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The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of companies’ Shariah compliance (SC) debt financing decisions, financing with retained earnings (REs), cash holdings, capital expenditures and dividend pay-out policies.

The sample consisted of 1,648 firm-year observations of GCC non-financial firms from various industries. The authors scrutinised the firms over a period of eight financial years from 2012 to 2019. To analyse the research hypotheses, the authors used a panel data model using ordinary least squares and generalised method of moments, depending on historical data.

The results of this study show a negative effect of SC on debt financing decision and dividend pay-out policies but a positive effect on financing decision with REs, cash holdings and the decision on capital expenditures.

This study's findings provide a better understanding of the role of restrictions of financing options in SC companies on financing decisions in the GCC. Whether religious or simply interested in investing in SC companies, investors can benefit from knowing that these companies make financial decisions that may affect their short- and long-term profits for policymakers and regulators. This study may be valuable in evaluating the effect of restrictions imposed by Islamic Shariah on how firms make different financial decisions. Policymakers should encourage the issuance of Islamic financial products and prepare two financial indicators to classify SC firms.

The main contribution of this study is to obtain empirical evidence on the effect of SC on a set of financial decisions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to focus on non-financial companies committed to Shariah. They do not depend on interest-bearing loans for their financing but are limited to financing by shares, financing with REs and financing using various Islamic financing formulas.

This study investigates the influence of corporate income tax on two corporate financial decisions — dividend and capital structure policies, particularly for Shariah compliant companies in Malaysia.

The study considered data from a sample of 529 Malaysian listed companies from four industrial sectors from 2007–2021 (6,746 company-year observations, before eliminating outliers). Panel models such as Fixed Effect and Random effect models were used. The study specifically tested the effect of corporate income tax on dividend and capital structure policies for Shariah compliant companies (3,148 observations) and controlled for industrial sectors.

(1) Firms are mostly Shariah-compliant, less liquid, less profitable and smaller in size, (2) Broadly when analysed together, tax has no impact on debt-equity ratio while it has an impact on dividend per share, (3) However, when tested separately for Shariah compliant companies, the influence of effective tax on capital structure is very evident but not for dividend and (4) influence of industrial sector on the relationship between corporate tax and capital structure and dividend policy is significant. Results indicate that Shariah firms might be raising debt to gain tax advantage. Companies in general pay dividends to avoid reputational damage.

This study assumes that leverage and dividend policy decisions are the main outcomes of the changing tax policies, while it seems that there could be other important outcomes that can be tested in future research. The study also shows the changing tax regimes of different ASEAN countries but they have not been tested to see the differences between countries. It will be indeed interesting for future researchers to focus on this aspect.

The findings contribute to the literature on tax planning of the Shariah-compliant firms, a high growth business segment in the Asian context. The study discussed potential tax-based Islamic market product development.

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 study aims to explore the potential of Islamic climate finance in Indonesia and to map Islamic climate finance based on Islamic finance instruments, both commercial and social.

The analysis was conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia, between October 2022 and June 2023. This study adopted a qualitative interpretive approach in two phases. The first phase was desk-based research which focused on document analysis such as official documents, scientific publications, non-governmental organization publications and company reports in Indonesia. This analysis was conducted to identify significant milestones in developing green and eco-friendly finance that used Islamic financial instruments in Indonesia. The second phase consisted of interviews with essential Islamic climate finance project actors, such as green sukuk publishers, zakat and waqf collection agencies, stakeholders, capital market regulators, Shariah supervisory boards and Islamic finance experts.

The main finding of this study is that the development of Islamic green finance in Indonesia can occur through various channels, including greening Islamic capital markets, greening Islamic social finance, Islamic green finance and developing green banking services for the unbanked to support financial inclusion. Green sukuk, or Islamic bonds, are key financial instruments in Islamic green finance. They are used to fund projects in areas such as clean energy, mass transit, water conservation, forestry and low-carbon technology. These green financing initiatives also include socially responsible investments that are designed to improve the lives of people and communities.

First, the availability of data on Islamic green finance practices in Indonesia may be limited, making it difficult to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape. Second, cultural and religious factors may play a role in the adoption and implementation of Islamic green finance, and these factors may vary across different regions in Indonesia.

The exploration and clustering of Islamic climate finance based on Islamic financial instruments in Indonesia can lead to the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices in the financial industry.

This study serves as a pioneering effort to explore the potential and clustering of Islamic climate finance based on Islamic financial instruments in Indonesia.

This study aims to examine the joint effect of accounting background and cross-membership of Islamic Supervisory Board (ISB) members on bank investment efficiency.

This study uses data collected from 36 Islamic banks across 15 countries globally, spanning the period from 2012 to 2021. This research uses an ordinary least squares regression and a comprehensive set of endogeneity and robustness tests.

The findings show a negative relationship between the accounting background of ISB members and investment efficiency. However, when ISB members with accounting backgrounds also have ISB cross-memberships, the banks exhibit high investment efficiency. These results suggest that ISB cross-membership plays a crucial role in facilitating Islamic banks’ access to timely information on investment opportunities. This enables ISB members with accounting expertise to thoroughly assess the benefits and risks associated with their investment prospects. These findings imply that ISB members with accounting backgrounds and cross-memberships have greater motivation and thoughtful considerations for making better investment decisions. Consequently, Islamic banks are better positioned to undertake high profitable investment projects, which enhance their investment efficiency.

The current study holds immense value for Islamic bank management in their selection of ISB members who possess an accounting background and cross-membership.

This study delves into a comprehensive investigation of the proficiency, underlying principles and unique characteristics exhibited by ISB members with an accounting background. Moreover, this study acknowledges the burgeoning global prominence of Islamic banks.

This study examines the intersection of emerging Islamic economies and the digital economy in the context of the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs). This study aims to investigate the opportunities, challenges and barriers faced by emerging Islamic economies in the context of the digital economy. It specifically focuses on how these economies can contribute to the achievement of UN SDGs established in 2015. In addition, the study explores the prospects of Islamic digital finance and its potential to facilitate the adoption of the UN SDGs.

The following components outline the design, methods and approach of this study, identify and select specific UN SDGs that are relevant to the research aims. These selected goals serve as the basis for evaluating the impact of conventional and Islamic digital financial inclusion, gathered data from credible sources such as Bloomberg and Refinitiv Thomson Reuters to support the analysis. These sources provide comprehensive data on global indicators, progress and targets related to the UN SDGs, compare and evaluate the impact of both conventional and Islamic digital financial inclusion strategies on the selected UN SDGs; the study uses qualitative interpretation of the gathered data, which involves identifying patterns, themes and connections within the data to draw meaningful conclusions.

Results revealed that Islamic digital finance has the potential to contribute significantly to achieving the UN SDGs by promoting financial inclusion, encouraging ethical investments, supporting small and medium enterprises, promoting sustainable investments and leveraging technology to expand access to Islamic financial services and support sustainable investments.

While there are many potential benefits of Islamic digital finance in helping to achieve the UN SDGs, there are also several limitations that should be considered in research, such as limited access to digital infrastructure, regulatory challenges, product offerings, scale, awareness and adoption. Addressing these limitations will be critical to maximizing the potential of Islamic digital finance to contribute to achieving the UN SDGs.

This study points to an important gap in the literature; for practitioners, this study has significant managerial consequences for achieving the UN SDGs in emerging economies by facilitating social impact investments and promoting ethical and sustainable investments.

This study’s uniqueness lies in its exploration of the limited exploration of connecting the implementation of digital financial systems to promote UN SDGs within emerging Islamic economies.

This study aims to explore the evolution of the Islamic capital market (ICM) from the perspective of research publications.

A bibliometric analysis was applied based on selected publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database from 2000 to 2021. The study adopted VOSviewer software which was developed by Leiden University.

This study has some implications that need urgent action. Firstly, there are some areas that have received little attention among researchers, although they are relevant to the industry, for instance, in fintech and blockchain in ICM. Secondly, the inconsistent frequency of publications in some niche areas may suggest that there are unprecedented events that hinder further research; probably, the researcher may anticipate more information and progress in the industry. Thirdly, the need to strengthen the collaboration between industry and academia to advance research.

This study considered only the WoSCC database. The provider of WoSCC is Clarivate (formerly known as Thomson Reuters), where access to publications is limited to institutional subscribers. The implications of this study are to identify and propose future research trends in the field of ICM.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is among the pioneer studies in analysing bibliometric focusing on ICM. Previous research has focused on Islamic finance and banking, and not specifically on ICM. Accordingly, this study sheds light on research gaps in ICM.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence the millennials’ intention to choose tawarruq home financing in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.

The primary data were gathered via the questionnaire survey administered among Islamic banking customers in Sandakan, Sabah. Data obtained were analysed via multiple regression analysis using the software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences.

This study found that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, religiosity and knowledge in muamalat had a positive significant relationship towards millennials’ intention to choose tawarruq home financing in Sandakan, Sabah.

This study used the sample size by inviting over 150 participants who filled the questionnaires and the area of coverage for the current study was limited to Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia. Besides, the contributions of this study were confined to those factors examined in the research’s conceptual framework.

The results obtained through this study can help muamalat practitioners in providing the best practice of tawarruq home financing in the locality at best. In addition, this study also helps to guide managers of Islamic banks to plan better offers of the facility among local folks.

This study integrated religiosity and knowledge in muamalat in explaining millennials’ acceptance of tawarruq home financing in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.

Green sukuk (GS) is an emerging financial tool that has gained momentum in recent years owing to increased attention being given to Islamic finance, socially responsible investing (SRI) and sustainability agendas. Yet, GS studies are fragmented, dispersed and lack comprehensive reviews. As a response to this gap in academia, this paper aims to synthesize the knowledge on GS into thematic clusters, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the subject and offering guidelines for future research.

This study implemented a systematic literature review approach to analyse studies on GS that were published prior to and including June 2023. The PRISMA 2020 protocol was used in the sample selection process. A total of 62 peer-reviewed journal articles from six databases were identified and categorized into various themes.

The results suggest that previous research has predominantly focused on the areas of GS advantages, drivers, market development and potential sectors, along with challenges and recommendations to improve the market. However, it was found that some other aspects, including GS pricing, performance and purchasing intention, require further research attention. The analysis also indicated that the use of theories in the GS context was limited, with only five theories employed in just four out of the 62 articles examined. Moreover, this paper’s findings revealed that the studies employing quantitative and empirical analysis methods were limited to four articles. Geographically, most of the studies were conducted in Indonesia and Malaysia, while other countries with high-potential markets (e.g. GCC) had limited GS practices and studies.

The results of this study have several practical implications. For investors, a review of GS will provide greater insight into the understanding of the GS market, helping them make better investment decisions. For policymakers, this paper empowers them with the knowledge to make informed decisions regarding GS markets by highlighting key recommendations identified in the literature. Finally, the proposed guidelines can be used in future research.

While Green Bonds have received significant attention, there is a dearth of research on GS and those that exist are fragmented. A systematic literature review is necessary to identify knowledge gaps for future research.

This study aims to investigate the connections between the adoption of technology, user experience (UX), financial transparency and accountability, specifically focusing on the moderating influence of cultural sensitivity in the Jordanian context.

This study gathered data from 272 participants who are working in the operational Islamic banks in Jordan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used for the hypotheses testing.

The results indicate that cultural sensitivity plays a significant role in shaping the UX, consequently influencing perceptions of financial transparency and accountability in e-Islamic finance within the metaverse. This study underscores the intricate interplay between technological advancements, adherence to Sharia principles and diverse cultural expectations, forming the crux of the research.

This research brings a novel perspective by examining the complex connections among technology adoption, UX, financial transparency and accountability, specifically within the distinctive context of Jordan. This research study innovates by checking out how social sensitivity moderates these partnerships, specifically in the context of e-Islamic finance in the metaverse. It adds value to the academic area by shedding light on the intricate interaction between technological development, adherence to Sharia concepts and differing cultural expectations. Ultimately, this adds to a much deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of this domain.