This empirical paper aims at measuring customer attitudes concerning Islamic banking services and how they influence their behavioural intentions to utilise them. Islamic banking has been a fast-growing sector, offering products and services according to Sharia law. Despite being the preferred choice of banking, there is a high percentage of Muslim customers who have shifted from conventional to Islamic banking. Hence, this study aims to examine factors that influence them towards the use of Islamic banking. This is cross-sectional research, where data were collected using questionnaires. A total of 490 questionnaires were received back from adult individuals who were clients of Islamic banks. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) method. The findings indicate that ethical organisation, Islamic values, and reputation significantly impact attitudes, whereas financial literacy has no significant impact on them. Attitude is strongly related to the behavioural intention to engage in Islamic banking services. The results also reveal that attitudes mediate the effect of Islamic values, ethical organisation, and reputation on the behavioural intention to engage in Islamic banking services, but Islamic financial literacy is not associated with customers’ behavioural mindset to enjoy such services. This study provides an example of initial empirical evidence from a Muslim majority country like Bangladesh on the relationship between Islamic values, ethical organization, Islamic financial literacy, and reputation and attitudes, which in turn lead to customers’ behavioural intentions to engage in services and products of Islamic banks.

This study aims to investigate the customers’ perceptions of Islamic banking services and their impact on satisfaction and word of mouth (WOM) with others. This study designs the bootstrapping procedures using a partial least square method to test path coefficient results. Structured questionnaires were distributed among clients of Islamic banks in Dhaka city, where 377 responses were collected for data analysis. The findings revealed that there is a highly significant relationship between security and customers’ perception. Ethical responsibility and religious value have a positive and significant impact on customers’ perception whereas benefit has a negative significant impact on customers’ perception. Findings from this study also indicated that customers’ perceptions mediate the effect of ethical responsibility, religious value, benefit, and security on satisfaction. In addition, customers’ satisfaction mediates the effect of customers’ perception and WOM. These findings can promote managers of Islamic banks to build customer satisfaction and WOM with Islamic banking services, and attain competitive advantage that may lead Islamic banks to succeed in the competitive business. This study also provides new insights into customers’ WOM with others about Islamic banking services. This knowledge could assist Islamic banks to understand the customers’ perceptions that would increase satisfaction and in turn, contribute to WOM with others in determining where would be best to target marketing attention of Islamic banking services with limited resources.

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality of care provided by health care facilities. The objective of this study was to investigate the rate of satisfaction and its associated factors among the patients admitted to tertiary care hospitals in Bangladesh.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a public and two private tertiary care hospitals in Bangladesh in December 2019, including 923 consecutive patients admitted to medical and surgical departments. Face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire was conducted to collect patient-level data. Logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with patients' satisfaction.Results: Patients' overall satisfaction level was 65% (51% in public and 75% in private hospitals) with a satisfaction rate of 63% in hospital staff courtesy, 56.5% in a hospital environment, 67% in physician care, 63% in general patient satisfaction, and 58% in patient's family care. Private hospitals (aOR 3.64, 95% CI 2.2–6.03), conservative management (aOR 3.34, 95% CI 2.10–5.33), shorter hospital stay (aOR 1.58, 95% CI 1.05–2.37) and perceived improvement after treatment (aOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.01–2.76) were associated with patients' satisfaction. In contrast, patients' accommodation on the floor (aOR 0.38, aOR 0.22–0.66) and high health care costs (aOR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95–0.99) were associated with patients' dissatisfaction with the in-patient service they received in both public and private hospitals.Conclusion: Almost two-thirds of the patients were satisfied with the inpatient service they received, though, the satisfaction rate was higher in private hospitals. Treatment modality, cost, and outcome, as well as hospital environment like accommodation, were associated with their satisfaction level.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, neurological disease characterized by targeted destruction of central nervous system (CNS) myelin. The autoimmune theory is the most widely accepted explanation of disease pathology. Circulating Th₁ cells become activated by exposure to CNS-specific antigens such as myelin basic protein. The activated Th₁ cells secrete inflammatory cytokines, which are pivotal for inflammatory responses. We hypothesize that enhanced production of inflammatory cytokines triggers cellular events within the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and/or spinal cord, facilitating the development of neuropathic pain (NPP) in MS. NPP, the second worst disease-induced symptom suffered by patients with MS, is normally regulated by DRG and/or spinal cord. Objective: To determine gene and protein expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) within DRG and/or spinal cord in an animal model of MS. Methods: Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was induced in adolescent female Lewis rats. Animals were sacrificed every 3 days post-disease induction. DRG and spinal cords were harvested for protein and gene expression analysis. Results: We show significant increases in TNFα expression in the DRG and of EAE animals at peak disease stage, as assessed by clinical symptoms. Conclusion: Antigen-induced production of inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα within the DRG identifies a potential novel mechanism for MS-induced NPP.

Businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), need digital management accounting to manage finances, make decisions, cost control, time-saving, and control operations. This study investigates the willingness of SMEs in Bangladesh to adopt digital management accounting applications employed within the technology acceptance model (TAM) framework. Data was gathered from 225 SMEs across the service, product, and manufacturing sectors utilizing structured questionnaires. Using SmartPLS, a structural equation model (SEM) was used for the analysis. The perceived simplicity of use and self-efficacy substantially affect the selection of digital management accounting by SMEs. Consequently, there is no influence from perceived usefulness or self-awareness. This study augments the TAM framework by integrating self-efficacy and personal awareness, thereby offering a more comprehensive understanding of technology adoption in financial management.

The purpose of this study is to examine the profitability and financial sustainability of banks in Bangladesh before and during COVID-19. The study compares the profitability and financial sustainability of 23 listed private commercial banks. The data for short-term periods before the COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 crisis we used. Financial ratios, descriptive statistics, correlation matrix and linear regression model estimations are used for the analysis of data. The mean values of ROA, ROE and NIM are found before the COVID-19 crisis as 0.0019, 0.0270 and 0.0054, and during the COVID-19 as 0.00128, 0.01856 and 0.00321 respectively. On the other hand, the mean values of NFLR, CCR, ICR, and OSR are found before COVID-19 as 2.0936, 6.852, 0.9314 and 0.4751, and during COVID-19 as -2.5961, 5.879, 0.7673 and 0.3587 respectively. The findings construe a significant impact of the unprecedented pandemic. Within a short period of time, sample banks’ profitability and financial sustainability deteriorated significantly. A key implication of our study is that the private-sector commercial banks in Bangladesh experienced severe financial difficulties during COVID-19 which impacted their profitability and financial sustainability. The findings of the study suggest that adverse economic events have substantial effects on the financial realities of financial institutions. The findings of the study are expected to be useful to both academics and policymakers.