Azhar Alam

Generation Z is the future generation with technology familiarity and is a trendsetter in financial technology. This study aimed to compare (similarities and differences) perceptions of Generation Z Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia in paying Zakat, Infaq, and Sadaqah (ZIS). This study uses a qualitative approach with phenomenological methods through focus group discussions. This method was chosen because it allows substantial interaction between participants to compare objects more boldly. Initially, there were 43 Generation Z students from Indonesia and 25 Generation Z students from Malaysia. The total reduction of participants was carried out to find the most relevant and appropriate participants by determining the criteria for having paid ZIS using financial technology (Fintech) at least once. With 10 participants from each country from the final narrowing results, two stages of Focus Group Discussion were carried out. The findings show the similarity of perceptions of awareness of use, including the need and importance of usage benefits. The similarity of perceptions regarding reputation was also found in professionalism and reliability. In contrast, similar perceptions of satisfaction occurred in aspects of multifunction and usability. In addition, differences were found in the perception of data security. There are still suspicions about data security among Indonesian participants. No studies directly compare Generation Z Muslims in the two countries that pay ZIS through Fintech. This study confirms that it is essential to increase the security of personal data when using fintech. Then there is a feeling of security and comfort for Generation Z who donated ZIS.

M-banking is one of the services that Islamic banking provides to its users. With M-banking, customers can more easily obtain information without queueing at the bank. This study investigates the impact of Islamic mobile banking on customers’ interests. To explore the phenomenological impact, this study used a qualitative approach by applying in-depth interviews with 15 Islamic M-banking users from various backgrounds. This study analyzed the data by data reduction, display, and conclusion. The conclusion of this study revealed some positive and negative effects on the users. The positive effect is that it saves time, especially for students and workers who are busy with their daily activities. The available features and facilities such are credit purchases and online Islamic social payments ease them in saving time. However, there are also negative consequences for users. Some customers are susceptible to data theft by irresponsible people and face difficulties in using sophisticated mobile phones that not all customers have. Inconvenience telephone and text messages on behalf of a bank insulted users of Islamic M-banking and reduced their comfort. This study recommends that Islamic banks improve the data security system to ensure customer convenience when using M-banking.

The economic development of villages has a substantial impact on community welfare. It can become the backbone of the national economy. However, significant obstacles in village development are lack of human resources (HR), high poverty rates, poor common welfare, justice, and prosperity values. In 2022, in Indonesia there are 9584 underdeveloped villages. Some of the causes of the weak economic condition of a village are economic potential was not optimized, and excessive government interference stifled creativity and independence. This study seeks to explore the extent of the positive impact of the sharia economic implementation model in developing the village’s economy and the model’s potential as an alternative solution to building the economy of poor villages. This paper used descriptive qualitative methods, observations, and interviews with community leaders, community representatives, and the regency office. The results show that the economic development strategies carried out by Gerdu Village had three stages, namely (1) education and cooperation, (2) implementation and management, and (3) evaluation and planning. In addition, the internal driving factor behind the success of the village’s development lies in the activeness of village leaders in implementing sharia economics. As for cooperation with external parties, National Zakat Institution, related local department government, and other institutions around the village have also actively assisted in its development. Positive impacts on the community include increased employment opportunities, income, tourist visits, and tourism and language village programs. This study is expected to be one of the references to explain the Islamic economy’s role in advancing the poor village’s economy.

Acknowledgment
We would like to express our utmost gratitude to the Department of Sharia Economic Law Study Program, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta and the Department of Islamic Economics, Universitas Airlangga for supporting this study and its publication process.

The sharia insurance industry has experienced significant development from year to year. A sharia insurance company’s efficiency is crucial because it reflects its capacity to generate outputs from resources. This study aims to enhance comprehension of the efficiency of sharia insurance currently studied by doing a comprehensive literature study. This study selected 429 published articles about Islamic insurance indexed by Scopus between 2010 and 2022. 32 final articles that met the criteria that discussed efficiency as the primary study included in the qualitative synthesis analysis were selected. As a result, this study succeeded in revealing the development of sharia insurance efficiency studies based on the number of publications, authors, countries, subject areas, sources of publications, and cited articles. The study found four main methods researchers used to measure the efficiency of Sharia insurance. This study also revealed several studies comparing the efficiency level between conventional and sharia insurance. Furthermore, the study’s results were mapped based on the significance of the influence of variables on the efficiency of Sharia insurance. This study offers a new opportunity for further development in methods and variables of the efficiency of sharia insurance.

The threat of the global climate crisis demands improvement and adjustment from various sides, including the financial sector. Islamic finance responds to environmental responsibility by presenting environmentally friendly financing products in green sukuk. This study aims to show the development trend of the number of publications in green sukuk and systematize the results of studies that explain the development and evaluation of the emergence of green sukuk investments. This study analyzed 15 publications on green sukuk during the 2016-2022 years indexed by the Scopus database. As for methodology, the descriptive analysis was used to explain the green sukuk data quantitatively; the synthesis analysis was used to describe data based on four directions (the development of models (10 sources), opportunities (12 sources), challenges (12 sources), and evaluations of green sukuk (10 sources). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses standard were used to choose samples for this investigation. The green sukuk challenge is dealing with the sukuk market after the pandemic. Several evaluation findings regarding managing commitment from the government and investors for the renewable energy sector and efforts to provide low-cost sukuk financing and risk minimization are found. Green sukuk demands efficient management to be more viable, competitive, and attractive to investors if the operational area supports it. Green sukuk projects face expanding green funding, global climate financing, managing renewable energy, and validating greenhouse gas emissions. The green stock market reaction requires coordination amongst economic subsectors.

The primary aim of this research is to investigate the effects of Advertisement Presentation of Contents (APC) and Advertisement Visual Types (AVT) on the eWOM of Sharia hotels. A quantitative approach was utilized, analyzing 202 Instagram posts from five Indonesian Sharia hotels between June and November 2023. The methodology involved the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis using Smart PLS software. The results revealed that visual content types, such as photos, videos, and reels, significantly enhance consumer attraction, with a path coefficient of 0.372 and a p-value of 0.000, indicating a strong positive influence. In contrast, hashtags and links showed no significant effect, with a path coefficient of -0.838 and a p-value of 0.000. The R-squared adjusted value of 0.208 indicates that the independent variables explain 20% of the variance in the dependent variable. The AVT’s influence on eWOM is at a high level (f-squared = 0.042). These findings suggest that Sharia hotels should prioritize creating high-quality visual content to enhance their social media marketing strategies. The study concludes that effective visual content on Instagram can enhance eWOM and improve consumer perceptions of Sharia hotels, enabling them to compete with conventional hotels. These findings provide valuable insights for Sharia hotel marketers to optimize their social media strategies, emphasizing the importance of visual content over textual elements like hashtags and links.