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This study aims to investigate the moderation role of the percentage of women in the country labour force in the relationship between firm-level governance factors (board size, institutional ownership, ownership concentration, board independence, performance, firm size, firm’s risk and sector) and women on boards (WOBs) in publicly listed firms in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The study relied on a sample of 436 publicly listed firms in 2018 in six GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates).

The study concluded that the percentage of women in the country’s labour force has a moderation role in the relationship between board size and WOB, as well as firm market performance and WOBs. However, ownership concentration, firm size, firm risk and firm sector do not affect the percentage of WOB; consequently, the percentage of women in the country’s labour force did not have a moderation role in the relationship between these variables and the percentage of WOBs.

The study incorporates an institutional level variable which is the percentage of women in the country’s labour force in a firm-level relationship mostly understood by agency theory.

Academic institutions, for the most part, discontinued face-to-face classes in favor of adopting and deploying online learning modalities that allowed for immediate participation. The pandemic has hastened the pace of implementation as well as the utilization of and reliance on technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) is important for higher education business continuity. Currently, some institutions are utilizing these resources to strengthen their student recruitment and retention efforts. Others use them to make the classroom more accessible or to construct tailored learning programs.

The rapid spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has compelled many countries to enact stringent measures to halt the virus’s spread. The pandemic has hastened the adoption of online teaching and remote work technology. While a combination of online and face-to-face learning is the way of the future, it will necessitate additional resources to support program development and delivery, as well as increased collaboration between IT and subject matter experts.

This successful technological integration, which includes a smooth transition from face-to-face training to digital e-courses, provides a variety of benefits, including money saved on travel expenses. Top technological developments will continue to enhance company innovation and efficiency while also improving service efficiency. The top strategic technology trends for this year fall into three categories: human centricity, location independence, and resilient delivery, and are expected to be significant for the next five to ten years. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will need to establish a technological ecosystem that is dependable, cloud-based, data-integrated, and learning-focused to compete successfully in this “new normal.” After the epidemic, when classes resume on campus, a hybrid approach to virtual learning is likely to become the new normal. While it is unlikely that campuses would be totally virtual, they will also be unlikely to be entirely physical.

A blend of actual and virtual classrooms, as well as online learning, is the long-term solution, and strategic decisions made now will be critical in preparing for a post-pandemic world.

This paper aims to investigate whether there are relationships among corporate disclosure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) and firms’ operational (ROA), financial (ROE) and market performance (Tobin’s Q), and if these relationships are positives or negatives or even neutral.

The study sample covers US S&P 500-listed companies during the period 2009 to 2018. Panel regression analysis was used to examine the study hypotheses and achieve the study aims.

The results showed that ESG disclosure positively affects a firms’ performance measures. However, measuring ESG sub-components separately showed that environmental (EVN) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is negatively associated with ROA and ROE. EVN and CSR disclosure is positively related to Tobin’s Q. Further, corporate governance (CG) disclosure is positively related to ROA and Tobin’s Q, and negatively related to ROE. More importantly, ESG, CSR, EVN and CG tend to be higher with firms that have high assets and high financial leverage. Furthermore, the higher level of ESG, EVN, CSR and CG disclosure, the higher the ROA and ROE.

The study limns a vision of the role of ESG on firm performance. This study tries to determine whether there are relationships among all ESG disclosure and FP, and if they are positive, negative or even neutral.

This study aims to shed light on the experience of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in balancing three main pillars: the environmental criteria, the reduction of CO₂ emissions and the economic growth. Based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework, it will assess the causal relationship between economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, trade openness and energy use and environmental indicators such as CO₂ emissions.

The analysis relies on a period of 40 years (1981–2020) where data is extracted from the World Bank database. This study uses the unit root test for time series stationarity, the optimal lag length test, the “Johansen” test for co-integration and the vector error correction model.

The paper concludes to two major findings. On a short-term basis, CO₂ emissions and economic indicators are negatively correlated, whereas on a long-term basis, there is no association between CO₂ emissions and economic indicators in the UAE.

The research ends with important recommendations. It illustrates the importance of rationalizing the use of primary resources and the necessity to embrace successful and efficient policies in the energy production.

More specifically, UAE is urged to address the problem of CO₂ emissions in the electricity sector and increase awareness of the use of environmentally friendly processes in the transport and industrial sectors. While setting their economic agendas, UAE are encouraged to meet environmental criteria and invest in renewable energy projects such as “Shams 1”, the largest solar power plant outside of Spain and the USA.

The current study is significant in its research on the environmental impact of economic development, trade openness and energy use policies in the UAE. It uses CO₂ emissions as an environmental proxy and evaluates the environmental policies adopted in the UAE to reduce its impact.

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into various industries, including the financial sector, has transformed them. This paper aims to examine the influence of integrating AI, including machine learning, process automation, predictive analytics and chatbots, on financial institutions and explores its various aspects and areas. The study aims to determine the impact of AI integration on financial services, products and customer experience.

The research study uses quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as secondary data analysis. It investigates four AI subfields: machine learning, process automation, predictive analytics and chatbots.

The research findings indicate that integrating AI, particularly in machine learning and chatbot subfields, holds promise and high strategic potential for financial institutions. These subfields can contribute significantly to enhancing financial services and customer experience. However, the significance of predictive analytics integration and process automation is relatively lower. Although these subfields retain their usefulness, they might necessitate alternative workflows and tools that incorporate human involvement. Overall, AI integration minimizes human interactions and errors in financial institutions.

The research study contributes original insights by exploring the specific subfields of AI within the financial industry and assessing their strategic significance. It provides recommendations for financial institutions to adopt AI integration partially in multiple phases, measure and evaluate the impact of the transformation and structure internal units and expertise to strategize adoption and change.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what effect, if any, foreign ownership has on the relationship between board interlocking and firm performance.

Data on 131 firms from various sectors listed in the Saudi Financial Market during the period of 2016 were collected. Board interlocking was measured using two indicators (number of interlocks and number of interlocks per member) and then it was divided into three levels (1-6/7-14/15 or more). As for the performance of firms, it was measured using two indicators: one operational (return on assets and the other financial (return on equity)). Foreign ownership was considered as a moderator variable. In addition to firm and board characteristics, a set of control variables related to ownership structure was used.

Results provide some support for the “busyness hypothesis” which postulates deterioration in the effectiveness of directors, in terms of their monitoring role, when increasing the number of interlocks per director. Results also manifest a positive effect exerted by foreign ownership in terms of turning around the otherwise negative relationship between board interlocking and firm performance in the second level of interlocking (7-14) Code Article 12’s limit on the number of interlocking per director to a maximum of five directorships. However, there is limited compliance to this code among Saudi firms. The study indicates the need to comply with the governance code in order to enhance governance which undercut performance.

Highlighting the role of foreign ownership in enhancing corporate governance in a conservative business environment characterized by relational networks with gaps in corporate governance.

Intellectual capital (IC) plays a pivotal role in the high-tech and knowledge-based economic sectors. With the emergence of FinTech, which, with respect to the banking sector, is merging high-tech with the k-economy, there is an emerging need to highlight the importance and understand the dynamics of bank IC. With respect to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies, where FinTech has become de rigueur, banking is bifurcated into Islamic and banking sectors. Through comparative empirical analysis, the purpose of this paper is to examine IC efficiency in Islamic and conventional banks with a view to elucidating the impact of IC, in aggregate and decomposed into its components, on an operational, financial and market performance of Islamic banks juxtaposed with conventional banks.

Using data collected from 59 banks for five years (2012-2016) involving 295 observations, an independent variable derived from the modified value added IC (MVAIC) components are regressed against dependent bank performance indicator variables [Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Tobin’s Q (TQ)]. Two types of control variables complete the regression analysis in this study: bank-specific and macroeconomic.

The findings elicited from the empirical results demonstrate that there is positive relationship between IC efficiency and financial performance (ROE) and market performance (TQ) in Islamic banks. In conventional banks, however, there is a positive relationship between IC and operational performance (ROE) and financial performance (ROE).

The model in this paper presents a valuable analytical framework for exploring IC efficiency as a driver of performance in dual-sector banking economies characterized by co-existence of Islamic and conventional financial institutions. In addition, this paper highlights bank management lacunae manifesting in terms of the weak nexus between: IC and asset efficiency (ROA) in Islamic banks and IC and market value (TQ) in conventional banks.