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The problem of laminar cross‐flow forced convection heat transfer from a horizontal cylinder covered with an orthotropic porous layer was investigated numerically. The effects of porous layer thickness, radial resistance, tangential resistance, and incoming flow Reynolds number on the average Nusselt number were studied in detail. There was up to 40 per cent reduction in the average Nusselt number at high values of Reynolds number. The tangential resistance effect on the Nusselt number was dominant over that of the radial resistance. The effectiveness of the porous layer increased at high values of porous layer thickness as well as at high values of Reynolds number.

The aim of this work is to determine the optimal number and location of the fin(s) for maximum laminar forced convection heat transfer from a cylinder with multiple high conductivity radial fins on its outer surface in cross‐flow, i.e. Nusselt number, over a range of Reynolds numbers.

The effect of several combinations of number of fins, fin height, and fin(s) tangential location on the average Nusselt number was studied over the range of Reynolds numbers (5‐150). The problem was investigated numerically using finite difference method over a stretched grid. The optimal number and placement of the fins, for maximum Nusselt number, was determined for several combinations of Reynolds number and fin height. The percentage improvement in heat transfer per fin(s) unit length, i.e. cost‐efficiency, was also studied.

The results indicate that the fin(s) combination with the highest normalised Nusselt number is not necessarily the combination that results in the highest fin cost‐efficiency.

The results of the study can be used to design highly efficient cross‐flow forced convection heat transfer configurations from a horizontal cylinder with minimum cost.

The purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting the adoption of the use of Bitcoin by members of Iraqi society.

The deductive approach was used based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). The data were collected by an electronic questionnaire that was prepared based on several previous studies, obtaining 527 responses. Structural equation modeling was used by SmartPLS software to analyze the data and test the hypotheses.

This study reached a set of results, the most important of which was that each of the compatibility, security and perceived trust affects the contracts of the TAM (behavioral intention, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness) except the effect of security on behavioral intention.

This study focused on identifying the opinions of the respondents from the general community and was not limited to a specific segment. On the other hand, despite identifying the demographic characteristics of the respondents, this study did not test the impact of these characteristics on the intention to use digital currency.

This study is expected to help financial institutions in general to understand the future behavior of community members toward dealing with Bitcoin and to make decisions regarding how to direct the financial policy in the country; in addition, it will also contribute to educating the citizens of countries about the risks related to this currency.

The survey of previous studies revealed a significant decrease in this study of the behavior of individuals in Arab societies in general toward dealing with Bitcoin and in Iraq in particular, forming a spatial gap. The results of this study are expected to help improve community members’ dealings with digital currency based on their perceptions of trust, security and compatibility. This study will also contribute to assisting financial and monetary policymakers when dealing with this currency.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived severity of service failure (PSSF) and service recovery strategies (SRSs) as antecedents of customer forgiveness (CF), customer reconciliation, negative word-of-mouth and re-patronage intention as outcomes across two Middle Eastern countries: Egypt and Oman.

A quantitative technique was used, using a questionnaire, to collect data from customers of the national airline companies of Egypt and Oman. The perspectives of 1,084 airline customers were analysed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling.

The results of this study show that service failure severity has a negative influence on the effectiveness of SRSs. In turn, proper SRSs strongly and positively affect both Egyptian and Omani CF. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that service failure habit plays an important role in increasing the negative influence of perceived service failure severity on Egyptian, but not Omani, CF. Overall, results suggest that CF differs considerably between Egyptians and Omanis.

This study developed and empirically examined a comprehensive conceptual model of the drivers and outcomes of CF of airline companies. This study provides academics with meaningful insights into how social and cultural differences between customers in different countries can result in sometimes dramatically different behaviours following a service failure.

本研究在埃及和阿曼两个中东国家调查了感知的服务失败严重性（PSSF）, 并将其作为服务恢复策略, 作为顾客宽恕, 顾客和解, 负面口碑和重购意向的前因变量。

本研究采用定量方法, 使用问卷调查, 从埃及和阿曼国家航空公司的顾客中收集数据。使用PLS-SEM分析了1084个航空公司客户的观点。

结果表明, 服务失败严重性对服务恢复策略的有效性有负面影响。相应地, 适当的服务恢复策略对埃及和阿曼顾客的宽恕度有强烈的积极影响。此外, 研究结果表明, 在埃及（而不是阿曼）的顾客中, 服务失败习惯对感知到的服务失败严重程度对宽恕的负面影响方面起着重要作用。总体而言, 结果表明, 埃及和阿曼顾客之间的顾客客户宽恕差异很大。

本研究开发并实证检验了航空公司顾客宽恕的驱动因素和结果的综合概念模型。本研究为学界提供了有意义的见解, 即了解不同国家/地区的顾客之间的社会和文化差异如何导致服务失败后出现截然不同的行为。

Este estudio analizó la gravedad percibida de los fallos del servicio de reclamaciones (PSSF) y quejas como antecedentes de respuesta a los clientes, la reconciliación con el mismo, el boca a boca negativo y la intención de patrocinio como resultados en dos países del Medio Oriente (MO): Egipto y Omán.

se empleó una técnica cuantitativa, utilizando un cuestionario, para recopilar datos de los clientes de las compañías aéreas nacionales de Egipto y Omán. Se analizaron las perspectivas de 1084 clientes de aerolíneas utilizando PLS-SEM.

los resultados muestran que la gravedad de los fallos en el servicio tiene una influencia negativa en la efectividad de las estrategias del servicio de reclamaciones. Asimismo, las estrategias de este tipo afectan fuerte y positivamente sobre la empatía de los clientes egipcios y omaníes. Además, los resultados indican que los fallos en el servicio de quejas, juega un papel importante en el aumento de la influencia negativa de la severidad percibida sobre el servicio y la consideración a la hora de perdonar por parte del cliente egipcio, pero no en el omaní. En general, los resultados sugieren que el perdón del cliente difiere considerablemente entre egipcios y omaníes.

el estudio se desarrolló y se implementó empíricamente sobre un modelo conceptual integrado de impulsores y resultados del perdón de los clientes de las compañías aéreas. El estudio brinda a los académicos información significativa sobre cómo las diferencias sociales y culturales entre los clientes en diferentes países pueden resultar en comportamientos a veces dramáticamente diferentes en los fallos en el servicio.

This study aims to examine the effect of market orientation on foreign knowledge acquisition. It also assesses the moderating role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between foreign knowledge acquisition, firm innovativeness and performance.

A questionnaire was administered to 257 respondents who were owners, managers or owner/managers of export firms in Ghana. The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling.

The findings show that customer orientation significantly influenced foreign business knowledge acquisition but not performance, and that competitor orientation significantly influenced both foreign business knowledge acquisition and firm innovativeness. Absorptive capacity was found to play a significant role in linking foreign business knowledge to innovativeness.

The study adds to the literature on knowledge management in firms by identifying the moderating role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between foreign business knowledge acquisition, innovativeness and performance.

This study aims to assess consumers’ beliefs in three Middle Eastern Arab countries regarding attitudinal and behavioural responses towards permission-based direct email marketing (hereafter DEM) and the moderating role of gender in the hypothesised path model.

Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised path model by using data collected from 829 respondents.

The findings show that attitude was found to fully mediate the relationship between beliefs and behavioural responses towards permission-based DEM. Gender moderates the relationship between beliefs and attitudes and responses to permission-based DEM. Notably, female respondents were found to react more actively when exposed to permission-based DEM.

Further qualitative research is needed to learn more about how and why individuals develop behavioural intentions in certain ways towards opt-in DEM. In addition, neuropsychology approaches such as eye-tracking are endorsed for future research to gain more insights and conquer biases associated with self-reporting procedures in countries where such technologies are deemed as legal and ethical to be used with human subjects.

Advertisers promoting products and services in the Middle Eastern Arab context should take further steps to enhance the quality of information (including cultural sensitiveness) and the perceived entertainment value that could be delivered to consumers through permission-based DEM, especially for female internet users. Additionally, this study highly recommends the double opt-in approach to permission-based DEM.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to address the gender role as a moderator of the path depicting the effectiveness of permission-based DEM approach in the Middle East (Arab counties) from beliefs to behavioural responses via attitudes.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the readability of annual reports and corporate performance in Qatari listed firms while controlling for a firm’s competitive position, governance structure and specific features such as size, age and industry type.

This study relies on both agency theory and legitimacy theory to develop testable hypotheses. It uses a sample of 126 firm-year listed companies in the Qatar Stock Exchange to test obfuscation in the annual reports through examining the association between the readability of Narrative Disclosures (NDs) and corporate profitability, financial risk and agency costs for the period from 2014-2016.

The findings show that firms with higher annual report readability are more profitable and have lower agency costs, which is an indication of the existence of “obfuscation.” Qatari firms may use narrative complexity as a disclosure strategy to enhance their image and consequently maintain their social legitimacy.

Although the study findings suffer from limited global generalization, they can be generalized across Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Thus, future cross-country research is encouraged.

The findings encourage Qatari policymakers to instate a policy for “Plain English” writing to make NDs easy to read by international investors.

This study is one of very few studies that examines the readability of annual reports in emerging market economies, i.e. Qatar. The study contributes to the paucity of research that examines English-written annual reports in non-English speaking countries.

This research fills a gap in digitalization project studies by exploring them through the lens of organizational learning. It investigates the impact of uncertainty on digitalization project success and the role of absorptive capacity.

A mixed-methods approach is adopted, incorporating qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative part assesses how uncertainty affects digitalization project success, while the quantitative side explores absorptive capacity as a mediating factor between adaptability to uncertainty and project success.

The qualitative results uncover challenges facing digitalization projects under uncertainty and suggests coping strategies at individual, project, and organizational levels. Quantitative results show that both potential and realized absorptive capacities significantly mediate the link between adaptability to uncertainty in the environment and project success.

This research offers new insights into digitalization project studies, merging organizational learning theory with a mixed-methods approach. It highlights how uncertainty and absorptive capacity influence digitalization project success.

This study aims to investigate and model interrelationships between process parameters, geometrical profile characteristics and mechanical properties of industrially extruded aluminum alloys.

Statistical design of experiments (DOE) was applied to investigate and model the effects of eight factors including extrusion ratio, stem speed, billet-preheat temperature, number of die cavities, quenching media (water/air), time and temperature of artificial aging treatment and profile nominal thickness on four mechanical properties (yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, percent elongation and hardness). Experiments were carried out at an actual extrusion plant using 8-in. diameter billets on an extrusion press with 2,200 ton capacity.

Main factors and factor interactions controlling mechanical properties were identified and discussed qualitatively. Quantitative models with high prediction accuracy (in excess of 95%) were also obtained and discussed.

The obtained results are believed to be of great importance to researchers and industrial practitioners in the aluminum extrusion industry.

All practical and relevant parameters have been used to model all important mechanical properties in a collective manner in one study and within actual industrial setup. This is in contrast to all previous studies where either a partial set of parameters and/or mechanical properties are discussed and mostly under limited laboratory setup.

Islamic banks (IBs) place significant importance on their religious identity, prompting the utilization of impression management (IM) strategies to emphasize such identity. This paper aims to discuss the motivations behind using IM in the creation of religious identity by IBs, and to explore the use of religious symbols and language as a form of religious rhetoric. It is argued that to counteract the threats to their religious identity, IBs use IM techniques, predominantly through the inclusion of religious symbols and rhetoric.

An empirical exploratory study, using content analysis, was conducted on the annual reports of the largest IBs for the year 2022. The analyses involved a total of 39 banks based on a filtered list from The Banker’s Top Islamic Financial Institutions of 2022. A manual content analysis was undertaken to extract religious symbols, images and contents.

The findings reveal the use of IM techniques that emphasize the religious identity of these banks. Notably, IBs consistently reaffirm their commitment to Sharia compliance and disclose their contributions to Zakah. In addition, the analysis reveals the incorporation of Quranic verses, religious iconographic images and other religious rhetoric statements in the annual reports of many IBs.

The analysis concludes that the assertion by IBs that their guiding principles are rooted in Islamic values are supported by the religious terminology and imagery embedded in their annual reports. Alongside mere religious symbolism, the terms and images are integral part of the corporate identity of the Islamic that not only sends persuasive signals to stakeholders but also help build an impression on the activities of the IBs.

IM has been a key objective and strategy of companies. This study aimed at exploring whether and how IBs used religious symbolism as an integral part of IM and corporate identity.