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This chapter argues that, though the field of library and information science has made some progress in advancing diversity and inclusion, race still needs to be acknowledged as a barrier and its collateral damage needs to be spoken in order to ensure equity in our practice, research, and/or service. Core to the argument is that race as a univariate measure, equated with phenotype, is problematic and simplistic. This chapter instead makes a case for race as multidimensional. Although race figures in how one is perceived, this lens diminishes the agency of people of color to define themselves through their own worldview, experiences, and actions.

The chapter is a collection of interwoven first-person essays that reveal what people see, perceive, and mask, with the intention to continue to push an authentic conversation on race in the field. Contributors include librarians, educators, and scholars, who represent distinct dimensions of the race spectrum, question such categorization, and do not necessarily neatly fit into a racial category. They explore how they view race in the library and information field, the extent to which they feel included or not, and how they have attempted and continue to shape the field through their practice, research, and/or service.

As individuals, each contributor speaks in their own voice, and as a collective, the authors move the race dialogue forward by speaking about dimensions of race from their own experiences, representing individual stories, and allowing their intersections to be revealed.

This chapter explores the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from an Islamic Shari'ah-compliant perspective. It provides a comprehensive literature review on CSR with an explicit focus on the Islamic perspective of CSR, Islamic models of CSR, CSR practices in conventional and Islamic banks, and the consequences of CSR to Islamic banks. This chapter's main contribution lies in considering the current CSR literature from a Shari'ah perspective. Likewise, it identifies gaps in the current literature and suggests potential areas for future research. This chapter attempts to improve the understanding of how Islamic banks integrate social responsibility into their operations. The insights from this chapter are helpful to practitioners and academic scholars in Islamic finance, accounting, and CSR. This chapter emphasizes the importance of incorporating Islamic values and principles into CSR practices and encourages further research and investigation in this area.

Ever since the publication of the original Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) study, momentum effect has been tested vigorously to validate its pervasiveness for different time periods and across different markets. In spite of numerous out-of-sample tests, there is one apparent alibi – little research has been devised for steady increasing of Shari’ah compliant stocks.

This study is to examine the momentum strategy returns in a global Shari’ah compliant stock setting.

It finds strong presence of stock momentum returns for Pakistan and Malaysia. And the momentum returns are neither driven by industry momentum nor by the small size stocks. Though no momentum profits are found for the portfolios formed by global Shari’ah compliant stocks, this seems to be largely due to return reversal for the small size Shari’ah compliant stocks.

The strong presence of momentum profits for relatively large Shari’ah compliant stocks is a desirable trait as it indicates that the momentum trading strategies are practical and implementable.

The Malaysian economy is expected to face another tumultuous year in 2019. It has been reported more than 21,000 people lost their jobs in 2018, half of whom were in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. This rising unemployment gravely affects a person’s source of income, particularly when he/she is the sole breadwinner of the family. It further leads to the inability to pay one’s monthly commitments such as home, personal and car financing. Notwithstanding the above situation, Sharīʿah encourages leniency on the part of the creditor, that is, when the debtor is in a difficulty, to grant him/her time until it is easy for him/her to pay. Nonetheless, in Malaysia, the inability to pay debt or non-performing loan/financing entitles the financial institutions (both conventional banks and Islamic financial institutions) to proceed with legal proceedings in civil court It is trite that Islamic financing in Malaysia is governed by Sharīʿah principles and legislations, which are conventional in nature; and contractual rights and duties involving Islamic finance are enforceable in the civil court of law. This chapter examines procedural laws governing the event of default of Islamic financing in Malaysia. The methodology adopted in this chapter is doctrinal legal analysis whereby the relevant laws, namely, Rules of Court 2012, Insolvency Act 1967, Limitation Act 1953, Evidence Act 1950, Court of Judicature Act 1964 and the National Land Code 1965 are analysed in addition to the relevant case law. The study reveals that while some of the provisions are sufficient to regulate the event of default of Islamic financing, the laws are largely inadequate. The chapter also finds a significant number of legal issues and challenges relating to event of default in Islamic financing, which require legal reform.

The global Islamic financial landscape is changing with rapid advances in technology. The increasingly tech-savvy demography is presenting both opportunities and challenges to the industry. With the advances in e-finance and mobile technologies, financial technology (Fintech) innovations emerged by combining the e-finance, Internet, social networking services, social media, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics. Fintech promises to reshape the Islamic financial landscape by improving processes’ efficiencies, cost-effectiveness, increased distribution, Sharīʿah compliance and financial inclusion. As far as the Islamic fund management industry is concerned, AI seems to be the keyword. Islamic fund managers have recently started to incorporate AI and big data analytics into their strategy in the process of making accurate decisions based on facts and figures, which eliminates any biases and personal intuition. This disruption in status quo is raising new issues, new concerns and new exciting opportunities. While disruption may carry negative connotations, the industry players have been embracing the innovation and potential revolution the technology could offer. Thus, the objective of this chapter is to discuss legal aspects of Fintech and its impact on the Islamic fund management industry in Malaysia. This chapter introduces a historical overview of Fintech and its evolution in the Islamic fund management industry. This chapter further provides an overview of the legal and regulatory aspects of Fintech with regards to the industry. Finally, legal issues and challenges are identified and discussed. Being a legal research, this chapter adopts a qualitative method by analysing the relevant literatures on the subject. This chapter is expected to provide an insight into the application of Fintech and its impact on the Islamic fund management industry in Malaysia.

This chapter assesses the effects of corporate governance (CG) variables on the level of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD), Shari'ah Supervisory Board Disclosure (SSBD), and Financial Disclosure (FD) for Islamic banks. This study, based on a sample of 95 Islamic banks, assessed this in 2013. The findings suggest that CG mechanisms, firm's age, auditor and shari'ah auditing department are effective in influencing SSBD, CSRD, and FD practices in Islamic banks. This chapter encourages regulators to improve CG mechanisms in their Islamic banking systems through the optimization of ownership structure (dispersed ownership) and the board's characteristics in order to promote transparency and disclosure. Moreover, the findings support theoretical arguments that firms disclose CG information in order to mitigate information asymmetry and agency costs and to improve investor confidence in the reported financial statements. The empirical evidence of this study enhances the understanding of the CG disclosure environment in Islamic banks as a promoting new financial system.

The study aims at reviewing a synthesis of disclosure, transparency, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Prior research overwhelmingly supports that the IFRS adoption or effective implementation of IFRS will enhance high-quality financial reporting, transparency, enhance the country’s investment environment, and foreign direct investment (FDI) (Dayanandan, Donker, Ivanof, & Karahan, 2016; Gláserová, 2013; Muniandy & Ali, 2012). However, some researchers provide conflicting evidence that developing countries implementing IFRS are probably not going to encounter higher FDI inflows (Gheorghe, 2009; Lasmin, 2012). It has also been argued that the IFRS adoption decreases the management earnings in countries with high levels of financial disclosure. In general, the study indicates that the adoption of IFRS has improved the financial reporting quality. The common law countries have strong rules to protect investors, strict legal enforcement, and high levels of transparency of financial information. From the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 105 articles, and in particular, the topic-related 94 articles were analysed. All 94 articles were retrieved from a range of 59 journals. Most of the articles (77 of 94) were published 2010–2018. The top five journals based on the citations are Journal of Accounting Research (187 citations), Abacus (125 citations), European Accounting Review (107 citations), Journal of Accounting and Economics (78 citations), and Accounting and Business Research (66 citations). The most-cited authors are Daske, Hail, Leuz, and Verdi (2013); Daske and Gebhardt (2006); and Brüggemann, Hitz, and Sellhorn (2013). Surprisingly, 65 of 94 articles did not utilise the theory. In particular, four theories have been used frequently: agency theory (15), economic theory (5), signalling theory (2), and accounting theory (2). The study calls for future research on the theoretical implications and policy-related research on disclosure and transparency which may inform the local and international standard setters.

The objective of this study aims at reviewing a synthesis of the economic impact of the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in an attempt to provide directions for future research. There are significant evidences of adopting a high-quality set of harmonised accounting standards (i.e. IFRS) fosters trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), financial transparency, and comparability and reduces information asymmetries. From the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 108 articles, and in particular, the topic-related 41 articles were analysed. Seven journals contribute to 39% of the articles (The Accounting Review; European Accounting Review; International Journal of Accounting; Journal of Accounting Research; Revista Espanola de Financiacion y Contabilidad; Asian Review of Accounting; and International Journal of Economics and Management). However, most of the cited journals were Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, European Accounting Review, and International Journal of Accounting (Armstrong, Barth, Jagolinzer, & Riedl, 2010; Brüggemann, Hitz, & Sellhorn, 2013; Christensen, Lee, & Walker, 2007; Daske, Hail, Leuz, & Verdi, 2008, 2013). Most of the studies did not use any theory, and most of the articles utilised quantitative approach. The study calls for future research on the theoretical impactions on the economic impact of IFRS implementation in a country-specific study, cross-country study, and global study. Future studies should also focus on the policymaking agenda for the local and international standard setters.

This study analyses the threshold for debt of corporations under the debt-bias corporate tax system. We adopt a contingent claim model of the corporation to reflect the incentive effect of the debt-bias corporate tax system. This framework is based on aspiration level theory and the required probability for the successful completion of a project that is identical to decision weight probability in prospect theory. The proposed framework incorporates the debt-bias tax regulations prevailing in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. When the OECD countries’ financial and non-financial corporation data were applied into framework, we observe that the government achieve equilibrium by employing contradictory corporate tax regulations. Moreover, we observe that corporations are intrinsically equity-loving, although the debt-bias corporate tax system stimulates corporations toward debt. This situation makes the government corporate revenue sensitive by placing it at the disposal of corporations’ financing choice instead of corporate profitability. The corporations’ threshold for debt assists in distinguishing between debt and equity-loving corporations. Moreover, corporations’ threshold for debt assists policy makers in deciding the appropriate combination of such reform policies as the Allowance on Corporate Equity and Comprehensive Business Income Tax. A transition from debt-oriented capital structure to equity-oriented capital structure may play an important role in promoting Islamic finance.

This chapter discusses the extension of legal equality between male and female citizens in four states in North Africa – Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria – through one specific lens: A married woman's legal capacity to initiate and obtain divorce without the husband's consent. Building on the works of Stein Rokkan and Reinhard Bendix on the expansion of citizenship to the ‘lower classes’, it is argued that amendments in divorce law by introducing in-court divorce for women, in addition to out-of-court divorce, is a significant institutional change that extends legal equality between men and women. The introduction of in-court divorce expands female citizenship by bolstering woman's juridical autonomy and capacity in state law. Changes in divorce laws are thus part of state centralization by means of standardizing rules that regulate family law through public administrative institutions rather than religious organizations. Two questions are addressed: First, how did amendments in divorce laws occur after independence? Second, in which ways did women's bolstered legal capacity in divorce have a spill over effect on reforms in other patriarchal state laws? Based on observations on sequences of change in four states in North Africa, it is argued that amendments that equalize between men and women in divorce should be seen as a key driver for reforms in other state laws, that reduce legal inequality between male and female citizens. In all four states, women's citizenship was extended in nationality law and criminal law after amendments in divorce law gave women unilateral legal power to exit a marital relationship.