Audit committee characteristics and corporate philanthropic donations before and during COVID-19

Purpose: This study aims to examine the effects of audit committee attributes on corporate philanthropic donations before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The study targets Nigeria's listed firms between 2019 and 2020. We hand-collected the data from the available published annual reports of 141 and 128 firms for 2019 and 2020, respectively. Therefore, the authors used a total of 269 firm-year observations for the study. The authors used ordinary least square regression to analyze the data and Tobit regression to establish the robustness of the results. Findings: The results indicate that the frequency of audit committee meetings has a significant positive relationship with corporate philanthropic donations before and during COVID-19. In the case of audit committee independence, it has only a significant positive relationship with corporate philanthropic donations during the pandemic. However, the findings reveal that audit committee size and foreign directors on the audit committee do not influence corporate philanthropic donations before and during COVID-19. Research limitations/implications: The study considers audit committee characteristics out of the corporate governance mechanisms that can influence the philanthropic donations of the listed firms in Nigeria over two years from 2019 and 2020. Practical implications: The findings have practical implications for encouraging the audit committee to support philanthropic donations for the welfare of the poor and the needy, particularly in difficult times like the COVID-19 period. The results could also help regulators and policymakers to provide regulations and policies that can encourage firms to participate actively in philanthropic activities to their best ability. Social implications: Motivating firms to provide philanthropic donations for the welfare of underprivileged persons could strongly support the government's effort to minimize the socioeconomic problems caused by COVID-19. Originality/value: The study contributes to the scant literature that establishes the impact of audit committee attributes on firm philanthropic donations toward helping the poor and the needy in difficult periods. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Relative financial deprivation, financial anxiety and financial satisfaction: the role of access to Islamic financing among MSME owners amidst COVID-19

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to augment the present literature on the relationship between relative financial deprivation (RFD), financial anxiety (FA), access to Islamic financing (AIF) and financial satisfaction (FS) of micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) owners. Principally, the study examines the moderating role of AIF on the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative survey approach was used to collect data through self-administered questionnaires from MSME owners. Partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) version 3.2.7 was used to analyse 208 retrieved questionnaires. Findings: The results confirm that the RFD–FS relationship is negatively significant, but the FA–FS relationship is not significant. However, the direct relationship between AIF and FS is positively significant. Conversely, AIF failed to moderate the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships. Practical implications: The study specifies that the existence of RFD will decrease the FS of MSME owners, and therefore, RFD should be eliminated at all costs. However, the greater the AIF, the stronger will be the FS of MSME owners. Thus, policymakers and owners of MSMEs should emphasize on AIF to foster FS. Nevertheless, AIF could not redirect the negative impact of RFD and FA on MSME owners’ FS. Originality/value: This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to examine the moderating role of AIF on the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships among MSME owners. Notwithstanding the importance of small business owners for economic development, the literature on MSME entrepreneurs FS has been neglected. This study also uncovers new theoretical knowledge by revealing the inability of AIF to alter the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BOARD INDEPENDENCE AND CSR SPENDING OF ISLAMIC BANKS IN BANGLADESH

This study examines the relationship between board independence and CSR expenditures on education, health and human and disaster relief for the case of Islamic banks in Bangladesh, using unbalanced panel data from 2010 to 2020, the results indicate that board independence is positively and significantly associated with CSR expenditures on education and human and disaster relief sectors but is insignificantly related to the CSR expenditure on health. Thus, in forming the governance framework of Islamic banks, there is a need to have board independence to promote the social responsibility of Islamic banks. Indeed, our results suggest that it should be a regulatory requirement. © 2022 ournal of Islamic Monetary Economics and Finance. All rights reserved.

The Need for Revitalization of Islamic Social Finance Instruments in the COVID-19 Period in Nigeria: The Role of Digitalization

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously damaged the socio-economic development of Nigerians. Meanwhile, the country is in a debt crisis, which is largely attributed to the fall in the price of crude oil revenue that is used to finance its budget. This makes it difficult to provide sustainable support towards poverty alleviation in the country during the pandemic. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore various technological applications to apply in the revitalization of Islamic social finance instruments in Nigeria. Through a review of literature, the study provides various fintech applications that are essential for reviving the role of Islamic social finance instruments, particularly zakat and waqf institutions for sustainable poverty alleviation in the country. Besides, the benefits of supporting Islamic social finance instruments with technological applications were also provided for the efficient and effective administration, collections and distributions of Islamic social funds. Hence, the study recommends the adaption of the best practices found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bahrain, the U.A.E, etc. Besides, five specific recommendations have been proffered for the successful digitalization of Islamic social finance instruments in Nigeria. These recommendations can feasibly be implemented as it currently has a Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, which is saddled with the responsibility of transforming the country into a fully digital economy. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The potential of Islamic social finance to alleviate poverty in the era of COVID-19: the moderating effect of ethical orientation

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the potential of the awareness and knowledge of Islamic social finance (zakat, waqf and Islamic microfinance) to alleviate poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic with the moderating effect of ethical orientation. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected through the administration of paper-based and electronic questionnaires to 400 respondents out of which only 277 were found valid for analysis. Findings: The study showed that by direct relationship, the awareness and knowledge of Islamic social finance instruments have a potentially significant positive contribution to poverty alleviation during the COVID-19 pandemic except for zakat that has an insignificant positive contribution. Ethical oriental has also a significant positive contribution. Contrary to expectation, the moderating effect of ethical orientation has changed zakat and waqf to have significant negative and insignificant positive contributions, respectively. Only Islamic microfinance has endured the moderating effect to continue contributing significantly and positively to the reduction of poverty. Research limitations/implications: The study explored only the potential impact of the awareness and knowledge of Islamic social finance to mitigate the extreme poverty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Practical implications: This study clearly showed the need to create enabling laws and policies to support the operations of zakat and waqf institutions to achieve their objectives effectively and efficiently. These two institutions should be integrated with Islamic microfinance for the possibility of getting better outcomes. Social implications: There should be massive campaigns to restore religious, social and political ethics to enhance the socio-economic development of Nigerians based on the principles of brotherhood. Originality/value: This study provides unexpected and unusual results showing the inability of zakat and waqf institutions to alleviate poverty due to poor ethical orientation. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.