In the Malaysian Umrah industry, there are so many new entrants selling and offering similar products and services. As a result, Umrah providers must compete to survive in the Umrah travel industry, as there are currently so many competitors. They need to focus on customers’ special needs and preferences to maintain the long-term relationship. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the relationship between service marketing mix and customer’s loyalty towards Umrah travel agents in Malaysia. The customers who performed Umrah more than once were on the focus of this study. The necessary data were collected from 384 respondents through a structured questionnaire using a convenience sampling technique. The results of the research confirm that all “service marketing mix” elements (“price, product, place, promotion, process, people, and physical evidence”) show significant positive effects on customer loyalty. This study will be of interest to the Umrah travel industry in understanding how marketing mix strategies are essential for maintaining a long term relationship with customers.

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship among intrinsic motivation, authentic leadership and high-performance work system (HPWS) on university faculty members with the mediating role of knowledge sharing. A total of 286 full-time faculty members of public universities from 30 universities of Punjab, Pakistan were interviewed using a five-point Likert-scale question-naire, adapted from the literature. The results of PLS-SEM indicate that authentic leadership and HPWS had a significant effect on faculty member’s creativity whereas intrinsic motivation showed an insignificant relationship with creativity. Results further highlight that knowledge sharing mediated the relationship between HPWS and employee’s creativity, however, no mediation effect was found for intrinsic motivation and authentic leadership with employee creativity.

The increasing numbers of public and private hospitals have resulted in the competitive environment in healthcare industry. This situation needs cooperation and support from the hospitals to focus on setting up compelling hospital image and providing satisfaction to the patients to ensure and secure their loyalty. Therefore, providing a high Service Quality will ensure the patients’ satisfaction and loyalty to keep on tapping the service provided. This study reports on a research finding that under-takes to analyze the effect of Image and Service Quality provided by the hospital towards patients’ satisfaction and loyalty in public hospital in Terengganu. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypothesis model in the study. The finding of this study illustrates that although hospital image did not have any effect on the patients’ loyalty, but it had a big impact on pa-tients’ satisfaction. Furthermore, patients’ satisfaction had a big impact towards patients’ loyalty. This study also clarifies that the Service Quality provided by the hospital had a direct influence on the patients’ satisfaction and loyalty. Hence, a high service quality provided by the hospital will influence patients’ satisfaction and loyalty and a positive and compelling hospital image is an im-portant factor to ensure the patients’ satisfaction.

Struggling airlines can save cost and improve profits by selling tickets online. While global sales of air e-tickets have grown over time, they are mostly from advanced nations. In developing markets like Malaysia, e-ticket sales are substantially lower. Hence, this study sets out to examine the factors that determine consumers’ intentions to buy air e-tickets. The factors include the disadvantage and advantage of buying air e-tickets, represented by perceived risk and perceived usefulness, respec-tively. The results show that Malaysian consumers’ perceptions of risk outweigh the perceived use-fulness of e-ticketing, and negatively affect intentions to buy air e-tickets. Perceived risk also has a negative effect on perceived usefulness, making usefulness insignificant to buying intention online. These findings imply that for Malaysian consumers, perceived risk far outweighs perceived usefulness where intention to buy air e-tickets is concerned.

This study examines the acceptance level of Accrual Accounting System (AAS) among the accountants in the public sector. Subsequently, this study examines whether the accountants’ acceptance level of AAS influences their motivation, job satisfaction and job performance. Using a cross sectional study via a questionnaire survey on 166 public sector accountants in the public sector, the study shows that the accountants accepted AAS. The study also shows that the acceptance of AAS among the accountants significantly influences their motivation, job satisfaction and job performance. Further analyses show that the accountants’ motivation to accept AAS significantly influences their job satisfaction and subsequently, job performance. The findings of this study indicates that acceptance of a technology could lead to positive attitude and ultimately, ensuring AAS implementation success in the public sector.

This paper examines the relationship between entrepreneurial training, entrepreneurial culture and organizational performance. Accordingly, the study also investigates the moderating effect of gov-ernment funding on the relationship between entrepreneurial culture, entrepreneurial training and business performance among the public universities in Pakistan. The respondents include 415 heads of department out of 1100 identified in the study. Structural equation modeling using PLS 2.0 M3 reports significant relationship between entrepreneurial training and organizational performance. Likewise, entrepreneurial culture is also reported to be significantly important for boosting organizational performance. Importantly, the study reports significant moderation of government funding on the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and organizational performance. How-ever, no moderation is reported on the entrepreneurial training and organizational performance relationship. The findings of this study have enhanced the understanding regarding government funding in the prospect of improving the performance of the HEIs in Pakistan. The study recommends that the state government and higher education institutions in Pakistan allow room for entrepreneurial activities, and development of entrepreneurial principles and opportunities, and further encourage entrepreneurial practices through the development of public entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial training on innovation to generate/create positive effects on the organizational performance of HEIs.

There are challenges Jordanian Islamic banks face in maintaining and enhancing their competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive market. This paper aims to examine the factors that affect Jordanian Islamic banks towards competitive advantage, in addition to examining the roles of strategic intelligence and organizational creativity in enhancing Jordanian Islamic banks' competitiveness. However, this paper relied on the descriptive analytical approach, and the study population included general manager, department manager, branch manager, head of department based on Banks structures and annual reports from 2018 to the end of 2023. A stratified random sample was used, approximately 243 questionnaires were examined. The results indicated that organizational creativity and strategic intelligence play a crucial role in building competitive advantage. Also, organizational creativity contributes to achieving superiority by creating an innovative organizational environment, while strategic intelligence reflects the ability to make smart decisions that enhance competitive effectiveness. This paper also demonstrated the importance of managing and harnessing information effectively in order to enhance strategic intelligence. However, this paper contributes to the understanding of success factors in Islamic banking and provides actionable insights for managers navigating the complexities of the banking sector, emphasizing the importance of innovation, differentiation, and strategic decision-making for sustained growth and competitiveness.

The current trend in deteriorating mechanical performance of green polymeric-based materials has made it essential for designers to establish more reliable and sustainable bio-products. Here, the mechanical performance of Jordanian lignocellulosic olive fibers in polymeric-based composites has been methodically investigated. The outcomes of different reinforcement conditions on the desired mechanical performance of the olive leaf’s lignocellulosic fibers with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) composites have been examined, including the properties of tensile strength, tensile modulus, mechanical strain, impact strength, and the intensity per composite volume. This has been accomplished to determine the optimum reinforcement condition for the desired mechanical behavior as well as to establish the performance deterioration and enhancement trends of such bio-materials in a more consistent manner. The results signify that lignocellulosic olive fibers have exhibited various enhancements in terms of mechanical performance. Both the tensile strength and modulus of elasticity have been dramatically improved at 20 wt.% fiber content. This was the most desired reinforcement condition among all considered cases. The olive fibers also possess the capability of maintaining relatively high ductility and impact strength properties, making them suitable for various industrial applications where high ductility is necessary. Thermal stability analysis using TGA and DTG has been employed to obtain accurate results.

Sustainability risk management (SRM) is an approach that manages the broad spectrum of risks arising from sustainability issues such as climate change, resource depletion and natural catastrophes. SRM is an extension to Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) that aims to maximize environmental, social and economic performances for a company’s survival. In an SRM practice, knowledge management is a strategic resource for companies to sustain in the rapidly-evolved business environment. It provides a solution to address the unknown risks associated with environmental complexity. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the moderating effect of knowledge management on the relationship between SRM critical factors (ERM bases and organizational resil-ience) and company survival among public listed companies (PLCs) in Malaysia. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique is used to analyze the hypothetical model which is developed in this study. The result shows that knowledge management moderates the relationship between organizational resilience and company survival. This finding signifies that knowledge management is an important strategic resource to assist companies to develop effective risk management strategy. This will lead to better decision-making and risk controls which influence stakeholder value and company reputation. The study also finds that ERM bases and organiza-tional resilience were significant towards company survival. Companies with strong ERM bases such as procedures, infrastructure and methods have higher chances of successful SRM implemen-tation. Organizational resilience refers to the ability of a company to manage crises and disaster risks, which is crucial for a company’s survival. This study has both theoretical and practical implications. The result of this study provides relevant insights on the value of knowledge management to meet stakeholder expectations. It also provides a better understanding of the relationship between SRM implementation, its critical factors and company survival.

This study aims to examine the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of the Small Rural Business (SRB) entrepreneurs in Malaysia by taking Business Networking (BN) as the antecedent. BN is used to explain the influence of EO as a mediator and its’ consequences towards SRB Business Sustaina-bility (BS). The survey method was employed in this study and the data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) multivariate data analysis. Based on the SEM analysis, it can be concluded that in this study, the relationship between BN and BS was not mediated by EO. However, BN has direct effect towards EO. Moreover, EO and BN were significant as predictors towards BS. Size, age and technology of SRB were used as control variables in this study.