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Many veterans struggle with the civilian world and the loss of identity associated with leaving the service. This research investigates the Building Heroes Charity's role in assisting service leavers transitioning to civil employment, in the United Kingdom (UK) and what can be learnt from the training and support.

An exploratory case study design was chosen to investigate the transition from military to civilian employment. The case study consisted of 12 in-depth interviews consisting of nine veterans, who had attended the Building Heroes courses and three course tutors.

The Building Heroes Charity does have an important role to fulfill in the transition of military personnel from the service to civilian work. There are positive outcomes that complement the work done by the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), but there still needs to be recognition that the needs of veterans do differ by age, transferability of competencies and the financial resources available.

The limitations of this research are the sample size is small and the majority of the veterans are from the Army. This is mostly because the Army is the largest of the services.

Though there is limited research into the employment of veterans, there is evidence to demonstrate that veterans are more likely to suffer from depression and potential homelessness than nonservice personnel. This research is unique in investigating the role of a charity whose main purpose is to improve the employability of veterans by reducing the competency skills gap between the military and construction industry.

The unique institution of waqf that was ignored during the colonization of the Muslim areas has to be revived to play its role in shared growth, social inclusion and cohesion in society. This research paper aims to explore the role of waqf as an instrument for a sustainable growth system and to suggest a model for socioeconomic development in an economy like that of Pakistan.

This qualitative research is based on analytical methods to arrive at the frameworks and a model that could facilitate the revival of waqf for community development/social inclusion in economies like that of Pakistan.

As most of the OIC member states like Pakistan are facing serious financial problems due to debt servicing obligations, promoting Waqf for various socioeconomic and cultural functions is a vital requirement for such economies. The inability of the state institutions in providing necessary civic, health and education facilities to the public is causing serious harm to the balance of the society. It requires promoting a formal system of charity and using FinTech for waqf-based donations and financing the micro businesses. The perpetuity complimented by the profitability of the waqf properties makes the waqf institutions sustainable and effective when compared to individual charities.

This is conceptual research discussing the potential of waqf in light of its historical role. Researchers may undertake empirical studies on awqaf operations in various jurisdictions and their role in the empowerment of the poor.

The research will provide the researchers with insight into the potential of waqf as a tool for community development. Besides, it will enable policymakers and implementation authorities to socialize charity for sustained benefits and welfare.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first major research that discusses the role of waqf in economies facing budgetary and trade deficits in the eradication of poverty and the promotion of social and economic entrepreneurship in realizing the community development targets for the economies like that of Pakistan.

Cash waqf is a powerful financial instrument that deals with the issue of liquidity constraints in waqf institutions. While there are several models of cash waqf operating in different countries, there is increasing demand for innovative cash waqf models, especially within the financial technology context. This paper aims to propose a practical alternative model of funding for waqf institutions using the concepts of crowdfunding and cash waqf.

This study evaluated the literature relevant to cash waqf models that have been implemented in different countries and proposed a new viable alternative model.

Results offer an alternative financing model, named crowdfunding cash waqf model, for waqf institutions to overcome monetary constraints and enable development projects to be completed.

The current study has important implications for both officials and relevant stakeholders. It is sought to bring better consistency between cash waqf donors, solving the liquidity problem faced by waqf institutions, enhancing the transparency of waqf institutions and their use of waqf funds, wealth circulation and financing businesses without interest-based loans (riba). By incorporating a crowdfunding and investment mechanism in the model, this method of collecting funds will assist governments in reducing their expenditure on waqf institutions and other social development programmes.

The proposed model differs from current methods of generating cash waqf, including those are also internet-based. The proposed model is devised to help waqf institutions achieve financial sustainability by including an investment mechanism in the model to sustain the development of waqf projects.

People donate to charities with the aim of improving society. Yet, many charities fail to use donations efficiently or have ineffective interventions. The authors explore the strategic operational priorities and processes that enable charities to efficiently implement their interventions and have a positive impact on society.

The authors first review the literature on charities to gain a deeper understanding of the current state of knowledge on charity operations. The authors then employ the lens of paradox theory and perform a qualitative investigation of six case studies to explore various aspects of the operations of charities that are known for being cost-effective.

The authors reveal how the strategic operational decisions of charities, as well as the processes they implement, help them resolve the tensions arising from the cost-effectiveness paradox. The authors show that cost-effective charities make strategic operational decisions that help maintain two diverging priorities: prioritizing the status quo and prioritizing change in how they deliver value. Another set of strategic decisions helps balance these two diverging priorities. The authors then show how these charities create and then maintain cost-effective operations.

The authors address recent calls for research on non-profit organizations in the field of operations management. To authors’ knowledge, it is the first in-depth study of exemplary charity operations. The results can be used by charity executives as a benchmarking tool when they develop and implement their charitable interventions and by government agencies and potential donors when they select charities for their donations. Finally, the results should have implications for other organizations trying to have a positive societal impact.

This study aims to present a bibliometric analysis of Islamic social finance (ISF) by addressing gaps in the existing research, exploring the current trends of publications and determining possible future research directions in this field.

Relevant bibliometric data of published research during 1914–2022 was extracted from the Scopus database and 1,355 studies were considered for the analysis. Biblioshiny app from RStudio, VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel were the tools used for analysis.

The identified current research streams are management and distribution of ISF funds especially zakat through fintech; governance and accountability of ISF institutions; Islamic microfinance for poverty alleviation and financial inclusion; ISF for promoting sustainable development and achieving United Nations sustainable development goals; waqf endowments and cash waqf; and Islamic charities. The identified themes for future research directions are Islamic fintech, integration of ISF, sustainable development, economic recovery, social entrepreneurship, sustainable ISF ecosystem and supporting refugees.

It provides extensive and up-to-date literature on the current trends in ISF and future research themes which can be useful for researchers, professionals and policymakers in the field.

The findings of this research contribute to the solutions to socio-economic challenges and support sustainable development through ISF.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the first attempt to provide a pervasive bibliometric review on ISF by including various aspects of ISF and extending the study period to more than 100 years.

Islamic home financing products with Murabaha contracts are widely favored among the Muslim community in Indonesia, given that the country has a population of over 230 million Muslims. To facilitate the development of products and enhance public interest, it is important for Islamic banking institutions to comprehend the elements that may impact the intents of Muslim communities in Indonesia when selecting Islamic home financing products with Murabaha contracts. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the many aspects that may have an impact on the decision-making process of Muslim communities in Indonesia when selecting Islamic home financing product that use Murabaha contracts.

The partial least square-structural equation modeling data processing techniques will be used to process and evaluate these components. The data used in this study was acquired by administering questionnaires to a sample of 298 Muslim communities, which were randomly selected from a pool of 301 possible customers of Islamic house finance in Indonesia.

The results of this research show that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control have positive influence on intention to choose an Islamic home financing scheme with Murabaha agreement, while price fairness of Islamic home financing and Islamic altruism have direct and indirect influence on intention to choose Islamic home financing.

Analyzing factors that affect intention to choose Islamic home financing product under Murabaha contract is essential. Future study is required to analyze other Islamic home financing products, such as istisna, ijarah muntahia bi tamlik and diminishing musharakah. This study only serves as a foundation for further investigations into conventional approaches to home financing in emerging nations. The areas can be expanded to be implemented in other countries.

It is anticipated that Islamic banks have the capacity to cultivate a favorable and constructive perception, hence fostering a positive disposition among the Muslim populace in Indonesia. Furthermore, it is essential for Islamic banks to guarantee that all stakeholders within the sharia-compliant institution, particularly the frontline staff, have enough expertise and understanding of the intricacies of Islamic home financing products including Murabaha contracts, which are intended for prospective customers. In the foreseeable future, it is anticipated that the Muslim population in Indonesia would exhibit a greater intention toward the use of Islamic home financing solutions that use Murabaha contracts, facilitated by the establishment of a conducive environment.

This research integrates the impacts of pricing fairness and Islamic charity as a modified model, alongside the theory of planned behavior model, to examine the influence of these factors on individuals’ intentions to use Islamic home financing in Indonesia.

The study aims to investigate the Shari’ah governance quality effectiveness, at the bank and national levels, on the value relevance of Islamic banks’ (IBs’) earning per share and book value per share.

Quantitative analyses are conducted using a panel of 40 listed IBs from 12 countries during 2012–2019. Data were retrieved from the Refinitiv Eikon database and banks’ annual reports.

The findings suggest that Shari’ah supervisory boards’ attributes negatively influence the value relevance of accounting information while the internal procedures positively impact it. The results also provide evidence of a complementary effect between Shari’ah governance mechanisms at the bank and national levels on the value relevance of accounting information.

IBs’ boards and managers need to be more aware of the role of Shari’ah governance and its impact on value relevance. The observed complementarity between Shari’ah governance systems at the bank and national levels may incite regulators to include comprehensive Shari’ah governance regulations in their best practices. Strengthening collaboration between regulators and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) is also required to create an enabling environment for investors to rely on the AAOIFI accounting standards in their investment decision-making process.

Existing studies tend to ignore the effectiveness of Shari’ah governance quality at the bank level on value relevance. There is a similar lack of empirical research on the effectiveness of the centralized Shari’ah governance scheme on accounting issues.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic content review and bibliometric analysis of the current research trends, core concepts and knowledge mapping on the topic Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF) during Covid-19. Apart from highlighting the contributions of prolific authors, prominent institutions and countries, a comprehensive review of a significant number of documents using co-citation and co-word analysis is carried out for the science mapping.

A data set of 125 papers was collected published in Scopus database during the period December, 2019 and January 5th, 2023. Yearly publications, most-cited papers and authors, active sources, affiliations and countries are highlighted with descriptive analysis. Knowledge structure of the topic was mapped with investigating the social, intellectual and conceptual structures of IBF research. Content analysis is carried out to uncover the underlying research clusters that shape the scientific knowledge structure of studies.

A diverse group of authors and institutions contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the topic. IBF is adopting new paradigms and frameworks to integrate FinTech, crowd funding and Islamic social finance to provide sustainable solutions in both crisis and normal periods. The research on IBF is classified in to three themes: “financial markets in Covid-19,” “modeling risk and market regimes” and “FinTech and Islamic social finance.”

This study collects data only from Scopus database. Future studies must include research articles from other databases such as, Web of Sciences.

This study highlights research gaps in the existing literature and provides directions for future research.

The recruitment of undergraduate students within English universities is of vital importance to both the academic success and the financial stability of the organisation. Despite the primacy of the task, there has been a dearth of research looking at related performance and how to ensure that the process is optimised. The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of variation both within a university and between different universities. The reliance that individual programmes and/or universities place on the Clearing process is key; given its uncertainty, resource demands and timing shortly before students take up their places.

The Nomogramma di Gandy diagrammatical approach utilises readily available data to analyse universities’ performance in recruiting students to different programmes, and the degree to which they each rely of the Clearing process. Inter-university performance was investigated on a whole-student intake basis for a sample of English universities, representative of type and region.

The study found that there were disparate patterns for the many programmes within the pilot university and also disparate patterns between different types of universities across England. Accordingly, universities should internally benchmark their programmes to inform both strategic and tactical decision-making. Similarly, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service benchmarking inter-university patterns could inform the overall sector.

The approach and findings provide lessons for analysing student recruitment which could be critical to universities’ academic and financial health, in an increasingly competitive environment.

Young offender mentoring programmes aim to support young people’s desistance from offending, but despite the importance, there remains limited exploration into mentor experiences of supporting the young people. This study aims to explore how a community-based mentoring intervention supports desistance in young offenders by understanding the mentor's experiences, with a specific reflective focus on facilitators and barriers to their work.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven mentors from Northumbria Coalition against Crime, a youth and community service. Interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, with external auditing conducted by the research supervisor.

Two superordinate themes resulted: “Factors for engagement” and “Personal experiences”, with participant disclosures reflecting professional reward and a sense of success. This was interwoven with “burnout”, emotional investment and challenges linked to barriers to effectiveness. Challenges included the young people having external negative influences, multiple individuals involved in a person’s care and the barrier of in person activities during the coronavirus pandemic. The clinical importance of mentoring programmes, implications for future working practice and research limitations are considered.

The clinical importance of mentoring programmes, implications for future working practice and research limitations are considered.

These findings contribute to understanding mentors’ experiences of working with young people in the community, offering critical insight into the mentorship and wider service dynamics. Furthermore, it provides an inaugural evaluation of the Northumbria Coalition against Crime services.