Digitizing Education During COVID-19 Pandemic in Bahrain Higher Education Context

This study is an endeavor to probe and explore digitizing education during COVID-19 Pandemic in Bahrain. The study is explorative in nature conducted with quantitative survey approach and utilizing the snowball and purposive techniques in collecting data. The sample focuses on the Academic Staff at public and private universities in Bahrain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Microsoft Excel and SPSS analytical packages were used to evaluate the data. The main results revealed the influential role of Covid-19 on the topics explored. This study presumed to highlight some of the emergent issues faced during the pandemic and the future direction of digital education. This study is the first study to focus on COVID-19 and Digitizing Education in Bahrain. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

E-Readiness of the Universities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Bahrain

This study examines the E-readiness of the Universities during the Covid-19 pandemic in the kingdom of Bahrain. The study uses quantitative methods and purposive techniques in collecting data during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data were collected from public and private universities in Bahrain during the Covid-19 pandemic. The public and private universities in Bahrain turned to remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. The main results revealed the influential role of Covid-19 on teaching methods and the readiness of the Academic staff during the Covid-19 outbreak. This study highlights the impact of Covid-19 on the Academic staff's readiness in using and learning new skills to disseminate the courses' contents among students. The need of significant investment and IT governance infrastructure is essential for the digital transition in public and private universities in Bahrain. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Donors' attitude towards fundraising efforts in UAE during COVID-19 pandemic: the moderating role of ethics

Purpose: This study aims to explore the antecedents of donors' attitudes toward fundraising campaigns to fight COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the pandemic crisis. This manuscript identified how moderating effects of ethical dimensions can strengthen the relationship between trust in charity and charity projects with their attitude to raise funds to mitigate pandemic repercussions. Design/methodology/approach: This study follows a quantitative approach by administering survey instruments to collect the data from the sample of respondents. A total of 391 responses were obtained adopting snowball sampling and analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) to derive meaningful results for path analysis. Findings: The findings of this study indicate that certain insights need to be considered to trigger the donors' attitude toward raising or participating in charity-oriented campaigns, especially during pandemic situations. For instance, organizing more transformable processes in charity projects and establishing more trust factors among donors is highly essential in charity activities. Similarly, promoting ethical dimensions of the donors toward supporting the vulnerable more effectively and encouraging them to participate or organize philanthropic activities certainly benefit and support this noble cause. Practical implications: This study will help the government and nonprofit organizations in devising their campaigns for raising funds. The findings of this study suggest that ethics is an important consideration and driver for donors in philanthropy-serving organizations and individuals. Originality/value: This research contributes to the literature on donation and philanthropic studies focusing on fundraising campaigns attitudes during COVID-19. This study contributes influential factors and attitudes of individuals and organizations toward charity and philanthropic service. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

BETWEEN TWO CRISES: DO ISLAMIC BANKS SUFFER?

This study compares the effects of the Global Financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic on the Islamic banking sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Using a sample of 32 Islamic banks observed over the period 2006 to 2020, the paper reveals that the two events have different effects on the Islamic banking sector. Overall, Islamic banks are not as profitable and resilient in the COVID-19 pandemic as in the global financial crisis. However, Islamic banks in GCC countries has gained experience and become more efficient and stable over time. The policy implication of this study supports digitalization and the increased prominence of financial technology (Fintech). In addition, monetary authorities in the GCC have to introduce innovative products to help the Islamic banking sector to be more resilient to such crises. © 2021 The authors.

Donors' attitude towards fundraising efforts in UAE during COVID-19 pandemic: the moderating role of ethics

Purpose This study aims to explore the antecedents of donors' attitudes toward fundraising campaigns to fight COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the pandemic crisis. This manuscript identified how moderating effects of ethical dimensions can strengthen the relationship between trust in charity and charity projects with their attitude to raise funds to mitigate pandemic repercussions. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a quantitative approach by administering survey instruments to collect the data from the sample of respondents. A total of 391 responses were obtained adopting snowball sampling and analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) to derive meaningful results for path analysis. Findings The findings of this study indicate that certain insights need to be considered to trigger the donors' attitude toward raising or participating in charity-oriented campaigns, especially during pandemic situations. For instance, organizing more transformable processes in charity projects and establishing more trust factors among donors is highly essential in charity activities. Similarly, promoting ethical dimensions of the donors toward supporting the vulnerable more effectively and encouraging them to participate or organize philanthropic activities certainly benefit and support this noble cause. Practical implications This study will help the government and nonprofit organizations in devising their campaigns for raising funds. The findings of this study suggest that ethics is an important consideration and driver for donors in philanthropy-serving organizations and individuals. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature on donation and philanthropic studies focusing on fundraising campaigns attitudes during COVID-19. This study contributes influential factors and attitudes of individuals and organizations toward charity and philanthropic service.

COVID-19 exposure: a risk-averse firms’ response

Purpose: Without a doubt, COVID-19 is a disruptive event that one may not consider before it becomes a global pandemic. This study aims to examine the firm’s risk preference, represented as board characteristics towards COVID-19 exposure in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses the boardroom’s average value of board age and female proportion to represent board characteristics. Fixed-effect regression based on industry (Industry FE) and year (Year FE) analyses 861 firm-year observations of all firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in 2019–2020. Findings: The result shows a positive relationship between the female board and COVID-19 exposure disclosure. Meanwhile, the age proportion does not offer a significant result. The additional analysis document that the directors mainly drove the result and were only relevant during 2020. These results are robust due to coarsened exact matching tests and Heckman’s two-stage regression. This study enriches COVID-19 literature, especially from a quantitative perspective. Originality/value: The rise of global crises makes the outputs of this study important for non-financial listed firms in Indonesia. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The Threshold Effect of Covid19 on Shariah Indices:an Empirical Analysis of GCC Countries

This paper examines the volatility of Shariah indices of the gulf cooperative council due to coronavirus. Do GCC Shariah indices that are affected by the bad news of coronavirus? and attempts to analyze the impact of (Cov-NC) and (Cov-DC) on the movements of Shariah indices. The study used the GCC Shariah Indices viz., S&P Domestic Shariah of each country separately. New corona cases (Cov-NC) and new death cases (Cov-DC) are the dependent and independent variables used from Jan 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020. The threshold-GARCH model is used to make the study more significant in terms of volatility in stock index prices due to the outbreak of the pandemic. The analysis shows that there is a negative leverage effect of bad news has more than the impact on conditional variance than good news. Here, GCC Shariah Indices are impacted due to coronavirus (Covid- New cases, Covid death cases) news spread in the market. Diagnostic analysis is based on AIC, SIC, and HQC criteria. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman Shariah indices are lower values in comparison to the higher values of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE Shariah indices. At-last T-GARCH model is more suitable for Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait Islamic indices. © 2022, Statistical Economic and Social Research and. All rights reserved.

Academic Staff Perceptions on Students' Traditional Assessment Transformations towards Online Evaluation during COVID-19 Pandemic in Higher Education: A Preliminary Study from Two Diverse Cultures

COVID-19 has changed the dynamic of all societies and led to the closing of all educational organizations around the world. To overcome the sudden situation, some educational organizations used online instruction which came with several challenges such as student retention, change in learner-tutor relationship, and timing and nature of the lesson warrant exploration. The purpose of the current research paper is to investigate these challenges pertaining to student assessment transformation during COVID-19 from the perceptions of academic staff located in two diverse different cultures. This is an exploratory study which uses a quantitative survey tool that recruited lecturers from public and private universities in Bahrain and Ukraine. The main findings revealed some inadequacy in online assessment during COVID-19, increased workload and teaching and preparation time on behalf of the teachers. Students' participation proved to be a challenge that require further examination, as contrasting results between the two contexts were found. The findings would be a great use to educational administrators and strategy makers, academic authorities, higher education administration, and virtual pedagogic developers. Potential pedagogical and research implications are discussed. © 2021 IEEE.

Game-Based Learning: Recommendations Driven from Literature

The aim of current study is to critically review some of the recently published articles tackling the concept and the importance of Game-based learning to come up with some practical recommendation that can be used in developing the mechanism of applying the concept and how we can use it during the COVID-19. The study recommends that to develop teaching methods and students’ skills as well, by investing more in AI techniques which will create more usable games in teaching and learnings during and after COVID-19. Furthermore, educational institutions need to adopt and foster digital literacy to enhance the level of using the technology inside and outside the classroom which will enhance the learners’ skills and decrease the risk of spreading the virus. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Bahraini Public’s Dependency on Social Media as a Source of Information About COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aims to identify the role of media campaigns factors to combat Corona Virus (COVID-19) in the Kingdom of Bahrain applying to a simple random sample of 250 through questionnaire tool. The results showed the campaigns focused on many ways to prevent the disease, namely: washing hands frequently with soap and water, using disinfectants to clean the house, using tissues when coughing or sneezing, ventilating the house constantly the campaigns showed also many indicators of Corona Virus infection such as high temperature in all body parts, and severe coughing. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on Islamic social finance by studying its impact on different components of Islamic social finance. It examines financial capacity as well as risk exposure among different income groups. The book illustrates how the COVID-19 pandemic can bring Islamic societies much learning in terms of crisis management and revitalization of their faith-based and Islamic assets. It discusses the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, society, and environment based on secondary data. The book also illustrates the importance of being innovative via Islamic FinTech for the sustainable development of Islamic finance. It argues that zakat could be used to fight against COVID-19 where the life of those with low income can be uplifted, and an artificial intelligence-based model is proposed for this purpose. © 2021 selection and editorial matter, M. Kabir Hassan, Aishath Muneeza, and Adel M. Sarea.

COVID-19 and islamic social finance

It is said that the COVID-19 pandemic has turned back the poverty clock. As such, there is a need to have social mechanisms put in place to provide relief to those who are affected in this regard. Islamic social finance consists of tools and institutions that could be used to alleviate poverty. This book explores the impact of COVID-19 on Islamic finance to better understand the effectiveness of Islamic social finance in helping those who have been affected by poverty overnight due to the halt in all major economic activities in the context of the pandemic. Since the struggle against poverty in each country will be different, the book attempts to shed light on the experiences of different countries by presenting successful models of Islamic social finance. The book first looks at poverty and COVID-19 before delving into the role of Islamic social financial institutions and how they have risen against COVID-19. The book concludes by examining the impact of COVID-19 on Islamic microfinance. This book is the first of its kind on the subject of COVID-19, and it intends to bridge the gap in the literature. © 2021 selection and editorial matter, M. Kabir Hassan, Aishath Muneeza, and Adel M. Sarea.

Guide to giving during the COVID-19 pandemic: the moderating role of religious belief on donor attitude

Purpose: 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. Design/methodology/approach: 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. Findings: 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. Practical implications: 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. Originality/value: 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. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The impact of COVID-19 on price volatility of crude oil and natural gas listed on multi commodity exchange of India

The impact of COVID-19, due to the wide-spread demand and supply destruction and downward movement of crude oil prices is of concern for all those connected with the oil and gas industry. In this study, an attempt has been made to estimate the price volatility of crude oil and natural gas listed on multi commodity exchange of India (MCX). We measured the leverage effect of COVID-19 on price volatility of crude oil and natural gas by using the daily prices of crude oil and natural gas from May 01, 2017 to April 30, 2020. The findings of the study reveal that there is a presence of leverage effect of COVID-19 on the price volatility of crude oil. However, this leverage effect is not present on the price volatility of natural gas. The findings of the study will help investors to develop investment strategies and to the policymakers to formulate appropriate policies to overcome or minimise the impact of COVID-19. The forecasting graphs of crude oil prices indicate that there is a possibility that price volatility will be higher in the future. However, it is difficult to forecast the expected price volatility of natural gas for the future because the price volatility graph is extremely fluctuating. © 2020, Econjournals. All rights reserved.