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Recently, many-objective optimization evolutionary algorithms have been the main issue for researchers in the multi-objective optimization community. To deal with many-objective problems (typically for four or more objectives) some modern frameworks are proposed which have the potential of achieving the finest non-dominated solutions in many-objective spaces. The effectiveness of these algorithms deteriorates greatly as the problem’s dimension increases. Diversity reduction in the objective space is the main reason of this phenomenon.

To properly deal with this undesirable situation, this work introduces an indicator-based evolutionary framework that can preserve the population diversity by producing a set of discriminated solutions in high-dimensional objective space. This work attempts to diversify the objective space by proposing a fitness function capable of discriminating the chromosomes in high-dimensional space. The numerical results prove the potential of the proposed method, which had superior performance in most of test problems in comparison with state-of-the-art algorithms.

The achieved numerical results empirically prove the superiority of the proposed method to state-of-the-art counterparts in the most test problems of a known artificial benchmark.

This paper provides a new interpretation and important insights into the many-objective optimization realm by emphasizing on preserving the population diversity.

Performance appraisal is one of the most critical and indispensable human resource practices for organisations. However, it generates dissatisfaction among employees as it is often viewed as complex and ineffective. The purpose of this paper is to present a new performance management system that integrates multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods – the analytic network process (ANP) and PROMETHEE – with the visual techniques of the GAIA plane and the stacked bar chart. MCDA methods allow a structured and consistent evaluation integrating qualitative and quantitative criteria.

The authors developed a structured and transparent performance management system. It is based on the MCDA methods PROMETHEE and ANP. It also incorporates the visual techniques: GAIA and stacked bar chart. Feedback for trainings and developments can precisely be formulated.

Visual techniques permit clear identification and quantification, for each employee, of the areas that need improvement through training and development, which contributes to the resource-based view of organisations. A real case study has been portrayed to show the added value of the MCDA methods and the visual techniques in employee performance management.

The paper describes a new employee performance system adopted in an organisation. The multi-criteria analysis transparently combines qualitative and quantitative decision criteria into a holistic and transparent evaluation. The visual techniques permit us to gain a deep insight into the employees’ skills profile and capture fine details where individuals perform or underperform.

This study aims to present a detailed investigation of Shariah audit research based on a systematic literature review.

A total of 53 studies were collected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases following a systematic methodology. These studies were analyzed and evaluated based on the theoretical perspective, geographical distribution, research settings and themes background.

The findings indicate an increase in the literature on Shariah auditing over time, especially in the Malaysian context, with a dearth of research in other contexts and institutions (Takaful). It has been also revealed that the existing literature is still unclear about the effectiveness and consequences of effective Shariah auditing, pointing the need for more work on these areas. The authors outline opportunities for future Shariah auditing research.

The synthesized findings are helpful for policymakers and managers to understand better how research in Shariah auditing is developing and how to translate research findings into practice. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to comprehensively synthesize the literature on this topic and identify the potential opportunities for future research directions.

This study aims to investigate the Ramadan effect anomaly on the stock markets’ indices and estimate the movement of these indices in the light of the phenomenon.

Stock market indices are used as financial indicators to show the Ramadan effect. To validate this effect, eight Arab countries, which comprises Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt, are adopted. A linear regression with R², error, F-value and p-value is considered to analyze and understand the effect of Ramadan on the aforementioned Arab countries.

Results found that Ramadan has a strong effect on estimating and predicting the performance of stock market indices in all studied Arab countries, except Kuwait. Results found that the majority of the Ramadan effect occurred after the second 10 days of Ramadan, where the direction of stock indices is opposite of Ramadan variables in all aforementioned cases.

This study is considered as an enrichment of the existing literature review with regard to the Ramadan effect. The study presents a new methodology that can be followed to improve the predictions of stock market indices by using a weight least square method with linear regression. This study presents the most affected periods of time that could decrease or increase the stock prices. Finally, the study proves the capability of the weight least square method in building a predictive model that takes the date into consideration in predicting stock market indices.

This study aimed to assess emotional intelligence (EI) among young adults across three Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

A total of 1884 university students participated from the three countries and completed the Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT). Data were validated by confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS AMOS version 29. Path analysis, t-tests and analyses of variance were performed to understand the influence of background variables on the EI of the study participants.

The results provide theoretical support for the SSEIT and the hypothesized relationship between managing personal and others' emotions. Although significant differences were found between participants in terms of gender and grade point average (GPA), no difference was found between participants based on nationality. The results of this study indicate the need to prioritize EI in young adults and other implications.

The importance of EI in individuals' daily lives cannot be overemphasized. However, scholarly insights into the state of EI in the Arab context are scarce.

This paper aims to investigate whether the sustainability disclosure with the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects has an impact on the financial performance represented by Tobin’s Q, return on assets (ROA) and return on equity indices in the Levant countries for the period 2012–2019, which was a period of turmoil and political repercussions that affected the countries of the region.

Using the content analysis technique, the data was collected from 124 nonfinancial companies from Levant countries (Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon), and 883 observations were collected as panel data for the research analysis.

The findings indicate that the environmental, social and ESG collective performance maximizes financial performance, while the governance performance influences ROA only. This suggests that companies pay great attention to various stakeholders, mainly external. Maximizing stakeholder value remains an optimal strategy to achieve the company’s financial goals. Thus, improving the disclosure levels of nonfinancial performance in the capital markets will improve the chances of growth of the financial performance indicators of companies.

The study provided insights about the ESG role and its impact on the financial performance of companies in a less explored context by previous literature, namely, the Levant.

The Islamic financial system consists of three functional areas of Islamic banking, Islamic insurance and the Islamic capital market, which, with its development and progress, has become an important part of the global financial market and as an alternative, efficient financial model in front of the financial system. Takaful insurance is a relatively new but growing sector of the Islamic financial industry. Today, this insurance has attracted the attention of many researchers and executives. To further improve, it is important to identify the key factors according to the demand and also to evaluate their importance. In Iran’s insurance industry, Takaful product has not yet been released, and insurers have recently entered this field. Therefore, the purpose of this paper, an attempt has been made to identify the factors affecting the demand for Takaful insurance in Iran. The results of this research can be useful for policymakers and Takaful providers in formulating appropriate strategies to increase the demand for Takaful insurance.

In this regard, in this research, using library studies, indicators affecting demand were identified. After that, using a field study and distributing a questionnaire among experts in the field of research, the importance of the indicators was analyzed relative to each other and the indicators were ranked based on their importance.

Based on the results, the indicators are divided into five categories of economic, social, demographic, marketing and sales and features of Takaful insurance products.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study regarding the identification and ranking of factors affecting the demand for Takaful insurance in Iran’s insurance industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of internal marketing on service quality and the mediating role of OCB in their relationship.

A total of 162 random samples of the customers and employees of the Greater Tehran Gas Company were taken. The applied research methodology is based on survey design techniques, specifically structural equations modelling. To test the model questionnaire was designed, applied and then analyzed.

Findings clearly demonstrate that internal marketing actions can have a direct, meaningful and positive effect on organizational citizenship behaviours. Furthermore, the conceptual model shows that organizational citizenship behaviours act as a mediator between internal marketing and service quality.

The present study does have a number of methodological limitations that suggest areas for future research. First, the sample was from a public company, and this unique setting may limit the external validity of the findings. Second, the country in which the authors tested the hypothesis is an Islamic country with different cultural values from western countries and this fact might limit the generalization of the findings. But the authors believe that the proposed model and results of this research can aid service organization to offer better service quality to both their internal and external customers.

The paper may be of high value to researchers and managers in Marketing and Human Resource Management scopes. Results of this research have valuable guideline that can have tangible outcome for organization.

A long-term collaborative public water infrastructure procurement contract in New Zealand adopts “Enterprise Alliance” delivery (strategy) with a Construction Consolidation Centre (CCC) (operational) logistics solution. New Zealand's unique spatial, market, regulatory and economic circumstances present a research gap pertaining to the sustainability impacts of the combinatory implementation. The paper suggests a literature review-based research framework for examining these.

Systematic literature review (SLR) discovers unique New Zealand attributes, and sustainability impacts of both the approaches overseas. Towards formulating a research framework, the paper discusses sustainability of construction and its New Zealand context, and research focus within the implemented model. Significant issues from SLR reveal Design, Logistics, Impacts and Spin-offs research domains. The paper suggests a research framework and examines an appropriate research design.

CCC implementation under a programme alliance is without precedent in New Zealand. Variance of New Zealand's unique attributes from North American and European characteristics behind successful implementation are likely to impact domestic outcomes. A research framework to test this hypothesis will enable investigating the relevance of the concepts to New Zealand settings and provide a contextual implementation datum. Implementation benchmarks will potentially influence public policy and enrich indigenous knowledge corpus, potentially transferrable to associated domains (urban planning, transportation and energy).

The paper attempts to define a research direction in the domain of applying supply chain management principles to the New Zealand's construction sector by investigating the employment of a CCC in a collaborative environment as an infrastructure project delivery vehicle with sustainability leanings.

The increased importance of sports and athlete brands highlights the need for athletes to pay attention to branding as it has positive impacts. As athletes, Muslim women have not succeeded in building their brands. This study aims to understand the branding challenges facing Muslim female athletes and how to overcome them.

These branding obstacles and guidelines were explored using qualitative methods – specifically semi-structured interviews with Muslim female athletes and focus groups with experts. Data were analysed using open and axial coding to identify the codes.

The study identifies three major obstacles to branding by Muslim female athletes. Self-related obstacles, such as knowledge of brand building, social media, personal pressure and a lack of role models, impact the brand-building decision. Social-related (family and society) and sport-related obstacles (participation as women and as Muslims) further complicate this task. Experts provide additional insights regarding these obstacles, suggesting strategies to overcome them.

The research focuses on athletes from one geographical area and has limitations associated with using qualitative methods.

The study suggests how self-, social- and sport-related obstacles are faced by athletes. It provides suggestions for federations, sports codes and other stakeholders to support athletes to overcome these barriers.

This study expands the understanding of the struggles Muslim women face in building their brands as part of an under-represented group.