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This study focuses on the factors that determine the readiness of hotels to implement customer relationship management (CRM) in hotels within the context of Ghana. The sample consisted of 292 employees (restaurant managers, customer service officers, customer relations' officers, and marketing managers) from 3- to 5-star hotels. The study adopted a quantitative deductive approach to collected data using cross-sectional survey, which was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed that management change initiatives and culture have significant impact on organizational readiness to implement CRM in hotels, specifically Ghana. Also, the organizational culture partly mediates management change initiatives and organizational readiness to implement CRM activities. On the other hand, use of technology proved not to mediate management change initiatives and organizational readiness as the relationship proved not to be significant. Also, culture and use of technology have not mediated management change initiatives and organizational readiness as the indirect path proved not to be significant. The outcomes have useful implications for CRM adoption by hotel managers.

This chapter investigates the effect of customer orientation and CRM organization on hotel financial performance. A model of enhancing hotel financial performance through customer satisfaction practices was tested. Customer satisfaction was hypothesized to be a mediator in the relationships between customer orientation and CRM organization and the result being financial performance. The sample consisted of 54 hotels that was made up of three 5-star, fifteen 4-star, and thirty-six 3-star hotels in Ghana. A quantitative deductive approach was employed to gather data using cross-sectional survey, which was analyzed using PLS-SEM to check the validity, reliability and factor loading of the data. The findings revealed that, CRM organization enhances customer satisfaction and financial performance of hotels. Also, customer orientation showed significant positively related to customer satisfaction in the hotels. Surprisingly, the effects of CRM organization and customer orientation on financial performance through customer satisfaction were insignificant. Thus, customer satisfaction failed to mediate the effect of CRM organization and customer orientation on the financial performance of hotels. This suggests that though an effective CRM organization enhances customer satisfaction, it directly affects the financial performance of hotels. The outcomes have useful implications for CRM implementation on hotel financial performance in Ghana.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals face an elevated level of prejudice in various social settings like sports. These biases can relate to internalized stigma, which might prompt LGBTQ+ athletes to implement numerous identity coping strategies. Muslim LGBTQ+ athletes are likely to experience these dynamics more than others. However, there remains a dearth of scholarship on understanding how Muslim LGBTQ+ athletes employ different identity development coping strategies to tackle the prevalent stigma against them and use their visible identity development process as a means of social activism. Hence, in this book chapter, the authors explore the development of Muslim LGBTQ+ sportspersons' visible identity by defining the forces that shape their identity. The first author of the book chapter sheds light on his experiences while working with the LGBTQ+ community in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and his recent interactions with the Muslim LGBTQ+ community in North America. The authors then highlight how Muslim LGBTQ+ athletes might use different identity coping strategies to show personal agency against the heteronormative system. Furthermore, the authors elucidate how sexual orientation intersects with religion within the sociocultural domain in shaping the identity and present global Muslim LGBTQ+ identity typology. Finally, the authors argue that Muslim LGBTQ+ athletes' visible identity depends upon two factors: religious negative/positive self-beliefs about religion Islam's openness toward LGBTQ+ rights and social acceptance, bounded by time and space.

This study aims to identify the factors and propose a conceptual framework for the civil aviation industry from the sustainability perspective with the participation of international entrepreneurs. Based on the results of this study, international decision-makers and entrepreneurs in the civil aviation transportation industry will better understand their decision-making processes. A combination of interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and matrix-based multiplication applied to a classification (MICMAC) was used to classify practical factors to depict a conceptual model based on their level and classification in the sustainable supply chain (SSC) of the civil aviation transportation industry. In this study, special attention has been paid to the issue of sustainability as an essential mechanism for developing international entrepreneurship in the civil aviation transportation industry. The factor of flexibility in service production was identified as the driver factor; the factors of organisational commitment to a SSC were found to have the highest driver-dependent power that can attract international entrepreneurs in this field.

This research examines the bidirectional relationship between Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) voluntary disclosure engagement and financial performance of a panel of banks extracted from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) banking industry, covering a period of 11 years (2007–2017). We find that GCC banks, and in particular Islamic banks, voluntarily disclose low level of information related to ESG activities. Using system GMM methodology, we provide evidence that ESG disclosure adversely affects bank performance, regardless of the bank performance measure used. Thus spending on ESG turns out to be costly for GCC banks, a result that is consistent with the agency problem, where managers are likely to reduce long-term expenditures related to ESG actions in order to boost short-term profits. As managers' compensations often relate to short-term financial performance, managers tend to reduce their spending on ESG activities. Furthermore, contrary to previous research, our results indicate that the relationship between ESG and financial performance is bidirectional and dynamic. We also find evidence that ESG disclosure positively affects performance only for well-diversified banks. Finally, although conventional banks disclose significantly more information related to ESG activities, we do not find any significant differences between the two types of banks in the relationship between ESG disclosure and performance. Our suggestion is that these results are consistent with what we call “clientele” and “gravitation” effects, where a customer tends to choose to deal with the bank that reflects his religious beliefs (gravitation effect) and with the bank that provides him with the best services (clientele effect) regardless of its ESG disclosure.

Several different simulation techniques, such as discrete event simulation (DES), system dynamics (SD) and agent-based modelling (ABM), have been used to model complex construction systems such as construction processes and project management practices; however, these techniques do not take into account the subjective uncertainties that exist in many construction systems. Integrating fuzzy logic with simulation techniques enhances the capabilities of those simulation techniques, and the resultant fuzzy simulation models are then capable of handling subjective uncertainties in complex construction systems. The objectives of this chapter are to show how to integrate fuzzy logic and simulation techniques in construction modelling and to provide methodologies for the development of fuzzy simulation models in construction. In this chapter, an overview of simulation techniques that are used in construction is presented. Next, the advancements that have been made by integrating fuzzy logic and simulation techniques are introduced. Methodologies for developing fuzzy simulation models are then proposed. Finally, the process of selecting a suitable simulation technique for each particular aspect of construction modelling is discussed.

This study aims to examine the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the case of 100 developed and developing nations by taking into account the role of institutional quality (IQ). Using generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions only in the developed world but not in the developing nations. It is also revealed that control of corruption plays a vital role in reducing CO₂ emissions in high income countries. Furthermore, rule of law is found to have a beneficial effect on the environment in all countries except for low income countries. Overall, our results confirm the importance of IQ in reducing CO₂ emissions. Additionally, foreign direct investment contributes to CO₂ reduction in rich countries while deteriorates the environmental quality in developing nations. Trade openness was shown to exert a positive impact on environmental quality in developing countries. These findings can be of great importance to policy makers of different income groups in designing appropriate economic and environmental policies toward the dual goals of high growth and low pollution.

In 2002 when we began reviewing papers for possible inclusion in Advances in Gender Research volume 7: Gender Perspectives on Health and Medicine: Key Themes, and Volume 8: Gender Perspectives on Health and Medicine: Reproduction and Sexuality, the popular press was full of headlines about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) (for references and extended and detailed discussion by researchers and physicians see the editorial by Ronald C. Hamdy, MD, FRCP, FACP (2002) and the letters to the editor (Mikhail, 2003) in the Southern Journal of Medicine).

Interpersonal and informal ties and networks, known as wasta in the Arab Middle East region, remain a major force in Middle Eastern societies, determining most economic, social and political outcomes. Yet the literature on informal ties and networks is largely characterized by a lack of contributions from the Arab world, despite the adverse effect that lack of understanding of the wasta phenomenon is having on the effectiveness of expatriate managers and subsequently on business performance. This chapter therefore aims to shed light on the meaning, characteristics, structure, and role of wasta in establishing and maintaining successful business relationships. It ends with recommendations for foreign investors and international managers who wish to establish and maintain successful business relationships in the Middle East on how to capitalize on interpersonal networks within this process.