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The purpose of this study is to determine the level of perception of a Muslim account holder in a conventional bank toward Islamic banking products and to determine the relationship between the perception levels of Nigerian’s account holder’s and their decision to patronize Islamic banking. Personal perception factor is operationalized as opinion or observations, which are able to influence customer’s decision to patronize Islamic banking products and services.

A field survey was conducted and samples drawn using proportionate stratified simple random sampling techniques. Out of the 500 questionnaires distributed by hand, only 304 were returned and 286 were usable for the data analysis using SPSS and PLS Modeling Software.

First, the means for personal perception variable was 4.91 with standard deviation of 1.007. This indicates the good perception level of Islamic products by Muslim account holders in a conventional bank in Kano, Nigeria. The respondents’ level of decision to patronize the Islamic banking products and services was satisfactory. Second, the results also showed that the research framework model, structural model and hypothesis were supported. In the measurement model, the convergent, discriminant validity and reliability/composite reliability of the perception construct were assessed favorably. The results revealed that perception was positively associated with a Muslim account holder’s decision to patronize Islamic banking products.

The study is subject to several shortcomings that limit interpretation of findings. One of the limitations of this study is the use of cross-sectional design for survey research and subjective self-reported perceptual measures in assessing the studies. Hence, the findings of this study cannot be generalized in a larger context across the cultures of other countries.

The implication of this study is for the Islamic banking industry to focus on the people’s level of perception, government support, quality and availability of Islamic banking products and services that would have an impact on customer decision to patronize Islamic banking products. The necessary suggestions on new area of research were recommended for future researchers.

Islamic banks have the potential to exploit and market to various segments of customers extending beyond those who are concerned with the legitimacy of the facility from the Islamic point of view and those who seek service quality, convenience and efficient transactions. To the practitioners in search of patronage of Islamic banking products and services, patronage studies on Islamic banking have so far largely focused on the combination of various religious, reputation, commercial, service satisfaction, staff, confidentiality and convenience factors.

The results of the present study establish the major problem that requires urgent attention needed to strengthen public education toward the distinctive characteristics of Islamic banks and how it may profitably suit the interest of customers in their financial dealings.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on Islamic finance vis-à-vis legal and Sharīʿah non-compliance risks in its transactions and judicial dispute resolution in Nigeria. This is with a view to putting forward direction for future studies on the duo of legal and Sharīʿah non-compliance risks and their impact in Islamic finance.

This review is designed as an exploratory study and qualitative methodology is used in examining relevant literature comprising of primary and secondary data while identifying legal risk and Sharīʿah non-compliance risks of Nigeria’s Islamic finance industry. Using the doctrinal approach together with content analysis, relevant Nigerian laws and judicial precedents applicable to Islamic finance practice and related publications were examined in determining the identified risks.

Undeveloped laws, the uncertainty of Sharīʿah governance and enforceability issues are identified as legal gaps for Islamic finance under the Nigerian legal system. The gaps are inimical to and undermine investor confidence in Nigeria’s Islamic finance industry. The review reveals the necessity of tailor-made Sharīʿah-based regulations in addition to corresponding governance and oversight for a legally safe and Sharīʿah-compliant Islamic finance practice. It brings to light the imperative for mitigating the legal and Sharīʿah non-compliance risks associated with Islamic finance operations as crucial for Islamic finance businesses, Islamic finance institutions and their sustainable development.

Based on content analysis, the review is wholly doctrinal and does not involve empirical data. Legal safety and Sharīʿah compliance are not to be compromised in Islamic finance operations. The review would assist relevant regulators and investors in Islamic financial enterprises to understand and determine the impact and potential ramifications of legal safety and Sharīʿah non-compliance on Islamic Finance Institutions.

This study provides an insight into the dimensions and ramifications of legal and Sharīʿah non-compliance risks of Nigeria’s Islamic finance industry. This study is premised on the imperative for research studies whose outcome would inform regulations that strike a balance between establishing Islamic financial institution/business and ensuring legal certainty and Sharīʿah compliance of their operations. This study paves way for this kind of research studies.

The findings and discussions provide a guide for regulators and researchers on the identification and mitigation of legal and Sharīʿah non-compliance risks in Islamic finance via a literature review. This study, the first of its kind in Nigeria, advances the idea that research into legal and Sharīʿah non-compliance risks of Islamic financial entities is key to mitigating the risks and fostering the entities and their businesses.

The current era of the fourth industrial revolution has attracted significant research on the use of digital technologies in improving construction project delivery. However, less emphasis has been placed on how these digital tools will influence the management of the construction workforce. To this end, using a review of existing works, this chapter explores the fourth industrial revolution and its associated technologies that can positively impact the management of the construction workforce when implemented. Also, the possible challenges that might truncate the successful deployment of digital technologies for effective workforce management were explored. The chapter submitted that implementing workforce management-specific digital platforms and other digital technologies designed for project delivery can aid effective workforce management within construction organisations. Technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data analytics, robotics and automation, and artificial intelligence, among others, offer significant benefits to the effective workforce management of construction organisations. However, several challenges, such as resistance to change due to fear of job loss, cost of investment in digital tools, organisational structure and culture, must be carefully considered as they might affect the successful use of digital tools and by extension, impact the success of workforce management in the organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the return performance and persistence of ethical and conventional mutual funds during two extreme events, the Asian and the global financial crises under Shariah constraints.

The overall sample comprises of 129 Islamic mutual funds (IMFs) and 350 conventional mutual funds (CMFs) in Malaysia, and the average monthly data cover two periods of market cycles, before and during a financial crisis. The net of all expenses data is obtained from the Morningstar Database. This study employs various market risk-adjusted performance measures (ratios) to estimate the funds’ overall performance during the crises, and then it uses CAPM model to estimate the parameters via panel data approach. Moreover, paper employs the two persistence performance measures on IMFs and CMFs through contingency tables. It tests for the performance persistence effects for IMFs, CMFs using repeat winner and the cross-product ratio (CPR) tests proposed by Malkiel (1995) and Brown and Goetzmann (1995), respectively.

The main findings of the paper are: on average, both funds IMF and the CMF outperform the market return during the entire sample period; none of the funds is better than the “others” during the financial crises and the pre-crisis periods; the ethical fund – IMF outperforms the CMF over the study period. This outcome also indicates that ethical funds are more persistent especially during and the pre-crisis AFC and the GFC periods.

The finding of this study is limited to only Malaysian data because the objective was to guideline investors and market players in Malaysia to prefer investing in Islamic ethical funds to diversify their investment portfolio.

Cautions to use existing ratio measures and CAPM model rather persistence measures may be used with existing methodologies in light of extreme events which influenced investor decision making for better returns at lower risks.

A class of ethical funds consists of religious sustainable, socially responsible and impact-investing (SRI) funds but Shariah implications of halal investment must be observed to avoid prohibited practices within the class of SRI funds.

The work done in this paper are original in the sense that the authors employed various ratios to measure fund performance in conjunction with CAPM model and then tested for two persistence performance measures; the repeat winner and CPR tests.

This study aims to gain the perception of Selangor’s disadvantaged women on the Sharīʿah (Islamic law) rules on two micro-equity financing instruments, namely, muḍārabah (profit sharing) and mushārakah (profit-and-loss sharing) (M&M).

A survey was carried out in the rural area of Selangor district in Malaysia by administering a self-generated structured questionnaire. A total of 330 completed questionnaires were retrieved from the members of an Islamic microfinance institution (IsMFI), namely, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM). The data were analysed by using structural equation modelling.

The female borrowers of AIM perceive the Sharīʿah rules of M&M requiring high moral and ethical values and diligent repayment performance. They are aware of some other underlying provisions such as business liquidation, share transfer, information discloser and business termination. The overall findings of this study suggest that the perceived Sharīʿah rules are akin to those that are commonly used in general partnership businesses between Muslims. It also indicates that disadvantaged entrepreneurs would accept the rules that are easy to comprehend as well as favourable to their interests. It further suggests that respondents’ experiences of microfinance and business operation do not have a significant influence on their perception of M&M instruments.

This study was limited to Selangor. So, the perception of Muslim women surveyed may not represent the views of all women in Malaysia. However, it can offer a primary understanding of the said issue.

The findings of this study can help IsMIFs take initiatives to offer M&M as micro-equity finance to poor women entrepreneurs.

So far, limited studies have been carried out on M&M-based microfinancing. This paper offers new insights presenting disadvantaged women entrepreneurs’ perception of these financing instruments.

In this chapter, an exploratory analysis of the problematic sexual behaviours committed by elderly men against female minors is presented. Drawing from life-course theoretical perspectives on later life offending, this study examined the criminal history, sexual attraction towards the underage, perceived vulnerability of the juvenile, relationship with the girl-child prior to the abuse, and violence and sexually abusive tactics of the older offenders. Qualitative data were collected from 19 child sexual offenders in Lagos state prisons that were 60 years and above at the time they committed the offence, and a thematic analysis of the narratives was carried out. Findings indicate elderly offenders were attracted to female juveniles due to their perceived ‘innocence’, ‘commitment to relationship’, ‘sincerity’ and ‘youthfulness’, which suggest considerable level of rationality in their selection of victims. Offenders were found to use physical force and violence to subdue their victims, while threats, gifts and appeal were used to prevent victims from reporting. These findings have important practical and policy implications if the scourge of child sexual abuse is to be addressed in the country.

This paper uses the GB/T20984-2007 multiplicative method to assess the information security risk of a typical digital library in compliance with the principle and thought of ISO 27000. The purpose of this paper is to testify the feasibility of this method and provide suggestions for improving information security of the digital library.

This paper adopts convenience sampling to select respondents. The assessment of assets is through analyzing digital library-related business and function through a questionnaire which collects data to determine asset types and the importance of asset attributes. The five-point Likert scale questionnaire method is used to identify the threat possibility and its influence on the assets. The 12 respondents include directors and senior network technicians from the editorial department, comic library, children’s library, counseling department and the learning promotion centre. Three different Guttman scale questionnaires, tool testing and on-site inspection are combined to identify and assess vulnerabilities. There were different Guttman scale questionnaires for management personnel, technical personnel and general librarian. In all, 15 management librarians, 7 technical librarians and 72 ordinary librarians answered the vulnerability questionnaire. On-site inspection was conducted on the basis of 11 control domains of ISO 27002. Vulnerabilities were scanned using remote security evaluation system NSFOCUS. The scanning covered ten IP sections and a total of 81 hosts.

Overall, 2,792 risk scores were obtained. Among them, 282 items (accounting for 10.1 per cent of the total) reached the high risk level; 2 (0.1 per cent) reached the very high risk level. High-risk items involved 26 threat types (accounting for 44.1 per cent of all threat types) and 13 vulnerability types (accounting for 22.1 per cent of all vulnerability types). The evaluation revealed that this digital library faces seven major hidden dangers in information security. The assessment results were well accepted by staff members of this digital library, which testified to the applicability of this method to a Chinese digital library.

This paper is only a case study of a typical Chinese digital library using a digital library information security assessment method. More case-based explorations are necessary to prove the feasibility of the assessing strategy proposed in this study.

Based on the findings of recent literature, the authors found that very few researchers have made efforts to develop methods for calculating the indicators for digital library information security risk assessment. On the basis of ISO 27000 and other related information security standards, this case study proposed an operable method of digital library information security risk assessment and used it to assess a the information security of a typical Chinese digital library. This study can offer insights for formulating a digital library information security risk assessment scale.

The purpose of the study is to understand the relative impacts of structural characteristics of house, its locational attributes and neighbourhood characteristics on the choice of house and the rent paid by the individual tenants. The micro level study helps in understanding the issues of urban housing and help in policy formulation.

This paper tried to identify the socio-economic, locational and neighbourhood factors that influence tenant households in determining their residential choices in an urban area of North-east India. Also, the extent of impacts of those characteristics on the monthly rent for housing is analysed. The analysis is based on the primary data collected from the sample residents of Dimapur Town in Nagaland. The sample units are selected by cluster sampling technique from all the wards. Regression technique is used under hedonic pricing technique to examine the impacts of various potential factors on the rent.

The analysis reveals that family size, income, education of the head of family, water availability, security, convenience to access workplace, road conditions, etc. have significant positive impacts on the monthly rent. However, the impacts of some locational and neighbourhood variables vary across social and economic groups.

Time series data on the growth of house price are not available, so that the authors could examine the escalation of house price and rising scarcity of houses in the selected town.

Rental housing accounts for a significant percentage of housing in many urban centres. It is particularly important for the migrants and urban poor for whom it is the only source of accommodation. Location choice depending on capability, availability, requirement and neighbourhood conditions are integral parts of selection of accommodation in a city. Hence the present study has its relevant practical implications.

Housing choice in a hilly urban area like Dimapur assumes a special significance for the presence of heterogeneous ethnic, social and cultural groups with majority of Tribal inhabitants with varied requirements and lifestyle.

No study on housing choice or pricing of residential accommodation has been done in North-East India. Here along with the socio-economic characteristics of the individuals, structural characteristics of house, neighbourhood and locational characteristics are used simultaneously to find out the impact of various factors on the total prices through hedonic pricing method.

The momentous contribution of innovative technologies has made a significant impact in several sectors globally. However, the construction industry is undoubtedly lagging when it comes to technology usage. Thus, this study aims to explore the various emerging technologies in the construction industry while noticing stakeholders’ challenges and strategies in its use.

The study used a pragmatism research philosophy together with a quantitative research strategy in determining emerging technologies in the construction industry while noticing stakeholder challenges and strategies. Data were obtained from a total of 80 construction stakeholders through a structured questionnaire survey. The analysis was done with descriptive statistics using mean score ranking and a one-sample t-test.

Each emerging technology challenge was analysed and compared to see how pressing the challenges were as well as the aligned strategies. A key indication of this study is that the familiarity of the various emerging technologies was based on how many occasions one had an encounter with the technology.

The discussion’s findings contribute to a better knowledge to construction stakeholders on the challenges and strategies for rising technology adoption and implementation competencies.

The study reckoned stakeholders’ challenges on the emerging technologies in the construction industry context and recommended strategies to balloon the adoption of these emerging technologies in a developing country setting.

Despite the inclusion of entrepreneurship education (EE) in the curricula of tertiary education institutions in Nigeria, graduate unemployment is still an issue of serious concern. This calls into question the effectiveness of EE in influencing students’ entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) and behaviours. Perhaps, the issue is with the EE lecturers. The questions, which should be answered include: are the lecturers who teach EE entrepreneurially inclined? Can lecturers who are not entrepreneurially inclined teach students to become entrepreneurs? The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to empirically explore the role of entrepreneurial lecturers in the relationship between EE and students’ EIs.

This study adopted a quantitative approach. Thus, a self-reported questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample of 256 Higher National Diploma II students of the Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Nigeria, who were exposed to EE. To analyse the data collected, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was performed using SmartPLS 2.0.M3 software.

Data analysis showed a significantly positive relationship between EE and students’ EIs on the one hand and between EE and perceived entrepreneurial lecturers (PELs) on the other hand. It was also found that PELs had a significantly positive link with students’ EIs. Further analysis indicated that PELs had a mediating effect on the relationship between EE and students’ EIs.

This study was a single institutional study. Thus, the generalisability of its findings to other institutions is limited. Extending the research to other institutions and countries might be required to validate the findings presented.

This research work has some insightful implications for the teaching of EE. By implication, it provides an answer to the question: who should teach EE? To achieve greater impact of EE on students’ EIs and behaviours, entrepreneurial lecturers are required. It implies that EE lecturers should be entrepreneurially inclined. They should demonstrate sufficient entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and behaviours.

It has been argued that graduate unemployment constitutes a social problem to the society. In this regard, the suggestions made in this paper, if applied, would help resolve the problem of graduate unemployment in Nigeria and other countries.

This study is the first to provide empirical evidence of the role of entrepreneurial lecturers in the relationship between EE and students’ EIs. It has demonstrated that entrepreneurial lecturers could transfer the influence of EE to students’ EIs. Also, it has confirmed that EE lecturers are critical in the EE-students’ EIs relationship. Overall, this study makes a significant contribution to the discussion on how to enhance the effectiveness of EE in influencing students’ EIs and behaviours.