In search of the perceptions of academicians and financial markets practitioners on Shariah governance practices

Shariah governance is an Islamic corporate governance system that is designed to ensure that Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) activities comply with Shariah rules. Shariah supervision is one of the most important components of the Shariah governance system that is carried out by the Shariah board. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of academicians and financial markets practitioners on Shariah governance practices in six areas, namely, general framework of Shariah governance, regulatory framework, the role of Shariah board, mechanisms of Shariah governance system, operational procedures and functions of the Shariah board. This study is a survey in which data is collected by sending questionnaires and then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of 171 collected questionnaires in 2020 indicate that the large majority of the respondents considered the Shariah governance practices in the Iranian financial markets as important and in this regard, there is no significant difference between the views of academicians and financial markets practitioners. The results also indicate that the respondents have considered different priorities for the Shariah governance practices and in their view the functions of the Shariah board, the competence of the Shariah board and the general framework of the Shariah governance are more important.