 | Prof. ZelinTongHainan University, ChinaExperience:Currently serving as Vice Dean of the International Business School, Hainan University, and Director of the Executive Development Program (EDP) Center; also Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, and head of the Business Environment and Brand Management Research Team at Hainan University. Ph.D. degree obtained from Wuhan University in 2012. Visiting Scholar at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University from 2015 to 2016, and Visiting Scholar at the College of Business, City University of Hong Kong from January to June 2020.Main research interests include brand marketing and social responsibility management, innovation and entrepreneurship and leadership, and free trade port policies. Principal investigator of three projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and two provincial-level research projects. More than 50 papers published as first or corresponding author in journals including Management World, Nankai Business Review, Acta Psychologica Sinica, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Marketing Review, and Journal of Product and Brand Management. Selected as a Young Top Talent at North China University of Technology in 2016; selected as a Young Top Talent under the High-level Faculty Development Support Program for Beijing Municipal Universities in 2017; selected for the Hainan Provincial Top Talent Program in 2019; and selected into the third level of the Hainan “515 Project” Talent Program in 2020. Speech Title:Moral Marketing from the Perspective of Chinese Culture: A Series of Studies Abstract:From the perspective of China's differential mode of association (chaxu geju) culture, this study examines the effects, underlying mechanisms, and managerial implications of moral marketing activities on consumers' brand evaluations, focusing respectively on entrepreneurs' morality, corporate charitable donations, and corporate cross-border philanthropic behavior |
 | Prof.YongchengNieHainan Normal University, ChinaExperience: Ph.D. in Education, currently a professor and vice dean of the School of Teacher Education at Hainan Normal University. His research focuses on higher education, vocational education, and teacher education (specifically secondary school Chinese language education). Since 2001, he has worked at Kunming Heavy Industry High School in Yunnan Province, Hainan Institute of Political Science and Law, and Hainan Normal University, serving in various roles including middle school Chinese language teacher and homeroom instructor (for both junior and senior high school), academic affairs officer at a university, and full-time faculty member.Since assuming his current position, he has led or participated in over ten national-level and provincial/ministerial-level research projects, as well as six horizontal research projects. He has publishedmore than 20 academic papers in core journals such as "Higher Education Research," and authored three scholarly monographs. |
 | Prof. Faruk BalliMasseyUniversity, New ZealandExperience:Professor DrFaruk Balli is Professor of Economics and Finance in the School of Accountancy, Economics and Finance at Massey University, New Zealand. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Houston and has previously worked as a research economist at the Qatar Central Bank and as an assistant professor at the University of Dubai. He has also served as a consultant to the World Bank and Bank Indonesia. Professor Balli’s research lies at the intersection of international macroeconomics, international finance, financial economics, Islamic finance, and tourism economics. His work examines international risk sharing, financial integration, portfolio allocation, asset-price volatility, market connectedness, geopolitical and economic uncertainty, corporate payout policy, Sukuk and Islamic equity markets, and tourism demand. His research has appeared in leading journals, including the Journal of Banking and Finance, Energy Economics, Tourism Management, Journal of International Money and Finance, Regional Studies, World Economy. His recent studies have examined spillovers between Islamic and conventional financial markets, green bonds, commodities, cryptocurrencies, energy markets, and tourism-related assets. Professor Balli is also an experienced doctoral supervisor, academic editor, journal referee, and policy consultant. His Google Scholar profile records more than 5,600 citations, with an h-index of 43, reflecting the broad international influence of his research. He has supervised doctoral research in international finance, Islamic finance, corporate finance, financial-market uncertainty, housing markets, and commodity-market risk. Overall, his scholarship combines rigorous applied econometric methods with important questions in global finance, risk transmission, and economic policy Title:Payout Smoothing Policies and Income Growth Evidence from Sharia-Compliant Firms Abstract:This study examines payout smoothing behavior among Sharia-compliant (SC) firms relative to their non-Sharia-compliant (NSC) counterparts. In the first stage, we analyze how payout growth responds to short-term net income shocks. The findings show that, overall, payout growth is largely insulated from year-to-year earnings fluctuations. However, for SC firms—particularly following their transition to Sharia compliance—this insulation weakens over time. Furthermore, the sensitivity of SC firms’ payout policies to net income growth is more pronounced among financially vulnerable firms, especially those with higher leverage, smaller firm size, and operations in less developed financial markets. This suggests that SC firms prioritize adherence to the preferences of Islamic investors, particularly in less mature financial environments, and are less inclined to increase leverage as a means of stabilizing payouts in order to maintain Sharia compliance. Finally, SC firms exhibit greater responsiveness in payout smoothing behavior after becoming Sharia-compliant, supporting the view that payout policies are more tightly constrained among financially constrained SC firms. |