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The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent and nature of the digital divide as it applies in a developing Arab country.

The method used is an innovative form of document availability test developed to measure the extent of the digital divide between a service offered by a university library in a developed (Western) tertiary education system (Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia) and one offered by a university library in a developing Arab country (Yarmouk University, Jordan). The method tests differences in capacity to deliver content according to format (digital or print) and tests for differences in digital access to both “international” and “local” content experienced by users of the two libraries.

The findings indicate the existence of a digital divide, but also suggest that the availability of digital content has helped overcome the substantial scholarly information divide.

The research has implications for academic libraries in developing Arab countries as they attempt to redress the effects of the digital divide.

The paper uses an innovative methodology for measuring the digital divide, and represents the first attempt to quantify the effects of the digital divide as it impacts upon the users of an academic library in a developing Arab country.

To endure and cope in the rapidly changing environment, it is required of firms to gain a deeper acquisition of knowledge on market dynamics and subsequently concentrate on corporations' capacity to create, restructure and integrate their internal and external competences. Hence, the objective of this study is to investigate the influence of eco-dynamic capability (EDC) on the sustainability performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Structured questionnaires were used to obtain primary data. The data were solicited from 500 employees and owner-managers of SMEs. The study’s hypotheses were tested using standard multiple regression through IBM SPSS Statistics (version 24).

The study revealed that EDC has a substantial positive effect on the economic, social and environmental sustainability performance dimensions.

The focus of this study is on EDC. Thus, although dynamic capability has been the subject of substantial study, little is known regarding the effect of EDC on the economic sustainability performance (ESP) (financial), environmental sustainability performance (ENSP) and social sustainability performance (SSP) of SMEs, predominantly amongst SMEs in emerging economies.

This study investigates the effect of green human resource management (GHRM) on green corporate citizenship (GCC), green corporate reputation (GCR), environmental performance (EP) and business performance (BP). The study further examines the mediation roles of GCC, GCR and EP between the direct paths.

Data for the study is solicited from 185 managers from Ghanaian oil and gas companies. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is applied to test all hypotheses.

The results suggest that GHRM has a significant positive effect on GCC, green reputation, environmental and BPs. The mediation analysis further shows that, unlike EP which plays no mediation role, GCC and green reputation play complementary partial mediation role between GHRM and BP. Moreover, GCC mediates the relationship between GHRM and EP.

Aside from magnifying environmental management and the GHRM literature, this study is among the few that investigates the connection role between GHRM, GCC, green reputation, environmental and BPs, especially from direct effects and mediation analysis standpoint.

This paper aims to investigate the direct relationship between green human resource management (GHRM) practices and environmental performance (EP) in Palestinian universities, as well as the mediating role of management support (MS) and green organisational culture (GOC) in this relationship.

A quantitative approach was used in this study. The data were collected from 351 employees working in Palestinian universities through a questionnaire and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The study finds that the implementation of GHRM practices positively enhances EP. The results further demonstrate that GHRM practices influence both MS and GOC. Furthermore, this study reveals that both MS and GOC play a significant role in mediating the relationship between GHRM and EP.

This study adds to the existing literature by providing a conceptual framework and empirical evidence of the correlation between GHRM, GOC, MS and EP, specifically in university settings. Educational institutions can use this study’s findings to foster a green culture and gain endorsement from top-level management. This approach promotes the adoption of eco-friendly practices and the development of environmental strategies that can influence EP.

This study contributes to the field by enhancing the understanding of the ability–motivation–opportunity theory in the context of Palestinian universities. Specifically, this study investigates how GHRM practices and GOC establish core competence for sustainable EP. Furthermore, the findings reveal a positive influence of GHRM practices on both GOC and MS. Finally, this study’s empirical evidence highlights the significance of GHRM practices in fostering GOC, MS and, ultimately, improving EP within universities.

With the advent of technology and science, the business environment will keep changing very fast. Today, Information Technology (IT) is used in almost all business applications. The most important improvements are being realized at the management side since IT is fully supporting decision-making processes now. Human Resources Management (HRM) is being affected by IT such as web-based technologies and intelligent systems and these systems make HRM much more effective. Today’s HRM-related software do not deal with just payrolls, they also include recruiting and record-keeping, training and performance appraisal which have transitioned HRM from task-oriented to people-oriented. Today, Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) and electronic HRM (e-HRM) are being utilized by many organizations all over the world and play a strategic role in decision-making processes for effective and efficient HRM. This study investigates the recent literature on HRIS, e-HRM and Decision Support Systems in HRM to identify the improvements and debates on contemporary Human Resources Management.

In spite of the active role of continuous learning on improving organisational performance, the construction industry generally and architectural design firms (ADFs) in particular are criticised for their inability to use organisational knowledge to foster learning culture towards enhancing their performance. This paper aims to develop a framework based on knowledge management (KM) to enhance the learning culture in ADFs in developing countries.

To achieve the abovementioned aim, a research methodology consisted of data collection, data analysis and action required is designed to achieve four objectives. First, to examine the nature of the construction industry in developing countries, learning culture in ADFs, as well as knowledge and KM; second, to present three case studies to investigate the effectiveness of KM in enhancing the learning culture in ADFs; third, to investigate the perception and application of KM towards enhancing the learning culture in ADFs in Egypt, finally to develop a KM based framework to enhance the learning culture in ADFs in developing countries.

Through literature review, the research highlighted the fragmented nature of the architectural design process, which led to the loss of valuable information and made the process of capturing and sharing knowledge a hard task. In addition, it identified the barriers of implementing KM and the building blocks of learning culture in ADFs. Results of data analysis showed that “lack of organisational culture” and “low involvement of top management” were ranked the highest barriers for implementing KM in ADFs. Moreover, respondents mentioned that they do not share openly their information with other employees to maintain their uniqueness and that the strict working environment of their ADFs is not encouraging creativity or enhancing learning culture. Furthermore, “continuous learning and enhancement” and “experimentation, feedback and reflection” were ranked by respondents as the highest building blocks of a learning organisation.

This research focussed on ADFs in developing countries.

Implementing KM strategies will facilitate the enhancement of learning culture within ADFs in developing countries. This will impact positively on improving the performance and increasing the competitiveness and market share of ADFS.

The research identified the barriers of KM implementation in ADFs and the building blocks of creating a learning organisations. It focusses on improving the performance of ADFs through using the capabilities of KM towards building learning culture in ADFs. The proposed framework which was designed to facilitate the implementation of KM for enhancing the learning culture in ADFs in developing countries represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not previously occurred.

According to the literature concerned with this study, less than satisfactory outcomes have been achieved through implementing business process improvements methods (BPIMs) in industries, in general, and in healthcare, in particular. The existing methods used need to be enhanced in order to create more effective outcomes. There has also been a lack of studies documenting gaps or shortfalls in implementing BPIMs, to be presented to the BPI research community. Therefore, researchers of this paper have attempted to fill gaps between theory and practice. On the contrary, there is also a need to link practical outcomes in the healthcare domain with those of the BPI research community. The purpose of this paper is to review popular BPIMs, techniques and tools applied in the healthcare domain; it seeks to examine and highlight their significant roles, clarify their pros and cons, and find opportunities to enhance their impact on the achievement of more sustainable improvements in the healthcare domain.

This study has been carried out by using a methodology combining an in-depth literature review with a comparison framework, which is called as the “Framework for Comparing Business Process Improvement Methods.” The framework is composed of seven dimensions and has been adapted from four recognized, related frameworks. In addition to the in-depth review of related literature and the adapted comparison framework, researchers have conducted several interviews with healthcare BPI practitioners in different hospitals, to attain their opinions of BPI methods and tools used in their practices.

The main results have indicated that significant improvements have been achieved by implementing BPIMs in the healthcare domain according to related literature. However, there were some shortfalls in the existing methods that need to be resolved. The most important of these has been the shortfall in representing and analyzing targeted domain knowledge during improvement phases. The tool currently used for representing the domain, specifically flowcharts, is very abstract and does not present the domain in a clear form. The flowchart tool also fails to clearly present the separation of concerns between business processes and the information systems processes that support a business in a given domain.

The findings of this study can be useful for BPI practitioners and researchers, mainly within the healthcare domain. The findings can help these groups to understand BPIMs shortfalls and encourage them to consider how BPIMs can be potentially improved.

This researchers of this paper have proposed a comparison framework for highlighting popular BPIMs in the healthcare domain, along with their uses and shortfalls. In addition, they have conducted a deep literature review based on the practical results obtained from different healthcare institutions implementing unique BPIMs around the world. There has also been valuable interview feedback attained from BPI leaders of specific hospitals in Saudi Arabia. This combination is expected to contribute to knowledge of BPIMs from both theoretical and practical points of view.

This paper investigates the combined effect of internal environmental management (IEM) and green human resource management (GHRM) on corporate reputation (CR), environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP). The paper further explores the indirect effects of CR and EP between the direct paths.

Data are garnered from 164 firms from three industries in Ghana. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is the methodological technique used to test the hypothesized relationships.

The result demonstrates that unlike IEM which has a significant effect on FP when implemented in isolation, GHRM does not have a significant effect on FP. However, the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM can provide better results in terms of improved CR, enhanced EP and significant FP improvement. CR and EP were further found to mediate the relationship between the direct paths.

The results suggest that the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM is critical for firms that seek to enjoy superior reputation, enhance their environmental sustainability and achieve financial gains. Consequently, managers are strongly encouraged to create a sustainable and vibrant company via significant and rational investment in green initiatives like IEM and GHRM.

This study happens to be one of the first to develop a research model that investigates the joint effect of IEM and GHRM within the context of CR, environmental sustainability and FP.

This chapter aims to contribute to the literature on sustainability in the public sector by discussing how human resource and human resource management can help to integrate environmental management into organizations and improve environmental performance. Public sector scholars have neglected the study of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) until now. Nevertheless, implementing such practices could lead to positive outcomes regarding awareness of environmental issues, organizational reputation and attractiveness, job satisfaction and organizational performance. The authors discuss the relevance and the necessity of developing a field of research on GHRM in public organizations. Starting from a conceptual review of the main literature on GHRM, this chapter provided some directions for future research.