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The purpose of this study is to extend the Fraud Diamond Theory to celebrity Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) and investigate their post-Initial Public Offering (IPO) stock market performance.

After obtaining a sample of celebrity SPACs from the Spacresearch.com database, fraud risk characteristics were obtained from Lexis Nexus searches. Buy and hold abnormal returns were calculated for celebrity SPACs versus a small-cap equity benchmark for time intervals after IPO, and multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between fraud risk features and post-IPO returns.

Celebrity SPACs exhibit Fraud Diamond characteristics and significantly underperform a small-cap stock portfolio on a risk-adjusted basis after IPO.

This study only examines celebrity SPACs that conducted IPOs on the NYSE and NASDAQ/AMEX and does not include those that are traded on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB).

Celebrity endorsement of SPAC vehicles attracts investors who may not be properly informed regarding the risk characteristics of SPACs. Accordingly, investors should be warned that celebrity SPACs underperform a small-cap equity portfolio and exhibit significant elements of fraud risk.

The use of celebrity endorsement as a marketing device to attract investment in SPACs has regulatory implications.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to examine the fraud risk characteristics and post-IPO performance of celebrity SPACs.

Due to the high rate of failure of most crowdfunding projects, knowing the most essential factor to obtain funding success on the crowdfunding platform is of great importance for fund seekers on the crowdfunding platform. The purpose of this study is to explore crowdfunding success factors to know the most essential success factor for stakeholders of the crowdfunding platform to make the best decision when seeking funds on the crowdfunding platform. This study identified and ranked crowdfunding success factors for stakeholders of crowdfunding platforms. Sixteen factors were identified and categorized under five broad headings. These were; project ideas, target capital, track records, geographical proximity and equity.

To rank the identified crowdfunding success factors and subfactors, this study used the Multi-Objective Optimization Based on Ratio Analysis (MULTIMOORA) integrated with the Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solutions (EDAS).

Target capital ranked first among the five categories—while duration involved in raising funds ranked first among the sixteen subfactors. An approach for analyzing how each success factor enhances a crowdfunding campaign was developed in this study. This study provides valuable insight to fund seekers on the crowdfunding platform on how funding success can be achieved by knowing which factor to consider essential when seeking funds on the crowdfunding platform.

This is the first study to explore crowdfunding success factors using the MULTIMOORA-EDAS method. The use of this method will help fund seekers on the crowdfunding platform to know which crowdfunding success factor is essential, thereby aiding fund seekers to make the best decision when seeking funds on the crowdfunding platform. Also, this study is particularly helpful for business owners, platform operators and policymakers when deciding how to allocate resources, plan campaigns and implement regulations.

The phenomenal proliferation of crowdfunding platforms raises concerns on the heightened occurrence of financial crimes since billions of funds are exchanged through these online systems frequently. Accordingly, some countries have implemented legislative responses to address these risks, although each countries’ laws have varying degrees of severity. Hence, the purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency and robustness of Mauritian laws to combat financial crimes that may arise from a crowdfunding transaction with a particular emphasis on money laundering and tax evasion.

To achieve this research objective, the black letter approach was used to analyse Mauritian rules and regulations on the researched topic and a comparative analysis was carried out against the corresponding laws on crowdfunding in some other jurisdictions, notably the UK and the USA with the view of suggesting the policy recommendations to Mauritian authorities.

It was found that there is still scope for improving the existing legal and regulatory framework on crowdfunding in Mauritius to prevent instances of money laundering and tax evasion. The paper suggests that a crowdfunding operator must be categorised as a reporting person and must carry out regular due diligence checks. There must also be more collaboration in terms of information exchanges and training sessions among the tax authority of Mauritius, crowdfunding operators, fund seekers and investors to shed light on the tax treatment of income and deductions to avoid issues of tax evasion.

At present, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is amongst the first academic writings on the efficiency of Mauritian laws in dealing with the risk of financial crimes through crowdfunding, and also, because existing literature is quite scarce on assessing the adequacy of crowdfunding rules in developing countries, this research aims at filling in the gap in literature. The study is carried out with the aim of combining a large amount of empirical, theoretical and factual information that can be of use to various stakeholders and not only to academics.

The case is derived from secondary sources, including publicly available reports and information about all companies directly or indirectly engaged in the industry. No primary sources were available.

This teaching case is designed for students to demonstrate their mastery of industry-level analysis in the emerging space tourism industry. It allows students to understand what constitutes the industry within the broader space sector and to apply analytical tools such as PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces, with the option to discuss strategic groups. Students gain insights into how the industry is evolving within its broader environment and how companies could respond or differentiate themselves. Information is also provided for students to consider the broader social impact of a relatively new industry from the perspective of sustainable development.

The case is written for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in strategic management courses. The case placement is ideally in conjunction with industry-level analytical frameworks such as Porter’s Five Forces, PESTEL analysis, strategic groups (optional) and industry life cycle. Most strategic management textbooks cover these concepts in the first few chapters. For example, “Strategic Management, 14th edition” by Hill, Schilling and Jones (2023) covers these topics in chapter 2. Given that space tourism is an embryonic industry dependent on technological innovation, instructors might also use this case in innovation or entrepreneurship-related courses. This case could also be used to address critical issues, such as sustainability, in tourism management courses.

Financial illiteracy could pose a significant challenge to micro-entrepreneurs. There is a pressing need to foster financial literacy;, therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine particularly how Islamic financial literacy may enhance their businesses toward achieving financial sustainability.

This study uses quantitative methods. Three hundred (300) questionnaires were distributed to micro-entrepreneurs in three states in Malaysia, namely, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. This study used the partial least squares (PLS) analysis using the SmartPLS 3.2.

The study found that the most robust Islamic financial literacy factors are financial behavior, followed by financial knowledge and financial attitude .The outcome of Islamic financial literacy, which is financial sustainability, also demonstrates a positive and significant relationship.

All variables show a positive and significant relationship toward financial sustainability. Stated differently, micro-entrepreneurs are aware that understanding the basic concepts of Islamic finance may help them achieve long-term financial sustainability

This study incorporates Islamic financial concepts into financial literacy while also assessing demographic aspects like years of business operation and education as moderators, which were not considered by previous studies.