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The main purpose of this paper is to investigate autocorrelation structure of stock and portfolio returns in a unique market setting of Saudi Arabia, where nearly all active traders are the retail individuals and the market operates under severe limits to arbitrage. Specifically, the authors examine how return autocorrelation of Saudi Arabian stock market is related to factors such as the day of the week, stock trading, performance on the preceding day and volatility.

The sample consists of the daily stock price and index data of 159 firms listed in Tadawul (Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange) for the period from January 2004 through December 2015. The methodology of Safvenblad (2000) is primarily used to investigate the autocorrelation structure of individual stock and index returns. The authors also use the Sentana and Wadhwani (1992) methodology to test for the presence of feedback traders in the Saudi stock market.

Results show that there is significantly positive autocorrelation in individual stock, size portfolio and market returns and that the last two are almost always larger than the first. Return autocorrelation is negatively related to firm size. Interestingly, return autocorrelation is positively related to trading frequency. For portfolios, autocorrelation of returns following a high absolute return day is significantly higher than that following a low absolute return day. Similarly, return autocorrelation during volatile periods is generally larger than that during tranquil periods. Return correlation between weekdays is usually larger than that between the first and last days of the week. Overall, the results suggest that the possible reason for positive autocorrelation in stock returns could be the presence of negative feedback traders who are engaged in frequent profit-taking activities.

This is the first paper that thoroughly investigates the autocorrelation structure of the returns of the Saudi stock market using both index and individual stock returns. As this US$583bn (as of August 21, 2014) market opened to foreign institutional investors in June 2015, the results of this paper should be of significant value for the potential uninformed foreign investors in this relatively lesser known and previously closed yet highly prospective market.

This paper aims to study the predictors influencing hijabista satisfaction towards Hijab fashion brands and their willingness to pay premium pricing as fashion consumers. The effects of product design, product quality, social and self-identity have been studied in relation to product, and brand satisfaction is believed to have led to acceptance of premium pricing. Various factors have been studied and analysed to provide a better understanding of Hijab fashion consumer behaviour.

Data were collected by using online structured surveys distributed within the area of Shah Alam City in Malaysia. Convenience sampling was used in defining the 223 target respondents, and the collected data was analysed using Smart-PLS Software.

The results highlighted that product design has the largest influence on the willingness of hijabistas in paying premium prices, followed by products that reflect their social-identity while communicating their religious obligations and commitments. Communicating one’s self-identity was also found not to have a significant impact which relates to the importance of the religious and social commitments on hijabista purchasing choices rather than their own self-conceptual image.

This paper provides insights on the factors that affect hijabista satisfaction towards Hijab fashion products and brands. Conclusions provided are very relevant to the practices of the fashion industry, and in particular, for designers to understand the needs of this large and significant segment of the fashion market.

Hijab fashion is a growing segment in the fashion industry, and it has been gaining recent global attention. Designers need to be more aware of the requirements of this segment of the fashion market. This research focusses on Hijab consumer satisfaction and how this reflects their willingness to pay premium prices for chosen products and brands. Factors such as product design and quality, along with social and self-identity, were studied in connection with hijabista willingness to accept premium pricing. Such connections and terms have not been covered in previous literature.

Despite the significant growth in Islamic economies and the increasing number of Muslim youths inclining digital services, empirical-based research addressing the adoption of digital Islamic services is still limited. ZakaTech is a new phrase that has recently emerged as a modern term describing novel technologies adopted by zakat institutions; yet, it has been largely neglected in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to provide an integrated model that scrutinizes the determinants of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) of ZakaTech, combined with social cognitive theory (SCT), in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis where social distancing is the norm in conducting economic activities.

Based on cross-national evidence from two Muslim-majority countries, a total of 1,006 valid responses were collected from zakat payer users in Saudi Arabia and Egypt using a Web-based survey. To validate the research model and draw significant insights, SmartPLS structural equation modeling was used.

By analyzing both Saudi and Egyptian samples, the authors found that all UTAUT constructs are statistically significant, except for effort expectancy in Egypt. The effects of self-efficacy and social isolation on ZakaTech adoption are supported across both countries. Trust in technology reduces users’ inherent risks and increases their likelihood of adopting ZakaTech services in Saudi Arabia, while this is not the case in Egypt. However, the study revealed that trust in electronic-zakat systems (EZSs) is a vital predictor for mitigating perceived risk among Egyptian users of ZakaTech, but it is not the case in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, significant gender differences were found between males and females in the adoption of such digital services in both countries, particularly regarding self-efficacy, trust in EZSs, social isolation and social influence.

The results provide meaningful insights for policymakers to find ways to develop strategies to escalate the adoption of technology in zakat administration and also to create awareness among the users of ZakaTech in a gender-balanced manner that will include zakat payers and recipients as well in the hope that the digital gender divide will be bridged. Bridging the digital gender divide in this regard is imperative for sustainable inclusive development of zakat. Further, strategies need to be developed to provide incentives to zakat authorities and zakat organizations that adopt technology in managing zakat. This is important to escalate the process of fusing technology with zakat, which is an important social finance tool to eradicate poverty in the world.

This research serves as a building block for literature by empirically testing an integrated model of UTAUT-SCT within a modern and unique related context like ZakaTech. Also, it adds value by testing gender disparities in ZakaTech adoption among Muslims.

This paper aims to enlighten existing gender differences in the linkages between university ecosystem, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention in a developing country.

The empirical exercise relies on Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Modeling based on data from a probabilistic sample of 467 Brazilian students of 70 universities across the country.

The university ecosystem positively influences self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial intention is also influenced by self-efficacy. Gender difference lies in females’ self-efficacy, which presents a higher impact on entrepreneurial intentions.

The research used a secondary database, which offered a limited view of the constructs analyzed. Moreover, by evaluating perception conditions, students’ self-evaluation may not offer conditions to better comprehend higher education organizations conditions.

This paper provided an evaluation of entrepreneurship in universities and gender differences, also presenting an analysis tool for university ecosystems. The assessment of the university ecosystem in two dimensions helps to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of university ecosystems and also the impact they can have on the entrepreneurial ecosystems in which they are inserted.

This study added in-depth information on the dynamics of entrepreneurial universities and gender differences in the context of a developing country, with a probabilistic sample. Both the comprehensive analysis of the model and the assessment at the variable level bring new evidence that can guide entrepreneurship-oriented initiatives in universities.

Despite the significant growth in Islamic economies and the increasing number of Muslim youths inclining digital services, empirical-based research addressing the adoption of digital Islamic services is still scarce. Particularly, as a new term in the Islamic finance industry, ZakaTech has recently emerged as a modern term describing novel technologies adopted by zakat (compulsory levy on all believing and practicing high-net-worth Muslims) institutions; yet, it has largely been neglected in the literature. Therefore, this paper aims to propose an integrated model that scrutinizes the factors of unified model of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) of ZakaTech, combined with social cognitive theory (SCT), especially in a time of COVID-19 social distancing.

The UTAUT–SCT model was validated via SmartPLS structural equation modeling by using a valid sample of 510 users (individual zakat payers) from Saudi Arabia.

The results demonstrated the suitability of the integrated UTAUT–SCT model in predicting zakat payers’ intention to use ZakaTech services. This proposed model has 70% explanatory power to explain variance in intention. All UTAUT constructs are statistically significant, except for effort expectancy. Social isolation caused by the pandemic and trust in e-zakat system exerted a significant influence on the inclination to uptake ZakaTech services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first research that studies Muslims’ adoption of ZakaTech during COVID-19. Particularly, this study could add value to FinTech acceptance literature by empirically examining an integrated framework of UTAUT–SCT in a context as modern and unique as ZakaTech.

This paper aims to investigate the role of corporate governance on the bank profitability of Indian banks vis-à-vis South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations.

For the Corporate Governance Index, the authors examined board accountability, transparency and disclosure and audit committee, while Tobin’s Q, return on equity and return on assets are used to measure the bank’s profitability. The study used a two-stage analysis based on balanced panel data for robust findings. Sample of this study consists of 60 commercial banks from India and 60 banks from SAARC nations for the period of 2009–2021. This study used panel regression and a generalized method of moment approach using the CAMELS framework on banking industry-specific variables to determine their respective impacts.

The findings of this study suggest that board accountability is positive and significantly affects the profitability of banks as indicated by return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q. In contrast, the audit committee has a positive and insignificant impact on return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q, while transparency and disclosure have a negative and significant impact on these metrics. Furthermore, the country dummy result shows a significant positive impact on all the bank performance parameters, implying that Indian banks have the highest degree of convergence with corporate governance as compared to other SAARC nations.

This study provides insight to the regulators, policymakers and financial institutions to evaluate the role of corporate governance in emerging economies. However, the findings of the study should be interpreted with caution, as the results are sensitive to the disparity between India and other SAARC nations' government policies, climatic circumstances and cultural or religious traditions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to gauge the performance of Indian banks vis-à-vis SAARC nations using the CAMELS framework approach. Further, findings of this study suggest some novel evidence tying corporate governance quality with the profitability of banks among SAARC nations.

This study aims to identify the publication phase, performance and scientific contributions of research papers related to enterprise risk management (ERM) and to visualise the emerging themes in addressing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA).

The biblioshiny technique based on the bibliometrix R package was used to draw journal papers’ performance and scientific contributions by displaying distinctive features from the bibliometric method used in prior studies. The data was extracted from the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases.

Since the 1990s, ERM publication has gained momentum, and it is generally categorised into four main themes. Studies by Miller (1992) and Bromiley et al. (2015) scored the highest in global and local citations, respectively. However, the Economic Outlook ranked first in quality of publications while the Journal of Risk and Insurance topped in quantity of publications. Collaborative research mainly exists between two authors, and the dynamic number of collaborative networks is evident in the USA.

This study is limited by the filtered keywords used to generate the search on journal papers’ in WOS and Scopus. It is imperative to have more comprehensive and rigorous analytics on ERM research to enable a direction for future research. Finally, ERM implementation better equips firms to mitigate risk in a VUCA environment.

This study attempts to fill a vacuum of ERM literature, specifically in business economics, in addressing VUCA. Moreover, it covers a comprehensive predetermined period of from its inception in 1983 until 2022.

This study aims to examine the impacts of climate change (CC), measured average annual rainfall, average annual temperature and carbon dioxide (CO₂e) on cereal production (CPD) in Bangladesh by using the annual dataset from 1988–2014, with the incorporation of cereal cropped area (CCA), financial development (FD), energy consumption (EC) and rural labor force as important determinants of CPD.

This study used an auto-regressive distributive lag (ARDL) model and several econometric approaches to validate the long- and short-term cointegration and the causality directions, respectively, of the scrutinized variables.

Results of the bounds testing approach confirmed the stable long-term connections among the underlying variables. The estimates of the ARDL model indicated that rainfall improves CPD in the short-and long-term. However, CO₂e has a significantly negative impact on CPD both in the short-and long-term. Results further showed that temperature has an adverse effect on CPD in the short-term. Among other determinants, CCA, FD and EC have significantly positive impacts on CPD in both cases. The outcomes of Granger causality indicated that a significant two-way causal association is running from all variables to CPD except temperature and rainfall. The connection between CPD and temperature is unidirectional, showing that CPD is influenced by temperature. All other variables also have a valid and significant causal link among each other. Additionally, the findings of variance decomposition suggest that results are robust, and all these factors have a significant influence on CPD in Bangladesh.

These findings have important policy implications for Bangladesh and other developing countries. For instance, introduce improved cereal crop varieties, increase CCA and familiarizes agricultural credits through formal institutions on relaxed conditions and on low-interest rates could reduce the CPD’s vulnerability to climate shocks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to examine the short- and long-term impacts of CC on CPD in Bangladesh over 1988–2014. The authors used various econometrics techniques, including the ARDL approach, the Granger causality test based on the vector error correction model framework and the variance decomposition method.

Literature has pointed that conventional financial development theories have inconclusive role on motivating new businesses. New ventures often consider the conventional system that passes through risk and provides fixed-interest lending as a burden. Comparatively, Islamic finance contributes using participative and equitable substitute for startups and has a potential in promoting new businesses. This study aims to investigate the holistic financial development index quadratic effect on entrepreneurship and include the moderating role of Islamic financing at national level.

Islamic banks of 21 nations constitute the unbalanced panel data. Financial development and entrepreneurship indices were developed using factor analysis and panel median regression to estimate the nonlinear financial market development effects and Islamic financing moderation model.

The results indicated that low financial market development is entrepreneurship deterring because of interest burden effect, which could be eased with a proportional increase in the Islamic financing, which is participative. The moderating effect has led to the categorization of the sample countries into entrepreneurship promoting and entrepreneurship discouraging with respect to the current incidence of financial market development and Islamic financing, which can help policymakers in understanding the entrepreneurship promoting combination of financial development and Islamic financing.

Central banks and Shari’ah advisory councils can adopt Islamic financing transition in the national financial inclusion policy for new business facilitation.

This study is instrumental in exploring the assessment of introducing Islamic financing while developing the financial sector on multidimensional entrepreneurship.