The objective of this work was to study the influence of Managerial Empowerment on the enforcement of problem solving and decision-making skills. To test a pertinent set of proposed hypotheses, empirical data were collected from 82 individuals among the administrative employees at Abu Dhabi University via a questionnaire survey. The results assure that the level of administrative empowerment implementation at Abu Dhabi University was average while the elements and dimensions of problem solving and decision-making skills studied were relatively high. At the same time, there was globally a moderate impact of the dimensions of administrative empowerment on enhancing problem solving and decision-making skills among employees of Abu Dhabi University. Taking these results into consideration can be crucial to better understanding the use of empowerment strategy to enhance employees’ managerial skills.

The article aims at studying the theoretical basis and developing a methodological approach for assessing the development of urban infrastructure from the point of view of the use of venture capital. The article explores the tendencies of the development of venture capital investments in the world. Particular attention is paid to comparing volumes of the formal market of venture capital investment in the EU and Ukraine. The emphasis is placed on the fact that venture capital is a way of targeted investment in innovative development and can become a catalyst for the introduction of innovative technologies. It is substantiated that science and education are reliable segments for the diffusion of innovations. The focus is on the functioning of technology parks and it is revealed that they have become the most effective organizational and economic form of integration of science and production among all other innovative structures in the world. The best practices of Ukrainian universities on the commercialization of innovative developments and technology transfer in the domestic and foreign markets are presented. The creation of an innovative educational-production cluster based on the principles of publicprivate partnership in the form of a multilateral treaty union of state authorities and economic entities without unification of deposits is proposed. The results of calculating the accumulative influence of the multiplicative effect from the development of urban infrastructure have been presented and the effectiveness of its influence on the development of the regions of Ukraine economy has been proved.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role for the economic development of most countries, particularly in developing economies such as Kuwait. There are, however, challenges and problems that have to be addressed in an effort to achieve a better performance and ensure longer-term success. In the pursuit of entrepreneurial leadership (EL), SMEs frequently adopt total quality management (TQM) practices as their key strategies to enhance their competitive advantage. However, there is a dearth of studies that investigate the relationship of these concepts with the performance SMEs in developing countries. This paper seeks to examine the association between determinants of organizational performance, such as entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and TQM practices, of Kuwait's SMEs. This study uses a quantitative method. A survey questionnaire is administered to collect data from 500 SME owners and CEOs in Kuwait, and 384 are found to be usable. The outcomes of this study show beneficial and considerable influence of entrepreneurial leadership and TQM practices on organizational performance. The association of entrepreneurial leadership with organizational performance of SMEs is fundamentally mediated by TQM practices.

The major objective of this study is to analyze the effect of the shopping environment and situation as perceived by modern retail shoppers into perceived crowding, store image, and shopping motives toward emotions and repurchase intention in the context of a grocery modern retail. The cross-sectional design method was used in this study, and the data were collected from a customer survey with randomly selected 244 respondents using an online questionnaire. According to the findings the perceived crowding, store image, and shopping motives affected positively on the customer emotions. The perceived crowding was revealed as the most influential variable on the emotions. We also found a direct effect of perceived crowding and store image on repurchase intention. Furthermore, the high-density retail condition shoppers tend to feel pleased with the shopping environment and give a positive appraisal to the store image. But unfortunately, a high-density retail condition could discourage the shoppers to have repurchase intention. Interestingly, when the emotions were used as a mediating variable of perceived crowding and repurchase intention, those independent variables affected on repurchase intention, positively. Therefore, the shoppers' emotions were the most important factor affected on repurchase intention in modern retail. The more they enjoy the shopping environment and situations, the more they are interested in making future purchases.

This paper examines the relationship between the presence of the foreign chief executive officer (CEO) as a director of a firm and firm performance in Saudi Arabia. Performance is measured in terms of a business’ profitability proxy, return on assets (ROA), and the market performance measure, Tobin’s Q. Herein, we use a sample of non-financial companies that have been listed in Saudi Arabia between 2005 and 2016. The results reveal that firms managed by a local CEO outperform firms helmed by their foreign counterparts. They also support the notion that the success of managing directors in emerging markets requires cultural and intercultural skills.

This study selects and employs the model of Dwyer and Kim (2003) [Dwyer, L. & Kim, C. (2003). Destination competitiveness: Determinants and indicators. Current Issues in Tourism, 6(5), 369-414.] to assess the competitiveness of tourist destinations, in particular, the sea and island tourism in Nghe An province of Vietnam in the general development of sea and island tourism; based on the comparison with other similar destinations and top destinations in Vietnam. The study also indicates strengths and weaknesses of the sea and is-land tourism in Nghe An. We collect both qualitative and quantitative data and the results show that Nghe An stands in the middle position among five studied localities, reaching a level between neutral and good. Most of the competitive criteria of Nghe An are a little higher than Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh but much lower than Da Nang and Khanh Hoa. Market demand is viewed as the strongest aspect of the sea and island tourism in Nghe An with criteria brand and the friendly/hospitality of local people, employees and office staff while the results of tourism activities and resources especially natural tourism resources are underestimated.

This study was aimed at investigating the impact of creative accounting methods called “Earnings Manage-ment and Income Smoothing” on earnings per share in the Jordanian industrial companies. The model of Dechow et al. (1995) [Dechow, P. M., Sloan, R. G., & Sweeney, A. P. (1995). Detecting earnings management. Accounting Review, 70(2), 193-225.] was adopted to measure earnings management, and the model of Francis et al. (2004) [Francis, J., LaFond, R., Olsson, P. M., & Schipper, K. (2004). Costs of equity and earnings attributes. The accounting review, 79(4), 967-1010.] was adopted to measure income smoothing. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the analytical quantitative approach was adopted. The study community consisted of the 57 industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). As for the study sample, 36 companies were selected according to the target sample method in the period from 2008 to 2017. The results showed that there was a statistically significant impact of using the creative accounting methods on earnings per share in the industrial companies listed on the ASE, and there was an impact of practicing both earnings management and income smoothing on earnings per share in the industrial companies listed on the ASE. The results also showed that 27.8% of the industrial companies practiced earning management, while 47.2% of the industrial companies practiced income smoothing.

The objective of this research was to identify the role of empowerment in enhancing Safeway Company's performance in Jordan using structural equation model (SEM). The authors used a predictive-descriptive strategy to determine Safeway Company's levels of empowerment. To evaluate the role of empowerment and performance, a questionnaire was designed and circulated. The data were examined using means, standard deviations, and multiple linear regression analyses. Empowerment and its dimensions from the Safeway company workers’ viewpoint were ranked high in this survey. The performance level and its dimensions were also con-sidered high from the Safeway company workers’ perspective. Furthermore, the results suggest that both of the experienced groups showed significant differences regarding their empowerment's and performance per-spective, meaning that employees with less than five years of job experience were more likely to perceive em-powerment and performance, positively. In light of this result, the authors suggested the Safeway Company to increase and improve its performance to obtain customer satisfaction by encouraging employees to provide the company with feedback which improves the provided services to customers.

This paper gives first empirical evidence from Vietnam, an emerging country, on the impact of financing decision on firm performance in Vietnam. The study uses data of 102 non-financial firms listed on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) in the 2008-2018 period. Generalized method of moment (GMM) is employed to overcome drawbacks of the model to assure stable and efficient findings. In this study, return on assets (ROA) is utilized to measure firm performance. Further, financing decision is measured by three indicators: total debt to total assets (TDTA), long-term debt to total assets (LTDTA), and short-term debt to total assets (STDTA). Besides, firm size (SIZE), economic growth (GDP) and inflation rate (INF) are also used as control variables. The paper reveals that firm performance is significantly correlated with financing decision. The findings confirm that the increase in debt use decreases firm performance. Therefore, it is recommended that firms should be chary of using debt to finance business operation as it can lead to bad effects on their performance. The results also report the positive effects of inflation rate on financial development. Accordingly, some strong implications are suggested in order that the authorities and management can develop suitable policies to improve firm performance and aim to a sustainable and steady development.

This paper reports the findings of a study examining the relationship between transformational leadership, work engagement and workplace spirituality of academic employees in four PHEIs in Malaysia. The perceptions of academic employees regarding the transformational leadership style, work engagement and workplace spirituality were assessed in an empirical study on a sample of 369 full-time academic employees working in higher education institutions in Malaysia. The study found a satisfactorily good level of influence between transformational leadership and workplace spirituality and work engagement. The paper also provides insights into enhancing employees work engagement via transformational leaders through their abilities to create work-place spirituality. The findings also provide evidence that transformational leaders play a crucial role in shaping workplace spirituality and employee’s level of work engagement in an emerging country work setting.