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The aim in this paper is to investigate the dynamics of difference equation y_n+1=(py_n+y_n−k)/(qy_n+y_n−k), n=0,1,2,… where k∈{1,2,3,…}, the initial conditions y_−k, … ,y₋₁,y₀ and the parameters p and q are non‐negative.

The paper studies characteristics such as the character of semicycles, periodicity and the global stability of the above mentioned difference equation.

In particular, the results solve the open problem introduced by Kulenovic and Ladas in their monograph, Dynamics of Second Order Rational Difference Equations with Open Problems and Conjectures.

The global behaviour of the solutions of equation y_n+1=(py_n+y_n−k)/(qy_n+y_n−k), n=0,1,2,… were investigated providing valuable conclusions on practical data.

This paper explores how the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) conflicts with annual budgeting and how University actors responded to such conflicting demands in a public university in Tanzania, a developing country.

The data for this study were collected from interviews, observations and document reviews. Data analysis processes were guided by the concepts of organizational façades and organized hypocrisy.

The findings show that while the state required the university to implement the MTEF, budget preparers and managers were concentrating on basic budgeting problems in annual budgeting. As a result of these conflicting demands decoupling occurred, as there were inconsistencies between the talk and actions of actors in MTEF implementation. In response, actors engaged in organized hypocrisy. The talk and actions were organized by developing pro-effective and symbolic layers. The pro-effective layer showed that actors were concentrating on annual budgeting, while the symbolic layer, through the creation of façades, showed that actors symbolically implemented the MTEF.

The paper suggests that budgetary reforms of governments, Western donors, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and bilateral donors should focus on addressing the basic problems in annual budgeting rather than advocating complex reforms that compel actors to engage in hypocrisy and developing façades. Moreover, university management should address basic budgeting problems to avoid budgeting games during annual budgeting.

This is the first paper to employ the concept of organized hypocrisy to investigate the MTEF. By demonstrating the pro-effective layer, the paper responds to the call for investigation of how accounting works in practice (van Helden et al., 2021). Moreover, by presenting the symbolic layer, the paper responds to the call to investigate how facades are created (Michelon et al., 2016). The paper demonstrates how the concept of organized hypocrisy works well with the concept of organizational facades.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of global Moslem consumers on consuming halal products in international chain restaurants. The hypotheses are proposed based on the integration of theory of planned behavior (TPB) and identity theory–religiosity.

The survey method was used to test the proposed hypotheses by using PLS. A total of 296 out of 407 questionnaires were collected among global Moslem students in a big city of Indonesia.

The results indicate that perceived behavioral control and religiosity is the significant predictor of the intention to consume halal products in international chain restaurants. Surprisingly, attitudes toward halal products and subjective norms have no significant effects on their intention.

This study mainly investigates from international students’ perspectives, and future studies could diversify the respondents. Further, although the studies were done in the biggest Moslem populated country, conducting a multi-country study further validates the results of this study. Additional variables, such as personality or cross-cultural variables, could enhance the prediction of the developed model.

This study proposes religiosity as an important predictor of halal products consumption among global consumers, which increases the predictive capability of TPB. The results suggest that it is important for managers and governments all products targeted for global Moslem consumers to be halal certified.

Describes the training of senior managers from the Soviet Lada automobile plant in a UK management centre. Notes the need for intensive cultural and technical briefing and familiarisation sessions prior to the two‐week course. Explains the content as being built around team building and most of the subjects were new to the Russians. Concludes that the programme was of benefit to the participants who believe increased productivity would result.

This study aims to explore the motivation as well as barriers for ethical food consumption behaviour by focussing on the food consumption pattern of young adults in the North East of Scotland. Considering the recent involvement of young adults in environmental activism, consumption behaviour of young adults in the North East of Scotland, an oil-based community, presents essential research interest to understand whether young adults often contemplate the consequences of their lifestyle.

The authors explored the perceptions of ten purposive recruited young adults using semi-structured interviews to understand factors underpinning consumer's decision-making towards ethical food products.

The study reveals three key factors influencing ethical food consumption behaviour among young adults. The findings show that personal health and well-being are the main reasons why consumers engage in ethical food consumption. Also, it is observed that information facilitates decision-making by raising awareness regarding the social, environmental and health consequences of food production and consumption. Further, the findings show that situational attributes, such as product price and product availability, are creating dissonance when engaging in ethical food consumption.

This study contributes to sustainability research and the ongoing debate on consumerism by exploring ethical food consumption behaviour and highlights the need to address situational challenges, such as product price and availability. The study suggests that interventions to address current consumption patterns should also emphasise the social and personal benefits of food consumption rather than the environmental benefits that have been the focus of prior research.

Muslims living in multi-religious societies are considered more conscious about the permissibility (Halal) of products and thus the majority of Halal research in the non-financial sector was conducted in multi-ethnic societies. Nonetheless, the global trade is changing the way we perceive the origin of products and brands and their permissibility under Islamic Sharia laws. This apparently has serious implications for international companies operating in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of Muslim attitude towards Halal products, their subjective norms and religiosity in predicting intention to choose Halal products.

A structured question was designed to elicit consumer attitude, subjective norms, intention to choose Halal products and degree of inter and intra personal religiosity. Data were collected from 180 adult respondents using a convenience sampling method. Only 150 responses were deemed suitable for further analysis, yielding a response rate of 83 per cent. Stepwise regression analysis was used to test the proposed model.

The results indicated that theory of reasoned action (TRA) is a valid model in predicting intention to choose Halal products. The results further indicate that subjective norms (β=0.455, p, 0.001), attitude towards the Halal products (β=0.265, p, 0.001) and intra personal religiosity (β=0.167, p, 0.001) positively influence attitude towards the Halal products. Interestingly, subjective norm appears to be the strongest of all the predictors for choosing Halal products.

The data collected for the current study investigate global attitude towards Halal products. It would be interesting if future researchers examine consumers ' attitude towards specific Halal products for specific product categories.

It is argued in this research that the presence of strong attitude towards Halal products in Muslim consumers might play an important role in exclusion or inclusion of brands, based on their conformance to Halal requirements.

The paper extends the applicability of the theory of reasoned action model by investigating the role of inter-personal and intra-personal religiosity in intention to choose Halal products.

This study aims to analyze the effect of religiosity (RE), halal knowledge (HK) and halal certification (HC), attitudes, subjective norms and vaccine quality on the Muslim community’s intention to use halal vaccines in Indonesia.

This study involved 725 Muslim respondents in 32 Indonesian provinces. The model used was based on the theory of reasoned action development with the partial least squares structural equation modeling as the data processing tool.

The study discovered that RE, HK and HC did not affect the intention of Muslims to use halal vaccines. In addition, the MUI (Majelis Ulama Indonesia – Indonesia Council of Ulama) fatwa permitting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine despite the haram ingredients was considered an excuse for Muslims to administer non-halal vaccines. However, several parties disagreed on the fatwa because the emergency legal standing for its permissibility did not apply to all regions. The reason was that each had different rates of confirmed cases, ranging from high-risk areas to those with zero confirmed Covid-19 cases.

This study examines the Muslim community’s intention toward using halal vaccines in several regions in Indonesia. In addition, this study conducted in-depth interviews as samples in several regions. This study also conducted interviews to determine the public’s views on government obligation about the Covid-19 vaccine. Finally, this study proposes a vaccine to avoid the possibility of controversy over the use of non-halal vaccines.

This study aims to identify the intention to purchase Halal food products amongst non-Muslim consumers in Malaysia, moderated by the acculturation effect.

A structured close-ended questionnaire was used to gather data through the random distribution of 397 non-Muslim consumers from the Alumni network of several private higher education institutions in Malaysia.

The collected data was analyzed through the structural equation modelling technique using partial least squares with SmartPLS 3.0. The result indicated that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were positively influenced by the purchase decision of Halal food products amongst non-Muslim consumers in Malaysia. Apart from that, the acculturation effect moderates the relationship between attitude and intention to purchase.

This finding will contribute to academics, Halal food makers and government in understanding the Halal food purchase intention amongst non-Muslim consumers in Malaysia.

The outcome of this study can be used as an input for Halal entrepreneurship in terms of marketing and operation strategy. On the government aspect, this study also provides an implication on national public policy and strategic economic planning in developing overall national Halal policy.

The social harmonization amongst the multiple races in Malaysia is partially contributed through the acculturation effect. The acculturation effect has been reflected through the food choice decision amongst Malaysian, despite of different religious belief and home culture background.

Research in studying Halal food purchase intention amongst non-Muslim consumers are scarce. This research is able to reinforce the theory of planned behavior model in dealing with Halal food choice decisions, taking into consideration of acculturation effect.

The purpose of this paper is to explore factors influencing Malaysian bank customers to choose Islamic credit cards. The bank customers generally aware of Islamic credit card facilities in Islamic banks but factors leading them to choose it are particularly unexplored. Given the importance of Islamic credit cards to Islamic banks, the study is aimed at explaining the effects of attitude, subjective norm and perceived financial cost on the Malaysian bank customers' behavioral intention to choose Islamic credit cards.

Drawing upon the theory of reasoned action (TRA), this study suggests a modified model to examine the acceptance factors of attitude, subjective norm and perceived financial cost within a context of Islamic credit cards. This paper extends partial least squares (PLS) to examine the impacts of these factors on the intention to choose Islamic credit cards. The model is tested using a survey data from 257 respondents.

The results reveal that attitude, subjective norm and perceived financial cost significantly influence the intention to choose Islamic credit card. Of these, attitude is first ranked as an influential factor in explaining one's intention to choose Islamic credit cards. All hypotheses are supported. The findings have proven the soundness of the TRA for study in the area of Islamic credit cards. Earlier works in Islamic credit cards have not ready to apply TRA in their works. The current research is thus closed the gap.

Pertaining to research limitations, this paper reveals two limitations owing to their future directions for future research on Islamic credit cards. This study indicates that its contributions are particularly confined to potential users in Eastern-Malaysia whilst those from Western-Malaysia are largely untapped. Further research is required to include users from both geographies. Owing to time and financial constraints, this study is only analyzed three factors in explaining the behavioral intention to choose Islamic credit cards. Therefore, future studies in this area should examine new potential factors contributing the receptivity.

Findings generated from this study serve as a basis for more future works in the area of Islamic credit cards. The theory developed in the current study's model could also be generalized into other contexts of Islamic banking products and services. Practically, branch managers of Islamic banking institutions are of considerable importance to extend the findings of this study to better future planning of their Islamic credit card services.

This study extends the applicability of the TRA model into a newly context of Islamic credit cards. Empirically, this study also integrates the effect of perceived financial cost on the intention to choose Islamic credit cards. This study offers insights with respect to factors affecting one's decision to choose Islamic credit cards.

The world after the pandemic of Covid-19 is looking at a different environment in teaching and learning and primarily being influenced by general online learning readiness. Perception towards the measurement of online learning readiness would also need to change. This study seeks to determine whether Malaysian undergraduate students are ready to study online if the Movement Control Order (MCO) is reimposed.

Using an online poll, this study analysed 299 undergraduate students from Malaysia's public and private universities. The collected data were then analysed using SmartPLS software to test the measurement model and structural equation modelling.

The findings of this study indicate that computer self-efficacy and self-directed learning have a substantially positive link with online learning preparedness among Malaysian undergraduate students.

Findings in this study indicate that universities should draw comprehensive plans to enhance students' readiness in terms of indicators such as technology usage, technology availability, computer and internet efficacy, self-directed learning and attitude. One of the aspects that require change is online communication self-efficacy. Thus, there is a need for improvement, or this would affect undergraduates adversely, especially in the event of future MCO.

The originality of this article lies in the time frame this study was conducted, where cases of coronavirus infection are seen to increase around the world and there is a possibility that movement restrictions will be re-enforced. The findings in this study are expected to give insight to the government in the effort of the national higher education plan. By not undervaluing previous research models, this research model should give a new perspective to the academic literature on online learning among undergraduate students.