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This paper examined the role of supervisor gossip on subordinate job performance. The paper hypothesized that supervisor’s negative and positive gossip influence employee job engagement which in subsequently affects employee job performance. Dyadic research design was used to collect data from a sample of 228 employees and supervisors from Kwa Zulu Natal Government Municipality, South Africa. The employees completed the questionnaire items on supervisor gossip and job engagement, while their supervisors completed the questionnaire items on employee job performance. Data collection was done in three waves.  The study established that positive superior gossip positively and significantly influenced employee job engagement, which positively improved employee job performance; while negative superior gossip had a positive, but insignificant effect on employee job engagement.  The study was limited by the multicultural nature of the municipality as well as the causality issues and common method biases associated with research design. Having managed to utilize Social Exchange Theory (SET) in disentangling the supervisor-subordinate reciprocal communication web, the study proposes that supervisors should inculcate effective strategies of utilizing both positive and negative gossip in the workplace so as to increase positive employee outcomes. Negative gossip will cause tension, stress and mistrust among employees, while positive gossip will lead to creation of workplace antagonism and competition. This study attempted to assess the implication of supervisor gossip on employee job engagement and performance in the public service sector, whose employees are characterized with high job security as compared to their peers in the private sector.

The Indonesian government is now seriously exploring in depth the proposed tax imposition for e-commerce. In this context, this paper will discuss the following issues: the first, if Indonesian government should impose the tax on e-commerce; the second, how much the potential tax revenue from e-commerce is; and the third, how Indonesian fiscal policy perspective views e-commerce taxation. The study in this paper adopts a descriptive analytical research method. The study concludes several points. Indonesia should tax its e-commerce. The total potential tax revenue on e-commerce from VAT and income tax in 2018 ranges from almost Rp11.75 trillion to Rp16.64 trillion, with VAT dominates the contribution up to more than 90% of the total tax revenue. By not levying the tax in the year means Indonesian government will lose a partial or the most of tax revenue. The revenue loss is potentially getting bigger in the coming years if the government still fails to collect the tax. E-commerce taxation should not be strictly enforced in the beginning, yet more is emphasized on socialization and education actions. It is also intended to help the online platform to be compliant. Tax policy in e-commerce can be used for the purpose of regulating the economy, such as to control excessive online import purchasing.

The article presents an action research process for the improvement of Vocational Guidance and Career Education in a school center in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands). The research perspective, from a collaborative and critical work, responds to the need to improve the teaching-learning practice. Priority is given to the ulterior need to improve learning for all students and increase the impact of their journey through school by means of an educational attention and guidance based on a curriculum project with an integrated and global Career Education and Guidance. Finally, results, process and conclusions are displayed of the two years of critical action research carried out by the different educational agents participating.

The previous research reveals the significant influence of entrepreneurial competencies on entrepreneur's performance. This finding indicates that there should be further exploration of entrepreneurial competencies. This study aims to determine the entrepreneurial competencies regarding the process. Moreover, this research uses the quantitative approach with non-parametric structural equation modeling. The population of this study is the creative industry in Bandung. The research samples are 119 entrepreneurs in the creative industry. This study finds that some competencies are the components that create the entrepreneurial competencies of creative industries entrepreneurs in Bandung. The components are Relationship Competencies, Opportunity Competencies, Strategic Competencies, Human Competencies and Personal Strength Competencies. The research implication recommends increasing the value of the creator's components of entrepreneurial competencies.  Hence, they have implications on the performance of MSMEs in the sector of creative industry in Bandung.

This research aim as analyzing the influence of community behaviour on the quality of tourism services at Toba Lake North Sumatera. The method of research used mixed between quantitative and the qualitative research. Research sample were taken from 120 head of family at Toba Lake North Sumatera. The technique of data collection of research used documentation study, questionnaires, interviews and observations. The technique data analysis used Simple and Multiple Regression Analysis. The research results showed that there was positive and significant influence between community behavior on the quality of tourism services at Toba Lake North Sumatera. The recommendations of the research stated that it was important to enhance the quality of tourism services by enhancing knowledge, attitude and action about the quality of tourism services so that the quality of tourism services will be increased, and it need to establish tourism school at the Toba Lake North Sumatera

Increasing globalization of the healthcare sector indicates that there are new opportunities for emerging markets to take a bigger share from the whole healthcare industry. This is realized in the form of medical tourism where people prefer to travel to different destinations to receive medical treatments and services. Medical tourists prefer to travel for several reasons like low cost, high quality care or shorter waiting periods. The industry is growing rapidly and the annual expenditure is estimated to be around US$ 30 billion at the end of 2019. The challenging amount of expenditure whets the appetite of the countries and competitiveness becomes crucial to take more market share in this respect. Therefore the factors that build up competitiveness is identified and assessed thoroughly. This paper makes a literature review on the subject and recommends a New research opportunity for Turkey in this field.

Manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the breeding ground for human capital competencies, creativity and innovation, which are important inputs for manufacturing competitiveness. In Kenya, manufacturing SMEs contribute 14% of gross domestic product (GDP), and train and employ 30% of the workforce. However, their growth and competitiveness are undermined by challenges in the firms’ operations management. Consequently, the firms struggle to survive as competitive enterprises, both domestically and globally. The purpose of this study was to establish how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) enhances the relationship between operations management and firm performance. Quantitative primary data were collected from managers of 83 firms registered by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers in the food and beverage sub-sector using a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data for relationships between the study variables. The study found a positive relationship between operations management and EO, and between EO and firm performance. The study also found that EO is a mediator of the relationship between operations management and performance of manufacturing SMEs in Kenya. The study recommends that for manufacturing SMEs to effectively deploy operations management competencies and gain global competitiveness, they must engage EO as a strategy to foment organisational experimentation and exploration and commercialize the resultant innovations. At the macroeconomic level, the government should support manufacturing SMEs through enactment and promotion of policies that enable operations managers to exploit their firm’s EO stock.

An important objective of business research is to understand how organizational practices can influence consumer attitude and behaviors in order to help achieve organizational goals via consumer purchase intention. It was proposed and found in this study that consumers’ perceptions of certain Corporate Social Irresponsible (CSI) practices serves as antecedents of consumer purchase intention (PI) via corporate reputation (CR) and consumer attitude (CA). On the one hand, this finding may help understand the “black box” between CSI practices and PI. On the other hand, while CR refers to customers’ evaluations of the reputation of the organization and CSI represent a significant channel the organization uses to channel its irresponsible behavior to the community, CR and CA literatures have not comprehensively examined the effect of CSI practices on consumers CA and CR beliefs.  The findings in the hierarchical regression from a sample of 455 consumers of products in a large corporate organization in Kenya as a study documenting a negative association between CSI practices and CR and CA with PI suggests that consumers draw inferences from the CSI-related treatment they receive in assessing the supportiveness of the organization. By implementing CSI practices that demonstrate the organization does not care about the community and values their contribution, organizations are likely to be perceived as engaging in a high level of irresponsible behaviour. The results of this study add to our knowledge about the antecedents of CR and CA. Moreover, this study bridges the gap in the literature, by combining CSI, CR, CA and PI.

The Efficient Market Hypothesis, developed by Fama, is a market in which prices reflect the current information and where abnormal returns are not possible. In case the securities value reflects the information fully, the existence of the efficient market is mentioned. Within the framework of market mechanism, if these concepts are not sufficient, behavioral finance has emerged focusing on the effect on stock prices. A brand is a symbol, a name or a combination of a merchandise for distinguishing it from the like.Owning a brand is more than a logo or symbol.The brand covers the entire business and affects the perception of customers. Brand value is the value of the brand's name, symbol and reputation.. Thus, the arrangements within the company that can be useful within the company could be done in a timely manner. Creating a brand and brand value has been a powerful competitive tool for businesses.Brand Finance, covers Turkey's most valuable 100 brands. To measure the strength and value of these brands, it annually determines the value of the world's largest brands and publishes its ranking. In this research, the effects of the increase, decrease and constant brand power on the share prices of companies listed in the BIST 100 index in the list of Brand Finance Turkey 100 in the years 2012-2017 were analyzed. According to the findings, it is seen that the changes in brand ranking have an effect on market performance of firms.
  

Application of IAS 41-Agriculture in developed countries contrast with agricultural  entities conditions in developing countries especially for Indonesia. The adoption of IAS 41 makes DSAK-IAI issue PSAK 69 Agriculture intended for agricultural entities so that they can measure and record related biological assets of a company. However, the application of PSAK 69 to agricultural companies also facing problems such as changes in accounting treatment especially for accounting method which are changed form historical value to fair value. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of accounting treatment of biological asset in Jember plantation companies in state-owned plantation companies in Jember and Bondowoso regencies, namely PTPN 12 and PTPN 11 (PG Pradjekan). The methode used was descriptive qualitative. The researchs showed that differences in biological assets of each company can cause differences in the recording of biological assets. The differences between the two companies are in terms of plant type, plant age and costs incurred in each type of plant. However, in other cases, the accounting treatment of biological assets in PTPN 11 (PG Pradjekan) and PTPN 12 has similarity on recording biological assets at acquisition cost method. This study shows that currently both companies are still  used accounting records with a historical value approach that accumulates all costs incurred from the nursery process until the plants are transformed into yielding crops.
  

In the globalization and ASEAN Economic Community era, the competitiveness of Indonesian industries to sell goods and services is facing more severe challenges. It is partly due to the low performance of Indonesian logistics sector, and one of the contributing factors to the unsatisfactory logistics is poor logistics infrastructure. In this regard, this paper has several research objectives. The first is to analyze the performance of Indonesia logistics infrastructure in the past decade. The second is to analyze Indonesian logistics infrastructure development with its relevant fiscal policy support and evaluate its short-term progress. The research method adopted in this study is descriptive analytical method. In comparison with other countries, especially ASEAN region, the performance of Indonesian logistics infrastructure over the past decade tends to be steadily incompetitive, below the average of ASEAN countries. It is found to be one of the prime determinants of the high logistics costs in Indonesia. The government serious attention and the consistency of its policy towards improving logistics infrastructure during the 2014-2019 period has been partially seen, but the program sustainability is required in subsequent periods. In the short term, a temporary evaluation until 2017 of the sea toll program integrated with the construction of logistics infrastructure shows a positive impact. The positive impact is indicated from the decreasing prices of basic necessities in the eastern region of Indonesia by 20%-40%, and the economic revival of Eastern Indonesia region due to currently cheaper transportation costs.

<p><em>Globally, small and medium-size enterprises(SMEs) hold great economic growth potential, however their mortality rate is high, due to lack of credit. The SMEs mortality rate in Kenya is 90% by the second year. Scholarly endeavors to explore the influence of alternative finance (AF) on operational characteristics - efficiency nexus have received little attention, more so for SMEs who have unique financial needs. Although AF appears to be the preferred mode of financing and maintaining start-ups, its impact on the survival, growth and success of manufacturing SMEs is not well documented in Kenya.  This study focused on establishing the influence of alternative financing on the relationship between firm-size and efficiency of SMEs in Kenya. The study used a cross-sectional research design. The target population was SMEs registered with Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). The accessible population was 136 SMEs owner/managers. The study used a self-administered semi structured questionnaire to collect primary and secondary data. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure efficiency of SMEs, multiple regression modeling to analyze relationships and hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis was used to assess the influence of the moderator. The findings revealed that firm-size positively (β = 0.214, t-value =4.983, P<0.05.) influences efficiency and that alternative finance does moderate (R-Square change 11.1 %) firm size relationships with efficiency. The study recommends that owner/managers of manufacturing SMEs in Kenya should give attention to opportunities for sustainable increase in firm size to improve their efficiency.</em></p>

This paper observes the impact of working capital management on profitability of industrial sector in Iraq. Four companies based in Iraq namely: Iraqi Date processing, Iraqi carton manufactories, Baghdad soft drinks and Iraqi for tufted carpets randomly selected and analyzed for the present study over the period 2007 to 2016.  Annual reports of these companies have been studied and significant ratios calculated. The variables that were identified as independent for working capital were, current ratio and quick ratio, while return on equity ROE as dependent variable for profitability. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) model used to examine the impact of working capital management on profitability. Results indicate that ROE is positively related with working capital variables.

The success of SMEs is determined by the business capital and able to give value added to the business more productively. Various financing pattern schemes for SMEs have been provided in various regions and all economic sectors. However, the development of SMEs credit is still concentrated in several regions in Indonesia this can lead to inequality in the growth of SMEs. This study aims to analyze the convergence of absolute beta and conditional beta in the Provinces in Indonesia and calculate the half-time or time required to achieve steady-state conditions of the SME credit convergence process. Convergence test used is beta conditional convergence and absolute convergence with the monthly time period during 2017.1 until 2017.7. The determinant of SMEs convergence of credit in Indonesia is a number of third-party funds. The model used is dynamic panel data regression and the estimation method used is Arellano-Bond Generalized Method of Moment (AB-GMM). The results of the study show that during the study period, there has been a convergence credit process in Indonesia for both absolute and conditional convergence models. The conditional beta-convergence model provides a smaller beta value than the absolute model. The speed of credit growth convergence between provinces in Indonesia with half-time of 6.94 months for the absolute model and the half-time of 6.96 months for the conditional model

Worldwide, Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) exhibit inimitable financial needs. While SMEs remain fundamental to economic growth, their mortality rate in Kenya approaches 90% by the second year, mainly owing to lack of credit. However, scholarly endeavors exploring the impact of alternative finance (AF) on managerial competency - efficiency nexus for manufacturing SMEs have received little attention in Kenya. To resolve this conundrum, a thorough study to investigate how AF impacts managerial competency - efficiency nexus is necessary. The study used a cross-sectional research design, employing both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The target population was 171 SMEs registered with Kenya Association of Manufacturers. The accessible population was 136 SMEs owners/managers. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary and secondary data. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure efficiency, multiple regression modeling used to analyze the direct relationships while hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis employed to test moderation. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to test robustness of our results. The findings of this study demonstrate that managerial competency positively influences efficiency (? = 0.150, t-value =10.246, P<0.05), and that alternative finance does moderate managerial competency relationships with efficiency (R-Square change of 21.7%). We suggest trainings for manufacturing SME owners/managers in Kenya on the pivotal role of alternative finance to facilitate SMEs achieve higher efficiencies and accelerate economic growth.

Globally, countries are strategically positioning themselves for market leadership due to dynamic business environment. Entrepreneurial spirit is seen as the strategy that will deliver this agenda.  This spirit, is believed to be behind the innovative business that revolutionizes the business world. In a dynamic and complex environment, the success of any business is pegged on the entrepreneurial operations of a firm.  Entrepreneurial-oriented firms have been proven to be ahead of competition because they are always introduced new products and services and in turn improve their financial results. Scholars believe that learning and development can occur amongst people who actively engage in a common enterprise. This makes learning empowering and productive and thus sustains entrepreneurial orientation. This in turn produces communities of entrepreneurial practice. The role of the entrepreneurial manager is to nurture communities of growth-oriented firms where entrepreneurial learning takes place. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between entrepreneurial management and performance of incubator centres in Kenya. The study used a correlation design because it focused on a causal-effect relationship. The study population was 41 incubator managers in Kenya. After missing data analysis two respondents were expunged leaving 39 respondents. Secondary data was obtained from published sources such as company reports, manuals and research done by other scholars. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the measurement model and test the hypothesized relationship in this study.  Simple linear regression model was used to measure the strength of the relationship between entrepreneurial management and performance incubator centre in Kenya. The joint effect model results indicated that entrepreneurial management had a significant relationship with performance of incubator centre.

Business incubators are regarded as entrepreneurial hubs, unleashing entrepreneur’s ideas and businesses into the market, in turn, jobs are created and the economy of the area is improved. Due to the stiff competition for placement into an incubator program it is imperative for incubator management come-up with strategies of being more efficient and effective in utilizing resources to achieve superior performance. Hence the need to critically select clients, whose ideas fit the incubator’s mission and upon graduation create high growth businesses, with a higher survival rate of 90%. The study is anchored on Resource Based Theory. The study used a correlation design that focused on causal relationship of client selection criteria and incubator centre performance (ICP). The study population was 41 incubator managers in Kenya. After missing data analysis two respondents were expunged leaving 39 respondents. Secondary data was obtained from published sources such as company reports, manuals and research done by other scholars. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the measurement model and test the hypothesized relationship in this study. Simple linear regression model was used to measure the strength of the relationship between client selection criteria and performance incubator centre in Kenya. The results of the combined effect model indicated that client selection criteria had a significant relationship with performance of incubator centres.

Based on the sayings of “Finance is the mother of civil affairs” and “Tax revenue is the context of national economy”, a healthy tax system based on the alternating utilization of central and local tax systems is essential for achieving the administration by law and tax balance. In light of this, the Ministry of Finance has proposed the improvement project of “Income Tax on the Consolidated Income from House and Land Transactions”. The third reading of “Amendment of Tax Act of Consolidated House and Land Taxation System” was passed by the Legislative Yuan on June 5th, 2015, and it was promulgated on January 1st, 2016. The purpose of this study is to investigate the content of “Income Tax on the Consolidated Income from House and Land Transactions”, including: 1. Is separate taxation a proper move? 2. Is the sunrise term appropriate? 3. Is it necessary to have the “anti-misuse” term? 4. The tax exemption of NT$ 4 million? 5. The effectiveness of tax revenue after suspension of luxury tax (also known as special sales tax) and the adoption of income tax on consolidate income from house and land? 6. Is it feasible for allocate tax revenue for expenditures of residential policy and long-term care? 7. Is the income tax on consolidated income from house and land in compliance with the principle of proportionality? This study is based on in-depth interview method along with literature review method for data collection and analysis. The results of this study indicate that: a separate taxation system is not appropriate in terms of income redistribution; the opposing party believes that sunrise terms are not appropriate; in theory the anti-misuse term - non-voluntary factors tax rate is not necessary; all interviewees agreed on the tax exemption of NT$ 4 million ; and the income tax on consolidated income from house and land is not in compliance with the principle of proportionality from the perspective of tax revenue.

<p><em>This study focused on the factors influencing the use of agency banking by the residents of Makueni Sub-County, Kenya. The researcher was guided by four objectives; firstly, to determine the influence of agent characteristics on the use of agency banking by the residents of Makueni Sub-County, secondly, to determine the influence of the banking products offered by bank agents on the use of agency banking by the residents of Makueni Sub-County, thirdly, t</em><em>o establish the influence of agents’ operating hours on the use of agency banking by the residents of Makueni Sub-County and fourthly, to determine the influence of the banks’ location on the use of agency banking by the residents of Makueni Sub-County. </em><em> The study used descriptive survey design and the target population was 276 bank customers in Makueni Sub-County. The respondents were selected using stratified and convenience sampling. Data was collected 255 respondents using questionnaires. Data analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of statistical package for social scientists (SPSS). Qualitative data was analyzed thematically according to the study objectives. The findings of the study revealed that there was a strong positive correlation and a significant relationship between the agency characteristics and use of agency banking, agency banking products and use of agency banking, operating hours and use of agency banking and location of mainstream bank and the use of agency banking. The multiple regression analysis results showed that the banking products had a significant prediction of the use of agency banking by the residents of Makueni Sub-County. This study recommends that diversification of the products and services provided by the banking agencies in the study area as well as further research in the area to find out other factors influencing the use of agency banking.</em></p>

The objective of this study is to assess the role of internal auditors in both private and public organizations found in limma zone purposively selected weredas. Both primary and secondary data have been used. Totally 128 self administered questionnaires were distributed to members of the audit committee or equivalent found in both the public and private enterprises in the study area. From this 100 (78 % response rate) questionnaires were completely filled and returned (77questionnaires from public organizations and 23 from the private companies). Collected data was edited, coded, and entered into the computer using SPSS 20 and was then scored. Data analyses are conducted through a descriptive statistics to provide details regarding the roles played by internal auditors. The major finding of the research shows that some of the private and public organization in the case study did not have an audit committee, audit charter and the members of the audit committee did not have a professional certificate in the field. On average, even though the chief audit executive and the internal auditors of both the private and public organization found in jimma zone selected weredas are playing different activities in the organizations, as compared to the standard, they are not playing their role as expected. Based on these findings the organizations are recommended to enhance the role of internal auditors through training of staff in accredited institutes at home and abroad, preparing a comprehensive charter that incorporate all the activities of internal auditing.