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The study applies Erving Goffman's (1974) “frame analysis” principles to examine how Sharia governance is practiced in Islamic banks and explores the interaction and strategies adopted by bank managers to influence the decisions of Sharia scholars. The study also aims to identify inherent flaws in the Sharia compliance review system.

The study employs the principles of Goffman as a lens to critically analyse a rich dataset obtained through interviews undertaken with 46 key players operating in the governance framework of the Malaysian Islamic banking industry due to its progressive Islamic governance framework.

The study demonstrates that managers of Islamic banks may engage in “passing” and “covering” strategies while interacting within the governance structure. Concurrently, Sharia boards (SBs) implement “protective practices” during their interactions, adding complexity to their responsibilities within the banks. Consequently, SBs cannot merely be viewed as instruments for legitimising banking operations. This raises questions about the “impression management,” “concealment” and “competence” strategies employed by managers and SB members, as suggested by Goffman's framework. These findings indicate that there is room for further enhancement in the governance practices of Islamic banks.

Future research could explore aspects related to the governance of Islamic banks, such as investigating the independence and effectiveness of internal Sharia officers. Examining the strategies employed during their interactions with external Sharia boards and other stakeholders could provide further valuable insights.

By highlighting shortcomings in the governance and compliance review process, the findings could serve as a valuable resource for policymakers. The insights derived could inform the development of regulations aimed at reducing opportunistic behaviour and promoting accountability in the Islamic banking sector.

This study uniquely employs Goffman's concepts of “frontstage” and “backstage” strategies to offer insights into the interactions between Islamic bank managers and SBs and the impact of these interactions on Sharia compliance. The study contributes to the understanding of the dynamics between key players in the governance of Islamic banks and the factors influencing their adherence to Sharia principles.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between political connections, financing decisions and cash holding.

Based on historical data from 181 active non-financial firms listed on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Stock Exchange Markets during the period of 2009–2016, this study uses ordinary least squares and dynamic system-generalized method of moments to test the research hypotheses. The final data set comprises a total of 1,448 firm-year observations from ten major non-financial industry classifications.

This study finds a positive relationship between political connections and each of internal financing proxied by retained earnings ratio and external financing proxied by short- and long-term debt to total asset. The findings also show a positive relationship between political connections and cash holding.

The findings of the study provide a better understanding of the role of politically connected directors in financing decisions and cash holding in the GCC. Investors can consider the presence of royal family members in the board of directors when making investment decision. Policymakers are encouraged to develop more effective policies that encourage listed firms to provide information on the political positions of the board of directors, managers and major shareholders/owners of companies.

This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the relationship between political connections and financing decisions by focusing on the GCC region. This study also highlights that boards in connected firms in the GCC have lower monitoring role owing to political interventions, and that connected firms face higher agency problems as they have weak governance and boards compared with non-connected firms.

This study aims to identify the significant scientific actors, reveal the intellectual structure and explore essential features for future research direction in Sharia governance studies.

The study applies a hybrid review combining bibliometric analysis and content analysis. It uses Rstudio (biblioshiny), VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel to analyze 457 articles published in 206 journals indexed by Scopus and/or Web of Science during the period of 1985 until the end of 2022.

The paper discovered four distinct streams of Sharia governance studies: structure of Sharia governance, Sharia governance and risk management, Sharia governance and sustainability and the effect of Sharia governance toward firm’s financial performance. Furthermore, it derives and summarizes 26 main research questions for future studies.

In terms of theoretical implications, the finding contributes to the general literature on Sharia governance by conducting bibliometric analysis and content analysis. In terms of practical implications, this study suggests that Sharia governance should be strengthened by the management of Islamic banks and other Islamic-based businesses.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the early studies using a hybrid review on the topic of Sharia governance, allowing future researchers in this field to capture the trends and progress of current literature as well as the research gaps to be filled in by future researchers.

This paper aims to examine the extent of ethical values information disclosure on the top 100 Malaysian and Indonesian companies’ annual reports using coercive isomorphism under the institutional theory.

Using the content analysis, the presence or exclusion of ethical values information disclosed on 100 Malaysian and Indonesian companies’ annual reports using a newly developed Ethical Values Disclosure Index is carried out.

The results of the analysis found that Indonesian companies on average disclosed 31 items under study compared to 27 items disclosed by the companies in Malaysia. The results suggest that Indonesian companies are more vigilant in the code of ethics, companies policy on ethical issues, monitoring program and accountability, ethical performance, ethical infrastructure and organizational responsibility aspects, whereas their Malaysian counterparts are better in reporting governance and integrity committee or board of directors.

The findings may not be applicable to other countries in the same region, nevertheless, revealed the importance of adequate ethical values disclosure in determining the level of ethical behavior.

Companies in Indonesia are coercively pressed by various influential stakeholder groups to address ethical issues. The less disclosure regarding corporate ethical behavior may indicate that unethical practices continue to be a problem in the Malaysian corporate sector.

This paper adds to the literature by examining the elements of ethical values adapted mainly from the professional bodies that regulate the accounting profession and other organizations using the institutional theory, particularly in two countries.

This paper aims to examine the Islamic accounting research. In particular, the paper extensively investigates the literature on Islamic accounting to understand the issues, contexts, methods and theoretical paradigms thereof.

The study has adopted a literature review approach. It has examined the key journal publications for 30 years in accounting discipline and systematically identified the Islamic accounting papers during 1990–2020. In total, 95 papers were identified until June 2020, and they were thoroughly reviewed to identify the relevant issues, contexts, methods and theoretical paradigms.

The study has found that Islamic accounting papers covered issues of both Islamic organizations (e.g. Islamic financial institutions) and of Muslim countries. The key issues include the regulation and regulatory compliance, annual report disclosures, corporate and Islamic governance, accounting profession, gender, accountability matters, management accounting and control, waqf accounting and zakat management. The study has also observed various normative guidelines from the academics on how the teaching of Islam is enacted in accounting, accountability and governance matters to attain the maqasid al-shari'a, i.e. human welfare, social justice and equity.

The study is not empirical. Hence, the limitations of literature review papers are applicable in this case. Moreover, it is possible that this study could not identify some of the important literature on Islamic accounting (such as the papers published in Arabic by the academicians and professionals of Arab world).

The study enables both Islamic accounting academics and practitioners to identify the main Islamic accounting issues and realize the importance of Islamic accounting.

When the author considers Islamic accounting as a social construction and tries to understand the phenomenon through social theories, the author acknowledges the relevance of Islamic accounting in the society in which it operates. It can be noticed from the discussion that Islamic accounting emphasizes on social welfare, balance, equity and providing relevant information to follow the commandments of God.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to provide a synoptic view on the issues, context, methods and theoretical paradigms of Islamic accounting, while covering major accounting journals in 30 years.

This study aims to revisit the relationship between Shariah-compliant firms and earnings management. Specifically, the authors examine whether Shariah-certified firms have lower earnings management than non-Shariah-certified firms and how often a firm must hold its certification to observe considerably reduced earnings management. This study also explores how senior management ethnic dualism affects the association of Shariah certification and earnings management.

The authors analyze the hypothesized association between Shariah certification and earnings management using a panel regression model and several robustness tests, including the Heckman selection model. The sample consists of 547 nonfinancial firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange, with 5,478 firm-year observations over the 2001–2016 sample period.

Shariah certification is found to mitigate earnings management, particularly for firms that consistently retain their Shariah status. The longer firms retain their Shariah certification continually, the lower the earnings management. Additionally, the results indicate that the negative impact of Shariah certification on earnings management is driven by ethnic duality when a specific ethnic group dominates the top management.

Firms’ commitment to religious-based screening and continuation of certification plays a significant role in improving earnings quality. Firms are committed to abiding by the Shariah code of conduct instead of using the Shariah status for reputation purposes to attract investors.

For investors, the continuous compliance status is a crucial indicator of a firm’s commitment to comply with Shariah principles and to mitigate earnings management. Regarding policy implications, Shariah-compliance guidelines can constrain earnings manipulation, especially among firms lacking ethnic diversity.

The study shows that Shariah certification must be maintained consecutively to reduce earnings management. Shariah certification’s governance function is crucial in ethnically homogeneous firms, primarily when one ethnic group dominates the senior management.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between Shariah compliance and corporate capital structure decisions. This study explores the variation of capital structure speed of adjustment.

The authors’ sample includes a sample of the largest 200 nonfinancial firms trading in the Malaysian and Pakistan stock markets. This study uses ordinary least squares and dynamic two-step system generalized method of moments to test the hypotheses of the study.

The results show that Shariah-compliant firms use a lower level of leverage than the noncomplaint firms. Moreover, while both types of firms have optimal capital structures, the speed of adjustment toward the targets is slower for Shariah-complaint firms than non-Shariah-compliant firms. This variation can be seen through the different levels of market imperfection experienced by the two types of firms. Shariah-compliant firms follow Islamic rules that restrict the type and degree of leverage, thus affecting the availability of external funding to Shariah-compliant firms.

The findings call for more development and innovation of financing instruments that comply with Shariah rules that will increase of supply of external funds for Shariah-compliant firms and, thus, reduce market imperfections that are faced by Shariah-compliant firms.

The study contributes to the limited number of studies that examine the nexus between conventional corporate theories and Islamic corporate finance.

This paper aims to explore the intention to adopt the Metaverse in Islamic banks, with a particular focus on evaluating perceived usefulness, ease of use, user satisfaction and the influence of religiosity. Integrating the technology adoption model (TAM) and religiosity intention model, this study will dissect the multidimensional aspects influencing the acceptance of Metaverse technologies.

Surveying Islamic bank professionals in Jordan, this study used a structured questionnaire and data augmentation to analyze Metaverse adoption factors. Using partial least squares-structural equation modeling, the relationships between ease of use, usefulness, religiosity and satisfaction were explored.

The study identifies pivotal relationships among perceived usefulness, ease of use, user satisfaction and religiosity in the context of adopting metaverse technologies in Islamic banks in Jordan. Evidence highlights the dominant role of perceived usefulness and ease in influencing both intention to use and satisfaction levels. Religiosity, while not a direct influencer, plays a collaborative role, underscoring a balanced mix of technological and religious elements that will potentially shape the adoption trajectory of metaverse technologies within this specific banking sector.

Integrating metaverse technologies in Islamic banks necessitates balancing technological advances with Sharia compliance. The study underscores the importance of aligning user experience with religious values and fostering innovation within Islamic ethical guidelines.

This study uniquely integrates the TAM and religiosity-intention model to explore metaverse adoption in Islamic banks, unveiling a nuanced interplay between technology and religious values. It offers practical insights for tailoring innovations in the Islamic financial ecosystem.

The purpose of this study is to reveal empirical facts that literacy and marketing strategies effectively impact people using Sharia pawn products during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the pressure of capital needs and financial difficulties.

This study used an exploratory qualitative research approach through semi-structured interviews with six partners of different productive ages and social, economic and educational backgrounds. After data reduction, presentation, description and validation, this paper develops the theory and presents it as a qualitative thematic analysis.

The findings of this study revealed that those who had socialised Sharia pawnshops had a low literacy level. Nonetheless, the socialisation of Sharia pawnshops increases literacy and public understanding of pawnshop products in Sharia pawnshops. This issue arises because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes it impossible for Sharia pawnshops to hold an event or socialise.

The authenticity of this study proves that literacy and marketing strategies can increase public awareness of Sharia pawn products during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on conventional and Islamic stocks by using the data spanning from February 25, 2020, to February 3, 2021, and employing a panel regression approach.

In this study a panel regression approach has been used.

The study finds a negative association between COVID-19 and stock (both Islamic and conventional). After splitting the data into 1st and 2nd waves, the relationship between COVID-19 and stock (both Islamic and conventional) remains the same (negative) in the case of the 1st wave. In contrast, in the case of the 2nd wave, the relationship turned out to be positive. During both waves of the pandemic, the magnitude of the effect is found to be higher for conventional stocks. Additionally, the study also analyzes the aggregate influence of COVID-19 on different sectors and finds that commercial banks, oil and gas exploration and marketing companies are the most influenced sectors. At the same time, automobiles and pharma are the least affected sectors.

The study suggests that markets start gaining momentum to reach their prepandemic level after absorbing the initial shock (emergence of a pandemic). The study also provides thorough insights for market regulators and policymakers by implying the dynamic relations between markets (conventional and Islamic) and financial crisis, which would allow them more effective control of crisis in future endeavors.

This is one of the first studies to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on both conventional and Islamic stocks, especially in the context of Pakistan.