Gender Awareness and Donor Participation: Transforming Zakat Distribution for Enhanced Community Welfare

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Authors

  • Mehmed Zayid Yıldırım Department of Islamic Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey image/svg+xml
  • Aisha El-Din Fatma Department of Islamic Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey image/svg+xml

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69725/jies.v2i1.285

Keywords:

Social finance, Institutional effectiveness, Stakeholder participation, Welfare outcomes, Gender sensitivity

Abstract

Objective: Institutional mechanisms and stakeholder participation play pivotal roles in providing welfare effects in social finance distribution systems.
Methods: We use survey data and a hierarchical regression to test direct as well as moderating effects.
Results: Welfare outcomes are greatly improved when institutional transparency, gender-sensitive practices, and professional management are ensured. We identify stakeholder participation, in particular, as an important moderating factor, which indeed serves to significantly bolster the association between institutional practices and the realization of welfare gains. The combined model explains better that integrating operational excellence with active involvement creates a synergistic impact.
Novelty: This paper brings in the catalyzing role of stakeholder participation as a moderator and proposes a convergent theoretical framework by integrating four arguably understudied institutional perspectives, such as marketing and service, which offers rare insights in the social finance literature on effectiveness.
Research Implication: This study fills this gap and opens new avenues for research by providing a potential basis for designing more effective social welfare programs and furthering theoretical development through the validation of an integrated model of institutional effectiveness.

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Author Biographies

  • Mehmed Zayid Yıldırım, Department of Islamic Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Mehmed Zayid Yıldırım is an Associate in the Department of Islamic Economics and Finance at Marmara University, Turkey. He holds a PhD in Islamic Economics from Marmara University, with his research primarily focusing on Islamic philanthropy and Sharīʿah-compliant finance. Over the past decade, he has published over 20 scholarly articles in Scopus-indexed journals, examining zakat governance and poverty alleviation. His current research explores digital-based zakat distribution models and their impact on community welfare in Turkey. He actively serves as a consultant for several prominent zakat institutions in Istanbul and regularly presents his work at international conferences on Islamic economics.

  • Aisha El-Din Fatma, Department of Islamic Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Aisha El-Din Fatma is an in the Department of Islamic Economics and Finance at Marmara University, specializing in gender studies and inclusive finance. She completed her doctoral studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia, where her dissertation focused on gender perspectives in zakat distribution. Her research has been published in leading journals, including the International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management. Her innovative work on gender awareness in Islamic philanthropic institutions has gained international recognition. She currently leads a collaborative research project investigating the optimization of zakat distribution for female-headed households in the Anatolia region.

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Published

2025-06-10

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): June

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Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Mehmed Zayid Yıldırım, Aisha El-Din Fatma (Author)

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Journal International Economic Sharia (JIES) © 2024 by Inovasi Analisis Data is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

How to Cite

Zayid Yıldırım, M., & El-Din Fatma, A. (2025). Gender Awareness and Donor Participation: Transforming Zakat Distribution for Enhanced Community Welfare. Journal International Economic Sharia, 2(1), 32-45. https://doi.org/10.69725/jies.v2i1.285
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