Mainstreaming Blue Economy Development through Islamic FinTech

Abstract

This research answers a research question how mainstreaming Islamic financial instruments for acquisition, allocation and investment (AAI) of scarce ocean resources can enhance desired future wealth of the stakeholders. The aim of this research is to infer behavioral information by collecting the data from a sample, create and deliver value to environment and stakeholders, and achieve sustainable and blue economic development goals by mitigating the burden of unethical financial obligations. In order to attain research objective following 3 hypotheses are tested. Using a deductive research approach, the study tests the impact of Islamic Financial Instruments (IFI) on sustainable and blue economy developments, impact of Islamic financial instruments on Blue Economy/Maritime (BE_MT) for sustainable development goals (SDG), and the impact of Financial Technology (FT) for Sustainable and Blue Economy Developments. Nevertheless, our hypotheses are accordingly generated to identify the factors affecting the development of blue economy by utilizing pragmatic approach and a functionalist paradigm (external, multiple, view chosen to best enable answering of research question) with the help of literature review, sample responses, and statistical methods including but are not limited to descriptive analyses, regression models, and neural network models, etc. This paper attempt to measure these constructs 1. FinTech 2. Islamic Financial Instruments 3. Sustainable and Blue Economy Development 4. Tourism 5. Islamic Finance and Sustainable Development Goals. Results justify that the IFI and FinTech are highly significant to the BE_MT development and consecutively IF and SDGs of which IFI is part of visualizing less significance, as well as, tourism which is a segment of blue economy is also less significant to blue economy. Therefore, it is not a subjective recommendation that financial institutions must transform their traditional administration, enhance their operations, acquisition, allocation and investment in the domain of maritime, specifically in developing sustainable trade and tourism infrastructure, in order to create and deliver more value to BE_MT and to global stakeholders though Islamic FinTech enabled sandbox implementation. This sustainable practice of testing and trading diversified global blue Islamic financial instruments for adapting traditional business model infrastructure will significantly reduce stakeholder’s risk and unethical, and non-shariah compliant conduct of trade.