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Drawing on experiential learning theory, this study seeks to understand how the perceived cultural difference in a foreign country and learning flexibility, which enables more integrated experiential learning from international experience, influence expatriates’ cultural intelligence (CQ) and consequently their adjustment and job performance.

Survey data were collected from 169 expatriates in China. Polynomial regression analyses were employed to test curvilinear relationships between cultural difference and CQ and between learning flexibility and CQ. Mediation hypotheses were tested either by the MEDCURVE procedure if a curvilinear relationship was confirmed or by the Haye’s Process procedure if a curvilinear relationship was not confirmed and instead a linear relationship was confirmed.

The results demonstrated a positive relationship between cultural difference and CQ and an inverted U-shape relationship between learning flexibility and CQ. CQ mediated the relationship between cultural difference and expatriate adjustment and partially mediated the relationship between learning flexibility and expatriate adjustment. CQ positively influenced expatriates’ job performance via expatriate adjustment.

Our findings suggest that companies should not hesitate to send expatriates on assignments to culturally very different countries and focus more attention on the selection of expatriates. The findings of this study suggest firms should choose candidates who are moderate or high in learning flexibility and could engage in integrated learning and specialized learning in a more balanced manner.

This research is the first study that examines the influence of learning flexibility on CQ and expatriate effectiveness. It examines cultural difference through the lens of experiential learning theory and argues that cultural difference constitutes “stimuli” in the experiential learning environment for individual learning in an international context. The results advance our knowledge of the role of experiential learning in developing capable global managers.

As cross-cultural mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have learning effects on organisations, assessing their impacts on corporate performance is crucial. This study aims to explore the impact of inter-firm cultural differences on long-term post-M&A stock market performance.

The authors select domestic M&A transactions of Chinese listed companies during 2010–2021 as the sample. Then, the authors use the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) to construct the latent variable of cultural differences in four dimensions to explore long-term stock market performance.

Cultural differences first positively and then negatively impact post-M&A performance. Three transmissions mechanisms are identified: investor sentiment, takeover premiums and information disclosure quality. Further analysis reveals that acquirer stock performance improves with higher analyst coverage and non-local shareholders but worsens if there are business affiliations between the acquirer and target firms.

This study can help optimise information disclosure systems in M&A transactions for regulatory authorities and aid investors’ understanding of post-M&A performance changes. Furthermore, it can improve acquirers’ understanding of the risks and opportunities in cross-cultural M&A, thereby facilitating the adaptation of management practices to the im-pacts of cultural differences.

By integrating the theories of resource dependence and transaction costs, this study examines the reversal effect of cultural differences between merging companies on post-M&A performance. The authors use a PLS-SEM to empirically analyse the main effects and reveal three transmission mechanisms.

Social engineering is crucial in today’s digital landscape. As technology advances, malicious individuals exploit human judgment and trust. This study explores how age, education and occupation affect individuals’ awareness, skills and perceptions of social engineering.

A quantitative research approach was used to survey a diverse demographic of Egyptian society. The survey was conducted in February 2023, and the participants were sourced from various Egyptian social media pages covering different topics. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including independent samples t-test and ANOVA, to compare awareness and skills across different groups.

The study revealed that younger individuals and those with higher education tend to research social engineering more frequently. Males display a higher level of awareness but score lower in terms of social and psychological consequences as well as types of attacks when compared to females. The type of attack cannot be predicted based on age. Higher education is linked to greater awareness and ability to defend against attacks. Different occupations have varying levels of awareness, skills, and psychosocial consequences. The study emphasizes the importance of increasing awareness, education and implementing cybersecurity measures.

This study’s originality lies in its focus on diverse Egyptian demographics, innovative recruitment via social media, comprehensive exploration of variables, statistical rigor, practical insights for cybersecurity education and diversity in educational and occupational backgrounds.

Nonfamily farms are responsible for a disproportionate amount of US agriculture production. The importance of these operations to the volume of agriculture production in the United States has led researchers and policymakers to understand nonfamily farms as large commercial operations. This paper examines whether the distinction between family and nonfamily helps explain the financial outcomes of farm operations and households.

We test for differences in financial outcomes of the household and operations of family and nonfamily farms using an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. We compare these results to a decomposition of other possible typologies.

We present evidence that nonfamily farms are a heterogeneous group with a majority of small operations that are dominated by a small number of large operations. We discover that differences associated with the family-nonfamily distinction are largely explained by observable farm and operator characteristics that arise mechanically from the definition. However, we find suggestive evidence that family-nonfamily classification captures differences in economic behavior that lead to higher profitability measures to nonfamily farms. We find little evidence of any inherent structural differences between family and nonfamily farms that helps explain financial outcomes related to leverage or household finances.

We conclude that including nonfamily farms in official statistics of farm households may provide a more comprehensive overview of the farm sector, as our results suggest that family and nonfamily farms do not have innate differences that help explain many of their financial outcomes.

We incorporate previously unused data on nonfamily farm households and test the difference in mean financial outcomes between family and nonfamily farms.

This chapter honors the opportunity I have had to learn with David Maines over the past 35 years. I connect my research on communication and disability, specifically among individuals who are blind and visually impaired, to Maines' discussion of narratives incorporating Rawlins' exploration of similarity and difference. I discuss narratives of disability as difference using three examples: A short story written by H. G. Wells; the American with Disabilities Act; and interviews conducted with elite blind goalball athletes. I conclude with 10 lessons learned about disability and difference including that the goal of my research is to help us all perceive disability as a difference that matters, but not as a difference that disables.

Financial inclusion and digital finance go side by side and help enhance agricultural activities; however, the magnitude of digital financial services varies across countries. In line with this argument, this study aims to examine whether financial inclusion enhances agricultural participation and decompose the significance of the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially included – not financially included households and digital finance – no digital finance households.

This study uses Pakistan’s household integrated economic survey 2018/19 to test hypotheses. The logit model is used to examine the effect of financial inclusion on agriculture participation. Moreover, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder technique to investigate the difference in determinants of agricultural participation.

This study reports that financial inclusion positively influences agricultural participation, meaning households may have access to financial services and participate in agricultural activities. The results suggest that the likelihood of participating in agriculture in households with mobiles and smartphones is higher. Moreover, household size, income, age, gender, education, urban, remittances from abroad, fertilizer, pesticides, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables are the significant determinants of agricultural participation. To distinguish the financially included – not financially included households’ gap, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder decomposition and finds that differences in fertilizer explain the substantial gap in agricultural participation. Likewise, this study tests the digital finance – no digital finance gap and finds that the difference in fertilizer is a significant contributor, describing a considerable gap in agricultural participation.

Empirically identified that various factors cause agricultural participation including financial inclusion and digital finance. Regarding the research limitation, this study only considers a developing country to analyze the findings. However, for future research, scholars may consider some other countries to compare the results and identify their differences.

The accessibility of fertilizer can reduce the agricultural participation gap. However, increased income level, education and cotton and sugar production can also overcome the differences in agriculture participation between digital finance and no digital finance households.

This is the first study to decompose the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially and not financially included households.

This study was done to compare the modes of teaching mathematics in higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The three teaching methods were used as follow: before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The three teaching methods are: (1). Normal on-campus face-to-face teaching and learning activity before the COVID-19 pandemic. (2). Full online teaching and learning activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. (3). Blended teaching and learning activity after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the last few years, there has been a considerable amount of literature investigating the efficacy of the various delivery modes: on-campus delivery (face-to-face), online delivery and blended learning (hybrid), in helping college students improve their mathematical skills. However, the extent to which one learner learns best has been hotly debated among the researchers. Therefore, this study aims to compare the efficacy of implementing three teaching and learning delivery modes before, while, and after the COVID-19 pandemic: on-campus delivery (face-to-face), online delivery and blended learning (hybrid) on academic achievement in mathematics at a higher education institution in the UAE. The main research question explores whether there is a statistically significant difference (p = 0.05) in students’ academic based on the delivery methods: on-campus face-to-face, online and blended learning. The participants in the study were students from one of the largest higher education institutions in the UAE, and all of them studied the same mathematics course before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Student scores in the three academic semesters were thoroughly compared and analyzed using the ANOVA test to check if there is a significant difference between the three groups followed by a Tukey test to identify the significant difference in favor of which group. The results showed that there were significant differences in the mean scores in the students’ achievement in the mathematics courses favoring the blended learning delivery mode. The findings also show that the students’ achievement in mathematics using the on-campus face-to-face teaching and learning was better than the students’ achievement in mathematics using online teaching and learning delivery modes.

The main study question was: is there a statistical significant difference at the significance level (a = 0.05) in students’ achievements in mathematics courses at higher education in the UAE, which can be attributed to the method of teaching? The descriptive statistics reveal that the average student’s score in the final exam after the COVID-19 pandemic is 65.7 with a standard deviation of 16.65, which are higher than the average student’s score in the final exam before the COVID-19 pandemic of 58.7 with a standard deviation 20.53, and both are higher than the average students’ score in the final exam during the COVID-19 pandemic 51.8 with standard deviation 21.48. Then, the ANOVA test reveals that there is a statistically significant difference between the three groups in the final exam marks. The researchers used the multiple comparison tests (Tukey test) to determine the difference. The Tukey test reveals that there is a statically significant difference between the average students’ score in the final exam after the COVID-19 pandemic and the average students’ score in the final exam during the COVID-19 pandemic, where p = 0.015 < 0.05 as well as there is a statically significant difference between the average students’ score in the final exam after the COVID-19 pandemic and the average students’ score in the final exam before the COVID-19 pandemic, where p = 0.000 < 0.05 in favor of the average students’ score in the final exam after the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, there is a statically significant difference between the average students’ score in the final exam before the COVID-19 pandemic and the average students’ score in the final exam during the COVID-19 pandemic, where p = 0.016 < 0.05 in favor of the average students’ score in the final exam before the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are several limitations that may reduce the possibility of generalizing the expected results of the current study to students outside the study population: (1) The study is limited to students of a federally funded postsecondary education institution in the UAE, in which most students are studying in their non-native language. (2) The study is limited to the mathematics courses. (3) The achievement test used in the study is a standardized test developed by the college as a cross-campus summative assessment.

The hybrid education model, also known as blended learning, combines traditional face-to-face instruction with online learning components. When applied to teaching mathematics in higher education, this approach can have several implications and benefits. Here are some key points supported by references: (1) Enhanced Accessibility and Flexibility: hybrid models offer flexibility in learning, allowing students to access course materials, lectures and resources online. This flexibility can accommodate diverse learning styles and preferences. A study by Means et al. (2013) in “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning” highlights how blended learning can improve accessibility and engagement for students in higher education. (2) Personalized Learning Experience: by incorporating online resources, instructors can create a more personalized learning experience. Adaptive learning platforms and online quizzes can provide tailored feedback and adaptive content based on individual student needs (Freeman et al., 2017). This individualization can improve student performance and understanding of mathematical concepts. (3) Increased Student Engagement: the integration of online components, such as interactive simulations, videos and discussion forums, can enhance student engagement and participation (Bonk and Graham, 2012). Engaged students tend to have better learning outcomes in mathematics. (4) Improved Assessment and Feedback Mechanisms: hybrid models allow for the implementation of various assessment tools, including online quizzes, instant feedback mechanisms and data analytics, which can aid instructors in monitoring students’ progress more effectively (Means et al., 2013). This timely feedback loop can help students identify areas needing improvement and reinforce their understanding of mathematical concepts. (5) Cost-Effectiveness and Resource Optimization: integrating online materials can potentially reduce overall instructional costs by optimizing resources and enabling efficient use of classroom time (Graham, 2013). (6) Challenges and Considerations: despite the benefits, challenges such as technological barriers, designing effective online materials and ensuring equitable access for all students need to be addressed (Garrison and Vaughan, 2014). It requires thoughtful course design and continuous support for both students and instructors. When implementing a hybrid education model in teaching mathematics, instructors should consider pedagogical strategies, technological infrastructure and ongoing support mechanisms for students and faculty.

The research is the first research in the UAE to discuss the difference in teaching mathematics in higher education before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to determine the dimensions of cultural differences, which are theoretically most relevant to contract functions in international marketing. Moreover, the contradiction between contract governance and opportunism is reconciled by exploring the boundary conditions of specific cultural differences.

The authors obtained 235 bilateral data provided by Chinese exporters and overseas distributors. The authors matched a secondary data set with the questionnaire data, which were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis and a hierarchical moderation model.

The results demonstrate that while contract specificity is less successful in this area, contingency adaptability is useful in reducing opportunism. Moreover, as the national cultural differences regarding uncertainty avoidance, power distance or individualism-collectivism become more pronounced. One contractual dimension will be more effective at curbing opportunism, while the other will be less effective.

Despite sample limitations, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to theoretically identify the effect of cultural difference dimensions in contract governance, unlike past studies taking cultural differences as an aggregated variable. Furthermore, by exploring the boundary conditions of cultural differences, this paper effectively reconciles the conflicting findings on the relationship between contract governance and opportunism in various cultural context.

Exporters’ managers can design contingency adaptability to complement the limitations of contract specificity and consider cultural differences’ contingency effects.

First, the authors identify cultural differences dimensions related to contract governance, refining and emphasizing the research context. Second, comparing the efficacy of contract specificity and contingency adaptability in specific cultural context can show which contract is better at preventing opportunism.

By conducting an online experiment, this paper proposes and tests a conceptual model about the impact of price labeling strategy on consumers' perceived price difference and purchase intention. The authors also analyze differential influences of shopping channels and price levels on documented effects. The paper provides strategic suggestions for online grocery store managers to adopt profit-maximizing labeling decisions.

In a between-subject experiment, the authors simulated a shopping task with eight scenarios by exogenously manipulating price labeling strategies (unit price/retail price), sales channels (online/offline) and price levels (higher/lower than the average price). Participants are randomly assigned to one of the eight scenarios and asked to report their perceived price difference between the stimuli product and the average market price and their purchase intention on the stimuli product.

Experimental results show that compared to the unit price, the retail price increases the perceived price difference. It shows that the unit price increases consumers' purchase intention when the product price is higher than the average market price. However, these effects only exist in the online shopping context.

This paper extends the study of price labeling strategy to an online shopping context and examines the mediation effect of the perceived price difference.