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Blockchain (BC) has recently gained attention from educational organizations as a reliable and trustworthy technology for storing crucial data. This study aims to explore the factors that influence the students’ intention to use BC to host an automated reward system that is based on objective criteria of students’ performance and activities. Predefined smart contracts would guarantee unbiased judgements and fair rewards.

A mixed method approach is used. Based on an iterative rounds of Delphi approach along with a comprehensive literature review, this research proposed an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model. The model hypotheses relate performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), facilitating conditions (FC), perceived innovativeness (PI), trust (TR), perceived security and privacy (S&P), complexity (CX) and enjoyment (EN) to students behavioural intention to use the reward system. The study tests the hypotheses using survey data from 138 students who are familiar with BC technology and its applications. The data analysis is performed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling method.

The analysis revealed that PE, EE, PI, TR and EN positively affect students’ intention to use the BC rewarding system, while CX negatively impacts it. Conversely, FC and, interestingly, S&P, which showed a significant influence on trust, were found to be insignificant in influencing students’ intention to use the system.

This study significantly contributes to the educational technology field by addressing research gaps regarding the adoption and acceptance of BC technology in academia. Firstly, it proposes a basic form of a student reward system. Secondly, it introduces an empirically validated model of students’ adoption, pinpointing factors influencing their readiness to embrace a BC reward system and providing practical implementation insights.

This study examines the correlation between ownership structure (OS) and financial reporting integrity (FRI), with emphasis on the impact of earnings quality (EQ) in the Egyptian context.

The study uses data from 472 firm-year observations of Egyptian publicly listed companies between 2014 and 2021 and carried out descriptive statistics, correlation tests, multiple regression analysis and two-stage least squares (2SLS) to test the hypotheses.

The results revealed that blockholders and institutional ownership significantly enhance reporting integrity through effective oversight and monitoring. The findings underscore the vital role of concentrated OS in overseeing reporting practices and mitigating managerial opportunism, thereby improving the transparency and reliability of financial disclosures in Egypt.

The findings enrich the literature on corporate governance and financial reporting quality and have important implications for policymakers, regulators and corporate stakeholders.

This work contributes valuable insights on how OS and EQ can bolster FRI, offering crucial information for combating financial crises and facilitating smooth business operations in Egypt.

This study examines the non-linear effect of board independence on the investment efficiency of listed firms worldwide. This study further tests whether the COVID-19 pandemic, industry competition and economic development influence the relationship between board independence and investment efficiency.

The data are retrieved from the Thomson Reuters (Refinitiv) database and include international data from 33 countries, comprising 21,363 firm-year observations. The authors' regression analyses include firm-specific variables as controls that may impact investment efficiency. The authors also perform various robustness tests including, alternative measures of investment efficiency, weighted least squares regression, quantile regression and endogeneity issues.

The results reveal a non-linear relationship between board independence and investment efficiency. Specifically, the relationship follows a U-shaped pattern, indicating that the negative impact of board independence on investment efficiency becomes positive after it reaches its optimal point, thus supporting optimal board structure theory. Interestingly, the authors find no significant evidence of board independence’s effect on investment efficiency during the pandemic. In contrast, the relationship between board independence and investment efficiency is significant only during the non-pandemic period. Furthermore, the authors discover evidence of a U-shaped relationship in both emerging and developed markets, as well as in industries with high and low competition.

The authors' study discovers new evidence on the non-linear impact of board independence on investment efficiency, which has not been explored previously in existing research.

This study has practical implications for investors by emphasising the importance of corporate governance and the appointment of independent directors. Investors should consider the findings of this study when making decisions related to corporate governance, as they can impact a firm's investment efficiency.

Despite a considerable body of literature exploring the link between corporate governance and investment effectiveness, there is a dearth of research on the non-linear effects of board independence. Furthermore, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, industry competition and economic development remain unexplored.

Corporate governance is one of the most important topics available in the literature related to large-sized companies. However, the topic has rarely been discussed in the case of SMEs. However, the importance of the topic and mechanism has been in the limelight for more than one and a half decades. Although lack of knowledge especially regarding theoretical implications, literature and implications is still required to optimize the mechanism as well as its implications for SMEs. Therefore, this chapter has been formulated specifically concerning corporate governance mechanisms and their implications for SMEs. Hence, the scope of this study is much broader than those studies that focused on quantitative examination of variables of interest. Thus, the significance of this study has multiple folds as it is not only important for academicians and researchers but also for managers, entrepreneurs and policymakers.

This paper aims to define the socio-spatial considerations of apartment users in Cairo, during their decision-making process. It provides a set of socio-spatial guidelines for professional architecture designers that are based on regionalist sociological theories and the evaluation of participant responses. These guidelines can also help users choose better plan configurations or make socially conscious adjustments as formal residential interiors in Egypt are not arranged based on social interaction at home or the cultural specificity of the region. On the other hand, users have little clue about choosing better plan configurations for sustainable social relationships. Moreover, the private housing sector has mostly neglected the social boundaries that traditionally shaped home interiors. This is because the designers focus on physical attributes to satisfy market demand and economic aspects.

The research reviewed past literature on the impact of different home arrangements relative to inhabitant and social relationships. Simultaneously, preliminary open-ended sorting surveys were undertaken at the Cityscape 2020 exhibition. Based on the results, a comprehensive online survey was developed to map the socio-spatial preferences of users. Finally, a sample of 150 apartment plans was analyzed by using the justified plan graph (JPG) theory to reveal the most common arrangements in the speculative market, measuring unit depth.

The findings of this study will benefit the following: practitioners, including architects and real estate developers, will be able to learn about end-user preferences and offer better products (residential units). Designers can rely on a reference that visualizes recommended home arrangements in the form of justified graphs. This research will expose the academic theories that currently shape residential plans and those that are overlooked and need to be applied. Academics, on the other hand, will learn about the market, and the extent of the influence of architectural theory.

The value of this paper lies in the gathering of theoretical recommendations on traditional home arrangements and investigating the preferences of both professionals and laypeople when choosing between apartments. The open-ended study in this research will test its efficiency in the Egyptian context and serve as a reference for future social studies. It highlights the importance of cultural adequacy and how to design homes related to local residents’ natural lifestyle, by doing so, people will be able to overview the options available in the market and how to manipulate their own houses to control or encourage different social interactions.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of audit committee characteristics on firm performance. In particular, the authors employ the random-effects variant of the Hunter–Schmidt meta-analyze procedure to analyze the effects of key audit committee attributes, namely audit committee independence, audit committee expertise, audit committee size, audit committee meeting along with big four impact on firm performance. The authors hope to gain a better understanding of the function of audit committees in enhancing firm performance and to uncover potential discrepancies in prior findings due to varying economic levels or performance metrics.

This study uses the Hunter–Schmidt method to conduct a meta-analysis of 39 previous studies published between 2012 and 2022 to investigate the relationship between audit committee characteristics and firm performance.

The results indicate that audit committee independence, expertise, size and affiliation with the big four have a significant and positive effect on firm performance, while audit committee meetings have a non-significant effect. Furthermore, findings suggest that companies should carefully consider the contextual factors that may impact the effectiveness of their corporate governance structures, such as economic level, when designing and implementing governance mechanisms.

This study is significant as it is the first to combine and analyze previous research on this topic and highlights the importance of certain audit committee characteristics in enhancing financial reporting quality and corporate governance.

This paper aims to explore the role of ownership structure on integrated reporting quality (IRQ) in an emerging market.

This study includes a sample consisting of 64 firms from Bursa Malaysia, with 173 firm-year observations from 2017 to 2020. Feasible Generalised Least Square model has been used to test the hypotheses.

The findings show that government ownership has a positive effect on IRQ and that the integrated reports and <IR> framework are well aligned. Foreign ownership influences IRQ positively. However, the results did not support the effect of family ownership on IRQ as hypothesised.

The findings of this research hold practical implications for companies and regulators in Malaysia. The results demonstrate to investors that both government and foreign ownership have a positive impact on IRQ. Therefore, investors can make well-informed investment decisions regarding companies with a high level of government or foreign ownership.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to explore the effect of ownership structure on IRQ in the Malaysian context.

This study assesses the perception of academics and practitioners of ramifications that may have impacted audit evidence quality during COVID-19 in Egypt.

A questionnaire was collected and designed regarding the factors affecting the quality of audit evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic using a five-point Likert scale, and detailed descriptive statistics and regression analyses were conducted.

The study finds that there is no significant association between social distancing (SD), changing in the economic environment (CEE), time constraint (TC) and stress on audit personnel (SAP) as repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic with the quality of audit evidence (QAE). The disruption in operational results (DOR), changes in the internal control (CIC) and the stress on client personnel (SCP) significantly affect the quality of audit evidence. Moreover, there is a significant difference between Big and non-Big Four audit firms in terms of changes in economic conditions, internal controls, disruption of operational results and time-constraint variables. The latter has significantly affected the audit evidence quality for both academics and professionals.

Due to the implementation of SD and work-from-home policies, audit firms are highly recommended to invest more in digital programs and to be more adaptable to work-from-home, which policy and enhances the effectiveness and flexibility of communication between auditors and their clients.

This paper is one of the foremost papers that provides empirical evidence for the antecedents or variables that may affect audit quality evidence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims to examine how female directors on corporate boards and audit committees, and auditor affiliations (Big 4 versus Egyptian firms affiliated with foreign auditors), influence audit fees. This examination is driven by the global call for increased female representation in leadership roles and its potential implications for audit quality and financial transparency.

A sample of non-financial companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange is used for the period 2011–2020. The authors used multivariate regression models, the Heckman two-stage and tokenism to support the analysis.

The results are threefold. First, this analysis reveals that female directors, whether on corporate boards or audit committees, are more likely to choose higher-quality audits in the form of high audit fees. Second, both Big 4 firms and Egyptian audit firms affiliated with foreign auditors are positively associated with audit fees and earn significant audit fee premiums. Third, a minor difference in audit fee premiums could be attributed to the existence of female directors.

Future research may expand the analysis performed in this study by investigating the characteristics related to female directors (e.g. education, experience and age) on audit fees.

This study suggests insights for regulatory bodies, corporate decision-makers, auditors and corporate governance researchers. For instance, this study reveals that the Big 4 are not homogenous and provide different audit quality levels along with significant audit fee premiums.

This study extends and contributes to the growing literature on female representation in corporate leadership. First, this study adds to the limited research in Egypt by examining the effect of female board representation on audit quality. Second, this study adds to the extant literature on the gender of financial experts by demonstrating that female financial expert is more likely to demand high-quality audits. Finally, the results have significant implications for policymakers. For instance, this study reveals that the Big 4 are not homogenous and provide different audit quality levels along with significant audit fee premiums.

As the benefit of gender diversity continues to receive significant attention, a holistic investigation of its effect on corporate financial distress (CFD) is lacking. Therefore, this study examines the effects of board gender diversity, measured in different forms, such as the presence and proportion of female directors, family-affiliated female directors and the chief executive officer (CEO) gender, on CFD in Pakistan. The study also investigates the interacting effects of family-controlled (20 and 50% family-owned) companies on the association between board gender diversity and CFD.

The study applied the pooled cross-sectional logistic regression model to examine the effect of board gender diversity (presence and proportion of female directors, family-affiliated female directors and CEO gender) on CFD through a sample of 285 non-financial companies in Pakistan over the period of 2006–2017.

The results reveal that gender diversity on boards is significantly and negatively associated with CFD in Pakistan. In addition, when family ownership is 50% or more, the interacting effect of family control is found to be significant, while gender effects remain negative. The results suggest that female directors contribute to the long-term viability of companies, especially family-owned companies. Female directors are also found to be more prevalent in family-owned companies compared to their non-family counterparts.

The findings imply that female directors may efficiently manage and control all functions necessary to guarantee the company's long-term prosperity. Similarly, gender effects can outweigh the detrimental impact of family control when female directors are in reasonable numbers and of high quality in the boardroom.

The practical relevance of the findings is that female directors play a significant role on the corporate board. Thus, it is a wakeup call for Pakistani companies to recognize the critical role and uniqueness of women on the corporate ladder. Family companies can also galvanize on the uniqueness of women to improve their governance structure.

This study adds to the literature on the benefits of gender diversity in family and non-family-owned companies. Specifically, this study applied multiple measures of gender diversity and family control in a single study. In addition, the study was conducted in a country that is ranked as the second worst country in the Global Gender Gap Index 2022, implying that investigating this type of research would go a long way towards changing the minds of corporate executives and regulators about the critical role that women can play in the economy.