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Short-term debt is regarded as an important source of financing for Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is because it can be easily accessed and useful during times of emergent working capital shortage. However, short-term debt is the least researched among the components of capital structure, which explains why its contribution to the financial performance of small and medium-sized businesses still lacks empirical validation especially in the Ugandan context. This paper sought to determine the effect of short-term debt on financial performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Uganda. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design to collect and analyse the data. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select SMEs while purposive sampling technique was used to select one key respondent from each of the sampled 453 SMEs in Uganda. Primary data was collected using survey questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression analysis. The findings indicted that short-term debt had a negative and significant effect on financial performance of SMEs as measured by return on assets. The study provides empirical evidence to support the propositions in the extant literature that short-term debt significantly hampers financial performance of SMEs. The study recommends that SMEs should adopt low cost operation procedures to improve profitability. This would lead to accumulated profits that can be used for investment purposes as a means of driving growth among the SMEs without resorting to borrowing. This paper suggests that further research should be conducted to establish the justification for the negative and significant effect of short-term debt on financial performance using qualitative approaches.

This letter examines the ethics of a “sting” paper submitted by Dr. Albana Berisha Qehaja, a faculty member of the Department of Management and Informatics, Faculty of Economy, University of Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo. In that paper, which stung this journal, IJRBS, Dr. Qehaja created a fake paper, with a fake name and fake institutional affiliation, as well as specially crafted email and ORCID accounts to masquerade the identity of the true author of the fake paper, namely Dr. Qehaja. Such behavior is not only an act of extreme scholarly malpractice, it is one of the most unethical behaviors in academic publishing because it violates all of the journal’s and international ethics’ practices for submission of a paper to a journal. Other academics thinking of employing such unethical tactics for any publishing-related objective should reconsider their options and carefully calculate the ethical, legal, and possibly criminal consequences of such actions

This study examines the effects of the effectiveness of the internal control system (ICS) on crisis management skills (before, during, and after the crisis) in the event of a disaster through the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Fire Service Department.   Methodologically, a comprehensive survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 251 workers of the IMM fire service department located on the Anatolian side of Istanbul. Statistic Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 used to analyze data by running among other reliability tests, T-Test, ANOVA, and Regression analysis.  The results of the study indicated that ICS of the Fire Service Department of IMM showed high levels of effectiveness in the event of a disaster and that the institution has a high level of crisis management skills. In addition, the study found that a high positive relationship existed between ICS and Crisis Management Skills of the IMM fire service department before, during, and after the crisis in the event of a disaster. Finally, the study revealed that, ICS has a positive and high impact on IMM crisis management skills before, during, and after the crisis, and that the effectiveness of ICS had increased the crisis management skills of the institution.

In recent years, feeling lonely in the workplace has become a serious issue that has gained growing concern due to its complex outcomes. Limited research is available on workplace loneliness and empirical research on workplace loneliness is still in infancy. The purpose of this quantitative research study is to determine whether a positive relationship exists between workplace loneliness and employee creativity in the tourism industry of Maldives. I propose a moderated mediation model in which workplace loneliness foster employee creativity via personal identity and knowledge hiding hinders it, and this effect is moderated by team identification. Role transition and social identity theory are used as an explanatory framework for workplace loneliness and employee creativity. Results from a study of 204 individuals show that workplace loneliness is positively and significantly related to employee creativity. Further analysis identified that personal identity is positively and significantly related to the relationship between workplace loneliness and employee creativity. The discussion concludes that a subjective and personal experience; workplace loneliness can foster employee creativity. These results contribute to the literature on creativity and workplace loneliness by clarifying how and what influences of workplace loneliness are related to employee creativity. Recommendation for further research are give

Employee retention has become a key focus of the human resource professional agenda. Organizations and schools have come to the conclusion that money could be saved by reducing employee turnover. However, studies have been inconclusive on motivating factors that lower employee retention. The main objective of this study was to determine the influence of motivation on the retention of employees in secondary schools in Kenya. Based on an exhaustive review of literature, three constructs of motivation were taken into consideration namely management. The major hypothesis of the study was that motivation significantly influences the retention of teachers in private secondary schools. To test the hypothesis, three sub-hypotheses were developed; compensation significantly influences employee retention; supervision significantly influences employee retention and psychological contract significantly influences employee retention.  A mixed methodology approach was adopted and data was collected using a structured questionnaire and a structured interview guide. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, correlation analysis, and linear regression were applied to test the research hypotheses. The regression results indicate that motivation is causing a 7.0 percent variation in retention, implying a weak relationship. The weak relationship can be explained by poor salaries, authoritarian supervision, and breach of the psychological contract. 

The Human Development Index (HDI), which measures a country’s human development level, considering the health, education and income indicators of countries has been published in the Human Development Report each year since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme. Norway, which is a highly developed country, was at the top of the Human Development Index. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate Norway’s human development performance. In this context, the relationship between human development and economic growth has been examined at empirical level for Norway for the period between 1990-2017. In the study, firstly, ADF and PP unit root tests were performed. Then, Granger causality analysis was applied. According to the results of Granger causality analysis there is a one-way causality relationship from human development to economic growth.

This research aims to analyze the impact of efficient working capital management on the profitability of the manufacturing firm in Bangladesh. Fifty-two manufacturing companies listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) have been selected randomly from 2012 to 2017. Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are used as indicators of profitability, while the inventory conversion period (ICP), the average collection period (ACP), the average payment period (APP), and the Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) are used as the independent variables which are used as a measurement of working capital management of the firm. Ordinary Least Squares regression models and Pearson's Correlation are used to establish the relationship between working capital management and profitability. The results revealed a significant negative relation between ROA and CCC, ACP; a significant negative relationship exists between ROE and CCC, APP. Manufacturing companies can increase profitability by decreasing the cash conversion cycle, average payment period, and average collection period. It also revealed that ICP is also positively related to ROA and ROE. Therefore, this research concludes that efficiently and effectively managing working capital is very important for increasing manufacturing companies' profitability.

This study examined the effect of implementing Nine Year Basic Education (9YBE) policy on secondary school internal efficiency. The study followed descriptive design. Data on students’ enrolments and repetitions for consecutive school years, cohort 2014/15 and 2017/18, were collected from all five lower secondary schools in Ngoma and Tumba Sectors using survey questionnaire. Besides, focus group discussions (FGDs) were used to collect views of head-teachers on the study variables. The reconstructed cohort flow analysis technique was used to determine indicators of internal efficiency. Summary statistics are presented in tables. Qualitative data from FGDs were analysed through thematic content analysis with consideration of similarities and differences. The findings revealed (i) a positive change in students' promotion and repetition rates, (ii) students’ survival rate to the last grade increased to 69.39% for the cohort 2017/18 from 50.72% for the cohort 2014/15 and (iii) wastage ratio declined from 1.62 for cohort 2014/15 to 1.33 for cohort 2017/18. Thus, school efficiency rose to 75.19% in 2017/18. Head-teachers attributed the positive change in internal efficiency indicators to the combination of 9YBE interventions including removal of school fees, school feeding, and flexibility in student progression and increasing day secondary school in proximity of home. However, persistent high dropout rates indicated that the implementation of 9YBE policy had not alleviated all disruptive forces against students’ participation rates. It was therefore suggested to relook at policy interventions to address individual students’ challenges at school and household levels and the management of older children in the school system.

Mindfulness which is based on one’s acceptance of the current situation and state without judging has recently manifested itself in various field studies of marketing.  Similarly, in today’s changing conditions, the importance of ecological balance has made consumers and businesses more sensitive to sustainable product production and consumption. In this context, the aim of the study is to explore the relationship between consumer mindfulness and sustainable consumption behavior. In order to test relationships, 200 usable questionnaires were collected and tested through linear regression analysis. Findings indicated that consumers’ mindfulness has a significantly positive effect on consumers’ sustainable consumption behavior.

The COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated to continue to the year 2022 and could lead to several business failures if entrepreneurs do not respond adequately. Thus, the purpose of this study is to introduce a framework that captures the impacts and potential responses to the ongoing pandemic. To do that, we conducted telephone interviews with ten entrepreneurs who operate enterprises within Nigeria. Data collected for analysis were transcribed, chronologically arranged, coded, and thematically analyzed using NVivo. Our findings revealed that, during the pandemic, businesses experienced limited opening hours, a decline in their clients' patronage, lower turnover, and employee demotivation. In response, business owners should consider re-strategizing their business activities, maintaining connections with clients, and exploiting available support measures. Our findings have profound theoretical and practical implications. For entrepreneurs and policymakers, they offer insights into the form of challenges confronting businesses during a pandemic. It also provides response activities that entrepreneurs could adopt to mitigate the impact of an epidemic on their enterprises’ performance. For the field of entrepreneurship, it advances the need to integrate public health (health-related issues) into entrepreneurship study and consider its multiple levels of influence on the performance of businesses.

This paper attempts to reveal how several credit risk factors are affecting the profitability of commercial banks considering the econometric models estimated with Random effect, Fixed effect, Pooled OLS and Cross-sectional Generalized least square (GLS) method followed by dynamic panel data model estimated with one-step GMM (generalized methods of moments) approach to incorporate the issue of endogeneity, unobserved heterogeneity and profit persistence of data set collected from annual report of banks covering from year 2010 to 2019 in Bangladesh. We have also adopted several diagnostic checks such as Model specification test, test of heteroskedasticty, cross sectional dependence test followed by test of autocorrelation and unit root test to examine the validity of the models selected for this study. The first part of our empirical investigation of the estimated models considering all methods reveals that out of all the independent credit risk factors such as Total loans to total assets ratio, Total loans to equity ratio, NPL to total loans, NPL to Total equity ratio, Provision for loan losses to total equity, total equity to total assets ratio, Total loans to total deposits ratio and provision for loan losses to NPL ratio, only provision for loan losses to NPL ratio is significantly affecting the dependent variable measured with NIM (Net interest margin) ratio of banks under fixed effect method. The next part of our empirical results of estimated models considering same methods divulges that NPL to total loans ratio, NPL to Total equity ratio and Provision for loan losses to total equity are also significantly affecting the dependent variable measured with ROE (Return on equity) of banks. The third segment of our empirical findings of estimated models considering same approaches shows that only NPL to total loans ratio is statistically significant under all methods but the NPL to total equity ratio is significant under fixed effect and GLS method and Provision for loan losses to total equity is significant under GLS method only in explaining the changes in ROA (Return on equity) measuring profitability of banks. Further investigation reveals that the dynamic impact of the said credit risk factors on profitability measured with ROE of banks has been successfully adopted by one-step system GMM approach considering all conditions required for estimation.

In the current era, digital technology cannot be overlooked in higher education and other economic factors. Digital technology introduces scopes that expedite blended, e-learning, and online in higher education; suggests a multiple of ways to communicate, learn, correspond, cooperate, and collaborate. Also, digital technology has been more and more widely used in higher education for the continuous development of the economy. This study replicates on the growing importance of digital technology on higher education in Bangladesh over the period 1988-2018. Besides, the study exploits the Johansen cointegration and vector error correction model (VECM) for investigating the positive relationship between digital technology and higher education. The Johansen's cointegration outcomes ascertain that digital technology, higher education, and gross domestic product are cointegrated in the long-run. Furthermore, the VECM outcomes suggest that digital technology can stimulate higher education in both the long run and short run, where learners, educators, and nations are consistently gainer of this country. The study also highlights that higher education consistently contributes to gross domestic product. This research would do twisting up higher education in the kind of digital technology that effectively contributes to educational institutions and countries to remain long-term response. Bangladesh must be beneficial by growing technological development in higher education. For the rapid changes in higher education, the research is advocated that the successful execution of digital technology needs to concentrate on interconnecting structures for transformation: the educator, the educational institutions, and the policymakers. Consequently, public policies would make educational changes in practicing the digital technology of Bangladesh

It is through education where a foundation for growth, groundwork on which most of our social and economic well-being is developed. This study sought to establish the influence of teaching and learning materials available on the development of pupils in upper primary schools in Karunga Zone, Gilgil Sub County. Teaching and learning materials are devices and aids through which learning and teaching are done in schools. The study was anchored on the Theory of Instruction and adopted the descriptive research design. The target population was 587 teachers of primary schools in Karunga zone, Gilgil Sub County from which a sample of 100 teachers were selected using the stratified random sampling method. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that teaching and learning materials availability (r= .652, p .000; ?= .751, p .000) has a positive and statistically significant influence on the development of pupils in upper primary. Based on this finding, the study recommends that the government of Kenya through the Ministry of Education Science and Technology should improve the availability of teaching and learning resources in public primary schools in order to promote optimal development of pupils.

This study aims to determine the demographic factors that affect lecturer publication performances in Indonesia. This study employs data from 658 lecturers in the faculties of economics and business from 7 universities in Indonesia. Data of lecturer profile consisting of academic rank, administrative position, highest education, the country where lecturers received their degrees (overseas or regional), age, work years, and gender was collected from the Ministry of Research online database. To find out the relationship of these factors on the performance of lecturers' publications, multivariate regression analysis with a 95% confidence level was carried out and followed by the Tukey test. Academic rank, highest education, and the university where the lecturer received their degree had a significant influence (p-value <0.05) on the 3-years and overall publication performance. Gender and administrative positions only have a significant effect on the 3-years publication performance, while age and work years did not significantly influence publication performance. The results of this study can be used by lecturer management policymakers in developing countries to make appropriate strategies in developing lecturer resources. Due to the limitations of the factors tested, the results of this study have not been able to fully explain the performance of publications lecturers in Indonesia. Regression equation r-squared value of 3-year version 1, version 2, overall version 1, and version 2 are 18,15%, 21,73%, 24,54%, and 23,51% respectively. Subsequent research needs to be done with a more comprehensive analysis of factors so that it can be identified factors that are almost the performance of lecturer publications in Indonesia.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in tax revenues, the number of taxpayers who pay, and submit tax reports before and after the tax volunteer program. The period before tax volunteers is in March 2018 - February 2019 and the period after tax volunteers is in March 2019 - March 2020. This research took place at the Pratama tax office in Badung Selatan. The data in this study were analyzed using an independent t-test. The results of this study indicate that there is no difference in the amount of tax revenue and the number of taxpayers who submit tax reports, but there are differences in the number of taxpayers who pay taxes before and after tax volunteers. The data contribution from research can be used as a basis for the Directorate General of Taxation to be able to evaluate the system that has been used and whether the presence of tax volunteers can also help in increasing taxpayer compliance. Also, it will become a reference for the Directorate General of Taxation in making decisions to make policy in the field of taxation, including creating another taxation system that will facilitate taxpayers in their tax obligations and expand the scope of tax volunteers in areas that have not been reached to date.

This study aimed to determine financial and non-financial factors influencing future cash flow and their impacts on company's financial distress. This study uses earnings, cash flow from operations, accrual components, working capital (financial), inflation (nonfinancial) as independent variables that are thought to have an effect on future cash flow. In addition, this research also suspects that there is an impact of this influence on company financial distress. The sample used in this study was 30 food and beverage manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2015. Hypothesis testing, in this research, used Structural Equation Model (SEM) method with AMOS 24 statistic. The result showed that earnings, accrual component, and working capital had a significant positive effect on future cash flow. Furthermore, cash flow from operation had significant negative effect on future cash flow, but inflation did not affect company's future cash flow. These results indicate that financial variables have a significant effect, both positive and negative, on the company's future cash flow. Meanwhile, non-financial variables have no significant effect. Other test resulted that future cash flow had a significant negative effect on financial distress. Based on the results of this study, it can be seen that stakeholders, especially investors, really pay attention to the company's financial performance compared to non-finance. This is due to the significant influence of financial variables on the company's future cash flow and it can have an impact on financial distress. Therefore, future research is expected to explore other financial factors that affect the company's future cash flow, for example, the company's financial risk.

Employees are the backbone of the hospitality industry, and the people in service are inseparable from the service they provide. This research investigated the influence of employer-employee relationships on service quality in the hospitality industry in Nakuru County, Kenya. Descriptive design was used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data through the use of questionnaires and interview guide as the key informants. The target population was 73 respondents comprising of 55 employees’ operational employees and 18 supervisors at Nuru Palace and the Legacy Hotel in Nakuru County. The findings also reveal that coaching and mentorship as well as mutual trust between employees and their superiors affect service quality positively.  The study recommends that hospitality establishments should facilitate more on job training and provide technical support to their employees. They should also work on establishing trust between the management and the workforce.

Transformational leadership is critical because of its contribution to organizational positive outcomes such as improved performance, motivation, and employee job satisfaction. Existing empirical and extant literature confirms that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee job satisfaction. This study complemented the findings by studying the effect of transformational leadership style on employee job satisfaction in the county government of Kakamega. A descriptive research design was adopted, focusing on employees at Kakamega County. Out of the 188 questionnaires issued, 174 (81 percent) filled and returned the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and chi-square. The findings indicated that the transformational leadership style influences employee job satisfaction.
  

The analysis aims to empirically the role of resilience towards burnout through mindfulness in money management firms in Jakarta-Indonesia. The participants of this study were 250 workers from the money management company in Jakarta-Indonesia. The method of data assortment uses the instrument burnout scale, resiliency scale, and mindfulness scale. Variable intervening is employed to realize direct and indirect influence. Information analysis techniques in analysis exploitation the ways of applied statistical descriptive and exploitation Amos version twenty-four. There are four hypotheses projected during this study. The results showed that the role of mindfulness important as a go-between to reduced burnout

Drawing on self-fulfilling prophecy theory and status boundary conditions, the aim of this research is to test if promotion focus motivation mediates the employees' self-performance expectations towards breakthrough creativity. Besides, this paper also examines whether status stability significantly moderates the relationship between self-performance expectations and promotion focus motivation. The author conducted a longitudinal study and surveyed 380 staff in China with 102 immediate supervisors. In the first phase of data collection, including self-reported measures of team members' self-performance expectation and promotion focus motivation and status stability in the group. In the second phase of time, supervisors rated their team members' breakthrough creativity. Confirmatory factor analysis is conducted to test the reliability and validity of data. Also, hierarchical linear modeling is used to test the hypothesis. The bootstrapping process was adopted to calculate the indirect effect. The results were in line with the expected conceptual framework, Self-performance expectations and promotion focus motivation are found positive to predict breakthrough creativity. Besides, having more stability in status makes the employee more promotion focus, which brings breakthrough creativity from the cognitive level.  Supervisors should organize sensitivity training to make them realize what is anticipated from them. Also, a simple nurturing will mobilize the existing cognitive pressure to achieve breakthrough creativity while investing in lower organizational resources. Finally, this model will deliver new insight into employees' motives towards breakthrough creativity, considering the influence of boundary condition and self-performance expectations in the organization.