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The aim of this research is to investigate the mediating effect of employee engagement (EE) on the relationship between employee relation practice and employee performance in Malaysian private universities (MPUs).

This paper used a survey research design, and the study unit of the analysis consists of the academic staff of MPU. A sample of 314 teaching staff was used out of the target population (10,473) of the research, while simple random and stratified sampling techniques were used in order to determine the research sample. Data for the research were collected from the target participants via questionnaires, and partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to evaluate the research hypotheses.

The outcome of the research revealed that employee relation practice (ERP) has a substantial effect on employee performance (EP), and EE partially mediates the relationship between ERP and EP.

The outcome of this study has urged the universities' management to focus on building effective and sustainable ERP that will ensure academic engagement that can result to sound academic performance and university growth.

This research has contributed significantly to the body of knowledge by operationalizing EP, ERP and EE literature. In extension, this research contributes to develop the literature of leaders, acknowledging the ERP as an important tool for leadership growth.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the skills required for effective contract management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects over their contract duration. The growing body of literature indicating the lack of expertise in managing PPP-related projects within the public sector prompted this study.

The study, being an exploratory one, relied on a survey of 207 survey responses from a sample of PPP experts across the globe. The data from the survey are a rich mix of responses from public policy experts, construction professionals, project finance experts, lawyers and academic researchers in PPP.

It was found through exploratory factor analysis that project management, financial engineering, negotiations, risk management, forecasting, stakeholder management and technical skills were very critical for successful contract management of PPP projects. It was also found that regional characteristics influence skills prioritisation.

The results of this study can be validated on larger data sets in specific countries and across regions, sectors and variety of PPP projects. Currently, the authors conducted a general survey using convenience sampling.

The results send a clear signal to practitioners that infrastructure regulation training programs cannot be generalised. Training should be tailored to reflect regional and country-specific characteristics.

The increasing failures and remunicipalisations of privately financed infrastructures is a cause for concern. Little attention has been given to the complicity of PPP regulatory institutions responsible for contract governance of such projects. Studies are increasingly pointing to the absence of critical PPP skills among institutions responsible for managing PPP contracts. This lack of capacity has resulted in poor oversight of private companies providing public services resulting in poor services, and financial recklessness which threaten the sustainability of service provision.

The purpose of this paper is to understand emerging future orientations, women’s effective leadership and further examine its impact on government support in the context of higher education institutions.

A cross-sectional survey with 500 full-time women employees, working in Saudi Arabia Public University, was selected using a quantitative approach and analysed on the proposed hypotheses.

The initial prediction was that future orientations is significant on women’s leadership effectiveness as well as on government support, to the extent that it is associated with women’s leadership effectiveness where it tends to have a stronger relationship. Surprisingly, the indirect effect of government support on the relationship between future orientations on women’s leadership effectiveness was not significant.

Academic scholars/leaders in higher education should realize that the development of women leadership has a positive effect on future orientations. Policymakers and leaders of higher education institutions should focus on women leaders to improve their leadership effectiveness.

From the perspective of emerging nations, this paper extends the knowledge regarding the complexity leadership theory which explains the development of women’s leadership effectiveness and provides empirical evidence.

The purpose of this research is to propose a new choice of nonnegative parameter t in Dai–Liao conjugate gradient method.

Conjugate gradient algorithms are used to solve both constrained monotone and general systems of nonlinear equations. This is made possible by combining the conjugate gradient method with the Newton method approach via acceleration parameter in order to present a derivative-free method.

A conjugate gradient method is presented by proposing a new Dai–Liao nonnegative parameter. Furthermore the proposed method is successfully applied to handle the application in motion control of the two joint planar robotic manipulators.

The proposed algorithm is a new approach that will not either submitted or publish somewhere.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of institutions and policies on growth convergence in Africa.

This study uses different methods of panel modelling on a panel of 50 African Countries covering a period of 1990-2014.

The results confirmed the presence of conditional convergence among countries in the region. On the average, technology accumulation and fiscal policies indicators are positive function of growth, while human resources, monetary policies indicators and ineffective institutions partly necessitated by poor level of development negatively impact growth. The study concludes, though traditional growth variables and policies are imperative in achieving growth in income, they remain insufficient in an environment characterize by extractive and absolutist institutions. Therefore, institution remains the link that bridges the gap in between proper mix of resources and policies.

Based on the results, policy-makers in the region should allocate certain percentage of their resources (on a sustainable basis) towards building a qualitative institution. Also, future studies on Africa should be focused on the rate at which poor level of economic development determines the quality of institutions which in turn impacts the level of growth in income.

The study contributes to the existing literature on institutional convergence with particular focus on African countries using system GMM to capture the endogeneity among the series.

The revolution brought about by the internet and the World Wide Web has led to the development of numerous e-Tendering systems for public sector tendering that have automated various aspects of the manual tendering processes that are known to experience numerous problems. However, one key area that has not been fully addressed is the automation of the evaluation of public tenders based on group decision-making. This paper presents part of the development of a Web-based e-tendering system called Nigerian Public Sector eTender (NPS-eTender) that automate the evaluation of public sector tenders based on group decision-making.

The system was developed using object-oriented methodologies. Specifically, Ripple and unified process methodologies were adopted.

The results of the system validation showed that NPS-eTender has an average rating of 74% with respect to correct and accurate modelling of the existing tendering domain and an average rating of 67.6% with respect to its potential to enhance the proficiency of public sector tendering in Nigeria. Based on the results of the validation, it can be concluded that the automation of the tender evaluation process can lead to a more proficient tendering process.

This research has contributed to the development of an e-Tendering system for the public sector that supports the whole tendering lifecycle including the automation of evaluation of public tenders based on group decision-making.

The Middle Eastern terrain is expected to encounter unprecedented climatic conditions before the turn of the next century (circa. 80 years), emanating from extreme heat waves that exceed the critical threshold of habitable conditions. This threatens to cause a significant challenge that is exacerbated by a gap between the supply and demand of affordable energy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of utilising nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB) to improve the performance of residential buildings in Iraq and the Middle East.

This study uses Iraq as a case-study because of the breadth of climatic conditions experienced across its wide-reaching territory and also because of the recent critical infrastructural challenges following the geo-political crisis. Three virtual buildings were simulated for Baghdad, Mosul and Basra cities to narrow the confines of the region to achieve nZEB under current and future climatic weather scenarios.

The findings showed that in all three cases studies, the buildings located within the three climatic regions in Iraq could achieve both significant annual energy reductions as well as nZEB standards which could range from 41 per cent to 87 per cent for current climatic conditions and 40 per cent to 84 per cent by 2080. An analysis has also been carried out for the three case-study cities which revealed significant operational-cost savings achievable through nZEB buildings.

There are currently limited studies that investigate such positive potential for nZEB strategies under the current and predicted future climatic scenarios in the Middle East.

The dependence on the use of information systems for nearly every activity and functions in the internet is increasingly high. This form of interconnectedness has bolstered national economies, enhanced how governments interact with their citizens and how ordinary people connect with friends and family. However, this dependence has equally resulted to a high rise in vulnerability, threat and risk associated with more use of information and communication technology. Cyber-attacks that have the potential to disrupt or damage information system infrastructure are getting more complex with some level of sophistication. Traditional protection of information system infrastructure is no longer sufficient; systems have proven to be immune to failure or incidents. This paper aims to ensure that there is a continuous availability of services through a fail-safe proof.

MYSQL replication technique was used to develop a model based on three-tier layers using the principle of network interdependency and the replication techniques. Tier 1 depicts a Telecom organization serving as service provider that provides internet service to Tier 2 organization – a Bank; Tier 3 is the financial App that can be used by bank staff and customers. The fail-safe mode integrated mechanism enables Tier 3 to continue to render its services in the event of an attack on Tier 1 such as DDoS without disruption.

This technique succeeded in mitigating the loss of data if cyber incident occurred or reception of uninterrupted services is countered, which give rise to future master-to-master architecture.

The study conducted is limited to the design and development of a fail-safe system for interdependent networks or systems using MYSQL replication technique.

In an interdependent environment such as the cyberspace, the sectors are interdependent for optimal results. The originality of the work ensures that there is availability of services which is sustained and that data integrity is assured using the fail-safe technique based on MySQL replication method.

This paper aims to investigate the views of employees on the motives behind frequently reported fraudulent activities at the workplace. Using the fraud triangle theory (FTT) as the theoretical lens, the study examines the effect of pressure, opportunity and rationalization on fraudulent acts by employees at the workplace.

The study follows a correlational quantitative approach using questionnaires as the main data collection tool. A total of 243 valid responses from employees working in different state-owned enterprises in Ghana were used in the empirical analysis. The hypothesized relationships of the study were tested using the partial least square-structural equation modelling technique.

The results from the structural analysis showed that pressure, rationalization and opportunity are important in explaining why employees engage in fraudulent activities at the workplace.

The findings do not only provide empirical support for the applicability of the FTT in the Ghanaian context but most importantly offer some useful insights into the fraud discourse from the public sector workers’ perspective.

Sustainable development is an attempt to achieve three competing aims: economic development, social justice and environmental conservation. Localising sustainable development in the Arabian city might require a framework that originates from its reality manifested in the region’s history, culture and religion. Ibn Khaldun’s model seems suitable for planning a sustainable city in the Arab world. The purpose of this paper is to discuss suitability of Ibn Khaldun’s writing to localising sustainable development in the Arabian cities.

The paper used a qualitative research methodology. The researcher investigated the writings of Ibn Khaldun and other scholars who studied his work to derive lessons for planning the sustainable Arab city.

Many of Ibn Khaldun’s concepts lost their accuracy, meanings and intentions in the course of translating his work. Ibn Khaldun’s writings can be the source from which scholars, planners and city administrators derive lessons to assure the sustainable development of human settlements, particularly in the Arab region. The writings of Ibn Khaldun are relevant to the Arab countries. His writings are sensitive to the realities of the Arab world, including geography, environment, history, religion and culture. His writings can support efforts for localising sustinable development in the Arabian cities.

Interrogating Ibn Khaldun’s writings can enable scholars, planners, architects and city administrators to elaborate and implement plans for the sustainable Arabian city. The findings of the paper assure that Ibn Khaldun’s analysis is suitable for addressing the urban ills of the contemporary Arabian metropolis as they were in his time.