This study aims to analyze the role of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and work satisfaction to me-diate the effect of spiritual leadership of employee performance at Bank BRI shariah Malang. There were 154 employees working at Bank BRI Shariah Malang and all were selected as sample for performing the survey. Data was collected directly from respondents using questionnaires and the study is explanatory research type. The analysis used was Partial Least Square. The research results show that Spiritual leadership did not directly influence on employee performance, OCB mediated the effect of spiritual leadership on employee perfor-mance, and job satisfaction mediated the effect of spiritual leadership on employee performance.

This study aims to determine the relationship between the quality of tourism service provided to the customer and the dimensions of the quality of this service in the hotel industry in Al-Kharj governorate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study is accomplished through the use of descriptive analytical method and found a strong correlation between the quality of service provided, and the dimensions of this quality. The study pro-vides several recommendations, the most important of which paying more attention to the training and qualifi-cation of workers in the hotel sector and to strengthen the spirit of the team among them. The study also recommends the need to pay attention to the tangible aspects of hotel services and strengthen the relationship between the service provider and recipients.

The competition in the business world, including banking, is getting tighter. For that, every bank must think of the right strategy to win the competition. One important strategy for winning competition is to prioritize customer satisfaction which is determined by the quality of banking services offered to customers. This study aims to analyze and process proposals for improvement in service quality in terms of using internet banking services based on the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method through the preparation of the House of Quality (HoQ). The study was conducted on 120 internet banking users at the BRI Balikpapan Branch Office in East Kalimantan. From the results of the analysis, it is known that there are 11 indicators of bank internet banking service quality that must be improved as the first priority and 4 indicators as the second priority. Based on the results of data processing using QFD through the preparation of HoQ, it is known that there are 6 priority improvements that must be made by the bank. From the results of this study, it can be seen strategies for improving internet banking services to improve the quality of internet banking services at the BRI Balikpapan Branch Office, namely the added of new online chat features, perform server maintenance, carry out enrolment of new internet banking features, evaluate the process speed of each application feature, conduct regular website feature evaluations every quarter and perform network repair.

This paper empirically assesses the relationship between Deposit Insurance Funds (DIF) and the quality of risk assets of listed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. The entire fifteen listed DMBs in the country as of 31st December, 2017 were focused on and the secondary data were subsequently sourced from the yearly financials of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) for a 29-year period covering from 1989 to 2017. The Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and the Vector Error Correction (VEC) estimation techniques were the basis of estimating the relationship between the variables of interest in this study. Evidence from our analyses indicates that the volume of total deposits and total loans and advances of DMBs have long run negative and statistically significant relationship with DIF. Conversely, the quality of risk assets of DMBs exhibits a positive and insignificant relationship with the target reserve ratio of DMBs. The study thus recommends that regulatory agencies in the banking sector (CBN and NDIC), amongst others, collaborate with listed DMBs to diversify and manage their risk assets by strategically intensifying the implementation of existing measures aimed at minimising incidences of loan default and the alarming levels of non-performing loans in the portfolio of Nigerian DMBs.

For understanding the place of income in smartphone diffusion, this paper aims to find out the dependence of smartphone market indicators on income level worldwide and in the developing economies. The strength of the relationship between above mentioned variables identifies the speed of smartphone diffusion influenced by income. For current purposes, secondary data from 189 countries were analyzed by using Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Chi-square analysis. The results confirmed that income level influences smartphone purchase and diffusion. However, the strength of the relationship between income and smartphone market indicators is diverse globally and in developing countries. In developing countries, the strength of the relationship is smaller in comparison with the overall results. It means that income level has weak moderating effect in smartphone diffusion, and it cannot be considered as a key indicator of smartphone diffusion in developing countries according to results of the analysis in 2016 and the arithmetic mean of 2013-2017 years.

This paper gives insight about the association between market orientation, entrepreneur orientation, learning orientation, technological orientation and access to finance, and SME’s performance in Indonesia. The study provides a clear understanding about the relationships among SME’s performance in Indonesia and market orientation, entrepreneur orientation, learning orientation, technological orientation, and what mediating role financial access plays in this relationship. The study broached that it is apparently essential to identify the strategic variables which may reflect the aforementioned management activities or processes, such as marketing, innovativeness, risk taking, technology and learning culture, which SMEs use and that probably influence their performance. The study is among the pioneering studies on the issues related to the market orientation, entrepreneur orientation, learning orientation, technological orientation, and access to finance in Indonesia. The study uses SEM-PLS as statistical tool to answer the research questions raised in this study and research objectives envisaged in the current study. The findings of the current study have provided support to with the hypothesized results. The study has argued that to deal with the current external opportunities and menaces, new knowledge and skills for improving their existing and future performances must be provided for the organizations. The study will be helpful for policymakers and researchers in examining the link between market orientation, entrepreneur orientation, learning orientation, technological orientation, and access to finance in Indonesia performance of SMEs in Indonesia.

In today's dynamic business landscape, the audit profession encounters numerous obstacles, particularly in adapting to the necessity of computer-assisted audits due to the immense volume of data requiring scrutiny. Despite the emergence of different digital auditing tools, there is a gap in research regarding the level of adoption, and its effects on the quality of audit services especially in the context of developing countries. This study seeks to investigate the impact of digitalization of audit tasks on the quality of audit services of accounting firms in Nigeria. The study, which has its foundation on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) integrated with the Technology, Organization, and Environment (TOE) framework, adopted the survey research design. The population of study was made up practitioners of accounting firms in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria. A self-designed questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection for the study. Findings of the study indicate that automation of audit tasks enhances the quality of audit services suggesting that adopting IT infrastructures leads to more reliable audit procedures, improved efficiency and accuracy, as well as mitigating audit risks. Results also revealed that Big Four auditors are significantly ahead in the adoption of digital technologies compared to the non-Big Four auditors, confirming the dominance of larger accounting firms in application of emerging technologies in performing audit tasks.

Research on stock exchange markets is essential to stock market investors as it offers sensitivities to risk management. This research investigates the patterns of the volatility of stock market prices in ten African stock markets. We estimated the dynamic GARCH model of Engle using the method of maximum likelihood estimation. Daily time series from January 1, 2021 to December 30, 2022, were obtained from African Stock (Securities) Exchange database. The findings established the existence of a normally distributed Senegalese stock market as against time-varying volatility of stock prices in Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Niger Republic, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, and Gambian. Hence, the likelihood that an asset or stock is being overpriced (overvalued) or underpriced (undervalued) in the Senegal stock market is low. It is therefore easier for stock traders and investors in Senegal to pick entry and exit points. Unfortunately, this cannot be said of the investors in stock markets of other countries. In effect, the closing price of a stock is most often heavily deviated with significant outliers. This further infers that variations of stock prices in these markets are very wide, heavy, and unpredicted. Hence, it is a case of the volatility of volatilities.

This paper analyses the causal relationship between Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI), Equities Market Volatility, Exchange Rate and Inflation in Zimbabwe using a monthly time series data between October 2018 and November 2021. The granger causality model was used to present the link between the variables, and EGARCH was used to account for volatility and asymmetric effects on the variables. To incorporate innovations and responses into the Granger model, impulse response functions were used. Links between exchange rate and foreign portfolio investments were found. This only suggests that exchange rate volatility will vary when overseas investors purchase and sell financial securities on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). In contrast, foreign investors sell local financial securities when local stock market returns are negative, leading to a significant outflow of foreign portfolio investment thereby reducing demand for currency. A significant causal relationship was found between the volatility of the exchange rate and stock market returns. It is assumed that stock market returns, and foreign portfolio investments are caused by fluctuating currency rates. The relationship between exchange rate and ZSE returns, and inflation was found based on Granger causality. This implies that stocks are not suitable for long-term investments that compensate investors for their diminished purchasing power. Policy makers should advise the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to recommend a reduction in capital gains tax and withholding tax and this encourages investors to hold local equities for a long time.

This research aims to enhance portfolio selection by integrating machine learning regression algorithms for predicting stock returns with various risk measures. These measures include mean-value-at-risk (VaR) variance (Var), semi-variance mean-absolute-deviation (MAD) and conditional value-at-risk (C-VaR). Addressing gaps in existing literature. Traditional methods lack adaptability to dynamic market conditions. We propose a hybrid approach optimized by genetic algorithms. The study employs multiple machine learning models. These include Random Forest, AdaBoost XGBoost, Support Vector Machine Regression (SVR) K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). These models are used to forecast stock returns. Utilizing monthly data from the Tehran Stock Exchange, the results indicate that the genetic algorithm prediction model combined with mean-VaR, Var semi-variance and MAD, produces the most efficient portfolios. These portfolios offer superior returns with minimized risk compared to other models. This hybrid strategy provides a robust and efficient method for investors aiming to optimize returns while managing risk effectively. To implement this approach successfully it is crucial to balance investments. This involves both traditional and alternative asset classes, ensuring diversification. It also capitalizes on market opportunities. Regular review and adjustment of fund allocation are essential. Maintain an optimized strategy for maximum returns and minimal risk.