Governance and professional practice in islamic economics: a thematic literature review

Abstract

Governance and professional practice constitute two of the most persistent points of tension within Islamic economics, as institutions built on Shariah principles must reconcile conventional oversight mechanisms with distinctly religious sources of accountability. Despite two decades of expansion in Islamic banking, finance and enterprise, understanding of how governance structures shape ethical and professional conduct in these institutions remains dispersed across disciplinary silos. This review synthesises a corpus of peer-reviewed journal articles addressing governance, Sharia compliance, Islamic work ethic, accountability and professional practice within Islamic economics, published mainly between 2015 and 2026. Following a transparent, PRISMA-informed screening process applied to an author-compiled reference corpus of 123 records, twenty-five studies meeting relevance and peer-review criteria were retained for thematic synthesis. The review addresses two questions: how governance has been conceptualised and implemented in Islamic economics literature, and what evidence exists on the relationship between governance and professional practice. Findings indicate that governance in Islamic economic institutions has evolved from board-level compliance mechanisms toward a layered model combining conventional corporate governance, Sharia supervisory oversight and internalised religious ethics. Professional practice, in turn, is shaped less by formal codes than by constructs such as Islamic work ethic, workplace rectitude and Maqasid-al-Shariah-oriented accountability, which mediate outcomes including job satisfaction, organisational commitment and stakeholder trust. The review proposes a conceptual framework linking governance dimensions to professional-practice outcomes and identifies persistent gaps in cross-country comparison, quantitative governance-practice linkage studies, and the integration of Maqasid al-Shariah into measurable governance indicators. Implications for Islamic financial institutions, regulators and professional bodies are discussed alongside an agenda for future research.