This study aims to provide a comparison between Pakistani and the UK consumers' purchase intentions towards counterfeit luxury products by focusing on the relationships between the following factors: perceived quality, status consumption, low price and ethics. A sample of 251 university students from Pakistan (137) and the UK (114) was used. Data was analyzed using AMOS and SPSS. Results show that Pakistani consumers are satisfied with perceived quality of counterfeit products while the UK consumers are not. Status associated with the counterfeit products and prices of these products were found to be important factors for both samples. Pakistani consumers show less ethical behaviour compared to the UK consumers. Considering a single product category, i.e. luxury products, is a limitation of the study and selecting a single product category may possibly restrict the potential generalizability.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to determine the nature of the relationship between service quality and desired customer behaviours in the leasing market using an appropriate service quality measurement model. We take a step further by recognising the possible differences in influence of service quality in private and corporate customers, and those business dealings with low, medium and high lease values. Design/methodology/approach -We use deduction method to test the SERVQUAL in the German leasing market and the relationship between customer satisfaction and desired behavioural outcomes. The developed questionnaire is based on the 22 item scale of the SERVQUAL approach. Samples are selected based on convenience sampling. Findings -We found differences in the levels of inflence by SERVQUAL dimensions on corporate and private customers as well as among those customers with different leasing contract values. From the regression analyses, it is clear that 'assurance' from the leasing company is the most common SERVQUAL dimension that has significant impact on overall service quality perceptions and obtaining customers satisfaction and loyalty (behavioural outcomes). Originality/Value -We recognised that all financial services are not created equally to meet customer demands. Hence, the customer expectations of service quality from these services will be different. We contributed to the marketing literature by studying customer perceptions of service quality by specifying financing aspects of financial services, i.e. leasing. We further contributed to the literature of SERVQUAL model in financial services by dividing customers into two different types of customers and those with diverse leasing contract values. We found that priorities given on service quality dimensions by them are different. These concepts were never considered in the literature. This also implies that future studies on financial services marketing need to recognise such differences in the research.

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to systematically review extant research on the corporate governance (CG) of microfinance institutions (MFIs) from a global perspective. In the process, it discusses scholarly contributions and highlights key issues from the findings of past studies on several governance attributes, in particular, their interconnections and influence on different institutional outcomes of the sector.Design/methodology/approachAlthough academic work on microfinance governance is substantial, prior studies lack a comprehensive approach to reviewing the literature on this topic. We adopted a systematic method to review past studies on microfinance CG by applying particular inclusion and exclusion criteria. In this regard, the study developed specific questions and sought to find their answers from the existing literature.FindingsThe findings from our research indicate that microfinance governance-performance relationship is the central focus of the majority of our reviewed papers, although a few attempts have been made to explain the interconnection between CG mechanisms at the firm and institutional level. Our findings also show that existing studies have used a variety of techniques to measure MFI performance vis-à-vis their hybrid mission, such as profitability and outreach. Moreover, the study found that common topics discussed in the mainstream literature include board structure, CEO characteristics, audit quality, external governance, disclosure and MFI ownership type.Research limitations/implicationsThis review has some limitations that warrant further research. First, we considered only peer-reviewed scientific publications for our systematic review. Second, we omitted non-English journal papers from our sample. In light of these limitations, we provide some future research directions that may shed further light on our current inquiry.Originality/valueThis paper evaluates past relevant studies using a systematic approach (in preference to the commonly used narrative approach) for a span of over eighteen years; thereby contributing significantly to the sectoral governance literature. This study is novel in that it offers new incentives and opportunities for further research in order to meet the shortcomings of reviewed papers from various theoretical, empirical, methodological and geographical standpoints.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a nation that has persisted through turbulent times. The country's leaders have long attempted to balance the allocation of resources between a strong military and a developing economy in their quest for stability, peace and prosperity. This paper examines the relationship between Jordan's military expenditure and economic growth during the period 1970-2015 to shed further light. Using cointegration techniques allowing for structural breaks based on Gregory and Hansen (1996), and the ARDL methodology this paper tests the short and long-run equilibrium relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in Jordan. Furthermore, with the error correction model (ECM) and CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests, we examine the stability of the above relationship.The results show that there is a positive, long-run and short run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in Jordan during the period under study. This finding has important policy implication to the Jordanian state as it justifies that the transfer of resources to the military has not negatively impacted economic growth.

Our understanding of how an organisation operates is elucidated by the host country's political system. Myanmar has remained abstruse to researchers for many decades, as do most emerging markets prior to their transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy such as China. We establish how the problematising and contextualisation of the methodologies adopted during longitudinal fieldwork in Myanmar (2008 to 2016) has influenced our research focus and question. By reflecting on our experience of conducting organisational research in a highly institutionalised environment, we have identified limitations in the prevalent research methodologies used by the extant literature. Such methodologies tend to be incompatible with the Asian context. This process of problematisation required us to remain flexible and adaptive during the process of the generation of the research questions. We adopted a context-informed theory-building process and reflect on the interplay between interviewer, interviewees, and local institutional contexts. An important insight from this process was the need to nullify the asymmetry of power between the interviewer and interviewees to obtain honest responses rather than superficial data that aimed to satisfy and please the interviewer/institutional context.