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The purpose of this study is to explore the variables that affect Muslim consumers’ perception towards tax rebate over zakat on income in Malaysia.

A close-ended structured questionnaire was developed and a total number of 236 valid responses were collected through online survey from the Muslims residing in Malaysia.

This study found that halal-haram aspect of Islamic Shariah, legal consciousness and religiosity of Muslim consumers are positive significant factors for growing perceptions towards tax rebate over zakat on income in Malaysia.

This study will definitely play an important leading role for the policy-makers and academicians in understanding the perceptions of Muslim consumers.

This study can assist zakat and tax authorities in Malaysia for taking corrective actions to adapt or improve the current policy on the basis of its Muslim consumers’ perception.

The findings of this study can reduce the gap of understanding among Muslims in the society by letting other people’s perceptions towards tax rebate through zakat system in Malaysia.

As there are not enough studies in this area, this study will definitely play an important leading role for the countries or policy-makers or concerned zakat or tax institutions all over the world in capitalizing the practices which is highly and positively perceived by the Muslim consumers in Malaysia.

Brand personality plays an important role in affecting customer satisfaction. The Muslim population is estimated to reach 30% of the world’s population, and it is considered as the fastest-growing religion in the world. To tap into this market, it is important to explore various aspects of business, in general, and marketing, in particular, from the perspective of Muslim consumers. The present research also attempts to do the same by proposing a conceptual model related to the brand personality of Islamic Banks, named, Islamic Banks’ Brand Personality (IBBP) and its impact on customer satisfaction.

This paper analyses the causal relationship that exists between the variables related to Islamic brand personality and customer satisfaction. For this purpose, data was collected quantitatively from 337 customers of different Islamic banks, through a self-administered questionnaire. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS software. Factor analysis was performed to extract and decide on the number of factors underlying the measured variables of interest. Structural equation modelling was then used to examine the variables and the fitness of the proposed model.

The result revealed that five out of the total six hypotheses were supported. In this case, trustworthiness and Shariah compliance resulted in the strongest impact on customer satisfaction followed by sincerity and justice.

The positive significant impact of trustworthiness and Shariah compliance on customer satisfaction attests to the importance of these variables in the development of a strong brand personality in the context of Islamic banks. Policymakers of the financial industry in general and the Islamic financial service industry, in particular, may benefit from the findings of this study.

There is a dearth of research conducted on investigating the impact of brand personality-related variables on the Islamic banking sector. The present research did not only develop variables of IBBP but also empirically tested their effect on customer satisfaction. This paper, therefore, offers invaluable insight into IBBP with its impact on customer satisfaction.

Organizations today strive to differentiate themselves from others with the help of various tools. Aaker’s brand personality model is one of them. It comprises five components namely, sincerity, excitement, sophistication, competence and ruggedness. This model has been tested and supported by various scholars in the past. Similarly, it also attracted a lot of criticism especially in terms of generalizability across countries and cultures. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to study Aaker’s model from an Islamic perspective; second, considering the dearth of brand personality knowledge in the services sector, to develop Islamic Banks’ Brand Personality (IBBP) model.

To propose IBBP model, traits in Aaker’s model have been investigated in the light of selected Quranic verses and sayings of Prophet Muhammad (ahadith). Later on, content validation was conducted as a pilot study with experts from the relevant fields.

Findings exhibit that Quran and hadith clearly elaborate and support majority dimensions of the existing model. Importantly, three new dimensions, namely, trustworthiness, justice and Shariah compliance, were added to develop a comprehensive IBBP model. Once the dimensions of IBBP model were finalized, the underlying items were content validated from 12 experts. Most of the items were approved; some were recommended for amendments and a few items were eliminated.

This research contributes to the branding as well as bank marketing literature as it is the first Islamic banks’ brand personality framework. With the help of IBBP model, Islamic banks can create a better brand image, use advertising strategies effectively and ultimately retain existing and attract more potential customers.

This research elaborates the personality traits of Muslim consumer market. Following IBBP model, financial needs of Muslim consumer market can be catered effectively.

The IBBP model being first of its kind is significant for Islamic banking industry as it reflects dimensions that are supported by the Quran and hadith, and therefore suits Muslim customer market.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate those factors that are associated with the adoption of social networking sites from the perspective of Muslim users residing in Malaysia.

A complete self-administered questionnaire was collected from 223 Muslim users of social networking sites in Malaysia. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to sort the significant items for the constructs and to check the validity. Structural equation modelling was applied in testing the hypotheses and the fitness of the proposed model.

The results of full structural model attest that technological and social factors are the most significant factors behind the adoption of social networking sites. However, this is followed by an educational factor. Among Muslim users in Malaysia, the study does not find significant influence of brand or product communication behind this adoption.

The paper investigates those factors that are considered inevitable in the adoption of social networking sites. Invaluable findings were offered in the form of a structural model for the stakeholders of social networking sties. These findings can be used in planning and making decisions that may benefit all parties associated with it.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between surface acting (SA), deep acting (DA) and organizational commitment (OC).

Guided by affective events theory, the study adapted emotional labour scale and three components model to profile 373 teachers from 30 schools around Peninsular Malaysia. A list-based simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test hypotheses, and the proposed model was assessed through renowned fit indices.

OC was hypothesized as a second-order construct. SEM result indicates that both SA and DA have significant negative relationship with OC. Fit indices of the hypothesized model showed χ²/df ratio (560.069/265) = 2.113, RMSEA (0.055), and CFI (0.936). This result provides empirical support for the data collected.

The study provides new insight on the ongoing debate about SA and DA. Therefore, it advances body of research in this regard. The implication for HR managers is that strategic polices can be institutionalized to buffer the consequences of SA and DA. This is due to the fact that SA and DA may not be abolished for service employees like teachers. The practical implication for teachers is the understanding that emotional regulation process is inevitable because teaching is profoundly an emotional activity job. Besides being a cross-sectional study, the sampled population may have limited the study’s outcomes.

Given existing inconsistent results on the consequences of SA and DA, this study shows that not only SA can lead to negative after-effects, DA can also cause the same. Future study can explore spiritual intelligence to examine how best SA and DA can be performed at reduced consequences on OC.

The purpose of this paper is to browse literature based on Aaker’s brand personality modal and highlight criticism on it. Furthermore, the study proposes an Islamic brand personality modal based on Islamic teachings.

Extensive research on Muslim characteristics based on Qur’an, hadith and scholarly work of traditional and modern scholars has been used to assess Aaker’s model. Expert opinions of faculty members from relevant field are also taken into consideration to propose Islamic brand personality model.

Aaker’s brand personality dimensions have been revised in the light of Islamic teachings. As a result, few pre-existing dimensions have been re-named and several new dimensions such as moral character and trustworthiness are also included.

Considering the gap found in literature, the need to conduct brand personality research in the service industry such as Islamic banks is highlighted.

Islamic brand personality model may help marketers effectively differentiate Islamic brands such as Islamic banks. It may also reinforce advertising techniques/tools to attract a large Muslim consumer market.

This paper is one of the early attempts to see brand personality from Islamic perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and test technology-related critical success factors (CSFs) and its impact on trust and customer satisfaction.

This paper analyses the causal relationship that exists between technology CSFs and customer satisfaction. It also investigates the mediating role of trust between these two. For this purpose data were collected quantitatively from 349 employees working in different banks, through self-administered questionnaire. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS software. Factor analysis was performed to extract and decide on the number of factors underlying the measured variables of interest. Structural equation modelling was then used to examine the variables and the fitness of proposed model.

The result revealed that technology CSFs positively affect customer satisfaction. Also, trust partially mediates the relationship between technology CSFs and customer satisfaction. A significant positive impact of technology CSFs on trust, and trust on customer satisfaction have also been obtained.

The significant influence that technology CSFs have on customer satisfaction and trust shows that technology-related CSFs are inevitable for the success of customer relationship management (CRM) in financial services industry, particularly banks. Policy makers of service industry in general and financial service industry in particular may benefit from the findings of this study.

Despite the plethora of research on CSFs for CRM, very limited attention has been given to testing and validating the identified CSFs. Negligible research has been conducted to investigate trust as a mediating variable in the relationship between technology CSFs and customer satisfaction. This paper, therefore, offers valuable insight into technology-related CSFs and trust with their impact on customer satisfaction.

Sustainability is essential to the ongoing operations of banks, though it is much less clear how Islamic corporate governance (ICG) promotes economic sustainability (ES) and thereby prevents bankruptcy. To explore the unexplored, this study aims to examine the efficacy of ICG in preventing bankruptcy and enhancing the ES of Islamic banks operating in Pakistan.

The current study measures ES through Altman's Z-score to analyze the level of the industry's stability and consequently examines the effect of ICG on the ES of Islamic banks in Pakistan for the post-financial-crises period. Using the country-level data, this study utilized a fixed-effect model and two-stage least squares (2SLS) techniques on balanced panel data spanning from 2009 to 2020 to provide empirical evidence.

The empirical results unveiled that board size and meetings have a significant positive influence on the ES while managerial ownership demonstrated an unfavorable effect on ES. Interestingly, the insignificant effect of women directors became significant with the inclusion of controlled variables. Overall, the findings indicate that ICG is an efficient tool for promoting ES in Islamic banks and preventing them from the negative effects of emerging crises.

The findings provide concrete insights for policymakers, regulators and other concerned stakeholders to execute a sturdy corporate governance system that not only oversees the economic, social and ethical aspects but also provides measures to alleviate the impacts of potential risks like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Examining the role of ICG in alleviating bankruptcy risk is an informative and useful endeavor for all social actors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first efforts to provide evidence-based insights on the role of ICG in preventing bankruptcy and offers a potential research direction for ES.

This paper empirically examines the impact of terrorism on the insurance–growth relationship in the context of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, thereby attempting to address the unexplored area in the relevant literature.

The study considered MENA as it has been one of the terribly affected zones in the world during the study period. Panel data for the period (2002–2017) are sourced from reliable sources for 14 member economies of the MENA region.

After employing the suitable econometric procedures on the panel data, the results indicate that terrorism appears to have detrimental impact on the observed positive relationship between insurance and economic growth. In addition, trade openness seems to be the main driving force behind economic growth of the selected MENA countries. Surprisingly, the study suggests a negative association between the growth of physical capital and economic growth. Human capital has played a positive but insignificant role in improving economic growth as it is insignificant in majority of the specifications. The growth of labor force has although positively but insignificantly influenced economic growth. Finally, the results demonstrate that government expenditures and high inflation are harmful for growth.

The study investigated the impact of terrorism on the insurance–growth relationship for the first time, and hence policymakers of the MENA region are expected to be benefited enormously from the findings of the study.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the contending role of important external inflows on the economic growth of Pakistan economy. The main purpose behind focusing on Pakistan is that it is receiving significant inflows from different international sources such as International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The study adopted the autoregressive distributed lag cointegration approach for the purpose of exploring the long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables. As Pakistan Government had been implementing some major liberalization policies during 1990s, data from 1976 to 2018 is used to estimate the specified models to reflect the impact of the surge of foreign inflows occurring from that time. In addition, error correction model is estimated for examining the short-run relationships.

The findings revealed the significant role played by different inflows in accelerating the economic growth. According to results, in the long run, all inflows, for example, Foreign direct investment (FDI), debt, official developdment assistance and remittances, have influenced significantly and positively the economic growth. The two control variables such as inflation and employment level included in the model have also played their expected role in the growth process. In the short run, some of the variables such as remittances, FDI and inflation rate have lost their significance level while for debt, aid and employment level, the signs of their coefficients become reversed.

Based on the findings, the study suggests the policymakers of Pakistan economy to liberalize the economy and attract more inflows from the external sources to accelerate economic growth.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive empirical study on the role of foreign inflows in the process of economic growth in the context of Pakistan economy.