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The study aims to underscore the initiatives taken by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in spearheading their drive towards creating “smart” cities.

The study uses a qualitative approach by invoking documentary analysis supplemented by responses provided by 13 interviewees from public and private sector.

All the six GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) are keen on building upon their infrastructure to push their “smart city” agenda which would go a long way in furthering the economic diversification objective of their region besides improving the quality of public services.

Hitherto, research has been focused on appreciating the “smart city” initiatives of developed countries; this study seeks to build upon the literature on “smart cities” by contextualizing the research setting in the developing countries. Second, the study shows that with the ongoing oil prices crisis in the GCC, the “smart city” initiatives of the countries are conceived as possible avenues of economic diversification and competitiveness.

When the repercussions of COVID-19 were being absorbed by the world, the higher educational institutions (HEIs) were conceiving of strategies to run educational institutions on remote basis too, including the challenges linked with the teaching–learning as well as the management and other departmental needs. Leaning itself on the teaching–learning tectonic shifts amid the COVID-19 climes, the study reviews the status of “readiness” of the HEIs in Oman while bearing this in mind that the usage of information and communications technology (ICT) for distance learning and conventional learning has been considered as one of the parameters to judge the “quality” of the HEIs in Oman.

Documentary analysis alongside an in-depth reading of the quality audit reports sourced from the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority, which are publicly accessible are being referred for driving home the arguments in the study.

The study concludes that despite the case being in favor of distance learning from early on, the same doesn’t get reflected in the conclusions derived in the research conducted for assessing the teaching–learning mechanisms during the COVID-19 period. Therefore, the HEIs’ “readiness” in terms of ensuring the smooth transitioning to the remote learning pedagogical arrangements for meeting the challenges of the COVID-19 wasn’t efficacious.

The present study may be followed up with an understanding as to how the HEIs of Oman need to incorporate the perspectives of all the concerned stakeholders for the refurbishment of the teaching–learning process, especially in times of contingencies.

Apart from the policy-makers, the management of the HEIs of Oman needs to appreciate the need to be proactive and appreciative of the inclusion of ICT tools and techniques in the mainstream pedagogical settings.

Notwithstanding the emphasis upon the preparedness and readiness for tackling the challenges posed by the COVID-19 for the HEIs in Oman, no study has attempted to delve into the issue succinctly—the present study fills this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to underline the significance of invoking Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in Omani Banks. Opportunities and challenges are also being discussed in the case study.

Four Omani banks representative of local, international, Islamic and specialized banks are being studied in terms of their social networking presence on Facebook and their e-banking facilities. Also, impetus is laid upon the aggregation of internal data and vast amounts of semi-structured external data from public sources, including social media.

The case study shows that Big Data analytics and IoT technologies may be utilized by the Omani banks for facilitating them in “forecasting” and “nowcasting”. Besides, customers may be better managed with better and efficient services. However, there are challenges in tapping these technologies such as security, infrastructure, regulatory norms, etc.

Banks in Oman need to appreciate the utility of Big Data and IoT technologies, and for this, a robust IT infrastructure should be institutionalized.

The case study is a major step in integrating Big Data and IoT technologies in Omani banks across four variants of national, international, Islamic and specialized banks. This is the first study where such integration has been emphasized in the Omani banking sector.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the remodeling of risk management, risk-averse mechanism and the importance of Basel-III framework to cope with the current financial challenges in the regime of post global financial crises of 2008-2011 by evidences in the banking sectors of emerging economies of Bahrain, the UAE and Pakistan.

To ensure deep understanding in this cross-cultural study, two fold data collection techniques are used; one through distribution of questionnaires to relevant staff members and second through personal interviews of selected risk officials. Respondents are selected on the basis of minimum five years banking experience and relevant professional education of finance or risk management. Multistage sampling technique is used for data collection. To ensure the consistency from respondents, personal interviews were conducted with an interval of six months after receipt of questionnaires. Various statistical and econometric techniques were used to test the study hypotheses and to satisfy the study objectives.

Based on statistical analysis and personal surveys, research findings concluded that banking sectors of study-countries have deep concern with potential risk challenges and they are in continuous process to improve risk measurement framework in accordance with the latest regulatory obligations. All three types of banks have clear understanding of RM practices and strong relationship is observed between predictors and endogenous variables. Respondent banks of study-countries have deep attentiveness to manage all key risks and they recommend to transform existing regulatory framework including Basel-III reforms to develop a more comprehensive “one-size-fits-all” regulatory framework to cover loopholes of existing financial system.

This study is limited to the findings of remodeling of risk management to cope with the new financial challenges for the banking sector. Empirical investigation is conducted in emerging economies of the sub-continent and gulf and evidences are obtained from the UAE, Bahrain and Pakistan. Following this research model, future research can be extended to enlarge the sample size, by including other regional countries or a comparison between eastern and western countries to make it more useful to understand the risk management strategies, minimize banking default risks and to make this significant economic sector more strengthen.

Respondent countries of this study are fast growing and emerging economies of the sub-continent and gulf. Results of this cross-cultural study are likely to be beneficial for credit analysts, bankers and academic researchers. Findings are also beneficial for local and international business investors while they are taking prudent investment decisions in respective capital markets.

This is the first comparative study to empirically investigate the RM practices and risk-averse mechanism in banking sectors of Bahrain, the UAE and Pakistan. In perspective of study-countries, a critical analysis on risk-averse mechanism and Basel-III regulatory implications is demonstrated in this study.

This study aims to identify the factors that influence the willingness of Bangladeshi retail investors to invest in ṣukūk.

The authors surveyed Bangladeshi retail investors using a structured questionnaire to understand their perspectives on potential investment in ṣukūk. The authors considered the behavioral aspects of retail investors and the desired ṣukūk features to analyze the demand side. Factors and regression analyses were performed to identify the persuading factors.

The results indicate that investor awareness is a fundamental factor in potential investments in ṣukūk. Investors perceive the security represented by government and third-party guarantees as a persuasive feature of ṣukūk. The tradability and tenor of ṣukūk also affect the investment intention. Sharīʿah consciousness of the investors also plays a significant role in their investment decisions.

One limitation of this study is that it incorporates potential individual investors only, and precludes institutional investors. In the future, there is scope for research to explore the demand factors impacting institutional investors of ṣukūk in Bangladesh.

The authors expect that the study will aid policymakers and ṣukūk issuers in crafting strategies to cater to the needs of Bangladeshi retail investors.

This study is the earliest research conducted in Bangladesh to determine the factors impacting the willingness of individual investors to make their potential investments in ṣukūk. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no study has analyzed the desired ṣukūk features from the perspective of Bangladeshi retail investors.

This study aims to investigate the drivers of loyalty in Indonesian Islamic banks, especially group of depositor vs financing customer and single vs dual customer.

The objectives of this study were the seven major commercial Indonesian Islamic banks using the purposive sampling technique. In total, 105 questionnaires were processed, consisting of questions regarding depositors, financing, single and dual customer. Structural equation modeling using partial least squares were the analysis methods used to test the hypothesis, while in-depth interviews were conducted with Islamic bank managers to validate the findings.

Image has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction, as well as trust. Similarly, customer satisfaction has a significant relationship with trust. Trust has a significant relationship with loyalty. For a financing customer, the image is very influential on customer trust. For a depositor customer, customer satisfaction is very influential on customer trust. For single customer, customer satisfaction has a stronger influence on the image, compared to dual customer.

Islamic banks need to maintain good image and service quality to create strong, reliable and long-term relationships with customers, more specifically, in terms of improvement and product innovation. A bank focuses on the micro or macro segment, as well as financing. Financing products should be referred to customers’ needs. Bank reputation can be done by strengthening branding and corporate culture in marketing strategy. Shariah compliance has the highest loading factor to trust customers. Indonesian Islamic banks need to maintain customer trust by sticking to Islamic principles and continuing to ensure that its products and services are in accordance with Islamic principles. In Indonesian Islamic banks, it is very important to keep the legal aspects in all of products and services. Deposit products and services of Islamic banks should be in line with the rules of the financial services authority and Bank of Indonesia culture. Bank efforts to strengthen reputation can be done by strengthening branding and corporate culture in marketing strategy, while increasing the attractiveness of the products by way of research and development (R&D) must endeavor to make products and services attractive in terms of both product characteristics and price. Furthermore, it is necessary to support a good marketing strategy to market their products.

Research can be used more widely in determining public policy, by strengthening the marketing strategy and public education. Islamic banks can work together with local religious departments to maximize marketing strategies to educate and convince people to be active economically under Islamic sharia guidance. Islamic banks need to maintain customer trust by sticking to the principles of sharia and continuing to ensure that products and services conform to sharia principles. Islamic bank management can strengthen customer trust by having a good risk management system, so that customers feel secure with Islamic bank transactions. In addition, sharia banks as companies must demonstrate social responsibility by distributing ZIS managed from customers and implementing CSR as a form of awareness of the surrounding community.

The study revealed the factors that lead to loyalty on the financing, depositor and the single and dual customers. The study found that improvement and innovation, strategic and sustainability are new indicators used to build images of Islamic banks.

The purpose of this study is to critically evaluate how conventional and Islamic banks trade off risk, efficiency and financial performance in their business models, to investigate how patterns of risk and efficiency vary between conventional and Islamic banks and to critically evaluate how the profitability of conventional and Islamic banks varies following the financial crisis.

This study uses univariate and multivariate statistical techniques by investigating 12 Islamic banks and 34 conventional banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region has been studied over the period 2011–2018.

The results suggest that Islamic and conventional banks differ not in the levels of efficiency, risk and profitability, but rather in how risk and efficiency influence banks’ financial performance. Islamic banks are found to be less influenced by the adverse effects of credit risk, which is consistent with the risk-sharing nature of Islamic financing. However, the results only hold for return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) while the net interest margin is observed to be negatively influenced by credit risk. Lower cost-income efficiency is also found to boost ROA and ROE of Islamic banks which could be attributed to a larger share of non-interest revenues due to Sharīʿah-compliance.

From a theoretical point of view, this study helps to understand the risk, efficiency and financial performance of Islamic banks in comparison with conventional banks.

The results of this study can serve bank managers, regulators and shareholders. Policymakers should encourage a more risk-sharing structure of Islamic financing as it brings less adverse effects of credit risk and increases income sustainability for Islamic banks. The present study may help bank managers to improve the financial performance of their firms by controlling risk and efficiency. The study results also have implications for shareholders and depositors of Islamic and conventional banks as they should have a predetermined position about the level of credit risk and efficiency in each banking system.

The foremost contribution is that this is one of the few studies to compare risk, efficiency and financial performance of Islamic and conventional banks in the GCC region. By using the latest data, this paper hopes that the findings will be more relevant than previous studies to the current situation of the banking industry in the region.

It is widely evident that trust and commitment are important pillars for strengthening the relationship between financial service firms and their customers. However, it has not been explored how the service quality, perceived cost and role of agents are important for financial service firms. To overcome this gap, this study aims to investigate the role of service quality, perceived cost and the role of agents as the commitment–trust factors in the financial insurance service (Takaful) in Malaysia, enhancing customer satisfaction.

The study follows a quantitative design in which primary data was collected using a survey instrument. The measurement instrument was adapted from the previous research, and data were collected from 264 customers of the Takaful financial service organizations in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using variance-based structural equational modeling in Smart-PLS software.

This research has revealed several useful insights that demonstrate a significant impact on service quality, perceived cost and the agents’ role in forging close relationships with their customers. Corporate image has a moderating role in relationships and has significantly impacted takaful insurance companies. The results imply that regardless of the corporate image of the financial service organizations, customers are concerned about the prices and the quality of the agents’ services.

In this study, only the predictors such as service quality, perceived costs and agents’ roles as trust–commitment factors were examined to determine customer satisfaction. Other investigations are highly recommended, such as value co-creation in takaful, takaful customer experience and takaful trust. This study offers insights to takaful insurance companies on how to keep up a positive corporate image, which will boost their trust–commitment factors and ultimately increase customer satisfaction.

By presenting commitment–trust factors and company image in an identifiable framework, the current study has expanded the discussion on takaful financial insurance services. The methodology is developed and rigorously tested to gauge customer satisfaction in takaful financial service organizations’ context.

This research paper aims to empirically explore how stock market investors’ perceptions are affected by extreme climatic events like El Nino and floods in Malaysia.

This study uses structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse the empirical data gathered through a questionnaire survey involving 273 individual investors from Bursa Malaysia between January and June 2019.

Results reveal that companies’ efforts, especially for agriculture and plantation-based industries, to adapt to climate change risk at the production, business and stock market levels significantly impact investors’ behaviour and investment decisions. Moreover, stock market investors’ climate change knowledge shows a significant moderating effect on corporate climate change adaptation initiatives and investors’ decisions to invest in Malaysian agricultural and plantation industry stocks.

This research has significant implications for practice and policy, as it measures the stock market investors’ level of awareness about climate change events and explores the companies’ strategies to reduce climatic risks to their business model.

This study shows the way to adjust the climate change information in the stock market investment decision to improve market efficiency and sustainable stock exchanges initiative.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the pioneer one to provide a comprehensive link between climate change events and business performances at production level, business level and stock market levels by drawing inferences from empirical data on investors’ behaviours. This study also added value in investment theories and financial literature by observing the climate change as an important factor to determine the investors’ decisions in the stock market.

The significance of financial literacy (FL) in deciding how to allocate one’s investment capital has recently attracted much attention from various market participants and stakeholders. The study examines how FL affects individual investors' investment decisions (ID) in emerging markets. Additionally, the study investigates the potential mediating effects of attitude (ATT) and overconfidence bias (OCB) on the association between FL and ID.

The study employed a structured questionnaire to collect data from 311 individual investors in India, using both convenience and snowball sampling methods. The collected data were analysed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and processed through SMART PLS 4.0 software to test the study’s hypotheses.

FL alone may not greatly affect ID, but the study enhances understanding of investor behaviour by examining how ATT and OCB mediate the link between FL and ID. The findings imply that FL, combined with positive ATT and overconfidence, empowers individual investors with the knowledge and skills for appropriate decision-making.

This research would benefit financial institutions, financial experts, and individual investors in India since it enables them to evaluate the causes and biases affecting their IDs and manage their portfolios accordingly. Policymakers should develop appropriate FL programs for investors to make informed decisions to achieve financial well-being.

The paper is exceptional in its approach as it delves into the mediating function of ATT and OCB in the intricate association between FL and ID. This innovative approach sets it apart from other studies in the field, making it a unique contribution to literature.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0370