Search results

This study aims to investigate the extent of Shariah compliance in wakalah sukuk and Shariah non-compliant risk disclosure in the sukuk documents and to analyse the risk management techniques associated with the disclosed risks.

This study uses qualitative document analysis as both data collection and analysis methods. The document analysis acts as a data collection method for 23 wakalah sukuk documents selected from 32 issuances of wakalah sukuk from 2017 to 2021. These sukuk documents were selected based on their availability from relevant websites. Document analysis, both content analysis and thematic analysis, were used to analyse the data. Codes were grounded from that data through keywords search of Shariah noncompliant risk and its risk management. Besides these, interviews were also conducted with four active industry players, i.e. two legal advisors of wakalah sukuk, a wakalah sukuk trustee and a sukuk institutional issuer. These interview data were analysed based on categorical themes, on the aspects of the extent of Shariah compliance in sukuk, and the participant’s views on the risk management techniques associated with the risks or used in the sukuk documents.

Overall, the findings reveal three types of Shariah non-compliant risks disclosed in the sukuk documents and seven risk management techniques associated with them. However, the disclosure and the risk management techniques can be considered minimal in contrast to the extent of Shariah compliance in a sukuk, i.e. Shariah compliance at the pre-issuance stage, ongoing stage and post-issuance stage. On top of these, it was also found from the interviews that not all risk management techniques are workable to manage Shariah non-compliant risk in sukuk. As a result, these findings suggest rigorous reviews of the existing Shariah non-compliance risk (SNCR) disclosures and risk management techniques by the relevant parties.

Sukuk documents used in the study are limited to corporate wakalah sukuk issued in Malaysia. Out of 32 issuances from 2015 to 2021, only 23 documents are available in relevant website. Thus, Shariah non-compliant risk disclosure and its risk management techniques analysed in this study are only limited in those documents.

The findings of this study suggest rigorous reviews on the existing Shariah non-compliance disclosures and risk management techniques. Other than these, future research in relation to uncommon risk management clauses, i.e. assurance, Shariah waiver and transfer of risk, are needed.

The insights presented in the analysis are of importance to sukuk issuers and the sukuk due diligence working group in enhancing the sukuk Shariah compliance and Shariah non-compliant risks disclosure and towards sukuk investors, in capturing and assessing Shariah non-compliant risks in a sukuk and to assist them to make informed investment decisions. More importantly, this study has found few areas of future study in relation to SNCR disclosures and SNCR risk management techniques.

Several countries, such as South Africa and India, believe that intellectual property rights (IPRs), including patents, impede the efficient increase in vaccine production to inoculate the global population as they scramble to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Their proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive these pharmaceutical patents has been met with resistance from a few developed countries, who believe that the abrogation of IPRs is unnecessary, even during a pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of a potential waiver of medical patents at the WTO versus the status quo of IPR laws in the global economy.

This study examines key arguments from economic and moral standpoints regarding the provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and other related international agreements and their validity based on the premise of the internalisation of positive externalities posed by vaccines.

The effectiveness of the TRIPS agreement in securing medical access is weak on account of the ability of profit-making multinationals to secure IP rights and on account of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral agreement that supports patent evergreening and a period of protection on test data which challenges the access to medicines and the fundamental human right to health.

This study examines international IPRs through the lens of human rights and proposes a new system that balances the two.

This study aims to develop a comprehensive insolvency model tailored to Islamic banks, ensuring alignment with Shariah principles throughout pre-insolvency, bankruptcy and post-bankruptcy stages.

The research adopts a qualitative research method, using a desktop research approach. Primary sources and secondary sources are examined to gather information and draw conclusions.

This study presents a comprehensive insolvency model designed for Islamic banks, rooted in Shariah principles. The model covers pre-insolvency, bankruptcy (taflis) and post-bankruptcy stages, incorporating key Shariah parameters to ensure adherence to Islamic finance principles. It addresses challenges such as adapting to dynamic financial landscapes and varying interpretations of Shariah principles. Notably, the model recognizes the separate legal personality of Islamic banks and emphasizes transparency, fairness and compliance with religious obligations. In the post-bankruptcy stage, directors are urged to voluntarily settle remaining debts, aligning with ethical and Shariah-compliant standards.

The study contributes to the stability and growth of Shariah-compliant financial systems by extending insolvency principles to Islamic banks, providing a foundation for future research and policymaking specific to this context.

The paper’s purpose is to consider, using a transaction cost economics (TCE) framework, the mechanisms used by space agencies to encourage private investment in the commercial spaceflight sector.

The authors conducted a content analysis of 554 pages of news articles, relating to issues pertaining to partnerships between national government-based space agencies and private space travel providers, published over a 20-year period. Leximancer was used to initially screen the data and then the authors manually analysed the content to identify themes.

The data analysis revealed three themes, relating to: the uncertainty of space travel; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) stimulating innovation in the private sector; and risk, insurance and regulation. These themes informed by TCE reveal the “hierarchical” organisational forms used to achieve human spaceflight and then the “hybrids”, insurance and regulations used to stimulate private sector investment and innovation.

This paper contributes to the accounting literature by answering the calls of Alewine (2020) and Tucker and Alewine (2022a, b) for more research into accounting in the space context. Specifically, the paper contributes by identifying mechanisms used by NASA to stimulate private investment in the space travel sector, as well as issues that have affected the implementation of these mechanisms. The paper also contributes to the literature by, based on the analysis, identifying a series of reflections designed to stimulate further management accounting research in the space context.

This study investigates determinant factors (influence of the third party (ITP), credit policy (CP) and follow-up process (FP)) of micro, small and medium enterprises' (MSMEs) accounting processes (APs) and strategic debtors' management.

The study employed a sequential mixed-method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods for comprehensive data analysis. Phase I involved purposively selecting and interviewing 10 MSME owners or accountants to gain insights into debtors' management. In Phase II, a quantitative approach was used for collecting survey data from 72 MSME owners or accountants. Structural equation modeling-partial least squares (SEM-PLS) are the statistical tools that validated the study's proposed hypotheses.

The findings indicate that determinant factors (ITP, CP and FP) positively affect MSMEs' AP, significantly influencing strategic debtors' management. As a result, sole proprietors can use this study's findings to create value through systematic management of their debtors, guaranteeing sustainable firm growth and profitability.

The sample has restricted to MSMEs in Oman, where the findings may not be generalized to other companies. Overall, the findings suggest that it requires considering the proposed determinant factor of MSMEs' AP to manage their debtors or accounts receivable (AR) to be more profitable.

MSMEs play an essential role in the growth of any country's economy. However, the dearth of comprehensive research on influential factors of MSMEs' debtors’ management studies justifies the significance of the current study.

This study aimed to use enrollment information including demographic, family background and financial status, which can be gathered before the first semester starts, to construct early prediction models (EPMs) and extract crucial factors associated with first-year student dropout probability.

The real-world samples comprised the enrolled records of 2,412 first-year students of a private university (UNI) in Taiwan. This work utilized decision trees (DT), multilayer perceptron (MLP) and logistic regression (LR) algorithms for constructing EPMs; under-sampling, random oversampling and synthetic minority over sampling technique (SMOTE) methods for solving data imbalance problems; accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve and area under ROC curve (AUC) for evaluating constructed EPMs.

DT outperformed MLP and LR with accuracy (97.59%), precision (98%), recall (97%), F1_score (97%), and ROC-AUC (98%). The top-ranking factors comprised “student loan,” “dad occupations,” “mom educational level,” “department,” “mom occupations,” “admission type,” “school fee waiver” and “main sources of living.”

This work only used enrollment information to identify dropout students and crucial factors associated with dropout probability as soon as students enter universities. The extracted rules could be utilized to enhance student retention.

Although first-year student dropouts have gained non-stop attention from researchers in educational practices and theories worldwide, diverse previous studies utilized while-and/or post-semester factors, and/or questionnaires for predicting. These methods failed to offer universities early warning systems (EWS) and/or assist them in providing in-time assistance to dropouts, who face economic difficulties. This work provided universities with an EWS and extracted rules for early dropout prevention and intervention.

The green building (GB) market is maturing after years of practice; therefore, incentives for promoting GB should be adapted to reflect the market transformation. Adapting incentives can positively influence stakeholders' motives, which in turn change stakeholders' behavioural intention towards GBs. Hence, this study aims to examine the parameters influencing the decision to adopt GB and to ascertain how incentive mechanisms promote the uptake of GB in South Africa.

Using a scoping literature review and a sequential mixed research method, primary data were acquired from GB experts in four South African provinces. In analysing the quantitative data, the factors were ranked hierarchically using the mean ranking technique and factor analysis was computed to identify the underlying GB incentives. The qualitative data were analysed using content analysis.

The results indicate that incentive payment from a utility energy efficiency programme, rebates and discounts relating to environmentally friendly materials and products and providing grants to homeowners and developers to go towards certification were the most essential monetary incentives for promoting GB. In the category of non-monetary incentives, recognition of consultant team members and developers and free marketing/good publicity were the most important incentives. The incentive mechanisms were subsequently categorised as “Economic incentives” and “Reward scheme and technical support”.

This study was confined to four metropolitan areas in South Africa. Nevertheless, the outcomes have practical implications for GB projects in general and may serve as a good reference for other provinces in South Africa.

The findings of the study are a valuable resource for stakeholders such as the government, municipal assemblies, professional bodies and the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) in developing effective incentive mechanisms to promote GB adoption. This study adds to the body of knowledge relevant to GB incentivisation in South Africa.

The recent proliferation of preprints could be a way for researchers worldwide to increase the availability and visibility of their research findings. Against the background of rising publication costs caused by the increasing prevalence of article processing fees, the search for other ways to publish research results besides traditional journal publication may increase. This could be especially true for lower-income countries.

Therefore, the authors are interested in the experiences and attitudes towards posting and using preprints in the Global South as opposed to the Global North. To explore whether motivations and concerns about posting preprints differ, the authors adopted a mixed-methods approach, combining a quantitative survey of researchers with focus group interviews.

The authors found that respondents from the Global South were more likely to agree to adhere to policies and to emphasise that mandates could change publishing behaviour towards open access. They were also more likely to agree posting preprints has a positive impact. Respondents from the Global South and the Global North emphasised the importance of peer-reviewed research for career advancement.

The study has identified a wide range of experiences with and attitudes towards posting preprints among researchers in the Global South and the Global North. To the authors' knowledge, this has hardly been studied before, which is also because preprints only have emerged lately in many disciplines and countries.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0181

Integrated project delivery (IPD) project that does not use multiparty agreement is identified as IPD-ish. The use of IPD-ish arrangement by incorporating integration practices in conventional contract can be viewed as the part of the adoption process of IPD. Moreover, inappropriate integration practices invite new forms of risks and the absence of multiparty agreement adds to the challenges of risk management in IPD-ish projects. This study discusses such challenges and proposes the use of joint risk management to address the potential pitfalls in IPD-ish arrangement.

A mixed research method was applied. First, the criticality of IPD-ish general and integration-specific risks was examined through a survey. Second, a real IPD-ish project was used to exemplify the use of joint risk management (JRM) to manage IPD-ish risks.

Two types of risks, namely integration risks (IRs) and general risks (GRs), are identified in IPD-ish projects. Two major findings for the IRs: (1) the most critical IRs are related to unbalanced incentivization and inefficient multidisciplinary teams; and (2) only team formation related pre-contract JRM strategies affect IRs. As for the GRs, the most critical ones are associated with design issues and can be effectively mitigated by post-contract JRM.

Using IPD-ish arrangement is an inevitable part of implementation of full IPD. This happens as many change-averse owners would like to test the integration principles using a conventional contract that they are familiar with. In fact, success in IPD-ish would pave the path for further adoption of IPD. This study offers insight into categorization of risks in IPD-ish projects. Appropriate use of post-contract and organization related pre-contract JRM would improve the chance of teasing out the values of IPD through IPD-ish arrangements. Care should be taken to introduce some contracting integration initiatives, such as risk/reward sharing incentive.

This study aims to answer the question: What dynamic capabilities do diverse humanitarian organizations have?

We examine this question through the lens of dynamic capabilities with sensing, seizing and reconfiguring capacities. The research team interviewed 15 individuals from 12 humanitarian organizations that had (a) different geographic scopes (global versus local) and (b) different missions (emergency response versus long-term development aid). We also gathered data from secondary sources, including standard operating procedures, company websites, and news databases (Factiva, Reuters and Bloomberg).

The findings identify the operational and dynamic capabilities of global and local humanitarian organizations while distinguishing between their mission to provide long-term development aid or emergency relief. (1) The global organizations, with their beneficiary responsiveness, reconfigured their sensing and seizing capacities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by pivoting quickly to local procurement or regional supply chains. The long-term development organizations pivoted to multi-year supplier agreements with fixed pricing to counter price uncertainty and accessed social capital with government bodies. In contrast, emergency response organizations developed end-to-end supply chain visibility to sense changes in supply and demand. (2) Local humanitarian organizations developed the capacity to sense demand and supply changes to reconfigure based on their experiential learning working with the local community. The long-term-development local organizations used un-owned and scalable relief infrastructure to seize opportunities to rebuild affected areas. In contrast, emergency response organizations developed their capacity to seize opportunities to provide aid stemming from their decentralized decision-making, a lack of structured procedures, and the authority for increased expenditure.

We propose a theoretical framework to identify humanitarian organizations' operational and dynamic capabilities, distinguishing between global and local organizations and their emergency response and long-term aid missions.