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This study assesses the impact of innovation diffusion theory (IDT), technology readiness index (TRI) and technology acceptance model (TAM) on the actual use of smart learning. This impact also accounts for the country-digital culture by moderating the effects of resistance to change (RTC) and mediating the role of attitude.

The authors gather data from 301 respondents from various academic institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by operationalizing established theoretical constructs. The authors adopt a covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) approach.

The results reveal that IDT and TRI significantly and positively affect attitudes toward implementing smart learning. Besides, the attitude fully mediates the relationship between IDT, TRI constructs and behavioral intention (BI). Moreover, this study proves that RTC plays a major role in converging BI to place smart learning into actual use.

The major limitation of the authors' work is that this work employs cross-sectional data from UAE only, and the data were gathered during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The stakeholders and administrators in government can benefit from the study findings to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of smart learning, which will contribute to achieving stakeholders and administrators' strategic objectives.

The originality of this work stems from the incorporation of IDT, TRI and TAM constructs in the case of smart learning in UAE in post-COVID-19 scenarios.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamic return volatility connectedness among S&P, Dow Jones (DJ) sustainability indices and their conventional counterparts.

This study uses time-series daily data for 10 S&P and DJ indices over the period of December 1, 2012 to December 8, 2021. The authors divide the data into three periods; over the whole sample, pre and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study adopts the connectedness approach developed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2014).

The results reveal a high degree of connectedness between S&P and DJ indices and their relative sustainability indices over the whole sample, pre and during the Covid-19 pandemic, indicating that the sustainability indices converge toward their conventional peers. The results further show that the conventional S&P500, S&P Euro 50 and DJWI are the main transmitters of shocks, whereas the S&P400, S&P500 and S&P50 sustainability indices are the main receivers of shocks.

The study provides novel insights in terms of shock transmission of S&P and DJ sustainability indices and their conventional counterparts, where there is a lack of investigation of the connectedness between indices in this field.

The study has significant implications for investors and portfolio managers to devise portfolio strategies to minimize risk and trace the cause, the direction and the magnitude of risk transmission among different indices. Also, the results help policymakers to manage diverse types of risks associated with S&P and DJ indices. Finally, faith-based and ethical investors would be able to predict the pairwise spillover connectedness between these indices.

The study examines the effects of corporate governance and countrywide institutions and risk factors on corporate liquidity.

Using firm-level data, the authors analyze the effect of corporate governance and various economic, regulatory and social institutions on the liquidity of firms operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The authors use fixed-effects, firm-specific and country-level controls, disaggregated analysis, sensitivity and endogeneity analysis to test the robustness of the estimates.

The corporate governance characteristics of firms influence in diverse ways their liquidity decisions. The independence and diversity of the board and institutional ownership are especially strong predictors. The effect also depends on the size of the firm and the degree of economic development and exhibits time sensitivity and nonlinearity. Enforcement institutions and risk factors play a strong role.

The analysis contributes to the literature by using a large sample of countries and firms over a larger period, distinguishing between poorer and richer countries and using sensitivity and endogeneity analysis. The analysis considers explicitly the role of regulatory and enforcement conditions, social structures and religious beliefs.

This study aims to analyze the effect of female top management and female dominant owner on whether firms experience obstacles to obtaining external finance in 136 medium- and low-income countries during 2006–2019. The analysis controls for the role of corporate governance and other firm-specific characteristics, as well as for the impact of national institutions.

The analysis elucidates the economic and non-economic factors driving female corporate leadership. Further, in order to capture the causal effect, the analysis uses univariate tests, multivariate regression analysis, disaggregation testing, sensitivity and endogeneity analysis to confirm the quality of the estimates. The analysis controls for various additional country-level factors.

The results show that female top management and female ownership are broadly significant determinants of firms' access to external finance, especially in relatively larger and more developed countries. The role of controlling shareholders is significant and mediates the gender effect. The latter appears more pronounced in smaller and medium-size firms, operating in the manufacturing and services sectors as well as in the countries with higher levels of development. This also varies with the countries' macroeconomic conditions and institutions governing gender development and equality as well as institutional governance effectiveness.

The results suggest that firms wishing to improve the firms' access to external finance should consider the role of gender in both top management and corporate ownership coupled with the effect of the specific characteristics of firms and the conditioning role of national institutions.

The study examines the gender effects of top management and dominant ownership for the external financing decisions of firms in low- and middle-income countries, which are underresearched. These gender effects are mitigated in various ways by the specific characteristics of firms and especially on national institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the suitability of a Bloomberg Environmental (E), Social (S) and Governance (G) (ESG) disclosure index designed for companies from the USA and to investigate the sustainability quality and stock performance of FinTech companies.

Data from all FinTech and non-FinTech firms in the USA was acquired from Bloomberg to undertake the study and evaluate the suggested hypotheses efficiently. The final sample consists of 1,672 company-year observations from 2010 to 2019. The methodology used ordinary least squares regressions of performance metrics on the Bloomberg ESG disclosure index and its components.

The findings indicated that the Bloomberg ESG disclosure index is a valid proxy for sustainability and has a direct relationship with stock performance. Furthermore, this study suggests that non-FinTech firms outperform FinTech firms in sustainability and stock performance. The findings support stakeholder theory, which suggests that increased disclosure of ESG information will mitigate the agency problem and protect shareholders’ interests.

This study’s findings were significant because the findings emphasised ESG disclosure in FinTech and non-FinTech firms, providing information to academics, legislators, regulators, financial report users, investors, environmental unions, workers, customers and society.

This research is unique as it evaluates ESG practices in both FinTech and non-FinTech firms.

This study aims to examines both accrual and real-based earnings management (EM) behavior of listed corporations in tax-free countries during different economic situations. It also addresses the link between firm- and country-level determinants of accrual and real-based EM and explores economic conditions' influence on these determinants.

The study examines 1,608 firm-years, covers sixteen years (2004–2019), clustered into three periods according to the global financial crisis (GFC): four years prior (2004–2007), two years during (2008–2009), and ten years post the GFC (2010–2019). We employ the modified Jones model (performance-matched) developed by Kothari et al. (2005) to measure the accrual-based EM (positive and negative discretionary accrual EM) and the three levels model for Dechow et al. (1998) to measure the real-based EM (cash flow from operating, discretionary expenses and abnormal production cost).

The study finds a significant increase in EM practices in the listed corporations in tax-free countries during the economic downturn. These corporations are found to understate their earnings during the economic stress period. Simultaneously, the firm-level determinants of EM practices were at the same level of significance during different economic conditions in accrual-based EM. In contrast, the country-level EM determinants vary based on the economic conditions.

Financial reports' users gain a deep understanding of the quality of financial reports in the context of tax-free country. And, the study outcomes inspire policymakers to develop relevant legislation to mitigate financial reports' risk and adequately protect the financial reports' users.

Social risk management is vital for growth and business continuity. This study investigates the social risk shift in supply chain management during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Data were retrieved from Bloomberg between 2010 and 2021 regarding all supply chain enterprises from nine countries. The authors undertake a confirmatory examination of formulated hypotheses. Social supply chain risk (SSCR) refers to “firms that took the necessary steps to decrease social risks in their supply chain. Social risks involve the child or forced labor, poor working conditions, lack of a living and fair or minimum wage”. The authors complement the analysis and address the endogeneity issue using the dynamic generalized moments method (GMM).

A significant positive relationship between COVID-19 and SSCR was discovered in this study. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain firms faced supply chain social risk. Notably, SSCR policies differ from one country to another during this period.

The research has some limitations. The sample data are limited to 9 countries. Furthermore, it was somewhat difficult to determine the country-wise difference using COVID-19 as a dummy variable. Future research may adopt qualitative approaches, such as structural or semi-structural interviews.

The results have important implications for supply chain practitioners to consider the critical role of social risk in their operations. COVID-19 has exposed the new political economy and re-centered governments as the key actors in tackling grand challenges to safeguard workers, produce socially useful products and protect their stakeholders. Also, the study highlights the importance of governments and policymakers having a well-structured regulatory framework and environment for firms to comply with the social norms in their supply chain management. Finally, the study's findings should encourage supply chain managers to adopt a proactive mechanism that reduces the social risk impacts of pandemics.

Considering the historical backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study is unique in measuring the SSCR of enterprises from a worldwide viewpoint.

This study contributes to the extant literature on ICT firms by investigating the interrelationship between the health and safety (H&S) measures, market performance, and the coronavirus (COVID-19).

To conduct the confirmatory analysis by testing our hypotheses, data have been collected from Bloomberg of all ICT firms from five countries. The authors gathered from 2010 until 2020 as the research sample to examine the pandemic impact on market performance and H&S measures.

First, our results reveal a significant and positive relationship between market performance (proxied by Tobin’s Q) and the H&S measures of information technology (IT) firms. Second, the authors find that the IT firms have significantly increased the H&S measures during the COVID-19 period and were dynamic in linking employees’ adaptive capabilities to positive attributes. This has contributed to business success, resiliency, and sustainability.

The authors used a quantitative method of testing our hypotheses. Future studies may consider checking the robustness using qualitative methods such as structural or semi-structural interviews.

The study offers valuable insights to academics, practitioners, stakeholders, policymakers, and international entities by fostering knowledge about responses to crises, integrating digital solutions, and disseminating digital information. The study also has implications on the health, social, business, and economic levels. This study is a call for international and local humanitarian organisations such as United Nations High Commission, Care international and many more to understand the gravity of safety of the workers in the workplace during the pandemic period and introduce a firm-level policy accordingly.

This paper is novel considering that the paper is unique in evaluating ICT firms’ market performance and H&S from a global perspective, considering the context of this historical pandemic.