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Academic procrastination, characterized by the act of postponing the completion of an assignment, is a prevalent behaviour observed among students worldwide and has significant consequences for academic achievement. This study investigates the influence of academic procrastination on academic achievement in university students. This study also determines the mediating effect of locus of control and the moderating effect of parental involvement on the relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement.

This work utilized a cross-sectional and causal research design. The study used a survey in English to obtain responses from university students within the Northern Indian Region. The study received 539 responses from participants and 507 were used after data cleaning. This study used structural equation modelling using AMOS 25.0 for hypothesis testing.

The regression analysis using structural equation modelling showed that the external locus of control leads to academic procrastination, whereas the internal locus of control negatively affects academic procrastination. In addition, academic procrastination negatively influences academic achievement, emphasizing procrastination’s adverse effects on students’ performance. Moreover, academic procrastination mediates and parental involvement moderates the association between locus of control and academic achievement.

The present study investigated a unique conceptual framework involving locus of control, parental involvement, academic procrastination and academic accomplishment. The study makes an essential contribution to educational psychology and also enhances earlier theoretical frameworks concerning antecedents of academic accomplishments in university students.

This research is designed to explore the relationship between social media addiction, student engagement and student retention. Social media addiction is dealt with as an independent variable student engagement acts as a mediating variable and student retention as a dependent variable.

This is a cross-sectional and quantitative research. Primary data are collected from 600 respondents (university students) with the help of a structured questionnaire. Multistage sampling techniques, i.e. simple random sampling and judgment sampling, are used for the selection of respondents.

Results indicate that for direct relationships, social media addiction has a significant positive impact on student engagement and student retention, respectively, while student engagement is partially mediating the relationship between social media addiction with student retention.

In the future, these kinds of research may also be conducted on students of different universities in Pakistan, which are located in other cities of Pakistan besides Lahore. This research provides a practical framework for the higher authorities of the universities of Pakistan and explains how the use of media positively fosters the levels of student retention directly and indirectly through the path of student engagement. It is commonly believed that media addiction is bad but the result of this research indicates that anything is not dangerous but depends upon its use, media addiction itself is not bad but if someone uses this for a good purpose in limitation then it has better outcomes. The result indicates that the media addiction of students has a positive impact on student retention. This means that if someone uses media for a positive purpose then he/she will use it as a supporting tool for success. Longitudinal research on these variables will also help to check the status after a specific interval of time.

The current study will help the practitioners or policymakers (Managers) of higher education institutions by providing practical insights into the positive use of media by students for increasing their knowledge and grades. This research can also help practitioners or policymakers to focus their students on the positive use of social media for fostering the levels of student retention.

To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no previous study has been done to incorporate social media addiction and student engagement in a single model in the Pakistani cultural context. Similarly, the relationship of variables social media addiction with student engagement is rarely checked empirically because the research of Wang et al. (2011) proposed that social media addiction has a relationship with student engagement so that is why this is the rationale of the research is to check this empirically. Moreover, this study is an initial effort to check the mediating effect of student engagement in the relationship between social media addiction and student retention. This research is also proposing the framework of social media addiction, student engagement and student retention based on the social exchange theory (SET).

The study aims to shed light on the role of university support (US), environmental concern (EC) and Sustainable Development Goal knowledge (SDGK) in forming students' intention (SI) to engage in sustainability-driven entrepreneurship. The authors attempted to blend the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as a potentially useful theoretical base for sustainability-driven entrepreneurial intention (SDEI) development.

The responses were collected from university students in India using a self-administered questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and partial least squares structured equation modelling (PLS-SEM) are used to examine the data.

The university support strongly influences students' attitudes towards sustainable entrepreneurship (ATT) and outcome expectations (OEs). Also, the degree of understanding about SDGs among students was alarmingly low, which has crucial negative consequences for future SDG achievement.

The findings of this study may assist academicians and environmental strategists in deciding the crucial factors influencing SI to start a sustainable business. The study highlights the importance of universities in promoting entrepreneurial sustainability decisions.

This research will add value to the prevailing literature in the area of sustainable entrepreneurship as it explores the effects of environmental concern, SDGK and the role of US on sustainable entrepreneurial intention (EI) among Indian engineering students.

This study explores clothing disposal in a developing economy. It focuses on how consumers dispose of clothing and what motives influence them to use a specific disposal method.

Semi-structured interviews, a qualitative research method, were conducted with a purposive sample of 27 participants from diverse demographic backgrounds within the developing economy of Ethiopia. The interviews were coded and analysed using thematic analysis to identify categories and themes.

The findings reveal various clothing disposal methods, such as bartering, donating, gifting, repurposing and reusing, and discarding. Different motives drive consumers to use these methods, including economic benefits, altruism, and convenience.

The study bridges an important knowledge gap in literature mainly on three aspects, as highlighted by previous research. Theoretically, in addition to proposing a different perspective of bartering as a disposal method, the study investigates the motives behind clothing disposal methods from diverse consumer groups and proposes a conceptual framework to illustrate the link between clothing disposal methods and motives. Methodologically, the study addresses the call for a more inclusive and diverse sample, considering gender and varied socio-economic groups. Contextually, while previous research has focused on developed economies, this study explains clothing disposal methods and motives from a developing economy context, specifically Ethiopia.

Sustainable urban development involves integrating intelligent technology into urban planning to promote economic growth, social services, and environmental preservation. It fosters inclusiveness, safety, resilience, and sustainability in urban environments. However, this strategy faces challenges balancing economic growth, social equality, and environmental preservation. Design experts must balance economic development with sustainability preservation to achieve sustainable urban development. They depend on technology for smarter communities. The paper aims to identify the criteria for sustainable urban design and design professionals' bias and their awareness of using the fourth industrial revolution technologies.

The research methodology involves a document review to identify criteria and weights for sustainable urban design. A questionnaire was conducted with 30 design professionals to understand their preferences and biases. A hierarchical framework was created, and pairwise comparisons were computed using an AHP Online System. The weight of each criterion was calculated by aggregating normalized pairwise values within each row and dividing by the total number of cells. The Consistency Ratio (CR) was determined by aggregating the values in the row to produce the weighted aggregate value for each principle.

The document review emphasizes the significance of sustainable urban design, livability, intelligence, and environmental conservation in sustainable communities. However, participants often overlook these aspects, focusing on comfort, privacy, security, and exclusiveness. They also ignore the need for smart city technologies and environmental protection. This lack of understanding may hinder Egypt’s achievement of SDG11.

The paper’s main limitation is the small sample size and composition, as all participants were Egyptians working in Egypt or the Arabian Gulf region. The findings cannot be generalized, and future research could involve a team from different regions. Egypt needs to address the lack of knowledge and awareness of sustainable urban design principles among design professionals to achieve SDG 11 goals. This can be achieved through educational initiatives, readjusting priorities towards sustainability, harmonizing policy and practice with sustainable urban design principles, and interdisciplinary teamwork. Design professionals should customize their methods to suit local requirements and ecological circumstances.

The paper reveals that many design professionals lack an integrated and holistic understanding of sustainable urban design principles that the document review outlined. Their responses and practices reveal an incomplete understanding of sustainable urban development, requiring attention to organizing the profession, training practitioners, and reforming planning education. The paper shows that AHP has the potential to serve as a suitable instrument for decision-making; nonetheless, it is essential to exercise caution when interpreting its outcomes.

This study aims to investigate the organizational and individual factors that influence the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in Kuwait's public accounting sector.

The methodology of this study is a cross-sectional survey of 393 experienced accounting professionals, using partial least square structural equation modeling to analyze the data.

The findings show that organizational culture, regulatory support, perceived usefulness and ease of use have a direct positive effect on AI adoption, while perceived usefulness and ease of use also have an indirect positive effect through accounting profit and behavioral intention. However, the availability of resources, effective communication channels and competition pressure have an insignificant impact on AI adoption.

This study pioneers a structural framework to elucidate the perceived enhancement of accounting quality through AI system integration. Further, this research adds to the literature on AI adoption in accounting. This study also offers empirical evidence regarding how organizations in Kuwait's public accounting sector view AI systems in accounting.

The presence of securities crowdfunding (SCF) FinTech in the Islamic financial landscape opens investment opportunities through shares and sukuk (Sharia bond) instruments. This study aims to examine the effect of investment risk (IR), legal risk (LR), product knowledge (PK), Sharia compliance (SC) and subjective norm (SN) on investment decisions in businesses and projects run by small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The questionnaires were distributed to prospective investors with prior knowledge of SCF and Islamic investment. The data collected was then examined using partial least square-structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 4.0.

The results show that LR has positive and significant implications for supporting investment through SCF, while IR has the opposite. The main findings in this study explain that PK and SC are proven to strengthen the intention to invest in SCF. Meanwhile, SN, which also strengthens intention, is the greatest influence. Therefore, it is highly recommended that SCF organizers collaborate with regulators (OJK), universities, academics and the investor community, as well as Muslim entrepreneurs, to provide education and literacy regarding SCF products and the underlying contracts, along with the consequences and uniqueness of investment vis SCF.

From a managerial side, Sharia expert educators can be appointed to increase investors’ literacy and confidence to support SMEs’ business expansion via SCF. In addition, to minimize investment risk, SCF organizers are also advised to issue sukuk and shares in different low-risk businesses/sectors, followed by investment amounts that are more affordable for novice investors.

Research on SCF as an alternative to SME financing is still scarce. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first research to empirically test the relationship between risk, SC, PK and SN on potential investors’ decisions to support SMEs through the SCF mechanism.

Gold investment is one of the essential long-term investments for many to diversify their investment portfolios. Muslims are continuously looking for halal products and services in any aspect of life and one of them is Shari’ah gold investments (SGI). However, evidence pertinent to Muslims’ behaviour towards Shari’ah gold is somewhat inconclusive and for that, a new empirical investigation is needed to reduce the gap, at best. Hence, the purpose of this study is to study factors determining SGI behaviour in Penang, Malaysia.

By using the Islamic theory of consumer behaviour (ITCB), this study examines the determinants of the SGI behaviour. The questionnaire survey was distributed and the data gathered was analysed using partial least square structural equation modeling.

All hypothesised hypotheses were instrumental in explaining the factors determining SGI behaviour in the context of Penang, Malaysia.

This study has at least two limitations, namely, confined generalisations of the variables used and the limited context of the research conducted.

This study sheds light on the determinants influencing SGI behaviour, at best.

This study is original in terms of its final output that enlightens the significant effects of iman, Islamic altruism, maqasid consumer index on the behaviour of investors on Shari’ah gold within the ITCB’s context along with integrated religious satisfaction.

Many countries struggled to respond to the pandemic burden; in fact, most suffer from healthcare incapacity generally. Therefore, they need to find innovative systems to compensate for their deficiencies in dealing with current and future problems. One such goes down the public-private partnership (PPP) route. It is important to note, however, that PPP is not a magic wand, and some of these projects have been criticized for overruns that exceed the value created. Aiming to promote the value created in healthcare PPP projects, this study aims to identify factors and critical points related to their implementation.

A two-stage literature review was conducted to shape semi-structured interviews. Based on this, the questions to be asked in the interviews were prepared. The interviews were conducted with twelve experts. The transcripts of the twelve semi-structured interviews were analyzed using manual thematic analysis to reveal the most critical value-creation factors (VCFs). The VFCs were validated by comparing them with the studies in the literature and by having focus group discussions (FGDs) with the experts. Finally, in an FGD, the experts discussed how these factors affect value creation in healthcare PPP projects.

The findings show that VFCs can be categorized into four dimensions: assets, partnership synergy, cooperation environment and processes. Based on the frequency of codes during the thematic analysis, the most frequently addressed VFCs in each category were identified. These were complementary skills and resources, attitude, early establishment of the operational body and effective design development, respectively.

This research contributes to both society and practice by unveiling VCFs and effective ways to achieve them in healthcare PPP projects. Thus, practitioners can generate more value and bring value to the forefront of healthcare PPPs, which can then enhance the value gained by society.

Studies to date have offered little about VCFs and how to realize value in PPP projects by considering the factors involved in them. Moreover, value creation in PPP healthcare projects has largely remained unexplored, despite PPPs being adopted and investigated quite commonly.

Acquainting organisations regarding the concepts of Total Quality Management (TQM) and its implementation is one measure that effectively improves their global position and performance. Kaizen is one of the concepts of TQM, which focuses on low-cost organisational transformational methods and often saves consuming significant resources (time, capital, etc.). Using Kaizen in organisational transformation sets efficient guidelines to improve processes agility and leanness and increase manufacturing productivity. Hence, this study aims to identify the key success factors in Kaizen projects and presents a score function that measures the readiness level of organisations to implement Kaizen projects.

A literature review first extracts the key success factors in Kaizen projects. Afterwards, the selected factors are screened via the fuzzy Delphi method using expert opinions from the manufacturing sector of an emerging economy. Subsequently, their importance is cross-examined by the Bayesian best–worst Method (BBWM). The BBWM is one of the most recent multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods that lead to stable, dynamic and robust pairwise comparisons. After analysing the weights of the key factors, a score function is designed so that organisations can understand how much they are ready to launch Kaizen projects.

According to the findings, “Training and education” and “Employee attitude” played an important role in the success of Kaizen projects. The literature extracted 22 success factors of Kaizen projects, and 10 factors were eliminated through the fuzzy Delphi method. Twelve success factors in Kaizen projects were evaluated and investigated through the BBWM. Matching to this method, “Training and education” and “Employee attitude” weighed 0.119 and 0.112, relatively. Furthermore, “Support from senior management” was the least important factor.

To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first research in which the success factors of Kaizen projects have been identified and analysed through an integrated multi-layer decision-making framework. Although some studies have investigated the key success factors of Kaizen projects and analysed them through statistical approaches, research that examines the success factors of Kaizen projects through MCDM methods is yet to be reported. Moreover, the score function that measures the level of readiness of each organisation for the successful implementation of Kaizen projects is a unique contribution to this research.