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The purpose of this study is to explore the role of direct public engagement in shaping the sustainability image of nuclear energy in the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region. The study aims to measure the conflicting viewpoints of stakeholders, particularly the local community, regarding nuclear energy's dependability, cost-effectiveness, safety and environmental friendliness. The study also seeks to assess the effectiveness of direct stakeholder engagement strategies in enhancing public confidence in nuclear energy as a safe and sustainable source of electricity.

This study uses a quantitative-methods research design and used a sample of 318 participants. The SPSS AMOS application was used to conduct a structural equation model analysis. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the relationships among variables that constitute the key constructs of the study. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the reliability of the testing approach. Various fit indices and measurements, such as chi-square ratio, degrees of freedom, GFI, CFI and RMSEA, were used to evaluate the adequacy of the model.

The study finds that the construct “Direct Stakeholder Engagement (DSE)” has a positive effect on the dependent variables “Trust in Nuclear Sustainability (TNS)” and “Perception of Nuclear Energy as Safe (PNE)” with a probability value of (0.003, p < 0.05). Therefore, the hypothesis of the study is deemed acceptable. Hence, it can be concluded that each of the foregoing variables (DSE1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and (TNS1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) with (PNE1, 2 and 3) have been observed and analysed in this study, and based on this analysis, it is plausible that the public's trust in nuclear sustainability and their acceptance of nuclear energy as a safe source of their nation's electricity can be positively affected by direct stakeholder engagement.

The study's findings have implications for policymakers and managers of nuclear power plants in the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region. The study provides insights into effective stakeholder engagement strategies that can enhance public participation and confidence in nuclear energy. The study's recommendations highlight the importance of incorporating public opinion in policymaking and management practices to address conflicting viewpoints and enhance public trust in nuclear sustainability. The study's findings also contribute to the ongoing discourse on nuclear sustainability and provide insights into the role of direct public engagement in shaping public perception of nuclear energy.

This study's originality lies in its focus on the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region, where nuclear energy is a critical source of electricity. The study contributes to the limited research on stakeholder engagement and public perception of nuclear energy in the region. The study's novel framework of stakeholder engagement, tailored to cultural dimensions, provides insights into effective engagement strategies that can enhance public participation and confidence in nuclear energy. The study's quantitative-methods research design also provides a comprehensive understanding of the conflicting viewpoints of stakeholders, enhancing the understanding of the role of direct public engagement in shaping public perception of nuclear energy.

South African public debt has recently increased significantly and has reached worrying levels. This study aims to examine the debt threshold effects on economic growth in South Africa, with an objective of suggesting a debt threshold as South African policymakers will seek to reduce debt to a sustainable level in the coming years.

The study applies a recent novel methodology advanced by Hansen (2017) that allows modelling a regression kink with an unknown threshold.

The findings of this study indicate a robust debt threshold of 37% of gross domestic product (GDP). Below this threshold, debt is growth-enhancing, but above 37% of GDP, debt is harmful to growth in South Africa.

Among other things, to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio, South Africa will need a fiscal consolidation policy by undertaking reforms to state-owned companies to reduce their reliance on public funds, as well as putting in place economic measures to boost long-term growth. The country should also improve tax collection in order to realize additional tax revenue through enhancing compliance and other revenue collection measures.

Most of the existing studies on debt threshold effects in Africa are panel data studies, which assume parameter homogeneity, by determining a single debt threshold value applicable to all countries. This can be misleading as the debt-growth nexus is country-specific, being conditional on several factors, such as institutional quality. The present study applies a recent novel methodology, which allows to model a regression kink with an unknown threshold, for the case of South Africa. The methodology endogenously determines the debt threshold while also allowing a country-specific analysis.

This study investigates the factors that influence citizens trust in public leaders [i.e. presidents, members of parliament (MPs) and local government leaders (LGs)] in 34 countries in Africa between 2019 and 2021.

Individual-level data with a sample size of 48,084 was obtained from the Afro-Barometer round 8 survey only and analyzed using multivariate binary logistic regression.

Several important and intriguing observations were made from this analysis: (1) the performance of public leaders influences citizens trust in their leaders; (2) the perceived corruption of public leaders and civil servants and the level of corruption influence citizens trust in public leaders; (3) perceived neighborhood problems (i.e. fear of violence, fear of terrorism and service delivery) influence citizens trust in their public leaders and (4) the socio-demographic characteristics of citizens (i.e. age, religion, education, location, employment and political party affiliation) influence citizens trust in their public leaders.

This study is exceptional in two ways: (1) it examines and compares citizens trust in public leaders across different levels, i.e. presidents, MPs and LGs in Africa and (2) it examines and compares the factors influencing citizens trust in public leaders in Africa comparatively.

This study aims to examine why tax reforms fail and explores how tax collection can be improved within a developing country context.

Data comprise 28 semi-structured interviews with taxpayers, tax experts and tax authority personnel based in Pakistan. The results are analysed using a combined lens of taxpayer trust and tax agencies’ capabilities.

Tax reforms failed to build taxpayers’ trust and tax agencies’ capabilities. Building trust is challenging and demands extensive ongoing engagement with taxpayers while yielding gradual permanent results. This requires enhancing confidence in government; educating taxpayers; removing complexities; introducing transparency and accountability in tax agencies’ operations and the tax system; promoting procedural and distributive justice; and reversing perceptions of corruption through reconciliation and stakeholder inclusivity. Developing tax agencies’ capabilities requires upgrading outdated technologies, systems and processes; implementing governance and organisational reforms; introducing an oversight board; and recruiting and training skilled professionals.

The findings can assist policymakers and tax collection authorities in understanding why tax reforms fail and identifying potential solutions.

This study contributes to the emerging literature by exploring tax administration failures in developing countries. It contributes to the literature by engaging stakeholders to understand why reforms fail and potential solutions to stimulate tax revenues.

Measuring and understanding the dynamics of democracy as well as democratic attitudes of people have become a big challenge for every democratic state. The study proposes the investigation of middle-class peoples’ attitudes towards democracy in Pakistan.

The study employs a deductive approach based on cross-sectional data from Pakistan’s middle-class people. The researchers use a survey questionnaire through a convenience sampling technique. Finally, the study utilizes 1854 samples to conclude the findings.

The evidence confirms that trust in public institutions and political engagement positively and significantly impact peoples’ democratic attitudes. In addition, the investigation witnessed the preference for democracy also supports understanding middle-class peoples’ democratic attitudes.

The study would provide an endorsement for politicians of Pakistan to perceive the inclination of middle-class people towards democracy. The study would guide the researchers and policymakers and intellectualize the middle-class peoples’ opinions and attitudes. Moreover the study would support reflecting the public confidence in decision making and ability to deliver. Finally the study findings would contribute to the literature of political science and democracy to understand democratic attitudes mainly focusing on middle-class populations.

This study empirically confirms the Pakistani middle-class peoples’ attitudes towards democracy.

This study aims to elucidate the dynamics of social media discourse during global health events, specifically investigating how users across different platforms perceive, react to and engage with information concerning such crises.

A mixed-method approach was employed, combining both quantitative and qualitative data collection. Initially, thematic analysis was applied to a data set of social media posts across four major platforms over a 12-month period. This was followed by sentiment analysis to discern the predominant emotions embedded within these communications. Statistical tools were used to validate findings, ensuring robustness in the results.

The results showcased discernible thematic and emotional disparities across platforms. While some platforms leaned toward factual information dissemination, others were rife with user sentiments, anecdotes and personal experiences. Overall, a global sense of concern was evident, but the ways in which this concern manifested varied significantly between platforms.

The primary limitation is the potential non-representativeness of the sample, as only four major social media platforms were considered. Future studies might expand the scope to include emerging platforms or non-English language platforms. Additionally, the rapidly evolving nature of social media discourse implies that findings might be time-bound, necessitating periodic follow-up studies.

Understanding the nature of discourse on various platforms can guide health organizations, policymakers and communicators in tailoring their messages. Recognizing where factual information is required, versus where sentiment and personal stories resonate, can enhance the efficacy of public health communication strategies.

The study underscores the societal reliance on social media for information during crises. Recognizing the different ways in which communities engage with, and are influenced by, platform-specific discourse can help in fostering a more informed and empathetic society, better equipped to handle global challenges.

This research is among the first to offer a comprehensive, cross-platform analysis of social media discourse during a global health event. By comparing user engagement across platforms, it provides unique insights into the multifaceted nature of public sentiment and information dissemination during crises.

This paper aims to examine the impact of the assurance and advisory role of internal audit (ADRIA) on organisational, human and technical proactive measures to enhance cybersecurity (CS).

The questionnaire was used to collect data for 97 internal auditors (IAu) from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The authors used partial least squares (PLS) to test the hypotheses.

The results show a positive effect of the ADRIA on each of the organisational proactive measures, human proactive measures and technical proactive measures to enhance CS. The study also found a positive effect of the confirmatory role of IA on both human proactive measures and technical proactive measures to enhance CS. No effect of the confirmatory role of IA on the organisational proactive measures is found.

This study focused on only three proactive measures to enhance CS, and this study was limited to the opinions of IAu. In addition, the study was limited to using regression analysis according to the PLS method.

The results of this study show that managers need to consider the influential role of IA as a value-adding activity in reducing CS risks and activating proactive measures. Also, IAu must expand its capabilities, skills and knowledge in CS auditing to provide a bold view of cyber threats. At the same time, the institutions responsible for preparing IA standards should develop standards and guidelines that help IAu to play assurance and advisory roles.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind that deals with the impact of the assurance and ADRIA on proactive measures to enhance CS. In addition, the study determines the nature of the advisory role and the assurance role of IA to strengthen CS.

Corruption perception is essential to study because it can shape people’s attitudes toward the government. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to address this key question: what factors are associated with a non-expert’s judgment of whether Canada is corrupt?

This study uses the World Value Survey conducted in Canada in October 2020. This survey is based on a nationally representative sample of a cross-section of adult Canadian residents, including Canadian citizens and permanent residents and those who are neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents.

Based on this study, some conclusions can be made. First, people accessing corruption news from the traditional news media are less likely than those receiving information from the new media to perceive the state (in this case, Canada) as corrupt. Second, people who have less confidence in public institutions are more likely to perceive a country as corrupt. Third, people who participate in electoral and non-electoral forms of political participation are more likely to perceive the state and its public officials as corrupt. Fourth, regardless of which political party is in power, individuals who lean right politically are more likely than those on the left to perceive the state as corrupt. Finally, immigrants are less likely than those born in Canada to perceive the state as corrupt. This work enriches the literature on the substantive understanding of the factors associated with corruption perception.

Studies investigating factors associated with public perception of corruption tend to focus on developing countries. The current study contributes to filling this gap in knowledge by examining correlates of corruption perception in Canada. As a result, this study contributes to the literature on factors associated with corruption perception, especially in the developed country context.

The staggering demand for construction projects to meet a spectrum of public needs is projected to outstrip the industry’s supply capability. The modern methods of construction (MMC) offers wider control due to shifting key construction processes offsite. Public clients play a significant role due to their purchasing power; however, their uptake of MMC is low, despite the benefits. The purpose of this study is to reveal the reasoning behind such low adoption. The research gap, herewith, is our lack of understanding of the influence of public clients perceptions on their adoption’s indecision.

This study used a qualitative approach to investigate the motives behind the public sector’s low MMC adoption. Semi-structured interviews with 14 of the United Kingdom’s public sector decision-makers, industry leaders and experts have been conducted. Perspectives were argued against the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory.

Overall, the innovation’s attributes informed the authors of the positive perceptions from the public sector, demonstrating that the low adoption of MMC is not linked to any embedded issues with the innovation itself rather being predominantly related to the dynamics between supply and demand. The former (supply), reflected a failure in communicating confidence, and the latter (demand), attained characteristics that are limiting wider uptake.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to apply the DOI theory to reveal the relationship between UK public clients’ perceptions and their decision-making. Moreover, this paper addresses the scant attention to the use of theories to explain the flow of innovations in the construction context.

Understanding the interplay between transparency, accountability and e-procurement and their collective contribution to anti-corruption efforts in public procurement is crucial for developing effective strategies and policies. This research seeks to investigate whether e-procurement plays a significant role in enhancing transparency and accountability and subsequently reducing corruption risks in the public pharmaceutical procurement system.

The study employed a cross-sectional questionnaire survey to gather data from 274 procurement personnel and pharmacists working in 28 government-owned hospitals in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The collected data were then analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the Hayes PROCESS macro to test the study hypotheses.

The study findings revealed a negative and significant relationship between transparency and procurement corruption (ß = −0.117, p < 0.008). Moreover, accountability negatively and significantly affects procurement corruption (ß = −0.162, p = 0.006). Furthermore, the findings indicate that, at a high degree of e-procurement system implementation, transparency and accountability have a stronger impact on procurement anti-corruption measures.

Policymakers and decision-makers should implement robust mechanisms that enhance transparency, accountability and anti-corruption efforts. These may include providing clear and accessible information on procurement processes, efficient mechanisms for monitoring and reporting procurement irregularities and continuous improvement of e-procurement systems. By incorporating these measures and nurturing collaboration amongst procurement stakeholders, it becomes possible to foster a procurement environment characterised by integrity, fairness, accountability and reduced corruption.

Whilst previous studies delved into exploring the effect of transparency and accountability on procurement anti-corruption, the novelty of this study is the inclusion of e-procurement as a moderating variable in the relationship between transparency, accountability and anti-corruption. By so doing, this study adds to the existing body of knowledge regarding anti-corruption measures and offers valuable practical insights for policymakers and professionals aiming to enhance transparency, accountability and ethical conduct within the public pharmaceutical procurement system.