This study aims to investigate the intentions of Muslim cryptocurrency (CC) holders to fulfil their zakat obligations on digital assets, exploring the unique motivations and barriers within this emerging financial landscape. The research uses a quantitative approach and a cross-sectional research design through online surveys, using purposive sampling to gather data from Muslim CC holders. The integrated model, known as the theory of planned behaviour and social cognitive theory (TPB-SCT) model, is used to comprehensively analyse the key factors influencing intentions to pay zakat on cryptocurrencies (CCs). The study reveals that attitude towards zakat on CCs and perceived behavioural control regarding zakat on CCs have a significant and positive effect on the intention to pay. In contrast, subjective norms show no significant influence. CCs-related financial risk exerts a negative impact on intention. Moreover, CCs-related zakat knowledge and adherence to Shariah compliance are strongly associated with intention. These findings provide insights into the intricate dynamics of religious compliance within the evolving realm of digital assets. Outcomes offer profound indications to stakeholders, including financial institutions, zakat agencies, policymakers and the community, on how to integrate zakat into this new and rapidly evolving financial paradigm like CC. A pioneering effort was made in this study by exploring the intentions of Muslim CC holders to fulfil zakat obligations, bridging a significant gap in the existing literature. Developing and validating an integrated model of TPB-SCT in the realm of zakat on CC enriches the literature with a novel theoretical framework.

This study pioneers the investigation into the determinants influencing Malaysian investors’ intentions towards Non-Fungible Token (NFT) investments, utilizing an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use ofTechnology (UTAUT) framework. It explores the burgeoning interest in NFTs within the Malaysian market, an emerging economy, and identifies the behavioral adoption determinants critical for NFT investment decisions. Adopting a quantitative methodology, the research engaged 183 experienced Malaysian investors through a structured online questionnaire survey. The study employed regression analysis to assess the impact of Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Perceived Usefulness, Social Support and Perceived Trust on NFT investment intentions. The findings reveal that Performance Expectancy and Social Support significantly predict the intention to invest in NFTs, accounting for 47% of the variance in investment intentions. The study highlights the crucial role of perceived benefits and community support in shaping Malaysian investors’ engagement with NFTs, amidst the complexities of the digital asset landscape. The study acknowledges the limitation posed by its sampling method and size, suggesting the need for broader investigations that include a more diverse demographic to enhance the generalizability of the findings. Future research could further delve into the specific behaviors, motivations and challenges of NFT investors and creators. The significant predictive power of Performance Expectancy indicates a primary financial motivation among Malaysian NFT investors, suggesting policymakers consider regulations that foster innovation and growth in the NFT sector while safeguarding investors. The study also underscores the importance of community support, pointing towards the development of platforms that facilitate knowledge sharing among NFT enthusiasts. By demonstrating the pivotal role of social support in the NFT investment decision-making process, the research implies a powerful sense of community among investors in the digital asset space. It suggests the potential of NFTs to foster a more inclusive and accessible market for creative industry entrepreneurs, facilitating direct engagement and profit realization. This research marks a significant departure from existing studies by tailoring the UTAUT model specifically to the NFT investment context in Malaysia. It unveils the nuanced dynamics influencing NFT investment intentions, emphasizing the unique contributions of Performance Expectancy and Social Support, thus providing a fresh perspective on NFT adoption in emerging markets.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence people's behaviour in paying zakat, explore their perceptions of the institutions, examine the factors that influence their trust and analyse the impact of trust on their behaviour in paying zakat to the institutions. A questionnaire was distributed to 740 potential Zakat payers in the Federal Territory, Malaysia. In designing the questionnaire, a systematic literature review, focus group discussions and pilot study were conducted. Descriptive analysis and partial least squares structural equation model were used with SmartPLS software. The result shows that trust, intention to pay zakat and age of the respondents have statistically significant impacts on people's behaviour to pay zakat through institutions. Intention to pay zakat is influenced by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. In addition, the main common concerns expressed were lack of awareness of the importance of paying zakat, lack of transparency in zakat administration, especially in collection and distribution, and inefficiency in administration and distribution. Moreover, trust in the institutions could be established if the institution is able to fulfil its mission of collecting and distributing zakat to the entitled Asnaf and improve their welfare, as trust not only has a direct impact on people's behaviour, but also strengthens people's intention and influences their behaviour to pay zakat to the institutions. This study focuses on a specific geographical area and zakat institution; hence, the study's generalisability is limited. The use of self-reported and cross-sectional data may introduce bias and fail to capture the dynamic change of trust, intention and behaviour across time. The proposed solution of leveraging digital platforms may provide numerous hurdles and obstacles for adoption by the zakat institution. This study shows the significant role of trust in influencing people's intentions and behaviour in supporting organisations. Therefore, it can serve as an indicator of the performance or success of a particular institution. Thus, there is a need to find strategies to gain people's trust by improving their ability, integrity and benevolence in performing their tasks.

This study aims to investigate whether banks’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities impact their profitability and stability. The authors also explore whether banking industry competition and the country’s regulatory quality moderate the impact of banks’ ESG on their profitability and stability. The sample includes data from 46 banks in 11 Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) from 2010 to 2020. The authors have used the generalized method of moments (GMM) as the primary estimation model, with robustness tests to validate research findings. The results show that neither ESG nor its components impact bank profitability. Instead, ESG and its social component decrease bank stability. The findings neither support the stakeholder theory nor the risk-management view, which proposes that ESG activities improve financial performance and reduce unnecessary risks. However, an increase in market power (reduced competition) frees resources for banks, such that they focus more on ESG activities, which improves profitability, albeit at reduced stability levels. This finding supports the competition-related differentiation hypothesis. Finally, a country’s regulatory quality change does not influence bank ESG to impact its profitability or stability. This finding does not support the institutions-ESG proposition. This study has several limitations. First, constrained by data availability, the authors could not examine Islamic banks in OIC countries. Examining the ESG outcomes in Islamic banks would be interesting based on Islamic ethics and corporate social responsibility perspectives. The data set could also be more recent so that the differential impact of COVID-19 on bank ESG and financial performance could be estimated. The coverage of OIC countries was limited in our sample; this could be improved in future research. Banks should evaluate the focus and scope of their ESG activities, communicate their long-term strategic benefits with stakeholders and align ESG with their strategy and business model to offer innovative ESG-based products. They should also recalibrate ESG in their risk management framework to catalyse stability and stakeholders’ trust. Policymakers should control the level of competition so banks can foster ESG without sacrificing financial performance. Also, banks should be given regulatory incentives so ESG becomes integral to bank growth, direction and stability. ESG should be part of banks’ strategy and business model, to maximize its benefits for stakeholders, while maintaining competition and providing regulatory incentives. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the influence of bank ESG activities on their profitability and stability in OIC countries. The authors also extend the theoretical literature by connecting competition and regulatory quality to ESG-led financial performance.

In takaful (Islamic insurance), surplus in the takaful fund will emerge when the overall operations of the fund perform better than expected, i.e. when the underwriting, investment and expense management yield favourable results. Surplus, in general, refers to the excess amount of contributions available in the takaful fund after taking into account total claims paid, amount payable for retakaful contributions, reserves allocated and investment profits accrued to the fund. Given the rightful roles of takaful operators as ‘managers’ of the takaful fund and participants as owners of the fund, this paper discusses the current practice of surplus management and distribution, including the application of the surplus-sharing concept, among takaful operators in Malaysia. The study combines both qualitative and quantitative research methods and relies greatly upon availability of disclosures on the surplus distribution practice by takaful operators. The paper also sets out to establish the effectiveness of the existing practice in promoting a strong and sustainable takaful fund, upholding participants’ stature as owners of the takaful fund and enticing consumers to participate in takaful, as well as identifying the areas within the practice that can be improved to further enhance the feature and value proposition of surplus in takaful. The study affirms that, in actual practice, the surplus generated from the takaful fund is distributed between participants and takaful operators, with variation seen from the perspectives of frequency of distribution, method of distribution and specific Shari'ah contracts used to underlie the distribution. Several improvements on the disclosures of information on surplus are also suggested in the paper.