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The purpose of this study is to analyze the profitability performance of Islamic banks (IBs) of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region during 2008 global financial crisis.

Bank-specific data are taken from the Bank Scope database and macroeconomic data are collected from International Financial Statistics. Using a panel data series of 30 banks for the period of 2005 to 2011, the study shows the evidence of structural break for the crisis year as well as the factors that impact the profitability of IBs.

The performance of GCC IBs was significantly influenced during the crisis period by capital adequacy, credit risk, financial risk, operational efficiency, liquidity, bank size, gross domestic product, growth rate of money supply, bank sector development and inflation rate. The study also finds that there is a structural change before and after the global financial crisis.

This is an original study that shows that the Sharīʿah-compliant banks have performed better during the crisis and are not affected based on their internal performance records; rather, they have been affected indirectly from the macro shock owing to the overall economic crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to determine and analyse that factors that could potentially influence price premiums of Australian wine in the UK market. The authors integrated the economic-based hedonic pricing theory and marketing export pricing literature. The authors demonstrate a potential solution to limitations in knowledge of market-level data and industry wide competition, currently lacking in export pricing studies.

Using data extracted from wine-searcher.com and using multiple regression as the main analytical technique, the authors examined the relationships between actual retail prices UK consumers pay for Australian wine and product attributes. The authors compared the moderating influence of distribution channel (retail choice) on these relationships.

The results provide insights in export pricing literature, and the authors support better theoretical explanations for hedonic pricing studies in export marketing. The authors found two types of wine attributes – “brand” and “region of origin” – that attract price premiums. While relationships between variety and retail price, as well as age and retail price are less clear, the authors provide some support.

One limitation of this hedonic pricing study is the inability to explain why certain relationships between product attributes and price premiums exist. Studies such as these could be improved by utilising both consumer- and firm-level data.

Whilst final prices paid by consumers are beyond the control of producers, understanding the relationships between retail prices, retail choices and product attributes are of strategic importance. Understanding the role consumer preferences play in determining prices they ultimately pay is of great value when determining export/retail pricing strategies.

Consumers and firm managers are jointly able to provide comprehensive explanations on why certain attributes attract price premiums. The integration of economic and consumer-based theories provides a holistic understanding of the influence of retail choices and product attributes on retail prices.

The authors drew on the hedonic pricing theory linking product attributes with retail prices, which is vital for understanding market share and brand image. The authors identified which product attributes and which distribution channels (retail choices) are valuable to consumers. Deeper understanding of these issues is important for producers.

This study examines whether or not the waste management practices of the poor households living in squatters and low‐cost flats in Kuala Lumpur are conducive to the environment. With the aim of accomplishing the above, the study empirically assesses knowledge, attitude and behaviour of the urban poor concerning their household solid waste management. With primary data collected from the level of living condition and waste management practices of the urban poor, the study employed a multiplicity of statistical techniques such as t‐tests of equality of means, one‐way analysis of variance, chi‐square ‘likelihood ratio’ tests, and descriptive statistics. The findings of the study provide evidence to the effect that poverty does not cause environmental degradation as the knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of the urban poor concerning solid waste management are found to have been conducive to the environment. The study suggests that the problems of poverty and environment need to be seen differently as the causal relationship between the two does actually depend on the level of socioeconomic profile and the type of environmental practices of a particular group of community

The key purpose of this paper is to examine the causality and long‐run relationship between CO2 emission and agricultural output for an agriculture‐dependent developing country, namely Bangladesh.

In order to attain the objective, this study has used long‐time series data and employed advanced econometric techniques of unit root test, nonlinear least square estimation, Vector Error Correction estimation and Granger causality test.

The empirical results of the study reveal that Bangladesh agricultural output is not a Granger causal for Bangladesh CO2 emission, but the country's CO2 emission is a Granger causal for its agricultural output. The results also reveal for Bangladesh that any disequilibrium between CO2 emissions and agricultural output could take approximately 17 years to converge to the long‐run equilibrium. The results further reveal that the adjustment rate for Bangladesh agricultural output is positive and quite fast at the rate of 69 percent a year. So any disequilibrium will be corrected mostly by the adjustment in Bangladesh agricultural output.

The current CO2 emission in Bangladesh is still below the equilibrium level, which is considered to be an advantage for the country, particularly its agriculture sector which will reasonably not face any stricter CO2 emissions controlling policies and regulations in the near future.

The originality of this study lies on the extent to which an agriculture‐dependent developing country such as Bangladesh does not have greater concern about the CO2 emission for now and the near future. The originality does also lie on the fact that no other study has yet examined this issue.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the link between climate change and agricultural growth in Malaysia, and pursue three sub‐objectives: to determine and analyze the link between agricultural growth rate and climate change score; to determine and analyze the link between per capita CO₂ emissions and agricultural production index; and to determine and analyze the link between per capita agricultural production index and per capita CO₂ emissions.

Relevant time series data compiled from several online sources including the Germanwatch, Ministry of Finance, Malaysia, and the United Nations database were used. The data for agricultural growth rate and climate change score for Malaysia were found to be available only for the four recent years from 2006 to 2009. The data for other variables such as per capita agricultural production index and per capita CO₂ emissions have been standardized covering the period from 1990 to 2004. The ordinary least squares methods were employed to estimate the parameters in the three linear regression models.

The empirical results of the study reveal three important observations for Malaysia: the link between agricultural growth rate and climate change score is proven to be negative, but insignificant (p>0.1); the link between per capita CO₂ emissions and agricultural production index is found to be direct and highly significant (p<0.01); and the link between per capita agricultural production index and per capita CO₂ emissions is proven to be positive and highly significant (p<0.01). Also, an increasing level of per capita CO₂ emissions in the country is proven to have both detrimental and beneficial effects on its agricultural growth. For instance, agricultural growth in Malaysia is found to produce significant effects on climate change, primarily through the production and release of CO₂.

The paper recommends that the two‐way link between climate change and agricultural growth depends on the balance of the effects and that an in‐depth assessment of such effects might help the appropriate authority to anticipate the effects more accurately. The paper will be useful to researchers wishing to conduct research and develop models on the nexus between climate change and agriculture.

Sustainable food security at the household level is one of the emerging issues for all nations. It is expected that the patterns of household resilience factors and adaptation practices have a strong linkage with household food security. The purpose of this paper is to seek an effective technique of adaptation for food security and the required types of support for adaptation to food insecurity among the poor and low-income households in Malaysia.

This study was based on primary data that were collected in July-October 2012 through a questionnaire survey among 460 poor and low-income households from the Pahang, Kelantan, and Terengganu states of Malaysia. The samples were selected from E-Kasih poor household database based on a two-stage cluster random sampling technique. The study considered household food security as household food availability and food accessibility, and ran ordinal regressions to find out the linkages of household food security with household resilience factors, adaptation practices, and expected support for adaptation to food security.

The study concludes that several resilience factors and adaptation practices were statistically significant to household food security, and several external supports were statistically and significantly needed to ensure household food security. Therefore, to ensure sustainable household food security in Malaysia, the food security programs need to be integrated with sustainable development goals (SDGs) and climatic changes adaptation programs, and the involvement of relevant stakeholders are crucial.

This study is a pioneer work based on primary data that empirically measured the linkages of household food security with household resilience factors, adaptation practices, and expected support for adaptation to food security in Malaysia. This study also discussed some issues related to the climate change linkage, which would help future climate change research. The findings of the study will be beneficial for all the stakeholders, including policy makers related to the food security and climate change adaptation.

The study aims to analyze the effect of financial soundness on financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya.

The study used dynamic panel model to analyze data from commercial banks for the period 2009 to 2020. The study was modeled on the concept of CAMEL approach using five CAMEL variables as financial soundness indicators. Four indicators that is, net interest margin (NIM), earnings per share (EPS), return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) were used as measures of financial performance.

Generalized method of moments results established that financial soundness had a statistically significant effect on NIM, ROA and ROE. It was also found that asset quality and earning quality had a statistically significant effect on net interest margin. In addition management efficiency had significant effect on ROE. However, the study established that capital adequacy, asset quality, earning quality and liquidity had a statistically insignificant effect on ROA and ROE respectively while capital adequacy, management efficiency and liquidity had statistically insignificant effect on NIM.

Bank managers should put into place effective financial policies to govern changes in CAMEL variables to ensure optimal banks' financial soundness to facilitate positive growth in banks' financial performance.

The current study is modeled on the concept of the CAMEL approach by employing the five CAMEL variables as financial soundness indicators. In addition, the study contributes to local literature by examining banks in a developing economy to provide reliable and relevant information on their differences to monitor their dynamics in financial soundness and financial performance which could not be provided by regional or global studies.

Sustainable food security at the household level is one of the emerging issues for all nations. Several factors such as social, economic, political, demographic, natural and livelihood strategies cause vulnerability in the status of household food security. This study aims to examine the vulnerability of the factors of household food accessibility and its linkage with the climatic changes in Malaysia.

The study is based on primary data collected in the months of July-October, 2012, through a questionnaire survey on 460 low-income households from the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) in Malaysia. The samples were selected from E-Kasih poor household database, based on the cluster random sampling technique. The questionnaire uses a five-point Likert scale, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA F statistics for chi-square two-sample test.

The study finds that the vulnerability of the factors of household food accessibility has increased statistically and significantly over the past five years in Malaysia, whereas the contributions of climatic factors are low on these changes. This study suggests that the food security programs in Malaysia need to be integrated with the climatic change adaptation programs to ensure more effective and sustainable household food security in the future.

This study is an original work based on primary data that empirically measures the vulnerability of the factors of household food accessibility, one of the important dimensions of household food security, and its linkage with climatic changes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect impacts of climatic changes as well as the effects of non-climatic factors on household food security in Malaysia.

The study is based on primary data collected in the months of July – October, 2012 through a questionnaire survey on 460 low-income households from East Coast Economic Region (ECER) of the country. The samples were selected from E-Kasih poor household database, based on cluster random sampling technique. The statistical estimation was done through two-stage formative path measurement model by using non-parametric bootstrap procedure under Smart PLS.

This study finds that household food insecurity ECER – Malaysia is not only related to social and economic factors, but also statistically significantly linked to the direct and indirect impacts of climatic factors. The policy implications of the study suggest that design of food security programs must be integrated with climatic change adaptation programs.

The government and other relevant agencies should jointly develop appropriate policies for poverty alleviation, household-level food security, and adaptation with climatic changes in Malaysia.

This study aims to explore how social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development address various socio-economic challenges in rural communities following Indonesia’s independence in 1945.

Adopting a pragmatic research philosophy, this study uses a historical review and thematic analysis, extending from the PRISMA method to analyse articles and reports concerning social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development in post-independence Indonesia.

This study reveals that social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development programs have advanced hand in hand since Indonesia's independence. Social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development mutually reinforce each other, with social entrepreneurship prominently featured in many rural development projects, promoting socioeconomic changes in rural communities.

While this review has covered the available literature in Indonesia's context and extends the social entrepreneurship concept by showcasing its impact in rural Indonesia, further theoretical models integrating social entrepreneurship and rural development are needed, especially with local or regional context and community-driven approaches to increase the research potential in the field.

This study is beneficial for policymakers in the field to consider the findings of this review on the strong association that social entrepreneurship has had with rural development in Indonesia.

This study highlights the importance of local values and community participation in social entrepreneurship initiatives for rural development. It is also highlighted that social entrepreneurship initiatives enable rural women to participate in entrepreneurial activities.

This study concludes that prior studies consistently demonstrate a strong association between social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development, with government policies and programs increasingly leveraging social entrepreneurial approaches to tackle rural challenges. Additionally, rural development strategies in Indonesia align with three strategic pillars established by the government’s entrepreneurship programs. These pillars, integral to rural development through the social entrepreneurship approach, are critical for the formulation and future action plans adjustable to the current trends, issues and circumstances.