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This pilot study aims to examine the prevalence of test anxiety and its interplay with attitudes, confidence, efficacy, academic performance and socio-demographic factors within the domain of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses.

The authors employed a quantitative, cross-sectional design with 549 sixth-grade students from public lower secondary schools in Prishtina, Kosovo, using the Student Attitudes Toward STEM Survey (S-STEM) for middle/high schools and the test anxiety questionnaire.

Over 70% of Kosovo's sixth-grade students reported moderate to severe test anxiety. The age of students was found to be inversely related to academic performance in STEM. The father's employment was associated with favorable STEM attitudes, confidence, efficacy and academic performance. Having a personal study environment was connected with favorable STEM attitudes, confidence and efficacy in STEM, whereas access to technology was associated with positive academic performance. Test anxiety, academic performance and personal study space predicted students' attitudes, confidence and efficacy in STEM and 21st-century learning.

Educational institutions should prioritize student well-being. By addressing test anxiety, these institutions can create supportive learning environments that improve attitudes, confidence and efficacy in STEM fields. These efforts are crucial for STEM career development and student success in the 21st-century workforce.

The current study findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing STEM student engagement and performance, highlighting the importance of addressing test anxiety for positive learning outcomes while emphasizing the need to consider socio-economic and contextual factors in education.

In this study the authors aim to comprehensively investigate the determinants of voting behavior in Turkey, with a specific focus on the dynamics of the center-periphery debate. Mainly, the authors focus on regional voting patterns during the period that is dominated by the Justice and Development Party (JDP/AKP) in the elections. The authors apply the random effects generalized least squares (GLS) methodology, and analyze electoral data covering four pivotal parliamentary elections (2007, 2011, 2015 and 2018) across all 81 provinces (NUTS III regions). The authors individually examine voting dynamics of the four major parties in parliament: the JDP/AKP, the Republican People's Party (RPP/CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (NMP/MHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP/HDP). The authors contribute to a comprehensive understanding of how socioeconomic cleavages, economic performance, party alignment and social dynamics shape voter preferences in the Turkish context, thereby addressing gaps in the existing literature.

This research employs an ecological study of Turkish NUTS III sub-regions, covering national elections from 2007 to 2018. The authors utilize the random effects GLS method to account for heteroscedasticity and time effects. The inclusion of the June and November 2015 elections enables a comprehensive analysis of the evolving dynamics in Turkish voting behavior. The results remain robust when applying pooled OLS and fixed effect OLS techniques for control.

The study's findings reveal that economic performance, specifically economic growth, plays a pivotal role in the sustained dominance of the JDP/AKP party. Voters closely associate JDP preference with economic growth, resulting in higher voting shares during periods of economic prosperity. Along with economic growth; share of agriculture in regions' GDP, female illiteracy rate, old population rate, net domestic migration, terrorism and party alignment are also influential factors in the Turkish case. Furthermore, differences among sociocultural groups, and East–West dichotomy seem to be important factors that reveal the impact of social cleavages to understand electoral choice in Turkey.

This study contributes to the existing literature by offering a comprehensive multidimensional analysis of electoral behavior in Turkey, focusing on the JDP/AKP dominance period. The main contribution of this study is its multidimensional perspective on the power bases of all main parties, considering key voter choice theories (cleavages, party alignment and retrospective economic performance voting) that have not been systematically analyzed in prior research. The main research question of this study is to examine which factors affect voting behavior in Turkey and how the dynamics of center-periphery or eastern-western region voting behavior under the JDP hegemony can be explained. The contribution of this study consists not only in its empirical testing of panel data approaches but also in its comprehensive analysis of four major political parties. Building upon existing studies in the literature, this research seeks to extend the understanding of voting dynamics for the four main parties in the parliament — JDP/AKP, RPP/CHP, NMP/MHP and PPDP/HDP — by delving into their dynamics individually, thereby expanding the scope of previous studies. This study aims to make a contribution by not only empirically testing panel data approaches but also conducting a comprehensive analysis of four major political parties. Furthermore, the separate inclusion of the 2015 elections and utilization of a panel data approach enrich the analysis by capturing the evolving dynamics of Turkish voting behavior. The study underscores the significance of socioeconomic factors, economic performance and social cleavages for voters' choices within the context of a dominant party rule.

This study aims to identify clusters amongst the county housing markets in Poland, taking into account the criteria of size and quality of the housing stock, as well as price level. In addition, this work is intended to detect the socio-economic factors driving the cluster formation.

To group the studied housing markets into homogeneous clusters, this analysis uses a proprietary algorithm based on taxonomic and k-means++ methods. In turn, the generalised ordered logit (gologit) model was used to explore factors influencing the cluster formation.

The results obtained revealed that Polish county housing markets can be classified into three or four homogeneous clusters in terms of the size and quality of the housing stock and price level. Furthermore, the results of the estimation of the gologit models indicated that population density, number of business entities and the level of crime mainly determine the membership of a given housing market in a given cluster.

In contrast to previous studies, this is the first to examine the existence of homogeneous clusters amongst the county housing markets in Poland, taking into account the criteria of size and quality of the housing stock, as well as price level simultaneously. Moreover, this work is the first to identify the driving forces behind the formation of clusters amongst the surveyed housing markets.

Smallholder farmers have always been profoundly the first to be impacted by climate change, and therefore, farmers understanding of climate change and accessibility to alternative adaptation strategies are crucial for reducing the effect of climate change. The purpose of this study is to assess the perception of farmers to climate change, adaptation strategies and determinants of adaptation choice in central Ethiopia.

The study used data from randomly selected 240 farm households. Descriptive statistics were used to describe farmers’ perceptions of climate change and adaptation strategies. Also, a multivariate probit model was used to identify the major factors affecting farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change in central Ethiopia.

Smallholder farmers perceive climate change in the past two decades in response; the majority (91.47%) of farmers used adaptation options. Improved crop varieties and input intensity, crop diversification, planting date adjustment, soil and water conservation activities and changing of the crop type were used as adaptation options in the study area. A few of these strategies were significantly confirmed a complementary and supplementary relationship. The study identified sex, family size, agroecology, climate information, crop-fail history and formal extension service as significant determinants for farmers’ adaptation choices as these variables significantly affected more than two farmers’ adaptation strategies simultaneously.

Farmers’ choice of adaptation was highly constrained by institutional factors and all these identified factors can be possibly addressed through a better institutional service provision system. It is, therefore, recommended that local administrators should explore the institutional service provision system for a better farm-level adaptation while considering demographic characteristics as well.

This study identified factors affecting farmers’ several adaptation strategies at a time and provides information for the policymaker to make cost-effective interventions for better farm-level adaptation practices.

Patronage of local footwear have not been encouraging in Nigeria despite recent investments. The purpose of the study is to evaluate celebrity endorsement and customer patronage of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) products in African context, with focus on trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, respect and similarity (TEARS) model.

The research was designed as a descriptive survey. An online structured questionnaire was applied for data collection. Cronbach Alpha and content validity were used for reliability and validity, respectively. TEARS model was used to ascertain key dimensions, and Pearson correlation coefficient and logistic regression were applied into the analysis.

The findings reveal that celebrity endorsement is not associated with patronage of local footwears, though TEARS model analysis indicates the direction of consumers rating on celebrity endorsement. Factors such as recommendation and quality impact the consumer willingness to buy local footwear.

The small sample size calls for caution in generalization.

The study suggests that although the TEARs model is viable, all the dimensions are mutually exclusive. However, this depends on the characteristics of the brand. In driving patronage, managers must pay attention to personal and non-personal cues such as price, quality and source of information about their brand.

The originality is buttressed from the value it provides for local product production and patronage. The significant factors are indicated as key to addressing low patronage.

This study aims to statistically verify the links of income and education with information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion across 191 countries of the world taking into account a total of 9 indicators best representing the socio-economic variables.

Multivariate regression analysis was used as a prime method to rigorously test the relationships of income and education with ICT diffusion across 191 countries. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (V. 22) was used to analyze and predict patterns in the data.

The results support the hypotheses that income and education are positively related to ICT diffusion. The findings statistically confirm that poverty is a leading cause of digital divide worldwide.

Academic, policy and practice groups should work in collaboration to fight against digital divide. Present results also imply that digital divide shall never end but rather it can be controlled to an extent with multiple collaborative efforts.

Prior research assignments on the digital divide concentrate on exploring the links between few socio-economic and ICT variables in select few regions theoretically. The present work addresses this literature gap by developing and testing two hypotheses to statistically investigate the relationships between a broad set of socio-economic and ICT indicators.

This paper aims to understand the perception of smallholder farmers on climate change, identify major livestock related climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies and their determinants in selected neighboring districts of Tigray and Amhara regions of Ethiopia.

A total of 416 household heads were involved in a questionnaire survey using a multistage sampling approach. To understand the socio-economic factors that influence farmers’ perception on climate change (CC) and/or variability, a binary logit model was used. Multinomial logit model was used to identify the determinants of smallholder farmers’ choices of adaptation strategies.

Milk reduction, weight loss, feed shortage and frequent animal disease outbreak were indicated as major impacts of CC on livestock production. About 86.2% of the farmers’ exercise CCA measures where livestock health care and management (25%), followed by livelihood diversification (21.5%) and shifting and diversification of livestock species (20.9%) were the top three adaptation measures implemented. Education, knowledge on CCA strategies, access to veterinary service and extension, market access, annual income, non-farm income, total livestock unit, sex of household head and household size were the major determinant factors to farmers’ choice of CCA.

Concerned authorities working in CC related sectors should give due attention to improve smallholder farmers’ access to extension and veterinary services, market access and climate information to enhance their adaptive capacity to CC impacts. In addition, incorporating climate change awareness trainings into the existing extension packages is crucial to enhance the awareness of farmers on climate change and implement appropriate adaptation strategies. Moreover, it is very essential to provide appropriate herd management and marketing strategy based on the production system to avoid the significant price reduction during drought periods.

Concerned authorities working in CC related sectors should give due attention to improve smallholder farmers’ access to extension and veterinary services, market access and climate information to enhance their adaptive capacity to CC impacts. In addition, incorporating climate change awareness trainings into the existing extension packages is crucial to implement appropriate adaptation strategies. Moreover, it is very essential to provide appropriate herd management and marketing strategy based on the production system to avoid the significant price reduction during drought periods.

This research is focused on smallholder crop-livestock farmers, livestock-based CCASs and presents the determinant factors to their choice of adaptation.

This paper aims to investigate the entrepreneurial behaviours exhibited by commercial smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, focusing on their socio-economic characteristics, and considers their implication for outcomes of livelihood resilience in a resource-constrained and turbulent rural context.

The study used survey data collected from 430 smallholder farmers in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. Using a two-step cluster analysis, the study constructed a typology of farmers based on their entrepreneurial behaviour and socio-economic characteristics.

The results revealed that commercial smallholder farmers are heterogeneous in terms of their entrepreneurial behaviours. Four clusters were identified: non-entrepreneurial, goal-driven, means-driven and ambidextrous. Beyond their entrepreneurial behaviours, these clusters significantly differ in the socio-economic characterises (gender, age, education levels, farm size, proximity to the market and social connection) and farm performance (seasonal sales per hectare and farm income per hectare).

The typology framework relating farmers’ entrepreneurial behaviours to their socio-economic characteristics and business performance is important to tailor and therefore improve the effectiveness of farmer entrepreneurship programmes and policies. In particular, tailoring farmer entrepreneurship education is crucial to distribute land, finance and market resources in purposive ways to promote a combination of smallholder farmers’ effectual and causal behaviours at an early stage of their farm ventures.

Researchers still know little about which farmers’ behaviours are entrepreneurial and how these behaviours manifest in action during their commercial farm activities. This research leverages effectuation and causation theory to unveil previously overlooked distinctions on farmers’ entrepreneurial behaviours, thereby enhancing a more grounded understanding of farmer entrepreneurship in a resource-constrained context.

This present study uses political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) analysis and the strategic management theory to examine how external factors, namely the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the industrial revolution (IR) 4.0 technologies, the fuel price crisis and Sultanate of Oman Logistics Strategy (SOLS) 2040, affect the performance of container terminals in Oman.

A hybrid decision-making method that combined the analytical hierarchy process technique and Bayesian network model was used to achieve the objective of the present study.

The COVID-19 pandemic (54.60%) most significantly affected the performance of container terminals in Oman, followed by IR 4.0 technologies (19.66%), SOLS (17.00%) and fuel price crisis (8.74%). Container terminals in Oman were also found to perform “moderately,” considering the uncertainty of external factors.

This study enriches existing literature by using PESTLE analysis to assess the impact of the external business environment on firm performance in the context of the maritime industry as well as highlights how challenging external environmental factors affect the performance of container terminals in Oman.

This study contributes to developing novel study models and determining the performance level of container terminals in Oman considering integrated uncertainties and external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, IR 4.0 technologies, the SOLS 2040 and the fuel price crisis.

The paper presents a study on whether citizens’ immigration attitudes shape their attitudes towards social welfare in three Nordic countries.

The main analysis was performed using linear regression analysis. Data were retrieved from the eighth round of the European Social Survey (2016). The data cover the Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish respondents (N = 5,021).

The analyses indicate that citizens’ immigration attitudes are associated with their social welfare attitudes. The more positive the attitudes towards immigration are, the more positive the attitudes toward social welfare will be. Further, people in the political Left have more positive attitudes towards social welfare compared to those in the political Right; but, the immigration issue is more divisive of the political Left’s opinion than that of the Right.

Public opinion research has its limitations because behind an individual’s opinion there are many hidden factors. An individual may also have different opinions depending on the dimensions of the welfare state.

If the immigration issue reduces the support for social welfare among the political Left, it may reduce the legitimacy of the Nordic social policy because the support of the political Left has traditionally been in favour of the universal principles of the welfare state.

The association of the immigration issue and social welfare attitudes has been broadly studied; but, the interaction of the immigration issue and political opinion on social welfare attitudes is less studied.