Search results

This study examines the effect of social media marketing on voting intention applying a combination of fuzzy logic methodology and a multidimensional panel data model.

The study adopts a multidimensional panel data method that includes several fixed effects. The dependent variable is a multifaceted construct that measures the participants’ intention to vote. The independent variables are electronic word of mouth (eWOM), customisation (CUS), entertainment (ENT), interaction (INT), trendiness (TRD), candidate’s perceived image (CPI), religious beliefs (RB), gender and age. The grouping variables that signify fixed effects are employment status, level of education, mostly used social media and religion. First, the significance of said fixed effects was tested through an ANOVA process. Then, the main model was estimated, including the significant grouping variables as fixed effects.

Employment status and level of education were significant fixed effects. Also, eWOM, ENT, INT, CPI, RB and gender significantly affected participants’ voting intention.

Being based on a questionnaire that asked participants about how they perceive different aspects of social media, the present study is limited to their perceptions. Therefore, further studies covering the voters’ behaviour in action could be efficient complements to the present study.

The findings could guide the political parties into prioritizing the aspects of social media in forming an effective campaign resulting in being elected.

The findings have the potential to help the public in making better informed decisions when voting. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate applications for social media which are beyond leisure time fillers.

Fuzzy logic and multidimensional panel data estimates are this study’s novelty and originality. Structural equation modelling and crisp linguistic values have been used in previous studies on social media’s effect on voting intent. The former refines the data gathered from a questionnaire, and the latter considers the possibility of including different grouping factors to achieve a more efficient and less biased estimation.

Sex and age estimation is important, particularly when information about the deceased is unavailable. There are limited radiological studies investigating side, sex and age differences in normal ankle morphometric parameters. The authors’ goal was to evaluate different ankle joint morphometric measurements and document variations among Egyptians.

A prospective study was conducted throughout 23 months on 203 (100 males and 103 females) adult Egyptians, aged between 20-69 years old, who were referred for a plain x-ray of bilateral normal ankle joints.

Ankle parameters showed no statistical difference between both sides, except for tarsal width (TaW) which was significantly higher on right than left side (26.92 ± 2.66 vs 26.18 ± 2.65 mm). Males showed significantly higher morphometric values except for anteroposterior gap (APG) and talus height (TaH) which were significantly higher in females (2.29 ± 0.80 vs 1.80 ± 0.61 mm and 13.01 ± 1.68 vs 11.87 ± 1.91 mm, respectively). There was significant increase in tibial arc length, APG, distance of level of MTiTh from anterior limit of mortise, distance of level of MTiTh from vertex of mortise, sagittal distance between tibial and talar vertices and sagittal radius of trochlea tali arc in old age group compared to young one. A significant decrease in tibial width, malleolar width, TaW and TaH was noted in old age group compared to young one.

Ankle joints of both sides are mostly symmetrical; however, there are significant differences in most morphometric values due to sex and age factors. These findings may be essential during side, sex and age determination.

The construction industry contributes to economic development by providing physical equipment and infrastructures. However, it also generates some undesirable outputs such as waste and environmental pollution, especially in developing countries. Due to the importance of the green supply chain management (GSCM) philosophy, for solving these problems, the current study aims to evaluate the drivers of GSCM adoption in the construction industry of Iran.

This research uses a descriptive and practical methodology. The participated experts in the study include senior managers of the construction department in Rasht municipality who had relevant academic education and suitable experiences in urban and industrial construction. The experts took part in both qualitative and quantitative phases of the research, namely verification of the drivers extracted from literature and ranking them in ascending order. In the quantitative phase, Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) as a new multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) method is used to evaluate the drivers of GSCM adoption using MATLAB software.

The results show that environmental management systems, green product design and innovational capability with weights of 0.347, 0.218 and 0.143 are the most significant sub-drivers, respectively. The less important factor is an investment in environmental technology.

This study evaluated the motivational factors of GSCM in the construction industry. The findings help governments, companies and green supply chain (GSC) managers to improve their knowledge about GSCM and make the best decisions to decrease environmental pollution.

The continued relevance of technologies in halal industries requires managers to understand the factors contributing to such technologies’ acceptance. The technology acceptance model (TAM) is dominant in the literature that predicts user acceptance and behaviour towards technology. Despite the model’s significance, there has yet to be a systematic review of studies featuring halal sectors that use TAM. The purpose of this study is to systematically review the existing literature on TAM in halal industries to understand the research trends as well as TAM modifications and research opportunities in halal industries.

Guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocol, a framework-based review using the theories, contexts, characteristics and methods (TCCM) framework was conducted. The Scopus and Web of Science databases were used to retrieve English journal articles that investigated TAM in the context of halal markets. In total, 44 eligible articles were reviewed in terms of the developments and extensions of TAM in their studies across the halal industries.

The first study related to the use of TAM in the context of halal industries was published in 2014. The most prominent halal industry in the review, which used TAM, was Islamic finance. Indonesia was the leading economy in halal studies using TAM. Perceived usefulness was found to be a more significant factor than perceived ease of use for technology acceptance in TAM studies on halal industries. The significance of religiosity on TAM was inconsistent. Most research was done using quantitative surveys with consumers as the target sample.

The studies in this review are based on the Scopus and Web of Science databases, which may be perceived as a study limitation. This study also only considered English journal articles and research in which the focus was on the use of TAM in halal industries rather than general industries with Muslim consumers.

Halal industries will continue to rely on technology for the provision of goods and services. With the rise of emerging technological innovations, this review will provide managers with an appreciation of technology acceptance across different contexts. Researchers can use the results of this review to guide future studies and contribute toward the development of this research area.

This review contributes to the Islamic marketing literature by being the first to comprehensively review the TAM model in the context of halal industries using the TCCM framework-based review approach. A research agenda is proposed to advance research on technology acceptance and TAM in halal industries.

This study evaluates the integrative role of justice theory, religiosity, satisfaction and trust in influencing customer loyalty to Islamic mobile banking.

This study surveyed 370 customers who used Islamic mobile banking. The authors employed SEM-PLS to estimate the proposed model and answer the hypotheses.

Empirical facts show that distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice can increase loyalty through the role of satisfaction. On the other hand, distributive justice, procedural justice and religiosity can predict loyalty through the role of trust.

This study encourages Islamic mobile banking providers to improve the quality of benefit distribution, the application of procedures and interaction among all levels of users. In addition, religious education innovation is also important to increase customer activity in using Islamic mobile banking.

Until now, none of the studies have estimated the loyalty of Islamic mobile banking users based on the integrative roles of justice theory, religiosity, satisfaction and trust. It, therefore, highlights the originality of this study.

This study aims to examine the moderator effect of religiosity on the relationship between halal brand awareness and habit towards purchasing decisions of halal products.

The quantitative method is used in this study. Descriptive and statistical (multiple and moderated regression) analyses are employed to test the hypothesis according to the research model. The data is collected using a cross-sectional design from 197 respondents consisting of business owners in North Sumatera, Indonesia.

It is found that both halal brand awareness and habit have a positive and significant effect on the purchasing decision of halal products. Meanwhile, religiosity significantly acts as a moderating variable in the relationship between awareness and purchasing decisions, as well as habit and purchasing decisions.

This study revealed the important factor of religiosity as a moderating factor in purchase decisions of halal products. The government may need to collaborate with Islamic educational institutions to raise awareness of the halal concept and product awareness. It is assumed that individuals who know about the Islamic religion will have a higher degree of awareness of halal products compared to individuals with limited knowledge of Islam; thus, providers of Islamic education play a crucial role in raising the level of awareness of halal products. Schools may serve as catalysts for the dissemination of knowledge of halal products.

Developing halal product markets can be done by enhancing the religiosity level of consumers, one of them through attending formal or informal religious classes.

In the last few years, environmental issues have become a matter of survival. In this sense, e-waste management is among the major problems since it may be a way of mitigating mineral depletion. In this context, the literature lacks e-waste supply chain studies that systematically map supply chain challenges and risks concerning material recovery.

Given this context, the authors' paper conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) to build a framework to identify the constructs of e-waste supply chain risk management.

The paper revealed the theoretical relationship between important variables to achieve e-waste supply chain risk management via a circular economy (CE) framework. These variables include reverse logistics (RL), closed-loop supply chains (CLSC), supply chain risk management, supply chain resilience and smart cities.

The literature contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) a complete list of the risks of the e-waste supply chains, (2) the techniques being used to identify, assess and mitigate e-waste supply chain risks and (3) the constructs that form the theoretical framework of e-waste supply chain risk management. In addition, the authors' results address important literature gaps identified by researchers and serve as a guide to implementation.

This study intends to extend the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model by integrating perceived enjoyment as an intrinsic motivation so as to investigate factors influencing Chinese undergraduate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' intention to use ChatGPT for English learning.

A cross-sectional quantitative survey method research design was used in this study. Data were collected from 432 undergraduate students at two Chinese universities. The data analysis was carried out using SmartPLS 4, a computer software that employs the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The analysis of the model was performed in two stages, including the assessment of reflective measurement model and structural model. The PLS predict was utilized to assess the model’s predicting power.

Findings showed that effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence and perceived enjoyment were positively related to Chinese undergraduate EFL learners' intention to use ChatGPT for English learning. Perceived enjoyment mediated the relationships between effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence and intention to use ChatGPT for English learning respectively.

Through incorporating the perceived enjoyment as an intrinsic motivation into the UTAUT model to explore factors that impact Chinese undergraduate EFL learners' intention to use ChatGPT for English learning, this study has extended the applicability of the UTAUT model and provide insights into factors affecting students' intention to utilize ChatGPT or other AI-based technologies for English learning.

Lean is a continuous improvement methodology that has succeeded in eliminating waste in a variety of industries. Yet, there is a need for more research on Lean implementation in several under-studied contexts, including crisis situations such as those created by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This research investigates how Lean programs were impacted by COVID-19, while previous research has primarily explored how Lean was used to solve problems created by the pandemic.

A mixed-method research approach was used to analyze employee feedback on how COVID-19 impacted the Lean programs using data from various levels of four energy-based utilities in the United States. First, an online questionnaire collected qualitative and quantitative data from a broad sample of participants. Then, a follow-up semi-structured interview allowed the elaboration of perceptions related to the research question using a smaller sample of participants.

Out of the 194 responses from the four companies, only 41% of the respondents at least somewhat agreed that COVID-19 impacted the Lean program at their company; of the remaining 59%, 35% indicated they were neutral, while 24% disagreed. The themes from the qualitative portion indicated that, while employees believed their companies had successfully found a new way to do Lean within the constraints of not always being in person, the collaboration and engagement were more challenging to sustain, and COVID-19 also otherwise made it more difficult to implement Lean. Meanwhile, some believed there was no impact on the Lean program.

The COVID-19 and Lean peer-reviewed literature published from 2020 to September 2023 focused primarily on using Lean to address problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic vs studying the pandemic's impact on Lean programs. This research partially fills this literature gap in understanding the impact COVID-19 had on Lean initiatives.

Work overload has become a relevant issue in the Information Technology (IT) industry, with negative effects for individuals and organizations alike. This study aims to analyse the role of personal resources in a broad model regarding the effects of work overload on performance and well-being for the particular case of IT professionals. Considering the specificities of the IT industry, three personal resources were included in this study: one stable personality variable (conscientiousness) and two more malleable variables (work-life balance and psychological detachment).

To test the model, the authors use a sample of 144 IT Portuguese professionals. The authors collected data through an online questionnaire shared in social networks and IT social network communities. The authors use partial least squares (PLS) for data analysis.

The results show that work overload negatively impacts on employees’ life satisfaction, psychological detachment, work-life balance and task performance. Conscientiousness is positively related with two positive outcomes: task performance and life satisfaction. Work-life balance has a mediating effect in the relationship between work overload and life satisfaction.

These findings emphasize the need to promote conscientiousness in IT professionals, as well as reduce workload and promote family-friendly working environments to foster work-life balance and life satisfaction.

By testing this model, the authors aim to contribute to the current knowledge on the role of personal resources in the Job Demands-Resources model, which is still unclear and under-researched.