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This study examined the economic and social impact of Malaysian universities on their communities from stakeholders' perspectives. It analysed whether university stakeholders' spending, human capital (HC) and knowledge exploration (KE) will impact aggregate income (AI), quality of life (QOL) and business growth (BG) in surrounding communities.

A survey was conducted among 540 university stakeholders from the southern, northern and eastern regions of Malaysia, representing the alumni, community and industry. Data were subjected to factor analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Results showed that universities impacted communities' economic development and wellbeing, thereby fulfilling their community-related role.

This study addressed universities' role in communities' economic growth and social development. Universities' contributions towards communities can be improved through the proposed model, which suggests ways to maximise their impact. A more detailed study of a particular university is needed to identify other factors that can strengthen universities' impact, even at national and global levels.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the environmental reporting (ER) practices of the local governments (LGs) in Malaysia. Specifically, it examines the driving motives for ER and also the underlying reasons for lack of disclosures in an array of reporting media.

A self-administered survey is conducted to all LGs in Peninsular Malaysia. The items in the questionnaire are based on the prior literature on social and environmental disclosures made by the public sector organisations (PSOs).

The results suggest that maintaining and/or improving the legitimacy status is the main driving motive for LGs to provide environmental disclosures in the absence of any regulatory requirements. On the other hand, a lack of skilled staff to handle ER is the primary reason contributing to the lack of environmental information being supplied to stakeholders.

The paper represents one of the few attempts made in examining the ER practices of the LGs within the perspective of a developing country. Insufficient research on this aspect contributes to a limited understanding on the development of ER practices in different economic stage and environment. The findings may be of interest to the relevant authorities in any policy changes that can further improve the extent and quality of environmental disclosures made by the LGs.

This research aims to examine and compare differences in waṣiyyah wājibah (obligatory bequest) (WW) practices in Malaysia and Indonesia.

This is an exploratory qualitative research, employing a thematic analysis approach. Six Muslim Wills (State) Enactments [Enakmen Wasiat Orang Islam (Negeri)] in Malaysia, Islamic Law Compilation (Kompilasi Hukum Islam) in Indonesia, two fatwas (ruling in religious matters) and one court case from each country are analysed. Data is collected from official government websites and other reliable search engines.

First, the findings show that the WW practice in both countries is similar regarding the quantum of the beneficiaries' entitlement. However, the practice varies between both countries in terms of the types of beneficiaries and how the bequest is distributed. Second, this study shows the potential of WW as an estate planning instrument to complement the existing instruments in each country, especially when addressing family members who are not entitled to succeed by farāʾiḍ (Islamic inheritance law).

The provision of relevant laws and regulations regarding WW needs to be formulated to guarantee the well-being of dependants. The differences in practice between the two countries can be a guideline to expand the WW scope and context to other Muslim countries.

This study is the first attempt to compare WW between two Muslim-majority countries focusing on relevant laws, court cases and regulations.

First, the paper examines the extent of environmental disclosures (EDs) made by the Malaysian local governments (LGs) on their websites. Second, it examines the patterns of disclosure with the aim of investigating the underlying motive behind the EDs.

A descriptive content analysis was employed to measure the EDs. A disclosure instrument, based on the extant studies, is designed to facilitate the measurement process.

The results suggest that LGs of various levels, have taken the initiative to report EDs on their websites even in the absence of any statutory reporting regulations either by the state or federal government. Differences in the types of EDs are also apparent and consistent with the premise of legitimacy theory.

A paucity of prior studies measuring EDs made at the LG level is observed in the literature. Research evidence focussing on the EDs reported on the websites is even more scarce. This lack of research contributes to a limited understanding on the development and challenges of the environmental reporting practices within the developing country's perspective. Moreover, generalising the findings of studies conducted in developed countries may not be possible due to a number of regulatory, political and socio-economic factors.

The increasing environmental challenges require efforts to expand the scope of accounting to better evaluate organizations’ behaviour/practices. This paper aims to report the results of studying the link between environmental management accounting (EMA), board role performance (BRP), company characteristics and environmental performance disclosure (EPD) of Ugandan manufacturing firms.

The study was correlational and cross-sectional. The results are obtained through content analysis of company reports, websites and a questionnaire survey of 102 large and medium manufacturing firms in four districts of Uganda.

Results indicate that EMA causes significant variances in EPD in manufacturing firms. Also, BRP and firm size explain variances in EPD through EMA.

The research does not control for industry type. Still, the results offer hope on how the reliability of environmental performance information that companies voluntarily provide outside financial statements, can be improved.

Results potentially extend available literature by providing a mechanism through which the environmental performance information is obtained for onward disclosure.

This study evaluates the integrative role of justice theory, religiosity, satisfaction and trust in influencing customer loyalty to Islamic mobile banking.

This study surveyed 370 customers who used Islamic mobile banking. The authors employed SEM-PLS to estimate the proposed model and answer the hypotheses.

Empirical facts show that distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice can increase loyalty through the role of satisfaction. On the other hand, distributive justice, procedural justice and religiosity can predict loyalty through the role of trust.

This study encourages Islamic mobile banking providers to improve the quality of benefit distribution, the application of procedures and interaction among all levels of users. In addition, religious education innovation is also important to increase customer activity in using Islamic mobile banking.

Until now, none of the studies have estimated the loyalty of Islamic mobile banking users based on the integrative roles of justice theory, religiosity, satisfaction and trust. It, therefore, highlights the originality of this study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of religiosity, gender and Islamic educational background of Muslims on zakat compliance. It also aims to identify which dimensions of religiosity are significantly related to zakat compliance.

The study uses a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to working Muslims individuals in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Analysis of the data was based on 690 usable questionnaires.

The findings show that religiosity had a significant influence on zakat compliance and three dimensions of religiosity, namely obligation, virtues and vices, and optional ritual, were significantly related to zakat compliance. Gender was also significantly related to zakat compliance, but in a negative direction, suggesting that Muslim working females are less compliant to zakat obligations compared to their male counterparts. It is found that formal Islamic educational background had no significant influence on zakat compliance.

Given the importance of zakat collection to the growth of the economy and society, the findings of this paper might provide some insights to Muslim-majority countries and zakat institutions which areas require more attention to encourage zakat payment among Muslims.

Compared to prior zakat studies, the findings of this study were derived from a larger sample size of Muslim working respondents. Furthermore, this study also identifies which dimensions of religiosity are significantly related to zakat compliance. Hence this study enriches the scarce literature on zakat and religiosity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of corporate governance and ownership structure attributes on firm performance following the revised code on corporate governance in Malaysia. The study presents a longitudinal assessment of the compliance and implications of the revised code on firm performance.

Two data sets consisting of before (2006) and after (2008-2010) the revised code are examined. Drawing from the largest companies listed on Bursa Malaysia (BM), the first data set contains 92 observations in the year 2006 while the second data set comprises of 282 observations drawn from the largest companies listed on BM over a three-year period, from 2008-2010. Both accounting (return on assets and return on equity) and market performance (Tobin’s Q) measures were used to measure firm performance. Multiple and panel data regression analyses were adopted to analyze the data.

The study shows that there were still cases of non-compliance to the basic requirements of the code such as the one-third independent non-executive director (INDs) requirement even after the revised code. While the regression models indicate marginal significance of board size and independent directors before the revised code, the results indicate all corporate governance variables have a significant negative relationship with at least one of the measures of corporate performance. Independent chairperson, however, showed a consistent positive impact on firm performance both before and after the revised code. In addition, ownership structure elements were found to have a negative relationship with either accounting or market performance measures, with institutional ownership showing a consistent negative impact on firm performance. Firm size and leverage, as control variables, were significant in determining corporate performance.

One limitation is the use of separate measures of corporate governance attributes, as opposed to a corporate governance index (CGI). As a result, the study constructs a CGI based on the recommendations of the revised code and proposes for future research use.

Some of the largest companies did not even comply with basic requirements such as the “one-third INDs” mandatory requirement. Hence, the regulators may want to reinforce the requirements of the code and also detail examples of good governance practices. The results, which show a consistent positive relationship between the presence of an independent chairperson and firm performance in both data sets, suggest listed companies to consider appointing an independent chairperson in the corporate leadership. The regulatory authorities may also wish to note this phenomenon when drafting any future corporate governance codes.

This study offers new insights of the implications of regulatory changes on the relationship between corporate governance attributes and firm performance from the perspective of a developing country. The development of a CGI for future research is a novel approach of this study.

Funding difficulties are particularly compounded for Muslim entrepreneurs in Nigeria, owing to the dominance of interest-based financial institutions prohibited in Islam. Thus, this study aims to explore the role of awareness of Islamic finance principles in ameliorating financial deprivation and financial anxiety to increase access to Islamic financing among Muslim entrepreneurs.

A quantitative survey method of data collection was used to collect data from a total of 208 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) owners based on hand-delivered questionnaires. The data was analyzed using a partial least square structural equation model.

The result supports the direct negative impact of relative financial deprivation and the positive impact of awareness of Islamic finance principles on access to Islamic finance. However, awareness of Islamic finance principles could not moderate any of the direct relationship.

This study implies that financial deprivation is detrimental to access to Islamic finance, but financial anxiety has no significant impact. In addition, policymakers and MSME owners could directly foster access to Islamic finance through awareness of Islamic finance principles, though it could not redirect the negative impact of relative financial deprivation on access to Islamic finance.

The valuable finding here is that the substantial positive impact of awareness of Islamic finance principles on access to Islamic finance is not enough to redirect the negative effect of relative financial deprivation on access to Islamic finance.

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature pertaining to the governance of Islamic social finances (ISF). The primary aim is to identify and highlight global research patterns and deliver noteworthy insights that can be gleaned by ISF institutions worldwide.

This study uses a hybrid approach, incorporating both bibliometric and content analysis methodologies. The authors curated a data set comprising 73 scholarly documents (articles) obtained from the Scopus database, covering the period from 2010 to 2023. The data collection process was conducted in March 2023. VOSviewer and content analysis were used to analyze the collected data.

The authors unveiled six distinct categories derived from the available literature on governance in ISF. These categories encompassed accountability, governance practice, performance, efficiency, Islamic accounting and governance awareness. Extensive deliberations have taken place regarding these six categories to enhance their prominence among ISF institutions. Furthermore, the findings of this study provided valuable directions for future research in this domain.

The use of English articles obtained from the Scopus database in this study ensured that the selected papers were of a significant standard of excellence within the specific realm of knowledge under examination.

Enhancing governance practice within ISF institutions could enhance their overall performance, thereby playing a crucial role in optimizing their contributions to societal and economic contexts.

This endeavor served as a means to enlighten numerous stakeholders regarding social finance institutions, fostering an environment of informed decision-making and effective governance that aligns with the principles of Islamic economics.

This study represents a pioneering bibliometric publication on the governance of ISF, providing academics with a robust basis for comprehending the evolving landscape of literature within this specific area of research.