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This study aims to empirically explore donors’ responses to fundraising appeals to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Some governments worldwide have launched fundraising campaigns to support the pandemic relief efforts, such as the Feena Khair* campaign in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Specifically, the study examines how the internal and external aspects can fuel beliefs in the inclination of donors to give money.

A quantitative survey instrument was developed, validated and disseminated. A total of 263 usable responses were obtained using the snowballing sampling technique. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to analyze the research model and obtain meaningful results.

The results show that external aspects, i.e. charity projects and trust in charities, have a significant relationship with donors’ attitudes toward fundraising appeal for the COVID-19 fight. Interestingly, the study demonstrates a significant moderating effect of internal values of religious beliefs on the positive relationship between external aspects and attitude to give money.

The results suggest that governments and non-profit organizations should consider the important role of religious beliefs in driving people’s attitudes to engage in fundraising appeals to fight the pandemic. These findings could generate better insights and policies that boost relief and donation efforts in many ways, such as embarking on sensitization programs to create sufficient awareness on the importance of giving and social solidarity during this challenging time, strengthening the religious faith of donors, setting up charity projects with inclusive information and nurturing a high level of public confidence in charities.

This study is likely the first study to focus on fundraising campaign attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bahrain. It is a pioneer study scrutinizing the moderating effect of religious beliefs on the association between extrinsic perspectives of donors and their attitudes toward monetary donations.

An attempt is made in this study aims to examine the extent to which the role of environmental agencies in Nigeria, i.e. DEPARTMENT for Petroleum Resources (DPR), National Environmental Standard and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), influences firms’ attributes on sustainability reporting.

Both primary and secondary data covers 2015-2019 were used to collate information for the analyzes. The analysis was done using Stata 13 to determine the moderating impact of policy administrators on the relationship between corporate attributes and sustainability reporting.

The findings showed a very low level of sustainability reporting (27.53%), with a high significant level. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship exists between the major corporate attributes and sustainability reporting. A highly significant moderating impact of environmental policy administrators exists on these attributes, except for board size.

The theoretical and practical implications of this study show that there is an indication of the inefficiency of the environmental policy administrators in Nigeria as the significance of the political economy theory as it affects the interactive impact on sustainability reporting. Further research is recommended on political-economic theory so as to know the economic implications of the effects of corporate attributes on environmental disclosure as it impacts governments and societies.

Results show that there is an indication of inefficiency by Nigeria’s main environmental policy administrators such as DPR, NESREA and NSE as it affects environmental, economic and social issues by listed firms.

This work emphasizes the moderating impact of environmental agencies on the relationship between firms’ characteristics and sustainability disclosure through the GRI4 framework standard. More so, it applied company attributes essential for a firm’s sustainable growth and development in the developing economies of sub-Saharan Africa.

Government seeks to realize its economic objectives and eventually its social objectives as well through taxation. In a Muslim-majority economy, besides many types of taxation imposed, some government also legally enforced an alms tax (Zakat) via specific authority. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of enforcement in Zakat compliance and how it can enhance the effect of social motivations, namely perceived institutional credibility and social pressure, on zakat payers' compliance decisions.

This research is underpinned by economic deterrence theory and employed data collected through a cross-sectional approach. A total of 274 Yemeni entrepreneurs responded to the questionnaire and analysed using SmartPLS version 3.2.9.

The study finds that social pressure and institutional credibility are significantly related to entrepreneurs' compliance with Zakat. Importantly, enforcement-moderated interactions of social pressure and perceived credibility on Zakat payers' compliance are statistically significant.

Some signals emerged from the results which could be used by governments throughout the Muslim-majority state to mitigate Zakat evasion amongst entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the study can provide information to Zakat authorities and policymakers on how to restore public trustworthiness and increase Zakat collection from entrepreneurs as well as cautioning such authorities that social pressure may possess an unfavourable attitude towards Zakat laws, influencing Zakat payers to do this action itself.

This study provides a shred of unique evidence by suggesting a new approach to the Zakat literature and linking the deterrence-based enforcement and social motivation with practice, which contributes to strengthening compliance levels amongst entrepreneurs and ultimately enhancing Zakat funds.

Although Zakah is the cornerstone of the social protection system in Muslim societies, providing relief to those in need and collecting funds from those who have access to money and property, many administrative and legal improvements need to be made to ensure that Zakah funds are managed effectively and efficiently in Muslim states. It is therefore important to recognize why some Muslims are not paying their Zakah through Zakah authorities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a viable and comprehensive research model, derived from an economic and socio-psychological perspective, to provide a richer understanding of Zakah payers’ compliance behaviour.

Drawing on extant literature, this study offers a conceptual framework for a better understanding of compliance behaviour by proposing an economic and socio-psychological model based on Fischer’s tax compliance model, which could be applied cautiously in an Islamic setting like Zakah.

The four main categories of the Fischer model are derived from socio-psychological and economic perspectives, namely, attitude and perception (system fairness, ethics and peer influence); Zakah system structure (Zakah law complexity and law enforcement); non-compliance opportunity (education level, wealth source and occupation); and demographic factors (age and gender). Each has much to offer in understanding Zakah payers’ compliance decisions. To suit the nature of Zakah, the influence of Islamic religiosity and the moderating effect of trust in the Zakah institution are incorporated into the model.

Those Muslim communities that strive to have functional Zakah systems to search for solutions to the perennial problem of low Zakah funding and its damning consequences, are offered a compliance model for systematically assessing Muslims’ compliance behaviour with Zakah provisions. This framework is anticipated to offer invaluable input to policymakers in streaming and strategizing the minimization of losses of Zakah revenue to Zakah authorities.

Although behavioural models such as the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behaviour have been extensively used in Zakah compliance studies, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is perhaps the first to apply a socio-psychological and economic framework, emerging from tax literature, in the Zakah environment to develop fully understanding of Zakah payers’ compliance decisions.

While the financial relief efforts are struggling to keep up with the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a need for the diffusion of e-Zakat initiatives and work with fintech if governments truly strive to ensure that most vulnerable do not fall behind. The newly launched e-system – popularly known as ZAKATY (e-portal and smartphone application) – in Saudi Arabia is an example worth attention and study on how well people can accept and use the system and Zakat payer-centric e-services, especially amid such uncertain times. The purpose of this study is to explore how an extended unified model of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) can induce users to adopt the ZAKATY e-services provided by the General Authority of Zakat and Tax during this unprecedented challenge to pay Zakat online in an easy, fast and reliable way.

Drawing on a quantitative approach through an online administered survey, a total of 479 usable responses from individual Zakat payers were obtained using snowball sampling and analyzed through smart partial least squares (SmartPLS) software.

This study confirms the suitability and utility of the UTAUT model used in predicting Zakat payers’ intention to adopt the e-Zakat system and its services, indicating that the model possesses 72% of the predictive capability to explain variance in intentions. It also shows that all UTAUT constructs (i.e. performance expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions) were statistically significant, except for effort expectancy. Online trust exerted a significant moderating effect on the relationship between UTAUT constructs and users’ intentions to uptake the system’s online services amid COVID-19.

To keep pace with rapid digital transformations amid the pandemic, Zakat institutions, as governmental entities, are likely pursuing to identify the main determinants that influence people’s intentions to engage in adopting e-Zakat services. This could be eventually translated into maximizing the proceeds of Zakat funds by developing ICT-based infrastructure and introducing reliable and efficient e-services that can be adopted by users.

Given the scarce literature on the relevance of e-Zakat systems’ adoption, this work could serve as a building block and springboard for literature and future research by empirically examining an extended framework derived from the UTAUT theory in the Zakat context.

This research aims to explore the moderating role of alms tax (zakat) knowledge in the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations (i.e. political instability, trust in institutions and service quality) and zakat compliance among businessmen in a Muslim developing country.

A final sample of 315 Algerian entrepreneurs randomly collected through a self-administered survey was analysed. Drawing on the social cognitive theory, estimation and analysis were done using structural equation modelling (Smart PLS).

The results indicate that all the hypothesised direct relationships are supported. Particularly, the knowledge-moderated interaction of political instability’s effect on entrepreneurs’ zakat compliance intention was significant, while its interactions with service quality and trust were not.

Findings that emerged from this study may serve as a reminder to zakat agencies and policymakers that varying degrees of knowledge about zakat can have a significant impact on shaping intentions to comply with zakat rules, particularly in an unstable political environment. Additionally, this work sheds light on the critical role of service quality delivered by zakat institutions and businessmen’s trust in such entities in shaping their zakat compliance intentions. Finally, it demonstrates how critical it is to strengthen the business sector’s social responsibility to support the zakat’s noble socioeconomic objectives.

This present work augments the scanty literature on zakat compliance because it validates a research model drawing on social cognitive perspectives. Additionally, the model blends the moderating role of knowledge into social cognitive perspectives of zakat compliance among businessmen.

Although zakat is a principal way to redistribute wealth, a unique practice designed to achieve a sustainable Islamic economic and social system, zakat institutions and agencies in most Muslim countries still suffer from the perplexing issue of low zakat collections, ascribing this to the level of compliance among zakat payers. To provide more insight into this lacuna, this study aims to examine the role of trust in zakat institution through the relationship between socio-economic determinants (i.e. religiosity, moral reasoning, peer influence and system fairness) and zakat compliance decisions.

From a typical Islamic country, Yemen, a random sample of 274 entrepreneurs was drawn for a self-administered survey. To estimate and analyze the compliance model, SmartPLS structural equation modeling was used.

The results show that all hypothesized direct relationships are supported. Importantly, the trust-moderated interactions of religiosity, moral reasoning and peer influence on zakat compliance are significant, although its interaction with zakat system fairness is not.

The results should be helpful for policymakers and responsible institutions in Muslim communities to understand how different levels of trust can play an important role in Zakat payers’ compliance to boost or erode zakat funds. This research also contributes important inferences for managers about the necessity of inculcating religious and moral values among zakat payers, formulating a fair system and embarking on sensitization programs in society.

The research enriches the scanty literature by validating a viable compliance model drawing on the socio-economic theory of regulatory compliance. Moreover, the model integrates the moderating role of trust in socio-economic perspectives of zakat compliance.

As one of the constituted main pillars of Islam, Zakah compliance (ZC) is mandated upon Muslims from all studies of life. Taking the disappointingly low compliance level in developing countries, including Yemen, as its backdrop, the purpose of this study is to investigate ZC behavior among entrepreneurs, drawing on the economic approach perspective.

The study adopted a cross-sectional design based on a survey of entrepreneurs in Yemen. It used primary data collected via self-administered questionnaires, involving a sample of 500 participants. A variance-based structural modeling equation-partial least squares were used to measure the instruments and assess the hypothesized relationships.

The findings affirmed the suitability of the economic factors approaches in the context of ZC in a developing country. Specifically, the study demonstrated that Zakah law complexity has a significant negative influence on ZC of entrepreneurs. It also found a significant positive relationship between religiosity and ZC among the study sample, whereas the study revealed that law enforcement has no influence on compliance behavior.

Policies and programs focused on Zakah laws and regulations could be formulated to make them less complex and simpler for acceptable levels of ZC. The result is further relevant to policymakers in Muslim communities to strengthen the religious faith of Zakah payers toward compliance with one of the fundamental religious obligations such as Zakah.

This study enriches the limited previous studies on actual ZC from the perspective of developing communities, especially Yemen. Most importantly, the value was added to the limited literature internationally from an economic aspect.

Despite the significant growth in Islamic economies and the increasing number of Muslim youths inclining digital services, empirical-based research addressing the adoption of digital Islamic services is still scarce. Particularly, as a new term in the Islamic finance industry, ZakaTech has recently emerged as a modern term describing novel technologies adopted by zakat (compulsory levy on all believing and practicing high-net-worth Muslims) institutions; yet, it has largely been neglected in the literature. Therefore, this paper aims to propose an integrated model that scrutinizes the factors of unified model of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) of ZakaTech, combined with social cognitive theory (SCT), especially in a time of COVID-19 social distancing.

The UTAUT–SCT model was validated via SmartPLS structural equation modeling by using a valid sample of 510 users (individual zakat payers) from Saudi Arabia.

The results demonstrated the suitability of the integrated UTAUT–SCT model in predicting zakat payers’ intention to use ZakaTech services. This proposed model has 70% explanatory power to explain variance in intention. All UTAUT constructs are statistically significant, except for effort expectancy. Social isolation caused by the pandemic and trust in e-zakat system exerted a significant influence on the inclination to uptake ZakaTech services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first research that studies Muslims’ adoption of ZakaTech during COVID-19. Particularly, this study could add value to FinTech acceptance literature by empirically examining an integrated framework of UTAUT–SCT in a context as modern and unique as ZakaTech.

With fundraising appeals for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) relief efforts and donating to those affected by its spread and impact, donors, volunteers and charities can all play their part and render much-needed support and aid. The purpose of this study is to be part of such effort by empirically examining the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that drive people's attitudes to engage in fundraising campaigns launched in many communities, providing a richer understanding of donors' responses.

The present work follows a quantitative approach based on an online survey conducted among potential Kuwaiti charitable donors. A total of 565 useable responses (356 females, 209 males) were obtained using snowball sampling and analyzed through smart partial least squares (SmartPLS) software.

With 90% of respondents financially able to donate who have a monthly income equal to or greater than the average (US$2000), this study confirms the suitability of the model used in predicting donors' attitudes to contribute online to grassroots fundraising campaigns. It reveals that all constructs included in the model (i.e. charitable projects geared for those affected by the pandemic, Internet technology (IT) features and religiosity level) are statistically significant, except for trust in charities.

This study suggests that in uncertainty and concern surrounding COVID-19, nonprofit organizations, charities and governments should make concerted efforts toward mitigating the impacts of the pandemic on families and workers who are on the frontline against its outbreak. Possible areas need to be improved through suitable proactive strategies to solicit online monetary donations, such as charitable projects with inclusive information, focus attention on IT features (e.g. privacy, trustworthiness, security and effectiveness) and strengthen the religious faith of donors toward the significance of helping vulnerable groups and regions.

The research adds value to the literature on donation and giving behavior by offering an in-depth understanding of what influences online donation attitudes, especially amid such an unprecedented epidemic crisis.