PROSPECTS OF ISLAMIC BANKING: REFLECTIONS FROM PAKISTAN
►Muhammad Akram, Mamoona Rafique and Hassan Mobeen Alam

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A09

ABSTRACT
This study examines the growth and development phases as well as prospects of Islamic banking in Pakistan. The role of Islamic banking is explained with special regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR) as now days this concept is growing vastly. Awareness in public also has been growing and people are moving towards Islamic banking system. As we live in a Muslim country so it is very essential to have some basic knowledge about the Islamic banking. In this paper growth and performance of Islamic banking is discussed and compared among the financial years from 2003 to 2010 in terms of growth parameters like assets, deposits, sources and uses of funds. The performance indicators are also discussed to evaluate the growth and performance of Islamic banking system. In the last eight years, Islamic banking paved with the rapid market share of banking services. Moreover the efforts made by the central bank in Pakistan (SBP) are also remarkable in growth of Islamic banking. By seeing the present growth of Islamic banking, it is anticipated that in near future, Islamic banking with get major share in banking industry in Pakistan.
Keywords: Islamic banking, Pakistan, Riba, Musharaka, Modaraba, Performance.

ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL MANAGERS IN QUALITY ASSURANCE: REFLECTIONS ON KENYA’S UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
►Gudo Calleb Owino, Oanda Ibrahim Ogachi and Olel Maureen A

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A08

ABSTRACT
Universities are accountable to the stakeholders. To justify their continued existence, the managers of these universities need to guarantee the public that the institutions they lead offer quality teaching, research and community service. The study investigated how effectively university managers have played their role in quality assurance. The results indicated that private universities performed better than public universities in management of quality education. However, public and private universities suffered from interference by political and religious patronage. The other barrier to provision of effective management for quality assurance among Kenyan public and private universities was found to be negative ethnicity and nepotism. Kenyan public universities suffered from insufficient teaching and learning resources and a leadership that did not satisfactorily engage its stakeholders in decision making. It was recommended that managers of the universities should deliberately take short term leadership courses to boost their managerial skills as a significant step towards delivery of quality education. The skills acquired should be sufficient to respond to the challenges of quality education bedeviling the universities.
Keywords: Leadership, Management, Quality Assurance.

CAREER PLANNING AND CAREER MANAGEMENT AS CORRELATES FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND JOB SATISFACTION
A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN BANK EMPLOYEES
►Bola Adekola

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A07

ABSTRACT
The notion of empowering human capital to onset creativity and innovation through planning the careers of institutional members using HRM policies and practices to develop different mindsets, skills and competencies with the ultimate aim to provide a range of innovative products and services is attracting attention. This paper explores the link between career planning and career management as antecedents of career development and job satisfaction, and career commitment as its outcome. A sample of 505 employees of a Nigerian Bank revealed the significant link between the variables of career planning and career management, and career development, and in turn, with job satisfaction and career commitment. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for career development.
Keywords: human capital, innovation, HRM, competencies, Nigerian Bank and career management

THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY AND LEADERSHIP STYLES ON LEADING CHANGE CAPABILITY OF MALAYSIAN MANAGERS
►Ali Hussein Alkahtani Ismael Abu-Jarad Mohamed Sulaiman Davoud Nikbin

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A06

ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to investigate the influence of the Big Five Dimensions of personality of the Malaysian Managers and the leadership styles these managers use on their leading change capabilities. Total sample of 105 managers was used in this study. The results of this study revealed that the Malaysian managers tend to enjoy personalities that are conscious and open to experience. These managers tend to use consultative leadership style. However, they use autocratic, democratic and some of them use laissez-fair, but the respondents of this study scored higher in consultative leadership style. The results of the study showed that Extroversion personality trait as well as involvement leadership style were positively related with Leading Change. Both Openness to Experience and Emotional Stability were significantly and positively correlated with Consultative Leadership Style that the managers use. Involvement Leadership Style was found to be significantly and positively correlated with Leading Change (R2=.38) In conclusion, this study showed a positively significant correlation between personality of managers, their leadership styles and their leading change capabilities.
Keywords: Adopting New Procedures, Leading Change Capability, Leadership Styles, Personality Traits

EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECTS OF COST SHARING POLICY ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN KENYA NATIONAL POLYTECHNICS
►Mrs. Lorna M. Amuka Maureen A. Olel Frederick .Q. Gravenir

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A05

ABSTRACT
Strengthening equitable gender access to and success in science and technology courses is an essential pre-requisite for Kenya’s economy. The country’s potential for development in agriculture, health and industry is going to depend on a cadre of scientists and technologists from the polytechnics for their services. This study focused on the challenges of access into Kenya national polytechnics. The findings indicate that fewer female students than male students accessed science and technology courses and that the common factor which affected their access was lack of sufficient funds for training. Despite the disparity in access, they were at parity in performance.
Keywords: agriculture, industry, scientists and technologists

THE PERCEIVED ETHICAL BEHAVIOR OF BANKERS: A NORTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE
►Wafa M’SALLEM, Olfa BOUHLEL and Mohamed Nabil MZOUGHI

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A04

ABSTRACT
This research aims to examine the impact of the ethical dimension of selling behavior on some marketing relational variables in the banking sector: satisfaction, trust, commitment and loyalty. Structural equations modelling (SEM) is used to assess the simultaneous effects of the predictive variables. An empirical survey confirms the impact of the ethical dimension on the trust. The satisfaction has an effect on the customer trust which influences his commitment and loyalty.

Keywords: Ethic, satisfaction, trust, commitment, loyalty

PROMOTION, SWITCHING BARRIERS, AND LOYALTY
►Gu-Shin Tung, Chiung-Ju Kuo and Yun-Ting Kuo

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A03

ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the causal relationships among promotion effects, switching barriers, and loyalty in the department stores. The relationship between switching barriers and loyalty reveals partially the same results as the switching barriers theory of Jones et al. (2000). The reasons arise from “too often” and “too similar” sales promotion programs of competitive department stores in Taiwan, leading the promotion effects to not contribute to the attractiveness of competitors. The promotion effects have a positive and significant influence on loyalty, which is consistent with the prior literature. Promotion effects are also the most important weight to loyalty in our tested model but it reveals a seeming loyalty, because the loyalty depends on the reward of promotion. The negative relationship between promotion effects and attractiveness of alternative supports the promotion effects, which can lower the attractiveness of competitors, but these similar promotion plans are not attributed to interpersonal relationships.
Keywords: Promotion effects, Switching Barriers, Loyalty

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF FIRM AND MARKET-SPECIFIC PROXIES OF INFORMATION ASYMMETRY ON EQUITY PRICES IN THE STOCK MARKETS
 ►Abosede, A. J. PhD and OSENI, Jimoh Ezekiel

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A01

ABSTRACT
Asset pricing has remained an issue of interest to scholars, investment managers and analysts without borders. Pricing of equities in environments characterized with imperfect information and determining the effect of information asymmetry on the asset have also remained a challenge.   The risk the information uncertainty from the firm poses to the investors and analysts and the risk the information uncertainty from the investment opportunities of the firm poses to the managers need to be measured and incorporated into equity price. This study made an attempt to develop a model from the works of Lowry, Officer and Schwert (2007) and Reber and Fong (2008) for measuring the effect of firm and market-specific proxies of information asymmetry on equity prices in the stock market. The model developed is considered suitable for adoption in developing and emerging economies where information is considered prevalent. In addition to providing a model for measuring the effects of proxies of information asymmetry on equity prices, the study would to literature on the subject of information asymmetry as it relates to equity pricing and stock market.

Keywords: information asymmetry, proxies, capital market, equity pricing, impact.

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF ISLAMIC BANKS IN NIGERIA: PERCEPTION STUDY ON THE ROLE OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
►Mustafa Daud, Ibrahim Mohd Yussof (PhD) and Adewale Abideen (PhD)

 10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110102A02

ABSTRACT

Central bank (CB) in any economy is regarded as the Apex bank and the Principal stakeholder in the financial system. This is in view of the role it plays in the control, regulation and supervision of the financial institutions in the economy. Hence, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is no exception to this unique characteristics and functions. Meanwhile, the emergence of Islamic banking in various Muslim countries has continued to raise the fundamental issue of what role the CB should play in the affairs of Islamic Banks (IBs). Therefore, this study is an attempt to empirically examine the perceptions of Nigerian Muslim Youths in Malaysia on the perceived role expected of the CBN in the establishment and operation of IBs in Nigeria. This study focused on the perceptions of students in three Malaysian universities i.e. Kolej Universiti Insaniah (KUIN), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The sample of the study was made up of 100 questionnaires of which 85 percent were returned and usable. The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using the SPSS version 18.0 and One-Sample and Independent-Samples t-Tests were utilized for analyses. The finding revealed that the role of the CBN in the establishment and operation of IBs in Nigeria is of no significance. This finding is however classified as Type II error because it contradicts the known theoretical and empirical evidences in the area of central banking in the world. Other findings hold that the CBN should seriously promote adequate research in IBs, the legal framework of IBs should be further strengthened and that the CBN should collaborate with the Judiciary for the establishment of Shari’ah courts to adjudicate cases on IBs.

Keywords: CBN, Perceptions, Role, Muslim Youths, Islamic Banks