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This paper aims to compare the rebate computation in Islamic sale-based financing contracts as proposed by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in its guidelines on ibrāʾ (rebate) – with the rebate computation in conventional finance that is applicable to conventional loans, thus examining if there is a significant difference between the two approaches.

The paper employs the qualitative analysis method, involving review and discussion of relevant literature. Subsequently, a quantitative analysis is utilized to compare both rebate computations: the one proposed by BNM for Islamic sale-based financing contracts and the conventional finance computation that is utilized in conventional loans.

BNM's rebate computation for debts resulting from sale-based financing contracts does not differ from the conventional finance rebate computation applied to conventional loans; such similarity may raise the usury concerns that the conventional finance rebate computation raises.

The paper focuses only on the fixed profit rate rebate computation proposed by BNM guidelines.

The results highlight the need for seeking another rebate computation to be applied in Islamic financial institutions in the case of mandatory bilateral rebate for sale-based financing contracts – a computation that differs from the practice utilized in conventional loans in order to avoid any usury implications associated with conventional finance computation.

The paper examines the rebate practice proposed by BNM for sale-based financing contracts. Forcing a predetermined rebate computation in sale-based financing contracts could be plausible as BNM requires; however, the suggested computation might be questionable because it resembles conventional finance computation.

The purpose of this study is observing the disclosure pattern of integrated reporting (IR) and investigating its relationship with a firm's operational, financial and market growth performance measured in the form of return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and market-to-book value ratio respectively in the voluntary disclosure regime of Bangladesh.

This research is quantitative, based on a pooled-OLS regression analysis of 20 firms listed under ten different nonfinancial industries of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) for three financial years from 2015–2016 to 2017–2018, with 60 firm-year observations. A manual content analysis based on a structured integrated reporting disclosure index (IRDIN) measures the extent of disclosure in the corporate annual reports. The practical model consists of the dependent variable IRDIN and the independent variables ROA, ROE and market-to-book value ratio. The natural logarithm of total assets and financial leverage are the two controlling variables used in the model.

The findings deduced from the empirical results indicate that the IRDIN is positively and significantly related to all three performance variables. Content analysis shows an increasing pattern of disclosure of the constructed index elements by the sample firms.

A Small sample size may deter the generalization of the research findings in other voluntary disclosure regimes. Self-constructed IRDIN index scores may be affected by subjective judgment while assessing the annual reports.

Capital market regulators can gain valuable insights regarding the suitability of implementing IR in Bangladesh as the results show a positive relationship of firm performance with the adoption of this revolutionary paradigm in corporate reporting.

This study adds value to the existing limited literature of IR disclosure and firm performance in Bangladesh by incorporating content analysis and regression analysis to understand how firms respond to the demand of value creation by the stakeholders in a voluntary disclosure regime. This study captures sample firms from all the nonfinancial industries of Bangladesh with a unique IR index, which is the first of its kind.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of spousal communication and attitude toward family planning (FP) use among young mothers in the peri-urban area of Osun State, Nigeria.

The study was limited to a primary cross-sectional dataset collected among 420 young mothers between the ages of 15 and 30 years residing in the peri-urban area of Osun State, Nigeria. The distribution of the use of FP across the socio-demographic, spousal communication and attitude was described, and multivariate logistic regression was used to assess FP use likelihood. The results were presented as crude odds ratios (cOR) and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Statistical significance was set at p-value < 0.05.

FP use were more likely to be higher among the respondents whose male spouses have good communication [cOR = 35.5; 95% (15.93–78.99)], good attitude [cOR = 8.6 95% (3.59–20.65)] and this persisted after adjusting for significant covariates [aOR = 80.7; 95% (19.80–328.84)] and [aOR = 5.4 95% (1.34–22.17)].

The study's strength is the ability to design questionnaires tailored toward the literature gap on nonuse of FP by young mothers. However, the study is without limitation because the focus was on young mothers alone why their spouses were not interviewed. Male spouse details were collected from the young mothers, and there may be inaccuracy in the reporting of male spouse socio-demographic characteristics used as a control variable in this study. Also, because this research was conducted among specific group, the results of the study cannot be used to generalize for other group.

Future studies should consider both partners to harness the true picture of poor communication and attitude toward each other. The future study will also be more robust if it can consider a qualitative research design as this will help unveil more underlining factors influencing the nonuse of FP among young mothers.

Young mothers with good spousal communication and attitude were more likely to use FP. Deliberate interventions should include focus group discussion and community sensitization to encourage good communication and attitude of male spouse toward their partner in the peri-urban area of Osun State, Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.

The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a “vision” of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.

There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.

Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.

This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.

This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.

The study examines the social and environmental responsibility indicators disclosed by three International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) corporate mining members in their social and environmental reporting (SER) from 2006 to 2014. To achieve this aim, the author limits the data two years before (i.e. from 2006 to 2007) and six years after (i.e. from 2009 to 2014) the implementation of the Sustainable Development Framework in the mining sector in 2008.

Using the techniques of content analysis and interpretive textual analysis, this study examines 27 social and environmental responsibility reports published between 2006 and 2014 by three ICMM corporate mining members. The study develops a disclosure index based on the earlier work of Hackston and Milne (1996), together with other disclosure items suggested in the extant literature and considered appropriate for this work. The disclosure index for this study comprised six disclosure categories (“employee”, “environment”, “community involvement”, “energy”, “governance” and “general”). In each of the six disclosure categories, only 10 disclosure items were chosen and that results in 60 disclosure items.

A total of 830 out of a maximum of 1,620 social and environmental responsibility indicators, representing 51% (168 employees, 151 environmental, 145 community involvement, 128 energy, 127 governance and 111 general) were identified and examined in company SER. The study showed that the sample companies relied on multiple strategies for managing pragmatic legitimacy and moral legitimacy via disclosures. Such practices raise questions regarding company-specific disclosure policies and their possible links to the quality/quantity of their disclosures. The findings suggest that managers of mining companies may opt for “cherry-picking” and/or capitalise on events for reporting purposes as well as refocus on company-specific issues of priority in their disclosures. While such practices may appear appropriate and/or timely to meet stakeholders’ needs and interests, they may work against the development of comprehensive reports due to the multiple strategies adopted to manage pragmatic and moral legitimacy.

A limitation of this research is that the author relied on self-reported corporate disclosures, as opposed to verifying the activities associated with the claims by the sample mining companies.

The findings from this research will help future social and environmental accounting researchers to operationalise Suchman’s typology of legitimacy in other contexts.

With growing large-scale mining activity, potential social and environmental footprints are obviously far from being socially acceptable. Powerful and legitimacy-conferring stakeholders are likely to disapprove such mining activity and reconsider their support, which may threaten the survival of the mining company and also create a legitimacy threat for the whole mining industry.

This study innovates by focusing on Suchman’s (1995) typology of legitimacy framework to interpret SER in an industry characterised by potential social and environmental footprints – the mining industry.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the question “Why is Shariah Governance Framework (SGF) important for Islamic banks?”

A semi-structured face-to-face personal interview is used to accomplish the research objectives. This study has collected data from the concerned bodies related to Shariah Governance (SG) from the central bank and Islamic banks of Bangladesh.

This study states SG as a process of confirming Shariah compliance in the overall functions of the Islamic banks, while Shariah denotes some rules, regulations, guidelines, objectives and directions to enhance accurate functions and activities, which are solely based on Shariah principles. SGF is important for Islamic banks to implement Shariah principles, confirm Shariah compliance and monitor the functions of the banks. Besides, it is needed for a well, efficient, effective, profitable business and higher performance and, finally, to eliminate the confusion among the management, executives, conventional bankers and banks.

This study significantly contributes to the national and global regulatory bodies by providing evidence that why do Islamic banks and financial institutions require a sound SGF. It is recommended that there should be a sound and robust SGF to protect and fulfill the interest, expectations and demands of different stakeholders, which can easily draw their attention, intention and interest.

This is the first research that extends the literature of Islamic banking and SG by highlighting the importance of SGF. This study claims that to be a complete Islamic bank as well as protecting the unique identity from the general banks and corporate governance system, SG manual is required.

Building on the resource-based view (RBV) and the theory of other orientation, this study aims to examine the association between Islamic work ethics (IWEs) and organizational performance highlighting the role of employee relations climate as an underlying mechanism.

Data were collected from 239 employees working in diverse sectors in the state of Qatar. Structural equation modeling of partial least squares was used to analyze the data of the study.

The results suggest that IWEs positively impact organizational performance and employee relations climate. Furthermore, employee relations climate demonstrated to play a mediating role in the IWEs-organizational performance link.

The study can be used by administrators pertaining to the importance of IWE and employee relations climate to cultivate higher organizational outcomes such as organizational performance.

This research is distinctive as it examines the connection between IWEs and organizational performance in Qatar, a country where the influence of Islamic values and beliefs on work ethics is profound. In addition, the research sheds light on a topic that has received little attention in the literature: the significance of the workplace climate in determining how IWEs affect organizational performance. Finally, the research integrates two important theoretical frameworks, the RBV and the theory of other orientation, to create a comprehensive model that explains the complex relationship between IWEs, employee relations climate and organizational performance.

This paper aims to develop the best practices of Islamic estate planning for Muslims. Islamic estate planning is a fixed proposal for the management and outlook of an individual’s assets throughout their life and upon their passing, created by means of existing Islamic estate planning tools, for instance, farāʾiḍ (inheritance), waṣiyyah (will), hibah (gift) and waqf (endowment).

The paper used an interview method to obtain information on the best practices of Islamic estate planning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the respondents and estate planning providers in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. The data gathered was analysed using thematic analysis which involved five phases to construct the best practices of Islamic estate planning.

The paper identifies important elements in Islamic estate planning. The elements were outlined as the crucial things that Muslims should do to plan for intergenerational transfer and earning a good share in the hereafter.

The first limitation of the paper is that the best practices were developed based on a qualitative method. There is no evidence of its validity, which is a gap that can be explored in the future. Second, it involves the perceptions of two types of respondents (individuals and Islamic estate planning providers), which may be broadened to other related stakeholders such as regulators, in future studies.

This paper presents a framework of best practices of Islamic estate planning, it being one of the first studies to do so, which is not only useful and relevant for Malaysian Muslims but also for Muslims in other countries.

This study aims to investigate the effect of media coverage, negative media tone and the interaction between negative media tone and independent non-executive directors (INEDs) on strategic information disclosure (SD).

The authors rely on media agenda-setting theory, agency theory and a panel data set of 52 UAE non-financial listed firms from 2009 to 2016. Multivariate regressions examine the effect of media coverage and negative media tone on SD and examine the moderation of INEDs on the effect of negative media tone on SD while controlling for firm size, board size, board meeting frequency, firm profitability and leverage.

The results show that negative media tone has a negative effect on SD, and there is no association between media coverage and SD. The results show that INEDs are negatively associated with SD and have a negative moderating effect on the negative media tone–SD relationship. INEDs follow a conservative approach, encouraging less SD when their firms face negative media tone.

The authors measured media coverage and negative media tone by the number of news articles. In the robustness test, they use media tone score. They measured SD using an index that captures firm strategy dimensions. Though these measures are inherently subjective, they were used to measure variation in media coverage, media tone and SD across listed UAE non-financial firms. Mitigation of subjectivity was achieved through rigorous cross-checking measurements.

Findings assist UAE policymakers and the international business community with insights related to articulation of media to SD and INEDs’ role in moderating the effect of media on SD.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that combines media agenda-setting theory with agency theory and SD in an emerging market economy (the UAE). The study is also among the few studies that illustrate the possible role of INEDs under different media tones in emerging markets.