Search results

This paper aims to meta-analyze the results of the prior studies related to the relationship of human capital and financial performance in Islamic banking.

To examine the relationship between human capital and financial of Islamic banks, 23 empirical studies having sample of 15,607 are considered for the meta-analysis. Moreover, different measures related to financial performance including return on assets (ROA), return of equity (ROE) and Tobin’s Q have been taken as moderating for further subgroup analysis.

The results of meta-analysis reveal a positive correlation between human capital and financial performance with an effect size of 0.268. The subgroup analyses showed significant positive associations of human capital with ROA and ROE, insignificant with Tobin’s Q.

This study suggests Islamic banking should prioritize human capital development, maintain consistency and adopt a long-term perspective. Future research should consider context-specific factors and harmonize human capital and financial performance measurements for consensus.

This paper aims to examine how gender diversity and women’s empowerment influence the performance of family entrepreneurships and explores the role of firm characteristics as a moderating factor.

The study used a structured questionnaire as the survey tool to collect data from 91 women managers working in family entrepreneurships, which originated from entrepreneurial initiatives, located in various Lebanese regions. The validity of the construct was assumed using the fitness of extracted index, incremental fit-index, non-normal fit-index, root mean square of residuals and standard root mean square residual. Composite reliability, Cronbach's alpha and value confirmatory factor analysis were used to measure the internal consistency. Data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method.

This study reveals that gender equality, education level and family support significantly affect women's empowerment while an insignificant association was found between empowerment and earning social status and achieving financial independence. This paper also showed a significant interaction between women’s empowerment and the performance of family entrepreneurships. Additionally, the results showed that women holding managerial positions in family entrepreneurships is positively associated with firm performance. Finally, it was concluded that the location of the family firm moderates the relationship between gender diversity and firm performance.

This research contributes to theory and practice regarding the role of women in family entrepreneurships and sheds light on gender differences influencing family entrepreneurships and women empowerment issues.

This study examines the relationship between green intellectual capital (GIC) and competitive advantage (CA) and proposes the moderating role of corporate philanthropy types (cash, in-kind and both) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study investigates the types of corporate philanthropy, strengthening the link between GIC and CA for Chinese listed firms during a pandemic.

Cross-sectional data were collected from 248 chief executive officers (CEOs) of Chinese firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange through a structured questionnaire. Regression analysis was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

The findings reveal that all types of GIC positively influence a firm's CA. Furthermore, all three types of philanthropy – cash, in-kind and both – moderate the relationship between GIC and CA. However, the intensity of moderation was higher in the case of in-kind philanthropy than in the other two types.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study to examine the relationship between GIC (considering its three components: human, structural and relational capital) and CA in China. The study finds different types of philanthropy as moderating variables to better explain the relationship between GIC and CA. Further, it contributes to a new line of research that aims to study philanthropic aspects connected to the GIC debate.

The purpose of this study is to look at the structure of the interactions between the board of directors’ chairman qualities such as chairman independence, tenure, ethnicity, age- and impression management (IM).

The research population consists of non-financial Malaysian companies listed on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market, using data gathered via annual reports and DataStream. The study relies on the ordinary least square regression to test the direct relationships between the directors’ chairman characteristics and IM. Moreover, robustness and sensitivity tests were used to examine the effectiveness of chairman characteristics with IM. Furthermore, the results rely on the FGLS regression as an additional test. The study found that chairman independence, chairman ethnicity and chairman age have a significant impact on IM.

The results reveal that chairman independence has a negative association with qualitative IM (IMSC1). Moreover, chairman ethnicity has a positively significant relationship with qualitative IM (IMSC1) and quantitative IM (IMSC2). Also, the effectiveness of chairman characteristics has a negative and significant association with IMSC1.

The primary goal of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature and to open up opportunities for more in-depth research on the subject. So far, there has been no research into the impact of the board chairman’s (BC) personality on IM. This study serves as a warning to policymakers, businesses and their stakeholders, as well as researchers, about the importance of BC characteristics, which may impede the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms. The paper provides a framework for investigating these characteristics in the context of IM.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and the innovation performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through empirical testing. It also seeks to determine whether the relationship between TQM and SMEs’ innovation is mediated by organizational culture (OC).

Data from managers/owners of food SMEs in the West Bank regions of Palestine were collected through a questionnaire that was assessed for validity and reliability. A structural equation model (SEM) was constructed using Smart PLS 3.9.2 to investigate the relationships.

The statistical results contribute to the existing literature by demonstrating a direct and positive relationship between TQM and OC where both have a positive and significant impact on innovation in food SMEs. Additionally, the study found that there is a significant and positive indirect impact of TQM on innovation in food SMEs, which is mediated by OC.

The study's results offer valuable insights to food SMEs' managers/owners in the current dynamic manufacturing landscape, with a focus on using TQM as a means of enhancing their innovation. The findings can provide guidance to food SMEs by highlighting the significance of OC, as it impacts the effective implementation of TQM and subsequently leads to an improvement in innovation levels.

This study enhances the existing literature on TQM by providing an in-depth understanding of TQM as perceived by food SMEs in Palestine. It addresses the gap in empirical research on the combined impact of TQM and OC on innovations in food SMEs. The study contributes to the theoretical framework and has significant managerial implications, providing recommendations for future research.

It is now well-established that good water quality is associated with economic prosperity, reduced incidence on public health and the good functioning of the various ecosystems found in our environment. Water contamination is mostly related to both diffused (agricultural lands and geologic rock degradations) and point sources of pollution. Mauritius has many water resources which depend solely on precipitation for their replenishment. Water parameters which are of relevance include total dissolved solids (TDS), temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, dissolved and particulate organic carbon and major cations and anions. The traditional methods of analysis for these parameters are mostly using electrical and optical methods (probes and sensors in the field), while chemical titrations, Flame AAS and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography techniques are carried out in the laboratory. Image Classification techniques using neural networks can also be used to detect the presence of contaminants in water. In addition to basic water quality parameters, the field sensors range have been extended to cover important major ions and can now be integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based models for the prediction of variations in water quality to better protect human health and the environment, reduce operation costs of water and wastewater treatment plant unit processes.

This study aims to determine the factors that influence ethical banking behavior among millennials and Gen-Z in Malaysia.

A stratified sample of 525 millennials and Gen-Z of Malaysian banking customers was used. Extended ethical decision-making (EDM) model was tested using partial least square-structural equation model for the analysis.

The findings indicated that the engagement of millennials and Gen-Z in ethical banking is influenced by factors such as intention, judgment and awareness, which shaped both generations’ ethical banking behavior.

This study could be a central reference point and assist banking institutions in understanding the preferences of millennials and Gen-Z.

This study extends the previous EDM model that focused solely on consumer's belief systems. Three aspects differentiate this paper and contribute to its originality, namely, the uniqueness of millennials and Gen-Z behavior, incorporating new variables along with the EDM models and study in Malaysian context.

The unsustainable public debt of most African economies adversely affects their economic growth and stability. This study aims to explore the influence of cross-country indicators of governance from African countries on public debt accumulation.

The study deployed a quantitative research design technique. Secondary data was used in this study. The frequency of the data is annual, and it is available from 1996 to 2022 for 48 countries in Africa. The study deployed the system generalized method of moments for the estimation.

The study finds that countries with high regulatory quality standards, control corruption and ensure effective governance accumulate less government debt while countries that abide by the rule of law instead accumulate more government debt. The study also finds that economic growth and government revenue reduce government gross debt while government expenditure and investments increase public debt.

Due to data unavailability, other factors which are likely to influence government debt accumulation were not included in the study as control variables. This is the limitation of the study.

African governments should strive to maintain high regulatory quality standards through the formulation and implementation of sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development, and ensure quality and accountability of public and civil services. Governments are also urged to control corruption and enact good laws so that the enforcement of these laws will not worsen the risk of becoming debt-distressed.

Recent studies on governance and public debt were focused on the Arabian Gulf countries, countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and a combination of high and low-income countries. This study scrutinizes exclusively the effects of the quality of governance indicators on public debt accumulation, in the context of Africa.

This study aims to empirically examine the impact of internal corporate governance mechanisms (ICGM) related to the size of the board, board composition, CEO duality and audit committee independence as a single metric on a firm’s investment decisions.

This study attempts to develop an internal corporate governance quality index comprising 10 items under four main ICGMs – size and independence of the board, CEO duality and audit committee independence – employing panel data analysis to investigate its impact on the investment decisions in 301 nonfinancial firms listed in six emerging capital markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries for the years 2015–2020. Data were extracted from sample companies' websites, stock markets, annual reports and Refinitiv database.

This study provides convincing evidence that effective ICGMs minimize inefficient investment and ultimately boost investment efficiency. The findings remain consistent even after considering the potential endogeneity bias.

This study provides empirical evidence on investment efficiency in the GCC region and emphasizes the importance of high-quality ICGMs in reducing inefficient investment. By examining the impact of ICGMs on investment inefficiencies, this study contributes to the corporate governance literature. The GCC region's unique economic and social contexts, with its growing economies, are considered to shed light on this issue.