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The world after the pandemic of Covid-19 is looking at a different environment in teaching and learning and primarily being influenced by general online learning readiness. Perception towards the measurement of online learning readiness would also need to change. This study seeks to determine whether Malaysian undergraduate students are ready to study online if the Movement Control Order (MCO) is reimposed.

Using an online poll, this study analysed 299 undergraduate students from Malaysia's public and private universities. The collected data were then analysed using SmartPLS software to test the measurement model and structural equation modelling.

The findings of this study indicate that computer self-efficacy and self-directed learning have a substantially positive link with online learning preparedness among Malaysian undergraduate students.

Findings in this study indicate that universities should draw comprehensive plans to enhance students' readiness in terms of indicators such as technology usage, technology availability, computer and internet efficacy, self-directed learning and attitude. One of the aspects that require change is online communication self-efficacy. Thus, there is a need for improvement, or this would affect undergraduates adversely, especially in the event of future MCO.

The originality of this article lies in the time frame this study was conducted, where cases of coronavirus infection are seen to increase around the world and there is a possibility that movement restrictions will be re-enforced. The findings in this study are expected to give insight to the government in the effort of the national higher education plan. By not undervaluing previous research models, this research model should give a new perspective to the academic literature on online learning among undergraduate students.

This paper aims to examine the factors that drive the exporter’s influence toward halal meat supply chain adoption by encompassing the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory in the context of Pakistan.

Using DOI as an underpinning theory, this study evaluates halal supply chain adoption by collecting data from the members of associations from Pakistan. A total of 258 useable responses were received, and PLS-SEM was adopted using SmartPLS.

The exporter’s adoption of the halal supply chain is determined not only by perceived relative advantage and perceived compatibility but also by perceived complexity, religious beliefs and awareness.

Though this study has practical and managerial implications, it has few limitations. Further studies need to be conducted in other contexts as well with a larger population.

There are limited studies that have tested DOI theory in the context of the halal meat supply chain in Pakistan. Therefore, the author extends the diffusion theory of innovation in the current work. Further, this paper will be a helpful reference guide for academicians, practitioners and researchers.

The 2021 Malacca state election was the first state election in West Malaysia held post-2018 general election during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a state where the governmental power fell into the hands of Pakatan Harapan (PH) during the 2018 general election before switching hands to Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN). After losing majority support, the state assembly was dissolved to make way for a fresh election. Although the Chinese voters in this election did not show much swing towards non-PH party, the support for PH is no long as enthusiastic as before. This chapter studies the political landscape in the 2018 general election focussing on Malacca before analysing the 2021 Malacca state election result that was held during a global health crisis.

This study aims to examine the impact of sustainable practices as proxied by the environmental, social and governance (ESG) score on capital structure. It also investigates whether ESG performance influences the speed of adjustment (SOA) to target leverage in firms.

The sample covers 116 non-financial firms listed on the main stock exchanges from five Southeast ASEAN countries (Bursa Malaysia, Indonesia Stock Exchange, Philippines Stock Exchange, Singapore Stock Exchange and Stock Exchange of Thailand) over the period 2012–2019. The study adopts the OLS regression and system-GMM estimators to perform the data analysis.

The authors show that the ESG score is positively associated with book leverage, suggesting that firms increase their debt capital through sustainable practices. However, they find that the ESG score is negatively associated with market leverage across our model estimations. The authors also reveal that environmental, social and governance pillar scores produce about 7.82%, 2.88% and 0.47% SOAs, respectively, higher than the SOA of the traditional SOA without the ESG factor. The aggregate ESG score has about 3.41% SOA higher than the baseline SOA without the ESG factor.

This study is of interest to investors, corporate firms and policymakers. The study demonstrates that the ESG score increases the firm’s SOA to target leverage. By disaggregating the ESG score, the authors establish that ESG pillar scores produce higher SOAs than the traditional SOA (without ESG), with the environmental score inducing the fastest SOA. Practically, the study implies that environmentally sustainable activities reduce environmental transaction costs, benefit firms through better information transparency and enhance a trustful climate between the firm and suppliers of capital. Therefore, this study demonstrates that firms do not only incur the cost of disseminating ESG information but also benefit from lower information asymmetry and a higher SOA with better tax-deductible advantages.

The findings have combined advantages for both stakeholders and directors who monitor and manage the firms’ resources to improve the quality of ESG practices and initiatives.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to establish that sustainable practices induce higher debt capital. Secondly, unlike prior research focusing on the cost of capital, the authors examine whether ESG performance affects capital structure patterns. Thirdly, it documents the extent to which sustainable practices influence the SOA towards target leverage in firms. The authors contribute to corporate finance literature that firms reach faster to their target leverage in the presence of ESG performance. Theoretically, through the notion of the stakeholder proposition, the study establishes that the firms’ pursuance of stakeholder goals further enhances the prediction of the trade-off theory.

Before the British colonial regime, Muslims in South Asia recognized a transnational notion of education that stretched on all sides, including the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Central and South-East Asia, with a great social awakening and consciousness about the importance of inclusive education. Academia included theological and secular subjects and focused on producing thoughtful, sophisticated, and confident individuals ready to defend their beliefs with sound knowledge and reasoning. However, the British Raj in the 19th and 20th centuries had a lasting and indelible impression on the Muslims and the Islamic education system. British colonial regime challenged the theological discourse and education and compelled a Western style of education. These transformations in the education system raised several dilemmas and impasses for the Muslims of South Asia. Pakistan has remained a silent recipient of this tension underpinned in its educational systems even before its inception. This chapter traces the roots of education systems operating in Pakistan starting from the ninth century with the victory of Mohammad Bin Qasim through the 19th-century colonial rule of Great Britain until today, when the country offers a blend of diverse education systems. The study explores values embedded in different education systems operating in Pakistan. It is essential to understand the values inherent in these systems to see the harmony or conflict prevailing as a consequence which might have repercussions for the different societal segments and communities. Renewed focus toward value realization will facilitate refining educational frameworks and a promise for the acceptance of global and international advancements.

Megaproject's construction is essential for the development and economic growth of any country, especially in the developing world. In Kuwait, megaprojects are facing many restrictions that discourage their execution causing a significant delay in bidding, design, construction and operation phases with the execution quality being affected. The objective of this study is to develop a complexity measurement model using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for megaprojects in Kuwait, with a focus on the New Kuwait University multi-billion campus Shadadiyah (College of Social Science, Sharia and Law (CSSL)) as a case study.

The study applies a hybrid fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method to compare the results with those obtained using the conventional AHP method. This can facilitate the project management activities during the different stages of construction. Data were collected based on the results of a two-round Delphi questionnaire completed by seniors and experts of the selected project.

It was found that project modeling methodology was responsible for complexity. It was grouped under several categories that include technological, goal, organizational, environmental and cultural complexities. The study compares complexity degrees assessed by AHP and FAHP methods. “Technological Complexity” scores highest in both methods, with FAHP reaching 7.46. “Goal Complexity” follows closely behind, with FAHP. “Cultural Complexity” ranks third, differing between methods, while “Organizational” and “Environmental Complexity” consistently score lower, with FAHP values slightly higher. These results show varying complexity levels across dimensions. Assessing and understanding such complexities were essential toward the completion of such megaprojects.

The contribution of this study is on providing the empirical evidential knowledge for the priority over construction complexities in a developing country (Kuwait) in the Middle East.

The purpose of this study is to examine donors’ or waqifs’ desire for waqf-based qardhul hassan financing in Malaysia using a maqasid method, where a pragmatic approach is used.

Using judgemental sampling, a total of 275 waqifs participated in this work to identify their preference in donating their money to the facility should it is introduced. Using the developed waqf-based qardhul hassan scale (WAQASCALE), this study examined the preference accordingly. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS 27.

The results obtained were as follows: the first factor considered by the waqifs in donating money was perceived household well-being, followed by perceived recipients’ welfare, perceived mankind benevolence and perceived Muslims’ community security.

The authors developed construct items that had generalisability issues as they were at the infancy stage of development among social finance scientists along with the narrow geographical constraint where the actual survey was conducted.

The results were useful in giving new guidance to state governments and Islamic banks (IBs) in Malaysia to explore further this sort of facility for the improved well-being of those affected by COVID-19. Besides, sustainable development goals (SDGs), such as poverty, hunger and responsible consumption, among others can be addressed effectively for the mutual well-being of those affected by the health crisis in an effort of combating financial hardships in the meeting of basic needs, at least. The partnership between the state government and IBs could lead to the offered qardhul hassan financing-sourced funding from waqf for reduced financial hardships by needy and poor folks.

This study introduced a new WAQASCALE in the context of qardhul hassan financing in Malaysia.

The purpose of this study is to develop a new framework to measure waqif preference of waqf-based qardhul hassan financing in Malaysia.

Using a maqāṣid approach, this study’s data were drawn from 286 valid usable questionnaires to examine the effects of consumer, family, ummah and humanity factors on the preference.

The study found that the said factors sourced from Attia’s maqāṣid al-Shariah were instrumental in determining waqif preference to donate in waqf-based qardhul hassan financing.

Like others, this study’s findings are limited in terms of their generalisations and applications. The theory, context and variables used should be expanded in future works.

The results obtained are useful as a yardstick to enable the offered waqf-based qardhul hassan financing for improved mutual well-being among different classes of the wealth of societal groups in Malaysia. Furthermore, the results provide valuable insights into the direction for practitioners mainly managers involved in introducing waqf-based qardhul hassan financing as a new Islamic social financial instrument for poor and needy folks, at best.

This study is novel in terms of the proposed conceptual framework, where the waqif perspective comes into play.

This paper aims to analyse the implementation of istibdal waqf property in several states of Peninsular Malaysia. To achieve this objective, this study identified the amount of waqf property ‘am (general) and waqf property khas (special) which were involved in the process of istibdal in each state, the factors that have caused the istibdal to be implemented, the rate of istibdal involved for each lot of waqf lands and the type of property replacement performed.

This study used the qualitative method, whereby the researchers had collected secondary data consisting of documents related to waqf from the State Islamic Religious Council (MAIN). The type of documents obtained were public records. The data collected were analysed using the content analysis techniques.

The results showed that there are several factors involved in the implementation of istibdal, namely, the acquisition of waqf land by the State Authority, applications by external parties for a particular interest and the initiatives taken by the MAIN on waqf property which is problematic and uneconomical to generate waqf fund. This study also found some Shariah and management issues, which were identified in the implementations of istibdal, whereas some cases of istibdal were only carried out on a small part of the waqf lands and there were also cases of the implementation of istibdal which have not been replaced with fixed assets as authorised by the istibdal parameter. This study suggests some improvements to the issues identified in the implementation of istibdal for waqf managers in Malaysia.

The limitation of this study is that it analyses only the documents that record the implementation of istibdal in the states managed by MAIN. Thus, the analysis performed was limited to the documents obtained without involving empirical data.

This study suggests some improvements to the implementation of istibdal waqf in the states studied. Therefore, these recommendations can be used by waqf property managers to improve the process of implementing waqf property istibdal so that it can be used to its maximum potential.

If the recommendations in this study can be implemented, the Muslim community will benefit greatly from the waqf property because it is being developed through the method of istibdal. This impact can increase the confidence of the Muslim community towards MAIN in managing waqf property and encouraging the Muslim community to contribute to waqf property for the welfare of the ummah.

This study involved data on a larger waqf istibdal implementations that involved several states in Peninsular Malaysia, which to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the analysis involving such large research data have not been implemented before.

This study aims to explore the determinants of environmental knowledge sharing behaviour among accounting educators through the lens of an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

A total of 95 accounting educators responded to a questionnaire survey. The data comprising information on attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, possession of environmental knowledge and locus of control, as exogenous latent variables and intention to share and environmental knowledge sharing behaviour as endogenous latent variables, were analysed using the SmartPLS modelling technique. Besides the survey, interviews were conducted for triangulation purpose.

Except for subjective norm, all hypotheses are supported. The findings from the interviews reveal that environmental knowledge sharing activities have put educators in a peculiar position in terms of sharing environmental knowledge, as carrying out environmental activities has not been taken seriously and also seen as not the norm among the faculty members.

This study focuses on accounting educators from five Malaysian public universities and deepens the understanding of their behaviour in sharing their environmental knowledge.

This study provides findings that can be useful for higher education institutions to strategize themselves in delivering environmental sustainability awareness in campus, which may enhance their efforts towards achieving sustainable development.

This study provides findings that there is a need to inculcate environmental knowledge sharing among educators. Such knowledge sharing may generate good environmental norms, which may result in better environmental awareness.

This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the main determinants of accounting educators’ environmental knowledge sharing behaviour and extending the TPB by considering two additional variables.