Purpose Waqf (Islamic endowment) in the form of cash is important to address the problem of developing idle waqf lands. Although there are various existing models of cash waqf, there is still a need for innovative cash waqf models. This paper aims to offer an alternative mode of financing for developing idle waqf lands using the concepts of cooperatives and waqf. Design/methodology/approach The present study first evaluates relevant literature on financing issues faced by waqf institutions in developing idle waqf lands as well as existing models of cash waqf. Based on the prevailing gap in cash waqf models, the study proposes a hybrid model of cooperative-waqf to finance idle waqf lands in Malaysia. Findings The proposed model is unique owing to the new dimension of membership being embedded into the waqf project. It considers donors as members of the waqf project, which is funded through the cash waqf collected, and thus, donors are given the privilege to receive benefits from the commercialised projects that are developed on the waqf lands. The existing models of cash waqf use traditional methods in which donors merely contribute cash waqf without any awareness of how the contributions are utilised. Usually, this problem occurs due to the lack of reciprocal communication between cash waqf donors and waqf institutions. Research limitations/implications The present study examines the case of waqf land development in the context of Malaysia only. Secondly, the paper does not contain any empirical analysis, and the development of the paper is based on existing literature that discusses various models of cash waqf practised in Muslim-majority and -minority countries. Future research can conduct surveys of donors and other stakeholders on the practicality of the model. Practical implications It is expected that the proposed cooperative-waqf model will be able to create a synchronised relationship between cash waqf donors and waqf institutions and hence boost participation in developing waqf lands. Originality/value The present study adds to the existing literature in the area of waqf and cash waqf models, especially the application of this instrument in the context of Malaysia. It also offers a new hybrid model to the State Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) – Malaysia’s sole trustee of waqf assets management – such that the implementation of the proposed model could boost the collection of cash waqf in developing commercial projects on idle waqf lands.

Purpose – This study examines university students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the use of Instagram in English language writing. Like other social networking sites (SNS), the design of Instagram promotes community-centeredness, and supports the dissemination of authentic content that creates opportunities for meaningful interactions among language learners. Methodology – There were 101 participants of this study who participated in a descriptive English essay writing activity on Instagram, answered a set of questionnaire with 20 closed-ended items, and five open-ended questions about using Instagram for English language learning. Focus groups’ discussions with all of the respondents were held to elaborate the open-ended items. The closed-items were analysed quantitatively using mean scores, while the open-ended items were analysed both quantitatively (mean scores) and qualitatively (content analysis). Findings – The results demonstrated students’ high positive perceptions and views towards using Instagram in improving their writing skills, but moderate attitudes. Significance – Based on the more favourable responses, it is about time that language teachers implement the preeminent social media platform such as Instagram to create conducive learning environment that could boost students’ motivation in English language learning.

Purpose The sustainable development of Islamic banking services has motivated a significant number of depositors to choose Islamic bank services instead of the conventional bank. There are various factors that can persuade the depositors’ choice to choose an Islamic bank. This paper aims to examine the factors that persuade individuals’ behavioral intention to choose Islamic bank services. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this objective, this study uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the underlying theory to measure the factors that persuade the depositors’ behavioral intention to choose Islamic bank services. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed to the Malaysian Islamic Bank’s depositors in Peninsular Malaysia. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings The result showed the three variables that predicted behavioral intentions of the depositors, namely, attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioral control (PBC), were found to be significant in persuading depositors’ behavioral intention to choose Islamic bank services. Furthermore, the findings of the study also confirmed the relevance of using TPB to measure the depositors’ behavioral intention. The results could advance knowledge in the area of Islamic finance and also have positive implications for practitioners. Originality/value The study offers an insight into the present environment involving Islamic banking services which was established in Malaysia 30 years ago. In the context of the current study, the present environment refers to the depositors’ intention to opt for the service and the factors that influence the depositors to choose Islamic banking services apart from the religious factor which has been well acknowledged by a significant number of previous studies.

Rapid technological and social changes in society have led to reformation and transformation in educational system. This has demands for innovative behaviour among teachers that play the key role in implementing the educational reformation and transformation schemas at school. The purpose of this study is to describe the level of innovative behaviour among teachers in secondary school in Malaysia and the impact of transformational leadership on teachers' innovative behaviour before and after the inclusion of teachers' commitment as mediator. This study employed a survey method, which utilised a set of questionnaire containing items to measure three main variables, namely. transformational leadership of school leaders, teachers' commitment and innovative behaviour. There were 961 teachers from various secondary schools were randomly selected as respondents which consisted of 704 female teachers and 257 male teachers. The mean values show that the level of innovative behaviour among teachers are moderately high. Further, the hierarchical linear regression analysis identified teachers' commitment partially mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and teachers' innovative behaviour. This study provides a glimpse of teachers innovative behaviour improvement resulted from transformational leadership and their commitment towards their career and organization.

The future direction of the public university is to self-sustained due to the inconsistency of the national economic growth. For example, reduced in the national income has forced the Malaysian government to cut the allocation of funds to various ministries' in 2016 compared to 2015 budget. The consequences of this phenomenon the government has reduced the allocation of budget to Ministry of Higher Education, which is cut by RM2.4 billion, from RM15.78 billion in 2015 compared to RM13.37 billion in 2016. This scenario has imposed various challenges to many public universities' management to manage university expenses and explore new avenue to generate income. There are various ways to generate income and we find most of the tertiary education in Malaysia is not able to practice effective management especially in managing the cost of organizing a program. For example, food and beverages (F&B) spend by the university during events are not effective and most of the time is wasted.This argument is developed based on the observation and also supported by an informal interview with a vice-chancellor (VC) of one of the public university in Malaysia. The VC do agree that the university management needs to find a solution to overcome the issue of wastage due to the forecasted cost rather than an accurate cost to organize a university's events. Therefore, we believe that the main issue faced the university's management is to identify an exact number of participants and etc. Thus, the current practice is based on the forecasted estimation rather than accurate estimation. Therefore, to solve this problem, the present study aims to provide an opportunity to the tertiary education in Malaysia which able to estimate an accurate cost and at the same time able to create waqf fund using effective fund management approach by proposing awqaf alternative plan (AAP) model. The proposed model is expected to generate Waqf fund and eliminate wastage management practice.