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Business to consumer (B‐2‐C) e‐commerce offers many potential benefits to firms, including access to geographically dispersed markets across international borders and enabling direct supply chain relationships with consumers. Language and currency differences, consumer liability implications and customs and inspection fees represent barriers to the expansion of international e‐commerce. Comparisons are presented of customs fees for regular and e‐commerce sized shipments of four food products from Canada to the USA. As these fees are largely charged on a flat rate basis, they place e‐commerce shipments at a considerable competitive disadvantage relative to traditional truckload sized shipments. The lack of agreement internationally on how to revise or harmonise customs regulations means that customs fees remain geared towards large shipments. Although the existing system was acceptable when most shipments crossing borders were large truck or container loads, the development of e‐commerce provides a strong incentive for change.

This study aims to examine whether the soundness of Islamic banks is differently affected by corruption compared to conventional counterparts. Moreover, the Shari’ah supervisory board (SSB), as a cornerstone of Islamic banking and representing a multi-layer corporate governance model, is expected to moderate the influence of corruption on soundness for Islamic banks.

This study considers a unique sample of 1,528 observations on 71 Islamic banks and 120 conventional banks operating in 11 emerging and developing Muslim countries over the 2010–2017 period. This study uses generalized least squares regression model and the coefficients are estimated by using random-effects estimator. In addition, to overcome a potential endogeneity concern for corruption and bank stability relationship, this study uses Two-Stage Least Squares regression instrumental variable estimator.

The authors find consistent evidence that higher levels of corruption adversely impact the soundness for conventional banks, in favor of the sand the wheel hypothesis in the corruption–development nexus. However, as expected, this study finds a less negative impact of corruption on soundness of Islamic banks. Moreover, SSB moderates the relationship between corruption and soundness of Islamic banks. The findings are robust to a battery of alternative checks.

Findings of the paper regarding the detrimental impact of corruption on bank soundness justify the urgency of the anti-corruption campaigns in these countries, particularly for conventional banks. Moreover, the findings provide support for the positive contribution of SSBs to overcome the adverse effect of corruption on soundness of Islamic banks and thereby underscoring the need for enforcement and regulatory mechanism for SSBs to be more effective.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the moderating impact of Shari’ah supervision on the relationship between corruption and soundness of Islamic banks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Board of Directors’ characteristics and their impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

Regression analysis is applied to test the impact of the Board of Directors’ characteristics on the financial soundness of Islamic banks, using a panel data set of 67 Islamic banks covering 20 countries from 2005 to 2018. The Z-score indicator is used to evaluate the Islamic banks’ soundness. To check the robustness of the results, this paper uses other dependent variables (CAMEL) than the Z-score.

The main results show that the presence of an independent non-executive director negatively impacts the financial soundness of Islamic banks, while the chief executive officer duality practice has a positive effect on it. Other characteristics of the Board of Directors do not significantly impact the financial soundness of Islamic banks (foreign director, institutional director, chairman with a Shari’ah degree, interlocked chairman and the Board of Directors’ size).

This study aims to fill the gaps in the literature that discuss the Board of Directors’ role in corporate governance and its impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks. In other words, it shows the role played by the Board of Directors and improves the knowledge of the corporate governance-financial soundness relationship. Plus, managers, investors and regulators may gain evocative insights, particularly those looking to improve their Islamic banks’ soundness by restructuring their boards’ composition.

This study sheds new light on the literature on Islamic banking by clarifying the relationship between the Board of Directors and the financial soundness of Islamic banks. Contrary to previous research, this paper uses an additional hypothesis stating that a chairman with a Shari’ah degree (Fiqh Muamalt) has a positive impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

This paper aims to investigate a fundamental research question of whether the Islamic banking business model makes corporate earnings more uncertain. This question arises because prior research shows that Islamic banks do well in loan performance but incur more operational costs than conventional banks, indicating the systemic limitation of Islamic banks in business risk management.

The study used a sample of banks to conduct the panel regression analysis with 15 years of data for 532 banks (129 Islamic and 403 conventional) from 23 Muslim countries across the world. The authors estimate earnings uncertainty in two ways: the spread and standard deviation of the country-adjusted return over the sample period and applied the difference-in-difference approach interacting cost to income ratio with the Islamic bank dummy, checking if Islamic bank’s high operational costs contribute to more earning uncertainty.

Islamic banks’ returns on assets are significantly more uncertain than conventional banks due to higher operational costs. Consistent with earlier evidence, the study also finds that Islamic banks generally have fewer nonperforming loans than conventional banks. The authors conclude that Islamic banks trade-off between reducing credit risk and escalating business risk.

This study documents that the Islamic banking model helps build a safer asset portfolio but gives rise to the uncertainty of corporate earnings. Therefore, the choice between Islamic and conventional banking models involves a trade-off between credit and business risks. It is a new finding that we add to the literature body on Islamic finance.

This chapter explores the determinants of satisfaction of the Islamic microcredit borrowers in Bangladesh. A total of 245, mostly educated and young, borrowers of rural development scheme, the largest Islamic microcredit institution (MCI) in the world, were included in a survey using a structured questionnaire. Factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify influential determinants of satisfaction of microcredit borrowers. Borrowers have identified the activities and interaction in the “center,” which includes weekly/monthly meetings, investment-related training, and group performance review, as the most vital factor influencing their overall satisfaction. Competence of the microcredit staffs and officials is the second important determinant. Trust plays the next important role in overall satisfaction of the borrowers with the Islamic microcredit institutions. Convenience, of applying for loan, getting an approval, and paying instalments, is the other influential determinant of the borrower’s satisfaction. The findings imply that given the competition and social need of the Islamic microcredit institutions globally, policymakers must ensure greater investment in human capital, in creating awareness about products and services of the Islamic microcredits, and in initiating a prudent change in the regulation so that Islamic microcredit can become a tool for sustainable socioeconomic development. Use of a proper marketing strategy can also help the MCIs to support the financial inclusion policy of the government. Satisfaction of the borrowers of the Islamic microcredit institutions is yet to arrive in Islamic marketing literature. The proposed borrower-centric model can help reduce poverty and the internal loan-shark problem through adequate engagement of relevant stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to develop, measure and empirically validate a scale that captures the full dimensionality of selection attributes considered by customers when choosing a bank.

Focus group interviews were conducted and a well-structured questionnaire was designed. The validity of this scale was tested in accordance with the psychometric scale development procedure.

Contrary to some assertions in past literature, the results suggested service delivery and cost/price as among the most important determinants of the bank selection decisions of consumers.

The practical implications drawn from this study involve the seven constructs which could be adopted by the bank managers, advertising executives and marketing experts in providing good quality services resulting in overall higher levels of customer satisfaction. These decision makers can apply the constructs from the study to identify factors most appealing to both potential and existing customers and build up effective marketing strategies to attract new customers and retain existing ones.

This research paper signifies the leading studies for advancing a validated tool to measure the customers’ selection decisions for banks. As a result, this valid and reliable scale would bring standardization to research conducted in the field of bank selection attributes.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of board effectiveness (BE) on financial performance and operational risk (OR) disclosure and the interaction effect of a bank’s Sharia Supervisory Board quality (SSB) with religious and ethical principles.

The data were collected from the annual financial reports of 25 Islamic banks (IBs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries over 2008-2017. The OR disclosure, the SSB quality and BE were measured using self-developed indices. The Tawhidi string relation methodology was used to establish the circular causal model. The moderating effect of the SSB quality on the performance, OR disclosure and board structure relationship was examined using the hierarchical regression analysis.

The main finding of this study is related to the positive moderating effect of SSB quality on the relationship between performance, OR disclosure and BE. This result seems to indicate that at a high level of SSB quality, even when the performance increase the IBs engage in complying with OR disclosure to inform the stakeholders on the real situation of the bank.

The finding of this research would be of great support to stakeholders and policymakers to make more pressure on IBs to improve the quality of their SSB structure and show more compliance with the governance recommendations. As an extension to this research, further study can examine other Islamic governance mechanisms such as Sharīʿah-compliant banks.

The present study provides a new addition to the prior literature by investigating the relationship between performance, BE, OR disclosure and the interaction effect of SSB quality. From an Islamic ethical, this research can also contribute to the growing discussion on SSB quality and performance.

This study aims to map the digital risks for the Islamic finance industry. Since 2010, the financial space has largely shifted from being banking-centric to the entrepreneurship spectrum, benefiting from groundbreaking innovations in computer technology. The problem of Islamic Finance is that it is still within its banking-centric moment that is risk averse leading to financial exclusion. As with all innovations, there are associated risks that require careful consideration to ensure the reaping of the benefits of these technologies while controlling the risks at its lowest. In this context, the aim of this study is to highlight the risks associated with financial technologies (FinTech) to prepare the Islamic finance sector to serve the economic ideals of Maqāṣid al-Shariah in financial inclusion and profit and loss sharing. The main research question is as follows: What do Islamic Finance industry need to do to manage the digital risks for financial inclusion?

This study uses narrative review method in analysing the discourse of financial technology literature using qualitative data collected from the literature on the topic. It aimed to problematise associated digital risks from the Shariah compliance and Maqā¸ṣid al-Shariah critical viewpoints. Considering the nature of this conceptual study, it adopts a qualitative methodology by using discourse and thematic analysis of the literature that can lay the foundation for future empirical testing on the topic.

The study found that managing risks faced by the Islamic financial sector while adapting to the digital era can be divided into two main clusters: risk mitigation for Shariah-compliant FinTech and risk avoidance for Shariah non-compliant innovations. The high level of gharar associated with current practices in both cryptocurrencies and smart contracts needs additional regulation and simulation before they can be reconsidered for market-wide application. Cloud computing, crowdfunding and big data have promising applications that can address the limitations of the Islamic finance industry, particularly in terms of reducing transactional costs.

This conceptual article offers some insights into the subject; nevertheless, it does not attempt to establish causation or generalise the results. Additional statistical testing is required prior to generalising the results.

Due to the difficulties experienced since its inception, the Islamic financial industry is in urgent need of the cutting-edge solutions required to gain a competitive edge in the market and get over the limits that came with its late entry into the financial sector. Mapping digital risks is imperative for the development of comprehensive prudential risk management strategies for the Islamic finance industry that can fix its problems and enable it to deliver the more favourable Shariah-based solutions, rather than remaining in the lower bands of Shariah compliance.

Findings of the study lay the foundation for empirical testing the volatility of FinTech innovations for the Islamic finance industry to reduce uncertainties and generate reliable forecasts. Scholarship on managing digital risks for Islamic financial institutions is still developing due to the covid global lockdown and the looming recession, and this study will help enhance theorisation necessary that can aspire economic recovery after current challenges.

This research is positioned at the intersection of youth subculture consumption and religious affiliation, through the study of observant Muslim women involved in the highly engaging and codified activity of cosplay. Given authenticity is central to the cosplay visual impact and performance, this study aims to understand the way hijab cosplayers negotiate tensions between authentic body performativity and the observance of religious dressing codes.

A qualitative interpretive approach was used to address the research questions. In-depth semi-structured online interviews were conducted with 25 members of a hijab cosplayers from South East Asia.

The concept of authenticity emerged as multifaceted for hijab cosplayers, where they manage three different aspect of the authentic cosplay performance as follows: authenticity as a cosplayer (social dimension of authenticity), authenticity to the character (personal dimension of authenticity) and authenticity to their religious identity (religious dimension of authenticity). The subsequent malleable authenticity is used to legitimate cosplay as an acceptable performative practice from a religious and from subcultural view.

The research highlights how tensions between identity and performativity of the body are negotiated. More specifically, the study contributes to the understanding of the way hijab cosplayers reconcile tensions between religious identity and the performativity of the body. Given the role of the body as a site for negotiating identity, this study provides important insights in the tensions and strategies at the intersection of authenticity, embodiment and religious identity in youth cultures.

The purpose of this paper is to review the evolution of the global financial crisis, draw lessons from it, and analyse its effect(s) on the Islamic financial industry (IFI).

Based on an extensive literature review, this paper aims to highlight, explain, and discuss the implications of the global financial crisis for IFI and suggest necessary steps for the future development of the industry.

The findings show that although the crisis had limited impact on IFI the major flaws of the capitalist financial system are relevant to the development of IFI. Without learning and applying the lessons from the crisis, IFI runs a risk of committing the same mistakes. Finally, greater attention should be given to the fundamental principles of Islamic finance in order to ensure the future development of industry.

The effects of the global financial crisis are still being felt all over the world, and its implications on IFI have yet to be fully understood. Owing to unavailability of relevant data, an empirical study is needed to show the real effects of the crisis on IFI.

The lessons drawn in this paper will raise awareness among both academicians and practitioners about the inherent weaknesses of current financial practices. Furthermore, the paper highlights the major areas that need to be improved for the future development and success of IFI.