Technology and innovativeness have played an important role in service industries because of the competitive state, especially in developing countries. While using innovative technologies such as self-checkouts in stores is seen as advantageous in many aspects for retailers, if customers cannot adopt it, the usage of in stores becomes disadvantageous. However, the literature offers limited knowledge about the customers' adoption of self-checkouts in spite of its value for the survival of firms. Therefore, understanding what factors affect individuals' intention to use self-checkout systems has been a need for both practitioners and researchers. This study aims to spot out the determinants of intention to use self-checkout systems in a supermarket chain. In this regard, this study employs the technology acceptance model (TAM) to which the constructs technology anxiety, technology self-efficacy, compatibility, and knowledge are incorporated into the original model. The results of the analysis of the data (N=281) reveals that: (i) technology self-efficacy and knowledge are positively related to two beliefs, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, (ii) compatibility is positively associated with perceived usefulness, (iii) perceived usefulness is positively related to attitude, and (iv) attitude is positively associated with intention to use.

It is a fact accepted by everybody that football is the most popular sport around the world. The result of a derby match may be very important for millions of people. Even the time seems to stop on a match day for so many people. Show and entertainment are the most important aspects of football. If soccer players have a high performance, a match may provide pleasure and excitement to audiences. Briefly, the performance and quality of soccer players are the key factors, which draw audiences. Goalkeepers are also one of the important components of football like other players playing different positions such as strikers, mid-fielders, and defenders. Moreover, a goalkeeper can affect the result of a match positively or negatively. Therefore, with the help of a mathematical approach as the methodological framework, it can be seen that the examination of the performance of goalkeepers can be beneficial for decision-makers performing in the fields of sport and the future studies. The current paper proposes an improved integrated multi-criteria decision-making approach to evaluate the selection of goalkeepers; and this model can be applied for goalkeeper’s performance analysis. The proposed model combines the weights of criteria calculated with the help of both the CRITIC and the PSI techniques by applying the weight aggregation operator. It also ranks the decision alternatives by implementing the WASPAS technique based on the final criteria weights obtained by using the weight aggregation operator. In addition, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis consisting of three stages was performed to verify the validation of the suggested hybrid model. It has been observed that A11 has remained the best option for all scenarios. As a result, the results of the sensitivity analysis prove that the proposed hybrid MCDM technique is a very useful, strong and applicable approach. Also, the results obtained by applying the proposed model are accurate, realistic, and reasonable according to the results of the validation test.

This study aimed to measure the impact of attitude, social influence, and perceived usefulness on e-money adoption intention. Data were collected using an online instrument involving 264 participants in Indonesia, and 287 participants in Turkey. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling and there were five hypotheses to be tested. The results of the study indicated a significant impact of attitude on adoption indention. Also, a significant influence of perceived usefulness on attitude and adoption intention was also detected. Moreover, a significant effect of social influence on perceived usefulness and adoption intention was observed. However, there were different results when the calculation focused on participants in each country. This study discussed recommendations for practitioners and future studies.

In MCDM problems, the decision maker is often ready to adopt the closest solution to the reference values in a choice or ranking problem. The reference values represent the desired results as established subjectively by the decision maker or determined through various scientific tools. In a criterion, the reference value could be the maximum value, the minimum value, or a specific value or range. Also, the acceptances degrees of ranges outside the reference may differ from each other in a criterion. Furthermore, measurements in a criterion may have been obtained with any of the nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales. For the decision problems, including qualitative criteria, the solution cannot be achieved without scaling of criteria with the existing MCDM methods. The purpose of this study is to propose the Nearest Solution to References (REF) Method, a novel reference-based MCDM method, for the solution of decision problems having mixed data structure where references can be determined for criteria.

Bonded joints have important benefits over conventional joining techniques such as rivets, welding, bolts and nuts in structural applications, particularly for components prepared of composite or polymeric materials. Due to the involvement of many geometric, material and construction variables, and the complex fracture and mechanical modes offered in the bonded joints, a proper consideration of fracture behavior is required to fully achieve their benefits. The fractures in bonded joints are mainly of three types; interlaminar (delamination), adhesive (interfacial) and cohesive crack. For a particular defect, crack propagation may occur in the tensile (mode I), the shear (mode II), and the tear (mode III) and their combinations (mixed mode). This study deals with topics such as theories of bonded composite joints and repairs, finite element analysis and fracture-based analysis and tests of mixed-mode cohesive, interfacial and interlaminar fracture mechanics. By employing geometrical factors extracted from finite element analysis and experimental results obtained from a modified Arcan test fixture, the mixed-mode cohesive, interfacial, and interlaminar fracture toughness are determined and fracture surfaces obtained are discussed.

This paper explored the dynamics of monetary policy and its effect on private investment, using annual frequency data from 1981 to 2017. The paper employed autoregressive distributive lags methodology to estimate the link between private investment and some selected monetary indicators. Empirical finding shows that broad money supply increases private investment in the long run for the study area. Interestingly, our study shows inverse relationship between exchange rate and private investment. These findings are insightful for policymakers for strategic policy mix construction. Consequently, the study recommends, among other things, proper coordination of monetary and fiscal policies, good macroeconomic policies, proper channeling of financial resources to the private sector and proper measures for controlling inflation.

The study aims to examine the volatility transmission between the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price returns and the U.S. stock market (S&P500 index) returns for the period 2006-2016. In the empirical analyses, univariate GARCH and multivariate GARCH (BEKK-GARCH) models are employed to investigate potential volatility spillover effect of crude oil price returns on the S&P500 index returns or vice versa. The results of GARCH methods reveal that (i) volatility spill-over effect of S&P500 index returns on the crude oil returns is more significant than the volatility spillover effect of crude oil on the S&P500 index returns by using univariate GARCH model; and (ii) there is a one way volatility spillover effect that runs from S&P500 index returns to crude oil returns when we apply multivariate BEKK-GARCH model. These findings have implications for in-vestors and oil-stock portfolio holders for their portfolio decisions in order to manage their risks on their international investments. Further, crude oil investment participants should consider the changes in U.S. stock market index returns in order to predict the expected volatility in the crude oil returns.

This study aims at improving the understandings of the relationship between transformational lead-ership style and employee job satisfaction, considering the gender as the moderator and perceived organizational politics and perceived organizational commitment as mediators among the banking sector employees in North Cyprus. The data were collected through a self-completed questionnaire which was distributed randomly to bank employees in five districts of North Cyprus in 2018. A total of 400 questionnaires were returned and utilized to conduct regression analysis which suggested a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee satisfaction. The findings also indicated that the perceived organizational politics and organizational commitment did play a mediating role on the relationship between transformational leadership style and employee satisfaction. Perception of organizational politics and perceived organizational commitment have an impact of the overall employees’ satisfaction. As suggested by our finding, female and male leaders adopt transformational leadership skills in different ways causing various effects on the level of satisfaction of their employees.

This study focuses on the relationship between perceived corporate reputation and employee’s positive word of mouth intentions with the mediating role of trust in the manager. In addition, the study examines the moderating effect of value congruence between perceived corporate reputation and positive word of mouth behavior. The descriptive approach is applied and to test the research model; a quantitative questionnaire-based survey is used. The survey data are collected from 562 employees across multiple private small and mediumsized enterprises and sectors operating in North Cyprus by using convenience sampling method. In order to test the conceptual framework partial least square (PLS), is used. Some empirical indicators are conducted by using PLS-SEM to examine the reliability and the validity of the study. On analyzing the result, it is observed that the trust in man-agers partially mediates the relationship between perceived corporate reputation and positive word of mouth behavior. The results proved that perceived positive corporate reputation encourages positive word of mouth intentions. The current study fills the gap by analyzing the combined impact of corporate reputation and trust in a manager from the employees' perspective. The results lead to the-oretical and managerial implications related to strategic management.

This article aims to investigate the effect of market-sensing capability among knowledge creation and process and product innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan. We propose that market-sensing capability will influence knowledge creation and process as well as product innovation. The study develops a model that contributes to the flourishing marketing management literature, i.e. the higher the knowledge creation, the higher the performance of SMEs. Data are collated from valid (n=304) respondents of Jordanian SMEs. The study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the analysis and the results indicate a positive effect of market-sensing capability on knowledge creation, and process and product innovation. Knowledge creation process has also maintained a positive effect on process and product innovation. Knowledge creation process mediated the link between market-sensing capability and process and product innovation. The study suggests that market sensing abilities of an enterprise are important for SME’s improvement which requires learning-positioning for firm effectiveness. In addition, managers need to harmonize their procedures concerning market sensing and learning. Future study can streamline the findings with a longitudinal design and insights can be acquired by exploring the impact of environmental factors surrounding strategic entrepreneurial orientation.