level in the Gulf Council Cooperation (GCC) region given differences between the member countries in terms of financial structure and economic focus.

The results reported constitute a useful guide for policymakers and faith-based-sensitive investors concerned about the Shariah compliancy of their portfolios given that there is very little difference between how CMFs and SMFs performed in the focal period. This research can be extended to include other Islamic countries in the GCC region as a basis for identifying optimal investment vehicles, i.e. those most likely to produce high returns at low risk.

The work reported in this paper is original and constitutes a valuable asset for ethnoreligious-sensitive investors. The research has not been published in any capacity and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic content review and bibliometric analysis of the current research trends, core concepts and knowledge mapping on the topic Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF) during Covid-19. Apart from highlighting the contributions of prolific authors, prominent institutions and countries, a comprehensive review of a significant number of documents using co-citation and co-word analysis is carried out for the science mapping.

A data set of 125 papers was collected published in Scopus database during the period December, 2019 and January 5th, 2023. Yearly publications, most-cited papers and authors, active sources, affiliations and countries are highlighted with descriptive analysis. Knowledge structure of the topic was mapped with investigating the social, intellectual and conceptual structures of IBF research. Content analysis is carried out to uncover the underlying research clusters that shape the scientific knowledge structure of studies.

A diverse group of authors and institutions contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the topic. IBF is adopting new paradigms and frameworks to integrate FinTech, crowd funding and Islamic social finance to provide sustainable solutions in both crisis and normal periods. The research on IBF is classified in to three themes: “financial markets in Covid-19,” “modeling risk and market regimes” and “FinTech and Islamic social finance.”

This study collects data only from Scopus database. Future studies must include research articles from other databases such as, Web of Sciences.

This study highlights research gaps in the existing literature and provides directions for future research.

This study aims to identify the significant scientific actors, reveal the intellectual structure and explore essential features for future research direction in Sharia governance studies.

The study applies a hybrid review combining bibliometric analysis and content analysis. It uses Rstudio (biblioshiny), VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel to analyze 457 articles published in 206 journals indexed by Scopus and/or Web of Science during the period of 1985 until the end of 2022.

The paper discovered four distinct streams of Sharia governance studies: structure of Sharia governance, Sharia governance and risk management, Sharia governance and sustainability and the effect of Sharia governance toward firm’s financial performance. Furthermore, it derives and summarizes 26 main research questions for future studies.

In terms of theoretical implications, the finding contributes to the general literature on Sharia governance by conducting bibliometric analysis and content analysis. In terms of practical implications, this study suggests that Sharia governance should be strengthened by the management of Islamic banks and other Islamic-based businesses.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the early studies using a hybrid review on the topic of Sharia governance, allowing future researchers in this field to capture the trends and progress of current literature as well as the research gaps to be filled in by future researchers.

This article provides a narrative review of recent research on entrepreneurship and self-employment among immigrant women in Canada. The aim was to identify the state-of-the-art, current trends and findings in existing literature to suggest future research avenues.

Focusing on the Canadian context, a thorough search was conducted across four academic databases (EBSCO, ProQuest, Web of Science, and Cairn) for both peer-reviewed articles and grey literature. Fourteen papers and one report, published between 2010 and 2024, were selected and analyzed using a narrative approach.

The review identified the primary challenges faced by immigrant women entrepreneurs and self-employed workers in Canada according to recent research. Most of the existing literature comprises qualitative studies utilizing in-depth interviews, primarily focusing on specific ethnic groups. Research aimed at developing coordinated policy for support services constitutes a minority of the studies and are mostly situated in Quebec, highlighting a significant research gap for future investigation.

This paper consolidates the existing theoretical and empirical approaches to female immigrant entrepreneurship research within the Canadian context. The review sets the stage to suggest new avenues for further research, particularly to inform intersectoral planning and action to support immigrant women in entrepreneurial pursuits from an intersectionality standpoint.

This study aims to provide a bibliometric analysis of 1,104 journal articles to explore the multifaceted research field of Islamic finance and banking, explicitly emphasising the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Insights into the evolving trends and dynamics within the academic discourse are presented.

The research highlights different patterns and collaborative networks through co-authorship, co-occurrence and thematic map analyses. Prior to the pandemic, research focused primarily on customer satisfaction and compliance with Shariah principles. However, the pandemic heralded an increased discourse on sustainability, fintech and the financial crisis.

This review describes the prevailing academic terrain and identifies potential avenues for future research, particularly those that examine the socio-economic impact of the pandemic within the context of Islamic finance and banking.

Prominent author such as M. Kabir Hassan, leading institution such as the International Islamic University Malaysia and esteemed journal such as the International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management have been instrumental in shaping academic discussions and creating synergies in research. Moreover, Malaysia’s strong commitment to spatial research, evidenced by its robust global collaborations, underscores its pioneering role in the academic world of Islamic finance and banking.