Charitable Behavior of Muslim in Indonesia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tobit Model Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in social welfare. In such a situation, community philanthropy, including from the Muslim community, becomes critical. This study aims to explore the charitable behavior of Muslims in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tobit regression was used to analyze data from online surveys to determine the pattern changes of donations during the pandemic as well as the factors affecting the amount of donation. This study uncovered that Zakat Management Organizations (BAZNAS and LAZ) were some of the main choices for distributing zakat and alms (sedekah) during the pandemic. It was found that the factors with a positive and significant effect on the probability of increasing the percentage of donations were education, length of stay, and expenses. The results of this study contribute to the policy of developing the Zakat Management Organization as institutions trusted by the community in distributing zakat funds. This study supports the fundraising of the zakat organizations in terms of offering valuable insights and clear description about the Indonesian people’s charitable behavior. More importantly, this study suggests that improving the quality of education is crucial to increase community awareness in performing Islamic philanthropy such as giving zakat, sedekah, and waqf.

The Determinant of Indonesian Stock Returns’ Volatility: Evidence from Islamic and Conventional Stock Market

Islamic stock market is apparently different from the conventional stock market due to the prohibition of unlawful goods and excessive risk-taking behavior. This study explores the extent to which the Indonesian Islamic and conventional stock returns' volatility responds to the macroeconomic indicators. This study employs Jakarta Islamic Index (JII) and Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) and uses monthly time-series data covering 2001: M1 - 2019: M12. The volatility of stock returns is measured using Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH). By employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL), the results validate the evidence of the long-run relationship between the stock market's volatility and macroeconomic variables. A rising in money supply and an economic upturn reduce the volatility of conventional stock returns but only an expansionary money supply diminishes the volatility of Islamic stock returns. Conversely, high inflation and sharp depreciation of the Rupiah boost the stock returns' volatility. The results further show an interesting finding that the Islamic stock market's volatility is more responsive to changes in macroeconomic indicators than the volatility of their counterpart conventional stock market. Policymakers should take strict rules during the worst economic conditions to minimize the negative impact of the instability of macroeconomic variables.

Global Value Chain: Islamic Economics and Finance Position

The growing number of Muslim populations promotes significant development on Islamic economic and finance activities called halal industry. While the halal industry is experiencing positive growth in the last four years, the Global Value Chain (GVC) – the chain of system that drives international trades and global economic activities – remains stagnant. The present study aims to explain the position of the Islamic economics and finance in the GVC. This study employs a qualitative-descriptive method with systematic literature review approach. By collecting secondary data using strict-processing stages and content analysis techniques, the author manages to meet the study’s purpose. The findings suggest that the Islamic economics and finance have opportunities to boost countries' participation in the GVC activities by harmonizing halal standardization, enhancing financial infrastructures, and providing various financial products. This study contributes to generate government policies and enterprises' decisions in developing the Islamic economics and finance within the GVC framework. It further provides initial insights and potential topics for future studies.

Effectiveness of Islamic Monetary Policy Transmission on Inflation and Economic Performance

The most crucial part for the economic development of a country is maintaining the stability of inflation to create a positive climate for economic and business activities. A number of efforts can be performed to achieve stable inflation and increase economic growth by designing monetary policy incorporating the variables of Bank Indonesia Sharia Certificate (SBIS), Islamic Interbank Money Market (IIMM), and Financing. Drawing on this issue, the in-hand study aims to examine the effectiveness of Islamic monetary policy transmission, using the instruments of SBIS, IIMM, and Financing, on inflation and economic performance (GDP) from the period of January 2011 to December 2020. Using secondary data, this study employs VAR/VECM approach by the assistance of Eviews program. The results reveal that in the short term period, inflation is significantly influenced by the IIMM, while GDP t is affected by the GDP t-1 and financing activities. In the long term period, both inflation and GDP are determined by SBIS and financing activities. In general, this study results in a conclusion that the variables of IIMM, financing activities, and GDP t-1 influence the economic performance both in short and long term periods. These results contribute as fruitful insights to developing financial strategies and monetary policy to maintain stable inflation and improve economic performance of a country.

Stress and Job Performance of Healthcare Workers amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Burnout

Healthcare workers in hospitals are one of the frontliners in handling the COVID-19 issue. However, previous studies were mostly directed on doctors and nurses, albeit many other workers are involved in managing the COVID-19 issue at a hospital. Physical and mental work pressures in performing their jobs and responsibilities potentially affect their performance. This study aims to shed some light on the direct influence of job stress on the job performance of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic with burnout as a mediating variable. This study make use of a cross-sectional approach by employing a questionnaire to gather the data from 194 healthcare workers at Aisyiyah Ponorogo General Hospital Indonesia. Drawing on the Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square, the results reveal that (1) job stress has a negative influence on the job performance of the healthcare workers, (2) job stress is proven to have a positive effect on the burnout of the healthcare workers, and (3) burnout is found to partially mediate the effect of job stress on the job performance of the healthcare workers. By referring to the compelling results, valuable suggestions are offered to the hospital managers and further related studies. This study’s results further contribute to providing recommendations for the hospital management as well as the government concerning on factors affecting the healthcare workers’ job performance, especially at the age of a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring Gamification Strategy for Developing MSMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about employees to be less enthusiastic due to the declining competitiveness and switching systems from offline to online. This study closely scrutinized how gamification strategies assume a part in entrepreneurial behavior on attitudes, subjective norms and behavioral control, and entrepreneurial education through self-efficacy, experience, and program involvement. Purposive sampling was utilized to choose a sample of 442 informants for this qualitative study. The review was carried out through a literature study and reinforced by in-depth interviews. The data was coded using the Nvivo 12 application with word similarity analysis at a maximum percentage of 100%. Based on the results of word similarity, there was a similarity in the relationship related to cluster analysis which classified the mutually supportive roles among variables as a business strategy during the pandemic. Overall, the application of gamification displays an impact on motivation, behavior change, and psychological effects on entrepreneurial behavior and education. The research contribution is utilized to address issues in the role of the organization as a solution to the relationship between gamification strategies and employee performance. The application of gamification strategies plays a role in opening fascinating exploration in the future. Further studies are expected to discuss pertaining business strategies in dealing with unexpected moments such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Factors Contributing to Deficit Spending in Indonesia

The issues concerning deficit spending have been a major concern in macroeconomic policies. Each country has a different method to solve the problems, including by devising appropriate deficit spending policies. This study investigates the effect of deficit spending in Indonesia. The effect of deficit management is seen from the sources to finance budget deficit, the efforts that are made, and the ability to contribute to the economy. Another research objective is to identify the magnitude of the effect of deficit spending and its effect on the national economy. This study attempts to explain that the applied model is able to determine the factors that contribute to deficit spending in Indonesia. The findings of this study reveal that both in the short- and long-run, external debts have a positive and significant effect on deficit spending. On the contrary, the economic growth and inflation rate have no significant effect on deficit spending.

The Contribution of Waqf on Poverty Alleviation through Digital Platforms: A Case of Indonesia

Poverty is an important issue in this digital era and has a great impact in social element of human being. Islam is a complete religion has attention in tangible and intangible aspect of human to reach Allah’s will and has solution to alleviate poverty till human feel a good life in here and hereafter. Waqf as one from many Islamic solutions could alleviate poverty that can saw from historical lesson since prophet Muhammad r and his companions which developed by various program and tools like digital platforms in this era. The purposes of this research to snapshot a poverty situation and detail a grand design of waqf in poverty alleviation through digital platforms in Indonesia and good governance principles used in waqf management. The research used qualitative methodology based on document analysis and observation of all instruments related to waqf. In the end of research, the authors conclude that waqf has an important advantage to decrease poverty and using digital platforms with a good management make waqf spread widely and easily to collect the asset of waqf from Muslim in Indonesia.

Determinants of Online Zakat Intention amongst Muslim Millennials: An Integration of Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior

Today’s modern civilization has resulted in the crucial role of technology in human life, including financial matter. Integrating Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study sheds some light on the determinants of Muslim millennials’ intention in performing zakat payment using Financial Technology (Fintech). An online questionnaire survey was conducted to gather the required data from a group of Indonesian Muslim millennials. Employing purposive sampling technique, the sample consisted of 200 respondents. The data were analyzed with the assistance of Structural Equation Model - Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The results demonstrated that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness positively and significantly affected the respondents’ attitudes. Moreover, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control significantly affected the intention of using Fintech to perform zakat payment. The results further revealed that there was no direct influence between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness on the respondents’ intention to use Fintech. However, it had an indirect effect by the mediation of attitude variable. As a theoretical implication, this study contributes to the literature enhancement in the discourse of TAM and TPB models in zakat context. Practically, it assists zakat management institutions recognize the Muslim millennial community and develop digital zakat payment platforms.

Female Users’ Behavioral Intention to Purchase in Social Commerce through Social Networking Sites

The present study aims to discover the relationship among social influence, verbal influence, easiness, trust, enjoyment, and intention to purchase in social commerce (S-Commerce), particularly by female users of social networking sites (SNS). A total of 280 responses were collected from female SNS users through an online survey. The obtained data were further examined for normality, construct validity, reliability, and model fit, using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses. This study confirmed that social influence had a significant effect on verbal influence and trust; meanwhile enjoyment was influenced by trust and easiness. The results also revealed that trust and enjoyment had a positive effect on intention to purchase products or services from social commerce by the female SNS users. Moreover, verbal influence provided an impact on trust and easiness; while the relationship between social influence and enjoyment, easiness, and trust was not significant. These results contribute to offering fruitful insights for sellers and vendors of social commerce in attracting and acquiring the attention of female customers; as a result, it leads to achieving higher profits and flourishing business activities in social commerce.