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This study aims to revisit the relationship between Shariah-compliant firms and earnings management. Specifically, the authors examine whether Shariah-certified firms have lower earnings management than non-Shariah-certified firms and how often a firm must hold its certification to observe considerably reduced earnings management. This study also explores how senior management ethnic dualism affects the association of Shariah certification and earnings management.

The authors analyze the hypothesized association between Shariah certification and earnings management using a panel regression model and several robustness tests, including the Heckman selection model. The sample consists of 547 nonfinancial firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange, with 5,478 firm-year observations over the 2001–2016 sample period.

Shariah certification is found to mitigate earnings management, particularly for firms that consistently retain their Shariah status. The longer firms retain their Shariah certification continually, the lower the earnings management. Additionally, the results indicate that the negative impact of Shariah certification on earnings management is driven by ethnic duality when a specific ethnic group dominates the top management.

Firms’ commitment to religious-based screening and continuation of certification plays a significant role in improving earnings quality. Firms are committed to abiding by the Shariah code of conduct instead of using the Shariah status for reputation purposes to attract investors.

For investors, the continuous compliance status is a crucial indicator of a firm’s commitment to comply with Shariah principles and to mitigate earnings management. Regarding policy implications, Shariah-compliance guidelines can constrain earnings manipulation, especially among firms lacking ethnic diversity.

The study shows that Shariah certification must be maintained consecutively to reduce earnings management. Shariah certification’s governance function is crucial in ethnically homogeneous firms, primarily when one ethnic group dominates the senior management.

This study aims to investigate the moderating role of corporate governance (CG) on the relationship between credit risk (CRs) and financial performance (FP) of banks listed in the Palestine Securities’ Exchange (PEX) and Amman Securities’ Exchange (ASE).

This study used a hypothesis-testing research design to collect data from the annual reports of 21 banks listed on (PEX) and (ASE). Secondary data, annual reports and disclosures were used between from 2009 to 2019. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used, along with correlation analysis to evaluate linear relationships between variables. Data was collected based on panel data, the VIF was used to test multicollinearity and binary logistic regression was used to develop the research model.

The regression results showed the association between CR and firm performance depends on the measurement of each factor applied. The results showed mixed results between loans to total assets (LTA) and nonperforming loans to total loans (NPLs) with FP. LTA has a significant and positive effect on TOBINSQ and return on equity (ROE), but an insignificant and positive effect on return on assets (ROA). On the other hand, NPLs have a significant and negative effect on ROA, whereas NPLs have a weak and positive effect on TOBINSQ. However, there is an insignificant and positive effect of NPLs on ROE. Moreover, the results demonstrated that CG moderated the relationship between CRs and FP of banks. The practical contribution of this paper, for bank policymakers and authorities, the study’s implications are noteworthy. Understanding the varied impacts of different CR measures on FP can help regulators and policymakers design more tailored and effective risk management frameworks for banks.

This study had limitations that future research might be able to address. First, the small size of the sample used in the study included 21 banks listed on the PEX and ASE. Likewise, the ASE and PEX are considered developing stock exchanges, so the results of this study may differ from those of other stock exchanges. Second, only CRs were considered in this study when examining the association between the profitability of Palestinian banks and ASE. Other studies can be undertaken on other nonfinancial risks, such as operational risk, to measure the differences between them and examine their effects on the profitability of Palestinian and Jordanian banks. Other studies might be performed to compare CRs and its impact on profitability in Palestinian and Jordanian banks with those in other Western and Eastern banks. Furthermore, in addition to TOBINSQ, ROA and ROE, researchers can use other financial indicators to measure profitability. This will contribute to substantiating the present study’s findings.

Although several studies have examined the relationship between CRs and FP in developed and developing countries, the results have been mixed. However, this study is one of the few studies that examined the moderating role of CG in association with CRs and FP, especially on Palestinian and Jordanian contexts. Finally, the findings offer policymakers and practitioners of Palestinian and Jordanian contexts.

In recent decades, infrastructure has continued to develop as an important basis for social development and people's lives. Resource management of these large-scale projects has been immensely concerned because dozens of construction enterprises (CEs) often work together. In this situation, resource collaboration among enterprises has become a key measure to ensure project implementation. Thus, this study aims to propose a systematic multi-agent resource collaborative decision-making optimization model for large projects from a matching perspective.

The main contribution of this work was an advancement of the current research by: (1) generalizing the resource matching decision-making problem and quantifying the relationship between CEs. (2) Based on the matching domain, the resource input costs and benefits of each enterprise in the associated group were comprehensively analyzed to build the mathematical model, which also incorporated prospect theory to map more realistic decisions. (3) According to the influencing factors of resource decision-making, such as cost, benefit and attitude of decision-makers, determined the optimal resource input in different situations.

Numerical experiments were used to verify the effectiveness of the multi-agent resource matching decision (MARMD) method in this study. The results indicated that this model could provide guidance for optimal decision-making for each participating enterprise in the resource association group under different situations. And the results showed the psychological preference of decision-makers has an important influence on decision performance.

While the MARMD method has been proposed in this research, MARMD still has many limitations. A more detailed matching relationship between different resource types in CEs is still not fully analyzed, and relevant studies about more accurate parameters of decision-makers’ psychological preferences should be conducted in this area in the future.

Compared with traditional projects, large-scale engineering construction has the characteristics of huge resource consumption and more participants. While decision-makers can determine the matching relationship between related enterprises, this is ambiguous and the wider range will vary with more participants or complex environment. The MARMD method provided in this paper is an effective methodological tool with clearer decision-making positioning and stronger actual operability, which could provide references for large-scale project resource management.

Large-scale engineering is complex infrastructure projects that ensure national security, increase economic development, improve people's lives and promote social progress. During the implementation of large-scale projects, CEs realize value-added through resource exchange and integration. Studying the optimal collaborative decision of multi-agent resources from a matching perspective can realize the improvement of resource transformation efficiency and promote the development of large-scale engineering projects.

The current research on engineering resources decision-making lacks a matching relationship, which leads to unclear decision objectives, ambiguous decision processes and poor operability decision methods. To solve these issues, a novel approach was proposed to reveal the decision mechanism of multi-agent resource optimization in large-scale projects. This paper could bring inspiration to the research of large-scale project resource management.

Heritage tourism is an increasingly popular form of tourism that allows individuals to connect with the past and immerse themselves in cultural and historical narratives. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the intricate relationships among vicarious nostalgia (VNOS), memorable tourism experiences (MTEXs) and their collective influence on tourists’ behavioral intentions (BINTs). Additionally, this study examines the moderating effect of social return (SN) in the context of heritage tourism.

Data were gathered using a self-administered questionnaire from 259 tourists visiting heritage sites in Jaipur. The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling.

The results confirmed that VNOS had a significant positive impact on BINT in the context of heritage tourism. The causal relationship between VNOS and BINT was fully mediated by MTEX. The results further verified that the presence of SN strengthens the association between MTEXs and BINT.

This research will guide the firms associated with heritage tourism to target specific cohorts interested in heritage tourism. Policymakers may find it easier to create unique offerings and packages that appeal to visitors interested in historical sites and produce memorable travel experiences. One key implication is to create “social media friendly spaces” at different locations of the sites. To increase tourism, managers may use the findings from this research to create plans for the ethical promotion and protection of cultural and natural heritage sites.

Overall, this research advances the understanding of the role of VNOS in heritage tourism by elucidating its cognitive and emotional aspects and their subsequent influence on the memorability of tourist experiences and BINT s. Additionally, by considering the moderating effect of SN, this study provides a comprehensive view of how these factors collectively shape tourists’ decisions and actions in the context of heritage destinations. This research has been conducted in the heritage city of Jaipur (North-Western India), which, surprisingly – despite its popularity as a heritage tourism site – has not been sufficiently explored in the scholarly research.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of halal awareness on the relationship between halal supply chain knowledge and purchase intention for halal meat products in the millennial generation.

The quantitative approach with the respondents of 177 millennial generations in Indonesia is selected to understand the relationships between variables. Structural equation model-partial least square is used to analyze the relationship between variables.

The findings of this study found that the purchase intention of halal products in the millennial generation is influenced by several factors such as halal supply chain knowledge, halal certification and logo and religious beliefs. However, the results of this study also show that concern for halal products failed to moderate the relationship between these three main variables on the purchase intention of halal products.

This study provides insights into the concern that strengthens the relationship between the main variables on the intention to purchase halal meat products for the millennial generation.