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This paper aims to investigate empirically whether Islamic securities enhance economic growth in the Southeast Asian region based on the endogenous growth theory using the non-parametric analysis.

This paper applies panel quantile regression with Markov chain Monte Carlo optimization as an optimal non-parametric approach to investigate the effect of Islamic securities on economic growth starting from 2013Q4 to 2019Q4 in Southeast Asia. Total issued Islamic securities holdings are employed as a measure for Islamic securities, while the gross domestic product is employed as a proxy for economic growth. The sample includes all working Islamic financial foundations in the top progressive Islamic securities markets' countries of Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam).

The findings confirm that the increase of issuing Islamic securities in Islamic capital markets of Southeast Asia is increasing the levels of economic growth, reflecting the weighty role of the Islamic capital market development as an active contributor to economic growth.

This research would fill the literature gap by exploring Islamic securities–economic growth nexus in Southeast Asia using a robust non-parametric approach based on the endogenous growth theory for better estimation results. The findings of this review serve as a roadmap for financial analysts, policymakers and decision makers to stimulate the Islamic securities markets as another source of finance which can promote the economic growth.

This research is the first that investigates empirically the Islamic securities–economic growth nexus in Southeast Asia using a new empirical investigation built on the non-parametric analysis and outlined within the theoretical context of the endogenous growth model to gain robust evidence about this nexus.

This paper aims to investigate empirically whether Sukuk financing is boosting the economic growth in Southeast Asia within the framework of the endogenous growth model.

This paper applied dynamic panel one-step system generalized method of moments as an optimal estimation approach to investigate the impact of Sukuk financing on economic growth in Southeast Asia spanning from 2013Q4–2019Q3. Sukuk financing was proxied by the total issued Sukuk holdings, while economic growth was proxied by gross domestic product. The sample covered all full-fledged Islamic financial institutions in the most developed Sukuk financial markets countries in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei).

The findings demonstrated that Sukuk financing is boosting economic growth in Southeast Asia, which reflects the significant role of the Islamic financial markets of Sukuk as a vital contributor to economic growth.

This paper would fill the literature by investigating the link between Sukuk financing and economic growth in Southeast Asia within the framework of the endogenous growth model, as the outcome of this paper serves as a guide for financial researchers, decision-makers and policymakers to improve the Sukuk market globally as an alternative financing source for the best contribution to economic growth.

This paper is the first that investigates empirically the link between Sukuk financing and economic growth in Southeast Asia with a new theoretical context of the endogenous growth model to gain robust information about this link.

This paper aims to identify distinct consumption patterns among Asian consumers and examine how these relate to cultural antecedents and key human values.

This study uses a large, representative sample of almost 7,000 Asian consumers in 10 culturally varying markets, using latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify the consumption profiles.

The findings empirically demonstrate that the two profiles are “inner-directed nationalistic frugals” (IDNF) and “outer-directed self-eekers” (ODSS). IDNF consumers spend more time and money on education and prefer ethnocentric consumption. ODSS consumers emphasize individuality, self-expression, seeking novelty and impressing others. Consumers with more collective values in Schwartz's typology tend to demonstrate the IDNF pattern; those with more individualistic values demonstrate the ODSS pattern. The distribution of IDNF and ODSS profiles is influenced by demographics, religion and geographical region: IDNF is greater than ODSS in Southeast Asia; ODSS is greater than IDNF in East Asia; IDNF is roughly equal to ODSS in Northeast Asia. IDNF tends to be found among older and more religious consumers, while ODSS is the opposite. Importantly, in the more religious Southeast Asian countries, even younger consumers are more IDNF than ODSS.

This research uses an exploratory and discovery-oriented approach; future research can use more confirmatory approaches to systematically examine the relationship between cultural dimensions (e.g. individualism-collectivism) and consumption patterns.

For their brands to grow in Asian markets, marketing practitioners are advised to use multiple brands to segment Asian consumers based on their values, demographics, geographical location and what religious/faith traditions they follow.

This is the first paper to identify consumption profiles in Asian markets using LPA without prior conceptual biases and relate them to cultural values and demographic variables.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) is implemented, the challenges faced by the APEL assessors while assessing candidates as well as to suggest recommendations for improving the APEL process.

This paper is written based on the critical reflection of two accreditation of prior experiential learning: admissions (APEL-A) assessors appointed from a Malaysian Qualifications Agency approved assessment centre. This process would add depth and breadth to the study based on the assessor’s experience.

The study identified five challenges in the implementation of APEL-A. They are limited literature and records of the existing practices, conceptualisation of the APEL process, complicated and time-consuming APEL process, standard of acceptance vary according to discipline and lack of continuous training for APEL assessors. The four recommendations for improvements are as follows: the need for transparent and clear guidelines, ensuring consistency in practices and fairness to those from conventional learning, integrating APEL as part of the institution’s academic policy and providing continuous training for all APEL assessors.

Until now, not much research has been done regarding its implementation in Malaysia. The number of learners enrolled through this form of assessment may be low but growing. The feedback on the implementation of the APEL-A assessment process would be greatly beneficial to the stakeholders involved in improving its implementation process. The highlighted challenges faced as well as the recommendations put forth may also be useful for the continuous improvement of the APEL-A assessment process. Relevant stakeholders would benefit from this study.

This paper presents comparative studies of modern transportation systems in the Bengal Delta and British Borneo. To meet the demands of the new modes of resource extraction, the British colonial rulers introduced a new transportation system in both regions and built roads, railways, and navigational routes connecting major commercial and political centers. There has been little research into the historical connections between modern transportation and environmental changes in colonial South Asia and Malaysia. When modern transportation was introduced, environmental consequences were rarely considered. As a result, significant ecological changes and declines were unintentionally caused. The environmental changes brought about by these transportation systems in these two regions were not the same one from the other. For example, railroad construction harmed the plains and waterways in the Bengal Delta, whereas, in British Borneo, rubber plantations for the global market harmed the rainforests.

Malaysia is one of the fastest-growing Asian economies with a properly designed and developed Islamic financial system. This unique feature of the Malaysian economy made it an important case study, and the purpose of this study is to assess for the dynamic contribution of Islamic finance to the growth of the real economy.

The study uses a quarterly data set of 20 years analysed via the autoregressive distributive lag bounds test approach to cointegration.

The results in the short-run show a non-significant relationship between Islamic banking indices and the real economy. However, in the long-run, financing and deposits of Islamic banks are favourable and contribute significantly to the growth of the Malaysian economy. There was an accumulation of meaningful and wide-ranging investment over the period of the study and productivity of capital was also extra-efficient. The direction of causality is found to be bidirectional between Islamic banking deposits and Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP), but there is a weak causal effect from Islamic banking financing to GDP.

Malaysia has a dual financial system (conventional and Islamic) and both can affect its real economy. This research is limited to Islamic banking’s effects on Malaysian economic growth. The research also limits the scope and coverage for 20 years, from 1998 to 2017 to cover the years for which data is available for all the variables used in the study.

The results confirm that the Islamic banking sector in Malaysia is performing well in carrying out its major function of financial intermediation, which is the pooling and channelling of funds to productive investment activities. Consequently, the fact that Malaysia excels in Islamic finance is not a fluke. It is because of the effective performance of Islamic financial institutions in the country. Furthermore, Malaysian authorities are doing their level best in promoting Islamic financial activities.

The study fulfills the need to uncover the relationship between the Islamic financial system and the real economy in Malaysia. It differs from other studies as it uses the most recent available data, introduces new variables and identifies the channel by which Islamic banking development transmits growth.

There is much debate in the literature about how the performance of Islamic banks (IBs) should be measured. Basically, IBs’ business models are different from that of conventional banks; thus, the performance of IBs should be measured by using a Sharīʿah-based approach. This paper considers zakat (Islamic tax) as an alternative indicator to measure the performance of IBs. This paper aims to examine whether zakat ratios can be used as Islamic performance (ISPER) indicators for IBs besides the conventional performance (COPER) indicators.

The investigation covered a sample of 214 yearly observations of 37 IBs located in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the period 2007–2015. This study used a single-factor congeneric model and confirmatory factor analysis, performed using the AMOS 23.0 software.

The findings assert that the discriminant validity of multi-bank performance, as measured by ISPER [zakat on assets (ZOA) and zakat on equity (ZOE)] and COPER indicators (return on assets, return on equity and operational efficiency in terms of assets), is very high. Hence, ISPER and COPER measurements are valid, either together to measure the multi-performance of IBs from both the Islamic and conventional perspectives, or independently as each measurement is valid to measure the Islamic and conventional performance if it is used separately.

This paper does not investigate whether the findings are constant across time. This represents one of the limitations of this study.

It is strongly recommended that IBs calculate and disclose zakat ratios, particularly ZOA and ZOE, in their annual reports. Researchers and academicians should use these ratios for measuring the ISPER of IBs, either along with COPER or separately.

Empirical evidence is provided in this paper on the development and validity of zakat ratios as ISPER indicators in the Islamic banking industry. Zakat ratios are suitable indicators that can measure IBs’ performance and achieve the goals of IBs as well as those of Islamic economics. Technically, zakat has a dynamic ability to reflect the profitability of IBs. The more the IBs generate profit, the more they pay zakat. Furthermore, the greater the total assets of IBs, the higher the amount of zakat that they should pay. Thus, zakat ratios can be used as profitability measurements as in the case of tax ratios.

The purpose of this paper is to shed some lights on the process of mission drifting or abandoning poverty objective by Islamic microfinance institutions (IMFs). The paper investigates whether the extensive use of banking logic changes IMFs, from focusing on both development and financial objectives to only considering sustainability as their primary mission.

This paper adopts mixed methods by analyzing 7,200 microfinance data from Microfinance Exchange Market and reviewing annual reports and websites of 25 IMFs to examine their vision and mission statements and other related information.

The finding shows Islamic microfinance has not changed, despite increasing adoption of financial or banking performance measures. However, size and age of the institutions may affect the outcome in the future. The authors find that smaller microfinance institutions maintain genuine objective to serve the poor, as the grow larger they would be more inclined toward sustainability objectives.

The research is limited on the sample size as data on Islamic microfinance globally is limited. However, the paper looked at the global data rather than local data to compensate for this limitation. Future study would be further taking the study through qualitative methods to support the study.

This paper aims to shed some lights on the process of mission drifting or abandoning poverty objective by IMFIs. The paper investigates how has the extensive use of financing logic has changed IMFIs from focusing on both development and financial objectives to only considering sustainability as their primary mission. Arun and Hulme (2009) argued that the interaction of multiple logic within microfinance institutions, i.e. financial vs social, could pose some serious management dilemmas within microfinance institutions. Further, commercialization puts pressure on the field staffs to achieve financial targets and often neglect their poverty outreach mission to the poor. The well-known crisis in Andhra Pradesh, India where clients of microfinance institutions committed suicide after being shamed by field officers who tried to collect payments of loans (Mader, 2013; Taylor, 2011), provides a powerful case of the impact of financialization to microfinance clients.

The Korean airline industry continues to change in 20-year cycles structurally. The major changes are in their market through deregulation and liberalization resulting in adding more carriers, especially low-cost carriers (LCCs) from 2006. The authors categorize three types of LCCs in Korea: (1) independent LCCs, (2) LCCs subsidized by existing airlines as airlines-within-airlines (AwAs), and (3) LCCs supported by conglomerates and local governments. Independent LCCs have suffered financially during the research period from 2009 to 2013, especially from the impaired capital, even though these LCCs are growing rapidly and expanding their markets in domestic and international routes. AwAs’ efficiency is higher than that of independent LCCs, the roles in the market are limited because of cannibalization by their mother company.