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This study aimed to investigate the learning strategies adopted by Saudi university students and explore the differences in the use of learning strategies due to gender and academic achievement.

The study utilized a cross-sectional descriptive analytic approach and adopted the brief “ACRA-C” learning strategies scale. The study sample consisted of 365 students enrolled at a Saudi university selected using the random clustering technique.

The study revealed that microstrategies and study habits are the most preferred strategies by Saudi university students. Statistically significant differences in the use of learning strategies were found between male and female students in favor of the female students. The study also found that learning strategies are a significant predictor of students' academic achievement.

The study was limited to one college in one Saudi university. Future studies should use larger samples from different colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia and incorporate a variety of measures of academic achievement, such as students' grades in specific courses rather than the overall grade average.

While there are a number of studies that investigated the use of learning strategies by students, there is a lack of such research in the higher education context of Saudi Arabia. Hence, the current study contributes to closing this gap in the literature by looking at the use of learning strategies by university students in Saudi Arabia and the relationship between strategy use, gender and academic achievement.

Based on the theoretical definition of the quality of economic growth as well as the availability and reliability of the given data, the purpose of this paper is to build an evaluation system of a regional economic growth quality on three levels: conditions, processes and results.

From the perspective of economic quality, this paper offers a theoretical interpretation on how the urban–rural income gap affects the quality of economic growth and takes an empirical test on the sample panel data from 30 provinces and regions through difference GMM and system GMM models.

The results show that the excessively large income gap will influence economic growth in terms of the foundation, operation and the outcome, thereby, restricting the quality of economic growth. In addition, investments in human and physical capital and improvements in terms of transport infrastructure, industrial structure and economic openness play an active role in economic growth quality, whereas government expenditure scale, financial development and the deviation of industrial structure have a negative effect.

There has been a substantial amount of experience and evidence on the research about the issue of China’s income distribution and the quantity of economic growth, whereas there are relatively fewer discussions about the income distribution and the quality of economic growth. This paper, based on what has been mentioned above, tries to give a theoretical interpretation and an empirical test to describe the relationship between urban–rural income gap and the quality of economic growth from the quality point of view.

Based on the survey data of 650 kiwi growers from Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces, this paper used multiple endogenous transformation regression models to explore the effect of the joint adoption of green production technology on farmer’s welfare. The purpose of the study is to analyze the influence of green production technology on the yield, household income and socioeconomic characteristics of Kiwi fruit growers.

In the context of the study, multiple endogenous transformation model (MESR) are adopted, but self-actualization tactics were adopted to deal with the instrumental variables. The empirical data has been collected via a combined hierarchical sampling and random sampling, whereas a well-structured Likert scale questionnaire was adopted as well. The empirical data has been processed with the help of STATA 15.1 version.

The study found a positive impact of adopting green production technology. Moreover, the joint adoption of green production technology by kiwi growers has significantly increased the yield, economic values of Kiwi and household income of kiwi farmers. The households with higher asset value, better land quality, weaker credit constraints, more technical training and stronger government promotion and support from local governments are the most likely to adopt pest control technology and soil management technology jointly.

The prime innovation of the paper is to measure the impact of technology combination adoption on farmer’s welfare is evaluated, rather than the impact of single sub technology on farmer’s’ welfare.

With China’s economic growth slowing down and the growth rate of fiscal revenue decreasing, the pressure on local government debts is further increasing. Under this background, it is of great significance to clarify the relation between local government debts and China’s economic growth in order to give full play to the positive role of local debts in stabling growth. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Therefore, this paper explores the impact of Chinese local government debt on economic growth from theoretical and empirical aspects, respectively, and compares the regional differences between different debts and economic growth dynamics.

In the theoretical model part, this paper constructs a three-sector dynamic game model, under the two circumstances of whether local government is subject to debt constraints, and examines the relation between local government debt and economic growth and other variables through numerical simulation. Research shows that when the government is not constrained by debt, there is an inverted “U” relation between government debt and economic growth. When the government is constrained by debt, the economic growth rate gradually decreases as the government debt increases.

In the theoretical analysis part, this paper tries to estimate the amount of local debts under different calibers and examines the impact of different types of local government debts on China’s economic growth and their regional differences. The results show that excessive accumulation of government hidden debts in the eastern region is not conducive to economic growth, while explicit debts in the central and western regions significantly contribute to local economic growth. The results of empirical analysis are basically consistent with the predictions of the theoretical model.

This study aims to investigate the impacts of bank capital requirements on the performance and risk of the emerging economy, i.e. Bangladeshi banking sector.

The study applies an unbalanced panel data which comprises 30 banks yielding a total of 413 bank-year observations over the period 2000 to 2015.

Using generalized methods of moments, the empirical results of this research reveal that bank capital is positively and significantly impressive on bank performance, whereas negatively and significantly impact on risk. The study also finds the inverse relationship between risk and performance in both the performance and risk equations. The results also indicate that there is a persistence of performance and risk from one year to the next year.

This is the unique investigation on Bangladeshi bank industry that considers the simultaneous effect of bank capital requirements on risk and performance. Therefore, it is predicted that the empirical evidence of this research shows policy implications to the regulatory authority of Bangladeshi banking industry to determine relevant policies.

Based on traditional Chinese filial piety, this article examines the impacts and mechanisms of the two-dimensional filial piety concept “Qinqin – Zunzun” on gender wages in China via China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2014 and 2018.

This article construct regression models to examine the relationship between filial piety concepts and wages. Also, it uses unconditional quantile regression and decomposition to explore the impact of filial piety concepts on the wage gap.

It is found that: (1) The effects of two-dimensional filial piety are heterogeneous in terms of gender. Specifically, authoritarian filial piety significantly suppresses individual wages and has a stronger suppressive effect on women’s wages, whereas affinity filial piety significantly enhances individual wages without gender heterogeneity; (2) Parents' time support in the intergenerational exchange model is a crucial mechanism by which filial piety affects wages, exhibiting significant gender heterogeneity; (3) Regarding wage distribution, authoritarian filial piety mainly widens the gender income gap in the low and middle income-groups, while affinity filial piety narrows the gender wage gap by “raising the floor”, with its converging effect being most significant in the middle and high-income groups. This article deepens the understanding of the gender wage gap and intergenerational income mobility, providing policy references for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

The article deepens the understanding and mechanisms of the gender wage gap and inter-generational income mobility, providing policy reference for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

This study examined the psychometric properties of intention to drop out and study satisfaction measures for first-year South African students. The factorial validity, item bias, measurement invariance and reliability were tested.

A cross-sectional design was used. For the study on intention to drop out, 1,820 first-year students participated, whilst 780 first-year students participated in the study on satisfaction with studies. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), differential item functioning (DIF), measurement invariance and internal consistency were used to test the scales.

A one-factor structure was confirmed for both scales. For the intention to drop out scale, Items 3 and 4 were identified with statistically significant item bias; however, these differences had no practical impact. Except for scalar invariance for language, sufficient measurement invariance was established. No problematic items were identified for the study satisfaction scale.

In essence, this study provides evidence of two short measures that are culturally sensitive that could be used as short and valid measures across contextual boundaries as practically valuable tools to measure intention to drop out and study satisfaction in diverse and multicultural contexts.

This study contributes to limited research on bias and invariance analyses for scales that can be used in interventions to identify students at risk of leaving the university and utilising psychometric analyses to ensure the applicability of these two scales in diverse and multicultural settings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the simultaneous relationship among ownership concentration, innovation and firm performance of the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam during the 2011–2015. By employing a Conditional Mixed Process (CMP) model, the findings show that: there is no impact of ownership concentration on innovation, but it has a positive impact on sales growth; innovation positively affects firm performance; and there exists a positively reverse causality from sales growth to innovation.

In this study, the authors propose the adaption of CMP model (Roodman, 2011). The nature of the first stage dependent variable – Innovation – is a binary one while the dependent variable Performance is continuous. Therefore, a model that can adapt the binary nature of the dependent variable and perform the estimation of a system of equations such as CMP model is preferred. The CMP framework is substantially that of seemingly unrelated regression, but with application in a larger scope. This approach is based on a “simulated maximum likelihood method” suggested by Geweke–Hajivassiliou–Keane algorithm.

By applying CMP method, this study examines the simultaneous relationship among ownership concentration, innovation and firm performance of the SMEs in Vietnam from 2011 to 2015. The findings indicate that: there is no impact of ownership concentration on innovation, but it has a positive impact on sales growth; innovation positively affects firm performance; and there exists a positively reverse causality from sales growth to innovation.

In spite of the efforts to explore the simultaneous relationship among ownership concentration, innovation and firm performance of the SMEs in Vietnam, the study still has some limitations which are promising further research directions. First, the SME surveys by Central Institute for Economic Management do not have much information about other types of ownership including state-owned and foreign ownership. Therefore, possible further studies with richer data sets may explore the impacts of different types of ownership on firm innovation and performance. Second, other types of innovation such as organizational innovation, marketing innovation can also be investigated in further studies in a richer data set for the case of Vietnam SMEs.

The findings show that: there is no impact of ownership concentration on innovation, but it has a positive impact on sales growth; innovation positively affects firm performance; and there exists a positively reverse causality from sales growth to innovation. The policy implications insist on facilitating SMEs with easier access to capital via loans with preferred interest or trust loans without collateral, training programs for the labor force and SME leaders, and reduction of unnecessary administrative procedure.