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Despite the government’s efforts to protect domestic industries from foreign competition through tariffs, the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP continued to decline in Nigeria. Based on the scenario, this study assessed the symmetric and asymmetric effects of tariffs on industrial performance in Nigeria for the period 1988–2021. Tariff was captured with a tariff rate applied to the weighted mean of all products, while industry value added as a percent of GDP was used as a proxy for industrial performance.

Linear and nonlinear ARDL techniques were used for the analysis.

The symmetric (linear ARDL) results revealed that tariffs have a significant positive effect on industrial performance in both the short and long term. The asymmetric (nonlinear ARDL) results showed that a long-term asymmetry exists between tariffs and industrial performance. It revealed positive effects on industrial performance for both positive and negative tariff changes, with the negative change having a greater impact.

Generally, the results showed that the use of tariffs to protect domestic industries in Nigeria promotes industrial performance. The implication is that the declining contribution of the industrial sector to GDP in Nigeria is not a result of the tariff policy. It shows that the government should look beyond tariff policy to enhance the industrial contribution to GDP.

Nigeria should exercise caution in using tariff policies to protect domestic industries to avoid retaliation from their trade partners that could reverse the positive impacts.

There has been much debate in recent times about the factors that improve the quality of teaching in higher education (HE) institutions. This has been especially fueled by the increasing importance attached to Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) qualification. To fill the existing gap in the current literature in this regard, this study aims to investigate whether HE teachers (lecturers) who undergo pedagogical training (PT) in addition to obtaining PhD qualification possess higher knowledge and pedagogical competencies (PCs) than those that relied only on having PhD qualification without further teaching qualifications.

Drawing upon data collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 1,174 Nigerian HE teachers in various disciplines from 39 HE institutions, in addition to two focus groups, the study adopts a mixed-methods research. The quantitative data were analyzed descriptively while qualitatively data were coded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically.

This article proposes that teachers who undergo PT in addition to obtaining PhD tend to have more PCs and perform better than those that have not undergone any form of PT. Also, it found a statistically significant difference between PCs of HE teachers who have undergone PT in addition to PhD qualification from those without PT. The implication is that teachers who have undergone PT are more effective in facilitating teaching and learning than those who have not completed PT.

Despite the merits of the mixed-methods research, a major limitation of this study is the failure to compare students' achievements or successes based on the two distinct samples. However, the limitations create opportunities for further studies into the subject matter.

This study is timely, given that Nigeria (like many African countries) has a low quality HE system and low graduate outcomes (related to knowledge, employability, and skills). More so, research into pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and practices are rare or nonexistent in the literature related to Nigeria and other African countries' HE system.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ethnocentric tendencies of Emirati Gen Z consumers and to provide empirical evidence on how demographic variables (gender and education) influence ethnocentric tendencies. The study also attempts to know the impact of ethnocentrism on the buying behavior of the segment.

Researchers collected the opinions of 310 Emirati Gen Z consumers by using a modified CETSCALE. The data was reviewed and coded by applying software R Studio and Microsoft Excel. Cronbach’s α and Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) tests were administered to check the internal consistency and validity of the 17-item CETSCALE. Then, the factor extraction method principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the data. The selected hypotheses were tested by using the Cronbach α and Kruskal–Wallis (K-W) hypothesis testing technique.

The findings suggest that Emirati Gen Z consumers substantially ethnocentric who prefer domestic products/services over foreign goods. No significant influence of gender and education on Emirati Gen Z consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies.

The targeted subjects were selected only from Dubai and the Sharjah Emirates and not covered the remaining five emirates of the UAE. Consumers were asked to assess their ethnocentrism without reference to a specific product or service.

This type of meticulous study in the UAE has never been done before to explore the ethnocentric tendencies of Gen Z consumers.

Procurement management in infrastructure development has gained considerable attention in developing countries. It is because of the success in the developed nations. Studies have shown that Nigeria's infrastructure development needs far exceed its current provision. Also, studies are scarce to reveal whether procurement management has been successful in infrastructure development projects in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper investigated the root cause of the perceived encumbrances impeding procurement management in infrastructure development projects and proffered policy measures to improve future Nigeria's infrastructure development.

Data were collected via unexplored exploratory virtual interviews and selected cases from secondary sources. The engaged construction and engineering consultants have been involved in the procurement management of infrastructure projects in Nigeria. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data.

The root causes of the pitfalls that emerged from the study include lack of competition and transparency, embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds, snail speed bureaucracy and bottleneck and lack of skills and knowledge. Others are collusion/bid-rigging/price-fixing/cartel formation, corruption, lack of professionalism, unbridled politicking, embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds, incompetence of tender boards, lack of patriotism to national service and lack of government organisations’ procurement capacity.

This paper is restricted to unravelling the encumbrances in procurement management of Nigeria's infrastructure development projects. Future research is desirable to adopt a quantitative approach for more extensive coverage and validate findings from this paper.

The paper findings, including those learnt from each case study evaluated, would undoubtedly influence policymakers and construction and engineering practitioners on the key strategies to employ in implementing future procurement management in Nigeria's infrastructure development projects.

This paper would assist policymakers and other stakeholders desirous of improved infrastructure to focus their priorities in mitigating the identified root cause hindering procurement management in Nigeria's infrastructure management.

In the mid 1990s the NHS “did” competition, in the mid 2000s the NHS is “doing” choice. This paper aims to cut through the rhetoric, highlight the differences and parallels between then and now and identify if these differences will have a different or the same impact on local services.

Following a review of literature from the 1990s, a qualitative research study is used to examine the impact of competition and markets in the 1990s. The discussion examines the implications of this study for current system reform.

Patient choice recreates many of the features of the internal market, but despite concerns at the time, the internal market did not have a significant impact on services. It is likely that patient choice will similarly have a limited impact.

The research is a case study confined to Day Surgery in one part of the North of England.

The paper reminds academics and practitioners what happened last time the NHS attempted to introduce a market‐based system.

Big data analytics (BDA) is recognized as a turning point for firms to improve their performance. Although small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are crucial for every economy, they are lagging far behind in the usage of BDA. This study aims to provide a single and unified model for the adoption of BDA among SMEs with the integration of the technology–organization–environment (TOE) model and resource-based view.

A survey of 112 manufacturing SMEs in Iran was conducted, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling to test the model of this study.

The results offer evidence of a BDA mediation effect in the relationship between technological, organizational and environmental contexts, and SMEs performance. The findings also demonstrated that technological and organizational elements are the more significant determinants of BDA adoption in the context of SMEs. In addition, the result of this study confirmed that BDA adoption could enhance the financial and market performance of SMEs.

Providing a single unified framework of BDA adoption for SMEs enables them to appreciate the importance of most influential elements (technology, organization and environment) in the adoption of BDA. Also, this study may encourage SMEs to be more willing to use BDA in their businesses.

Although there are studies on BDA adoption and firm performance among large companies, there is a lack of empirical research on SMEs, in particular, based on the TOE model. SMEs differ from large companies in terms of the availability of resources and size. Therefore, this study aimed to initiate a conceptual framework of BDA adoption for SMEs to assist them to be able to take advantage of the adoption of such technology.