Search results

Innovation in financing processes, enabled by the advent of new technologies, has supported the development of alternative finance funding tools. In this context, the study analyses the growing importance of alternative finance instruments (such as equity crowdfunding, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, venture capital, and others) in addressing the small and medioum enterprises' (SMEs) financing needs beyond traditional bank and market-based funding channels. By providing more flexible terms and faster approval times, these instruments are gradually reshaping the traditional bank-firm relationship.

To comprehensively understand this innovation shift in funding processes, the study employs a novel approach that merges three MCDA methods: Spherical Fuzzy Entropy, ARAS and TOPSIS. These methodologies allow for handling ambiguity and subjectivity in financial decision-making processes, examining the effects of multiple criteria, including interest rate, flexibility, accessibility, support, riskiness, and approval time, on the appeal of various financial alternatives.

The study’s results have significant theoretical and practical implications, supporting SMEs in carefully evaluate financing alternatives and enables banks to better identify the main “competitors” according to the “financial need” of the firm. Moreover, the rise of alternative finance, notably P2P lending, indicates a shift towards more efficient capital access, suggesting banks must innovate their funding channels to remain competitive, especially in offering flexible solutions for restructuring and high-risk scenarios.

The study advises top management that SMEs prefer traditional loans for their reliability and accessibility, necessitating banks to enhance transparency, innovate, and adopt digital solutions to meet evolving financing needs and improve customer satisfaction.

The study introduces a novel integration of Spherical Fuzzy TOPSIS, Entropy, and ARAS methodologies to face the complexities of financial decision-making for SME financing, addressing ambiguity and multiple criteria like interest rates, flexibility, and riskiness. It emphasizes the importance of traditional loans, the rising significance of alternative financing such as P2P lending, and the necessity for banks to innovate, thereby enriching the literature on bank-firm relationships and SME funding strategies.

Lack of access to finance is a major constraint to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship in developing countries. The recent proliferation of mobile phone services, access to the internet and emerging technologies has led to a surge in the use of FinTech in Africa and is transforming the financial sector. This paper aims to examine whether FinTech developments heterogeneously contribute to the growth of digital finance for SMEs and entrepreneurship in 47 African countries from 2013 to 2020.

The paper uses a novel method of moments quantile regression, which deals with heterogeneity and endogeneity in diverse conditions for asymmetric and nonlinear models.

The empirical results reveal that the rise of FinTech companies offering services in Africa heterogeneously increases digital finance for SMEs and entrepreneurship in their different stages of growth. FinTech developments have a strong and positive impact in countries with higher levels of digital finance than those with lower levels. FinTech developments and digital finance positively and significantly influence entrepreneurship in Africa, particularly in the nascent and transitional development stages of entrepreneurship. Institutional quality has a considerable positive moderating effect when used as a control rather than an interaction variable.

The results suggest the need to promote FinTech developments in Africa: to provide a wide range of alternative digital finance schemes to SMEs and to promote entrepreneurship, especially in countries where entrepreneurship is in the nascent and transitional development stages. The results also underscore the need to promote FinTech development through supportive regulations and institutional quality to reduce risks related to FinTech and digital financing schemes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts to account for the often overlooked heterogeneity effects and show that the influence of FinTech developments is not homogenous across the varying development stages of digital finance and entrepreneurship.

The authors’ goal is to provide an overview and historical context for the various alternatives to the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) that have emerged over time. The authors found eight current alternatives that have emerged to address the EMH's flaws. Each of the proposed alternatives improves some of the assumptions made by the EMH, such as investor homogeneity, the immediate incorporation of information into asset values and the inadequacy of rationality to explain asset prices.

To come up with the list of studies relevant to this review article, the authors used three databases, namely Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The first two were mostly used to get peer-reviewed articles while Google Scholar was used to extract articles that are still work in progress. The following words were used as the search queries; “efficient market hypothesis” and “alternatives to the efficient market hypothesis”.

The alternatives to the EMH presented in this article demonstrate that market efficiency is a dynamic concept that can be best understood with a multidisciplinary approach. To better comprehend how financial markets work, it is crucial to draw on concepts, theories and ideas from a variety of disciplines, including physics, economics, anthropology, sociology and others.

The authors comprehensively summarise the current state of the behavioural finance literature on alternatives to the EMH.

This study aims to validate a potential synergistic venture between cash waqf (Islamic endowment) institutions (CWIs) and financial cooperatives (FCs) in the provision of affordable Islamic home financing (IHF) in Malaysia.

The study adopted semi-structured interviews with ten experts to validate the cash waqf-financial-cooperative-mushārakah mutanāqiṣah (CWFCMM) model. Thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the verbatim texts.

The findings show that the majority of the informants have positive perceptions of the potential of the CWFCMM model to provide financially affordable IHF products in Malaysia. Nevertheless, this study sheds light on the varying degrees of latent issues and challenges that might arise in the implementation of this model. For example, FCs need to practice the correct business model, implement good governance structures and employ the right people. Meanwhile, CWIs need to work on their accountability issues by publishing their audited accounts in mainstream newspapers, much like what is being done by non-governmental organisations such as the widely recognised Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY Malaysia).

This study interviewed a small, industry-specific number of informants in generating its findings. Time and budget constraints are some of the limiting factors in carrying out the study. Because of these factors, the generalisation of the study’s findings will be limited.

First, the CWFCMM model offers an alternative, financially affordable IHF instrument to low- and middle-income households in Malaysia. Second, the involvement of third-sector institutions such as FCs and CWIs in the provision of IHF will reduce the burden of the government in its spending on home financing solutions for civil servants. Third, this model will harness the potential of waqf-based financing beyond the contemporary limited applications to mosques, graveyards and taḥfīẓ (Qurʾan memorization) schools.

This study presents an alternative IHF model that transcends the current institutional framework that is heavily dominated by Islamic commercial banks and government-owned home financing institutions. The study does not focus on a single third-sector institution but on an integration of at least two of them, CWIs and FCs, in implementing the IHF model.

This paper aims to provide a multidisciplinary framework that allows an integrated understanding of reasons of success or failure in equity crowdfunding (ECF), a Fintech digital innovation of the traditional entrepreneurial finance, defining a future research agenda.

A systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted on 127 documents extracted from two multidisciplinary repositories (Elsevier’s Scopus and Clarivate Analytics Web of Science) for the period between 2015 and early 2022. After a systematized series of inclusion and exclusion criteria, in line with the objectives and conceptual boundaries, a final list of 32 peer-reviewed articles written in English was analyzed by the authors through a meta-synthesis and thematic analysis to identify the key themes and dominant concepts.

Results show that the body of literature is recent and fast growing. The proposed integrative framework of existing research indicates that the outcome of an ECF campaign is related to signals conveyed by entrepreneurs in the form of hard information (firm characteristics, financial information, business characteristics and project description) and soft information (intellectual capital, human capital, social capital and social media network), catalyzed by digital media that facilitate also personal interactions between entrepreneurs and investors. Similarly, external factors (investors and campaign characteristics, with the fundamental role of ECF platform managers in building trust between entrepreneurs and investors) allow for the alleviation of information asymmetries. The present study sheds light on which signal mechanisms are decisive in improving the outcome, taking into consideration various disciplines which follow different but complementary perspectives.

Entrepreneurs should adapt to the transition toward the digital era, exploiting alternative financial instruments and learning effective signaling strategies, within a large variety of skills requested. Platform managers can obtain more focused information on selected entrepreneurial projects more efficiently.

Although it is fast-growing, the field of research is very recent, still fragmented and limited to the perspective/discipline followed. This SLR is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first multidisciplinary and integrative analysis of reasons that motivates success, or failure, of an equity-based crowdfunding campaign. The digital nature of ECF encourages future research to move toward more pioneering and unconventional theories and research methods. Hence, the authors add to the existing literature by proposing future patterns of research based on an integration of highly technological skills and behavioral/psychological approaches.

Despite the noticeable consequences of disruptive financial innovations, access to finance remains a major factor inhibiting the sustainable-growth potentials of young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings. This study examines the determinants of financing options among micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings. Specifically, the study seeks to establish whether credit history, income, asset, gender, awareness and network capability have effects on formal and informal financing options among micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings.

This article uses the survey research design and administers a structured questionnaire among 300 purposively selected micro-entrepreneurs within the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Only 291 completed questionnaires are retrieved. This article also uses the multiple regression analysis to estimate the empirical model and test the research hypotheses respectively.

This article establishes that: (1) credit history and assets-based financing are significant determinants of formal financing options among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings, (2) gender and network capability are significant determinants of informal financing options among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings and (3) awareness is significant of both formal and informal financing options among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings.

This article examines the determinants of financing option among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings. Specifically, the study seeks to establish whether credit history income asset gender awareness and network capability have effects on formal and informal financing options among micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings.

The purpose of this study is to understand and analyze the key topics on which scholars have engaged in relation to crowdfunding and its starring role in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from an Islamic perspective. A Structured Literature Review (SLR) is used in this study to assess how scholars carried out their studies in order to better understand future research directions.

The study adopted a SLR methodology and considered 89 peer-reviewed studies published between 1981 and 2021 in GCC countries.

The study identified the starring role of crowdfunding from the Islamic perspective, its role in economic development and its role as a source of finance for new business startups in GCC countries.

Because the research was conducted by a single person, his subjective interpretation might have an impact on the results. Furthermore, only journal papers limited to GCC and published between 1981 and 2021 were examined.

Countries in GCC might recognize the starring role of crowdfunding for their SMEs and economic development.

The authors draw avenues for future research by considering the starring role of crowdfunding using SLR from the Islamic perspective. This helps future researchers to identify the starring role of crowdfunding to contextualize in GCC countries.

The purpose of this paper is to develop initial evidence about the nature and features of crowdfunding in China, given it is largely unregulated regulatory frameworks.

The paper used extensive desk research using data collected from the public and private sectors, after which the data was analyzed parallel to existing academic literature, that is, institutional context by Bruton et al. (2014). This paper uncovered patterns of development, profiling crowdfunding platforms, examining the regulatory landscape and providing antecedents of successful crowdfunding projects in China.

When the traditional financial markets are hard to reach, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) were starved for capital. Crowdfunding can play a major role in funding and risk sharing. It is an innovative and dynamic vehicle for MSMEs as well as enthusiastic investors in China. Since its initial introduction to China in 2009, crowdfunding has gained substantial popularity in a relatively short period. Currently, there is still not an identifiable guideline on how to delineate the significance of the crowdfunding platform. The development of crowdfunding in China faces a few unresolved key issues. As researchers exploring this phenomenon in new ways, crowdfunding platforms can be enhanced in a manner that benefits the capital seeker, investors and society as a whole.

There is a dearth of information on start-up crowdfunding in Asia. With little data available to analyze, so this paper hopes to contribute to knowledge and provide valuable information to researchers and industry representations. Crowdfunding represents a potentially disruptive change in the way that new ventures are funded. This paper represents an initial analysis in the study of new ventures in China. Finally, the authors provide recommendations for entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers as well as researchers and practitioners with suggestions about yet unexplored avenues of research.

This paper aims to highlight resolution of Islamic finance dispute by common law-oriented courts in Nigeria with respect to Sharīʿah non-compliance and legal risks thereof, as well as the lesson to learn from Malaysia in that regard. This is with view to ensuring Sharīʿah compliance and legal safety of Islamic finance practice as prerequisites for sustainability of the Nigerian Islamic finance industry.

A qualitative method was used; interviews were conducted with different categories of experts and primary data collected in relation to Sharīʿah non-compliance and legal risks in adjudicating Islamic finance dispute by civil courts and the role of expert advice as basis for court referral to Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts. A doctrinal approach was adopted to analyse relevant legislative provisions and content analysis of secondary data relevant to applicable provisions in matters of finance before civil courts.

The paper discovers an indispensable role of conventional financial regulations in sustaining Islamic finance industry. Appropriate laws for Islamic finance under the conventional framework foster legal safety and Sharīʿah compliance of Islamic finance activities in related cases handled by courts. Nigeria civil courts can aid sustainability of Islamic finance when so equipped and enabled by laws that address apparent Sharīʿah non-compliance and legal risks in judicial dispute resolution. Inadequate legal provisions for dispute resolution breeds Sharīʿah non-compliance and legal risks in Islamic finance, undermine its prospects and stand inimical to its sustainability.

This research is limited by its focus on Sharīʿah non-compliance and legal risks alone, which emanate mainly from judicial resolution of Islamic finance dispute by Nigerian civil courts.

This research seeks to motivate a determined and deliberate regulatory action and change in approach towards addressing apparent risks associated with Islamic finance while resolving disputes therein by civil courts. It has implications on common law jurisdictions generally that adopt similar approach as Nigeria's while introducing Islamic finance into their conventional finance framework.

Dispute resolution and other regulatory functions of civil courts are important to Islamic finance though apparently overlooked while introducing Islamic finance in Nigeria as in other emerging jurisdictions. This research ascertains the role of the civil courts as indispensable for Islamic Financial Institution (IFIs) operations and demonstrates that such courts are needed for the development and sustainability of Islamic finance industry. The research demonstrates the end-to-end requirement of Sharīʿah compliance of Islamic financial transactions as absolute and needs be ensured and guarded at dispute resolution level by properly equipped courts.