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This paper aims to examine the effect of the imposition of public reprimands on the underlying stock prices of companies in Malaysia.

Data on 148 companies that received public reprimands during the period from 2007 to 2013 were collected from the Bursa Malaysia website to analyse the market reactions to the imposition of public reprimands.

Based on a market model of abnormal returns, the empirical result showed that the imposition of a public reprimand had a negative impact on a company’s stock price. Moreover, when a market model of average abnormal returns (AAR) was used, the result indicated that companies that had received a public reprimand had a negative AAR value.

The findings from this study have implications for shareholders in making their investment decisions because they can switch their investments to other companies and markets after a company in which they are interested or have made an investment has received a public reprimand.

There is limited research on the imposition of public reprimands and the effect that it has on companies in developing countries. Hence, this study contributes to research in this area by providing evidence on the effect of public reprimand on stock price reactions in the context of a developing country, namely, Malaysia.

The main aim of the present study is to assess the moderating effect of joint audit (JA) on the relationship between audit committee effectiveness (ACEFF) and audit quality (AQ) in Egypt.

The sample included 61 non-financial corporations listed on the Egyptian Exchange from 2016 through 2020. The results are estimated using panel data analysis with fixed-effect models.

The findings exhibit that audit committee (AC) independence, ACEFF; and audit firm size negatively affect AQ. Conversely, the influence of AC meetings on AQ is positive and significant. The findings also reveal that JA moderates the relation between the ACEFF and AQ.

The study offers theoretical contributions to corporate governance mechanisms, JA; and AQ by using data from listed firms in Egypt. The study is the first one that examines the moderating role of JA on ACEFF and AQ.

The study has practical implications for investors, board members, practitioners, academicians; and policymakers. Moreover, the study contributes using a composite measure for the ACEFF score.

The findings, supported by agency, resource dependence; and signaling theories, contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between ACEFF, AQ; and JA. The evidence about JA is still unknown in developing countries. Further, revisiting AQ with different measures, particularly accounting conservatism, has not been a subject of prior studies.

The term “Shariah compliance” states that a firm conducts business activities within the boundaries stipulated by Islamic law. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine whether a firm’s Shariah compliance helps in reducing firm-specific stock price crash risk (SPCR).

Using the data of 10,391 firm-year observations of non-financial public listed firms in Malaysia from 2001–2017, this study uses the panel data estimation technique for regression analysis. Moreover, a series of alternative estimations has been applied to check the consistency of results.

The findings reveal a significant negative impact of firms’ Shariah compliance on SPCR. The results indicate that Shariah-compliant (SC) firms are less likely to hoard bad news, ultimately reducing SPCR. The results also unveil a possible mechanism through which SC firms reduce SPCR. The findings reveal that SC firms are less likely to be involved in earnings management, which reduces the risk of a stock price crash in SC firms. It highlights the behavioral differences in financial reporting between SC firms and Shariah non-compliant (SNC) firms.

This research adds to the existing literature of Islamic capital markets from the perceptive of SPCR. The SPCR exhibits a tail risk of the stocks and is very important for risk management and investment decisions. The findings of this study will help risk-averse investors to include SC firms in their investment portfolios for risk minimization. The results also guide policymakers and regulatory bodies to rethink the monitoring mechanisms of publicly listed firms.

This study is unique, as it highlights that firms’ Shariah compliance reduces SPCR.

This study aims to test the Kuznets curve between economic growth and child labor, along with the influence of exports, household size and rural population in the context of Pakistan.

To achieve the research objective, this study applied the unit root test, bound co-integration test, and autoregressive distributive lags (ARDL) method for the period of 1972–2021.

The findings show an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and child labor indicating that at the beginning stage of economic development, child labor increases due to lower per capita household and subsequently, in the long-run of economic development, child labor decreases due to the higher per capita households. Moreover, the results also show that exports, household size and rural population have a positive influence on increasing child labor.

The policymakers and government of Pakistan need to focus on long-term economic growth policies, ensure free quality education and cheap equipment which practices minimum manpower to reduce the threat of child labor.

Having long-run economic growth, the government of Pakistan need to equally benefit the households and the poor population to reduce child labor and enhance the social welfare of society.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the Kuznets curve relationship between economic growth and child labor in the context of Pakistan. Moreover, this study contributes to the reduction in child labor through long-term economic growth in the context of Pakistan.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0387

Using the integrated behavioural model as a theoretical framework, this study aims to identify salient beliefs underlying intention to save regularly among Gen Ys in Malaysia.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 participants who were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods.

While Gen Ys are not pushed by others to save, they find that older people (parents, parents-in-law, colleagues and relatives) influence them to save. The main facilitator of regular saving behaviour is low financial commitments. Expenses, particularly unexpected expenses, was found to be the main factor impeding the performance of regular saving. Overall, the participants feel that, irrespective of what happens in the future, they want to continue saving regularly. Lastly, self-efficacy might be present for some participants, but not self-control. Some end up withdrawing their savings for spending, emergency, and travel, thus ending up almost depleting their savings.

Of this study’s 13 interviewees, only one has not managed to save any money. Such an imbalanced sample composition was not deliberate. It appears those who have not saved money were reluctant to be interviewed, as this topic might be uncomfortable for them. This could have led to only those who save being eager to be interviewed.

Policy makers should find this study useful, as the behaviour of Gen Ys in Malaysia is different from the overall perception of Malaysians’ financial behaviours. Gen Ys have positive attitudes towards saving money, although they do not seem to practice long-term saving. Policymakers could identify, with banks and the Employee Provident Fund, ways to encourage Gen Ys to think long term. Government could play its part by creating and increasing awareness amongst Gen Ys on the long-term consequences of inadequate savings.

This study contributes to the literature by identifying the salient beliefs underlying regular saving behaviour through the conduct of elicitation interviews. It is an empirically grounded study enhancing the understanding of intention to perform regular saving among Gen Ys in an emerging market.

The concept of “buy now pay later” leads Malaysian Generation Y (Gen Y) to excessively use their credit cards for spending. To gauge the extent of this worrisome scenario, the purpose of this paper is to attempt to investigate the factors, including credit attitudes, knowledge on credit card, materialism, social norm and self-efficacy, that influence credit card misuse amongst Gen Y in Malaysia.

The authors have collected responses from a total of 501 respondents in two urban areas in Malaysia and estimated six multiple regression models to test five hypotheses.

The results suggest that credit card knowledge and self-efficacy are negatively related to credit card misuse amongst Gen Y in Malaysia. In contrast, positive relationships were found to exist between credit card attitudes, materialism and social norm and the dependent variable.

In this study, the authors limit the data collection to the two biggest urban areas in Malaysia, namely, Klang Valley and Ipoh.

For the regulator’s perspective, the results can be used to understand the alarming indebtedness behaviour amongst working members of Gen Y and outline appropriate and effective policies to reduce their serious indebtedness. Financial service providers, however, can collaborate with regulators to curb credit card misuse amongst Gen Y, so that the latter can avoid high bad debt from line of credit facilities and bankruptcy.

The study’s findings will further enrich the existing literature on the factors affecting the credit card misuse, especially for the unique Gen Y cohort in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of understanding of Islamic banking concepts and the factors that influence Islamic banking adoption in Malaysia, based on Rogers’ (1983; 2003) Diffusion of Innovation. Specifically, the impact of perceived attributes and other variables (understanding, consumer innovativeness and bank personnel’s professionalism) on Islamic banking adoption is examined.

A quantitative approach using a sample of 200 working MBA students in a leading public university in Malaysia was used. The instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire survey.

The level of understanding of various Islamic banking concepts is below average. A logistic regression reveals that the understanding of Islamic banking concepts and perceived advantage significantly influences the adoption of Islamic banking services.

The small sample size of 200 individuals may render the findings ungeneralizable. Future studies may use a larger sample from across Malaysia and incorporate other independent variables, such as religiosity and Islamic financial literacy.

The Malaysian government can provide tax incentives and conduct educational roadshows on Islamic banking. Educating prospective consumers on the advantages of Islamic banking as opposed to conventional banking would provide more objective benefits that would boost the adoption of Islamic banking.

The results of this paper will be useful for Islamic financial institutions to increase their marketing and promotional efforts to keep pace with stiff competition within the industry.

This study investigates the borrowing behaviour of public sector employees in Malaysia by focusing on religious belief and psychological factors. The first objective of the study is to examine the differences in the borrowing behaviour according to demographic and socioeconomic factors of the civil servants. The second objective of the study is to investigate the influence of religious belief, excessive consumption, materialism and financial literacy towards two aspects of borrowing behaviour: personal loans and credit card usage.

Primary data was collected using a digital survey which was distributed using a convenience sampling approach to public sector employees working in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A sample of 340 public sector employees was obtained for analysis.

The study found that civil servants of different education backgrounds and income levels tend to differ in their borrowing behaviour. Specifically, those with lower levels of education, or lower income levels, tend to have a higher tendency of borrowing through personal loans. Multiple regression analyses reveal that public sector employees with either higher religious belief or higher financial literacy have a lower tendency of borrowing either through credit cards or personal loans. However, those who spend excessively or those who have higher levels of materialism tend to display more aggressive borrowing behaviour in terms of credit card usage and personal loans.

The study contributes to the literature by exploring the role of religious belief on borrowing behaviour. In addition, the study contributes to the literature by examining a specific group in the Malaysian society, i.e. public sector employees, due to the perturbing state of indebtedness among civil servants in Malaysia.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between Islamic religiosity and Islamic financial asset holdings (IFAH) among Muslim individuals in Malaysia.

Data for this study were collected through a survey questionnaire, and a sample of 751 working Muslims in Kuala Lumpur was obtained. Islamic religiosity was measured via religiosity levels and religiosity dimensions. IFAH was measured as the fraction of Islamic financial assets held in a financial portfolio. A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to estimate the relationships.

The results show that religiosity level influences the IFAH. Devout Muslims held more Islamic financial assets than casual Muslims. All religiosity dimensions influenced IFAH, with faith having the greatest influence and virtues the least. Educational level strongly influenced IFAH.

The sample consisted of working Muslims in Kuala Lumpur; hence, generalization cannot be made to all Malaysian Muslims. This study only focused on Islamic financial assets and did not consider other types of Islamic financial products, such as financing.

Efforts to encourage Muslims to opt for Islamic financial assets may be more effective if they begin from the core of religious education. Educating individuals on Islamic principles, including the values and concepts of Islamic finance, is important to encourage the Islamic banking industry to prosper among Muslims.

The paper provides an extension of current literature on spirituality and religion by incorporating a comprehensive measure of Islamic religiosity and its relationship with financial asset holdings.

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in firms’ level of information asymmetry in emerging market of Malaysia for the period of 2000-2016. Specifically, the study focuses on changes in the quoted spread and quoted depth following the fraud announcement.

The study uses a unique set of fraud sample using enforcement action releases (EARs) identified from the Security Commission of Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia. To estimate the result, the authors use event study methodology, OLS regression and simultaneous model on a set of 67 fraudulent firms.

The results of event study, OLS regression and simultaneous equation models suggest that information asymmetry increases on fraud discovery. The authors also use the analysis on subsamples classified by the type of regulator (who issued the enforcement release) and type of fraud committed. However, the authors find no evidence of a difference in information asymmetry across these groups. Overall, the results support the reputational view of fraud that it damages the firms’ reputation and increases uncertainty in the capital market.

These findings provide valuable insights into understanding the information asymmetry around fraud announcements, especially for Malaysia, where the majority of the public-listed companies are family-controlled and under significant state control. The results of this study call for the active role that regulators can play to achieve a transparent and liquid capital market.

The research has practical implications. Specifically, for Malaysia, fraud is the primary area for National Results Areas (NKRA) in the Government Transformation Program (GTP). Therefore, for regulators and policymakers to ensure a liquid and transparent capital market, identifying the factors that elicit the fraudulent behavior and improving the related governance mechanism are necessary steps to prevent the fraudulent practices.

Due to increased information asymmetry on fraud announcements, the demand for equity decreases that may affect not only the fraudulent firms but also results in negative externality for non-fraudulent firms, thus impairing their ability to fund equity.

A significant majority of studies have focused on corporate frauds in developed countries such as the USA that is characterized by dispersed ownership system and a strong capital market. One of the vocal critics of the agency theory is that it neglects the social and institutional framework within which companies operate. In emerging markets, such as Malaysia, the published academic papers on fraud and information asymmetry are very limited. As emerging markets practice different cultures, corporate governance mechanisms and market regulations, the study is significant to investigate the behavior of investors in such markets.