Empirical Justifications Research Articles

School Shooting as an Extreme form of Deviant Behavior: Expert Evaluations

Such a phenomenon as school shooting, which entered the everyday life of society, frightened humanity with its cruelty and unpredictability, found a response in scientific community. The school shooting discourse is wide: from theoretical understandings (towards analysis of theories of anomie and deviance, stigmatization and criminology, the concepts of differential associative, communicative, axiological and existential approaches) to empirical justifications. They showed that this multifactorial destructive phenomenon is labile, its configuration changes along with the changing social reality, which significantly expands the research field. The study concerns the expert characteristics of this phenomenon. Authors have concluded that the most likely motive for violence in educational institutions is in most cases psychological trauma or school shooter’s disorders. Society’s reaction to school shooting is superficial and mainly reduced to appeals to limit Internet content. The root cause of tragic incidents of school shooting should be considered the deformation of value-motivational sphere of an individual in children and adolescents. The key channel for spread and rooting of destructive attitudes among young people is messengers, where teenagers and children are actively recruited. However, the main hazard lies in the fact that these virtual contacts and connections subsequently find their consolidation and materialization in real environment of educational institutions, where “cells” of destructive behavior are formed, capable of attracting more and more new participants into their orbit.

Theoretical and Empirical Justifications for The Development of the Questionnaire “Subjective Evaluation of Lukism in Humor”

Introduction. The paper deals with the problem of lookism (discrimination based on appearance) on the example of evaluating humorous posts and memes, which in various social situations can act as triggers of lookism. In order to diagnose sensitivity to Lukism in jokes, we attempted to prepare a basic description of the future structure of the methodology by testing a number of statements obtained by other authors in relation to different types of jokes. The novelty of the study lies in the description of the stages of preparation of the stimulus material, which allows us to study the peculiarities of perception of humor that ridicules the features of appearance and sensitivity to such jokes depending on the respondent’s experience (as a victim or a witness). Objective. To test a number of assumptions that are essential for the development of a questionnaire to examine the subjective evaluation of Lukism in humor. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted in five stages, a total of 410 participants (54 men, 356 women), aged 19 to 46 years, each stage included consideration of different components of perception and evaluation of humor in terms of the perception of it as offensive/containing lukism. Results. At each stage the peculiarities of perception of humorous posts that are distributed in social networks were revealed. It was revealed that the way of design (textual, textual-visual, as well as peculiarities of using different visual components), as well as the personal experience of respondents who faced situations of Lukism and self-assessment of respondents’ appearance influence the perception of a joke as containing or not containing Lukism, as well as the prediction of its assessment by other people as “offensive”. Discussion. Considering memes as complex, multilevel texts of identity, we see in them a significant potential for studying social norms, stereotypes and attitudes about appearance and sensitivity to the assessment of it as “non-standard” and a target for jokes. At the empirical level, we have identified a number of requirements for the selection of jokes to be included in the questionnaire: uniformity of design, use of “swear words”, visual content (images of “realistic people”), etc. An approximate structure of the future questionnaire is also presented.

“Powered by emotions”: Exploring emotion induction in out‐of‐school authentic science learning

AbstractThis study explored the impact of authentic out‐of‐school learning on students' beliefs about their science learning efficacy and career aspirations. The learning activity, designed following an authentic learning framework, was led by research scientists. We examined how students' emotions, induced in an authentic scientific activity, mediated the connection between the perceived authenticity and the self‐efficacy/aspiration beliefs. Data were gathered from 177 secondary science students participating in an out‐of‐school activity using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three questionnaires were applied: (1) Perceived authenticity (Post, 7 items, Likert scale); (2) Semantic differential emotion questionnaire (SDEQ) (Pre‐Post, 5 items); and (3) Beliefs questionnaire in two parts: Self‐efficacy and science aspirations (pre‐post, 7 + 5 items, Likert scale). The collected data were integrated into quantitative models of affect with authenticity as an independent variable, the differences in the pre‐post belief structures as the dependent variable, and the emotions as mediators. Multiple regression analyses were performed to develop the models by evaluating the size and significance of the relationships between the variables. The results indicated the perceived authenticity significantly predicted both self‐efficacy and the career aspiration pre‐post differences. However, emotions behaved as a mediating variable only for self‐efficacy growth. An additional model evaluated the connection between students' emotions learning science in school and their experience of authenticity and emotions in the out‐of‐school activity. The study contributes to the literature by revealing underlying affective mechanisms related to out‐of‐school authentic science activities and suggesting theoretical and empirical justifications.

Quality-driven sustainability in Jordan’s food export supply chains

Purpose This paper aims to address the imperative of establishing adaptive sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) within the context of export food supply chains (EFSC) in Jordan, with potential global applicability. The research introduces a new conceptual framework validated through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), prioritizing critical factors based on five expert opinions. The practical and managerial outcomes emphasize achieving sustainable supply chain performance through quality-driven sustainability (QDS), encapsulated in a practical framework (SSCQM). Employing the concept of QDS, this study aims to develop a novel decision framework for Sustainable Supply Chain Quality Management (SSCQM). Design/methodology/approach Conducted as an empirical qualitative study in Jordan, the research employs a systematic literature review to identify research gaps and establish the initial conceptual framework. A pilot case is subsequently conducted to refine the framework, followed by Case Studies of four Triads, elucidating network relationships between suppliers, manufacturers and customers. A total of 32 semi-structured interviews, complemented by observations, tours and document analysis, individually explored each case during the exploratory stage. Cross-analysis of the four cases at the explanatory stage provides empirical insights, and data triangulation, literature review and validation using NVivo enhance the robustness of the findings. Findings The amalgamation of the three perspectives, when treated individually, results in the integrated category of QDS influencing sustainability (SUST) performance, evident in economic, environmental and social dimensions. Various sustainable initiatives have emerged through the relationships within the Triad, comprising a company, supplier and customer in the supply chain and its broader environment, including society, aiming for enhanced sustainable development and SUST performance. Recognizing the urgency of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the Middle East, where global supply chains are susceptible to disruptions leading to food shortages and insecurity, this research investigates the state of EFSC in the export food industry in Jordan. The novel decision (SSCQM) framework equips managers and policymakers with knowledge and practices applicable to focal actors in Triads within their EFSCs, particularly in developing countries, thereby contributing to enhancing the export food industry’s sustainability. Research limitations/implications This research provides empirical and contextual justifications for the supply chain-quality model (SSCQM) that advocates for business organizations how a desirable, sizeable and significant outcome/shock can be triggered via embedding quality elements in an international supply chain specifically in Jordan. The research also offers significant implications for practising supply chain experts in terms of how they can effectively utilize the supply chain quality to align other players in the supply chain, revenue potential, customer retainability and employee retention to achieve superior organizational performance. The research selectively encompasses three key perspectives of supply chain networks (SCN), total quality management (TQM) and SUST to elucidate the essence of SCM. Originality/value This research contributes towards filling the gap as a lack of empirical research.

Knowledge flows in Data Envelopment Analysis. The role of peer effects

Although the benchmarking literature has amassed both theoretical developments and empirical evidence on the performance of DMUs, the void related to the learning perspective of benchmarking remains to be filled. Further required methodological and empirical justifications aiming to fill this gap, are presented in this paper. Specifically, the mechanisms of knowledge transfer among the examined entities and the identification of the most influential source of learning require further investigation. We introduce a novel heuristic algorithm based on the Peer Removal to Improve Mean Efficiency in a Data Envelopment Analysis context to explore knowledge transfer within a benchmarking set. Based on sequential re-modifications of the technology following the removal of knowledge transmitters, a taxonomy arises including the role models, the knowledge receivers and the minimum efficiency DMU. Knowledge transfer is quantified by the calculation of the learning trace, following the removal of knowledge transmitters. We employ the most productive scale size to identify the most influential unit in terms of knowledge contribution. Findings from an illustrative example and a case study on European regions indicate that knowledge flows are not equally strong across benchmarking rounds.

CDFRS: A scalable sampling approach for efficient big data analysis

The sampling-based approximation method has demonstrated its potential in various domains such as machine learning, query processing, and data analysis. Most preceding sampling algorithms generate samples at the record level, making it impractical to apply them to very large datasets using a single machine. Even distributed solutions encounter efficiency issues when dealing with terabyte-scale datasets. In this paper, we introduce a scalable sampling approach named CDFRS, which can generate samples with a distribution-preserving guarantee from extensive datasets. CDFRS exhibits significantly improved speed compared to existing sampling algorithms when dealing with terabyte-scale datasets. We provide theoretical guarantees and empirical justifications, demonstrating that samples generated by the CDFRS approach maintain the distribution characteristics of the original dataset. Additionally, we propose a sample size determination algorithm, denoted as A2. Experiment results indicate that the running time of CDFRS shows at least an order of magnitude improvement over other distributed sampling methods. Notably, sampling a 10TB dataset using CDFRS only takes hundreds of seconds, while the compared method requires more than ten thousand seconds. In the context of big data analysis, including tasks such as classification and clustering, models trained with samples generated by CDFRS closely match those trained with the entire training set. Furthermore, the proposed A2 algorithm efficiently determines an appropriate sample size compared with traditional methods.

Successfully preparing future mathematics teachers for digital technology integration: a literature review

Over the last several decades, digital technology (DT) integration in teaching and learning mathematics has received considerable attention, as such integration has not led to the expected results. Teacher education is a critical factor – even more important than access to tools and devices – in technology-enhanced teaching and learning. The purpose of this literature review is to examine and systematise core findings of studies that inform mathematics teacher education that supports the integration of digital technologies. We explore key considerations in mathematics teacher education for successfully preparing Prospective Secondary Mathematics Teachers (PSMT) for digital technology integration. This review includes 25 theoretical and empirical articles found using the keywords ‘Digital Technology’ and ‘Mathematics Education’. The review explores different topics that impact teachers’ technology integration classified into six categories according to their varying nature: (1) Mathematical digital competence, (2) Empirical and theoretical justifications, (3) Stages in DT integration, (4) Pedagogies for DT integration, (5) Mathematical skills, and (6) Systemic factors. It articulates and connects several findings reported in the extant literature previously seen as isolated and disconnected.

Basic Logical and Empirical Principles of the Concept of Heterogeneity

Abstract Catherine David introduced the concept of heterogeneity during a seminar for teachers. This problematic situation forces teachers to organize a unified course for students mastering the target language at different levels. Taking into account the specific needs of students and their behavior, referred to as learning strategy or style, the concept of heterogeneity finds empirical justifications, which consider it an inevitable element of didactics. The conclusions of this concept are derived from scientific changes at the beginning of the 21st century. In the very specific interpretative logic of the Copenhagen orthodox school, adopted by Christian Puren’s epistemology, the concept of heterogeneity becomes inextricably linked with the concepts of complementarity and complexity. Catherine David proposes to take up this challenge of teaching a heterogeneous class by introducing a differentiated pedagogy, which is presented in the final part of the article.

Spectral Dual-Channel Encoding for Image Dehazing

In recent years, deep learning-based dehazing models have presented a momentum of dramatic growth. Unfortunately, most deep learning-based approaches heavily rely on synthetically hazed images for model training, which makes these methods brittle to restore hazy images taken from real-world scenes, due to the sample distribution discrepancy between synthetic and realistic images. Although some attempts have been made to overcome this difficulty by augmenting image spatial features with spectral features, the power of the spectral features still remains underutilized. In this paper, we propose the Spectral Dual-Channel Encoding (SDCE) framework for high-quality image dehazing, by unleashing the power of spectral feature encoding. We argue that hazes impose more adverse impacts on high-frequency image features (e.g., outlines and textures) than low-frequency features (e.g., colors), with theoretical and empirical justifications. To better restore hazed high- and low-frequency features, we decompose the hazed images into high- and low-frequency feature components with spectral dual-channel encoding and respectively design effective neural network architectures to recover hazed images on the two feature components. To be specific, we recover the low-frequency feature components with an encoder-decoder, while we specially design a high-frequency aggregation component (HFAC) to recover hazed images on high-frequency feature components, by referring to neighboring feature distributions. We conduct extensive experiments on four real-world image dehazing benchmarks. The experimental results show that our proposed SDCE framework outperforms the state-of-the-art baselines significantly, with an average 4.4% improvement in PSNR and an average 7.7% gain in SSIM.

Impact of Content Marketing Values on Brand Value Co-Creation Effect: A Study on The Lubricant Industry in Sri Lanka

The main objective of this study is to identify the relationship between content marketing values and brand value co-creation effect in the Lubricants industry in Sri Lanka. The concept of this study is still the less examined concept, as claimed in empirical research. There are studies found indirectly and directly examine those concepts in a different market but still require further investigation in the lubricant industry. The value co-creation of customer participation is essential for the institution to achieve commercial value and sustain itself in the market. Content marketing is also a powerful communication tool for assisting consumers in making decisions, enhancing brand image, establishing trust, and establishing long-term connections while creating value co-creation. Accordingly, this paper attempts to study the concept of content marketing values and brand value co-creation to verify how the consumer is used to reconnecting with the brand.The positivism philosophy view that only 'factual' knowledge gained through observation, including measurement, is trustworthy. This research proposes to follow the positivism paradigm as the research philosophy since it discusses the existing theoretical and empirical arguments. Thus, a deductive approach will follow to present the empirical relationships proposing future research plans. The research tool will be based on a questionnaire developed using literature reviews and associated journal articles, book chapters, and industry publications to review the theoretical and empirical justifications while revealing industry-related rationales (Anggraini, 2018; Becerra & Badrinarayanan, 2013; Becerra & Korgaonkar, 2011; Lou et al., 2019; Shaari & Shafinaz, 2016; Sharma et al., 2021). Responces were selected based on the convenient sampling method, mainly through the DBA students of the University of Kelaniya. Altogether 128 questionnaires were distributed through a google form, and 128 completed questionnaires were taken into the final analysis. The sample comprised a higher proportion of male respondents (78.9 percent) than female respondents (21.1 percent). As per the age distribution, most respondents (78.9 percent) were aged between 31 and 50. Therefore, the demographic structure of the sample was sufficient to examine the research issue of the given context.It reveals a strong positive correlation between content marketing values with brand value co-creation. The analysis correlation statics of 0.683 demonstrates a significantly strong relationship between content marketing values and brand value co-creation. Lubricant industry marketers can deliver tangible benefits to customers by providing relevant, informative, and entertaining content that helps to develop brand value co-creation.According to the survey data referring to the author's screening question, customers are following the service provider's word-of-mouth referrals (55.5 %) other than content marketing values to create brand value co-creation.This study has certain limitations, such as the survey was not conducted on the whole island. We ignore Sri Lanka's digital literacy rates, digital resource distribution parity, and present economic factors.The value co-creation theory connects the theoretical framework with practical issues in the industry to identify the reality of the industry. Multinational companies that import lubricants have more content to market their products. They gradually use digital content values to create the brand value co-creation effect. Nevertheless, local blenders are only attacking to price-conscious market; they are fewer content creators to build brand values. Marketers need to identify the correct content and product portfolios to create the brand value co-creation effects to market lubricant brands in the Sri Lankan market. According to the analysis, researchers have to do more research related to digital content marketing and word-of-mouth recommendations.

The Law of Increasing the Steepness of the University’s Ascent to the Top of Excellence

In the article, based on summarising the data of the Shanghai rating for 2004-2022, other ratings, the law of increasing steepness of the university's ascent to the top of excellence is formulated. The law determines that the university's approach to the state of highest perfection is accompanied by an increase in the rating steepness (as the difference in scores of neighbouring places) of the upward trajectory. In particular, the average rating steepness for the first ten places of the institutional version of the 2022 Shanghai rating is almost 1000 times higher than this characteristic for the last 100 positions (901-1000) of the rating distribution. The law applies both to institutions as a whole and to individual academic subjects. Empirical and theoretical justifications of the law are provided. The law has a statistical and probabilistic nature, it makes it possible to theoretically predict and practically design the behaviour of both the population and individual universities in their advancement to leadership. Among the consequences of the law is the need for a progressive, exponentially growing concentration of resources (human, organisational, informational, infrastructural, and financial) to generate the university's capacity to achieve the highest mission-appropriate levels of complexity of educational, research, and innovative activities. The law expands the framework of the university science (university studies), is important for the development of a strategy for the development of leading universities of the highest excellence (strategy-2), the implementation of the second dimension of the Bologna process and the European Higher Education Area (competitiveness and attractiveness), is relevant for the post-war recovery of Ukraine from the consequences of the war on an innovative, highly intelligent and high-tech basis.

Chinese companies’ transparency under sustainable development goals: the role of asset impairment and biological assets in audit

The paper aims to analyse the role of asset impairment and biological assets in the company’s audit and to estimate the impact of asset impairment losses and biological asset scale on audit fees. The object of the investigation was A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2021 in China. The study analysed 370 listed companies to obtain 28741 observations, of which 367 listed companies had 1854 observations with biological assets. The study applied the fixed effect model, three-step mediation test, Sobel mediation test and PSM matching test. The results show that asset impairment loss and biological asset size are significantly positively correlated with audit fees, and the scale of biological assets will strengthen the positive correlation between asset impairment loss and audit fees. It is further found that asset impairment and biological assets positively affect audit fees through two parallel intermediary paths of "audit working hours" and "violations". Finally, based on the above findings, this paper also attempts to make optimisation recommendations for the four relevant stakeholders involved in the audit. This paper contributes to improving accounting standards for biological assets and enriching the research on audit pricing based on the empirical justifications of their role in the company’s audit.

Terrorism, Guerrilla, and the Labeling of Militant Groups

ABSTRACT Terrorist organizations are presumed to specialize in the planning and execution of acts of terrorism, but to what extent do these groups actually employ terrorism? The answer can help inform the debate over whether such groups should be labeled terrorist organizations at all. We explore these questions by examining the relative use of terrorism vis-à-vis guerrilla tactics among 1,013 groups listed in the Global Terrorism Database from 1970 to 2019. We find, first, that “terrorist groups” have historically relied on a combination of terrorist and guerrilla tactics. Second, while terrorism has been the preferred mode of warfare in the first four decades examined, guerrilla tactics have predominated in the 2010s. Our findings imply that the use of the “terrorist group” label had empirical justifications in the first four, although not the most recent decade under review. The data support calls for the adoption of value-neutral labels for contemporary militant groups.

Dynamics of Job Satisfaction and Its Intervening Effect: An Empirical Study of Diversified Company

The purpose of this study is to unearth and bridge a population gap, which is the mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between dynamics of job satisfaction, i.e., work-life balance, leadership and employee retention. This is quantitative study with hypothesis testing through correlational investigation in a non-contrive setting. Conducted with minimum researchers’ interference, the time horizon of this study is cross-sectional with individual unit of analysis, i.e. managerial employees and non-managerial employees in XYZ diversified company using 77 samples selected based on simple random sampling. Data was gathered through a self-directed questionnaire. In order to bridge the identified population gap, a set of hypotheses was developed based on theoretical and empirical justifications. The findings suggest that there is a mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between work-life balance and retention. As employee retention is crucial for any organization’s success, organizations should give more emphasis on the constructs such as work-life balance and job satisfaction in order to enhance retention of employees.

Modeling COVID-19 Impact on Consumption and Mobility in Europe: A Legacy Toward Sustainable Business Performance.

This article has explored the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced decline in consumer durables and mobility on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emission in Europe by providing empirical and graphical justifications based on consumer price index (CPI) and gross domestic product (GDP) deflator indexes. The empirical estimations show that carbon dioxide (CO2) and NOx emission along with other greenhouse gases drastically decreased in the wake of COVID-19-induced lockdowns and decrease in the demand of consumer goods in Europe. This means that COVID-19 improved environment in the European region. However, high cost (e.g., unemployment, loss of life, and social segregation) makes COVID-19 an unstable solution to environmental woes where positive impact of COVID-19 on environment achieved in short run cannot be guaranteed in the long run. Besides environment, COVID-19 drastically curtailed economic activities and exposed them to the risk of economic crisis particularly in case of Europe.

Re-examining thresholds of continuous democracy measures

ABSTRACT Scholars frequently dichotomize continuous measures of democracy by setting a regime cut-off. However, such cut-offs often lack theoretical or empirical justifications, making the resulting classifications difficult to interpret conceptually. We investigate this challenge involving three major continuous democracy measures: the Freedom House score (FH), the Polity score, and the Regime of the World (RoW) that is based on the V-Dem's Electoral Democracy Index (EDI). We develop a framework to empirically derive thresholds using categorical democracy measures as benchmarks. Our analyses find that the cut-offs that yield the highest consistency with the classifications of BMR, CGV, and GWF are 3.5 for FH, 5 for Polity and 0.39 for EDI/RoW. These levels are lower than the conventional cut-offs, implying less demanding democratic standards. Consequently, the conventional cut-offs (2.5 for FH, 6 for Polity and 0.5 for EDI/RoW) endeavour to reflect more stringent standards of democracy than what these dichotomous measures employ.

Analyzing Zakat as a Social Finance Instrument to Help Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Kedah

Zakat is a religious obligation that must be complied with by all eligible Muslims. Therefore, it plays a significant role as an Islamic social finance instrument that could finance specific programs to achieve social, political, and economic development among Muslim communities. This study aims to analyze the impact of zakat distribution in achieving sustainable development goals in the state of Kedah, given the constraint faced by the Kedah State Zakat Board. This study employs secondary data and documentation and uses descriptive analysis to analyze the data and answer the research objective to provide empirical evidence and justifications to the analysis. This study reveals that zakat distribution in Kedah, Malaysia was in line with sustainable development goals (SDGs). Thus, there is excellent potential to achieve the SDGs provided that zakat institutions make specific alignments and improvements to improve the effectiveness of zakat distribution to achieve the targeted SDGs. However, its success still depends upon the amount of zakat collection and better management.

Multithresholding techniques in SAR image classification

Beyond bilevel segmentation, multithresholding (MT) is a powerful technique that is seldom considered in image analysis. In active imaging techniques, however, MT appears as a significant alternative due to its obliviousness to the inherent nonlinear noise present in these kind of images. This is especially the case in satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, which are becoming an increasingly popular information source in remote sensing, given that the acquisition is independent of weather and daylight conditions. In SAR images, data-dependent multiplicative noise (speckle) hampers most of the image filtering techniques available from linear theory, and thus nonlinear techniques like MT appear to be promising. There are, however, a large amount of proposals in this direction, each with different theoretical or empirical justifications, and thus a careful analysis of their advantages in results quality and computational cost have to be assessed. In this paper we survey the most representative MT techniques and methods applied to SAR imagery (both synthetic and actual satellite images), and evaluate them in terms of region segmentation quality and computational cost. Results show that the maximum likelihood method provides the best quality segmentation results at the expense of higher computation times, while a state transition based method provides the fastest results with acceptable quality, and that all methods can be assessed with a simple tradeoff representation.

Divide among the Millennial Generation: Historical and Empirical Justifications. (Part two)

In this concluding part of the paper, we continue an empirical analysis based on dividing the generation of millennials into two age cohorts. Special attention is drawn to a group of millennials designated as “3S” (“smartphones”, “social media”, “decline of the economy”). This younger generation began entering the period of adulthood since the year 2008, which has been marked by a continuous economic recession and broad dissemination of the technologies and digital consumer services. Data were collected from the annual Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS–HSE) in 1994–2018. The results obtained show a divide in the millennial generation measured by a multiplicity of social indicators along with the preservation of many inter-generational differences. In the second part of the paper, we show that the younger generation of “3S” millennials demonstrates a decline in alcohol consumption and smoking, while being more involved in sports. “3S” millennials watch TV less frequently and are more engaged in reading and cultural activities. They reveal lower religious affiliations and are more optimistic in regards to their material status and life prospects. Many intra- and intergenerational differences are significant and robust over the time of observation when controlling for age and other standard variables. In conclusion, four types of inter-relations between intra- and intergenerational differences are delineated.

The Role of Zakat Distribution in Hunger and Poverty Elimination in Kedah

Zakat is not only a religious obligation which must be complied by all eligible Muslims but also plays a very important role in Islamic fiscal system, specifically as a major source of income and could be used as an instrument to finance certain programs to achieve social, political and economic development among Muslim communities. However, the standard goals to be achieved by zakat distribution across the world are still ambiguous and therefore, need to be examined. The objective of this study is to examine the role of zakat distribution in the state of Kedah, Malaysia in assisting to achieve the goals of hunger and poverty elimination. This study is hoped to shed some light on whether the distribution of zakat in Kedah is in line with the goals, which could expand our understanding of the effectiveness of zakat distribution in achieving the objective of zakat. This study employs a descriptive analysis to answer research objectives to provide empirical evidence and justifications to the analysis. This study employs secondary data on zakat distribution published by KSZB. This study makes a concerted effort to analyze zakat distribution in the state of Kedah, Malaysia, and its role in the elimination of hunger and poverty. This study reveals that KSZB has made important strides towards achieving the goal of eliminating hunger and poverty. Although there is a great potential to achieve the goals through zakat distribution, its success still depends upon the amount of zakat collection. The zakat collection needs to be increased up to the target collection to have enough funds to be distributed to the recipients. KSZB needs to plan, strategize, and implement a suitable and effective zakat distribution policy to speed up the process of achieving the goals of hunger and poverty elimination.