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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent at which Turkish foreign direct investment (FDI) contributes to the process of peacemaking in host country.

This study utilized a qualitative method and used a focus group discussion and an in-depth interview.

This study found that Turkish FDI contributes well to the process of peace building in Somalia.

A well-balanced FDI is expected to contribute to the process of peace building in host country because FDI is associated with job creation, technology transfer, private sector enhancement, infrastructure development and social responsibility. These factors increase household income of the host country and contribute to human capital development. By doing so, resource-centered conflicts are reduced and peace is established.

This study is considered as one of the unique studies that have been conducted in the context of post-conflict economy of Somalia. The study investigated the extent at which Turkish FDI contributes to the process of peace building in the host economy and found some interesting evidences, which makes it an appealing work that should be pursued further. This study is not only investigating a novel area of research but also contributes very much to the ongoing policy debate on the recovery and development of post-conflict economies.

The purpose of this study was to examine the macroeconomic impact of mobile money in Somalia using quarterly data from 2010 to 2020.

This study applied the structural vector autoregressive approach to examine the response of the macroeconomic variables to the mobile money shocks.

The results show that mobile money increases consumer spending by reducing transaction costs and enhancing access to finance, which promotes the expansion of aggregate output. This study also finds that mobile money helps exchange rate stability and price level maintenance, boosting trade openness. Moreover, mobile money is linked to the rise in real income due to productivity improvement and price stability. The results of this study indicated that mobile money has a short-run relationship with aggregate output, household consumption, price level, trade openness and real income. Through the Granger causality test, this study finds that mobile money has a unidirectional relationship with the exchange rate, price level, household consumption and trade openness.

The empirical findings of this study imply that mobile money can create a wide range of financial services to improve the financial system in rural and urban areas; hence, it enables poor and rural members of society to make payments and receive-and-transfer money using their mobiles.

Real estate is one of the fundamental growth engines for developing economies as it contributes urbanization and infrastructure development. In recent years, Somalia has witnessed massive real estate development in both housing and commercial buildings. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, the study examines the determinants of residential property rents. Second, it investigates whether residential property rents are fairly valued.

This study uses two-stage modeling. A hedonic regression model is used in the first stage, while an artificial neural network is applied in the second stage.

After analysis, this study established that size, location and security of a residential property have a significant influence on its monthly rents. Alternatively, the study identified that residential property rents are not fairly valued in Mogadishu and overvaluation is more frequent than undervaluation.

This implies that Somalia’s real estate industry is more speculative-driven than real demand-driven. Though Somali real estate is an infant industry with huge potentials in the long run, it may end up disastrously following the well-known bubble-then-burst behavior. To avoid such crisis, this study recommends formulating government policies that regulates, supervises and protects the infant real estate industry without undermining the needs of the poor and low-income citizens.

This study aims to examine the Shariah non-compliance (SNC) disclosure index for all 16 Malaysian Islamic banks from 2015 to 2020.

A qualitative research methodology was adopted that included content analysis. The data were gathered from banks’ annual reports from 2015 to 2020. To achieve this, firstly, the disclosure index was developed by examining the disclosure requirements of the regulator and previous studies. The index was then used to measure the level of disclosure index for all these banks.

The overall average SNC disclosure index for the Islamic banks from 2015 to 2020 remained low at 0.57. However, the values were comprised of mandatory and voluntary items. For the former, the SNC disclosure index was quite high at 0.82, but for the voluntary items, the value was 0.40. Progressive improvement can be observed in the disclosure practices of the majority of the Islamic banks between 2015 and 2020; nevertheless, certain banks displayed a deterioration in their disclosure practices.

This study has several limitations, including the index used, the research period and the fact that it was restricted to SNC events.

These findings add value for information users by assuring them of the accountability of Islamic banks in terms of transparency, as well as their effectiveness in managing and mitigating SNC events. Regular monitoring and strong enforcement by the regulator are essential to achieve full compliance with the stipulated requirements.

This study offers a disclosure index for analysing SNC events in depth by segregating the disclosure into mandatory and voluntary items for each Islamic bank and making recommendations for future research. In addition, it provides a broad overview of current trends in SNC and the associated issues, as well as insights for regulators and the public in terms of the transparency levels of Islamic banks in relation to SNC event disclosure.

This paper aims to examine the extent to which these reforms address the limitations of Saudi Arabia’s previous investment framework. Long viewed as a hostile environment in which to do business, the Saudi Government has enacted a broad sweep of measures aimed at restoring investor confidence in central aspects of the country’s evolving private law framework.

This paper offers a timely assessment of the raft of foreign investment reforms, both legislative and regulatory, that have been introduced in Saudi Arabia over the last decade.

The paper will proceed by outlining the perceived failings of the old investment regime before going on to reforms.

It will consider the remaining obstacles to the flow of foreign investment in Saudi Arabia in the context of the dual forces that have historically defined the Kingdom’s ambivalent investment law regime.

Performance evaluation of airports or any other organisation is paramount for improving performance. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare the performance of the three international airports in Libya (MJI, MRA, and LAQ airports) by considering five aspects of performance.

The considered aspects are airport service quality, airport operations, airport economy, safety and security, and environmental. The paper uses the grey system theory to assess these airports by summarizing the opinions of experts.

The finding of this study provides directions of the evaluated airports to take the correct actions to improve overall performance.

No literature has been found till date is to evaluate and compare the performance of the international airports in Libya.

The objective of this research is to propose an immersive framework that integrates virtual reality (VR) technology with directives international safety training certification bodies to enhance construction safety training, which eventually leads to safer construction sites.

The adopted methodology combines expert insights and experimentation to maximize the effectiveness of construction safety training. The first step was identifying key considerations for VR models such as motion sickness prevention and adult learning theories. The second step was developing a game-like VR model for safety training, with multiple hazards and scenarios based on the considerations of the previous step. After that, safety experts evaluated the model and provided valuable feedback on its alignment with international safety training practices. Finally, the developed model is tested by senior students, where the testing format followed the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) working safely exam structure.

An advanced immersive VR safety training model was developed based on extensive lessons learned from the literature, previous work and psychology-informed adult learning theories. Model testing – through focus groups and hands-on experimentation – demonstrated significant benefit of VR in upgrading and complementing traditional training methods.

The findings presented in this paper make a significant contribution to the field of safety training within the construction industry and the broader context of immersive learning experiences. It also fosters further exploration into immersive learning experiences across educational and professional contexts.

In the opening speech at the International Islamic Capital Market Conference held in Kuala Lumpur recently, the Deputy Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim (1996: 5), referring to the role of the capital market, advocates an “economic growth with distributive justice, profitability with social responsibility, prudent management and transparency in dealings”. He believes that these are the prerequisites of a healthy and sustainable economy.

This paper examined engineers’ satisfaction with services of a building permission unit at a local municipality using a focus group, a questionnaire and follow‐up interviews. Obtained satisfaction indexes are reported. Differences in satisfaction levels were tested using parametric t‐tests and Kruskal‐Wallis non‐parametric tests according to engineer’s specialization, size of office and number of building projects submitted to the building permission unit. The results indicate no significant statistical differences in satisfaction levels based on specialization (civil engineers versus architectural engineers), size of the consulting office, or the number of projects submitted. However, satisfaction indexes were not high. They were about 60 per cent.

Drawing on the resilience theory and espousing the spiritual capital approach, the purpose of this study is to assess the indirect effect of religiosity on entrepreneurs’ psychological resilience through the intervening roles of coping with failure, perseverance, locus of control and optimism.

The study adopts a quantitative design and gathers data from 125 entrepreneurs in Oman through questionnaires. A structural equation modelling approach is used to test the hypotheses.

The study finds that entrepreneurs’ religiosity influences resilience indirectly through coping with failure, perseverance and locus of control. Surprisingly, optimism played a trivial role in this dynamic.

It has been well acknowledged that religiosity provides a pool of resources crucial to entrepreneurs’ survival and success. However, despite this intuitive link, the mechanism whereby religiosity enhances entrepreneurial resilience remains misunderstood. This is problematic as entrepreneurs’ psychological resilience is an important attribute for survival, especially during challenging times. Hence, this study advances the current understanding of the religiosity-resilience nexus by uncovering its underlying mechanism.