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This paper aims to explore the lived experience of people with a chronic non-healing wound and to explore what it means to live with a chronic wound.

A descriptive phenomenological study design was adopted to explore the living experience of person with chronic wound. A sample of 15 individuals of both genders was selected using a purposive sampling technique. To collect data, in-depth interviews were conducted, and all the interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using the seven-step process described by Colaizzi (1978).

The findings were organized into 6 themes clusters and 12 themes. The six themes clusters were limiting mobility; receiving care; explaining causes of wounds; contending with chronic illnesses; adapting and mal-adapting; and economic burden of the wound.

Chronic wound had a profound impact on participants’ lives by affecting their activities of daily living, their mobility, their income and their personal relationships.

Understanding the lived experiences of people with chronic wounds is crucial for health-care providers, including nurses. Investigating the chronic wound experience has become even more pressing given the projected increase in the number of elderly individuals and those with chronic illnesses such as diabetes mellitus. In Jordan, for example, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus is 17.1%, and it is projected to increase by 2050.

This paper aims to validate and adapt the Arabic version of Holden Communication Scale (HCS) for assessing communication skills among old people with dementia in care home.

A study involving 210 elderly residents from Jordanian care homes was conducted, where they completed the Arabic version of the HCS. Internal consistency and factor analysis techniques were precisely used to assess the scale's reliability. Additionally, cognitive function evaluation used the Arabic iteration of the Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) questionnaire, while communication skills were comprehensively appraised using the HCS.

The Arabic HCS has strong content validity, with a one-component structure accounting for 60% of the variation and a three-factor structure accounting for 77.2% of the variance. The original three-subgroup structure of the scale was recreated, and internal consistency varied from 0.85 to 0.87, indicating good reliability.

This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the HCS among old people with dementia residing in care homes. The authors conducted examination of its psychometric properties within this unique population.

This paper aims to explore how the presence of an audit committee is associated with other corporate governance mechanisms, i.e. board structure, ownership structure and quality of external audit. The present study evaluated whether the presence of the audit committee complements or substitutes other governance mechanisms in Palestinian companies. Moreover, the effect of investment opportunities on the relationship between the formation of the audit committee and the quality of the auditor was addressed.

The association between the formation of the audit committee and other governance variables was modelled as a binary logistic model. The sample comprising 44 firms listed on Palestine exchange for the period between 2013 and 2017, amounting to 220 firm-year observations.

Based on the investigation, the results have indicated that board independence, the distinction between the chairman and chief executive officer function, ownership concentration and audit quality enhance the chance of audit committee formation, implying complementary effect. Contrastingly, board size and board ownership serve as a substitute to audit committee formation. It has also been found that investment opportunities act as an effective moderating factor that strengthens the relationship between audit quality and the formation of the audit committee.

The study provides valuable insight into the interaction between multiple corporate governance mechanisms within the economy of Palestine where the external uncertainty is high and investment opportunities are constrained by the decisions of the occupying authority. The findings may help regulators and policymakers in Palestine alongside those of other countries with similar environmental features to revise and update their corporate governance codes to ensure that the best control can be achieved, subsequently attracting more foreign and domestic investments.

Corporate governance plays a significant role to overcome agency issues and develop the culture of transparency and openness. In this context, this paper aims to examine how corporate governance mechanisms affect the performance of Islamic banks (IBs).

Stepwise, two-step system generalize method of moment estimation technique is used in the analysis in which control variables are added into the model sequentially. This study used data on 129 IBs from 29 Islamic countries (Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia) during the period of 2008 to 2017.

The findings suggest that the audit committee (AUDC) and Shariah board (SB) have positive impact on the performance of IBs (return on assets and return on equity). However, board size and risk management committee have negative and significant effect on the performance of IBs. CEO duality and non-executive directors have mixed relationship with the performance of IBs. These results support the argument that IBs need to improve their financial performance through appropriate governance mechanism.

The findings of the study added a new dimension to the governance research that could be a valuable source of knowledge for policymakers and regulators to improve the existing governance mechanism for better performance of IBs.

The study fills the gap in the literature by addressing the issue of corporate governance on performance of IBs across countries. Agency theory is discussed to explain the relationship between corporate governance mechanism and performance.

This study aims at investigating the impact of the disclosure and the Shariah governance on the financial performance in MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia) Islamic banks.

We use the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) regression models to check the interdependence relationship between the disclosure, the Shariah governance and the financial performance of 47 Islamic banks (IBs) from ten countries operating in MENASA region. The sample period is from 2012 to 2019. In these regressions models, Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are the dependent variables. The disclosure and the Shariah governance indicators are the independent factors. To measure the Shariah governance, we use the three sub-indices, which are the Board of Directors (BOD), the Audit Committee (AC) and the Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB). Size, Leverage and Age of the bank are used as control variables. We also used The Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and the three-stage least squares (3SLS) estimations for robustness check.

Result shows a negative relationship between the disclosure and the two performance measures in IBs. Furthermore, as far as the governance indicators are concerned, we found that the BOD and AC, as well as the BOD and SSB, have a positive and significant impact on the ROA and ROE, respectively. This reveals that good governance had a significant association with higher performance in MENASA IBs.

The paper considers both IBs that adopt mandatory as well as voluntary AAOIFI standards and the GLS method to investigate the impact of the AAOIFI disclosure and the Shariah governance on ROA and ROE. Also, it uses the GMM and the 3SLS estimations for robustness check. It is relevant for researchers, policymakers and stakeholders concerned with IBs' performance.

This study aims to explore the use, effectiveness, motives and obstacles of analytical procedures (APs) used by auditors in Palestine, a context characterised by a pool of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a limited skill set, poor quality of data, political uncertainty and a community-based business culture.

The study considers the audit market in Palestine using a sequential mixed-methods approach combining a questionnaire survey and a series of in-depth interviews. A total of 129 Big-4 and non-Big-4 auditors were surveyed.

The use of APs is driven by the auditor size (Big-4 vs non-Big-4) and the client size (large vs SMEs). Even though the use of APs has increased over the past decade, audit objectives, know-how, and personal, family and social connections among auditors and clients influence the quality of the audit process.

Small firms take advantage of the lack of audit governance in Palestine. Our findings suggest that the regulators should help bridge the knowledge-sharing programmes between the small and large audit firms to help improve audit quality.

Studies on audit quality, particularly using APs, in the context of politically unstable cases such as Palestine are limited. The study has implications for the use of APs in the case of SMEs to prepare for the technological revolution that will modernise audit procedures and quality soon.

Higher degree of and commitment to voluntary disclosure (VD) and corporate governance (CG) helps contain information asymmetry, leading to lower cost of equity (Ke). This study provides evidence on the nexus among VD, CG, and Ke from a context characterized by extreme political instability.

This study uses all non-bank companies listed with the Palestine Exchange during 2009–2018. The level of VD was estimated by using a checklist of 35 items modified for the context of Palestine. A second checklist with 19 items was used to measure the commitment of the Palestinian companies with CG requirements. Five proxies for Ke were tested: three ex-ante Capital Asset Pricing Model-like proxies and two ex-post realized return proxies.

The findings state that the VD negatively impacted Ke. Interaction effect of CG and VD helps reduce the Ke. As such, for firms with better CG, the increase in VD decreases the Ke more than their standalone effect. For control variables, leverage, size and growth of firms exhibited positive impacts on Ke, whereas quality of auditors found a negative connection.

Managers in similar context, like Palestine, may prefer flexibility of smaller size and adopt conservative growth strategies to cope with adverse events. Firms adopt CG and VD as complementary forces to tackle instability and market expectation.

Studies connecting VD-CG-Ke nexus from similar context are rare. Results of this study forward that emphasis on disclosure and governance practices will help boost the confidence of the investors, reduce the Ke and create an incentive for more investment.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance and other related factors on the risk-taking of Islamic banks. Risk-taking is defined according to credit risk, liquidity risk and operational risk.

The study uses the two step system generalized method of moment (2SYS-GMM) estimation technique by using a panel data set of 129 Islamic banks (IBs) from 29 countries in the Middle East, South Asia and the Southeast Asia regions covering from 2008 to 2017. Governance variables incorporated include board size, board independence, chief executive officer (CEO) power, Shariah board and audit committee, as well as other control variables.

This study provides evidence that board size and Shariah board are positively and significantly related to credit and liquidity risk. Board independence and CEO power are negative and significantly associated with credit and liquidity risk, but the audit committee has a mixed relationship with bank risk. Male CEOs take more risk compared to the female and more board meeting has an inverse relationship with Islamic banks risk. Bank size, however, does not influence the level of risk in Islamic banks, but leverage has an inverse relationship with bank risk.

The present study sheds light on the risk-taking behaviour of the board of IBs, particularly the board independence and CEO power reducing the level of risk in IBs thereby contributing to the agency theory. Therefore, regulators and policymakers can use the findings of this study to strengthen the internal corporate governance mechanism to protect IBs at a time of financial distress. Moreover, it increases the trust of the shareholders and stakeholders in the effectiveness of governance reforms that have been pursued to reap long-term benefits.

To the best of the knowledge, this research is preliminary in examining the board behaviour on risk-taking of IBs from four different regions. The results are robust and suggest that the board of directors mitigate the level of risk in IBs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Board of Directors’ characteristics and their impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

Regression analysis is applied to test the impact of the Board of Directors’ characteristics on the financial soundness of Islamic banks, using a panel data set of 67 Islamic banks covering 20 countries from 2005 to 2018. The Z-score indicator is used to evaluate the Islamic banks’ soundness. To check the robustness of the results, this paper uses other dependent variables (CAMEL) than the Z-score.

The main results show that the presence of an independent non-executive director negatively impacts the financial soundness of Islamic banks, while the chief executive officer duality practice has a positive effect on it. Other characteristics of the Board of Directors do not significantly impact the financial soundness of Islamic banks (foreign director, institutional director, chairman with a Shari’ah degree, interlocked chairman and the Board of Directors’ size).

This study aims to fill the gaps in the literature that discuss the Board of Directors’ role in corporate governance and its impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks. In other words, it shows the role played by the Board of Directors and improves the knowledge of the corporate governance-financial soundness relationship. Plus, managers, investors and regulators may gain evocative insights, particularly those looking to improve their Islamic banks’ soundness by restructuring their boards’ composition.

This study sheds new light on the literature on Islamic banking by clarifying the relationship between the Board of Directors and the financial soundness of Islamic banks. Contrary to previous research, this paper uses an additional hypothesis stating that a chairman with a Shari’ah degree (Fiqh Muamalt) has a positive impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

This study aims to evaluate the influence of corporate governance index (CGI), ownership concentration (OC) and other features on the dividends of listed Indian pharmaceutical companies. The other features included are leverage, excess return over cost of equity and stock-market return. This study thus helps to provide more insights on the dividend distribution issues for a shareholder in the challenging and demanding pharma industry, especially when stakes are high.

The data for all 26 pharmaceutical companies which form part of the NSE NIFTY-500 index for six years (2014–2019) is procured using Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIEs) Prowess database. An eight-pointer scale (unweighted scale) is used to develop the CGI. For OC, this paper considers the proportion of promoters’ shareholding, domestic institutional investors’ shareholding and foreign owners’ shareholding. Both static and dynamic panel data models are used to evaluate the effect of CGI and OC on dividends.

The panel data analysis depicts that CGI significantly positively influences the dividends of pharmaceutical companies in India. Thus, the authors find support for La Porta et al.’s outcome agency model. The results also reveal that only promoters’ holdings are significantly inversely related to dividends out of the three OC variables used for this study. This discussion implies that family-run pharmaceutical companies in India tend to retain profits instead of distributing dividends.

This study provides two direct insights for policymakers and stakeholders. First, because this study shows that CGI significantly positively influences dividends, corporate governance (CG) is an essential factor for determining dividends. Second, because the results also reveal that OC in the hands of promoters hurts dividends, it implies that the higher the promoter holding, lesser is the dividend distributed by the company. Both these results can be used as a quantitative tool by investors to assess Indian pharmaceutical companies better. However, a similar study could be directed to assess the impact of CGI and OC on dividends of other industries. Moreover, additional variables of CG and OC can also be evaluated in further detail. There is also a need to empirically validate the impact of CG and OC on a company’s performance.

The results are robust and reveal that variation in CGI does impact dividend policy. This aids in confirming that CG is a crucial aspect influencing dividends. The findings also add to the increasing studies across the globe evaluating the influence of CG and OC on dividends.