Their remarkable achievement was realized during their participation in the 14th Global Islamic Marketing Conference, which took place in Tbilisi, Georgia, from September 27 to 29, 2023. This significant event, indexed in Scopus proceedings and hosted by Springer, served as the backdrop for this remarkable recognition. 

Drs. Youssef Chetioui and Hind Lebdaoui, distinguished faculty members hailing from the esteemed Al Akhawayn University (AUI) School of Business Administration (SBA), collaborated with MBA Alumnus Soukaina Kanzi Belghiti to produce an exceptional research paper titled "An Investigation of the Factors Influencing Muslim Consumers' Attitudes Towards Cryptocurrency Adoption: Does Religiosity Matter?" Their groundbreaking work stood out as the 1st Best research paper Award. 

The annual conference is organized by the International Islamic Marketing Association (IIMA) is meant to promote the values of the IIMA. The IIMA was established to create more humane world markets and give control back to the consumer. It aims to achieve this through teaching and promoting the theory and practice of Islamic Marketing. Selected papers from the 14th Global Islamic Marketing conference will be published in Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics indexed by Scopus.