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Previous studies that dealt with corporate governance have witnessed gradually significant growth that created some new trends. The purpose of this paper is to be involved in such trends through examining the link between ownership structure as one of the important corporate governance mechanisms and firm performance in Jordan as one of emerging economies.

The current study used the multiple regression method to analyze available data for non-financial firms listed in the Amman Stock Exchange for the fiscal year 2012.

The findings revealed that managerial ownership has a positive impact on performance. On the other hand, the findings surprisingly showed no evidence to support the impact of foreign ownership on performance. Moreover, there is a significant evidence to support the fact that company size has no impact on firm performance. The findings also revealed that industry type has no impact on firm performance.

The practical implications of the current study demonstrated that good corporate governance is imperative to all organizations and must be encouraged for the interest of all stakeholders. Unlike the majority of the previous studies, the current study unexpectedly found that foreign ownership is not significantly contributing to the firm performance. Thus, Jordanian Government and other related/responsible parties should formulate policies for the foreign investors.

Interestingly, from developed and developing countries perspective, the study is the first of its kind that exclusively chose the mechanisms of ownership structure in its relationship with firm performance represented by market share, where no previous study has tested foreign ownership in such relationship. In that, this study is the first study in emerging economies to investigate such a link. Such new insights on this relationship by current study provide helpful information that is of great value to the government, academics, policy makers, and other stakeholders.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of the determinants (pricing, type of structure, Shariah auditing, Shariah risk and Shariah documentation) and the sukuk legitimacy among Islamic financial institutions using a qualitative approach. The paper further explained the significance of the determinants on legitimacy, evaluated the relationship between sukuk characteristics and sukuk legitimacy and examined the moderating effect of Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) on the relationship.

The study used a purposive sampling technique to select the target respondents required for the survey (semi-structured interview). This technique is applied by selecting members of SSBs among Islamic financial institutions. A total number of ten members are selected as the sample size for the study based on their experience and basic knowledge of Fiqh Al-Mua’malat and its application in Islamic financial institutions.

The findings revealed that the determinants have a significant impact on the sukuk legitimacy, meaning that there is a positive and significant relationship between the determinants and the sukuk legitimacy. In addition, this study indicates the empirical evidence of the moderating effect of SSB on the relationship between the determinants and the sukuk legitimacy.

This study has added to the literature by examining the determinants of sukuk legitimacy while evaluating the moderating effect of SSB on the relationship. Besides, this might add benefits to the numerous Islamic financial institutions relating to the amendment of its regulatory frameworks with the view to pushing the sukuk market investors to move toward asset-backed structure. In addition, the SSB in central banks must also focus its attention regarding the sukuk legitimacy and its application among the various Islamic financial institutions.

This study has added a new discussion to the body of knowledge, i.e. examining the sukuk legitimacy and its relationship with sukuk determinants; hence, an approach that is not widely discussed in the previous studies. Furthermore, conducting such research in the field of Islamic finance provides novelty in the literature among both emerging and developed economies including Malaysia. This is because to the best knowledge of the researchers, there was no empirical study (within the literature) that combined these variables and evaluated their empirical significance. Accordingly, this would enlighten the Islamic Ummah and propel the society’s intensity toward contributing to knowledge and might further provide clarification on the determinants and the sukuk legitimacy to prospective scholars, precisely on the moderating effect of SSB on the relationship between determinants and legitimacy of sukuk.

The purpose of this paper is to find applicable Islamic pricing benchmarks (IPBs) instead of the market interest rates which are currently used in Islamic finance as benchmark.

The suggested model (Islamic pricing benchmark model (IPBM)) obviously reveals the feasibility and practical effectiveness of a substitute to London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and as an evaluator tool to suggested investment projects. The model is a suggested mechanism which could be used as an alternative choice to the conventional borrowing based on the forbidden Riba or on interest. The suggested IPBM depends on estimating the rate of return for any project on consideration of the cash flows in future which is expected to be relative to the invested capital.

The IPBM approach might be applied to financial tools, where the fund owner bears the loss since it is not because of negligence. An instrument to help identify the investment for target rates of return (as an alternative choice to LIBOR) to identify a breakeven point based on expected cash flows for the project to be financed instead of based on seeking the indicators of interest or Riba (as LIBOR). This feature of the IPBM model as an Islamic benchmark renders it as a Shariah pricing mechanism for the Islamic financial products.

The IPBM could be used as a financial instrument to assist in identifying the investment for the target return rates to determine a breakeven point based on expected cash flows for the project to be funded instead of being based on seeking the interest indicators or Riba (as LIBOR). This feature as an Islamic benchmark is considered as a Shariah pricing mechanism for the Islamic financial products. In particular, the proposed model incorporates the Shariah parameters. In that, it is hoped that the Islamic financial instruments will be more comprehensive in their Shariah compliance and thereby may bring more credibility to the Islamic financial system in general.

This paper highlights several important issues related to the IPBMs in Islamic financial institutions which are not widely discussed among researchers. This study contributes to finding an alternative IPB for the Islamic financial products which is currently using the conventional interest rate (LIBOR) as its benchmark. The current study provides empirical evidence for the possibility of relying on the IPBM as an Islamic benchmark to price Islamic financial transactions.