An integrated approach towards Sharia compliance e-commerce trust

The Sharia compliance trust concerns over the conventional e-commerce systems among devoted Muslims causes reluctance and abstinence to partake in e-commerce transactions. Although e-commerce trust building mechanisms have been highlighted in the extant literature, there has not been any integrative or exhaustive solution to the Sharia compliance trust concerns of Muslims. Therefore, it became necessary to develop a framework that will provide a guide towards achieving Sharia compliance e-commerce trust (SCE-C). Consequently, relevant literature on e-commerce trust from a conventional perspective and the Sharia perspective were reviewed to gain a background. It provided the basis for proffering a framework for SCE-C trust with a view to enhancing e-commerce adoption and use by Muslims around the world. The framework for SCE-C Trust highlights that e-commerce vendor trustworthiness factors comprising of Sharia compliance, integrity, benevolence, competence, website quality, and third-party assurance if positively moderated by consumer trust propensity and religious commitment will ensure SCE-C trust

E-commerce quality evaluation metrics: a sharia compliance approach

There is a growing concern and need for Sharia compliance e-commerce quality metrics to evaluate policies and practice that will ensure that Sharia principles are adhered and user’s desirable characteristics are provided. Therefore, extant conventional e-commerce quality metrics from the literature are critically reviewed. Furthermore, an exploratory study involving Sharia compliance experts was conducted, revealing adherence to the maqasid Sharia and the principles of Islamic law of contract as the fundamental Sharia compliance requirements for e-commerce systems. Hence, we integrated the relevant conventional e-commerce quality metrics and the Sharia compliance requirements deduced to propose a set of Sharia compliance e-commerce quality metrics based Information, systems and service quality dimensions. The Sharia compliance e-commerce information quality metrics proffered are accuracy, relevance, timeliness, understandability, completeness, and currency. System quality metrics involves being devoid of riba, devoid of gharar, devoid of haram objects, ethical advertisements, usability, reliability, functionality, customization, security, and privacy. While Service quality metrics are Sharia compliance assurance, khiyar policy, responsiveness, empathy, follow-up services, and the effectiveness of online support capabilities. Developing and evaluating Sharia compliance e-commerce quality based on the proposed metrics is envisaged to foster Muslim consumer trust, use and user satisfaction with e-commerce systems

A generic framework for e-commerce requirements to comply with Sharia in business-to-consumer perspective

The serious concern over fulfillment of the essential requirements of Sharia by the conventional e-commerce system constitutes a barrier to e-commerce adoption and use among many Muslims. Therefore, it is important to explore and understand the essential requirements for Sharia compliant e-commerce specifically in Business to Consumer (B2C) setting. Our research has identified the necessary requirements for e-commerce Sharia compliant. The requirements are categorised into two; Islamic law of contract, and Sharia prohibition in e-commerce. The requirements for Islamic law of contract those include compliant with form (offer and acceptance), contracting parties (buyer and seller), and subject matter (object and price). In addition, the requirements for prohibition in e-commerce are referred to the avoidance of fundamentally prohibited elements of riba, gharar, haram and maysir. Furthermore, we have developed a generic framework of requirements for B2C Sharia compliant e-commerce. This framework will serve as a guide to consumers in determining the legitimacy of an e-commerce transaction in the light of Sharia. Besides, e-commerce merchants, web application developers and other stakeholders will gain clear understanding of these requirements to improve the development and diffusion of Sharia compliant e-commerce application. Conclusively, this research postulates that, any e-commerce transaction or platform that complies with the Islamic law of contract and is devoid of any fundamentally prohibited element (riba, gharar, haram and maysir) is deemed Sharia compliant

Sharia compliance service quality metrics for e-commerce: An exploratory analysis

Despite the rising call for Sharia compliance in e-commerce systems, yet there are no established service quality metrics that would ensure Muslim consumer trust, use and users satisfaction. Therefore, we prudently proffered Sharia compliance service quality metrics for e-commerce that would foster e-commerce use, user satisfaction and net benefits for the over 1.8 billion Muslims globally. By deducing extant e-commerce service quality metrics from literature and harnessing the opinion of Sharia compliance scholars/experts, an integrative Sharia compliance service quality metrics for e-commerce are proffered. Fundamentally, Sharia compliance assurance of e-commerce systems is found to be an essential service quality metric that will ensure Muslim consumer trust, use, user satisfaction and net benefits from e-commerce.Whereas, conventional e-commerce service quality best practices that are aimed at enhancing the welfare and devoid of Sharia violations are also deemed important service quality metrics for Sharia compliance. Because, providing pre-sale, during the sale and post-sale support services are vital in ensuring the Sharia obligation of eliminating uncertainties, risk, losses, displeasure and discord emanating from e-commerce

Urbanization and carbon dioxide emissions in Singapore: evidence from the ARDL approach

The main aim of this article is to examine empirically the impact of urbanization on carbon dioxide emissions in Singapore from 1970 to 2015. The autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) approach is applied within the analysis. The main finding reveals a negative and significant impact of urbanization on carbon emissions in Singapore, which means that urban development in Singapore is not a barrier to the improvement of environmental quality. Thus, urbanization enhances environmental quality by reducing carbon emissions in the sample country. The result also highlighted that economic growth has a positive and significant impact on carbon emissions, which suggests that economic growth reduces environmental quality through its direct effect of increasing carbon emissions in the country. Despite the high level of urbanization in Singapore, which shows that 100 % of the populace is living in the urban center, it does not lead to more environmental degradation. Hence, urbanization will not be considered an obstacle when initiating policies that will be used to reduce environmental degradation in the country. Policy makers should consider the country’s level of economic growth instead of urbanization when formulating policies to reduce environmental degradation, due to its direct impact on increasing carbon dioxide emissions

Developing a sharia compliance e-commerce trust framework

Over the years, e-commerce has transformed the conduct of business processes, marketplaces, and relationships among its various stakeholders. The growth of ecommerce has been rapid and stimulated by its numerous benefits which attract businesses and consumers to adopt. However, there are serious concerns among many Muslims over the non-Sharia compliance of the prevailing e-commerce systems which results in reluctance and abstinence to patronise, largely due to lack of trust. Yet, the factors that influence Muslim consumer perception of Sharia compliance e-commerce (SCE-C) trust have not been adequately studied. Furthermore, comprehensive and clearly specified Sharia compliance requirements for e-commerce systems are lacking, and a constraint to determine the SCE-C quality factors that can foster SCE-C trust. Therefore, this study is carried out to develop an SCE-C trust framework that consists of factors that have a positive influence on the Muslim consumer perception of SCEC trust. This process involves developing a Sharia compliance requirements framework that will provide a clear guideline for e-commerce systems. Consequently, to determine the SCE-C Quality factors and finally, the SCE-C trust framework. A mixed research method involving qualitative and quantitative approaches was adopted in this study. It involved an exploratory sequential design that structured the study into three successive phases. The first phase was to find the SCE-C requirements through semi-structured interviews with eight Sharia compliance experts in Malaysia. Therefore, the data were analysed using content analysis technique with the aid of Nvivo11. Consequently, SCE-C quality factors and an SCE-C trust framework was successively developed and validated through a quantitative and confirmatory approach. The study collected 451 valid responses from Muslim participants using self-administered questionnaires within four university campuses in Malaysia. The data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling with the aid of IBM SPSS 23 and Amos 23 respectively. Therefore, the factor structure, model fitness, convergent and discriminant validity, construct reliability, and hypothesized paths of the SCE-C quality and the SCE-C trust models were tested. Fundamentally, the proposed SCE-C trust framework was found to be supported. The SCE-C trust factors revealed are SCE-C quality, Islamic commitment, and trust propensity which has a direct, positive, and significant influence on the Muslim consumer perception of SCE-C trust. Although, SCE-C quality was found to be the most significant factor that influences Muslim consumer perception of SCE-C trust. Therefore, SCE-C trust framework provides e-commerce stakeholders with an insight on the factors that influence Muslim consumer perception of SCE-C trust. The SCEC quality factors (phase 2) consists of information accuracy, information completeness, devoid of haram, usability, customization, security, and service quality. Whereas, the SCE-C requirements (phase 1) stipulates that, e-commerce systems must adhere to the maqasid Sharia essentials of enhancing maslaha (welfare) of society and the Islamic law of contract. Primarily, Islam permits and indeed encourage Muslims to partake in e-commerce as long as it is Sharia compliant

Sharia compliance requirements framework for e-commerce systems: an exploratory study

There is a growing concern among Muslims over the need to ensure Sharia compliance in e-commerce transactions. Because non-conformity to Sharia principles can result in a lack of trust and a barrier for many Muslims to partake in e-commerce transactions. However, there is currently no comprehensive and clearly specified Sharia compliance requirements guideline for e-commerce systems. Therefore, a need to explore and develop a comprehensive guideline for Sharia compliance requirements in e-commerce systems. In this study, an exploratory qualitative study involving eight semi-structured interviews with Sharia compliance scholars/experts was conducted. Consequently, a conventional content analysis of data was carried out with the aid of QSR-NVivo 11. Findings from the study revealed that e-commerce is acceptable and indeed encouraged in Islam so long as it enhances the welfare of society. The fundamental Sharia compliance requirements for e-commerce are adherence to the Maqasid Sharia and the fulfillment of Islamic law of contract obligations. This requires e-commerce systems to be structured towards enhancing the welfare of the society and compliance with the form, contracting parties, and subject matter obligations of Islamic law of contract. Therefore, this study proffers a comprehensive framework of Sharia compliance requirements for e-commerce systems which provides notions that agree with the Quran, Sunnah, and e-commerce best practices. The framework provides a comprehensive but parsimonious guide that would enhance understanding and support the development of Sharia compliant e-commerce systems. Furthermore, it would guide researchers, consumers, vendors, developers, analysts, and regulators with interest in the Sharia compliance e-commerce domain