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This paper discusses the results from the initiative that has been undertaken to utilize residues from oil palm re‐plantation, particularly the oil palm trunk (OPT) for the production of laminated veneer lumber (LVL). Efficient use of such residues is vital in order to minimize the environmental burdens associated with the disposal of the oil palm residues, thus ensuring the future growth of Malaysian palm oil industry. The bending and compression strength of the OPT LVL produced were accessed and compared with Malaysian oak (formerly known as rubberwood), timber species that is commonly used in the manufacture of furniture in Malaysia. Properties of OPT LVL were found almost comparable to solid Malaysian oak in terms of bending and compression strength. Combination of OPT veneers with several layers of Malaysian oak veneers during the process of LVL manufacturing has resulted in the improvement in bending and compression strength of the LVL as compared to those produced entirely from OPT. In addition, such practice also produced LVL board with far less variation in strength properties as compared to solid OPT properties. With further research and development embarked upon the gluability of the OPT materials, the overall performance of the OPT LVL could be improved for commercial utilization of OPT wastes in the near future. Development higher value‐added by‐products from oil palm industry residues, would benefit the industry through reduction of the overall environmental burden and would place it on a new environmentally sustainable platform.

In the analysis of Third World economic and rural development, Malaysia represents an intriguing and somewhat special case. Many applaud the impressive growth registered since independence and particularly in recent years; as Vokes testifies, Malaysia is “one of the most successful cases of economic development in the Third World.” It has managed a structural transformation of its economic base from one relying on primary commodities to one in which manufacturers now play a central role; not denying the intermittent problem of fluctuating growth and uneven development.

This research aims to explore the possibility of raising and adjudicating Shari'ah issues in Islamic financial contracts before the secular courts with specific reference to the UK and Malaysia.

This is a legal research, and therefore, the paper uses the qualitative research methodology whereby a content analysis, in-depth case study, and library-based research were mainly used.

Shari'ah issues raised before the UK courts, and arguably, before the secular courts in other Western jurisdictions, would not be adjudicated and enforced. English courts, in particular, would decide Islamic financial contracts according to the English law, disregarding Shari'ah issues. Conversely, Shari'ah issues raised before Malaysian civil courts would be duly adjudicated and enforced. The civil court is bound, by the new Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009, to refer those issues to the Shari'ah Advisory Council of the Central Bank of Malaysia for them to be ascertained. The subsequent ruling of the SAC is binding on the courts.

The Malaysian model for the adjudication of Shari'ah issues in Islamic financial contracts is very effective. Therefore, the research proposes to the parties in international Islamic financial contracts to choose Malaysian law as the law of reference and Malaysian courts as the forum for settlement of disputes. The Malaysian model, being already tested, can also be successfully exported to other countries wishing to introduce or develop Islamic finance.

This study aims to examine the association between firm size, profitability, leverage, auditor type and internet reporting and investigate the moderating effect of legal system, investor protection, masculinity, economic development, construction of disclosure index and measurement proxies of independent variables.

This study conducts a meta-analytic review for 59 research papers to synthesise quantitatively the results of previous literature on the determinants of internet reporting. This study uses Hunter and Schmidt’s (2004) procedures to conduct the analysis. There are three main procedures to be followed: calculating the weighted effect size, calculating observed correlation variance and sampling error variance and, finally, testing for homogeneity and moderating effects.

The results indicate a significant positive association between firm size, profitability, leverage, auditor type and internet reporting. The results confirm the prediction of agency theory, signalling theory, political cost hypothesis and diffusion of innovation theory. Moreover, the results show that investor protection, masculinity, economic development, construction of disclosure index and measurement proxies for independent variables moderate the association between profitability, leverage and internet reporting.

This study suffers from some limitations. First, corporate governance variables such as board size, role duality and board independence were not included in the analysis due to the limited number of studies that discuss the association between corporate governance and internet reporting. Second, the study does not control for the endogeneity problem.

Future research has to consider the moderating effect of investor protection, masculinity, economic development, construction of disclosure index and measurement proxies for independent variables on the association between corporate characteristics and internet reporting. Future research can extend this work by examining the association between corporate governance, ownership structure and internet reporting. The findings regarding the determinants of internet reporting should be on concern of regulatory authorities.

This study contributes to and extends previous meta-analysis literature by examining internet reporting determinants, as previous financial reporting meta-analysis studies give no attention to internet reporting.

This paper aims to consolidate the state of research on information behaviour. Regardless of the scholarly surge on information behaviour using numerous models and extended ones, gaps still exist on the development of more pragmatic frameworks that explain and/or predict the information behaviour across different fragmented environmental situations. Therefore, this paper extends technology-organization-environment (T-O-E) framework and synthesizes different research positions into a multi-dimensional framework that assists small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to understand their information behaviour and to make informed decisions on the adoption of emerging information communication technology (EICT).

This study deployed an inductive approach; data were generated from unstructured and semi-structured interviews with 20 participants drawn purposively from Luton directories.

This study developed a more integrated framework underpinned by T-O-E framework, which helped to identify how EICT adoption is critically shaped by perceived information need, information sources selection and the factors determining information source selection.

Qualitative research is normally subjective, inductive, interpretive and limited on the sample used. However, because of the limited number of interviews used, as well as industry-specific nature of the study, the generalization of the framework and the findings will be difficult, hence, the need to test the framework on a broader population and cross-context testing.

The T-O-E framework is extended to Expectancy (T-O-E-E) to provide a more robust insight into information behaviour of SMEs from a multi-dimensional perspective. It also offers a more analytical framework for exploring critical issues identified and demonstrates the capacity to provide a reliable explanation to the findings. Further, it serves as a tool for assessing the benefits or challenges of SMEs information behaviour especially on the EICT adoption decision.

Purpose – Women are more susceptible to specific health risks such as breast cancer, cervical cancer, and risk during pregnancy and childbirth. These can affect women’s well-being and also need to be managed to avoid financial loss. Takaful operators in Malaysia have been offering special takaful products for women. Women can mitigate exposure to these risks through insurance. This study examines the risks faced by Malaysian women and the coverage they are offered by Islamic insurance.

Methodology/approach – The study used a qualitative methodology involving documentary evidence and interviews with four Islamic insurance agents and four product development officers from four Islamic insurance providers in Malaysia.

Findings – Among the risks faced by women are female-specific illnesses, the cost of expensive treatments, crime-related accidents or loss, social or career risks and privatisation policy. Due to these risks, women are in need of female-specific takaful products to reduce risk and protect themselves.

Originality/value – Specific takaful products for women are crucial to protect them from risks, improving their well-being and increasing their participation in the nation’s economic and social development.

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of takaful operators in Malaysia.

The study applied the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique and the ratio analysis, using secondary data available on Malaysian Takaful operators’ annual reports. The study period for the analysis ranged from 2013 to 2016.

Based on both analyses, the performance of Takaful operators was affected due to the additional cost imposed by the goods and services tax (GST) implementation. Results showed a decline in average technical efficiency for takaful operators upon GST implementation.

The data were taken from the annual audited reports for selected firms that were available on the firm’s website only, which was limited. The data were taken till 2016, even though the GST is omitted from Malaysia on 1 June 2018. This study has applied Ratio analysis and DEA constant returns to scale (CRS) technique; the future study may adopt both DEA CRS and DEA carrying returns to scale model to evaluate along with other methods to identify the specific factors.

These findings may associate policymakers in identifying the shortcomings of GST or new tax implementation in a new and emerging industry. So, the policymakers and central banks may adopt necessary initiatives to support the industry. Because the Malaysian government is trying to push the takaful industry along with Islamic banking and finance in the competitive market, takaful operators may be exempted from the current sales and service tax (SST). In addition, takaful operators may use these findings to enhance their operational activities efficiently to improve performance. This paper might help the researchers and practitioners to learn the impact of GST. Even though GST seems not relevant anymore as the government has replaced it with SST, the trick is still the same as it is a kind of tax or costs incurred by the Takaful operators in running their business. Takaful managers may identify their efficient level in managerial aspects as well as the optimal scale of resources by the findings of this study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is original in terms of data that is gathered directly from the annual report of the company during the GST period.

This paper aims to fill the noticeably fragmented zakat literature repertoire by empirically exploring stakeholders’ views toward zakat management performance issues based on a selected zakat institution (ZI) operating on a corporatized platform with corporate administrative style.

A quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey distributed to Muslims in the State which ZI is operating was adopted. A total of 448 usable responses are used in the analysis covering descriptive and mean difference.

The results indicate that managerial reform configuration in terms of corporatization has been viewed positively by stakeholders, translated into a comforting agreement score toward ZI’s improved management performance (collection, disbursement and reporting). Such perceptions are, however, observably sensitive to demographic factors of gender and employment type. The survey also document evidence that the corporatization exercise itself had improved respondents’ confidence toward ZI being the zakat administrator in the State.

The research contributes to the public policy debate with respect to corporatized ZI’s management performance from the stakeholders’ perspective. The results are arguably informative at various levels, forming a basis for reality check and policy inputs for various stakeholders, including (but not limited to) the ZI itself, zakat payers and asnafs, particularly in designing relevant and necessary administrative strategies and relevant policy formulation in addressing the performance and accountability issues in ZIs.

This study aims to examine the impact of corporate governance (CG) effectiveness measured by board and audit committee index on firm performance of nonfinancial listed firms in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, pre- and during the global crisis of COVID-19.

The analysis used 2,238 observations from nonfinancial firms listed on GCC countries' stock exchange, covering the period from 2017 to 2022, using a fixed effect panel regression model. The data for this study were manually collected from the annual reports of 373 GCC-listed firms.

The results demonstrate that the board's effectiveness index has a positive influence solely on accounting-based performance (return on assets) pre- and during the COVID-19 crisis. However, in terms of audit committee effectiveness, the results show a positive impact on market-based performance (Tobin’s Q) both pre- and during the COVID-19 crisis. Additional analysis indicates that the effectiveness of both the board and audit committee is more notable in larger firms compared to smaller firms.

This study is crucial for investors, regulators, managers and governments tackling the financial impacts of global crises like COVID-19. Its comprehensive evaluation of board and audit committee effectiveness guides policymakers and practitioners in enhancing CG for profit and wealth maximization.

This study offers novel evidence detailing the impact of CG effectiveness on firm performance over an extended period, encompassing the COVID-19 period and using a comprehensive index. In addition, this study was conducted in a unique CG setting, focusing on six emerging GCC countries.

Malaysia is one of the developing countries which is progressing in terms of infrastructural facilities, but the country is facing a problem of having very low growth in population and this led to the frequent migration of workers with language proficiency to come to the country as foreign workers, language proficiency implications among which is causing injury to workers in the construction especially foreigners as they are getting it difficult to understand instruction during operations, safety guides and interpreting safety warning signs due to their low language proficiency. Because of this, the research aimed to reduce the rate of accident happening among the foreign workers and, therefore, the research sets three objectives: the research identified the common types of accidents faced by foreign workers due to language proficiency in construction sites, the research also investigated the extent to which language proficiency is affecting foreign workers and lastly provides an effective communication method that will help to minimise the rate of these types of accidents. The research found that language proficiency is causing several types of accidents that comes with different injury cases ranging from non-severe, severe and fatal once of about 44% of the total accident cases happening in the Malaysian construction industries.