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Increasing competitive pressure over the past 20 years has forced many companies to re‐evaluate their value‐added systems. This re‐evaluation has greatly amplified the managerial attention focused on purchasing. Indeed, many firms have begun to emphasize purchasing in their attempts to improve their competitive positions. Two advanced sourcing practices have been particularly important: global and JIT sourcing. This paper: 1) reviews the literature pertaining to these two sourcing practices, 2) considers potential competitive impact, 3) explores issues of compatibility, and 4) presents future research directions.

This chapter discusses how assistive technology (AT) has been used in Saudi inclusive schools. It also synthesises issues and challenges that play significant roles in using AT with students with disabilities in inclusive education. These topics include Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regulation and legislation for AT, teachers' attitudes and knowledge of AT, professional development, AT specialists to support AT use in inclusive education and integrating AT in students' Individual Education Plans. Moreover, the chapter explains how the education section in the Saudi Vision 2030 focusses and discusses the enhancement of AT use among students with disabilities in the inclusive education.

This paper aims to examine firm characteristics and ownership structure determinants of corporate social and environmental voluntary disclosure (CSEVD) practices in Saudi Arabia to address the paucity of research in this field for Saudi listed firms.

The paper uses manual content and regression analyses for online annual report data for Saudi non-financial listed firms over the period 2016–2018 using CSEVD items drawing on global reporting initiative-G4 guidelines.

Models show that Saudi firm CSEVD has increased over time compared to previous studies to an average of 68% disclosure due to new corporate governance regulations and IFRS implementation. The models show that firm size, leverage, manufacturing industry type and government ownership are positive determinants of CSEVD, while family ownership is the negative driver of CSEVD. However, firm profitability, audit firm size, firm age and institutional ownership have no impact on the level of CSEVD.

Using legitimacy and stakeholder theories, the paper determines the influence of firm characteristics and ownership structure on CSEVD, identifying implications for firm stakeholders and providing some evidence on the impact of corporate governance regulation and IFRS implementation on such disclosure. The paper provides additional evidence on progress towards Saudi’s Vision 2030.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between earnings management (EM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Saudi Arabia. It is one of only a small number of studies to examine this relationship outside the US market, and the first in the Middle East and Arab region, particularly in Saudi Arabia.

The paper uses content analysis to extract the CSR disclosure items from annual reports of Saudi firms. A CSR disclosure index was then constructed. For EM, the residuals from Kothari et al.’s (2005) model are considered. Multivariate analysis was performed using pooled OLS-regression models to examine the direct relationship between EM and the CSR index.

Using panel data from all Saudi public firms listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) over the 2015-2016 period, the authors find that CSR is positively and significantly related to EM practices as proxied by discretionary accruals. This implies that Saudi firms undertaking CSR actions are more likely to manipulate their earnings.

The findings of this paper have important policy implications for policy-makers, regulators, auditors and investors in their attempts to constrain EM practices and enhance the quality of financial reporting in Saudi Arabia.

This paper contributes to the body of accounting literature by providing the first empirical evidence in the Middle East and Arab region on the positive association between EM and CSR in Saudi Arabia.

Despite the widespread use of mobile government (m-government) services in developed countries, the adoption and acceptance of m-government services among citizens in developing countries is relatively low. The purpose of this study is to explore the most critical determinants of acceptance and use of m-government services in a developing country context.

The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) extended with perceived mobility and mobile communication services (MCS) was used as the theoretical framework. Data was collected from 216 m-government users across Bangladesh and analyzed in two stages. First, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to identify significant determinants affecting users' acceptance of m-government services. In the second stage, a neural network model was used to validate SEM results and determine the relative importance of the determinants of acceptance of m-government services.

The results show that facilitating conditions and performance expectancy are the two important precedents of behavioral intention to use m-government services, and performance expectancy mediates the relationship between MCS, mobility and the intention to use m-government services.

Academically, this study extended and validated the underlying concept of UTAUT to capture the adoption behavior of individuals in a different cultural context. In particular, MCS might be the most critical antecedent towards mobile application studies. From a practical perspective, this study may provide valuable guidelines to government policymakers and system developers towards the development and effective implementation of m-government systems.

This study has contributed to the existing, but limited, literature on m-government service adoption in the context of a developing country. The predictive modeling approach is an innovative approach in the field of technology adoption.

This study aims to focus on the possibility of developing new thiazole azo dyes with good colouristic application properties, biological and pharmacological activities.

Coupling of curcumin with different aromatic diazonium salts of 2-amino thiazole derivatives, such as 2-aminobenzothiazole, 2-amino-5-phenylthiazole, 2-amino-5-methylthiazole and 2-amino-5-nitrothiazole-produced novel azo dyes. Structures of all synthesised dyes were fully confirmed via spectroscopic and analytical methods. Those compounds were examined for their antimicrobial, anticancer and antioxidant activities. They were applied on polyester fabrics and, subsequently, their dyeing properties, light, washing, perspiration, rubbing and sublimation fastness were determined.

Prepared dyestuffs were suitable for dyeing polyester fabrics. It was found that all prepared dyes possess high colour strength, as well as good overall fastness properties. Meanwhile, the synthesised compounds exhibited good biological and pharmacology activity.

Synthesis of these four azo dyes for textile dyeing was not conveyed earlier.

Thaizolyl disperse dyes were responsible for giving better colour assessment and fastness properties on polyester fabrics.

Although, most of synthesis eco-friendly dyes are expensive, they are showing a good antimicrobial and anticancer activity.

It gave straightforward approach to synthesise novel thiazolyl azo dyes with good biological, pharmacology activities, good colour assessment, and fastness properties.

This paper aims to synthesise some novel diazobenzene dyestuffs clubbed with sulphonamide moiety and their application for polyester fabrics in addition to evaluating their biological activities.

New diazobenzene disperse dyes with improved chemical construction via sulphonamides were designed. This amendment of diazobenzene dyes was completed by introducing sulphonamide derivatives through Japp–kilingman reaction. All new synthesised dyes were elucidated by elemental analyses and spectral data (IR and 1 H-NMR). Biological activities of the synthesised diazobenzene sulphonamide derivatives were evaluated.

The synthesised diazobenzene dyestuffs clubbed with sulphonamides were applied on polyester fabrics. The synthesised dyes showed that good fastness properties and their biological evaluation exhibited good efficacy towards antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer.

Sulphonamide derivatives have numerous uses, such as being used in dyestuff and providing antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Sulphonamide derivatives with diazobenzene coupler components exhibited an interesting colorant for polyester and provided better biological efficacy for other non-textile applications. This work afforded new disperse dyes beside their medical applications.

The purpose of this study is to examine learning style instruments used in Arab countries to measure higher education students’ learning styles, identify the most common instruments and determine whether the reliability and validity of these instruments have been verified in Arab contexts.

A comprehensive review of the existing literature using several databases and search engines. Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages were used to present the results.

There are only a few published studies related to learning styles in Arab countries, with the majority published between 2012 and 2016 using samples drawn from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. The most common learning style instrument is the Felder–Silverman/Solomon Index of Learning Styles. The reliability and validity of this instrument require further investigation.

This study is not without limitations. First, it covers only publications in the English language. Second, the paper focuses on research involving higher education students. Third, only research that was available online was used in this study. Nonetheless, the findings have several implications for researchers, educators and human resource development managers. For researchers, this study highlights research gaps that need to be filled. It also serves as a basis for more analytical and in-depth studies. The data also helps educators become more informed about the learning style instruments commonly used in the Arab context and whether the results from these instruments are dependable. Human resource development managers can draw on these findings to choose instruments that have proven reliable and valid.

This study is the first attempt to examine learning style instruments used in Arab countries and to explore whether the reliability and validity of these instruments have been verified in Arab contexts. This paper is a useful contribution to research into learning styles and learning style instruments.