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Considering the speedy growth of Islamic finance and limited research work on Muslim behavior regarding Islamic Banking, this study aims to investigate to comprehend the stimulus of religiosity on customer’s behavior.

A conceptual model is developed on existing literature. The key dimensions of religiosity in the model include practice, knowledge, experience and consequences to capture the whole religiosity of customers. Model of the study investigates the impact of customer’s religiosity on their behavior in decision-making about selection of Islamic bank. Analysis of the study is based on the sample of 370 customers of Islamic banks from District Nowshera Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The data for the study collected through random sampling by a comprehensive survey questionnaire. Binary logistic model is used to test the data for statistical analysis.

The key findings of the study suggest that religiosity influence customer behavior positively in decision-making regarding Islamic finance. Service standards of Islamic banking has also significant impact on customer perception, while the financial education of the customers has insignificant impact on customer behavior.

This study mainly focused on the curiosity of the customer religious commitment, so religiosity is a vast phenomenon; there are deep sections in each dimension of religiosity, so further study is suggested for the comprehensive capture of each dimension of religiosity.

The results of the study have a great importance for the managers of Islamic finance industry to identify and detect the potential customers and divide the target market of banking industry on the base of religiosity. Furthermore, the study may bring significant managerial suggestions for marketing planners and can help them in market segmentation strategies.

The study examined the association between Muslim religiosity and Islamic banking customer’s selection behavior. This study spread the understanding of religiosity and its impact on Islamic banking customer’s behavior. Furthermore, the study is valuable to discover the level to which religiosity determines the inclinations of customers. This study helps marketing practitioners and researchers to grow their knowledge about customer’s motives in terms of religious commitment.

This paper aims to develop bilayer woven fabrics with different picking sequences with enhanced comfort without any change in the constituent materials.

Six bilayer woven fabrics were produced on Dobby loom with 3/1 twill weave using micro-polyester yarn. Three different picking sequences, i.e. single pick insertion (SPI), double pick insertion (DPI) and three pick insertion (3PI), were used in both face and back layers. The effect of picking sequence on air permeability (AP), volume porosity, thermal resistance and overall moisture management capability (OMMC) of the samples were analyzed.

The results showed that 3PI–3PI picking sequence gives the highest OMMC, AP and thermal resistance in bilayer woven fabrics and the least results exhibited by SPI–SPI picking sequence.

This research uses a bilayer woven system that develops channels and trapes the air causing higher thermal resistance; therefore, applicable for winter sports clothing rather than for summer wear. Developed bilayer woven fabrics can be used in winter sportswear to improve the comfort of the wearer and reduce fatigue during activity.

Authors have developed bilayer fabrics by changing the picking sequences, i.e. SPI, DPI and 3PI of weft yarns in both layers and compared their thermo-physiological comfort properties.

The link between SME performance, growth and development is well established; however, the characteristics of SMEs that allow firms to be successful in the long run in an underdeveloped country context, i.e. Pakistan, are still unclear. This paper aims to bridge this gap by identifying the SMEs’ characteristics that set them apart from their rivals and become successful.

This study uses Storey’s development framework to identify the SMEs’ characteristics. Data is gathered using the case study method from SMEs with a metropolitan context in Pakistan. A narrative methodological framework was used during the data gathering and analysing stages.

Findings of this study indicate that the prosperity of SMEs in Pakistan is dependent on a combination of characteristics, including entrepreneurial characteristics of owner–managers, knowledge of business operating models, social networks and relationship building and innovation in business style. Additionally, other factors such as governance structure, strategic planning of market diversification and export characteristics also influence the prosperity of an SME. These findings may have several important implications for key stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, SMEs and policymakers in the government.

This research provides evidence about factors that can help an SME to become successful in uncertain situations surrounding a business environment. Theoretically, the contribution of this research is that it demonstrates that entrepreneurial characteristics and the effective leadership style of owner–managers can help SMEs achieve prosperity in external unforeseeable situations.

At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of pharmaceutical agents meant that policy institutions had to intervene by providing nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). To satisfy this need, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued policy guidelines, such as NPIs, and the government of Pakistan released its own policy document that included social distancing (SD) as a containment measure. This study explores the policy actors and their role in implementing SD as an NPI in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study adopted the constructs of Normalization Process Theory (NPT) to explore the implementation of SD as a complex and novel healthcare intervention under a qualitative study design. Data were collected through document analysis and interviews, and analysed under framework analysis protocols.

The intervention actors (IAs), including healthcare providers, district management agents, and staff from other departments, were active in implementation in the local context. It was observed that healthcare providers integrated SD into their professional lives through a higher level of collective action and reflexive monitoring. However, the results suggest that more coherence and cognitive participation are required for integration.

This novel research offers original and exclusive scenario narratives that satisfy the recent calls of the neo-implementation paradigm, and provides suggestions for managing the implementation impediments during the pandemic. The paper fills the implementation literature gap by exploring the normalisation process and designing a contextual framework for developing countries to implement guidelines for pandemics and healthcare crises.

This study investigates the interrelationships between competitions in different banking markets and shadow banking for the Chinese banking industry over the period 2003–2017. The current study also examines the determinants of competition in different banking markets and the factors influencing the size of shadow banking.

Bank competition is measured by the Boone indicator, while the relationship between bank competition and shadow banking is examined through a three-stage least square estimator.

The findings suggest that a larger volume of shadow banking leads to a decline in the level of competition in the deposit market, loan market and noninterest income market, while an increase in the level of competition in the loan market, deposit market and noninterest income market leads to an expansion of shadow banking. The authors find that higher bank risk and higher developed of stock market reduce the competitive condition in the loan market, and the competition in the deposit market will be enhanced by higher levels of banking sector development and higher levels of inflation, but bank diversification will reduce the level of competition in the deposit market. The authors further find that higher bank profitability and higher stock market development reduce bank competition in the noninterest income market. Finally, the results show that larger bank size and higher development of stock market reduce the size of shadow banking in China, but higher economic growth increases the size of shadow banking.

This is the first piece of research investigating the relationship between bank competition and shadow banking. This will also be the first piece of research examining the determinants of competition in different banking markets and also the factors influencing the size of shadowing banking in China.

In times of crisis and volatility, especially in the Covid-19 scenario, project organisations are facing multifaceted threats. Project organisations are inclining towards flatter organisational structures. Employees are demanding more decision-making authority due to the changing working scenario. Despite the advancement in project management, a hard skill side, project organisations are still struggling to achieve successful projects. The project manager's leadership, employee self-leadership and soft skills are presented as the solution to these aggravated problems. This article attempts to determine whether a transformational leadership style can influence project success, directly and indirectly through employee self-leadership.

The author raises the hypothesis, supported by social cognitive theory, that transformational leadership impacts project success directly and indirectly through self-leadership. Data were collected from 289 project team members in the IT sector, and the proposed relationships were assessed through Partial least squares structural equation modelling PLS-SEM.

Results show that a project manager's transformational leadership behaviour and employee self-leadership positively impact project success. Additionally, self-leadership mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and project success. Lastly, empowerment demonstrated significant moderation for self-leadership and project success, and for transformational leadership and project success.

In this study, one obvious methodological limitation is a cross-sectional design. Future research can be performed while adopting a longitudinal research design. Another conceptual limitation of the model is that the authors did not include all transformational leadership dimensions, which can be considered for future studies while replicating this research model. Another future front can be by examining other leadership styles. Another research limitation may be the single source data collection, a future study may be conducted by several sources for data collection to adequately test both of the leadership styles at different hierarchies and for project success.

The paper contributes to the literature by finding that, in crises, a project manager's transformational leadership style enhances project success. In practice, project managers are needed to adopt transformational behaviour and encourage employee self-leadership and empowerment.

This paper aims to derive the time-varying relative export competitiveness (REC) of the Nigerian cocoa sector against Nigeria’s share of world agricultural exports (REC_WA) and world merchandise exports (REC_WM) from 1995 to 2018. By concentrating on different factors such as demand and supply capacity, price factors and exchange rate, the authors examine the determinants of REC.

The authors calculated three different REC indexes. The authors also developed the relative symmetric export competitiveness index for comparative advantage calculation and avoiding the possible bias. The determinants of REC for Nigerian cocoa were captured using the short-run regression (SRR) model.

The study showed that Nigeria’s cocoa exports are still competitive despite experiencing some declining stages. Based on the SRR model, higher per capita income had a positive effect on the REC, while higher domestic prices significantly reduced the REC of cocoa. Further, the African Growth Opportunity Act agreement adversely affected the REC of cocoa.

This study provides a foundation for future research and enhances the literature on agricultural trade. This research makes a few contributions both from a scientific and a policy perspective. First, it is the first study on the REC analysis for the Nigerian cocoa industry. Second, a wide range of comparisons of REC among the world’s largest cocoa exporters was provided following implications of the various economic policies and local policy strategies. Third, the latest 24-year data sets were covered.

In this paper, the authors derive time-varying relative export competitiveness (REC) of the Cambodian rice sector from 1995 to 2018 and examine the key determinants of the REC.

Three different REC indexes are calculated in this paper. The authors also developed the relative symmetric export competitiveness (RSEC) index for calculation of comparative advantage. The short-run regression (SRR) model was applied for capturing the determinants of the REC.

The study results reveal that Cambodia's rice exports became relatively competitive over time. The key findings suggest the Cambodian REC was strengthened as a result of a successful implementation of rice policy and rectangular strategy. The benefits gained from EBA and BRI were found to be the factors contributed to the REC. The higher per capita income had a positive effect on the REC, while higher domestic prices reduced the REC in some phases of the sectoral development.

Further research is needed in two directions. First, the future studies might focus on other agro-products of Cambodia. Second, the development of the crop-specific factor endowment (CFE) model to consider the effect of endowment factors on the REC could be preferred in light of the data availability.

The research enriches the literature on the agricultural trade and provides a basis for further studies. This work makes a few contributions. First, it is the first study on the REC analysis for the Cambodian rice sector. Second, the latest 24-year data sets were covered. Third, a wide range of comparisons of REC among the world's top rice exporters was provided following implications of the various economic policies and foreign policy strategies, such as RS, EBA and BRI.

Using AI to strengthen creativity and problem-solving capabilities of professionals involved in innovation management holds huge potential for improving organizational decision-making. However, there is a lack of research on the use of AI technologies by innovation managers. The study uses the theory of appropriation to explore how specific factors – agile leadership (AL), innovation orientation (IO) and individual creativity (IC) – impact innovation managers' use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT (CGA).

The research model is tested through a large-scale survey of 222 Italian innovation managers. Data have been analyzed using structural equation modeling following a two-step approach. First, the measurement model was assessed to ensure the constructs reliability. Subsequently, the structural model was analyzed to draw the conclusions on theorized model relationships and their statistical significance.

The research findings reveal positive associations between IO and IC with CGA, demonstrating that innovation managers who exhibit strong innovation orientations and higher Individual Creativity are more likely to adopt and personalize ChatGPT. However, the study did not confirm a significant association between AL and CGA.

Our findings have important implications for organizations seeking to maximize the potential of generative AI in innovation management. Understanding the factors that drive the adoption and customization of generative AI tools can inform strategies for better integration into the innovation process, thereby leading to enhanced innovation outcomes and improved decision-making processes.

Decreasing sources of fossil fuels has caused an increase in importance of the renewable energy resources and systems that directly utilize renewable energy are even more important. The purpose of the paper is to compare the most common solar cooling technologies against the most important requirements.

A multi-criteria decision methodology, analytical hierarchical process, has been used to prioritize these technologies with respect to each other.

The findings of this study are the priorities of selected solar cooling concepts against performance affecting criteria. The solar vapour adsorption cooling system has been found to be the optimum solar cooling concept with practically the highest performance number compared with the other cooling systems.

This study can be used in the future development of solar cooling technologies to benefit from the best collective features of the specific technologies.