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Taiwan’s hotel industry was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the effect of strategic choices by Taiwanese international tourist hotels before and during the pandemic environments.

A data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based Malmquist methodology is used in this study to provide a mechanism to assess Taiwanese hotel strategy performance. Changes in the productivity and performance of Taiwanese international tourist hotels were analyzed in the periods before and during the pandemic to uncover insights useful should a similar crisis occur in the future. Panel data were obtained from the annual report of international tourist hotels published by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau from 2017–2020. Two groups of hotels were analyzed in this study: city hotels and scenic hotels.

The findings of this study reveal that chain hotels tended to perform better than independent hotels in both city and scenic areas during the global pandemic. Specifically, the crisis caused a substantial decline in productivity and profitability for international tourist hotels in Taipei City during the COVID-19 period. Compared to city hotels, findings also indicate that most international tourist hotels in scenic areas were able to maintain better productivity, including larger-sized scenic hotels.

The DEA-based analysis provides unique and valuable insights for hotel firm leaders on how to better identify and make strategic choices when responding to future crises.

There is a dearth of research that investigates the impact of national culture on budgeting and management indexes in the public sector across developing countries. Limited studies in accounting and management have explained the role of national culture in shaping organisational and individual values. It is posited that national cultural variables impact budget transparency and performance management. This study contributes to the literature by examining these relations in 16 developing countries.

Adopting an unbalanced timing framework, the current paper seeks to fulfill this gap and applies four cultural dimensions from the GLOBE study (House et al., 2004) as explanatory variables to investigate whether national culture is associated with budget transparency and performance management or not, particularly in the context of developing countries. The paper uses budget transparency as the first dependent variable, based on the OECD database from Qi and Mensah (2011), along with performance management as the second dependent variable, from the BTI Project (2016), according to the leadership's political performance management.

Generally, the empirical findings reveal a minimal relation among GLOBE cultural variables with budget transparency and performance management. Particularly, the empirical findings indicate that only performance orientation has a significant relation with budget transparency and performance management.

The findings of this paper suggest that any plan to improve a nation's budget transparency should consider the links between budgeting, performance management and the culture of those that run them.

The formal adoption of new methods by performance management may not be enough without accompanying efforts to transform performance orientation as an index of national culture.

This chapter differentiates stress from generalized anxiety, discussing the nature and prevalence of each among college students. The chapter then delves into generalized anxiety in detail, covering instruments that measure generalized anxiety, cultural considerations associated with generalized anxiety and the causes, consequences, prevention and treatment of generalized anxiety among college students. The next section of the chapter focuses on social anxiety among college students, similarly addressing its defining characteristics, prevalence, cultural considerations, causes, consequences, prevention and treatment. The final section of the chapter follows a similar structure in discussing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among college students. Throughout the chapter, attention is devoted to neurotransmitters and brain structures that are involved in anxiety and its treatment through antianxiety medications. Case examples are used to help bring theoretical concepts and research findings to life.

While referring to the inability of South Africa (SA) to absorb the large number of new musicians produced by SA universities each year and how South African music practitioners find limited employment opportunities for themselves in SA's cultural sector, a panel member at a musicology symposium in 2011 stated that “we are creating exiles.” The panel member made the statement during dialogue on the state of national higher education level music curricula, whether they were transformed to mirror the needs of the country or not, and what this meant for a contemporary music performance career in SA. Exile is the point of departure of this chapter, where conditions of public and institutional policy during and after apartheid are framed as encouraging the expanded borders of SA musicians. The emphasis is on how exile is a desired economic result especially among Black musicians who have a scarcity-prone SA music marketplace. This chapter also engages with multilevel policy-led interventions of inclusion and diversity that attempt to grow the SA Black music market.

This study aims to investigate the effects of three dimensions of ChatGPT strategic value – organization support (OS), managerial productivity (IM) and decision aids (DA) – on the business sustainability (BS) of Malaysian public universities.

A quantitative methodology was adopted for this study to examine the relationships between ChatGPT strategic value and the BS of Malaysian public universities.

The study found that two dimensions of ChatGPT strategic value, namely, OS and IM, influence BS, whereas DA do not.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to address the relationship between ChatGPT strategic value and BS in a specific context – Malaysian public universities – providing new contributions to theory by extending the literature on the topic.

The findings are expected to guide universities in Malaysia in leveraging ChatGPT strategic value for enhancing BS.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this empirical study is the first in the literature to examine the relationships between ChatGPT strategic value and BS in the education sector. Supported by an original conceptual model, the insights provided should extend the literature dedicated to ChatGPT strategic value and BS in the context of a South Asian economy.

Digital transformation in nursing education is crucial for enhancing pedagogical practices and preparing future healthcare professionals for the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. This chapter explores how the integration of digital technologies in higher education has revolutionising teaching methodologies and offered new opportunities to enhance learning experiences. It identifies gaps in digital learning modalities for undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students and discusses strategies to strengthen online literacy preparation and transition into the healthcare sector's digital transformation landscape and the 4th industrial era economy. The chapter examines best practices and challenges in digital transformation in nursing education such as blended learning environments, simulation and virtual reality, mobile learning applications and gamification strategies. Additionally, it addresses challenges in curriculum development including insufficient technological infrastructure, faculty training and development, assessment strategies and resistance to change among faculty and students. This chapter aims to provide insights and recommendations for educators, curriculum developers and policymakers in implementing successful digital transformation in nursing education.