Search results

This literature review aims to assess the current research on healthcare job availability and skilled professionals. The objective of this research is to identify challenges caused by the imbalance between healthcare service demand and qualified professionals and propose potential solutions and future research directions.

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method was employed as the guiding framework for conducting this review. A qualitative research design analyzed 38 peer-reviewed, evidence-based research works from 50 journal publications. Inclusion criteria focused on empirical studies, observational research and comprehensive reviews published within the last ten years. Thematic and discourse analysis categorized themes and factors explored in selected publications.

The findings highlight significant challenges in the healthcare sector regarding job availability and skilled professionals. Developed countries face understaffed healthcare facilities, resulting in increased workloads and compromised care. Developing countries experience high rates of unemployment among healthcare graduates due to limited resources and mentorship.

Improving educational infrastructure, expanding training opportunities and increasing healthcare investments are crucial for nurturing a skilled workforce. Implementing effective retention policies, fostering international collaborations and addressing socioeconomic determinants can create a sustainable job market.

The healthcare sector faces critical challenges in balancing job availability and skilled professionals. Strategic solutions are proposed to create a sustainable and equitable healthcare workforce. By implementing recommendations and conducting further research, access to quality healthcare and global public health outcomes can be improved.

The adoption and use of financial services by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are pivotal in the development of inclusive financial markets. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of attitude on financial decision making of SMEs owner-manager. The attitude of SMEs owner-manager comprises of several factors; however, current study identifies few critical factors such as motivation, awareness and risk in the context of Pakistan. The study also includes the personal and firm characteristics as moderating variables to examine their effect on the relationship between attitude and financial decision making of owner-managers.

With the help of a structured questionnaire, total 285 valid responses are analyzed to accomplish the research objectives. The study uses SPSS and partial least square-structural equation modeling techniques in order to conduct analysis. The results of study highlight the importance of attitudinal factors such as awareness and risk. Moreover, the moderating effect of personal characteristics on the relationship between attitude and financial decision making has been found strong instead of firm characteristics.

The results show that the low awareness level of owner-managers regarding financial products and procedures significantly affects their attitude. Moreover, the less knowledge of financing terms as well as dominant role of owner-managers in taking firm decisions also increase the negative effect of risk factor on SMEs owner-manager attitude.

The study suggested that policy makers should focus on the financial awareness of SMEs owner-manager to reduce the negativity of risk factor.

The study contributes toward the literature of inclusive finance and sustainability studies through better understanding of financial decision making of SMEs in emerging economies.

This study aims to find the determinants of internal and external customer satisfaction of Islamic banks of Pakistan through service quality indicators that are assurance, reliance, empathy, tangibility, responsiveness. Compliance has also been added as a determinant of customer satisfaction. In this study, customers are divided into two groups, internal customers are those who are an employee in the Islamic bank and also an account holder. While external customers are account holders only in Islamic banks of Pakistan.

In this study, a quantitative research approach is used for analyzing the behavior of internal and external customers of Islamic banks in Pakistan. The instrument which is used to analyze the study’s data, is a structured five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. The structural model was analyzed with the help of the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach.

This study concluded that internal customers of Islamic banking are well aware and have full information and their level of satisfaction is positive toward the bank’s services. While external customers feel satisfied while using the Islamic banking services in Pakistan. Service quality indicators are positively and significantly related to customer satisfaction in the external customer model. On the other hand, some of the indicators are not showing a significant impact on the internal customer multi-group analysis shows a difference of coefficients are insignificant between internal and external customers.

This study helps policymakers, to understand the behavior of internal and external customers of Islamic banking in Pakistan for creating favorable policies for an interest-free banking service.

This research study provides an analysis of the customer satisfaction of Islamic banks in Pakistan by dividing Islamic bank customers into two groups (internal and external customers). The purpose for dividing Islamic bank customers into two groups is that this study wants to highlight that external customer’s perception is the same as internal customers or not? Before this study, it is difficult to find single research on this topic, whereas only one study is find-out on the factors that affect internet banking adoption among internal and external customers.

The present correlational research study examined the theoretical and statistical relationship between mentoring, research self-efficacy, work–life balance and the psychological well-being of doctoral program students. The study highlights the positive role of mentoring for uplifting the eudemonic aspects of well-being of doctoral program students of natural sciences.

A purposive sample (N = 72) of natural sciences doctoral program students was selected from the Higher Education Commission recognized universities of Lahore and Sargodha. Participants' experiences regarding mentoring were operationalized utilizing the Mentorship Effectiveness Scale (Berk et al., 2005). Similarly, their levels of research self-efficacy, work–life balance and psychological well-being were operationalized via the Self-Efficacy in Research Measure (Phillips and Russell, 1994), Work–life Balance Scale (Brough et al., 2014) and Psychological Well-Being Scale (Ryff, 1989), respectively.

Results indicated that mentoring, research self-efficacy, work–life balance and psychological well-being were significantly positively related to one another. The parallel mediation analysis through the process established the path model of mentoring and psychological well-being. The model highlights the importance of mentoring mechanisms in strengthening research self-efficacy and work–life balance and in turn enhancing the psychological well-being of doctoral program students.

This paper highlights the significance of mentoring for the psychological well-being of doctoral program students. It can guide policymakers and mentors to acknowledge and address the research-based needs of these students in terms of improved well-being and productivity.

The link between entrepreneurial intention and positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship for established and nascent entrepreneurs has been well documented in the extant literature, with the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) viewing entrepreneurial intention as a pre-requisite for entrepreneurial pursuit. Whilst scholars generally agree on these insights, little empirical evidence exists on how marginalised social groups can convert their intentions into action. This study aims to understand to what extent the elements of TPB, the attitudes towards entrepreneurship, self-efficacy and subjective norms, help explain the emergence of entrepreneurial activity amongst marginalised demographic groups.

This research focuses on unemployed women residing in social housing located in a deprived urban area of the United Kingdom to empirically examine how multiple layers of disadvantage faced by this group shape their motivations and intentions for entrepreneurial pursuit. A multi-source qualitative methodology was adopted, drawing upon inductive storytelling narratives and extensive fieldwork on a sample of unemployed ethnic minority women residing in social housing in a deprived urban area of the United Kingdom. Community organisation representatives and housing association employees within the social housing system were included to assess the interpretive capacity of TPB.

The findings display that TPB illuminates why and how marginalised groups engage in entrepreneurship. Critically, women’s entrepreneurial intentions emerge as a result of their experiences of multiple layers of disadvantage, their positionality and the specificity of few resources they can activate from their disadvantageous position for entrepreneurial activity.

By illuminating the linkages between marginalised women’s positionality and their associated access to the limited pool of resources using the TPB lens, this study contributes to emerging works on disadvantaged populations and entrepreneurial intention-action debate. This work posits that despite facing significant additional challenges through their positionality and reduced ability to mobilise resources, women in social housing can defy the odds and develop ways to overcome limited capacity and structural disadvantage.

This study aims to examine the association between women on board and business performance. It also aims to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and female directors on stock prices, including the function of female directors in moderating the CSR–market performance link that ultimately provides valuable insights into the impact of gender diversity on corporate boards.

Data from US publicly listed firms between 2000 and 2018 were collected and analysed using OLS regression, median regression, M-estimator regression and MM-estimator regression at 70% and 95% efficiency. In this study, firm market value was measured through Tobin’s Q, board diversity with ISS database and CSR strength and concern with the KLD database.

The results indicated that CSR positively impacts market performance by 3.1%, female board representation positively influences market performance by 4.8% and female board members strengthen the CSR–market performance relationship by 1.0% while playing a moderating role. Overall, these studies demonstrated the significance of female boards of directors for enhancing market performance.

This study used the data of US-listed firms from 2000 to 2018. The results have contributed to the ongoing discussion about the importance of gender diversity in boards and its influence on firm success. Further research works are suggested to expand the analysis by including other countries or considering additional factors that may influence the association between CSR, board representation of women and market share.

This study is essential for investors, legislators and CSR institutions in developed countries. The favourable impact of female board presence on market performance and the enhancement of the CSR–market performance relationship highlight the necessity of encouraging gender diversity on boards of directors and CSR activities.

This study emphasises the significance of gender balance on corporate boards in solving important social challenges including climate change, resource scarcity and gender equality. Companies can actively assist in addressing global issues and improving the well-being of stakeholders by promoting gender-diverse boards and encouraging CSR efforts.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study demonstrating that gender diversity on corporate boards moderates the significant association between CSR performance and profitability in the USA. It has contributed to the expanding body of information regarding the moderating influence of female directors on firm value and stronger evidence for female directors in the governance of businesses.

This study aims to investigate the effects of using circular spirals as the longitudinal reinforcing bars on the performance of the concrete beams subjected to four-point bending load.

The effects of using circular spirals as the longitudinal reinforcing bars on the performance of the concrete beams subjected to four-point bending load are investigated in this study. Employing circular spirals as the main longitudinal reinforcement is a novel idea presented in this paper. In this regard, a finite element model of the beam with spiral longitudinal reinforcement was developed. After model verification, several configurations of concrete beams reinforced by longitudinal spirals were simulated under the four-point loading condition.

Obtained results showed that using the longitudinal spirals in place of the conventional longitudinal reinforcing bars can improve the bearing capacity of the concrete beam, but at the same time, increases its ductility unacceptably. In other words, the spirals reduce the initial stiffness of the beam significantly. To solve the problem, the authors decided to use the longitudinal spirals as the auxiliary bars added to the main conventional longitudinal bars in the beams. New gained results were satisfactory. By adding the longitudinal spirals to the conventional bars, not only the bearing capacity of the beam increases between 24% and 63%, but also the initial stiffness and ductility of the beam raises between 11%–29% and 3%–57%, respectively, in comparison to the corresponding beam reinforced with conventional longitudinal bars.

Employing circular spirals as the main longitudinal reinforcement is a novel idea presented in this paper.