The past few decades showed inadequate discussion of the impact of employees’ knowledge sharing and its diffusion on advancing banks’ long-term sustainability. The objective of the study is to examine the role of employees’ knowledge sharing on the sustainable performance of the banks operating in Bangladesh. Furthermore, this study tested the “moderated mediation model” of knowledge hiding and employees’ ambidexterity on the association above. The researchers applied the deductive reasoning method through the application of quantitative techniques, using structural equation modeling. Finally, 287 respondents from different banks were chosen through a self-administered questionnaire survey in the capital city of Dhaka. The findings indicated that all the predictor variables significantly explain the outcome variable, except the influence of knowledge sharing. Mediation analysis showed that employees’ ambidexterity mediated the association between knowledge sharing and sustainable performance. Surprisingly, moderation analysis revealed that the influence of knowledge sharing on employees’ ambidexterity is not affected by knowledge hiding. This study adds to the existing literature by demonstrating the importance of knowledge hiding, along with explaining how knowledge sharing can motivate and influence employees to achieve sustainable performances. In addition, the main contribution of this study is to advance knowledge and add values in the forms of knowledge creation, preservation, and dissemination among practitioners, banking professionals, and academics for utilizing their domain-specific areas to increase long-term sustainability.

Purpose: This study looked into the scope of integrating the aspirations of zakah and corporate social responsibility (CSR) to counter poverty, inequity, illiteracy, malnutrition and environmental pollution to ensure peace, happiness, prosperity and sustainability as envisaged in sustainable development goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative research study conducted using both primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected from 29 business enterprises in Bangladesh employing a semi-structured interview protocol. The secondary data were collected through content analysis of annual reports, websites and CSR publications of sample organizations. Finally, collected qualitative data have been analyzed thematically following the due procedures to address the research questions.Findings: The findings reveal that integration of the aspirations of zakah and CSR is a convenient and wholehearted approach for entrepreneurs resulting in pursuing SDGs. In addition, business entrepreneurs in Bangladesh consider such practices as killing two birds with one stone because this approach warrants performing both religious and social obligations simultaneously. Interestingly, the study explores that shariah compliance acts as a guiding force for selecting well-being-oriented projects in zakah-funded CSR resulting in pursuing the priority goals – No Poverty (1), Zero Hunger (2) – of SDGs, thereby addressing some of the most critical issues of emerging economies such as Bangladesh.Practical implications: The findings of this research can be used as a guide to incorporate the spirit and principle of zakah into the CSR programs aimed at pursuing SDGs mainly in Muslim countries representing one-fourth of the world population.Originality/value: Integration of the aspirations of zakah and CSR is an innovative move and net addition to the literature on sustainability, CSR and zakah because Muslim business entrepreneurs will now conveniently be able to use the entrepreneurs' zakah money – readily available in each financial year – to fund the entrepreneurs' various CSR projects (within shariah framework) relating to poverty alleviation, humanitarian and disaster relief, health and sanitation and environmental conservation which will eventually contribute to pursuing various SDGs.

Purpose: In this study, the authors explore the effects of politically controlled boards on bank loan performance in both state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) and private sector commercial banks (PCBs) in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approach: The data consist of 409 bank-year observations from 46 sample SCBs and PCBs of Bangladesh for the period 2008–17. The authors apply ordinary least squares pooled regression with year fixed effect for baseline econometric analyses and generalized method of moments regression for robustness tests after addressing the endogeneity issue.Findings: The regression results reveal that the presence of bank “boards controlled by politically affiliated directors” (PA) have significant positive effects on non-performing loans (NPLs). Similarly, the presence of “boards controlled by politically affiliated directors without substantial ownership interests” (PAWOI) show positive association with NPLs. In contrast, the presence of “boards controlled by politically affiliated directors with substantial ownership interests” (PAOI) exhibit an inverse relationship with NPLs. These findings support ‘agency conflict’ arguments and document that both PA and PAWOI are detrimental to bank loan performance in Bangladesh, while PAOI do not have significant effect on increasing NPLs.Originality/value: This study contributes to the existing bank governance literature by providing evidence from an emerging economy perspective, where politically affiliated directors (PADs) exploit their positions for personal and/or political gain at the cost of other stakeholders by taking advantage of relaxed regulatory oversights and investor protections.