The main objective of this paper is to investigate how service quality and customer satisfaction are correlated to self-reported loyalty intentions in Islamic banks. The paper presents primary data collected by self-administered questionnaires involving a sample of 655 respondents from all local Islamic Banks in Jordan. The results show that compliance, tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy positively linked to self-reported loyalty intentions, with compliance and assurance appearing as the greatest correlation with self-reported loyalty intentions compared to other service quality dimensions. Islamic banks should focus on continuous improvement of service quality due to the direct correlation with customer satisfaction and loyalty. It is important for Islamic banks to review and endorse all policies and procedures to ensure that their documents and investments are undertaken in line with the requirements of Islamic law. Managers should pay special attention to the service quality provided by their employees and develop their skill set through training and education programmes based on Islamic principles. As the first study of its kind in Jordan, the paper’s contribution stems from filling the research gap in examining the relationship between the various service quality dimensions and self-reported loyalty intentions in Islamic banks using the CARTER model.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of internal corporate governance mechanisms on the capital structure decisions of Chinese-listed firms.Design/methodology/approach: Using a large and more recent data set consisting of 2,386 Chinese-listed firms over the period from 1998 to 2012, the authors use different statistical methods (OLS, fixed effects and system GMM) to analyse the effects of firm-specific and corporate governance influences on capital structure.Findings: The authors find that the proportion of independent directors and ownership concentration exert significant influence on the level of Chinese long-term debt ratios after controlling for firm-specific determinants and split share reforms. Further analysis separating the sample of this paper into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privately owned enterprises (POEs) suggests that ownership concentration in the hands of the state leads to decrease in debt ratios.Research limitations/implications: The finding implies that concentrated ownership in the hands of the state appears more efficient compared to their private counterparts in their monitoring role.Originality/value: This paper extends prior literature, which has concentrated disproportionately on firm-specific influences on capital structure, to the effects of within-firm governance mechanisms on capital structure decisions. The paper contributes to the agency theory–capital structure discourse in an emerging country context where corporate governance system appears weak.