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The study aims to critically review the Shariah governance framework for Islamic banking prevailing in Pakistan and provide a comparison with Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).

It analyzes 16 circulars issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) since 2002, including three Shariah governance frameworks in 2014, 2015 and 2018. Additionally, the study compares the SBP and AAOIFI Shariah governance standards to evaluate the soundness of the SBP framework against international benchmarks.

Pakistan’s Shariah governance model is centralized, with the SBP’s Shariah board having ultimate authority. The SBP has provided a comprehensive Shariah framework, which includes among others, the criteria for the qualifications and conflict of interests of Shariah members. Both AAOIFI and SBP Shariah governance frameworks have similarities and differences in terms of the tenure of Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) members, reporting line of SSB, number of SSB meetings, minimum experience of SSB members, primary duties of Shariah board, code of ethics and conduct for SSB and management and requirement of publication of SSB report in the annual report of Islamic banks. The frameworks differ in terms of the delegation of SSB powers, assessment and appraisal of SSB effectiveness and outsourcing of Shariah Compliance Department and Internal Shariah Audit Unit.

The study recommends expanding the qualification criteria for Shariah advisors to include additional degrees and qualifications, upholding stringent criteria for conflict of interests and promoting stakeholder consultation through exposure drafts.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first of its kind which critically review and compare the Shariah governance framework prevailing in Pakistan.

Prior research suggests that collaboration is key to sustainable community development and environmental management, and peer-to-peer learning (P2PL) may facilitate community building and collaborative learning skills. This study aims to examine the effect of P2PL on the enhancement of environmental management and sustainable development skills, community building and social capital (i.e. connectedness) and understanding of course learning objectives.

Quantitative and qualitative longitudinal survey data was collected in a sustainable development focused course offered at a large American public university that uses P2PL to explicitly facilitate community building and collaborative skills. Safety precautions and changing locational course offerings due to the COVID-19 pandemic in years 2020, 2021 and 2022 provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact of P2PL on these skills during both virtual and in-person formats. Additionally, this study compared in-course student evaluations with students taking other sustainable development-related courses with collaborative learning aspects to understand the wider effectiveness of this course structure.

This study finds that course format (virtual vs in-person) overall made no difference in either connectedness or conceptual understandings, and that students in both formats felt more connected to others than students taking other courses with P2PL. Scaffolding P2PL and supplemental peer support can yield improved connectedness and learning among students taking environmental coursework.

Sustainable development requires group collaboration and partnership building skills. Issues are consistently raised about the challenges to teaching these skills in higher education. The students and instructors in this research study identify P2PL strategies to address these challenges for in-person and virtual classroom settings.

The ailing agriculture sector in Pakistan demands a supportive financial sector. The low adoption of Salam financing by Islamic banks does not match the potential demand. Empirical studies identified demand-led issues that led to a low proportion of Salam financing, but the exploration of supply-side constraints is overlooked.

This study has applied Interpretive Phenomenological Analyses on 20 interviews with the experts in the Islamic banking industry who play a role in decisions on Salam financing to the agriculture sector. The purpose of the study is to explore the determinants of low adoption of Salam financing by Islamic banks.

The experiences led to the major reasons for the low adoption of Salam financing categorized as intentions, attitudes and behavior control which corresponds to the theory of planned behavior.

This study is instrumental in exploring the supply-side constraints to Salam financing and helps find aligning theory to intervene via Islamic banking regulations.

This study aims to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic disruptive event on delivery of the built environment degree apprentice programme in higher education in the UK and identify the key strategies to minimise the effect.

A qualitative approach was used to collect and analyse data from a sample set of built environment degree apprenticeship stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 key stakeholders to collate emerging themes on their perceptions of the impacts of the pandemic and strategies to adopted to minimise it.

The investigation reveals that the core impacts of Covid-19 on the apprentices training programme are lack of access to the site, furlough, limited access to off the job training, limited interaction with tutors and peers, too much time on the screen, limited pastoral care and lack of contact with a mentor. The census from the research participants is that despite the development and gain with the various virtual platform used during pandemic physical meetings with their mentor remain pivotal to the built environment apprentices learning and training.

The results provide relevant stakeholders and actors supporting degree apprentices training programmes (training providers and employers, among others) with the information needed to improve the delivery of built environment degree apprenticeship training programmes during a disruptive event Covid-19. The study identifies various strategies to minimise the impact of disruptive events on the apprentices training, including technology, regular meeting with mentors online, and personal and pastoral care.

The study is the first to document the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on degree apprenticeship programs in the built environment. This study provides an in-depth understanding of how these programs have been affected and offers potential solutions to reduce or mitigate potential damage. The research will inform future policy decisions related to degree apprenticeship programs in the built environment.

This study explores the roles of formal advisors (FAs) in the succession process of family firms and the factors that determine them.

Data for this study were collected through interviews with 38 FAs, including lawyers, tax advisors, financial ad-visors and others.

FAs play multiple roles simultaneously in succession processes (both internal and external), which the authors call role hybridity. Among them, the authors differentiated roles, such as educators, sherpas, initiators, experts, managers, consiglieres and protectors. Additionally, the authors demonstrated that the critical factors shaping these roles are trust, communication, human capital and willingness to take on the role. To explain the role hybridity phenomenon, the authors used stewardship theory's assumptions and formulated propositions for further research.

This study provides insight into both internal and external succession processes from the perspective of various types of FAs. The authors indicate their roles and the factors that determine them.

Financial services industry is increasingly showing interest in automated financial advisors, or robo-advisors, with the aim of democratizing access to financial advice and stimulating investment behavior among populations that were previously less active and less served. However, the extent to which consumers trust this technology influences the adoption of rob-advisors. The resemblance to a human, or anthropomorphism, can provide a sense of social presence and increase trust.

In this paper, we conduct an experiment (N = 223) to test the effect of anthropomorphism (low vs medium vs high) and gender (male vs female) of the robo-advisor on social presence. This perception, in turn, enables consumers to evaluate personality characteristics of the robo-advisor, such as competence, warmth, and persuasiveness, all of which are related to trust in the robo-advisor. We separately conduct an experimental study (N = 206) testing the effect of gender neutrality on consumer responses to robo-advisory anthropomorphism.

Our results show that consumers prefer human-alike robo-advisors over machinelike or humanoid robo-advisors. This preference is only observed for male robo-advisors and is explained by perceived competence and perceived persuasiveness. Furthermore, highlighting gender neutrality undermines the positive effect of robo-advisor anthropomorphism on trust.

We contribute to the body of knowledge on robo-advisor design by showing the effect of robot’s anthropomorphism and gender on consumer perceptions and trust. Consequently, we offer insightful recommendations to promote the adoption of robo-advisory services in the financial sector.

The study examines the impacts of debt financing on infrastructure development, investment, creation of new business entities, subsidies to private sector and GDP growth.

The methodology is based on five simultaneous equations which have been estimated through panel least square.

The most important conclusion of this study is the significant role of sovereign bonds in determination of subsidies to private sector. The role of domestic credit is important in South Asian context because of its significant role in creation of new businesses.

This study supports the enhancement in credit financing to private sector for creation of new business activities in the economy.

The improvement in liquidity position by enhancing domestic credit facilities may ensure the sustainability and continuity of business activities. Such activities may improve GDP growth in future.

The most important aspect of the study is to identify the role of debt financing in subsidies and creation of new businesses which are important elements of social economics.

Usually the impacts of sovereign bonds and external debts on infrastructure development and GDP growth are examined. But, to relate these debts to creation of business entities and subsidies is a new dimension.

Robo-advisory has become an increasingly popular asset management tool in recent decades. This paper studies the association between robo-advisor usage and perceived financial satisfaction.

Using data extracted from the National Financial Capability Study 2015 (NFCS2015), the present study carried out a logistic analysis that examines the association between robo-advisory and perceived financial satisfaction. This model also studies the interaction effect of age on this association.

The present study finds that robo-advisor usage is positively correlated with a person’s perceived financial satisfaction after controlling for covariates related to financial literacy and other demographic factors. Moreover, the present study reveals that age moderates the association between robo-advisory usage and financial satisfaction. The results are robust after regressing financial satisfaction on robo-advisory by different age groups.

This paper extends existing literature on robo-advisory by showing that robo-advisory usage relates to a higher level of financial satisfaction. This finding helps understand the rapidly increasing trend of robo-advisory in the financial industry. Moreover, the present study reveals a moderate effect of age on the association between robo-advisory usage and perceived financial satisfaction.

This study aims to focus on key approaches to education for sustainability (EfS) leadership development in the context of Malaysian and Japanese universities. The authors identify key indicators of effective EfS leadership development approaches using both descriptive and inferential analyses, identify and compare the preferred leadership learning methods of academics and examine the impact of marital status, country of residence and administrative position on the three EfS leadership development approaches.

The study is quantitative in approach and survey in design. Data were collected from 664 academics and analysed using the efficient partial least squares (PLSe2) methodology. To provide higher education researchers with more analytical insights, the authors re-estimated the models based on the maximum likelihood methodology and compared the results across the two methods.

The inferential results underscored the significance of four EfS leadership learning methods, namely, “Involvement in professional leadership groups or associations, including those concerned with EfS”, “Being involved in a formal mentoring/coaching program”, “Completing formal leadership programs provided by my institution” and “Participating in higher education leadership seminars”. Additionally, the authors noted a significant impact of country of residence on the three approaches to EfS leadership development. Furthermore, although marital status emerged as a predictor for self-managed learning and formal leadership development (with little practical relevance), administrative position did not exhibit any influence on the three approaches.

In addition to the theoretical and methodological implications drawn from the findings, the authors emphasize a number of practical implications, namely, exploring the applicability of the results to other East Asian countries, the adaptation of current higher education leadership development programmes focused on the key challenges faced by successful leaders in similar roles, and the consideration of a range of independent variables including marital status, administrative position and country of residence in the formulation of policies related to EfS leadership development.

This study represents an inaugural international comparative analysis that specifically examines EfS leadership learning methods. The investigation uses the research approach and conceptual framework used in the international Turnaround Leadership for Sustainability in Higher Education initiative and uses the PLSe2 methodology to inferentially pinpoint key learning methods and test the formulated hypotheses.

As human resource development (HRD) seeks to develop organizations and unleash human expertise (Swanson and Holton, 2009), leaders should be encouraged to consider every employee as a complex individual with unique needs and aspirations. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of equity leadership (EL), which identifies individual employees’ personal and professional resource, relationship and opportunity needs in an effort to support employees in reaching their fullest potential in the workforce, therefore increasing positive organizational outcomes.

The theoretical foundations of EL are social exchange theory (SET; Saks and Rotman, 2006) and the ERG theory of motivation (Alderfer, 1969). SET recognizes the give-and-take relationship between leaders and employees, while ERG theory of motivation considers an individual’s personal and professional existence, relatedness and growth needs. The theories provide a foundation for EL’s definition.

EL posits that leaders’ attention to employees’ resource, relationship and opportunity needs in the workplace could result in a positive effect on the social exchange between leaders and employees. EL provides a framework for these exchanges to occur and for employee needs to be considered, thus resulting in increased employee engagement, productivity and retention.

EL can take a significant amount of time, especially when starting with new employees; however, the relationships and positive organizational outcomes provide justification for engaging in the leadership style.

This paper seeks to advance the field of HRD by defining EL, exploring the theoretical underpinnings of EL and providing actionable steps for leaders to put EL into action.

The nuanced theory of EL encourages organizations to evolve from the factory model of expectations to a model that considers the unique needs of individuals in organizations. Grounded partly in SET, EL promotes positive relationships between leaders and employees.

There are many leadership theories; however, EL, unlike any other leadership theory, uniquely considers the individual needs of each employee through consistent one-on-one conversations between the leader and individual employees to discover employee needs and also strives for positive organizational outcomes as a result of the social exchanges.