This paper examines the impact of mergers on the financial performance of the Jordanian banking sector. This paper applies the financial approaches in analysing the effects of mergers on Jordanian banks’ performance for two the periods: four years pre-merger and four years’ post-merger for the period from 2001 to 2009. The sample of the study solely contains the case of the merger of the Jordan Ahli Bank (AHLI bank) with Philadelphia Bank in 2005. Data are tested for normality using the Shapiro-Wilk Test and Kolmogorov Smirnov test. The financial ratios and a statistical technique as a Mann-Whitney U test were used to assess the significant differences in the financial performance of the selected banks pre- and post-merger by investigating the performance-related financial ratio groups that are expressed by leverage, liquidity, efficiency, and cash flow ratio. The results show that there is an insignificant improvement in the ratios of AHLI bank in the period after the merger, except for the superior result provided by this study indicating that the leverage ratios improved significantly. The reason for the insignificant improvement in financial ratios may be that the post-merger period corresponds to the period of the global financial crisis that began in 2007.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors that enhance the effectiveness of bulk text message advertising on consumer attention in the telecommunications industry in Zimbabwe. Research design, data and methodology: The study collected data using structured questionnaires. The study attracted 293 responses from consumer subscribers of the Zimbabwean telecommunications industry. Data was analysed using SPSS and measures of association, direction, strength and significance were used. Results: The study found out that the examined variables of bulk text messaging (Simplicity, Frequency and Informativeness) had a positive significant impact on consumers‟ attention (𝛽= 0.645; p-value < 0.05). The study examined four bulk text advertising determinants, namely frequency, simplicity, informativeness and credibility. Only credibility was found to be statistically insignificant (p-value > 0.05), whilst frequency had an inverse effect on consumer attention. Simplicity of bulk text advertisements recorded a high positive and significant impact whilst informativeness was also positively, and significantly affecting consumer attention. Conclusions: The study concluded that for bulk text advertising to be effective, text messages should be informative, easy to understand and dispatched less frequently. It was further concluded that bulk text advertising should follow permission marketing where consumers consent before hand to be recipients of commercials.

Purpose: The main purposes of this study are to examine what the most important hotel facilities that sharia hotels must provide, and to study the relationship between importance of sharia compliance and Muslim tourists' judgment on the performance of sharia hotels. Research Design, Data, and Methodology: The data were collected in Lombok Island. Questionnaires were distributed to Muslim tourists who stayed at one of the sharia hotels, with a total sample of 205 respondents. Factor Analysis Method and Two Independent Sample Tests have been applied in this research to analyze and interpret the data. Result: The results show only one factor is formed from all statements of Sharia compliance variable, and there is a significant difference in the customer experience and customer satisfaction ratings based on the importance of hotel facilities. Conclusion: The present study revealed that Muslim tourists who place a high level of importance in sharia compliance present a more positive assessment for all services provided by sharia hotels. The assessment from Muslim tourists with higher level of importance in Sharia compliance is more positive about their experiences during their stay at the sharia hotels, which also affects their satisfaction.

This research investigates the impact of vocational training on wages of ethnic minority labors in emerging countries; Vietnam is the case study. The study uses secondary data from 2014 to 2018 collected through Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys (VHLSS) conducted by the General Statistics Office. In order to analyze the impact of vocational training on wages of ethnic minority areas in Vietnam, this research creates ethnic area variables. According to Vietnamese regulations, ethnic areas are communes of 51 different provinces, inhabited by ethnic minority people. The statistics from VHLSS in 2018, show that the proportion of labors of working age with a certificate was 22.5%. The research employs Heckman Sample Selection Model to estimate the impact of vocation training on wage of labors in ethnic minority areas. The results show that vocational training plays a crucial role in improving the wages of ethnic minorities and has a positive impact. However, apart from the achieved outcomes, vocational training and job creation for ethnic minorities are not without limitations and shortcomings. Based on the findings, some recommendations to ethnic minority labors, enterprises and the Government are proposed to encourage participation in vocational training for the purpose of promoting the efficiency of the labor market.

This study examines the relation between the quality of leader-member relationship and operational performance of processing enterprises employees in Vietnam, while job satisfaction and innovation are as a mediator variable. In depth interviews are first conducted with five managers and professional workers in five processing enterprises to determine the latent variables and build the structured questionnaire with observed variables. A quantitative survey with 438 employees and managers from 300 processing enterprises was carried out. The method of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Cronbach’s alpha analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the reliability, the convergent nature, and the consistency of the concepts. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test the proposed model. The result shows that job satisfaction, innovation and operational performance have positive effects on the quality of leader-member relationship. The relationship between leaders and members had indirect impact on employee’s operational performance via their job satisfaction and innovation, which illustrates a mediator role of job satisfaction and innovation for employees’ performance. The findings of this study suggest that managers need to focus on developing relationship with employees to improve their satisfaction, innovation and performance.

The study examines direct and indirect impacts of organizational commitment on employee motivation through two mediating factors – opportunistic behavior and knowledge sharing – in Vietnamese enterprises. The samples were selected by the non-probability sampling method followed convenient sampling, relatively stratified by localities in Vietnam. The sample size was 636 employees in Vietnamese enterprises. The number of collected online questionnaires was 379, while the number of valid questionnaires was 329. In the direct survey, the number of distributed questionnaires was 750, while the number of collected questionnaires was 421 and the number of valid questionnaires was 307. The total number of valid questionnaires used for analysis was 636. The study used quantitative methods with structural equation modeling analysis. The results indicate that among the components of organizational commitment, normative commitment has both direct and indirect impacts on employee motivation through two mediating factors: opportunistic behavior and knowledge sharing. Meanwhile, affective commitment has only an indirect impact on employee motivation through these mediating factors. Continuance commitment has both direct and indirect impacts; however, it has only an indirect impact on employee motivation through opportunistic behavior. In addition, the results show opportunistic behavior has a negative impact on the knowledge sharing of employees in enterprises.

As environmental concerns continue to grow, green supply chain management (GSCM) is attracting attention as an element of competitive advantage for companies. This study examined internal GSCM practices to show how they influenced the end-point of the supply chain from the perspective of the end-consumer. It identified the effects of environmental concerns on consumer purchasing behavior mediated by the company image of internal GSCM practices. Data were collected through an email survey of Korean consumers. Reliability and validity were verified using SPSS 18.0. Cronbach’s alpha, and confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that environmental concerns had a positive impact on such practices, and the image of internal GSCM practices was found to have a significantly positive effect on consumer purchasing behavior. Companies will have to actively reflect environmental factors in their operational activities, and GSCM implementation will become a necessity. A positive image of internal environmental management and eco-design, which are key elements of internal GSCM practices, strengthened the company’s eco-friendly image and ultimately affected consumer purchasing behavior. This suggests that it is important for companies to evaluate their environmental attitude and make eco-friendly products from a consumer’s perspective, making it a differentiation strategy for a company in building an eco-friendly corporate image.

The study investigates the impact of globalization on coal consumption in Vietnam. This study employs an autoregressed distributed lag approach on time series data for the period of 1990 to 2017. The study tests the stationary, cointegration of time series data and utilizes autoregressed distributed lag modeling technique to determine the short-run and long-run relationship among coal consumption, globalization, income, population, and CO2 emissions. The results show that globalization increases coal consumption in Vietnam in the long run. The results also show that rapid economic growth promotes more coal consumption in the short run as well as in the long run. Moreover, higher population reduces coal consumption, and CO2 emissions decrease coal consumption both in the short run and the long run. The findings of the study suggest that globalization increases coal consumption in Vietnam in the long run. This result suggests that the increase in globalization level in Vietnam increases coal consumption. An interesting finding is that higher population reduces coal consumption, and population is an important factor towards the lessening in coal consumption. The findings confirm that environmental pollution decreases coal consumption in the short run and the long run. This implies that coal consumption may be green consumption in Vietnam.

The paper investigates the impact of the statement of cash flows of listed companies on lending decisions of commercial banks in the context of Vietnam. Survey data for the research were collected from 160 credit officers of Vietnamese commercial banks for short-term and long-term lending decisions, whether the cash flow statement includes complete information or has a lack of information. The cash flow statement, in which the information on the cash flow is completely contrary to the profit information on the income statement is examined. This paper employed T-tests to address the research issues in a market considered to be ineffective, like Vietnam. The research results show: (1) the information on the cash flow statement affects both the short-term and long-term lending decisions of credit officers, and (2) the lack of information on the cash flow statement in both cases of positive and negative profits affects the comfort and confidence of credit officers in making decisions. The research findings also indicate that cash flow statements are important for lending decisions of credit institutions in Vietnam. Therefore, this paper provides a new insight to managers on how to improve the quality of cash flow statement to meet the needs of lenders.

The study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms, such as board characteristics on corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). The data on CSRD items and board characteristics have been collected by content analysis of the annual reports of 30 publicly-listed banks in Bangladesh covering six years, from 2013 to 2018. More specifically, the directors’ report, the chairman’s statement, notes to the financial statement and CSR disclosure reports included in annual reports were used to collect the CSRD data. The empirical analysis applies the ordinary least square and the generalized method of moments. The results of the study have revealed that board size, board independence, female board member, and foreign directors have a significant positive impact on CSRD. By contrast, political directors and audit committee size have a negative impact on CSRD. Interestingly, accounting experts on boards ensure more CSRD as they curb the influence of politicians on the board. Thus, it is better to increase accounting experts and decrease politicians on the board. These findings provide valuable insights into the process of forming a suitable CSR policy by connecting the efforts of the board, government, and regulatory bodies to enhance the performance of banks to CSR as well as to CSRD.

This paper intends to explore the relationship between financial inclusion and financial stability under the scope of Asian economies. The linkage will be thoroughly investigated with country-level and bank-level data of 42 countries in three separate years: 2011, 2014, and 2017. In this study, an inclusive financial system is assessed by two dimensions: usage of financial services and access to the financial system. Usage of financial services ranges from account to credit, savings and payment services. Access to financial system measures the financial outreach where individuals can use financial services. Meanwhile, financial stability, which proxied by Bank Z-score is regarded as the dependent variable. We apply fixed effects regression and random effects regression to capture the impacts of financial inclusion upon financial stability. To enhance the robustness of the model, the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) regression is therefore adopted as the solution for the random effects regression. The empirical findings exhibit an overall weak positive influence of financial inclusion on financial stability. The research results also provide both financial institutions and governments with insightful information, which helps them to have an appropriate financial development strategy, improve the regulatory framework and consequently enhance financial stability for the whole system.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide fundamental information for professional sports and economy activation of cities, to explore mutual cooperative constructive relationship, and to investigate the Impact of Korean professional volleyball teams brand personality on city brand equity. Research design, data, and methodology: The study collected 500 survey responses and analyzed 478 surveys except for 22 which did not complete all items. For analyzing data, frequency, reliability, exploratory factor analysis, t-test, One-Way ANOVA, correlation, Multiple Regression were computed. Results: First, in difference in brand personality and city brand equity, due to gender, age, region of fan, significant difference were shown statistically in team image by gender, in honesty, interest and obdurability of brand personality by age, and in local community contribution, development possibility and sports facility of team image. Also, all factors show significant difference in region of fan. Second, regarding the impact of brand personality on city brand equity, honesty and capacity were shown to affect every factor of city brand equity, interest affected city image, and obdurability affected city perception. Conclusion: Professional teams need to develop win-win relationship with local community and seek to build positve image towards community fans via distinctive strategies for positioning.

Purpose: This study sought to investigate the critical features of Word of mouth (WOM) advertising and their impact on sport consumer behavior. Research design, data, and methodology: Target population of the study consisted of all sports consumer of the Federation of Special Patients and Organ Transplantation, Tehran (Iran), who had indirectly watched the World Organ Transplant Competition documentary at least once on others' advice. For this purpose, 360 sports consumers of the federation were purposefully selected and they were asked to complete the standard WOM advertising questionnaire of Asda and Ko. Pearson correlation coefficient test and modeling of structural equations were performed using Spss24 and Smart PLS software at an error level of 0.05 used to analyze the data. Results: The findings show that there is a significant relationship between experience and expertise, trust and validity, content richness, and the power of message transmission through WOM advertising and its predictability. Finally, interpersonal relationships and work involvement also had a moderating role in this regard. Conclusions: The general conclusion is that the components of WOM advertising as well as involvement and homophily with the mediating role directly as one of the presuppositions for persuasion. The sports consumer was promoting WOM.

The paper explores the return migration choice of graduates, which takes place during the transition from higher education to the labor market. Graduate students, after a short time in temporary migration to cities for studying, have to make a decision of returning back home or staying in migration in urban areas for working. Drawing on the mechanism identified in the literature on internal migration, this empirical research tests the effects of two factors: place attractiveness and social supports factors on graduates’ decision to return migration to hometown. A binary logit regression analysis was conducted with data from 502 surveyed graduates in Hanoi, Vietnam. The analysis of the motives reported by graduates indicates that return migration decisions cannot be reduced to a single dimension. Perceived attractiveness of a region such as quality of living environment, job opportunities, and social context of individuals positively impact on student’ decision to return migration after graduation. The research results imply that, in a collectivistic country like Vietnam, students’ choice of future career is strongly influenced by their social context, and choosing a place to work is not simply a matter of earning a higher salary or enjoying better working conditions, but is also related to family issues.

This paper examines the impacts of credit on income inequality in Vietnam. Though it is one of the most common measures of financial development, there is a dearth of research in this area. Unlike previous studies, the paper disaggregates the impact of each type of credit on income inequality, looking at the Gini coefficient. We employ the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) to solve the endogenous problem. The primary data set contains a panel of 60 Provincial observations, from data collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2002 to 2016. The empirical findings show that, while commercial credit increases income inequality, policy credit contributes to reducing income inequality in Vietnam. The results also confirm the important roles of education, institutional quality and foreign direct investment in fighting against income inequality in Vietnam. However, the paper does not provide adequate evidence to support the inverted U-shaped relationship between credit and income inequality. Based on the findings, we argue that the government should direct flows of credit to real economic activities rather than speculative investment; more bank credit should be allocated to rural areas and agriculture; and favorable credit programs should be designed to promote education, especially of those living in rural areas.

This study investigates the nexus between the level of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures (CSRD) and Risk of Bankruptcy of companies that are listing in the Stock Exchanges of Vietnam. To investigate that relationship, this study collected secondary data from annual audited financial statements from 2014 to 2018 of listing companies. Applying two different regression models with two dependent variables and six independent and control variables, we find out that Vietnamese firms with higher level of CSRD performance can rapidly reduce their risk of bankruptcy. This phenomenon happens in the current year and in the coming years in all firms in the research sample. This result may be that the disclosures of social responsibility information can bring financial and non-financial benefits to the firms. In addition, the results also point out that there is a difference in risk of bankruptcy between the group of companies, which discloses and the one which does not disclose corporate social responsibility on their annual reports. This might be from the effects of various factors such as business size, financial leverage, market to book ratio, return on assets, cash flow from operations, etc. Our research results can be applied to other firms in Vietnam and in other similar jurisdictions.

The paper examines the impact of information about cash flow from operating activities of firms listed on Vietnam’s stock market to the decision making of individual investors. Data were collected from interviews with 160 individual investors about their investment decisions based on information on profit growth and cash flow growth from operating activities. T-test was conducted to research on Vietnam’s stock market - a market considered as information that is not really public, transparent and ineffective. The research results show that: (1) investors do not care about cash flow from operating activities when making investment decisions if the company’s profits grow positively, (2) information about cash flow from operating activities only affects the decisions of individual investors once profit growth is negative, and (3) conflicting information between profit growth and cash flow growth from business activities significantly affects the confidence and comfort of investors in Vietnam’s stock market when they make investment decisions. Then, the study points out the mistake of investors when making investment decisions, and offers recommendations to investors when making investment decisions, not only concerned with profit growth, but also paying special attention to cash flow growth, especially cash flow from the company’s business operations.

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first identified in China in December 2019, has widely spread worldwide and is an ongoing pandemic. It is expected that the ripple effect of COVID-19 on the global economy including the agricultural sector will increase substantially if not properly controlled shortly. This study examines the potential impact of COVID-19 on the Korean beef cattle sector and farm labor demand for Korean beef cattle using a dynamic partial equilibrium model. The agricultural production value and farm labor demand for Korean beef cattle in the scenario assuming pessimistic GDP growth rate (-1.2% in 2020) with no direct supply shocks fell by up to 4.00% and 0.67%, respectively, compared to the baseline which represents the future without COVID-19 outbreak. On the other hand, the agricultural production value and farm labor demand for Korean beef cattle in the scenario assuming both pessimistic GDP growth rate and supply shocks (-12.7% beef imports and + 2.4% feed cost in 2020) increased by up to 12.08% and 1.99%, respectively, compared to the baseline.

The study aims to assess the impact of destination image, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists at mountain destinations in Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam. The study involves questionnaire surveys and multivariate data analysis methods (Cronbach Alpha test, EFA, CFA, SEM). Research results from 500 tourists in the mountain destinations of Thanh Hoa province demonstrate that all factors have imposed a positive impact on tourist satisfaction, specifically: The most influential factor is Natural features, followed by Human factors while the least influential factor is Infrastructure; On the other hand, research results also demonstrate that satisfaction has a substantial impact on tourist loyalty. Based on the research results, we also proposed some key solutions to enhance the destination image, thereby contributing to increased satisfaction and loyalty of tourists, including: (i) Promoting Natural Tourism Resources. (ii) Raising Awareness of Environmental Protection. (iii) Building Local Cultural Identity. (iv) Building Exclusive Tourist Products. (5) Strengthening the Support of Local Authorities for Tourism Activities. (vi) Developing a Price Policy.

The study aims to examine the effects of inward every presence of foreign investment, import, and real exchange rate shocks on export performance in Vietnam. This study employs a time-series sample dataset in the period of 1990 – 2018. All data are collected from the General Statistics Office of Ministry of Planning and Investment in Vietnam, World Development Indicator and Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Vietnam. This study employs the Augmented Dickey–Fuller test and the vector error correction model with the analysis of cointegration. The results demonstrate that a higher value of import significantly accelerates export performance in the short run, but insignificantly generates in the long run. When the volume of registered foreign investment goes up, the export performance will predominantly decrease in the both short run and long run. Historically, countries worldwide are more likely to devaluate their currencies in order to support export performance. According to the study, the exchange rate volatility has an effect on the external trade in the long run but no effect in the short run. Finally, Vietnam’s export performance converges on its long-run equilibrium by roughly 6.3% with the speed adjustment via a combination of import, every presence of foreign investment, and real exchange rate fluctuations.