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The impact of financial reforms and financial development on an economy has received considerable attention over the recent past. This paper aims to investigate whether financial liberalisation and financial development increase the likelihood financial crises in Southern African development community (SADC) countries.

Due to the binary nature of the dependent variable, the logit model is used for the analysis using data for the period 1990 to 2015.

The results showed that financial liberalisation captured by real interest rates reduces the likelihood of financial crises. Furthermore, regulatory quality strengthens this reductive effect of financial liberalisation on the probability of financial crises. On the other hand, financial development represented by bank credit increases the incidence of financial crises. The results also suggest that financial liberalisation may increase the likelihood of financial crises indirectly through financial development.

The study recommends that a sound regulatory and supervisory framework be established as well as institutional quality raised to curb the effect of financial development on the incidence of financial crises.

There is scant evidence on the role that financial liberalisation and financial development play in the incidence of financial crises in the SADC. This study incorporates the effect of institutional quality in the analysis which has been neglected by most studies on financial reforms in SADC countries. A number of recent studies in SADC countries conclude that financial development resulting from financial reforms, may hinder economic growth. Therefore, this study sheds light on this negative relationship.

This paper aims to investigate whether revenue diversification affects the financial sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs).

The study uses a worldwide panel data set of 443 MFIs in 108 countries for the period 2013–2018 and two-step system Generalized Method of Moments estimation model.

The study finds that revenue diversification has a significant and positive effect on the financial sustainability of MFIs.

The findings of this study actually offer important managerial and policy lessons on MFIs’ financial sustainability. Microfinance managers and policymakers should consider revenue diversification as a strategy through which MFIs can attain financial sustainability instead of overreliance on donations and government subsidies

Unlike previous studies that examined revenue diversification in the context of banking firms, this study contributes to literature by examining the impact of revenue diversification of the financial sustainability of MFIs.

Despite its significance, research on how attribute framing affects ordering decisions in dual sourcing remains insufficient. Hence, this study investigated the effects of attribute framing in a sourcing task involving certain and uncertain qualities of two suppliers and analysed the role of attention with respect to suppliers' information in framing effects.

The impacts of attribute framing on sourcing decisions were demonstrated in two online between-subject (2 × 2 factorial) experimental studies involving professional samples. Study 2 was an eye-tracking experiment.

In Study 1 (N = 251), participants presented with a “high-quality” rather than a “low-quality” frame made different sourcing decisions, opting for larger percentage of order(s) from a supplier under the “high-quality” frame. This pattern holds true for suppliers who differ in risk. This finding was replicated in Study 2 (N = 129). Attention asymmetry related to the information on supplier quality contributes to this effect. Attention directed towards information regarding the supplier's quality under a positive frame mediated the relationship between attribute framing and sourcing decisions.

Highlighting the positive attributes of a risky supplier is essential when ordering from the risky supplier is an optimal decision. It is advantageous for suppliers to highlight positive rather than negative attributes when describing the quality of their components against others.

This is the first study to examine the effect of attention on the relationship between attribute framing and dual sourcing. This presents a new behavioural perspective wherein managers' attention to information plays a vital role.

This paper offers a critical discussion to contribute to sociological work by emphasizing deconstruction(s) of the markers of gendered and racialized borders and epistemological injustice(s) in theory and practice of contemporary global frames of representation and women's intersectional identities and rights. Through a postcolonial, situated feminist approach, the theoretical framework aims to scope and review literature from the South and North.

The research employs a mixed-methodology of a survey paper and media critical discourse analysis of media monitoring frames of Egyptian women's rights post–Arab spring. The content, layout and imageries produced by representations are assessed to explore whether there are lingering subtle and blatant hints of continued orientalism in knowledge canons.

The underlying causes for misconceptions and reductionist sociopolitical attitudes may be styled by patriarchal and orientalist imposition and are highly found to be somewhat maintained by persistent Western-centric epistemologies claiming to define or speak for the so-called other. The above-mentioned structures are evidently channelled through languages which essentialize and control women of the South, urging for further research in knowledge canons which calls oppressive frames into question.

More feminist contributions from non-Western gazes are needed to fill gaps in canons of knowledge and deconstruct patriarchal and colonial codes which impose inequalities on women as seen through the survey paper of theoretical representation and media politics.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the empirical cointegration, long-run and short-run dynamics as well as causal relationship between electricity consumption and real GDP in Bangladesh for the period of 1971‒2014.

Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) “Bound Test” approach is employed for the investigation in this study.

Both short-run and long-run coefficients are providing strong evidence of having positive significant association between electricity consumption and GDP. Our long-run results remain robust to different measurements and estimators as well. The study reveals the unidirectional causal flow running from per capita electricity consumption to per capita real GDP in the short run. The study result also yields strong evidence of bidirectional causal relationship between per capita electricity consumption and per capita real GDP in the long run with feedback. It is suggested that both electricity generation and conservation policy will be effective for Bangladesh economy.

In prior studies, lack of causality between electricity consumption and GDP is due to the omitted variables. Combined effects of public spending and trade openness on GDP and electricity consumption are also considerable.

In the last decade, the Industry 4.0 paradigm had started to rapidly expand to the logistics domain. However, Logistics 4.0 is still in an early adoption stage: some areas such as warehousing are still exploring its applicability, and the technological implementation of this paradigm can become fuzzy. This paper addresses this gap by examining the relationship among influencing factors, barriers, and benefits of Logistics 4.0 technologies in warehousing contexts.

Starting from a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach with 56 examined documents published in scientific journals or conference proceedings, a conceptual framework for Logistics 4.0 in warehousing is proposed. The framework encompasses multiple aspects related to the potential adopter’s decision-making process.

Influencing factors toward adoption, achievable benefits, and possible hurdles or criticalities have been extensively analyzed and structured into a consistent picture. Company’s digital awareness and readiness result in a major influencing factor, whereas barriers and criticalities are mostly technological, safety and security, and economic in nature. Warehousing process optimization is the key benefit identified.

This paper addresses a major gap since most of the research has focused on specific facets, or adopted the technology providers’ perspective, whereas little has been explored in warehousing from the adopters’ view. The main novelty and value lie in providing both academics and practitioners with a thorough view of multiple facets to be considered when approaching Logistics 4.0 in logistics facilities.

The impact of diversification on bank stability and risk remains an ongoing topic of discussion with inconclusive results. Hence, this study investigated the implications of income diversification on bank stability within African markets.

The study utilised longitudinal financial data on 45 countries from 2000 to 2017 and employed static and dynamic panel model estimation.

The results of the study suggest income diversification technique could improve financial stability throughout typical and crisis periods which validate portfolio management theory. The study also confirms the “too big to fail” hypothesis, extensive diversifying over an optimal range negatively impacts stability. Banks with a high level of liquidity, a higher operating efficiency and a larger deposit ratio become more resilient. Banking capital regulations found to be the appropriate monitoring instrument for lowering risks and maintaining stability. However, profitability was found to have a positive effect on bank risk-taking. The finding also suggests that political institutions have substantial, direct implications that are positively related to bank fragility. Macroeconomic factors such as gross domestic product (GDP) growth and inflation also influenced bank stability.

This study has important implications for bankers, regulators and academicians concerned about the effect of diversification on a bank’s risk-taking or stability in developing economies.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study on Africa to analyse the quadratic influence of income diversification and the effects of political institutions on the level of bank stability.

In the era of m-learning environments, multiple factors have been considered to explain adult learners' continuance usage intention, but largely without considering the role of specific configurations of variables and how they may affect learners' intention. The purpose of this study is to show how cognitive need, subjective norms, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, confirmation, attitude and perceived ease of use combine to predict learners' frequent use intentions.

It is empirically validated through configurational analysis, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on 211 adult learners with experience in using Mobile learning applications (MLA).

The findings show learners' satisfaction of MLA usage combined with the cognitive need and attitude were found to be core conditions reinforcing learners' continuance intention.

This study was conducted in the context of adult learners MLA whereby the motivations for continued usage and the nature of technological innovation could differ. In this regard, findings from this study may not be generalizable to other technological contexts.

In the planning and development of learning apps, software developers should pay attention to practical functions and extend key features that are frequently required for solving a problem using the new skill. On the marketing side, MLA companies should emphasize the full functionality of their apps to cater efficiently to the different needs and expectations of the learners.

This study contributes by extending existing knowledge on how cognitive need, satisfaction and attitude combine to increase or mitigate continuance intention to use toward the development of new configurational theories. This study fills the gap in the literature by introducing adult learners' continuance intention to use MLA and introducing through a methodological approach of fsQCA in adult learners' context.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the direction of the causal relationship between dividend policy (DP) and earnings management (EM).

This research utilizes the panel data analysis to investigate the causal relationship between EM and DP. It provides empirical insights based on a sample of 280 French nonfinancial companies listed on the CAC All-Tradable index during the period of 2008–2015. The study initiates with a Granger causality examination on the unbalanced panel data and employs a dynamic panel approach with the generalized method of moments (GMM). It further estimates the empirical models simultaneously using the three-stage least squares (3SLS) method and the iterative triple least squares (iterative 3SLS) method.

The estimation of our various empirical models confirms the presence of a bidirectional causal relationship between DP and EM.

Our study highlights the prevalence of EM in the French context, particularly within DP. It underscores the need for regulatory bodies, the Ministry of Finance, external auditors and stock exchange organizers to prioritize governance mechanisms for improving the quality of financial information disclosed by companies.

This research is, to the best of our knowledge, the first is to extensively investigate the reciprocal causal relationship between DP and EM in France. Previous studies have not placed a significant emphasis on exploring this bidirectional link between these two variables.

The paper intends to explore the lived experiences of medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their lifestyles and mental wellbeing.

Fourteen medical students from the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, were enrolled, and their narratives were obtained. Data were analyzed and conducted using Colaizzi’s phenomenological descriptive method of enquiry.

The analysis identified two themes, along with nine subthemes, that were generated. The first theme focused on mental and social experiences, while the second focused on lifestyle changes. During the pandemic, students had time to reflect on themselves and started to think positively about their lives, although they felt fearful, uncertain, stressed and anxious due to preventive control measures that were mandated, including social distancing and lockdowns. Participants’ lifestyles changed generally negatively, as they adapted to the preventive measures, rendering them physically inactive and exposing them to unhealthy food and disturbed sleep.

The findings provide an insight into the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lifestyle and mental wellbeing of medical students. Educational institutes need to offer their students both short as well as long-term health, social and mental support to overcome the impact of the pandemic on their lives.