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1 – 10 of over 1000This chapter discusses various aspects of family planning initiatives on a global scale, with a specific focus on their influence in Asian contexts, including Bangladesh. This…
Abstract
This chapter discusses various aspects of family planning initiatives on a global scale, with a specific focus on their influence in Asian contexts, including Bangladesh. This chapter examines the diverse range of family planning programs and policies implemented worldwide, in Asia and Bangladesh considering cultural factors that significantly shape family planning decisions. By highlighting the unique approaches and challenges faced in different regions, it provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of family planning efforts and their impact on population dynamics.
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Ashraf Khalil, Salam Abdallah, Rafiq Hijazi and Kundan Sheikh
This study aims to understand the patterns of content-sharing behaviour on major social media platforms by young adult users with reference to how these sharing patterns are…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the patterns of content-sharing behaviour on major social media platforms by young adult users with reference to how these sharing patterns are influenced by two main sociocultural factors in their lives, religiosity and social conformity.
Design/methodology/approach
Online surveys including both the ATSCI test for social conformity as well as the Hoge test for religiosity were filled out by 590 participants. In-depth interviews with six participants representative of the same population were conducted to deepen analysis of key variables explored in the surveys. The design of the interviews was semi-structured, whereby the focus was to achieve a general overview of participants' intentions and habits regarding sharing information via social media.
Findings
The findings show a significant positive impact of religiosity and social conformity on users' sharing intention which, in turn, affects their inclination towards verifying the content they share.
Social implications
The authors' findings emphasise how users bear the onus of correcting the online information space. It paves the way for future research by recognising the value of independent corroboration amongst users.
Originality/value
This study lends key support to the growing body of research on social media use in societies in which shared religious and cultural values tend to clearly impact everyday social interaction.
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Reza Ashari Nasution, So Won Jeong, Byoungho Ellie Jin, Jae-Eun Chung, Heesoon Yang, Robert Jeyakumar Nathan and Devi Arnita
The purpose of this study is to explore the acculturation caused by the Korean wave among Indonesian Muslim consumers, especially in the food and cosmetic sectors, based on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the acculturation caused by the Korean wave among Indonesian Muslim consumers, especially in the food and cosmetic sectors, based on religious grounds.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through focus group interviews with 20 Muslim respondents in Indonesia.
Findings
The findings specifically highlighted that Muslim consumers’ acceptance of Korean products varied. Muslim consumers’ acceptance was influenced by similarities and differences in values between Islamic and Korean cultures. Consumers categorised into each acculturation mode (assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation) showed different behavioural patterns in Korean product acceptance. This study proposes that global products can be optimised through specific and targeted marketing campaigns for different types of Muslim consumers with products that comply with their religious values.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored the importance of religious values (e.g. righteousness, compassion and respect for others) with respect to the acceptance of foreign products in the acculturation context. Additionally, how values from other cultures reconcile with the Indonesian Muslims’ affinity for Korean culture has been limitedly studied. This study aims to fill these gaps by identifying the role of religious factors in the acceptance of global products by taking the example of Indonesian Muslim consumers and Korean products.
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Yaoqin Li, Xichan Chen, Wanli Li and Xixiong Xu
This study explores whether and how Buddhism impacts corporate cash holdings. Buddhist culture affects investors' perception of how cash is deployed and then influences corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores whether and how Buddhism impacts corporate cash holdings. Buddhist culture affects investors' perception of how cash is deployed and then influences corporate cash holdings. This study first examines the impact of Buddhism on corporate cash holdings and then investigates whether formal governance mechanisms such as legal institutions and institutional ownership influence the relationship between Buddhism and corporate cash holdings.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct empirical tests with data on Chinese listed companies between 2006 and 2019. Buddhism is measured with the natural logarithm of the number of Buddhist temples within a radius of a certain distance around a firm's headquarters. The authors adopt the OLS method to regress and take the 2SLS method, Heckman selection model and FEVD approach to address the endogeneity issue.
Findings
The results show a positive relationship between Buddhism and corporate cash holdings. This positive relation is more prominent for firms located in regions with weak legal institutions and for firms with low institutional ownership. Further analysis shows that Buddhism works through the channel of alleviating agency problems and finally improves the value of cash to investors.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ findings have important implications. First, this study provides inspiration for incorporating the ethical values of traditional cultures, such as Buddhism, into the corporate governance system. Second, the findings imply that informal institutions can influence corporate financial decisions beyond the effect of formal institutions, suggesting that informal systems should be emphasized when dealing with business affairs in countries where legal institutions are relatively weak. Third, the results suggest the significance of encouraging research on religious culture to explore its active role in corporate governance.
Originality/value
This study illustrates the positive value of religious culture in advancing corporate governance by relating Buddhism to corporate cash holdings based on the explanation of investors' perception. It makes a marginal contribution to the literature that investigates the determinants of cash policies and explores the firm-level consequences of religious culture, adding to the research area of culture and corporate finance.
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Yusuf Katerega Ndawula, Mori Neema and Isaac Nkote
This study examines the relationship between policyholders’ psychographic characteristics and demand decisions for life insurance products in Uganda.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the relationship between policyholders’ psychographic characteristics and demand decisions for life insurance products in Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a cross-sectional survey. Using a purposive sampling method, 389 questionnaires were administered to life insurance policyholders in the four geographical regions of Uganda. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the primary data, specifically to test the relationships between the dependent and independent variables.
Findings
The findings indicate a positive and significant influence of psychographic characteristics on demand decisions for life insurance products. In addition, the analysis indicates that the two first-order constructs of psychographic characteristics, namely price consciousness and consumer innovativeness, are positive and significant predictors of demand decisions for life insurance products. In contrast, the third first-order construct religious salience, exhibits a negative and nonsignificant effect on demand decisions for life insurance products.
Practical implications
For insurance practitioners, to influence demand decisions, they should emphasize premium-related appeals in their marketing messages (price consciousness) ignore product decisions based on religious beliefs and norms (religious salience). They should also ensure that insurance products are highly trustable and experiential (consumer innovativeness). For insurance policymakers, it offers an in-depth understanding of customer psychographic characteristics, which can be used to identify exploitative information embedded in certain marketing campaigns targeting specific psychographic characteristics, for better regulation.
Originality/value
The study provides a basis for understanding lifestyle and personality characteristics (psychographics), which may influence demand decisions for life insurance products in a developing country like Uganda, where the insurance industry is at an early stage of development.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2023-0440
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Ali Haruna, Honoré Tekam Oumbé and Armand Mboutchouang Kountchou
The purpose of this paper is to examine the adoption of Islamic finance products (murabaha, musharakah, mudarabah, salam, ijara, istisna and Qard Hassan) by small and medium-sized…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the adoption of Islamic finance products (murabaha, musharakah, mudarabah, salam, ijara, istisna and Qard Hassan) by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cameroon, a non-Islamic Sub-Saharan African country.
Design/methodology/approach
It used primary data collected from a cross-section of 1,358 SMEs in eight regions of Cameroon using self-administered structured questionnaires. To facilitate the analyses and interpretation, these products are grouped into four groups based on certain characteristics. A multivariate probit model is estimated to take into account the interaction between these different Islamic finance products.
Findings
This study revealed that the desire to comply with Sharia law, awareness, attitude and intention were critical determinants of the decision to adopt Islamic finance products by Cameroonian SMEs. The least influential factors were perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, enterprise characteristics (size, age and location) and socio-demographic characteristics of the entrepreneur (gender, age and marital status). The extension of the multivariate approach permitted us to compute for predicted probabilities which revealed that there exists a synergy effect between the different Islamic finance products. That is, Cameroonian SMEs combine different Islamic finance products at the same time based on their needs. This is especially the case between the partnership-based products (musharakah and mudarabah) and manufacture/rent products (istisna and ijara).
Practical implications
Policymakers are encouraged to develop stakeholder-oriented strategies to promote effective consumer education in Islamic finance products which will boost awareness. Also, Islamic finance institutions should endeavor to develop innovative financial products that are Sharia-compliant and economically beneficial to the individual and business needs of SMEs. Moreover, policymakers and management of Islamic finance institutions should ensure the putting in place of effective governance structures to guide Islamic finance operations. Finally, policymakers should endeavor to take into account the possible synergy between the different Islamic finance products in their quest to develop this activity.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyses the adoption of different Islamic finance products while taking into account the possible synergy that exists between these products.
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Colin Bloom’s recent report Does Government ‘do God’? (2023) examines, in great detail, the sensitivity and rigour of the place of religion in contemporary British society. More…
Abstract
Colin Bloom’s recent report Does Government ‘do God’? (2023) examines, in great detail, the sensitivity and rigour of the place of religion in contemporary British society. More precisely, how the government and its institutions engage with religion. In the timely report, Bloom uncovers many instances where religion and faith are a force for good but also where society and the actors and agencies that contribute towards it struggle to understand people of faith and their expressions of it. While not specifically examining how universities engage with this, the message is clear, as a society we are largely ignorant of (at best) or hostile to (at worst) the place of religion in people’s lives. This chapter examines what this means for universities and how academics, support staff, and students can become more aware of the contributing factors to a religious worldview. An awareness of religion as a sensitive subject for many, which in turn may lead to misunderstanding, must be addressed and explored in order for shared understanding to emerge.
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This chapter is dedicated to the exploration of attitudes toward family planning within marginalized communities in Bangladesh. It begins by elucidating the concept of attitudes…
Abstract
This chapter is dedicated to the exploration of attitudes toward family planning within marginalized communities in Bangladesh. It begins by elucidating the concept of attitudes and underscoring their significance in the context of family planning. This chapter investigates the intricate relationship between attitudes and family planning decisions, revealing the diverse attitudes prevalent within these marginalized communities. It proposes targeted interventions aimed at breaking down attitudinal barriers that hinder effective family planning practices, with the goal of empowering these communities through a transformative process of attitude change. This comprehensive examination of attitudes toward family planning among marginalized populations contributes valuable insights to the fields of public health and social development.
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Khalil Hussain, Muhammad Shahzeb Fayyaz, Amjad Shamim, Amir Zaib Abbasi, Sana Jawed Malik and Muhammad Farrukh Abid
This study aims to investigate consumer brand loyalty toward halal cosmetics using the theory of planned behavior through repurchase intention, which is primarily relying on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate consumer brand loyalty toward halal cosmetics using the theory of planned behavior through repurchase intention, which is primarily relying on the consumer’s attitude toward halal cosmetics. Important predictors such as trust on halal cosmetics, quality of halal cosmetics and religious beliefs of millennial Muslim female consumers shape consumer attitude.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study used the quantitative research design and deductive approach to collect the data from 275 halal cosmetics users in Pakistan by using a judgmental sampling approach.
Findings
Findings of the study provide useful insights for both theory and practice. The results support product quality, religious belief and trust on halal cosmetics as predictors of consumer’s attitude toward halal cosmetics that further develop consumers’ repurchase intention, which in turn enhances their overall brand loyalty. Besides, the findings also show that consumer repurchase intention has a mediating effect between consumer attitude toward halal cosmetics and consumer brand loyalty.
Practical implications
The current study helps in advancing practitioners’ understanding of female consumers’ brand loyalty in the halal cosmetics context. This study is considered to be greatly helpful for managers to gain knowledge about how repurchase intention and brand loyalty of millennial Muslim female consumers can be developed in the halal cosmetics segment, especially in the case of Pakistan.
Originality/value
Brand loyalty has been investigated by previous studies through different predictors and antecedents. This study contributes to the literature of brand loyalty by empirically examining and validating the different antecedents of consumer attitude that are accountable for creating consumer brand loyalty in the domain of halal cosmetics within the Pakistani cultural context. The current study also enhances the previous scholarly understanding on halal cosmetics by investigating the mediating role of consumer repurchase intention of halal cosmetics that further extends the discussion for both theory and practice.
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This study aims to investigate the knowledge domain and development trends that appear in the scholarly corpus on religious tourism.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the knowledge domain and development trends that appear in the scholarly corpus on religious tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
The most common themes evolving in the religious tourism research field are figured out by conducting keyword and trend analyses using the bibliographic data collected from 988 research articles published in Social Science Citation-indexed journals listed in the Web of Science database between 1992 and 2022.
Findings
It has been found that the number of publications has increased exponentially. European countries are the major contributors to religious tourism research. Research has mainly clustered around the areas of spiritual experience, identity, cultural heritage, pilgrimage, tourist attitude, behavior and satisfaction. Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism are religions that have received relatively little research attention.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should focus on the sustainability of religious tourism sites, mitigating the adverse impact of the commercialization of religious tourism products and recovering religious tourism activities from the COVID-19 impact.
Practical implications
The findings are useful for corporate practitioners, site managers and entrepreneurs to take advantage of the valuable opportunities this segment offers. These findings are useful for scholars and policymakers in acquiring the latest knowledge of developments in this field.
Social implications
The insights obtained by using a holistic approach are valuable for religious tourists who want to understand the importance of visiting religious sites.
Originality/value
This study identifies key themes that have evolved in religious tourism. In so doing, it presents an agenda for pushing this research corpus forward.
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