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This research was conducted to identify the determinants of SME's performance as well as look at the underlying conditional factors. Researchers examine the direct effect of product innovation on SME's performance and consider the moderating role of market orientation and organizational learning. Using the quantitative method, the researchers conducted a survey of 170 SME owners in DKI Jakarta Province who were selected using a purposive sampling method. This survey was conducted online by distributing questionnaires through an online platform. The data is then analyzed using Structural Equation Model with AMOS and Process by Hayes. The results of hypothesis testing show that product innovation has a positive effect on the performance of SMEs, and this effect will be stronger when SMEs have high market orientation and high organizational learning. This research can be used as a reference by owners or managers of SME to advance their businesses. SME need to innovate products and form a conducive climate in market-oriented organizations, as well as a climate that allows them to carry out organizational learning.  

Commercial banks accept deposits and lend money for investment and consumption. This study used five (5) first-tier banks in Nigeria as a case study to analyze the effects of credit risk management on the financial performance of commercial banks. The study examined fifteen (15) years' worth of panel data (from 2005 to 2019), taken from the audited financial reports of five first-tier listed banks. Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) are the only banks used, and they are all listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Non-performing loans (NPL) and expected credit loss impairment provisions (ECL) were utilized in this study as indicators of credit risk management. At the same time, return on assets (ROA) was employed to measure financial performance.

The banking system’s role as an intermediary between depositors and borrowers makes its stability a crucial element of the economy. Individual bank stability impacts the stability of the financial sector and, consequently, the real sector and economic growth. This study is a detailed investigation of bank stability scores for the Turkish banking sector. Turkey experienced a major banking crisis from 2000 to 2001. However, with an improved regulatory environment and structural reforms, its resilience to shocks increased significantly in subsequent years. The present study contributes to the literature in three areas. First, it applies eight variations of the Z-score to the Turkish banking sector to test the importance of time and risk variation. Second, it investigates the impact on stability scores of several factors–the implementation of new capital regulations and Basel III liquidity rules, the Turkish lira crisis and the effects of COVID-19). Finally, it measures the contribution to systemic risk of each Turkish bank using the leave-one-out (LOO) Z-score method; this is the first study to use this method to analyse the contribution of different bank types to the overall stability of the sector.

This study explores the relationship between organizational commitment and specific aspects of green human resources management to organizational citizenship behaviour. In its implementation, it explores green human resources management at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry as an institution directly related to macro and micro environmental conservation. This study uses quantitative methods, using SEM-PLS. The results of this study: (1) There is no significant effect of the Green Organizational Culture construct on Organizational Commitment. (2) The Green Organizational Culture construct has no significant effect on Organizational Citizenship Behavior. (3) Green Transformational Leadership construct has no significant effect on Organizational Commitment. (4) Green Transformational Leadership constructs have no significant effect on Organizational Commitment. (5) There is a significant effect of the Job Satisfaction construct on Organizational Commitment. (6) There is no significant effect of the Job Satisfaction construct on Organizational Citizenship Behavior. (7) The Organizational commitment construct has no significant effect on Organizational Citizenship Behavior. (8) The Green Transformational Leadership construct has no significant effect on Organizational Citizenship Behavior. (9) There is no significant effect of Job Satisfaction constructs on Organizational Citizenship Behavior through Organizational Commitment. (10) Green Organization Culture constructs have no significant effect on Organizational Citizenship Behavior through Organizational Commitment.

This study investigates the total rewards (TR) and employee retention (ER) to understand whether better remuneration leads to retention among the employees of First Aluminum of Nigeria. It further emphasizes and reviews the findings of previous articles and journals conducted by various researchers to establish rewards' efficacy in attracting and retaining employees in any given organisation. The study aimed to explore the total reward instruments to attract and retain employees in an organisation. A quantitative design using a sample of 270 employees working in the First Aluminum of Nigeria is adopted. Self-administered questionnaires were administered to employees as respondents for data collection. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and tables and figures were used to present data. Arising from the empirical findings and comparison with the concept of this study, a discussion on the differences and similarities is made. This study reveals weight and ascertains various kinds of rewards, such as extrinsic, intrinsic, and total rewards, to attract and retain employees at the organization. Thus, this study summarised the results of existing literature on the factors influencing ER at FAN, such as salary; benefits package; compensation; developmental opportunities and quality supervision; compensation and appreciation of work done; promotion, and development opportunities.   It is, therefore, contextualized that growth and advancement opportunities do not influence the ER as a monetary reward does.

Play-based learning is a pedagogical approach that emphasises the use of play in promoting multiple areas of children’s development and learning. Free and guided play are two types of play-based learning that guide early learning. The children acquire concepts, skills, and attitudes that lay the foundation for lifelong learning through play pedagogies. Exposing learners to a rich vocabulary through reading, story-telling, and social interaction is key in play-based learning. This research aimed to explore the impact of play-based learning on the development of children in mobile Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centres. Social constructivism theory was used to understand the impact of play-passed learning on children’s development in ECE. Using convenience sampling, the research followed an interpretive qualitative case study, and eight (8) practitioners were selected to participate. Data sources included practitioners’ interviews and the centres’ observations. Using the thematic approach, the findings revealed that the practitioners in rural areas had an insufficient understanding of teaching using play pedagogies. This had a negative impact on standard provisions for play pedagogies suited for young children, where appropriate suggestions are offered to the practitioners on the planning, implementation, and support of play practices within early learning. Furthermore, there is a shift in the early learning curricula incorporating advanced academic skills, a beneficial tool to aid children’s learning and development.

This paper explores stakeholder engagement in the strategic management process for service delivery in government. The main objective is to determine the factors influencing insufficient stakeholder engagement of strategic management processes for service delivery by a government department. The four moments of translation concept of Actor Network Theory (ANT) was utilised as a theoretical framework to understand and explain the interplay between the initiator of the network of service delivery and other actors in the network in aligning diverse interests to achieve service delivery goals. The assumption was that the phenomenon was ontologically subjective and that it was appropriate, epistemologically, to adopt an interpretive paradigm as the leading research philosophy, using a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative elements wherein quantitative data was used to test the reliability of the qualitative data. Using the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) as a case study, a sample of 26 participants included 11 managers of WCED and 15 Khayelitsha Education Forum (KEF) members representing the community, school governing bodies and school principals and educators of 64 schools around Khayelitsha township. The study revealed that stakeholder engagement could address non-service delivery during service delivery strategy formulation and implementation. The findings suggest that a network of aligned interests should be established for continuous engagement in implementing strategic plans and service delivery in line with the mandate of Government departments and entities. The results imply intense arrangements and relationship building between government departments and citizens are needed to improve stakeholder relationships and alignment of service delivery expectations to reduce service delivery challenges.

Over the last decade, developing countries have been promoting public-private partnerships (PPPs) as an alternative approach to developing infrastructure and services. This is done by utilising the efficiency and innovation of the private sector and enabling access to private-sector finance through public-private partnerships (PPP). Importantly, PPPs ensure more value for money than traditional financing options and highway and transportation infrastructure revenue sources. The study is qualitative, relied on the extensive review of written documents. In light of this, the study explores the utility and efficacy of PPPs in road tolling initiatives and highway infrastructure investment in Zimbabwe. Emphasis was placed on the PPP arrangement between the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) and a South African company- Group Five, which saw road tolls being erected and operationalised to fund Zimbabwean highway infrastructure. The paper established that despite this PPP arrangement being a success, as seen by the faster completion of the trunk roads, lower project lifecycle costs, better risk allocation, faster implementation of public works and services, improved service quality and additional revenue streams a myriad of operational and administrative challenges equally dogged it. To this effect, the paper, therefore, recommends some strategies to strengthen and enhance the adoption, operationalization, and management of PPPs for road tolling and highway infrastructure investments in developing countries.

This study aims to empirically examine the differences of perception between generation (generation gap) in fraud prevention, which was analyzed by seven variables, namely tone of the top, anti-fraud training, code of conduct, whistle blowing system (WBS), segregation of duties, fraud risk assessment and background checking. This study used 398 questionnaires consisting of 149 gen Z respondents, 87 gen X respondents, 154 gen Y/Millennials respondents and 8 Boomers respondents. The analytical method used was Mann-Whitney test by SPSS v.26.0. The results show that there was generation gap between generations Z and X (in the tone of the top variable), between generations Z and Y (in the tone of the top variable and WBS) and between Generations X and Y (in the tone of the top variable). However, there were no generation gap between generation Z and boomers, X and boomers and Z and boomers in the overall fraud prevention variables studied. The limitation of this study was the limited number of respondents, especially from the boomer’s generation. This research is expected to provide benefits for determining anti-fraud prevention strategies that are in accordance with the character of each generation.

Within these dynamics and disruptive eras, it is crucial for all kinds of organization to build and ensure their competencies in increasing their performance and maintaining their position, including for SMEs. This study aims to identify the role of exploitative and organizational learning in influencing SMEs' performance. It also considers the moderating role of environmental dynamism as the conditional factor that underlies the relationship. We carried out the study on 150 SMEs in Jakarta, Indonesia, which was chosen using purposive sampling. The data is collected by distributing an online questionnaire to the respondents, which is then processed and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS. The results of this study indicate that exploitative learning and organizational learning lead to higher SME performance. Furthermore, this influence is more potent when SMEs exist within a dynamic environment, as they will feel the necessity to learn more to face the challenges and seize the opportunities.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of self-efficacy on employee performance and work motivation, and work involvement in mediating the effect of self-efficacy on employee performance of manufacturing companies in DKI Jakarta. The sample in this study amounted to 100 respondents. This study uses quantitative descriptive analysis techniques. The analysis method in this study uses Path Analysis using SmartPLS. The results of the analysis in this study are: (1) self-efficacy has a positive and significant effect on employee performance, (2) work motivation mediates positively and significantly the relationship between self-efficacy and employee performance, and (3) work involvement mediates positively and significantly the relationship between self-efficacy and employee performance. This research is expected to contribute to the development of Human Resource Management, especially in research on improving employee performance.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the main challenges that startups face in Saudi Arabia. It tries to identify the wave of opportunities that come along with startups and analyze the main factors for success and sustainability. A sample of 40 respondents was established. According to the survey results, consumer-oriented activity dominates startup activities. Startups remain mainly dependent on non-equity funding. The first challenge that startups encounter is finding funding. Saudi startups are more focused on product innovation. Most of the respondents think that aspects of the entrepreneur's personality and skills play a significant role in the success of startups.    

The reality is that there is a relationship between language and race as advanced and qualified by ethnolinguistics. Such a relationship points to the subjugation of the isiXhosa language (habitually situated in South Africa), among other prescripts, which was fueled by racial hierarchization that ought to be debated within the paradigm of scholarly discourses. The subjugation, distortion and erosion of the isiXhosa language were led by the colonial, apartheid governance and administration that sought to impose censorship. Therefore, this article employs post-colonial theory to argue and scholarly prove that the language and many South African indigenous languages were oppressed based on racial notions that sought to accelerate neo-liberalist and imperialist perceptions. Hypothetically speaking, the isiXhosa language still suffers from the effects of (post)colonialism carried by colonial agents who continue to mock and humiliate the language. The debates and findings underline that such claims (racial hierarchization of the language) must be validated through theoretical and practical discourses. As a result, closing remarks infuse potential recommendations open to public scrutiny regarding the problematised phenomenon and/or conundrum.

Loyalty Programs (LPs) aim to increase profit by rewarding, with various benefits, customers who patronize the retailer. This study investigated the benefits LPs provide in the South African Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) marketplace and how these influence relationship quality and loyalty between retailer and customer. How the perceived benefits of LPs contribute to relationship quality (satisfaction, trust and commitment), and how they lead to loyalty are examined. To illustrate these relationships, a model showing three independent (perceived benefits, namely altruistic, consumeristic, and egoistic) and three dependent variables (relationship quality, namely trust, satisfaction, and commitment), plus customer loyalty, was developed. A quantitative survey was administered electronically over 11 days to a randomly selected sample of 5000 consumers per day from a commercial database, resulting in 1944 responses. After the deletion of incomplete or inappropriate responses, 479 usable replies remained. Since this sample was self-selected, it should be considered a convenience sample. Structural equation modelling (SEM) with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to test the hypotheses and develop the model. SEM indicated that respondents consider egoistic and consumeristic benefits as the same. Furthermore, trust and satisfaction manifest as a single construct. Both consumeristic and altruistic benefits had a significant positive relationship with this unified construct of trust/satisfaction, and the relationship between altruistic benefits and commitment was also positive and significant. Finally, although neither altruistic nor consumeristic benefits appeared to contribute directly to loyalty, a positive relationship existed between the new construct of trust/satisfaction and those of commitment and loyalty. The pathway to loyalty is indirect, and to reach this sought-after goal, relationship quality constructs must first be achieved.

Studies on organizational ambidexterity have mostly ignored social and environmental performance in favour of focusing on financial performance. This study investigated the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and the sustainable performance of SMEs. Financial, social, and environmental indicators were used to measure sustainable performance. The study used the quantitative research method, and the cross-sectional survey method to collect data from 145 respondents. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized throughout the data-collection phase of the study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis were used for data analysis. The results indicated significant positive relationships between organizational ambidexterity and SMEs' financial, social, and environmental performance. The study recommends that agencies that support small businesses should organize seminars to train and educate SME owners on organizational ambidexterity and sustainable performance. The results of this study can assist small business owners in continuing to educate themselves and their staff about organizational ambidexterity. The study recommends that agencies that support small businesses should organize seminars to train and educate SME owners on organizational ambidexterity and sustainable performance.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of human resource management practices (HRMPs) on employee attitudes and behavior (EAB). The population of this study was all employees of cement manufacturing firms (CMC) in the southern region of Bangladesh. Data was gathered using structured questionnaires following convenient sampling technique. The data was analyzed using SPSS-23 statistical package program. A robust and significant linear association between HRMPs and EAB was found. Further, HRM practices, including compensation & rewards (CR) and motivation (MV) were discovered to be dominant predictors of EAB. According to the study, variations in EAB of 77.10% were caused by independent predictors such as recruitment and selection (RS), training and development (TD), performance appraisals (PA), compensation and rewards (CR), motivation (MV), and maintenance (MT) in CMC in the southern part of Bangladesh. Nevertheless, it is apparent from the study's findings that manufacturing organizations that have implemented progressive HRM practices in a systematic and integrated manner are having an enormous influence on EAB. This study only focused on one industry and one type of organizational structure. According to the study, findings should not be extensively generalized. Future research should incorporate other aspects, such as organizational learning and organizational capacity, to construct a new model of HRM practices.

Promoting dynamics of curriculum implementation that help all teachers and learners meet their needs and understand who they are is critical.  Such is equally needful in special schools which use the mainstream curriculum to teach learners with disabilities. This study sought to explore the dynamics that enhance implementing a mainstream English curriculum at a school for the deaf in Eswatini. This was aimed to assist teachers in reflecting on and critiquing their practices and experiences to improve their classroom actions; and to raise awareness of the natural identity of both teachers and learners at the school with the hope of meeting individual needs and, ultimately, the teaching and learning goals. Utilizing purposive sampling, this qualitative study selected six teachers of English Language at the school. The pragmatic paradigm, action research design, and natural identity theory framed the study. Semi-structured interviews, Zoom focus-group discussions, document review, and reflective activities were used as data-generation methods. Findings revealed that implementing the mainstream English curriculum at the school seemed to overlook the importance of individual dynamics, which are vital in meeting unique individual needs. Personal dynamics combine the strengths of top-down and bottom-up dynamics Thus, relieving the remarkable tension between the dominant top-down and bottom-up dynamics. Consequently, this study recommends a balance between the top-down, bottom-up, and individual dynamics to successfully implement the mainstream English curriculum at the school.

The primary objective of this article, among other prescripts, is to unravel the lexicological arena of colonialism and apartheid as a pertinent subject in Ncedile Saule’s Umlimandlela (At the cross-roads). The reason to undertake this scholarly discourse is because of the vestigial elements of colonialism and apartheid that continue to subterfuge the constitutional democracy of our country, thereby decaying and delaying social cohesion and consciousness. Post-colonial theory is employed given that it concentrates on matters before and after the formal end of colonialism in South Africa in 1994. On the other hand, qualitative research methodology is utilized to recognize the selected isiXhosa novel as a primary source of data. Through conceptual and contextual discussions, the main findings certify that though South Africa formally ended colonialism, the currently witnessed colonial tendencies are deeply rooted in the colonial and apartheid systems. As a result, it is fair to accept that colonialism and apartheid in South Africa demonstrate resistance and resilience – and that requires maintained and continued discourses in a bid to challenge the conundrum. The concluding remarks call for the recognition and appreciation of isiXhosa modern literature owing to the reality that it provokes colonial and apartheid discourses that will pivot towards reasonable contestations.

This study explored integrating computational thinking (CT) activities in mathematics learning in Grade 10 classrooms in South African township, suburban and independent schools. The inquiry adopted a mixed method approach as part of an exploratory, descriptive survey design and involved purposively selected Grade 10 learners as participants. Quantitative data were collected through the administration of questionnaires among the participants. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews and activities involving integrating computational thinking activities in mathematics learning. The empirical investigation underpins the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as the theoretical framework. Key findings from the study revealed that the integration of computational thinking activities in mathematics learning promises to be an effective means to enhance learners’ understanding of mathematics content. In addition, the participants demonstrated a positive disposition towards computational thinking. The participants perceived computational thinking as a vital tool that can be harnessed to develop problem-solving skills in mathematics classrooms. The study findings provide critical theoretical implications for pedagogic innovation.

This study examines the effect of work professionalism, job satisfaction and organizational climate on employee performance in Muaradua Hospital employees. This study uses explanatory research with a quantitative approach. The population of this study included all Muaradua Regional General Hospital paramedics with a work period of more than one year. The sampling method is saturated, and the data collection technique uses questionnaire distribution. The data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (SEM-PLS). The results of this study indicate that work professionalism, job satisfaction, and organizational climate can directly improve employee performance. In addition, work professionalism and job satisfaction can improve the organizational climate. Organizational climate becomes partially mediating the relationship between work professionalism and job satisfaction on employee performance. The results of this study suggest that the hospital should be able to maintain professionalism and encourage job satisfaction, as well as create and improve strategies for factors related to organizational climate.