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The purpose of this research is to examine the dynamics of news coverage within Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations, aiming to uncover patterns and critical factors influencing political and economic development policies. By providing a comprehensive overview of macro-level and sector-level economic trends reported by member country newspapers, the study seeks to understand problem-driven analysis schemes and proposed solutions to challenges. Additionally, it aims to evaluate the economic implications of political decisions as portrayed in news coverage, scrutinize the promotion of meaningful dialog and assess the role of news in encouraging coherence among stakeholders for effective pursuit of economic development goals within the BRICS nations.

This qualitative research involves conducting a content analysis on 11 newspapers, each published by a BRICS member country, including established and recent members. The current study analyzes the national interests, economic implications of media frames, leaders’ statements and geopolitical contexts in light of the coverage of the newspapers under study and the BRICS' inclusion of new members from a political economy perspective.

All eleven newspapers emphasize the significance of the BRICS Summit and its role in shaping economic and geopolitical dynamics. They consistently highlight the cooperative and multilateral nature of BRICS, focusing on collaboration among member nations. All newspapers emphasize the importance of the BRICS Summit as a key event in global geopolitics. For instance, they discuss the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa as a focal point for member countries to discuss various global issues. Each newspaper discusses BRICS' role in advocating for equitable global governance and challenging Western dominance in international affairs. Economic aspects, such as trade, financial cooperation and economic growth within BRICS, are mentioned in the coverage of all eleven newspapers, underlining the economic dimension of the group. All eleven newspapers explore the expansion of BRICS and its implications, including differing member opinions and the introduction of new member countries. However, The Buenos Aires Times (Argentina) provides an in-depth focus on Argentina’s admission to BRICS and its significance, reflecting its unique perspective as a potential member. All newspapers recognize the media’s role in shaping awareness and discourse related to BRICS, but The Buenos Aires Times specifically focuses on Argentina’s perspective and how it informs its readers about global developments. Also, unlike other newspapers, The Buenos Aires Times mentions domestic political factors, including presidential elections in Argentina and opposition to Argentina’s BRICS membership, which impact the country’s stance. The newspapers' coverage of BRICS reflects their national interests, priorities and perspectives. While geopolitical and economic aspects are prominent, the depth of analysis, the emphasis on specific economic trends and the extent of problem-driven analysis vary. These diverse viewpoints provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of BRICS and its global impact. When comparing the 11 newspapers' coverage of BRICS-related topics, it’s evident that each publication brings its unique perspective and priorities to the forefront.

While this research provides valuable insights into news patterns and their influence on political and economic development in BRICS nations, certain limitations should be acknowledged. The study’s scope primarily relies on newspaper coverage, potentially omitting perspectives from other media sources.

The practical implications of this research are profound. Policymakers can leverage insights to craft informed strategies, and businesses and investors can gain a nuanced understanding of economic trends and media practitioners refine their coverage. The findings promote cross-cultural understanding within BRICS nations, encouraging cooperation. Global stakeholders can navigate the political-economic landscape more adeptly. Ultimately, the research provides actionable knowledge, facilitating effective decision-making, enhancing collaboration and contributing to the sustainable development and stability of the BRICS countries and the broader international community.

This research carries significant social implications by encouraging a deeper comprehension of the interplay between news media, politics and economics in BRICS nations. It promotes informed civic discourse, enabling citizens to critically engage with socio-political issues. By uncovering the media’s influence, the study contributes to media literacy, empowering the public to make informed decisions. Additionally, the research enhances cross-cultural understanding, potentially mitigating biases and stereotypes. Ultimately, it strengthens the social fabric by encouraging a more informed and engaged citizenry, capable of contributing positively to the political and economic development of their respective nations within the BRICS framework.

This research contributes originality and value by offering a nuanced exploration of news patterns in BRICS nations, going beyond surface-level analysis. By focusing on macro- and sector-level economic trends, the study provides a unique perspective on the interplay between media narratives and economic development. The examination of problem-driven analysis and proposed solutions adds depth, offering insights into policy implications. Evaluating the economic implications of political decisions through news coverage enhances understanding. Furthermore, the research’s emphasis on promoting meaningful dialog and assessing the role of news in stakeholder coherence contributes distinctive insights, enhancing the broader understanding of the interconnections between media, politics and economic development in the BRICS context.

A popular convention in the political-economy literature is that causality runs from democracy to economic growth. That thinking has continued to evoke significant debates among scholars. This study aims to propose a new research experiment by investigating whether macroeconomic variables cause democratisation.

The study uses a panel data set of 48 carefully selected economies in Sub-Saharan Africa spanning 1991 to 2020 and uses the PVAR system generalised method of moment (GMM) approach.

With the application of three macroeconomic indicators: economic growth, full employment and balance of payment equilibrium, the study suggests that economic growth has a negative implication on the democratisation process and that the incentives that increase national income provide in the global South enable autocratic rulers to impede democratic growth. The Granger causality test demonstrates a unidirectional effect from economic growth to democracy. The eigenvalue stability condition, impulse response function and forecast-error variance decomposition all confirmed the validity of the findings with the PVAR system GMM. Finally, the study proposed policy and theoretical implications for the political stakeholders.

Robust development of economic institutions (particularly the anti-corruption and rule of law) in the global South is required to tame the potential for the state actors to turn public resources into personal use to further their parochial political interest in the form of perpetuating themselves in office which negates the ideals of democracy and social norms. Strong institutions could prevent the misuse of national income and enhance a good quality of life for the citizenry, making them grow confidence in the democratisation process.

The research paper makes an insightful contributions from the methodological perspective and the sampling perspective. The author uses a new research method, the PVAR system GMM becoming the first attempt of such a method to be applied in determining the causal effects of macroeconomic variables on democracy in the literature. Another relevant contribution of the study relates to the sample technique of selecting economies from the Sub-Saharan Africa with notable weak or slow democratisation process.

This study investigates how perceived political corruption, a generally overlooked corruption type, relates to firms' new product development (NPD) through perceived regulatory obstacles. It also examines firms' perceptions of business association support in this relationship, considering these associations' potential support for NPD.

This study conducted an empirical analysis of 1,663 firms in Turkey, a country noted for a history of legislative corruption, and in which there are strong business associations. Drawing the data from the World Bank's 2019 Enterprise Surveys Dataset, this study tested the hypotheses via the two-stage factor score regression method.

This study finds that perceived political corruption significantly relates to NPD negatively through perceived regulatory obstacles. It also finds that the perceived support of business associations to NPD is significantly greater when firms perceive regulatory obstacles but only slight political corruption.

As far as political corruption is concerned, this study reveals that corruption can also be the cause of regulatory obstacles, expanding the common view of corruption as a means of overcoming regulatory obstacles to NPD. In addition, it introduces the role of business associations in this relationship by revealing their support to NPD for different levels of perceived political corruption and regulatory obstacles.

Research on the political connections of multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) subsidiaries in emerging host countries has been growing. The purpose of this paper is to integrate institutional and resource dependence theories to argue that MNEs-subsidiaries are likely to develop fewer formal (i.e. board-level) political connections when operating in welfare-state monarchies as compared to in host countries with developmental-state democratic systems. Furthermore, this paper argues that MNE-subsidiaries develop formal political connections to a greater extent in industries where religion influences the development of products and services considerably. Finally, the extent of developing formal political connections varies by the scale of the MNEs’ investment (or subsidiary density) in the host market.

The paper tests its hypotheses on a sample of foreign-owned subsidiaries operating in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The data was collected by combining information from Bureau Van Dijk’s Orbis database with company websites and other secondary sources. The final sample consisted of 156 observations – 70 MNEs-subsidiaries operating in Saudi Arabia, and 86 in Egypt.

The findings confirm that foreign subsidiaries are likely to develop fewer formal political connections in a welfare-state monarchy as compared to in a developmental-state democratic system. Furthermore, formal political connections are more significant in industries that are impacted by the influence of religion – such as the financial industry in Arab countries. Finally, the extent of using political connections varies by the scale of the MNEs’ investment in the host market – that is, with a greater scale of investment (or higher subsidiary density), formal political connections are greater.

The paper contributes theoretically by explaining that a combination of institutional heterogeneity and its associated resource dependence conditions between MNEs and host governments influence MNE-subsidiaries' political connections. The paper tests its hypotheses in an emerging Arab context, which is characterized by both autocratic and semi-democratic political settings, and which makes the integration of institutional and resource dependence theories useful in explaining how MNE-subsidiaries navigate local complexities in this region.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between political instability and the performance of Islamic banks in emerging countries.

For a data sample of 93 Islamic banks in 20 emerging countries during the period from 2011 to 2016, the authors identify indicators that matter most for the activities of Islamic banks.

The study finds that a stable government and law and order are positively correlated with the health of Islamic financial institutions. On the other hand, corruption and military involvement in politics can create an unstable environment for businesses, leading to uncertainty and risk. The study also reveals that Islamic banks operating in regions or communities with lower risk of socio-economic conditions tend to exhibit higher levels of profitability.

Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the impact of political instability on Islamic banks in emerging countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the external environment on the strategic thinking dimensions in Malaysia and Palestine on the banking sector.

This paper focuses on dynamism and complexity in political and economic external environments. This study uses qualitative methodology through a comparative case study method. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from in-depth semistructured interviews with 33 bank executives from Malaysia and 17 from Palestine.

The findings revealed that the banking sector in both Malaysia and Palestine shared five common strategic thinking dimensions, including vision, creativity, conceptual thinking, futurism and opportunity. However, a sixth dimension, intent-focused, was unique to Palestinian bank executives. This study indicates that Palestine’s financial strategic thinking environment is more dynamic and complex than Malaysia’s. Additionally, the study highlights the significant influence of both microenvironments (such as types of banks) and the macroenvironment (such as political and economic situations). These findings hold important implications for decision-makers in the banking sector of both countries.

As with many studies, this study has some limitations. First, the analysis examines only the turbulent and stable environment in the two countries by using a qualitative approach which enables the analysis of thoughts and actions and exposes the beliefs, perceptions, mental maps and structures of belief in their perceptions (Cavana et al., 2001). As such, the results are limited to a particular time, date and geographical location; thus, opinions and perceptions might be altered due to changes in the external political and economic environment. The second limitation of this work is that the case study might not be appropriate for generalization (Stake, 1978). Finally, the limited number of female participants in Palestine shows a high level of inequality compared to Malaysian participants.

This study explores the implication of uncertain environments at the national level on executives’ cognition and actions, links the micro- and macro-environment of the banking industry to a theoretical perspective and develops a conceptual circular model to show the effect of macro environments on bank performance. The findings offer practical contributions to the current literature, providing insights for executives to navigate a dynamic and complex banking industry.

This study fills the literature gap by exploring how strategic thinking dimensions triggered by macro- and micro-environments impact banking sector performance in Malaysia and Palestine.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamic changes of the arms trade network not only from the network structure but also the influence mechanism from the aspects of the economy, politics, security, strategy and transaction costs.

The study employs the Temporal Exponential Random Graph Model and the Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Model to analyze the endogenous network structure effect, the attribute effect and the exogenous network effect of 47 major arms trading countries from 2015 to 2020.

The results show that the international arms trade market is unevenly distributed, and there are great differences in military technology. There is a fixed hierarchical structure in the arms trade, but the rise of emerging countries is expected to break this situation. In international arms trade relations, economic forces dominate, followed by political, security and strategic factors.

Economic and political factors play an important role in the arms trade. Therefore, countries should strive to improve their economic strength and military technology. Also, countries should increase political mutual trust and gain a foothold in the industrial chain of arms production to enhance their military power.

The contribution of this paper is to analyze the special trade area of arms trade from a dynamic network perspective by incorporating economic, political, security, strategic and transaction cost factors together into the TERGM and STERGM models.

Using the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory, we explore the impact of strategic management practices, innovation and social capital on small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) performance in three developing Arab countries, namely, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

Drawing upon firm-level data derived from the standardized World Bank Enterprise Surveys, we use quantile regressions and the marginal effects analysis to test our hypotheses.

Our results show heterogeneity among the three countries as to the factors affecting firm performance. The configuration of performance determinants also differs among firms within each country, depending on their level of performance.

Our findings further the understanding of the performance determinants of SMEs in developing countries within their own local context. They imply important theoretical, methodological, managerial and policy implications.

This study is the first to investigate simultaneously strategic management practices, innovation and social capital as determinants of SMEs’ performance in developing countries. We confirm an important premise of the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory, which has not been thoroughly investigated in the literature, claiming that strategic management, innovation and social capital cannot be separately investigated as determinants of firm performance. We do so by going beyond the mere inclusion of interaction terms in regression equations to computing marginal effects.

This study investigates the impact of geopolitical risk (GPR) on foreign remittances (FRs) for the top remittance-receiving countries.

The sample includes Mexico, France, Egypt, China, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Ukraine, Germany and Belgium for the annual period of 1998–2022 using the nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to determine the asymmetry in the relationship.

The results suggest that, in the short term, positive GPR shocks have a positive and significant impact on FRs received. On the other hand, the long-run results suggest that adverse GPR shocks negatively affect FRs received in the sampled countries. Additionally, the study confirms the asymmetric impact of GPR on top remittances received in countries.

The policymakers, migrants and recipients should consider the asymmetric nature of GPR while making decisions regarding policies and the transfer of remittances. This information can be used to create more effective policies for controlling and reducing the effects of GPR on overseas remittances, such as assisting migrant workers and developing methods to lessen the volatility of these flows.

Acknowledging the potential fluctuations and uncertainties associated with GPR is crucial to make informed choices regarding remittance-related matters.

This study aims to explore the influence of the chairman’s political and royal authority on environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure within the context of nonfinancial companies listed in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The authors adopt a mixed-methods approach, analyzing a data set of 262 nonfinancial GCC companies from 2016 to 2021. The authors use content analysis to collect the ESG disclosure data based on the ESG Disclosure Guidance provided by the GCC Financial Markets Committee. Quantitative methods are applied to investigate the effect of the chairman’s political and royal authority on ESG disclosure. The credibility of the findings is fortified through rigorous robustness and endogeneity tests.

Consistent with the resource-based view and servant leadership theory, the authors found a positive impact of the chairman’s political and royal authority on ESG disclosure.

The findings of this study insight investors to consider the complex relationship between political affiliations and governance practices to align investments with sustainability and ethical criteria, thereby improving investment strategies in these contexts. This research offers a solid foundation for regulatory craft governance frameworks that acknowledge and incorporate the unique influence of royal family members and politically connected individuals within corporate boards.

This study enhances the discourse on ESG disclosure by focusing on the underrepresented GCC region. This research breaks new ground by focusing on the impact of the chairman’s political and royal authority on ESG disclosure. In addition, it addresses previous methodological limitations by incorporating more comprehensive ESG data for the GCC market.