Factors Influencing Continuous Intention to Use of Event Management Electronic Portals in 4 and 5 Star Hotels

The purpose of this study is to examine the associations among perceived relative advantages, compatibility, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and continuous intention to use event management electronic portals in Aqaba 4 and 5 Star hotels. A survey instrument was used to examine the relationships in the proposed model. The collected primary data (n=200) from employees who are familiar with hotels‟ event management electronic portals located in Aqaba city is conducted to test the relationship between exogenous and endogenous construct expressed in the proposed structural model. By employing SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) analysis, the findings revealed that while both variables perceived relative advantages and compatibility directly, positively, and significantly impacted perceived usefulness; both variables did not impact perceived enjoyment. Also, perceived ease of use has significant impacts on perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment. In addition, both of perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment found to impact continuous intention to use.

Introduction
These days the world arrived at the high level of development, where technology has become a major and important factor in all aspects of life, whether from the technology of the most important factors that helped in the development of the world and especially in the field of tourism and bookings where became anyone can do work booked through portals that have become available to everyone through the main institution to this portal site on the internet and adding portals modern environment that facilitates access to many of the services that were not available and needs time and effort in addition to the cost of this service, so that previously were not available to everyone, while at the present time has become available to anyone anywhere in the world.
Furthermore, several researchers consider the information systems and in particular the information technology (IT) and its flexibility as an enabler to achieve the desired competitive advantages, and as a crucial support to operational and strategic business decisions (Al Azmi, et al., 2012;Alenezi, et al., 2015;Alkalha, et al., 2012;Almajali & Tarhini, 2016;Altamony et al., 2012;Kateb, et al., 2015;Maqableh & Karajeh, 2014a, 2014bMasa"deh, 2012Masa"deh, , 2013aMasa"deh, , 2013bMasa"deh, et al., 2016;Obeidat, et al., 2013;Shannak, et al., 2010Shannak, et al., , 2012aShannak, et al., , 2012bVratskikh, et al., 2016); thus further research is required to examine the role of such IT applications in enhancing the managerial decisions. In addition, scholars (e.g. Masa"deh, et al. 2008;Hunaiti, et al., 2009;Masa"deh & Kuk, 2009;Alshurideh, et al., 2012;Hajir, et al., 2015;Kannan & Gharibeh, 2013;Masa'deh & Shannak, 2012;Masa"deh, et al. 2013;Masa"deh, et al. 2015aMasa"deh, et al. , 2015bMasa"deh, et al. , 2015cMasa"deh, et al. 2017;Obeidat, et al., 2012Shannak & Alkour, 2012;Tarhini, et al., 2015aTarhini, et al., , 2015b emphasize the need for large firms to integrate their IT systems with their KM strategies and processes in order to survive in their highly competitive business environments, which in turn could accelerate the managerial decisions as well. within an overall framework. Methods can be provided as an "internal" class library, which resides alongside the portlet and service APIs (the model part of the MVC paradigm). Each portal framework could have the same, or a different set of tools, but the way they are integrated may differ between user groups. Alternatively the services could be federated and available via Web Services calls to specialized servers elsewhere in a virtual research environment. These portal services mostly imply research issues. Some simple ones, such as managing the look and feel of the portal, personalization, and accessibility are provided directly by the portlet container. Some example portal integration services are now listed (Baker, et al., 2004): -Session Management involves the management of a session key and related issues. It requires database access for storing and retrieving other items relevant to the session. User can authenticate and start a new session or revert to a previous one. The service can open and close sessions and log the state of a session from -Integrated State is related to the need to manage data related to state information for a portlet UID. There is a general need to develop the concepts related to integrated state. For example: -State can be used as an event trigger -State needs to be logged for session management or workflow -What states can portlets and services have which are meaningful for rollback and replay? -Service and Portlet location, which can be published, queried, and looked up in a registry. This also requires semantic support as it is import to annotate service information with further information such as what the service does and why.
-Portal Preferences, which can be built up from a "preferred set" of services and portlets and be based on usage. This service can also log semantic information and build a related ontology. The service extends the idea of a workspace toolset allowing dynamic semantic/function-driven choice.
-Semantic/Ontology Support for information about services and portlets in the framework. These services will be used for decision support and choice, augmenting stored preferences. These services would not cover generic semantic issues, which would need separate tools.
-Workflow via directed links between components (typically graph based). An event mechanism is used to trigger actions within portals and attached services. The graphs within the portal will be mostly predefined, but with constrained facilities to swap in and out components and provide additional inputs at decision points.
-Trails and Personalization could involve logging of usage for off-line mining and analysis, e.g. for developers to improve presentation, ease of use, and optimization.
-Inter Portlet Communication and Event Management will provide message-based communication mechanism between portlets, possibly with event triggers and asynchronous handlers.
Some key research issues in implementing the aforementioned services include: (Baker, et al., 2004).
-Identification of user/session/portlet/services, these are typically name value pairs for the session Key, UID, portletID, and serviceID. Similar to the information saved in a cookie in a 1st generation portal. In addition nonportal tools could also use these by creating method calls to use the information.
-State definitions are pre-defined set of states that need to be identified. Such identification could be the key to using the event mechanisms and session logging. Momotko, et al. (2007) presented an architecture for active life event portals based on generic workflow approach. This approach combines and benefits from two modern technologies, namely workflow management and rule management. More specifically, life events are defined as workflow processes while the dynamic elements of the life-event definition are expressed as rules. By following this approach, it can be argued that the flexibility of rules mechanisms is driven (controlled) by process definitions that make the approach applicable to real life events. In the contrast to the other existing architectures the proposed architecture aims at reaching four goals: − Assure portal's flexibility (e.g. via management of life event reference models, not just concrete citizen's cases), openness (e.g. via ability to tailor the individual components), -Of the portal and maintainability (e.g. via clear separation of presentation and logic layers, various options to install service coordination layer), − Be compliant with the European law regulations especially in the area of security management (e.g. secure connection, log in using smart cards, appropriate access to sensitive data), − Apply well-defined existing standards and components in the area of SOA, J2EE and web services (e.g. BPMN models, BPEL definitions, verification of non-functional parameters such as deadlines via SLA documents and using WS-Agreement).
The digital divide is considered as the gap between people who have access to information via digital means (e.g., the Internet) and those people who do not. In this age of digital information, people who do not have access to the Internet and World Wide Web are at a disadvantage. The digital divide means that people who do not have the access to the digital information are denied the option to participate in new ICT-based jobs, e-government, ICT-improved healthcare, and ICT-enhanced education. A large gap between different people can negatively affect education, employment and economic growth of any country. Since information and communication technologies (ICT) play a crucial role in socio-economic development in developing countries, governments, non-government organizations and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) are sponsoring Telecentres in most of the developing countries (Almajali, et al., 2015).
MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) is a fast growing segment of the tourism industry; it is a new segment arising out of the increase in the number of conferences and exhibition enterprises. Meetings refer fewer than 50 participants gathering in hotels, resorts, or convention enterprises. Incentives are a reward trip offered to a participant which includes attending a meeting or a conference. Conferences refer to annual meetings with a large number of delegates. Exhibitions are of two types: Trade shows and consumer shows. MICE tourism is the most lucrative segment of the tourism industry, one that could take place any time of the year. It is the first segment of the tourism industry in Jordan. Jordan has emerged as a unique destination for hosting MICE events in the Middle East. We asserted that Jordan realized the importance of MICE tourism for its economy and on promoting its touristic image. Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA) devoted more than half of its budget to promoting MICE tourism. Both public and private sectors are sharing the effort and responsibility of promoting MICE tourism regionally and internationally. MoTA and the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) have launched two informative and interactive websites. com and www.tourism.jo) to provide information about tourism products and services and to promote these services and events all over the world. In addition to this, through its offices in Europe, North America and the Middle East, the JTB has been promoting Jordan as a boutique tourism destination. Recently, Jordan Inbound Tour Operator Association (JITOA) has launched a website devoted to promoting MICE tourism in Jordan. As such, Jordan plans to enhance and develop the MICE tourism industry so that it earns economic returns in the future in addition to promoting its touristic image internationally (Ananzeh, 2012).
A research on leadership styles of event manager"s influence the event success set the background of the study in this manner. Leadership styles are one of the factors that lead to successful event. There is a significant relationship between the leader"s perception of project success and his or her personality and contingent experiences; leadership is one of the world"s oldest preoccupations. The understanding of leadership has figured strongly in the quest of knowledge. Purpose stories have been told through the generations about the leaders" competencies, ambitions and shortcomings; leaders" rights and privileges; and the leaders" duties and obligation. The absences of leadership are equally dramatic in its effects and organizations move too slowly, stagnates, and lose their way. Based on Leslie (2009), the study showed that crucial leadership skills in today"s organizations are, in fact, insufficient for meeting current and future needs (Wahab, et al., 2014).
Along with support in decision-making, the managerial information system serves as support to managers when making decisions. Decisions are frequently made in the purchase information system, based on information from the finance information system. More often than not, relevant information required in the purchase process is gathered from financial reports. This article presents cost effectiveness over a period of five years in the financial report analysis process, to that the hypothesis was set at the outset of the long-term research, in 2008 (Šimović, 2012).
The field of event studies depicts the expanding field of event management and the wider social science contribution to this interdisciplinary area of study, heralded as a major success story in terms of its educational provision within higher education, its expansion of research activity and its contribution to tourism development within the commercial arena. Within the context of tourism and the tourism system, events comprise a key element in both the origin area (i.e. events are an important motivator of tourism) as well as within the destination area (i.e. events feature prominently in the development and marketing plans of most destinations). Events are both animators of destination attractiveness but more fundamentally as key marketing propositions in the promotion of places given the increasingly global competitiveness to attract visitor spending. To use Leiper's analogy of the tourism system, events ISSN 1923-3965 E-ISSN 1923 have become a core element of the destination system where accommodation, attractions, transport and ancillary services have been utilized or specifically developed (Getz & Page, 2016).
IS also plays an important role in unplanned events such as crises. For example, information technology can be strategically used to coordinate rescue efforts during disasters or even to combat health crises such as the SARS outbreak in 2002. In the recent Gulf oil spill, IS were used to inform and forecast the spread of the spill. For example, Thomson Reuters used IS to monitor toxic exposures and keep the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and poison control centers updated. Crowd sourcing through the Internet was deployed to compile information concerning the disaster while social networking sites allowed the public to suggest and vote on ideas to stop the oil spill (Ng & Kankanhalli, 2013).
Due to the lack of acceptance of some institutions and small and hotel facilities for the use of electronic gates and the lack of confidence of using the electronic gates by the users, the current research aims to examine the associations among perceived relative advantages, compatibility, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and continuous intention to use event management electronic portals in Aqaba 4 and 5 Star hotels. This is to: -Promote economic development for electronic portal -Increase movement of tourists by increasing the promotion of electronic portal -Access to a high percentage of correct understanding among employees using the electronic portal -Determining how can the staff make use portals moral and behavioral way -Determining how managers and supervisors could provide a high level of skill and competence in the performance of the use of electronic portal level.

Perceived Relative Advantages
According to Northouse (2004) event success can be defined as the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted after the event organized. One of the factors that would determine the event success is the event meets its objectives. This means that, if the objective of the event is to gain profit, then if the event achieved the certain amount that has been targeted, the event will be considered as successful one. Leadership literature, blogs, and seminars typically focus on telling leaders the right things to do if they want to succeed. That makes sense for most of us. We want seasoned professionals to help us learn from their mistakes and accumulated wisdom. By sharing the most valued aspects of what great leaders do to inspire others, leaders at any level can learn to improve their skills (Wahab, et al., 2014).

Compatibility
According to Wilson (2004) long and short-term goals set for the event should be used to evaluate its success. Success of the event should include both quantitative measures, such as the number of people in the audience and profit after the event; measuring the level of excitement in the room, before and after comments by "key" people at the event; and determining if people are looking forward to the next (Wahab, et al., 2014).

Perceived Ease of Use
Events are a very well established theme within tourism, with the first event-related articles appearing in the 1970s. Most tourism journals contain articles of relevance to event-tourism, but a complete review of all of them has not been attempted. Geographic coverage is expanding, in part owing to the spread of event tourism around the globe, and in a part a reflection of the growing number of scholars interested in event studies. There have been surges in research tied to mega-events in particular, and this has had the effect of greatly increasing event scholarship within, and external interest in host countries (Getz & Page, 2016).

Perceived Usefulness
Perceived usefulness is considered one of the factors that affect the adoption of information systems. In general, it is argued that customers prefer to use m-commerce service rather than e-commerce services when offered services are relatively better. One of the advantages of conducting m-commerce rather than e-commerce is the ability to offer the services using wireless technology. Some researchers found that perceived usefulness has a fundamental role in adopting ecommerce and mobile internet activities (Masa'deh, et al., 2013b). ISSN 1923-3965 E-ISSN 1923-3973

Perceived Enjoyment
Events are leisure activities and work possibilities for people. Events bring people together and make them enjoy and have good time. They enhance the quality of people"s life; they can provide significant economic benefits and can also provide revenue for special projects. Regardless of size, events require a high degree of planning, a range of skills and a lot of energy, According to Andersson & Wesslau (2000), when using events, companies get the possibility to have their own-right to the consumer during the duration of the event. This means that if a company manages to get the consumer to attend the event, the distortion from the competitors will be gone or at least minimized during the duration of the event. Also, events contain tangible elements, such as food, beverages and other products sold or given away, but are essentially a service in that they consist of intangible experiences of finite duration within a temporary, managed atmosphere. As with all services, this experiential "product" is produced and consumed simultaneously, is highly heterogeneous and very difficult to store or control (Kose, et al., 2011).

Continuous Intention to Use
The empirical measurements of the number of people benefited from training and the number of available job created to the generality of employees are used to measure the effectiveness of Tele-centers. Other factors such as the human development and the well being reported on the self-sustaining infrastructure that add value to the community as a whole are also used. A number of researchers deliberated on the sustainability of Tele-centers. The reason is often attributed to ineffectiveness on both the planning and implementation stage by the implementers. The effectiveness can be defined as a degree to which an organization realized its goals. The closer the output meets the goal of organization, the more effective the organization is (Almajali, et al., 2015). The sociological literature contains three broad approaches to understanding professionalization. Perhaps the most common way of examining the extent to which occupations have become professionalized is via an assessment of their characteristics or traits. This approach sets out to identify, and usually list, the core characteristics of professions and test the extent to which they exist in certain occupations. The following elements have been typical of most lists: the requirement to demonstrate expert knowledge that has been validated by existing members of the profession; ethical behavior is safeguarded and regulated by the professional association; and the skills of members of the profession are deployed in the public interest. Membership of the profession usually results in higher social status and greater material rewards than had the occupation not been professionalized (Thomas & Thomas, 2013).

Perceived Relative Advantages with Perceived Usefulness
It is the first hypothesis (Perceived relative advantages with Perceived Usefulness) and that our analysis that coefficient value (0.295), t-value (5.954), P-value (0.000), empirical evidence (Supported). The study coincided with the results of (Kose, et al. (2011) as event success can be defined as the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted after the event organized. One of the factors that would determine the event success is the event meets its objectives. This means that, if the objective of the event is to gain profit, then if the event achieved the certain amount that has been targeted, the event will be considered as successful one. Leadership literature, blogs, and seminars typically focus on telling leaders the right things to do if they want to succeed. That makes sense for most of us. We want seasoned professionals to help us learn from their mistakes and accumulated wisdom. By sharing the most valued aspects of what great leaders do to inspire others, leaders at any level can learn to improve their skills. Events are leisure activities and work possibilities for people. Events bring people together and make them have good time. They enhance the quality of people"s life; they can provide significant economic benefits and can also provide revenue for special projects. Regardless of size, events require a high degree of planning, a range of skills and a lot of energy, according to, when using events, companies get the possibility to have their own-right to the consumer during the duration of the event. This means that if a company manages to get the consumer to attend the event, the distortion from the competitors will be gone or at least minimized during the duration of the event. Also, events contain tangible elements, such as food, beverages and other products sold or given away, but are essentially a service in that they consist of intangible experiences of finite duration within a temporary, managed atmosphere. As with all services, this experiential "product" is produced and consumed simultaneously, is highly heterogeneous and very difficult to store or control.

Perceived Relative Advantages with Perceived Enjoyment
It is the second hypothesis (Perceived relative advantages with Perceived Enjoyment) and that our analysis that coefficient value (0.114), t-value (1.781), P-value (0.075) empirical evidence (Not Supported). The study is not coincided with Wahab, et al. (2014), which those of us seeking advice expect it framed in a positive way. Long and short-term goals set for the event should be used to evaluate its success. Success of the event should include both quantitative measures, such as the number of people in the audience and profit after the event; measuring the level of excitement in the room, before and after comments by "key" people at the event; and determining if people are looking forward to the next.

Compatibility with Perceived Usefulness
It is the third hypothesis (Compatibility with Perceived Usefulness), and that our analysis that coefficient value (0.214), t-value (4.523), P-value (0.000) empirical evidence (Supported). The study (Getz & Page, 2016) shows events are very well established themes within tourism, with the first event-related articles appearing in the 1970s. Most tourism journals contain articles of relevance to event-tourism, but a complete review of all of them has not been attempted. Geographic coverage is expanding, in part owing to the spread of event tourism around the globe, and in a part a reflection of the growing number of scholars interested in event studies. There have been surges in research tied to mega-events in particular, and this has had the effect of greatly increasing event scholarship within, and external interest in host countries.

Compatibility with Perceived Enjoyment
It is the forth hypothesis (Compatibility with Perceived Enjoyment), and that our analysis that coefficient value (0.104), t-value (1.695), P-value (0.090) empirical evidence (Not Supported). In explored delegation as a method of professionally developing employees within the context of the full-range model of organizational leadership and three different leadership models have been proposed by which to understand delegation. First model is the transactional operator, next model is the team player, and third model is the transformational. Self-defining leader or each model starts with different attributes of leaders based on their perspective taking abilities and leadership philosophies Then, leadership through people is designed to equip leaders or managers with the latest and most influential set of performance management and people skills that will support their transformation to become leaders of change (Wahab, et al., 2014).

Perceived Ease of Use with Perceived Usefulness
It is the fifth hypothesis (Perceived Ease of Use with Perceived Usefulness), and that our analysis that coefficient value (0.310), t-value (5.912), P-value (0.000) empirical evidence (Supported). The study shows (Wahab, et al., 2014), power without authority is illegitimate. Authority without power is impotent. Behaviorist approach to power gives rewards for the performance of the desired behaviors. The rewards are linked to compliance and must always be ethical. The level of the reward must fit the level of expected behavior to attract the follower. This type of power should be a last resort and should be avoided if at all possible. Coerciveness alienates individuals.

Perceived Ease of Use with Perceived Enjoyment
It is the sixth hypothesis (Perceived Ease of Use) with Perceived Enjoyment, And that our analysis that coefficient value (0.171), t-value (2.519), P-value (0.012) empirical evidence (Supported). The study shows (Almajali, et al., 2015), it agreed premise sixth, and the empirical measurements of the number of people benefited from training and the number of available job screamed to the generality of employees are used to measure the effectiveness of Telecentres. Other factors such as the human development and the well being reported on the self-sustaining infrastructure that add value to the community as a whole are also used. A number of researchers deliberated on the sustainability of Telecentres. The reason is often attributed to ineffectiveness on both the planning and implementation stage by the implementers. The effectiveness can be defined as a degree to which an organization realized its goals. The closer the output meets the goal of organization, the more effective the organization.

Perceived Usefulness with (Continuous Intention to Use)
It is the seventh hypothesis (Perceived Usefulness) with (Continuous Intention to Use), and that our analysis that coefficient value (0.234), t-value (3.358), P-value (0.000) empirical evidence (Supported). The study shows agreed with this hypothesis, the event policy community comprises not only of those who are directly and indirectly involved or affected by an event but also any organizations and individuals who will be affected by governments 'decisions. As a result, these various event policy actors bring diverse interests and perspectives to event policymaking. For instance governments, businesses and community groups may have varying levels of interest in social, environmental and economic issues pertaining to events, and their level of engagement may vary greatly. Further, the goals of different government agencies or levels of government in a multi-tiered system may differ. The issues emerging from the hosting of major events are therefore not only diverse and complex but are also interrelated across the economic, social-cultural, environmental and political dimensions. For example, large numbers of event visitors attracted to host destinations give rise to temporally and spatially concentrated impacts and conflicts that may not emerge if visitation were spread more evenly over a longer period, as in the case of tourism. In addition, the nature, extent and depth of impacts also vary greatly (Phi, et al., 2014).

Perceived Enjoyment with Continuous Intention to Use
It is the eighth hypothesis (Perceived Enjoyment) with (Continuous Intention to Use), and that our analysis that coefficient value (0.334), t-value (5.294), P-value (0.000) empirical evidence (Supported). The study (Phi, et al., 2014) shows agreed with this hypothesis, tourism and major events are increasingly intertwined as governments seek to promote economic development, diversification and place branding. Such are the perceived benefits of events that governments are becoming increasingly active in bidding for hosting rights and creating "the right" conditions for the staging of major events. This government involvement has increased as evidenced by a growing body of special purpose legislation designed to support the bidding for and staging of events, growth in public investment in events, and the provision and use of public assets.

Research Methodology
This section provides the methodology applied in the current study. It consists of the research model, operational definitions of the study"s independent, mediating and dependent variables; research hypotheses, besides data collection tool and research population and sample.

Research Model
The elements of this research are established based on preceding literature, either theoretically or empirically. Indeed, this study used variables that are common in hotel management literature. The items used to measure the variables of perceived relative advantages and compatibility were adapted from Agag & El-Masry (2016), while the items measuring perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness concept originated from Davis (1989)

Population and Sampling
Empirical data for this study was collected through paper-based survey in 4 and 5 star hotels located in Aqaba city in Jordan. Specifically, a survey questionnaire was used to gather data for hypotheses testing from staffs who are familiar with event management electronic portals. Thus, a judgment sampling technique was conducted. Before implementing the surveys, the instrument was reviewed by three lecturers who are specialized in the hotel management discipline in order to identify problems with wording, content, and question ambiguity. After some changes were made based on their suggestions, the modified questionnaire was piloted on four staffs who are familiar with the hotel"s event management electronic portals. Based on the feedback of this pilot study, minor edits were introduced to the survey questions, and the questionnaires were distributed to the participants. As per ethics policies, all potential participants were briefed about the nature of the work and were requested to provide explicit approval. ISSN 1923-3965 E-ISSN 1923 However, the sample size of this study was determined based on the rules of thumb for using SEM within AMOS 21 in order to obtain reliable and valid results. Kline (2010) suggested that a sample of 200 or larger is suitable for a complicated path model. Furthermore, after eliminating the incomplete surveys, our sample size 200 from staff met the recommended guidelines of (Kline, 2010), (Krejcie & Morgan 1970) and (Pallant, 2005), and (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). The demographic data of the respondents are reported in Table 1. As indicated in Table 1, the demographic profile of the respondents for this study showed that they are typically males working in five star hotels, most of them supervisors aged between 18-less than 30 years old, and the majorities hold bachelor degrees.

Data Analysis and Results
In order to explore the associations among perceived relative advantages, compatibility, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and continuous intention to use; in which these variables have been measured using 5-points Likert scale that varies between strongly disagree =1 and strongly agree =5; reliability and validity analyses were conducted, descriptive analysis was used to describe the characteristic of sample and the respondent to the questionnaires besides the independent and dependent variables. Also, SEM analysis was employed to test the research hypotheses. Table 2 shows the measured constructs and the items measuring each construct. PR1: The electronic portal of event management provides more information than regular hard copy brochures. PR2: The electronic portal of event management is very convenient. PR3: The electronic portal of event management helps me to save my time.

Descriptive Analysis
In order to describe the responses and thus the attitude of the respondents toward each question they were asked in the survey, the mean and the standard deviation were estimated. While the mean shows the central tendency of the data, the standard deviation measures the dispersion which offers an index of the spread or variability in the data (Pallant, 2005;Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). In other words, a small standard deviation for a set of values reveals that these values are clustered closely about the mean or located close to it; a large standard deviation indicates the opposite. The level of each item was determined by the following formula: (highest point in Likert scale -lowest point in Likert scale) / the number of the levels used = (5-1) / 5 = 0.80, where 1-1.80 reflected by "very low", 1.81-2.60 reflected by "low", 2.61-3.40 reflected by "moderate", 3.41-4.20 reflected by "high", and 4.21-5 reflected by "very high". Then the items were being ordered based on their means. Tables 3 and 4 Table 3, data analysis results have shown that perceived relative advantages, compatibility, and perceived ease of use do exist highly and moderately respectively. Also, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and continuous intention to use are applied to a lesser extent. Table 4 demonstrates the mean, standard deviations, level, and order scores for items to each variable.

Measurement Model
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to check the properties of the instrument items. Indeed, the measurement model indicates how latent variables or hypothetical constructs are assessed in terms of observed variables; and embodies the validity and reliability of the observed variables responses for the latent variables (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988;Hair, et al., 2006). Table 5 shows different types of goodness of fit indices in assessing this study initial specified model. Because the initial CFA model did not provide an acceptable fit, four items (PE1= 0.383,PU4= 0.462,PN1= 0.407,and CI3= 0.314) were eliminated to obtain a better fitting measurement model. The results of the revised CFA indicated that the chi-square (x² ) value of the model was 355.319, with 120 degrees of freedom (p < 0.05), which implies that the measurement did fit the data well. The other model fit indices used for this study were the x² /df (355.319/120 = 2.961; threshold less 3 for a serious viewpoint or less 5 for acceptable criteria), the Incremental Fit Index ( 088. Based on these fit indices, the measurement model appeared to fit the sample data well (Hair, et al., 2010).  Table 6 shows the factor loadings, Cronbach alpha, composite reliability, and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for the variables. All of the indicators of the factor loadings exceeded 0.50, thus constitute evidence of convergent validity (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988;Creswell, 2009). Indeed, while the measurement reached convergent validity at the item level because all of the factor loadings went above 0.50, all of the composite reliability values exceeded 0.60, demonstrating a high level of internal consistency for the latent variables. In addition, since each value of AVE exceeded 0.50 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988;Hair, et al., 2006), the convergent validity was proved.
where Li is the standardized factor loadings for each indicator, and Var (Ei) is the error variance associated with the individual indicator variables. ** The formula for the variance extracted is: where Li is the standardized factor loadings for each indicator, and Var (Ei) is the error variance associated with the individual indicator variables.

Structural Model
The SEM analysis revealed that while both variables perceived relative advantages and compatibility directly, positively, and significantly affected perceived usefulness, thus, H1 and H3 were accepted; both variables did not impact perceived enjoyment, thus, H2 and H4 were rejected. Also, as indicated in Tabe 7, H5, H6, H7 and H8 were accepted. Furthermore, the coefficient of determination (R² ) for the research endogenous variables for perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, continuous intention to use were 0.31, 0.16 and 0.18 respectively; which indicates that the model does account for the variation of the proposed model.

Discussion and Conclusions
The main objective of the study to know how the impact of electronic portals to organize events where the hotel is based on make and organize of these events at the needs of customers and this organization needs from the hotel certain criteria (skills -planning -energy) as the hotels were needed to connect to most event with international tourism activities and with it was a high cost in terms of advertising and organization and with the technological evolution facilitated portals in terms of (cost reduction -the dissemination of information -the organization) because when better is reduced cost and organize in addition to the high level of profit achieved with the objectives of the institution the more organizational objectives achieved the greater its efficiency.
These days the world arrived at the high level of development where technology became a key factor and important in all aspects of life and as the technology of the most important factors that helped in the development of the world, especially in the field of tourism and reservation where anyone can do book through the gates, which became available to everyone through the institution concerned to this portal site on the internet. In addition, portals are easy to access to many of the services that were not available and need time and effort in addition to the cost of this service environment so that previously were not available to all while at the moment it has become available to anyone anywhere in the world. Witnessing portals tremendous progress in attracting all segments of society and that not spread widely and significantly helped the spread of the electronic gates on tourist progress of countries through the use of hotels and tourist institutions and exhibitions, these gates, which are developed through which marketing attracts customers a way that saves time and effort and also use systems booking and electronic payment through these gates. It could be argued that the importance of electronic gates at the moment has become one of the essentials in a person's life, because they help him continuously and without any difficulties, and is considered the electronic gates in the hotel sector of the most important tools used in the visitor help to find out everything you wanted to know about the place you want to visit or inquire about.
Portals contributed to raising the efficiency and level of sophistication of the staff, where it worked to facilitate a lot of measures on the staff and became the communication between the parts of the organization and its employees available in the easiest roads and worked to save time and effort for the institution and for the staff compared to the ways of communication in these institutions in the past. It led the gates to raise the level of institutions so that it worked on the appearance of competition among themselves and became attracts owners of expertise to develop the gates and also to train staff on the gates and how to use them, especially for employees with large age groups as these generations did not contemporary with technology from the beginning of her life. And to increase security at these gates dedicated institutions for their employees (user name -password) for each employee in order to allow privacy for employees so as not to get any error or violation of the validity of any employee on the gate and it produces the career ladder for each company and how the distribution of powers to its employees.
Portals actively contribute to the provision of quality services, such as booking services and inquire about information related to the entity hotel or any other institution, regardless of their competence so that contributed to the emergence of a new environment changed the concept of life where it became a possibility of announcing any service provided by a particular institution is quite easy and less costs compared to the old ways that were used by the proliferation of portals where it worked gates unlike the true picture of most of the institutions in the world have helped to attract tourists and customers tremendous amount led to two goals; first, customer satisfaction and that result in loyalty of this property and trust; and to reach the highest profit at the lowest cost came through technology.
Finally, we can say that the electronic gates, the world has moved a step forward has worked to facilitate services to users, which led to the existence of the desire of the user to use, where it worked on saving time and effort information needed by the user and characterized by portals with a high degree of organization and, therefore, offers integrated services and easy access to the most important topics of concern to the people and the gates institutions and governments helped to reduce operational costs and limited paperwork and turned into electronic transactions. It can be said that the electronic portals have contributed in providing a step forward to provide cost installations profitability and non-profitability, and helped to promote their products around the world.
Hotels consider portals that aimed at radical change extensively and by facilitating a lot of services and open up new prospects for the tourism sector through the dissemination of tourism teacher around the world and has also to publish and bring the wide acclaim of many of the hotels, regardless of whether they are hotel chains global and it is up to that every country has its own specifications and standards in terms of its hotels allowing the author to these portals to tourists identify these characteristics of hotels around the world on the one hand and easy to access and booking performing procedures and facilitate the payment methods on the other hand. Also, anyone can make a selection and viewing of the room he/she wants and tourist occasion his/her destination became the portal as a first reference to customers where these portals worked on the publication of events around the world and marketing because the portal allow and provide all the information on these events, such as international festivals came portals important information such as (place of event -the number of people -properties hits itself) became these details are available in front of everyone in the world without trouble, especially in the era of development that we are seeing these days where the internet became available everywhere and with anyone and this led to the opening either of these electronic portals. Indeed, portals constitute important user source; and through the possibility of anyone in the world access to it, in addition to the search for any service required by the customer, and considers these portals are one of the main requirements in sector arena and to work to improve the tourism sector and hotels to both locally and internationally desired level.


extfieldsofstudy:
Physics
Political Science

text:
Appropriation of social media for fostering effective tacit knowledge sharing: developing conceptual model

With the rising popularity of social media in the past few years, several researches ratiocinate that this type of interactive and collaborative technology could be a beneficial tool for the sharing of tacit knowledge. Nevertheless, very few literatures have tackled the subject of how social media could facilitate tacit knowledge sharing among medical practitioners, and what are its contributions in the area. Thus, the factors that drive individuals to share tacit knowledge need to be investigated further and included in literature. Through a systematic literature review, this study proposes seven enabling conditions which could potentially facilitate the sharing of tacit knowledge. TAM was applied as a novelty in this study in investigating the factors influencing knowledge sharing via social media, whilst taking into account the mediation effects of Attitude in social media usage. This study uncovered an important correlation between virtual settings and the conversion of tacit knowledge, which affects organizational members who are not co-located physically but have a crucial need for sharing information.

Introduction
Knowledge management (KM) has long been the main focus on social media for the past decade. Computer-mediated communications have come to depend on Online Social Networks (OSNs) as a crucial social platform KM initiatives involving information technology have been implemented by various organizations who have also invested heavily in the deployment of their KM systems. Such measures enable their employees to share explicit knowledge among themselves through corporate knowledge repository. Social media contributes new ways of managing knowledge at personal and organizational levels via social-collaborations and networking opportunities. Nonaka [1] explain two types of knowledge tacit and explicit. Tacit knowledge involves the internalization of individual processes such as experience, reflection, internalization or individual talents, which cannot be managed and learned in the same way as explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is stored exclusively within the human self, whilst explicit knowledge can be technologically or mechanically deposited in the form of information systems or handbooks for example. Since tacit knowledge is fundamentally technical or cognitive consisting of mental models, values, beliefs, perceptions, insights and assumptions [2], it is thus complicated to be communicated or documented in a form that could be shared with others. On the other hand, based on most knowledge management (KM) frameworks, explicit knowledge can be managed through the processes of capturing, storing, retrieving, transferring and applying. This indicates that tacit knowledge is not only an important organizational resource, but also a strategic one as it is the only form of information that is renewable and sustainable which is an important competitive advantage for any organization. Tacit knowledge is estimated to contribute up to 80% of vital knowledge, which could prove to be beneficial in ensuring an organization's sustainability in competitive markets [3].
A review of literature shows a gap in the studying of the challenges involved in the establishment of social media for the effective and efficient sharing of tacit knowledge. Various discussions have been made with regards to the transferability of tacit knowledge and the best methods for transferring it. Despite the introduction of numerous models for tacit knowledge transfer, none have been specifically established. Although tacit knowledge transfer has been modeled fairly well in theory, practical problems still exist due to the strong linkage between this type of knowledge with the owner of the knowledge and his personality. Several researchers view social web tools as enablers of tacit knowledge sharing [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Their arguments indicated that certain technological factors have an influence on these variables with regards to knowledge sharing via the platform of social media. Although these researchers offer a view into the affordance of specific factors that influence knowledge sharing via social media, they do not particularly aim to comprehend these affordances for tacit knowledge sharing. Hence, the first main issue being tackled by this research concerns the viability of ICT in general for the sharing of tacit knowledge [4,14,15]. This study aims to close this gap by studying the motivational factors that facilitate the sharing of tacit knowledge. Hence, the proposed research model draws together technological factors that affect tacit knowledge sharing.

Theoretical background
In social media literature, the terms 'online communities', 'social media', 'virtual communities' and 'online social groups' are used interchangeably. Social media platforms are defined as a set of internet based tools that facilitate the creation and exchange of user generated content These platforms consist of blogs, video-sharing sites, micro-blogs, forums, websites and wikis that are developed based on the concepts of Web 2.0 The digitization of healthcare is addressed by Stewart et al [8] who also examined the opportunities for IS research in the context of the healthcare industry. The researchers highlighted non-traditional areas such as the appropriation of social media by physicians, with a provision of opportunities for IS experts in this area through the creation of physician-centered virtual communities The study also indicated that another potential research area for IS experts lies in issues related to the adoption and use of social media [16,17,60]. Another research conducted in Quebec, Canada indicated that female health professionals viewed Web 2.0 as a useful mechanism for transferring knowledge, but they also noted lack of time and technological skills as a significant limitation for them [18]. A social network analysis investigating the knowledge-sharing behavior among practitioners in an online clinical forum discovered that despite their limited number, the practitioners' inter-professional and inter-institutional links are strong [8]. Gormley [19] attempted to manage knowledge resources through the offering of a social media-based knowledge-sharing opportunity in the form of virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) to employees who are involved in strategic areas of the healthcare sector and its delivery.
The healthcare sector is comprised mostly of tacit knowledge [14], which forms 80% of the overall vital knowledge [3] that is necessary for better performance [20]. Although tacit knowledge amongst healthcare professionals is a crucial source of experiential know-how, numerous operational and technical reasons have rendered it to be unharnessed and unapplied in practice [21]. Tacit healthcare knowledge could contribute significantly to the enhancement of healthcare quality and delivery, when applied together with explicit (published) healthcare knowledge. Regular ICT tools such as emails and databases lack the appropriate setting for tacit knowledge transfer. Considering that the sharing of explicit knowledge renders less effort than tacit knowledge sharing [22], there is therefore a requirement for more open and unstructured solutions [23]. With the growing popularity of social media, healthcare educators need to think of different ways to communicate [24] considering that the utilization of social media in the healthcare sector is still new with undiscovered depths and only partially realized advantages [25]. IS research on system appropriation normally tackles the common aspects of ease of use usefulness and perceived enjoyment as employed by theories like TAM in the domain of knowledge sharing of which emphasis is on the sharing of explicit knowledge. Collaborative work can be facilitated by information technology (IT) which can also help enable the process of knowledge sharing [26]. Nevertheless, technologies of such nature have limited abilities in transferring tacit knowledge [27]. As argued by researchers, technical infrastructures rely heavily on the value of the contents that they hold and the relationships that they can build. The motivation to act has been related to two aspects of systems use [28].
Mun, et al. [29] and Kim [30] in their investigation found inter-correlations between technology acceptance and knowledge sharing participation. In short, the knowledge sharing level amongst employees could indicate in their intention in using Social media. This study defines knowledge sharing as the extent of information and knowledge sharing amongst employees in an organization. A subsection Some text.

Conceptual model
The TAM Davis [31] was initially used to understand and predict user adoption of new information technologies. TAM, the users' acceptance of new technology is influenced by three major variables: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment. Perceived ease of use is the extent to which an individual perceives the usage of a certain system to be effortless physically and mentally. Meanwhile, perceived usefulness is the extent to which an individual perceives the usage of a certain system to be beneficial in enhancing his job performance. Knowledge sharing has been found to be driven by perceived ease of technology [32,33]. TAM has recently been employed to investigate the use of web information systems [34] and mobile healthcare systems [35]. Hsu and Lin [36] found that perceived ease of use significantly influences knowledge sharing in blogs. It was also found to encourage information sharing amongst the members of a certain network [37]. Knowledge sharing is more likely to occur when a social media user experiences an ease of interaction with the website. This indicates that the user is more likely to write a review of a product or service if the user perceives the review submission to be easy. Various studies have noted that perceived ease of use has an influence on knowledge sharing behaviors in virtual settings [38]. Similarly, other studies have also found a strong and consistent correlation between perceived usefulness and the use of a certain technology with sharing medical knowledge [39]. Li and Liu [40] found that perceived usefulness positively affects knowledge sharing in online travel services.
Despite all these findings, there is a lack of investigation on the impact of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness on tacit knowledge sharing in an online setting. Hence, the following hypotheses are extrapolated: Hypothesis 1: Perceived usefulness positively associate with tacit knowledge sharing in social media.
Hypothesis 2: Perceived ease of use positively associate with tacit knowledge sharing in social media.
Perceived Enjoyment is an addition to the main constructs in TAM that represents intrinsic motivations. Davis, et al. [41] defined it as the degree to which the ICT usage is perceived to be enjoyable. Perceived enjoyment has been deemed as a strong predictor that justifies a certain behavior such as technology adoption and utilization [41][42][43][44][45]. Social media sites commonly focus on utility, which is derived from the sense of entertainment and enjoyment from using them. Wasko and Faraj [46] found empirical evidence that perceived enjoyment has a positive correlation to knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice. Meanwhile, Yu, et al. [47], Papadopoulos, et al. [48] and, Kankanhalli, et al. [49] found a positive correlation between perceived enjoyments of blogging with individual attitude towards knowledge sharing. Hau, Kim, Lee and Kim [22], and Kang and Schuett [50] supported the finding that perceived enjoyment enhances experience or knowledge sharing behavior in social media. The sharing of tacit knowledge normally involves intensive exchange processes such as years of intimate conversations on and off work, sharing of experiences and transfer of expertise [51]. Thus, the sharing of tacit knowledge takes more interactions over a longer period of time than explicit knowledge would. Considering that perceived enjoyment in knowledge sharing could be more crucial in the intimate and intense conversational processes among individuals, the hypothesis below is hence posited: Hypothesis 3: Perceived enjoyment positively associate with tacit knowledge sharing in social media.
Although the topic of knowledge sharing is deemed important in ethics, vague terminologies still characterize discussions related to it. To fill this gap, a framework was developed for this study to better understand how social media affects the sharing of tacit knowledge and particularly to identify the degree of attitude towards social media usage as the mediator in the relationships between perceived ease of use, perceive usefulness, and perceived enjoyment with tacit knowledge sharing. Hence, one of research objectives is to develop a deep understanding of the formation, mediators, and antecedents of knowledge sharing through the opening of a black box of tacit knowledge sharing, which will eventually facilitate the success of tacit knowledge sharing. Technology acceptance is tested either in the form of behavioral intention or actual use. Attitude as a mediator is discarded due to its lack of validation [52,53]. Attitude towards Using is taken from the construct by Davis et al. [31] derived from the technology acceptance model (TAM) that consists of Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU).
As a whole, empirical support from the TAM research leans more towards the importance of PU over PEOU and deems PU as a full mediator for PEOU and acceptance of technology [53,54]. Lin and Lu [55] in their study indicated the significance of perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness as mediators. McGowan et al. [39] conducted an empirical study among physicians in the USA and found that the use of social media for information and medical knowledge sharing with other physicians relies heavily on the perceived usefulness of the technology and the general attitude that the physicians have towards the value that this technology has to offer. This study has shown that a positive attitude towards the use of social media is more likely to drive the use of social media and the sharing of medical information with other physicians through its use. In short, users will have a higher inclination to view a posted content when they perceive this information to be useful Perceived Enjoyment is also found to have a significant effect on user attitude with regards to using Facebook [56]. Therefore the hypotheses below are posited: Hypothesis 4: Attitude toward social media usage positively related to the intention tacit knowledge sharing over social media. Hypothesis 5: Attitude towards social media usage mediates the correlation between perceived enjoyment and the intention of sharing tacit knowledge. Hypothesis 6: Attitude towards social media usage mediates the correlation between perceived ease of use and the intention of sharing tacit knowledge. Hypothesis 7: Attitude towards social media usage mediates the correlation between perceived usefulness and the intention of sharing tacit knowledge.
As noted earlier on, TAM has gained significant focus in the field of information system (IS) over the last decade [36]. TAM proposes perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use and perceived enjoyment as the three primary factors of IS acceptance in its attempt to predict and explain system use. Attitude towards Using is derived from the construct by Davis et al. [31] from the technology acceptance model (TAM) which consists of Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use. Perceived ease of use is the degree to which a user perceives the usage of the technology to be effortless. In this study, perceived ease of use refers to the extent to which an individual perceives the usage of social media to post or retrieve medical information to be effortless. Meanwhile, perceived usefulness is the degree to which an individual perceives that the use of the technology will improve his job performance [31]. This in turn will increase the individual's willingness to use it further in the future [57]. This model posits that perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use affect attitude towards usage. When a user perceives that the available tools could actually facilitate in a certain task's completion, the user will acknowledge the significance of the tool and thus make full use of it.
Other studies suggest that perceived enjoyment the extent to which the user perceives the technology to be enjoyable, could also influence user attitude towards using the technology. Venkatesh et al. [58] found that there is a positive link between perceived enjoyment, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness to the attitudes of individuals in using a system [30,59]. This discussion thus proposes the hypotheses below: Fig. 1

Methodology
This paper is organized in the form of a general review, which includes study designs that are used to identify the best evidence to tackle the research objective. Scientific publications were selected and grouped according to their respective aims and contents, which eventually comes down to three categories namely: (i) TAM literature reviews and extension of TAM, (ii) social media, and (iii) tacit knowledge sharing. Scientific publications concerning TAM are identified based on a structured approach namely: (i) search on particular keyword(s) in leading databases, (ii) selection of publications with the corresponding criteria, and (iii) a quick scan of the titles, abstracts, and full text of the selected publications to determine their relevance; and (iv) reading and analyzing the full text of the selected publications. The resources were purposely examined to determine the analytical gap and to understand the social media applications for the disbursement of knowledge sharing.

Discussion and conclusion
Based on the findings and the hypotheses developed in the previous sections, a new conceptual framework (See Fig. 1) has been proposed with regards to the correlation between the TAM initiatives and the behavior of tacit knowledge sharing in social media. The proposed model shows that these features create opportunities for an effective flow of tacit knowledge in a social media setting. The model facilitates a better understanding of the phenomenon of tacit knowledge sharing via social web initiatives as well as provides a new avenue for discussion in this area. The model provides an important link between the requirements of tacit knowledge sharing and the contribution of social media in complying with those requirements, which has not been investigated in any literature. There are several aspects to the model which can be criticized. For example, the inclusiveness of the model is questionable because the process of tacit knowledge sharing is quite complicated and is influenced by various surrounding conditions. Furthermore, empirical evidences for justifying the hypothesized relationships are rare and require testing. Despite the shortcomings above, the model gives way for new theoretical grounds which brings us closer to fully exploring the applications of online social tools for the sharing of tacit knowledge. This study suggested a research model based on the technology acceptance theory.
Current literature on social media provides studies that were conducted from a technology acceptance model perspective, without the provision of a holistic understanding of user intention specifically with regards to tacit knowledge sharing in an online setting. Hence, the literature analysis in this study indicated a direct link between perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment with regards to the sharing of tacit knowledge. Furthermore, the mediation role of Attitude in the use of social media was hypothesized in the relations between perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment. The findings of this study bring several noteworthy implications. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of IT acceptance and particularly the sharing of tacit knowledge in social media. For the first time, this study hypothesizes the mediation effect of Attitude on the TAM construct and tacit knowledge sharing. This study could be regarded as a working paper. Subsequent empirical studies could be conducted to verify the findings of this study. The correlations in conceptual frameworks need to be validated and tested in various social media contexts.


The Role of Shariah Board in Islamic Banks: Pakistan’s Perspective

The State Bank of Pakistan introduced diversion from the individual Shariah advisory system to the Shariah board mechanism by issuing the Shariah governance framework in 2016 by making it mandatory for the Islamic banks to have an independent Shariah board. In this paper, it is examined whether the Shariah boards have any effective role in the improvement of the Shariah compliance environment of the banks or not? And how to make it more effective for the betterment of the Islamic banking industry? A questionnaire has been developed to study and inspect these issues. The results indicate that even though the role of sharia board could not be denied in the improvement of Shariah compliance in IBI’s, however, the mechanism may be further strengthened. The study also suggests that Shariah board members should be involved regularly by making it obligatory on the IBI’s to arrange frequent meetings of the board.

Introduction
Islamic banking is rapidly growing in Pakistan which is a good sign for the investor as well as the overall industry. As reported by the state bank of Pakistan, both the assets and liabilities of the Islamic banking industry witnessed growth in the last ten years. Similarly, the Market share of Islamic banking in overall banking industry has also reached almost 15 percent (SBP, 2017).
On the other hand, Shariah scholars emphasize that Islamic banks should not only focus on business expansion but Shariah compliance must be confirmed by adopting different tools (Usmani, 2009) State bank of Pakistan being a regulator is also taking steps to ensure Shariah compliance in the industry to make it at par the guidelines of Shariah. For instance, it is mandatory for the Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) to form a Shariah compliance department or unit keeping in view the size of the institution. Further, it is also advised that the internal Shariah audit unit may also be established to conduct the Shariah audit of the bank. External Shariah audit has also become mandatory .

Regulatory Guidelines on Shariah Supervision
Monitoring and supervision of Shariah affairs, of Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs), is a very important aspect. The bank shall need services of Shariah expert who will advise and supervise its transactions on daily basis to address different issues faced by the IBI, (Ismail, 2014) to cater the issue, the SBP while issuing circular No.1 of 2003 for setting up a schedule Islamic commercial bank in private sector, it is made compulsory on the scheduled bank to constitute Shariah board and brief resumes of Shariah board members shall be submitted to SBP along with other requirements for setting up as schedules Islamic commercial Bank (Shehzad, 2003).
Keeping in view the preliminary stage of the industry in the country, the Islamic Banking Department (IBD) of SBP issued circular no 2 on 29 April 2004 regarding minimum Shariah regulatory requirement in which the earlier guidelines have been modified.
It was the major milestone in the Islamic banking industry in Pakistan that for the first time in the history of the industry, The minimum Shariah regulatory standards and the "Fit and Proper Criteria" framed for selection of the Shariah Advisor have been incorporated in the guidelines by issuing the BPD Circular no 02 of 2004 IBD. (Said 2004) at this stage, the IBI's were given relaxation to appoint sharia committee on their own and not as part of the regulation of SBP.
On 29th April 2004, SBP issued further instructions regarding fit and proper criteria of Shariah advisor in which it is advised that Shariah advisor shall work only in one IBI, he shall not have any position in any other financial institution whether it is executive or non-executive, to address the issue of conflict of interest, the shall not approve any financial transaction acting as sharia advisor of both financial institution. (Said 2004) To further strengthen the Shariah compliance practices of Islamic banking in Pakistan, SBP issued circular no 03 of 2014 regarding Shariah governance framework, The circular cover up roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders for Shariah compliance, however, the major decision which may be called a paradigm shift in the country, industry is moving away from individual Shariah advisory system to compulsory Shariah board system which shall consist of at least three Shariah scholar members. The Shariah advisors position has been removed and major responsibilities are assigned to resident Shariah board member Global Regional Review (GRR) of the board. To implement the system, Islamic banking institutions have been given six months' time (Siad 2008).
On September 30th, State Bank of Pakistan further extended the timeline to January 01, 2015, for implementation of the Shariah governance framework through letter no 03 of 2014 (Muhammad 2014).
Finally, on April 07, 2015, circular no 01 of 2015 has issued in which the Shariah Governance Framework (SGF) has been issued for compliance. Further, it is advised that the framework shall come into force from 01 July 2015 (Muhammad 2015).
The framework stated that every IBI shall have a Shariah Board (SB) consist of at least three Shariah scholars members but prior written clearance shall be obtained before appointing a member of the Shariah board. These members shall be selected to serve the institution for three years initially, however, they will be eligible for reappointment. In the first phase, relaxation is given to Shariah board members for at least first-term appointment that they may serve in the Shariah boards of up to three IBIs, however, resident Shariah board members of IBI cannot serve in any other Shariah board .

Data and Methodology
The prime aim of the present study was to critically analyze and review the role of the Shariah board in Islamic banking institutions in Pakistan. For this purpose, a survey comprises of both closed and open-ended questions was prepared and distributed among 72 Islamic banking practitioners (respondents) of different Islamic banks in Pakistan filled the survey forms and returned to the authors. The data and information collected through this survey were then converted into percentages and averages and the result was drawn. Other related information and discussions were obtained from the published material of the State Bank of Pakistan and the Islamic Banking Division, Islamabad Pakistan.

Findings and Discussion
In order to ensure that all transactions and operations of Islamic Banking Institutions (IBI) in Pakistan are to be in conformity with the Shariah of Islam, SBP has devised a workable mechanism for all Islamic banks and their services and products. For this purpose, SBP has set up two most important supervisory/regulatory bodies to make sure that the services and products of IBI are in conformity with Shariah. This framework includes Shariah Board (SB) at the level of SBP, whose main functions comprises of reviewing and approving products developed by SBP, to advise SBP on prudential regulations, and also to approve the fit and proper criteria for the recruitment of Shariah advisors of IBI. Another regulatory body that SBP has made mandatory for all Islamic banks is also known as Shariah Board (SB) but at the Islamic bank level.
According to SBP, every Islamic bank shall have a Shariah board consists of three Shariah scholars recruited by the respective board of directors (BoD) as per fit and proper criteria. The board has been empowered to decide, consider and supervise all Shariah related matters of the IBI in order to build the confidence of the general public. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the role of Shariah board in the improvement of the Shariah compliance environment of the IBIs by gathering information from the practitioners of the Islamic banking industry through a survey.
A question was asked in the questionnaire that whether the Shariah board has any impact on the Shariah compliance of Islamic banks, almost all the respondents are unanimous that yes the board has a significant impact on the Shariah compliance of IBI. The respondents are of the view that due to quarterly meetings of SB, reviewing operations of IBI, its regular and collective monitoring, submission of minutes to SBP, SB plays an important role in Shariah compliance of IBIs. However, one respondent has the observation that due to the duplication of the assignment of the Shariah advisor, the impact of SB on the Shariah compliance of IBI has reduced to a minimum level.
Most of the respondents are of the opinion that SB has many advantages. First, it ensures that all transactions, contracts and activities of IBI are in conformity with Shariah of Islam. It makes, verify, ratify and vet every transaction and operational issue according to Shariah. Another advantage of the SB is its monitory role to ensure the implementation of Shariah culture in IBI. Moreover, it has developed the confidence of the general masses on IBI.The SB also takes care off that the funding should be provided to Shariah compliant projects which have positive economic impact on the society. Last but not the least, it is the SB which has contributed significantly in the exponential growth of Islamic banking industry in Pakistan.
About the disadvantages (if any) of SB, eighty percent of the respondents say, there are no disadvantages of SB, while twenty percent of the practitioners enumerated a couple of disadvantages. For instance, some are of the opinion that lack of banking knowledge, busy and tight schedule of the SB members leads to delay in timely disposal of their assigned tasks. However, a couple of respondents also reported that additional resources are involved in reporting each and every activity of the Islamic bank to SB which increases the expenses of an IB compared to conventional bank.
Commenting on the question related to the gaps which SB needs to focus on, some respondents reported that SBs of IFIs should focus on the uniformity of the products and services which these IFIs offer. It has also been observed that some SBs have allowed products which others disallowed the same offered by other IBIs which undoubtedly create reputational risk and ambiguity in the mind of the general public regarding their integrity and compliance to Shariah. Twenty percent Global Regional Review (GRR) of the respondents say that SB should arrange workshops, seminars, and conferences for general public as well as for banking staff to enhance their awareness about Islamic banking practices, besides focus on Shariah compliance of services and products. A quite sizeable number of respondents reported that SB should also focus on staff related issues and the members of SB should make their presence certain from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm in order to ensure timely execution of all the banking activities.
The board of directors (BoD) should involve members of SB in hiring the employees of the bank, some respondents suggested, which will definitely contribute to the efficiency of the bank. Moreover, majority of the respondents stated that SB has the potential and to impose their Shariah compliant decisions, however, sometimes fail to implement their decisions due to upper hand of the BoD and management in the process of decision making.
About the major contribution (if any) of the respective SBs, respondents reported some important contributions made by SBs in Pakistan. One of the most crucial contributions made by SBs is that this system has provided better alternative to conventional banking system and started riba-free Islamic banking system in Pakistan. It has contributed towards the standardization of policies, product structure, and governance structure of the IBs and provided solutions to different Shariah related banking issues. Due to the efforts of SBs, quite a sizeable number of wealthy people who were previously not interested in keeping their surplus wealth in interest-based banking system have been started depositing their money now in Shariah compliant banking system. The SB has discouraged unethical, unjust, unlawful and doubtful projects in the Islamic banking industry by introducing riba-free and Shariah compliant banking practices which undoubtedly improved the level of confidence of the general public including both depositors and investors.
Majority of the respondents (80 %) are of the opinion that public confidence has increased since the adoption of Shariah board system in IBIs by the SBP. The general public is now more aware compared to past that the prime responsibility of the SB is to make sure that all the operations of IB will be in conformity with Shariah of Islam and no transaction will be allowed if it is in some way or another repugnant to the tenants of Islam. Even the mere existence of the SB in the IBs gives a sense of satisfaction and confidence among the customers of IBs. This sense of satisfaction and confidence in turn increases the credibility level and hence contribute to their financial performance.
However, twenty percent (20%) of the respondents are not agree that public confidence has increased due to SB system by SBP. They are of the opinion that general public is not aware of the basic role of the SB in IBs because there is no mechanism of direct interaction between public and SB members. Moreover, according to them, people generally compare benefit cost analysis (BC ratio) and conclude that Islamic and conventional banking system is the same as both charge extra amount, so, SB has not made any contribution to this perception from the mind of the general public. Therefore, they suggested that public confidence can be further increased through the establishment of direct contact between customers and SB members and secondly, the SB should arrange public awareness programs on mass scale level.
The adoption of SB system in IBs has impacted positively or negatively the overall environment of bank, eighty five (85%) percent of the respondents reported in affirmative. According to them, monitoring and Shariah compliance mechanism has been improved compared to past and that all transactions are now in line with Sharia of Islam. Due to adoption of SB system, management of the banks now give more weight to the decisions of SB in Shariah related matters. They suggested that at-least Shariah scholars should be members of the BoD if we want to bring more positive change in the overall environment of IBs. Moreover, fifteen percent of the respondents reported that there is no major change in the overall environment of the banks. They say that SB has totally ignored the internal staff of the bank and their genuine issues and so all is similar as of previous structure of Shariah advisors.
Regarding the weaker aspect of the present structure related to SB, three percent of the respondents reported that there is no weaker aspect while twenty five percent of the respondents say that most of the SB members are affiliated with many other banks at a time resultantly important Shariah related issues and matters are being delayed while sometimes relaxations are given by SB due to management pressure or market practices which should not be allowed. Twenty percent of the respondents are of the opinion that one weaker aspect of the present structure of SB is less interaction of SB members with the banking staff as well as public. This gap between SB members, staff and general public negatively affect the level of satisfaction and confidence of the people.
Some of the respondents are of the opinion that SB or advisor merely works as an advisor having no full authority and command over the transactions and operations of the bank. Therefore, SB should be given space in the BoD to have their full say in all decision making processes and practical involvement in banking activities. Moreover, ten percent of the respondents reported that parallel system of conventional and Islamic banking system is by itself the weaker aspect of the present banking structure which should be eliminated in a country like Pakistan.
How to enhance more the effectiveness of the SB, majority of the respondents suggested that SBP should increase the power and authority of the SB in all types of Shariah related matters. Some are of the opinion that SBP should make BoD and SB parallel in authority and decision making in order to make all transactions fully Shariah compliant. Another suggestion forwarded for the effectiveness is that SB members should give more time to their own banks and the number of SB meetings should be increased. The role of SB of SBP should be strengthened through reporting of the Shariah advisor of IBs to SB of SBP. Product concept Global Regional Review (GRR) rules should be approved by SB of SBP for uniformity of practices in the IBI along with the supervision of the same through Shariah advisors of the banks instead of the current structure of SBs, they commented. Moreover, the SBs should start trainings, workshops, and seminars for both staff and public and give enough time to the problems and genuine issues of the banking staff.

Conclusion
Islamic banking system is based on basically the prohibition of riba in all its shapes and forms, therefore, in order to make it sure that all the operations and transactions of Islamic banks (IBs) in Pakistan are to be consonance with the Shariah of Islam, SBP, the regulator, has issued Shariah governance framework in 2016 making it compulsory for all IBs to have Shariah boards (SBs) whose main function is to supervise the activities of the bank from Shariah perspective. In this paper, it has been tried through a survey to critically evaluate the role of SB that whether it has played an effective role in the improvement of the Shariah compliance environment of the bank, has it contributed towards confidence building, governance structure and in bringing positive changes in the overall environment of the bank.
The majority of the respondents reported that it is the SB that has been empowered by SBP to decide, consider and supervise all Shariah related issues of the IBI, build the confidence of the general masses and which has contributed significantly to the exponential growth of IBI in Pakistan. The respondents are unanimous that SB has a significant impact on the Shariah compliance of IBI. The SB has also contributed to the governance structure of Islamic banks, enhanced public confidence and brought positive changes in the overall environment of the bank, respondents reported.
About the weaker aspect of SB, respondents stated that most of the SB members are affiliated with many other banks resultantly Shariah issues are delayed and further it is also some-how create the issue of conflict of interest and against the spirit of good corporate governance as described by SBP in its circular no 03 of 2008 which states that sharia advisor shall not approve a transaction acting as sharia advisor of two different financial institutions by representing both sides . It has also been observed that less interaction of the SB members with the staff and customers adversely affected the performance of the bank and SB. The respondents suggested that SBP should increase the power and authority of SB in all types of Shariah related matters in order to make it more effective than before. Some respondents argued that SBP should make both SB and BoD parallel in power and authority. By and large, SB plays an important and significant role in the overall performance of IBI, according to the majority of the respondents.