M.K. HASSAN, A. AL‐SHARKAS and A. SAMAD
The paper investigates relative efficiency of the banking industry in Bahrain by employing a panel of 31 banks for the years 1998 and 2000. We employ non‐parametric (Data…
Abstract
The paper investigates relative efficiency of the banking industry in Bahrain by employing a panel of 31 banks for the years 1998 and 2000. We employ non‐parametric (Data Envelopment Analysis) to examine five efficiency measures, namely, cost, allocative, technical, pure technical and scale efficiency scores. We also investigate the conventional accounting measures of performance, and correlate them with five measures of efficiency to investigate whether higher accounting performance impact the bank cost efficiency. Our results show that, on the average, the banking industry in Bahrain is profitable with average ROE and ROA being 10.36% 1.622% in 1998 while 13.49% and 2.097% in 2000 respectively. The average allocative efficiency (inefficiency) is about 73% (37%), whereas the average technical efficiency (inefficiency) is about 56% (78%). This indicates that the dominant source of inefficiency in Bahrain banks is due to technical inefficiency rather than allocative inefficiency, which is mainly attributed to diseconomies in scale. Overall, average scale efficiency (inefficiency) is about 79% (26%), and average pure technical efficiency (inefficiency) is about 71% (41%), suggesting that the major source of the total technical inefficiency for Bahrain banks is pure technical inefficiency (input related) and not scale inefficiency (output related). The results also indicate that all banks have improved their efficiency levels and experienced some gains in productivity. Finally, regression analysis is used to investigate the determinants of the overall efficiency scores. We find that larger and profitable banks are more likely to operate at a higher level of efficiency. Also, another finding reveals that market power plays an important role in cost and technical efficiencies. Notably, banks with greater contribution from shareholders tend to be more technical efficient
Ataus Samad and Michael K. Muchiri
This paper aims to extend our understanding of the concept of crisis leadership based on perceptions of 48 Australian leaders drawn from various sectors including Australian…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to extend our understanding of the concept of crisis leadership based on perceptions of 48 Australian leaders drawn from various sectors including Australian politics, higher education, not-for-profit and corporate sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study employed semi-structured virtual interviews of 48 leaders from Australian politics, higher education, not-for-profit and corporate sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Leximancer text analytics program was used for data analysis.
Findings
Participants perceived effective leadership during a crisis as encompassing four macro themes: leadership as power, leadership as emanating from people, leadership as management and leadership as specific to the organization. While these findings reinforced extant literature on facets of effective leadership, leaders from different sectors differed on the relative importance of some leadership themes and their relevance to specific sectors.
Research limitations/implications
While the data were collected from a convenient sample, our findings from multiple sectors in Australia extend our knowledge on crisis leadership by revealing differences in sectorial perspectives of crisis leadership. Further, these findings help refine the extant traditional explanations of leadership and especially offer an enhanced understanding of leadership during a crisis. Consequently, our findings support future research that could help identify specific attributes of leaders navigating organizational crises. Such future research could subsequently help develop a theory on crisis leadership based on a valid and reliable measurement for assessing crisis leadership effectiveness in diverse organizational settings.
Originality/value
Our study is based on multi-sector data and consequently lays a solid foundation for extending the conceptualization of leadership during crisis, and the need to reconceptualize effective leader attributes useful in crisis contexts. Theoretically, the current study extended recent research on crisis leadership, by examining the conceptualizations of crisis leadership within specific Australian sectors.
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Michael K. Muchiri, Ancy Gamage and Ataus Samad
This paper aims to integrate the extant literature on the impact of positive leadership on organisational outcomes within the Australian not-for-profit (NFP) organisations…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to integrate the extant literature on the impact of positive leadership on organisational outcomes within the Australian not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, identifies existing gaps in the literature and proposes a framework capturing feasible pathways for future research on positive leadership in NFP organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a systematic review of the existing literature on positive leadership and external/environmental factors and organisational values as applied to Australian NFP organisations mainly based on journal articles.
Findings
This paper proposes a plausible conceptual framework postulating how Australian NFP organisations could attain superior performance outcomes when there is a perfect alignment between positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors and organisational values. We explain the conceptual framework through testable research propositions explaining interrelationships between positive leadership, external/environmental factors, organisational values and organisational performance.
Research limitations/implications
The review focused on two positive forms of leadership (i.e. transformational and servant) and could benefit by including other closely related leadership styles and behaviours (like authentic and ethical leadership). In addition to the positivist paradigm and quantitative approach adopted by this paper, interpretative and critical paradigms and related qualitative approaches may also lend themselves well to exposing pertinent issues and relationships that have not been imagined before in the under-researched NFP sector.
Practical implications
Leaders within NFP organisations need to understand when and how to align positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors and organisational values to maximise limited resources available to Australian NFP organisations.
Originality/value
This systematic review adds to the limited literature exploring the impact of positive forms of leadership within Australian NFP organisations. The proposed framework offers unique insights into the relationships between positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors, organisational values and organisational performance.
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Nurul Syarafina Shahrir, Norulhusna Ahmad, Robiah Ahmad and Rudzidatul Akmam Dziyauddin
Natural flood disasters frequently happen in Malaysia especially during monsoon season and Kuala Kangsar, Perak, is one of the cities with the frequent record of natural flood…
Abstract
Natural flood disasters frequently happen in Malaysia especially during monsoon season and Kuala Kangsar, Perak, is one of the cities with the frequent record of natural flood disasters. Previous flood disaster faced by this city showed the failure in notifying the citizen with sufficient time for preparation and evacuation. The authority in charge of the flood disaster in Kuala Kangsar depends on the real-time monitoring from the hydrological sensor located at several stations along the main river. The real-time information from hydrological sensor failed to provide early notification and warning to the public. Although many hydrological sensors are available at the stations, only water level sensors and rainfall sensors are used by authority for flood monitoring. This study developed a flood prediction model using artificial intelligence to predict the incoming flood in Kuala Kangsar area based on artificial neural network (ANN). The flood prediction model is expected to predict the incoming flood disaster by using information from the variety of hydrological sensors. The study finds that the proposed ANN model based on nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs (NARX) has better performance than other models with the correlation coefficient that is equal to 0.98930. The NARX model of flood prediction developed in this study can be referred to as the future flood prediction model in Kuala Kangsar, Perak.
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Razeena Mohammed-Siitah and Abdul-Samad Siddique
Spatial planning is globally identified as an effective strategy for providing climate change adaptation needs. However, there is a dearth of literature on how spatial planning…
Abstract
Purpose
Spatial planning is globally identified as an effective strategy for providing climate change adaptation needs. However, there is a dearth of literature on how spatial planning relates to climate change control in Ghana, particularly at the local level. Hence, this paper aims to investigate whether spatial planning plays a significant role in the control of climate change and the adaptive capacities at the local level.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a mixed-method approach, where both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained using an interview guide and survey, respectively. The authors analyze the data using a qualitative content analysis method and descriptive statistics.
Findings
The results show that spatial planning plays an important role in climate change adaptation, though in a limited way. The physical planning department at the municipal level has varying amounts of capacities across various determinants, but there are opportunities for improving the capacity of the department.
Originality/value
The authors provide empirical evidence to support the need to prioritize spatial planning as a strategy for dealing with the impacts of climate change and the building of capacities at the national and community levels for improved adaptive capacity.
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Ataus Samad, Michael Muchiri and Sehrish Shahid
This article aims to understand the underlying mechanisms through which transformational leadership influences employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Specifically, the…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to understand the underlying mechanisms through which transformational leadership influences employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Specifically, the study explores the mediation role of employee well-being on the relationships between leadership and both employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a quantitative research method, data were collected from 280 academics and professional staff from an Australian regional university. The Mplus software was used for data analysis.
Findings
The results showed that transformational leadership had significant positive impact on employee well-being and job satisfaction while it alleviated employee turnover intentions. Furthermore, employee well-being mediated the effect of transformational leadership on employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
Research limitations/implications
The research was cross-sectional, and data were collected from a convenient sample and therefore minimises our ability to generalise the findings to other contexts.
Practical implications
Effective leadership, employee well-being, job satisfaction and employee turnover are of strategic importance in the higher education sector in Australia and internationally. These findings will therefore provide a basis for university policy makers to craft relevant policies that promote effective leader behaviours and enhance employee well-being as they facilitate employee job satisfaction and minimise turnover intentions among higher education sector employees (i.e. academics and professional staff).
Originality/value
Our study provides a unique contribution to knowledge as it explains the mediation effect of employee well-being on the relation between transformational leadership a, job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
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Anmar AlObaidi and Wael A. Samad
This chapter investigates the essential practices to digitally transform the process of issuing final clearance certificates. In Dubai, a final clearance system enhancement was…
Abstract
This chapter investigates the essential practices to digitally transform the process of issuing final clearance certificates. In Dubai, a final clearance system enhancement was introduced recently to combine all stakeholders as it is part of Electronic No Objection Certificate (eNOC) portal to issue the certificate. The eNOC platform acts as a centralized hub, bringing together multiple service entities from both government and private organizations to issue unified NOCs for infrastructure projects within the Right-Of-Way. Employing the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) approach to engineering management, the chapter systematically evaluates the project’s aspects. Real-life case studies illustrate challenges encountered in the manual final clearance process for construction projects such as electric cable lines, water lines, and sewerage networks. The proposed transformation seeks to automate application reception and bolster departmental ownership within the eNOC system, incorporating all relevant entities and departments involved in base construction NOC approvals. Departmental assignments for final clearance applications based on project type aim to optimize the process. Interface upgrades will include alert messages guiding applicants to select the correct application type, reducing submission errors on a centralized web portal. Comprehensive reports will provide an overview of final clearance application statuses for effective monitoring. The chapter presents a comprehensive framework tailored for infrastructure projects, seamlessly integrating with the eNOC system. Anticipated outcomes encompass improved project management, streamlined processes, heightened customer satisfaction, and sustainable infrastructural growth, particularly pertinent to Smart Cities’ development within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, aligning with aspirations for technological innovation and urban progress.
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Caryn Khye Lyn Tan and Zulkiflee Abdul-Samad
This paper aims to study the reaction of construction project managers in coping with workforce productivity challenges that arise from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the reaction of construction project managers in coping with workforce productivity challenges that arise from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative research via questionnaires targeting the project managers from G7 contractor companies in Malaysia was carried out in the data collection process. In total, 182 responses have been analysed descriptively and inferentially using SPSS software.
Findings
The research discovers that most of the construction projects and their workforce productivity were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the strategies adopted by project managers in Malaysia and the ranking of strategies based on their effectiveness were indicated.
Originality/value
The findings of this research have contributed to a new understanding of the construction workforce productivity during the COVID-19 era from the perspective of project managers in Malaysia. A guideline established from the ranking of strategies would be useful to ensure the survival of the industry in Malaysia aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Shafahat Ali, Said Abdallah, Deepak H. Devjani, Joel S. John, Wael A. Samad and Salman Pervaiz
This paper aims to investigate the effects of build parameters and strain rate on the mechanical properties of three-dimensional (3D) printed polylactic acid (PLA) by integrating…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the effects of build parameters and strain rate on the mechanical properties of three-dimensional (3D) printed polylactic acid (PLA) by integrating digital image correlation and desirability function analysis. The build parameters included in this paper are the infill density, build orientation and layer height. These findings provide a framework for systematic mechanical characterization of 3D-printed PLA and potential ways of choosing process parameters to maximize performance for a given design.
Design/methodology/approach
The Taguchi method was used to shortlist a set of 18 different combinations of build parameters and testing conditions. Accordingly, 18 specimens were 3D printed using those combinations and put through a series of uniaxial tensions tests with digital image correlation. The mechanical properties deduced for all 18 tests were then used in a desirability function analysis where the mechanical properties were optimized to determine the ideal combination of build parameters and strain rate loading conditions.
Findings
By comparing the tensile mechanical experimental properties results between Taguchi's recommended parameters and the optimal parameter found from the response table of means, the composite desirability had increased by 2.08%. The tensile mechanical properties of the PLA specimens gradually decrease with an increase in the layer height, while they increase with increasing the infill densities. On the other hand, the mechanical properties have been affected by the build orientation and the strain rate in similar increasing/decreasing trends. Additionally, the obtained optimized results suggest that changing the infill density has a notable impact on the overall result, with a contribution of 48.61%. DIC patterns on the upright samples revealed bimodal strain patterns rendering them more susceptible to failures because of printing imperfections.
Originality/value
These findings provide a framework for systematic mechanical characterization of 3D-printed PLA and potential ways of choosing process parameters to maximize performance for a given design.
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Sylva Alif Rusmita, Dian Filianti, Ega Nuriayu Mayasani and Khairunnisa Abd Samad
This study aims to determine the role of gold as a safe haven, hedge and asset diversification for Shariah stock in conditions of extreme stock market declines.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine the role of gold as a safe haven, hedge and asset diversification for Shariah stock in conditions of extreme stock market declines.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative approach is used by applying the threshold generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (TGARCH) model to capture bad or good news in the market condition and quantile regression method to obtain the extreme values of stock returns in several market conditions. The data used were the daily closing price of gold and the Jakarta Islamic Index from January 2011 to October 2022.
Findings
The average conditions show gold does not have a hedge property and only acts as an asset diversification. Second, gold has a substantial, safe haven property in every economic condition. However, the safe-haven property of gold seemed to weaken during the most extreme stock market decline. Thus, although gold appears as a safe haven and asset diversification, it remains a risky investment and only provides a minor role in the face of the extreme stock market period.
Practical implications
This research provides a discourse and literature for Islamic investors and investor managers to choose the right investment instrument in various economic conditions where gold has a function as diversification and safe haven in their asset portfolio under any other asset portfolio conditions which is also in line with modern portfolio theory. For policymakers, the study can be used as material for consideration in making policies related to the accessibility of gold as an investment instrument.
Originality/value
This study presents the originality by using the price of Antam gold as a proxy for gold investment during the latest research year data and focusing on case studies in Islamic capital market in Indonesia. Moreover, this research provides quantile regression that sharply discussion in various economics condition.