Acceptance of Islamic finance products: a study on muslim consumers attitude in a non Muslim country

In accordance with the teachings of Islam which prohibit the utilisation of Riba (interest), this has led to the development of a banking approach which are based on the laws of shariah. Although these methods are not totally new or revolutionary as it has been written and practiced during the renaissance of the Islamic civilisation, it has yet to establish itself and tested in the modern world as compared to the conventional banking. Many Muslims worldwide still engage in non-interest-free in financing their purchases especially those who are staying in non-muslim countries. There are many reasons why Muslims still engage in non-interest-free products. one of the reasons is the availibility of Muslim financial product or non-interest bearing financial instruments offers by the banks. it is quite difficulut to find such instruments as most of them are not easy to get. To some extent, there are only a few financial instituitions that offer such products products among Muslims outside the Islamic world and will explain whether there is demand for such product from Muslims staying in non Muslim countries. The study reveals that Muslims living in non Muslim countries are very much willing to change their practices from the conventional system into the new system – the Islamic financial system

Zakat Institution. An Alternative for Poverty Alleviation in Zanzibar

The main objective of this study was to explore the successful level of poverty alleviation strategies in Zanzibar and point out how zakat institution could be an effective alternative to eradicate poverty in this Muslims island. The study relies solely on existing secondary documents and review of the literature as the main sources of data and information. The finding from this study indicated the non-convincing level of poverty reduction, although some strategies and initiatives by both government and non-government organizations as the poverty incident is still very high with the alarming situation in the rural areas indicating needs for immediate actions. Following the nature of the island population, the study recommends for the strengthening zakat institution to capture for the needs of the very poor part of the community. More importantly, the study recommends for more studies in this area to include the role of society as a whole in strengthening zakat institution, corporate image and awareness level which are crucial aspects of developing zakat institution in Zanzibar Keywords: Zakat, poverty alleviation strategies, Zanziba

Resolving information asymmetric and social network theories challenges in crowdfunding campaigns

Using Asymmetric Information and Social Networking theories the paper highlights the relevance of these two theories to crowdfunding. The study combines these theoretical perspectives with the practical aspects of startup companies raising finance using the crowd. The key concepts of these theories are critically considered and the study is conducted in the form of a review of the literature and expressing of opinion. Consequently, the experiential justification of the theories presented is not within the scope of this paper. The study is also limited generally to the field of crowdfunding as an alternate source of funding for start-up companies. We evaluate and discuss how lack of information between project initiators and backers can result in the project's inability to meet the project goal. We also consider how social network connection affects fundraising using the crowd. First, crowdfunding has some information difficulties because it involves the raising of funds using internet platforms. Second, the number of a founder's social network connections is associated positively with the capital raised from a project

Performance of University-Construction Industry Collaboration: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda

University-construction industry collaboration (UIC) has become an essential part of driving innovation and fostering construction industry growth. Measuring performance of such collaboration is an emergent field of study. The present research evaluated the literature related to measuring performance of university-construction industry collaboration taking into consideration the publications in selected scientific databases. Findings were discussed and confirmed in the context of Qatar education and innovation ecosystem through semi-structured interviews with two renowned scholars involved in university-construction industry collaboration. This study aims to (1) identify the most cited references in measuring UCIC performance (2) identify UIC performance indicators advocated by top cited references, and (3) refine and map UIC performance indicators in the context of the state of Qatar. The publications reviewed were obtained through a search of the Science Direct, Emerald Insight, Scopus, Web of Science, Springer Link, SAGE, Research Gate, and Taylor & Francis Online. Keywords used in searching for articles included university-construction industry, university-construction business, cooperation, collaboration, relation, performance, and measurement. The study revealed that universities are increasingly focused on measuring performance of collaboration with construction industry. As such, it contributes to a general understanding of measuring UIC performance and defining trends in this research field. It also highlights specifically the challenges for measuring UIC performance in Qatar. In this context, key UIC performance indicators include (1) Number of Publications, (2) Number of Citations (3) Number of Registered Patents, (4) Number of Patent Applications, (5) Number of Training Programs Provided and (6) Number of Innovations

Managing quality/skilled people to support organizational capabilities, and business development

This paper is a conceptual and review paper discusses management of quality/skilled people or talent, knowledge management, and leadership aim at figuring out the relation between people capabilities, commitment, and connectedness with individual and group performance and organizational success. This paper also provides a figure of people performances and potentials that show the high and top performers in an organization who are above the average line. The discussion on quality/skilled people and leadership highlights the need of quality/skilled people or talent to have fundamental skills of leadership and also the readiness of them to be promoted due to their positions as leader candidates and the stars in organization, as well as the need of organization to smoothening the succession planning in line with the positions changing plan of organization. The discussion on the relation of managing quality/skilled people or talent with managing knowledge provides an insight how knowledgeable, skillful people with good attitudes, become the assets of organization to increase customer value and to make the knowledge visible. This paper reveals that knowledge, quality/skilled people, technological, and leadership, are all important elements in supporting the business expansions of a company

Peranan kepimpinan transformasi terhadap motivasi pekerja di sebuah kerajaan tempatan di Johor

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti hubungan di antara gaya kepimpinan transformasi penyelia terhadap motivasi pekerja di salah sebuah kerajaan tempatan di Johor. Berdasarkan kajian lepas, gaya kepimpinan ketua memberi pengaruh yang signifikan kepada motivasi pekerja di tempat kerja. Kajian ini merupakan kajian berbentuk deskriptif dan menggunakan borang soal selidik sebagai instrumen kajian untuk mengumpul data. Borang soal selidik tersebut mengandungi tiga bahagian utama iaitu Bahagian A (Latar Belakang Responden), Bahagiab B (Kepimpinan Transformasi) dan Bahagian C (Motivasi Pekerja). Responden kajian telah dipilih secara persampelan rawak mudah iaitu seramai 75 orang daripada salah sebuah kerajaan tempatan di Johor. Data yang diperolehi telah dianalisis menggunakan perisian Statistical Package for Sosial Science (SPSS) versi 22.0. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa kepimpinan transformasi mempunyai hubungan yang positif dan signifikan kepada motivasi pekerja (r=0.658). Ia bermaksud peranan ketua yang mengamalkan gaya kepimpinan transformasi dikenalpasti mampu meningkatkan motivasi pekerja untuk bekerja

Consumer behaviour through neuromarketing approach

The advance of neuroscience allowed neuromarketing to use neuroimaging tools, whether for marketing purposes or to study people's daily behaviour. As the main contribution, this review shows how to effectively employ neuroscience tools to understand an individual’s decision-making processes effectively. To this end, we will describe the period of neuromarketing development and its application in evaluating the perception towards marketing stimuli. After that, we will discuss the tools for measuring brain activity and non-brain activity, the pros and cons, what it measures, and when does it use each device. This paper will also discuss a series of publications related to the neuromarketing subject. Moreover, this paper will discuss the ethical issues raised by using these tools to assess human behaviour during purchase decisions. In conclusion, it will be discussed the challenges of this field and the possible future scenario

Muslim consumer attitude towards Islamic Finance products in a Non Muslim Country

The focal point of Islamic banking is adhering to the shariah law, which prohibits the utilisation of Riba (interest). This banking approach has recently grown in popularity not only in Islamic countries, but has also embryonic in non-Muslim countries. Although these methods is not totally new or revolutionary as it has been written and practiced during the renaissance of the Islamic civilisation, it has yet to establish itself and be tested in the modem world as compared to the conventional banking. Muslims worldwide are still engaged in the "non-interest-free" system in financing their purchases especially those who are staying in the non-Muslim countries. There are many reasons why Muslims still engage in "non-interest-free" products. One of the reasons is the availability of Islamic financial product or non-interest bearing financial instruments offers by the banks. It is quite difficult to find such instruments, as most of them are not easy to get. To some extent, there are only few financial institutions which offer such products. This article attempts to examine the attitude of Muslims staying outside the Islamic world, particularly in the U.K., towards Islamic finance products and will explain whether there is demand for such products from them. It is found out that Muslims living in the U.K. are very much willing to change their practices from indulging in the conventional system into the new system - the Islamic financial syste

Building organisational social capital through investment in corporate social responsibility to stimulate the effectiveness of zakat activities in Zanzibar

This study attempts to explore the strategic framework on the process of building social capital through investment in corporate social responsibility for zakat management organisations. An in-depth interview with twelve executives from five zakat organisations in Zanzibar was undertaken for this project. This qualitative investigation utilised thematic analysis techniques to come out with themes that were implemented for this study. The findings revealed that the provision of public education and services and social commitment with positive and attractive behaviours are useful ways to enhance corporate social responsibility and stimulate the social capital of zakat organisations. The researchers have recognised that there is a gap of knowledge in this area, therefore, these findings have made a significant contribution to the existing body of literature and invite more studies to elucidate the situation. Moreover, quantitative research is required to test and measure items revealed from this study's finding

Augmenting commercialization of new technology intensive firms

Technology licensing and commercialization has increasingly been looked at as a complementary and attractive solution to gain insights into new technology innovations and market products. Stories of successful research commercialization programs from Silicon Valley have become the catalyst that encourages states to provide incentives and established structural reform in the form of state controlled agencies to accelerate and assist the commercialization of potential R&D products. Considerable debate has arisen about the effectiveness of those agencies, but asides for a few lone voices, the scholarly literature has largely neglected the views of grant recipients in commercializing of scientific research. This study hopes to shed some understanding of the impediments that grant recipients face in their endeavor to commercialize scientific research. Qualitative data examination utilizing theme analysis was performed and three main determinants were identified: human resources, market penetration, and financial constraints. We believe these three determinants have wider implication to the modern regime of commercialized scientific researc