The introduction of sustainable development goals has made sustainability a top priority for most nations. This has raised the investment into the educational system for potential growth and for creating an innovation culture in any country; the role of institutional investors in the development of financing clean energy infrastructure, entrepreneurial development, poverty reduction, and driving corporate social responsibility and firm development has been found significant. An intensive literature search of Scopus and the web of science database was explored with different relevant sets of keywords “Institutional investors AND Education”, “Institutional investors” AND “Higher education”, which drew 29 final articles between 2010–2021. This scoping review draws a new open approach for creating alternative sustainable funding for the higher education system and investment opportunities for institutional investors with government intervention. This research becomes the first that shows the road map to the higher education system in creating alternative funding through the proposed Institutional Investor & Sustainable University Funding Governance Code, which will make the higher education system independent and ease the burden on the government, as well as create a huge market opportunity for both players. This research model will scope the collaborative approach towards sustainable development goal 4—Quality education.

Green Lean Six Sigma has emerged in the Industry 4.0 era as a business strategy contributing to the circular economy by adopting the 3R concept, i.e., reduce, reuse, and recycle. Despite its broadly acknowledged capabilities in the manufacturing industry, practitioners continue to be cautious about its implementation, owing to insufficient knowledge and culture. Hence, there is a need to systematize the existing knowledge regarding this green initiative and also to recognize the key factors enabling its implementation. In the Malaysian manufacturing context, the enabling factors have yet to be identified and evaluated. This current study is the first of its kind to identify and examine these factors and to create a structural model to conceptualize and operationalize this business strategy. The implemented methodological approach includes two steps. Firstly, it performs a systematic review of leading studies on the topic, which are rather scarce in the current context. The second step entails a principal component factor analysis using varimax rotation to finalize the findings. The theoretical and empirical results revealed a structural model with five interconnected key factors, including twenty-seven enablers, that can be used to narrow the existing knowledge gap in the understudied context.

Economic sustainability involves the development of an organisation that meets its future needs through an integrated policy, planning, and social learning process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of competitive advantage in the relationship between strategic orientation and economic sustainability under unpredictable circumstances. This study collected quantitative data from a total of 284 halal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Indonesia through structured interviews. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Moreover, this study adopted artificial neural network (ANN) analysis for a model-free estimation using non-linear, multilayer, and parallel regression. The results revealed statistically significant and positive effect of strategic orientation on economic sustainability. Additionally, this study found that competitive advantage expanded the effect of strategic orientation on economic sustainability. Findings of ANN analysis confirm high prediction accuracy of the model. Findings of the sensitivity analysis highlighted the importance of innovation, network and technological orientation, and the positive effect of competitive advantage on halal SMEs economic sustainability. In order to achieve long-term economic sustainability, halal SMEs should therefore focus on innovation capacity, vertical and horizontal networking and adoption of the latest technologies. The uniqueness of this study focused on the strategic orientation and value of competitive advantage of halal SMEs towards economic sustainability. Additionally, this study was the first to develop hybrid SEM–neural network analysis to apply sensitivity analysis for the evaluation of the contribution of each exogenous predictor towards the endogenous construct.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of system quality dimensions, namely, ease of use, accessibility, interactivity and website innovativeness on service quality (SQ) and customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a quantitative approach, by using a survey method. The unit of analysis was the individual. A total of 618 questionnaires were randomly distributed to university students and staff in Jordan. The partial least square path-modeling method was used in the estimation of causal relationships of the constructs examined in the study. Findings: The outcomes of this study showed that ease of use, interactivity and website innovativeness have significant positive relationships with the SQ. Consequently, SQ significantly influences customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications: Limitations of this research were related to the unit of analysis, as it was conducted within the geographical region of Jordan and the university context, where the culture and level of the technological advancement may be different than other countries. Practical implications: This research can assist mobile commerce (m-commerce) service policymakers to formulate significant policies that could enhance the nature of services being rendered and thus bring greater benefits to the customers. Originality/value: This research has extended the body of knowledge on emerging trends in m-commerce innovation adoption, more specifically in the university context. Furthermore, it offers insight on the importance of m-commerce in the minds of customers, in such a way that it will bring about the intention to repeat patronage in the future.

The tax system provides the necessary financial resources to a country’s administration to use the collected resources for the welfare of the general public and the development of general infrastructure. Therefore, compliance with the prevailing tax system is necessary for a country’s political and administrative system to survive. The current study aims to explore the intention to comply and the compliance behavior toward the tax system among Malaysian taxpayers. The data were collected using the survey method, and quantitative data were analyzed using the dual-stage methods of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN). The analysis results showed that the perceived fairness of the tax system, tax penalties, and tax awareness were significantly related to the intention to comply with the tax rules and regulations. Furthermore, the intention to comply with the tax system significantly influenced tax compliance behavior. The ANN analysis confirms that tax awareness, tax penalties, and fairness perception are the three most important factors influencing tax compliance. The tax authorities need to build the taxpayers’ confidence in the prevailing tax system and streamline the tax system to reduce tax complexity. Consequently, the taxpayers will start paying the correct and timely tax liabilities. The study’s limitations and future research avenues are documented at the end of this paper.