EDITORIAL NOTES OF VOLUME 9 ISSUE 1

Abstract

Vol. 9 No. 1 (January 2026) brings together a rich and timely collection of scholarly works that collectively argue for a reorientation of management, leadership, and governance away from narrow instrumental rationality toward spiritually grounded, ethically anchored, and human-centred paradigms. Across diverse contexts—public universities, community food initiatives, Islamic microfinance, social enterprises, waqf institutions, digital advertising, and higher education governance—this issue foregrounds the central question of how organisations can cultivate trust, resilience, and sustainability in an era marked by uncertainty, technological disruption, and moral fatigue.

The opening article on Spiritual Leadership, Workplace Spirituality, and Learned Optimism in Promise-Based Management sets the conceptual tone of the issue. By positioning trust as a mediating force between leadership values and organisational outcomes, the paper advances a compelling framework for Malaysian public universities grappling with accountability, ethical integrity, and performance pressures. It reminds us that promises—when ethically made and faithfully honoured—are not managerial tools alone, but moral commitments that bind institutions to their stakeholders.

This concern with the inner life of organisations is empirically reinforced in the study on Reflecting on the Qur’an and Psychological Capital, which demonstrates that spiritual reflection is not merely a private religious act but a transformative practice capable of strengthening hope, resilience, and optimism. The findings provide rare quantitative evidence that faith-informed reflection can enhance psychological capital in measurable and meaningful ways.

Moving from the individual to the community, From Feeding to Flourishing offers a philosophically grounded and empirically rich account of urban food initiatives through the lens of al-Fārābī’s virtuous city and Tawhidic ethics. The study challenges charity-based models that stop at alleviation, arguing instead for empowerment, capability-building, and ethical stewardship as the foundations of sustainable community development.

Several contributions in this issue interrogate institutional mechanisms for socio-economic inclusion. The paper on Islamic Microfinance in Indonesia highlights how outreach, social efficiency, and digitalisation can be strategically aligned through multi-stakeholder (pentahelix) collaboration to enhance trust and effectiveness among marginalised communities. Complementing this, the study on Islamic Social Enterprise and Customer Relationship Management exposes conceptual and practical gaps in aligning Islamic business models with relational governance, opening new avenues for research and practice.

At the macro and policy level, the comparative analysis of Islamic Management and Conventional Management reaffirms Islamic management as a holistic, ethically coherent, and crisis-resilient framework for national development. Its emphasis on accountability, equity, and the balance between material and spiritual goals resonates strongly with the broader themes of this issue.

The integration of technology and ethics is critically examined in two forward-looking studies. The paper on Fintech in Waqf Management positions digital innovation not as a threat to tradition, but as a necessary enabler of sustainability, financial inclusion, and Maqasid al-Shari’ah–aligned governance. Meanwhile, the study on Emotional AI and Consumer Trust addresses one of the most pressing ethical frontiers in contemporary business, demonstrating that technological sophistication must be bounded by principles of Siddiq, Amanah, and ‘Adl to sustain trust in halal-aligned markets.

The issue concludes with a sobering yet constructive reflection on Islamic Stewardship and Academic Quality in Private Universities. By reconceptualising higher education governance as an amanah, the paper challenges market-driven logics that erode academic integrity and calls for morally anchored leadership capable of safeguarding future generations.

Taken together, the articles in this volume converge on a shared insight: sustainable performance—whether in organisations, communities, or societies—cannot be achieved without moral clarity, spiritual depth, and ethical governance. Vol. 9 No. 1 thus invites scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to rethink leadership and management not merely as techniques of control, but as acts of trust, stewardship, and purposeful service.