Islamic Ethical Practices and the Marketplace: Evidence from Islamic Financial Institutions

The marketplace from an Islamic ethical practice (i-EP) would be concerned among other things with the process of getting the right supplies from the right suppliers, performing Shariah compliance processes efficiently and innovatively with the ultimate aim of providing halal, green, ethical and socially responsible products and services to customers. The main aim of this study is to examine the marketplace dimension of 37 Malaysian Islamic Financial institutions for the year 2012. A content analysis of the annual and sustainability reports was employed to examine their current marketplace practices. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to confirm the results and to clarify arising issues. The results of the content analysis revealed that the focus of disclosure for the marketplace dimension was on the stakeholder engagement activities followed by the marketing activities. The disclosure of Islamic principles and values in market-related policies was given the least attention. This suggests that the Islamic financial institutions were not strategically incorporating the Islamic principles and values into the policies related to their marketplace dimension. To a certain extent, the results of the interviews provide support for the results of the content analysis. The interviews performed revealed that the motivation for stakeholder engagement for Islamic institutions was to resolve zakat distribution issues. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.