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Purpose: With the growth of entrepreneurship education adoption in higher education institutions (HEIs), the importance of assessments as a tool to gauge and enhance learning is of utmost importance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence and appropriateness of current assessment methods for engineering and technology students in Nigerian and British HEIs. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a qualitative research method with a case study approach to investigate the impact and suitability of assessment methods currently used within entrepreneurship education in Nigeria and England. Findings: The results reveal that lecturers across both countries believed that assessment methods currently in use were appropriate, but were not uniform in its influence on learning. However, students were unanimous in that most assessment methods currently used were not effective at enhancing their learning, not very appropriate, and were not a good judge of their work and effort. The results were used in building a framework to understand the importance of assessment methods in entrepreneurship education. Originality/value: In light of the inadequate literature, this paper covers an acute gap in the field. This will allow policymakers and different interested parties to reassess the development of suitable assessment methods to involve students as key stakeholders.

Purpose: The growing interest in the development of entrepreneurial intention (EI) that has increased the importance of theories that explain and anticipate the tendency among individuals to start a new business. However, most of these theories focus on the relationship between entrepreneurs perceptions and their intention and ignore the cognitive and psychological characteristics that might configure their perceptions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to integrate the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) with the entrepreneurial event model (EEM) and to extend the combined model to include the personality characteristics of an entrepreneur that might shape the perceptions and intentions. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a sample of 688 senior university students (Emirati nationals, 91.2 per cent and expatriates, 8.8 per cent) and employs positivist research with a quantitative approach, adopting a survey strategy through questionnaires and structural equation modelling. Findings: The results demonstrate the relevance and robustness of the suggested combined and extended model in the prediction of intention on the part of senior university students to become entrepreneurs (explained variance=73.3 per cent) based on survey data (2017; n = 688). Originality/value: The main contribution of this paper lies not only in the integration of the TPB and the EEM, but also in extending the two theories on which it is based through adding entrepreneurial personality characteristics and an explanation of the mechanism through which entrepreneurial perceptions and EI develop.

Tourism plays a pivotal role in Pakistan's economic landscape. Understanding the drivers of tourist loyalty is paramount for sustainable growth. This study delves into the factors influencing tourist loyalty within Pakistan's tourism sector, examining the destination image, service quality, electronic word of mouth, and tourist satisfaction. Data sourced from a tourist survey at popular Pakistani destinations unveil significant relationships and mediation effects. The results underscore that a positive destination image and superior services directly impact tourist loyalty. Furthermore, electronic word of mouth and tourist satisfaction mediate these relationships, highlighting how positive perceptions and satisfaction bolster loyalty. Social media also exerts a moderating influence on the destination image, service quality, and tourist loyalty dynamics. These findings offer crucial insights for tourism stakeholders and destination marketers to refine strategies. By enhancing its destination image, delivering exceptional services, and leveraging social media, Pakistan can both attract and retain tourists, bolstering its tourism sector's growth and prosperity. This study contributes to the existing literature and offers practical guidance for promoting tourism in developing nations like Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the decision-making process of investors on the Pakistan Stock Exchange with regard to portfolio construction, explicitly focusing on the incorporation of ESG concerns. A quantitative research approach has been implemented for this paper. The hypotheses have been developed and tested through the adapted questionnaires. The data were collected from individual Pakistani investors. The present study employed SmartPLS-SEM to quantitatively assess data received from a sample of 421 out of 500 respondents. Based on the available data, investors participating in the Pakistan Stock Exchange are notably impacted by ESG aspects. The findings of this study hold significance for emerging economy firms, regulators, and investors, in terms of both theoretical and practical ramifications. The study's findings demonstrate a clear indication of investors' significant emphasis on ESG matters. This research made a significant contribution to the field of behavioural finance with a focus on ESG-related issues. This work contributes to the literature on ESG elements by using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to adapt the ESG components from the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Thomson Reuters Corporate Responsibility Index (TRCRI). Furthermore, it provides valuable insights for stakeholders who are involved in the ever-evolving realm of sustainable finance within developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being able to predict the churn rate is the key to success for the telecommunication industry. It is also important for the telecommunication industry to obtain a high profit. Thus, the challenge is to predict the churn percentage of customers with higher accuracy without comprising the profit. In this study, various types of learning strategies are investigated to address this challenge and build a churn predication model. Ensemble learning techniques (Adaboost, random forest (RF), extreme randomized tree (ERT), xgboost (XGB), gradient boosting (GBM), and bagging and stacking), traditional classification techniques (logistic regression (LR), decision tree (DT), and k-nearest neighbor (kNN), and artificial neural network (ANN)), and the deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) technique have been tested to select the best model for building a customer churn prediction model. The evaluation of the proposed models was conducted using two pubic datasets: Southeast Asian telecom industry, and American telecom market. On both of the datasets, CNN and ANN returned better results than the other techniques. The accuracy obtained on the first dataset using CNN was 99% and using ANN was 98%, and on the second dataset it was 98% and 99%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is crucial for alleviating job challenges among business graduates and for sustaining a growing local economy. However, different factors support and encourage students to be entrepreneurs. Modern technologies such as social media are becoming more popular with young people in enterprise creation. However, the connection between social media use and business among the youth of developing countries has yet to be noticed. This study examines the relationship between entrepreneurial education (EE), attitudes toward sustainable entrepreneurship (ATSE), and sustainable entrepreneurial intentions (SEIs); as well as examining the moderating effect of social media adoption on this relationship. To put the proposed concept to the test, data was collected from 314 business graduates from Pakistani universities. Structural equation modeling using AMOS (Version 26) was utilized to test the proposed hypotheses. The study findings show that student attitudes concerning sustainable entrepreneurship mediate the association between EE and sustainable entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, the results illustrate that social media moderated the relationship between the research participants' attitudes concerning sustainable entrepreneurship and their desire to practice sustainable entrepreneurship. The study makes significant contributions to the field that scholars can use to initiate future research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Recently laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy has gained increased popularity both as a primary operation for weight reduction and as a revisional procedure after failed restrictive bariatric surgery. On the contrary, the conversion to laparoscopic Rouxen-Y gastric bypass is a solution with some drawbacks such as long operative time and higher complication rates. Aim To find an evidence of BMI reduction and/or less surgical complications following revisional surgeries (laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, mini gastric bypassone-anastomosis gastric bypass, and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy) after failed restrictive bariatric surgeries (vertical banded gastroplasty or laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding). Patients and methods A retrospective observational secondary study was performed on published research and meta-analysis for each eligible study according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results The 24-, 36-, and 48-month postoperative extra weight loss percentage was lower in sleeve gastrectomy than gastric bypasses, with overall significantly better decrease. Conversely, when comparing RYGB with mini gastric bypass at 12 months after conversion, there was more extra weight loss percentage for RYGB, with significant overall difference. Conclusion Our meta-analysis showed that both sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypasses as revisional operations had no significant difference regarding postoperative leakage and major bleeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose--There is no consensus on the indicators that assess a construction company's financial performance projects undertaken. There is also a dearth of concepts on the financial performance indicators for construction companies in South Africa and indeed, the wider continent of Africa. This paper proposes novel financial performance indicators for assessing construction organizations and tests these on selected construction companies in the South African construction industry. Design/methodology/approach--This research employed a pragmatic approach. Contractors with financial credibility and capacity of R 40 million, annual turnover of R 20 million, and available capital of R 40 million were purposively selected for this study. Parameters such as total revenue, direct cost of work, total indirect cost and total income were elicited from the sample contractors to assess their financial performance. The assessment was undertaken using formulas that were formulated based on the descriptions provided under the research methodology. Further analysis was conducted using post hoc Tukey's honest significant difference (HSD). Findings--The study finds that construction companies with a strong structure, multiple areas of specialization, creative and efficient staff members, and access to funding, have a greater chance of experiencing higher: income; positive leverage; positive liquidity; and positive cash flow. Moreover, companies with specialization in civil engineering construction and project management skills experienced higher positive liquidity and profitability. Originality/value--This research is unique through its investigation and formulation of indicators for assessing the financial performance of construction companies. This research is consequently representing the first attempt to analyze financial data using the approaches prescribed and adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how artificial intelligence technology in the banking sector has affected consumers' overall experiences. It focuses on how consumer personal digital transformation has affected digital banking development and how this further affects consumer expectations and experience. It assesses how banks use artificially intelligent virtual agents such as chatbots to transform how consumers use their banking facilities. Lastly, this study investigates the scope of neobanks in the banking sector. The study found that digital transformations have led to an increase in consumer expectations from their banks. Whilst banks revolutionise their customer service offerings through virtual agents, customers are not engaging with these at an expected rate. Findings revealed that neobanks are not operating at their expected traction due to consumer knowledge gaps, occasioned by a lack of advertised information to customers from their banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business‐to‐business (B2B) e‐commerce adoption by Egyptian manufacturing SMEs is an important tool to gain competitive advantage. It is important to understand the levels of B2B e‐commerce adoption among Egyptian manufacturing SMEs and the different factors that influence each level of such adoption. The Technology–Organization–Environment framework factors have a significant impact on the different levels of B2B e‐commerce adoption by Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. Technology–Organization–Environment framework factors have an indirect impact on Egyptian manufacturing SMEs competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived value is a subjective and dynamic construct that varies among different customers and cultures. Although perceived customer value has been studied by many researchers, no research has been done into the measurement of Muslim Tourist Perceived Value (MTPV) where Muslim tourist evaluates both traditional and religious aspects of value. By means of a multidimensional procedure, the authors developed a scale of measurement of MTPV through 24 items grouped into six dimensions: quality, price, emotional, social, Islamic physical attributes, and Islamic nonphysical attributes. The importance of the proposed constructs was theoretically justified. Using a sample of 537 Muslim tourists, the constructs were tested and validated. The results supply tourism companies with a number of operative factors that may be essential if they are to remain competitive in the dynamic marketplace. This study is probably the first to provide an integrative perspective of MTPV constructs in the hospitality and tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to build a structured literature review of the field of market orientation and its impact on tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) performance in developing countries. This literature review will present a comprehensive survey of market orientation (MO) published articles to facilitate good understanding of MO. It serves as an archive and aims to help the scholars and practitioners to explore, analyse, and develop a clear understanding about the different research points and methodologies implemented in previous studies related to MO and its impact on tourism SMEs’ performance. The paper systematically reviews and categorizes the published literature implementing a three-stage methodology, and thereafter analyzes and reviews this literature methodologically. The review covered many areas and identified some factors that drive/hinder market-oriented activities within tourism SMEs. Furthermore, suggestions have been made to understand more thoroughly how market orientation influences tourism SMEs performance in developing economies. A research gap in the area of market orientation and tourism SMEs performance in developing countries was identified. The study provides great benefits for owner-managers, government policy makers, scholars, and educators by clarifying the concept of market orientation and its relationship with performance in the context of tourism SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

B2B e-commerce adoption enables SMEs to gain and sustain competitive advantage in a dynamic competitive environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have not been systematically investigated. Existing studies have derived their CSFs from different perspectives. However, it lacks scientifically developed and tested constructs that represent an integrative CRM philosophy. Through a detailed analysis of the literature, as well as adding new factors, this research identifies eight constructs for integrated CRM implementation in developing economies. The proposed CSFs are tested and validated through a sample of 162 Egyptian tourism organizations that utilize CRM systems, using Amos 19. The overall results from the empirical assessment were positive, reflecting the appropriateness of the proposed CSFs. This study is one of very few studies to provide an integrative perspective of CSFs for implementing CRM in the tourism sector and developing economies; it adds to the extremely limited number of empirical studies that have been conducted to investigate CRM implementation in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the influence of leadership teaching in developing economies (i.e., Egypt) on tourism students’ attitudes and perceptions toward leadership and their leadership skills. The study validates a conceptual model utilizing a positivist approach, in which quantitative data were collected based on a survey strategy through questionnaires targeting a sample of 1,046 Egyptian final-year tourism undergraduate students. The findings indicate that teaching leadership in tourism undergraduate courses in Egypt has an impact on students’ attitudes and perceptions toward leadership as well as their leadership skills. This study adds to the extremely limited number of empirical studies that have been conducted to investigate leadership teaching by Egyptian universities and has great benefits for practitioners, researchers, and educators though providing a clearer view and deeper understanding of the issues related to teaching leadership in tourism undergraduate courses in a developing economy (Egypt). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research investigates the relationship between enterprise environmental factors (EEFs) and programme management (PgM) resources, and subsequently how PgM resources and sustainability integrate into social enterprise. With a resource-based view (RBV) concept as the theoretical starting point, a systematic literature review identified EEFs relating to PgM resources, and PgM resources relating to sustainability in private and public organisations. A mixed-method research approach was used that is founded on a sequential exploratory strategy. In the preliminary phase, meta qualitative analysis was conducted; in the second phase, 16 semi structured interviews were undertaken to customise and confirm the concepts by using thematic analysis within 4 selected case studies. In the final phase, the model was validated by a survey that returned (n = 302) completed questionnaires from around Pakistan, and the used method of analysis was PLS-SEM. These research findings highlight that PgM resources within social enterprises are highly influential and dependent on external and internal EEFs, and that PgM resources are critical to consider for social enterprise sustainability. In addition, this study highlights that PgM resources positively influence social, economic, and environmental sustainability in SEs. Furthermore, this study developed a validated novel theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small business enterprises (SBEs) are considered to be the economic engine leading to worldwide economic development. They have attracted substantial consideration from researchers, academics and practitioners in the last three decades. Meanwhile, E-marketing (EM) has emerged as one of the key drivers in sustaining an organisation's competitive advantage. Yet, there is a lack of systematic empirical evidence regarding marketing activities that are affected by the use of EM in the (SBEs) context, and their consequent performance outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of EM use by SBEs on marketing success and to develop and test a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences of EM use by SBEs. The conceptual framework consists of the following constructs: EM budget, EM tools, pre-sales activities, after-sales activities, marketing performance and marketing effectiveness. Moreover, 12 hypotheses were developed and tested. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the validity of measures, while structural equation modelling was used in hypotheses testing. Data were collected from 114 SBEs who had used different EM tools. Findings reveal that the use of EM tools has a positive influence on SBEs pre-sales activities, after-sales activities, marketing performance and marketing effectiveness. The results of this study have major implications for the marketing domain, as they stress the central role of marketing people in the successful implementation of EM in SBEs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Islamic studies and Islamic research have gained a lot of interest and considerable attention from researchers, policy makers, and practitioners during the last few years as a result of the demanding desire to know more about Islam. However, regardless of the dominant position held by Islamic stud- ies and Islamic research in today's research world, Islamic tourism is still very much less presented in the literature. This article aims to explore, analyze, and develop a clear understanding about the different factors affecting the adoption of digital marketing (D-marketing) by Islamic tourism organizations (ITOs) by building on the current body of knowledge in the field. The article systematically reviews the literature related to digital marketing adoption to understand its adoption by organizations working in Islamic tourism sectors. Based on this review and through linking digital marketing, technology adoption, technology diffusion, and Islamic Shariah theories, a conceptual model that links five factors (namely: internal environmental forces, external environmental forces, digital marketing adoption, digital marketing implementation, and digital marketing performance) is proposed to provide a clear understanding about the different factors affecting the adoption of digital marketing by Islamic tourism organizations. Future research is encouraged to build on this framework to test how internal and external environmental forces of Islamic tourism enterprises, along with its digital marketing implementation, influence its performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Media (SM) is considered one of the most discussed topics in today's business environment, mostly because of the recent developments and improvements in computer and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) technologies. However, very little is known about Social Media's (SM) role in creating Small and Medium-sized Enterprises' (SMEs') financial sustainability. Drawing upon the Technology Organisational and Environmental (TOE) framework, the authors constructed a comprehensive model that examined the role of different factors in the adoption of SM by SMEs in developing countries (using Pakistan as an example). Using a questionnaire survey of 383 owners/managers of SMEs in Pakistan, the research findings determined the different factors (i.e., organisational, technological, and environmental), which can impact the adoption of SM by SMEs. In line with previous research studies, the results of structural equation modelling show that technological factors such as perceived benefits of SM, compatibility of SM, cost, and trust have a substantial effect on SMEs' SM adoption. Similarly, both organisational factors: top management support and technological competence, are strong predictors of SM adoption in SMEs. Finally, environmental factors (i.e., competitor pressure, customer pressure, and information intensity) positively impacted SM adoption by SMEs. The effect of SM adoption on SMEs' financial sustainability was also tested and found to be positive and significant. Several theoretical and practical implications for owners/managers and other stakeholders regarding SM's successful implementation by SMEs are highlighted within the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]