Purpose – Islamic finance has been an exciting field of research in academic and managerial literature, being an alternative to conventional finance for Muslims. Islamic finance seems to have a positive effect on Muslim communities' attractiveness as it is a way of conducting finance based on the principles of Islamic law and the prohibition of interest. Islamic insurance, otherwise known as Takaful insurance, is one of the Islamic finance services that provide insurance based on the principles of Islam (Shariah law). The demand for Takaful insurance has seen an increase in the past decade in line with the rise of the world's Muslim population,
accompanied by the increased demand for Shariah-compliant products. Despite the increased demand for Takaful insurance products/services, there has been a general slowdown in Takaful insurance companies' growth. The performance of Takaful
organizations has been a subject of debate and found to be a vital issue to address due to the increase in worldwide competition and the lack of qualified staff. There was a need for improvement in Takaful organizations' performance so that they can
demonstrate renewed and sustainable growth. Accordingly, Takaful organizations are looking for models that help to address the issues of performance improvement. This research is an attempt to test the practical value of implementing the HPO
framework on Takaful organizations and improve their performance. It describes a study on the applicability of the high-performance organization (HPO) framework on Takaful insurance companies and whether it can improve their performance sustainably. The research used the HPO framework to develop a transformation plan that Takaful organizations can implement to improve their performance, which we call the Takaful HPO transformation plan. The researcher operationalized the model in three Takaful organizations in the United Arab Emirates.

During the research, while the Takaful organizations were setting their HPO transformation plan, they were operating closely with their partners. Accordingly, the need was raised to identify the factors that could help increase their partnerships' quality. The High-Performance Partnership (HPP) framework was used to see whether Takaful organizations can grow their partnerships and get the full benefits of their collaborations.

Design/methodology/approach – The research used a validated high-performance organization (HPO) questionnaire distributed to three Takaful insurance organizations in the UAE. Employees were asked to rate their organization's performance by indicating how well their organization performs with each of the HPO characteristics. After this, an HPO diagnosis was performed, and interviews
were conducted with organization members. The researcher calculated HPO levels of the organizations and set the transformation plans with the HPO coaches accordingly. Another HPO diagnosis took place after 18 months. The collected data were subjected to a t-test to confirm the effect of the HPO framework on the Takaful organizations' performance in the UAE. The outcome indicated for Takaful insurance companies to apply the HPO framework and set a transformation plan based on the analysis to turn themselves into HPOs.

Based on the HPP framework, the HPP questionnaire was distributed to the three Takaful organizations and several of their partners. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed on the collected data to identify the factors that affect the success of the partnerships between the Takaful organizations and their partners. The research also showed the mediating effect of the UAE National Culture and the Takaful Work Values between the HPO framework and Takaful organizations' high performance.

Findings – The 35 HPO characteristics are shown to be applicable for Takaful organizations and can help organizations set the necessary transformation plan to enhance their performance. These results suggest that UAE Takaful organizations can implement the HPO framework and make a successful transition. The results showed that three out of ten factors from the HPP framework had positive relations in moderating the link between the HPO framework and Takaful organizations' high-performance.

Research limitations/implications – In a follow-up study, the HPO framework should be applied at several Takaful insurance companies to further generalize its validity in the context of Takaful organizations in the Middle East. As for the research's theoretical implication, it is the first HPO research to be conducted in the Takaful context in the UAE to evaluate the HPO framework's applicability. The research fills a gap in the current literature and participates in expanding the general knowledge of the HPO framework in adding the use of qualitative data to quantitative analysis.