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This chapter embarks on a cross-Asian comparison to glean valuable insights from various regions and religious contexts. By examining family planning practices and challenges in different parts of Asia, valuable lessons are uncovered that can inform policies, programs, and initiatives aimed at achieving family planning-related sustainable development goals (SDGs). The complexities and nuances of family planning across diverse cultural, social, and religious landscapes are delved into, shedding light on both common threads and unique challenges faced by marginalized communities. Through this comparative analysis, the aim is to contribute to a holistic understanding of family planning in Asia and provide actionable recommendations to enhance access, equity, and outcomes in pursuit of family planning-related SDGs.

This chapter provides a comprehensive examination of the diverse strategies employed in various Asian regions to address family planning. Beginning with an in-depth analysis of family planning programs in South Asia, this chapter offers a comparative overview that highlights the unique characteristics and outcomes within this dynamic context. Furthermore, this chapter employs case studies to explore the multifaceted influences of religious beliefs, legal frameworks, and sociocultural factors on family planning practices. By delving into these complexities, it offers a nuanced understanding of the challenges and successes in different Asian regions. This comparative exploration equips policymakers and practitioners with valuable insights to inform more effective and culturally sensitive family planning initiatives.

Religious tourism is one of the oldest and fastest-growing segments. This study analyzes religious tourism through the pilgrimage of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca and has the following objectives: (1) establish the motivational dimensions of religious tourism; (2) identify the motivational dimensions that predict the satisfaction of religious tourism and (3) determine the motivational dimensions that predict return, recommend and say positive things about religious tourism applied to the pilgrimage to a sacred city.

The sample consisted of Muslim pilgrims who had visited Mecca. The sample was collected in Bahrain, a country located on the Persian Gulf, where most of its population is Muslim. A total of 380 valid questionnaires were obtained online. For the data analysis, factorial analysis and the multiple regression method enter were performed.

The results show that religious motivations are more important when visiting a sacred city than secular ones. Three motivational dimensions were found: religious, social and cultural and shopping. The three dimensions found have a significant relationship with satisfaction and loyalty. Likewise, it was found that the religious motivational dimension is the factor that most predicts satisfaction and loyalty in the behavior of religious visits to a sacred city.

The main limitation of the present study was the temporality in which the sample was taken because the demand may vary at another time of the year and therefore vary its results.

The authors of the study recommend that holy cities increase the religious motivations of these travelers by periodically researching their needs and organizing services to suit their desired spiritual experience. Also, to improve the social and cultural part, travel agencies and tourist companies to Mecca should promote social and cultural motivation among travelers in an appropriate way by providing service packages that involve visits to cultural and social sites such as museums and cultural centers.

This research will serve as a management guide for public institutions and private companies to develop more efficient planning in religious destinations and sacred cities.

This study is the first to analyze the construct of motivations in the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, to then establish what the main motivations are that predict satisfaction and loyalty in a religious city. Thus, its results provide important information for tourist destination managers and tourism service providers.

This study aims to explore how the treatment, well-being and satisfaction of health tourists are affected by what is characterized as the hospitality culture of health care.

A qualitative research design focusing on in-depth semi-structured interviews was conducted with 28 Omani health tourists who visited Iran and received health-care services. Data were analyzed thematically using ATLAS.ti software.

The results revealed that a caring health professional is essential for patient healing and well-being. Cultural congruence is enhanced through effective communication between patients and health-care service providers. Additionally, a hospitality-certified workforce is essential for customer satisfaction and overall well-being. Finally, a hospitality-style approach and home-like atmosphere improve patient rehabilitation and performance.

The study’s exclusive focus on Omani health tourists necessitates caution in generalizing findings. Future research could encompass more diverse populations and inclusive samples to broaden applicability.

The study highlights the key role of hospitality culture in the health-care sector, emphasizing the significance of building a culturally sensitive and hospitable environment to improve patient satisfaction and overall well-being. This includes the creation of welcoming environments and customized health-care experiences congruent with patients’ cultural values and beliefs.

The study emphasizes the crucial role of hospitality culture in health tourism and the potential to create a culture of care and respect in health-care settings, addressing patients’ holistic needs beyond physical amenities and enriching the patient experience. It also applies Leininger’s Culture Care Theory to hospitality, providing a novel viewpoint on culturally congruent, safe and meaningful care for health tourists.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a distinct set of characteristics that influence Muslim customers’ intentions to purchase Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract in Malaysia.

The study studied the impact of perceived value, perceived quality, perceived financial advantages, religious commitment and product knowledge on the purchase intention Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract using a quantitative research approach. A Google Form-based online survey was created and distributed through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, among others. The survey data were analysed using structural equation modelling with a partial-least-square estimation property (PLS-SEM).

The study results suggested that Muslim customers in Malaysia had a greater propensity to buy Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract. Analysis of the data revealed that perceived value, perceived quality, perceived financial benefits and religious commitment had direct effects on the desire to buy Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract in Malaysia. In addition, the results reveal that religious commitment, perceived quality and perceived financial benefit are the top three important factors in explaining Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract buying intentions in this country.

Muslim customers may use Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract as a short-term credit alternative to enhance their financial standing. Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract generates a substantial quantity of credit demand and supply, which not only allows Muslim customers to adhere to Islamic standards but also contributes to the expansion of the economy. The result would aid and advise Ar-Rahnu finance resources and legislators in measuring the efficacy of the program in Malaysia, especially among Muslim customers.

Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract as a financing alternative has been explored extensively, but this study takes a whole new approach to the subject by looking at dimensions of perceived value, perceived quality and perceived financial benefit along with individual product knowledge and religious commitment. Consequently, this study will contribute to the understanding of how Muslim customers will respond to the Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract and will assist financial institutions in increasing the possibility that Muslim consumers would acquire Ar-Rahnu Islamic financing contract.

The purpose of this study is to examine the appropriate components and sub-components of Muslim-friendly hospital practices that comply with Islamic medical ethics and Sharia requirements.

A systematic literature review procedure based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses publication standards was used to analyse and identify the precise components and sub-components of Muslim-friendly hospital practices from 239 shortlisted papers.

The study revealed that Sharia compliance prescription, Islamic infrastructure, Islamic medical practices, compassion and support, competencies of Islamic medical services, conducive Islamic surroundings, reasonable and convenience services and Islamic work culture are important elements that need to be in practice by Muslim-friendly hospital providers.

This study focuses on studies conducted between January 2010 to August 2022 from the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. This study contributes to the literature through the identification of eight main components and 53 sub-components that were found to be the core and essential determinants in the establishment of the Muslim-friendly hospital practices framework.

The proposed Muslim-friendly hospital practices framework are envisaged to motivate policymakers in Malaysia and Indonesia as well as other Muslim countries to implement the proposed framework through a greater number of supportive legislative measures as well as practical promotion and education policies to further enhance the market.

The number of health-care providers contemplating the integration of Islamic or Muslim-friendly practices into their strategic plans and daily operations is continuously increasing. However, the dearth of studies that provide conclusive evidence of the correct determinants of Muslim-friendly hospital practices that ensure strict Islamic medical ethics and Sharia-compliant service delivery standards had created an impediment that needs to be addressed urgently.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain service quality (halal values, assurance, meal quality, reliability, security, system and traceability) and perceived risks (financial, quality, environment, social, time, psychology and health) and its influence on satisfaction, as well as trust concerning online halal food delivery system (OHFDS).

This study uses quantitative methodology, through an online survey, by using purposive sampling across a sample size of 423 respondents. The analysis of data was conducted using SmartPLS.

The results of the findings indicate that assurance and halal values have an influence on satisfaction, as well as trust; nonetheless, only reliability has an impact on satisfaction. On the other hand, perceived health and financial risks have negative influence on trust and satisfaction toward OHFDS. In addition, perceived psychological and financial risks are found to have negative impacts on trust of OHFDS.

The theoretical value of this study is the testing of perceived service quality and risks concerning OHFDS in the same model, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of its impact on trust and satisfaction toward the online food service delivery industry. The results of this study may appear as a starting point for researchers who wish to conduct further studies on the same topic.

This study suggests that the service providers need to boost their efforts in establishing high quality service and, simultaneously, reduce perceived risks, to develop satisfaction and trust toward OHFDS.

The long-term consequence of the business's achievement is that it makes it simpler for customers to have confidence in, be satisfied with and recommend the service providers to others.

A number of research investigations have been conducted among Muslims, specifically in the Asian region, which have yielded crucial data regarding consumer behavior toward halal products, such as food and tourism. This study, nonetheless, remains close with other studies on halal food, except that it adds together the knowledge of perceived quality and risks, as to gain a deeper understanding of the experience customers have on food, through online service delivery.

This study extends the current understanding of halal tourism at an island destination. Specifically, this study aims to explore the attributes of halal tourism in the local islands of the Maldives, a fully Muslim country where tourism is the primary source of income for residents. To accomplish this, Muslim travellers’ experiences were examined using the process theory of travel, the halal tourism concept and the service marketing perspective.

The study used a qualitative research methodology and conducted interviews with Muslim travellers visiting the local islands of the Maldives.

The findings affirmed the five established generic attributes of halal tourism and generated another three emergent attributes of halal tourism, specific to an island destination. The study further enhances the existing knowledge of the generic attributes of halal food and beverage, prayers and mutual respect and benefits. It also establishes that the dimensions of safety and privacy, value for money, perishability and heterogeneity characterise all the emerging halal tourism attributes. The study concludes that halal tourism is an experience imbued with values that promotes dignified tourism.

The findings on the specific attributes of halal tourism at an island destination extend overall understanding of the halal tourism concept and process. The fact that the Maldives is entirely Muslim offers a unique opportunity to explore the normative attributes of halal tourism in an island destination. This enhanced understanding contributes to effective managerial practices aimed at developing competitive halal tourism services.

This chapter provides a comprehensive exploration of the pivotal role of family planning in advancing sustainable development goals (SDGs). It elucidates the intrinsic connection between family planning and sustainable development, scrutinizes the harmonization of family planning initiatives with SDG targets and indicators, gleans insights from global approaches, and identifies formidable challenges, with a particular focus on marginalized communities. This chapter culminates with a set of substantial recommendations aimed at surmounting these challenges and propelling SDG attainment through the prism of family planning.

The purpose of this study is to capture patients' and employees' perception of quality of care in the Indian private hospitals and to find the possible perceptual gaps between both the groups.

Authors have referred to the Victorian patient satisfaction monitoring (VPSM) scale and studied the responses of 327 patients and 327 employees collected from six private Indian tertiary care hospitals. SPSS v26 software was used to conduct the data reliability test, descriptive analysis and Mann–Whitney U test.

Authors have found significant differences in perceptions of quality of care between the patients and employees in the Indian hospitals. Employees have high positive perceptions towards the provided medical care whereas the patients have less favourable perceptions for many quality indicators.

This study findings help the healthcare managers, practitioners and healthcare workers of the Indian hospitals to understand the perceptions of both the employees and the patients towards healthcare quality elements and help to reduce the existing perceptual gap in the process of providing quality healthcare services.

To the best of authors knowledge, this is one of the pioneering studies conducted in Indian healthcare industry to capture and compare the perceptions of both the employees' and the patients' perceptions of various quality of care elements. This study highlighted the existing perceptual gap between the employees and the patients on various healthcare quality elements and indicated the critical areas for improvement to provide high quality healthcare services.