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The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on people's lives, air travel and tourism. The authors explored travelers' perceptions of COVID rapid antigen tests before boarding aircraft, willingness to fly and the precautionary actions for safe air travel.

All the participants were asked to complete the survey while reflecting on their experiences of air travel during this COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information of the participants and air travel preferences during pandemic. The survey was conducted through Google Form in both English and Arabic language. The link was shared through emails and WhatsApp.

In this survey, majority had willingness to fly during pandemic. 45.2% preferred to undergo rapid test before boarding, while 41.9% refused owing to no added benefit (23.8%) and nasal discomfort (9.3%) among others. The best indicators to resume safe air travel were COVID-19 vaccination (80.4%), wearing face mask during flying hours (70.8%) and maintain social distancing with aircraft seating (49.6%).

The findings of the current survey could help the organizations and the biosecurity authorities to act and support accordingly and thus reduce passenger anxiety about resuming the flights, thereby increasing willingness to fly and preparing oneself and the aviation industry for future pandemics.

The findings of the current survey could help the organizations and the biosecurity authorities to act and support accordingly and thus reduce passenger anxiety about resuming the flights, thereby increasing willingness to fly, and preparing oneself and the aviation industry for future pandemics.

This paper aims to investigate small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) owner–managers’ awareness, willingness and perceptions concerning Islamic financing instruments as an alternative sourcing decision in SMEs’ businesses.

The research employed mixed methods to gather data. A questionnaire survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews with 385 SME owner–managers operating in Muscat, Oman’s capital city, along with face-to-face discussion on Islamic finance with 86 SME owner–managers. Descriptive and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data.

The findings indicate that SME owner–managers are aware of Islamic banking principles and have knowledge of Islamic financial instruments, despite Islamic finance being new to Oman. Interestingly, although the majority of the participants indicated their intention to adopt this new finance method, they were motivated by special requirements other than finance. Their positive perception of Islamic financing methods could play a significant role in developing the Islamic banking industry.

The research is limited in that its data came only from Omani SME owner–managers in Muscat. Future research could investigate wider samples. Secondly, the study’s findings lack generalisability to larger and public enterprises, because only SME owner–managers were surveyed.

This study will be important for policy makers concerned about SMEs’ financing, Islamic financial institutions and new entrants into the Islamic banking industry, as it provides empirically evidence of Omanis’ views, and more specifically those of Omani SME owner–managers, on the recent introduction of Islamic finance into the country. The insights this study offers should help them to develop the strategies required to attract SMEs and to construct policies and regulations to improve Oman’s Islamic banking industry.

The research is significant, as it is the first study to investigate the awareness, willingness and perceptions of Omani SMEs regarding Islamic banking in Oman. Even though all Omanis are Muslims, Oman was the last of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council countries to introduce Islamic finance. Thus, this emerging market provides an important basis from which to extend future research on Islamic finance to other potential Islamic finance markets.

The main purpose of the study is to examine the willingness of Moroccan small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to adopt profit and loss sharing (PLS) method of finance and the factors that may influence their decision.

The research model is based on the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB). A total of 340 questionnaires were randomly distributed to SMEs’ owner-managers, out of which 177 were collected and only 153 were valid for analysis. Factor analysis and partial least squares regression were subsequently applied.

The results showed that cost, loss of control, constrained access to conventional debt, financial suitability, stage of development as well as religious beliefs have a significant impact on the SMEs’ attitude towards PLS modes. Likewise, normative belief was also found to have a significant influence on subjective norm, by particular reference to the family, financial external consultants and internal managers, as the main referent groups. In addition, finally, attitude and perceived behavioural control were found to have a significant impact on the intention to adopt PLS financing by Moroccan SMEs.

The sample is not representative; hence, the findings cannot be generalized to all Moroccan SMEs. Furthermore, the variables and dimensions used are not exhaustive. With regard to implications, the study confirms the applicability of the DTPB to SME financing questions. Moreover, this study provides great indications to the practitioners, investors, policy makers and regulators on the perception of the Moroccan entrepreneurs, which should be taken into consideration to establish the necessary strategies to attract them.

This paper verifies the applicability of the DTPB in another area, that is, adoption of PLS instruments and contributes to explain the entrepreneurs’ perceptions towards theses modes of financing.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to introduce a new approach to User's Informational‐Based Readiness (UIBR) for investigating the acceptance of marketing innovations such as Internet Banking (IB) services.

The UIBR construct involves four dimensions that it is proposed influence the potential adopters' intention to adopt IB. The study employed the quantitative method where convenience sampling and self‐administrated survey questionnaires were sent to 1,000 bank account holders in Yemen.

The findings reveal that both intention and attitude are positively related to all variables of interest and are significantly related to all investigated variables. Furthermore, the multiple regression findings moderately supported that all alternative hypotheses of interest and their sub‐hypotheses are accepted, regarding both the individual's intention and attitude towards the adoption of IB.

This study does not examine the formal relationship between Intention and Attitude and the sample size could have been larger.

The results strengthen the study's argument that the four UIBR dimensions significantly affect a person's intention and attitude towards IB‐use.

Previous studies that sought innovation adoption did not give much concern to the UIBR. This study makes a valuable contribution in the field of marketing by implementing the four UIBR components in the management area as a tool to evaluate the performance and marketing strategy of firms, and also to evaluate to what extent consumers are ready to accept the products or the services introduced.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the preferences of Malaysian banks' customers for Islamic banking attributes.

The paper uses mixed methodology. The quantitative approach consists of the collection of primary data through a self‐administered questionnaire distributed to 500 Islamic banks' customers in Malaysia. The data gathered were analysed using factor analysis as well as Friedman test. In parallel, qualitative approach was used, in forms of semi structured interviews with ten Islamic banks' customers. The results of both approaches were then reported accordingly.

The quantitative approach reveals that the preference for Islamic banking attributes in Malaysia is a combination of the quality of services offered by the Islamic banks, as well as the convenience associated with it. On the other hand, the qualitative approach revealed that choosing Islamic banks was mainly due to the religious motivation of the customers.

This paper is one of the few that has used a qualitative approach to study consumer preferences for Islamic banking attributes. Furthermore, the paper employs this methodology in the context of Malaysia, which enriches the studies done in this context and area.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different segments of consumers in the Islamic financial services industry (IFSI) and their relationship with product/brand positioning for Islamic financial services (IFS).

In‐depth interviews were conducted with individuals in managerial positions among the key market players in the IFSI to explore the segmentation of consumers and their buying motives.

Four segments of IFS consumers emerged, namely, Religious conviction group; Religious conviction and economic rationality group; Ethical observant group; and Economic rationality group. These segmentation groups were appropriately categorized through a psychographic (value)‐based approach.

The empirical findings of this study pave the way for embarking on promising and relevant future research, which is needed to substantiate and enrich the academic understanding and managerial practice of linking market segmentation and brand positioning for IFS in the global market. Future research should focus on analysing these issues from the perspective of consumers of IFS to identify the purchase trend.

The study provides empirical evidence of the bases or initial dimensions of consumer segmentation for IFS. The findings are useful in guiding the management of institutions offering IFS in making decisions relating to the marketing communication and promotion strategy as well as product and brand positioning strategy.

For both academia and the IFSI, this study provides useful knowledge in strategically using market segmentation to position IFS in the global market.