Corporate cash-holding decisions: Amman stock exchange

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Using a panel data analysis of a sample of 80 listed non-financial Jordanian firms during the period from 2000 to 2011, we investigated the corporate cash-holding decision. The firm’s decision to hold cash has come to the fore in last two or three years as a result of the recent global financial crisis, and the impact that this has had on the firms’ ability to raise funds from external sources. There is evidence in the US, for example, that firms have increased their holdings of cash as a result of increasing constraints from external sources. This current study therefore examines this issue from the point of view of a developing economy. We started by investigating the empirical determinants of corporate cash holdings; the results showed that firm size and growth opportunities have no significant effect on corporate cash-holding decisions, while firm’s cash flow, leverage, and liquid assets substitute have a significant negative effect on cash-holding decisions, and profitability and cash dividends have a positive effect on cash-holding decisions. Then we investigated empirically how cash-holding affects the value of corporate firms. Based on Fama and French’s (1998) valuation model and Faulkender and Wang’s (2006) model, the results showed that the marginal value of each Jordanian Dinar (JD) is valued at a discounted value of 0.41 JD; with higher leverage the marginal value of cash is declining, with a higher level of cash the marginal value of cash is increasing and, finally, cash dividends have no significant effect on shareholders’ value. We also investigated empirically how a group of explanatory variables affect a firm’s debt ratio by focusing on the liquidity variable. Results showed that the total debt ratio is positively affected by firm size and is negatively affected by growth opportunities, profitability, assets tangibility and total liquidity, cash, and non-cash liquidity. The long-term debt ratio is positively affected by firm size, non-debt tax shield, asset tangibility, total liquidity, cash, and non-cash liquidity, while the long-term debt ratio is negatively affected by growth opportunities and profitability. For the short-term debt models, the debt ratio is negatively affected by firm size, asset tangibility, and liquidity in its different forms. An investigation into the speed of adjustment showed that Jordanian firms quickly adjusted the total and long-term debt ratio, while they do not have an optimal or target short-term debt ratio

The Effect of the Time Management Art on Academic Achievement among High School Students in Jordan

This study aimed at recognizing the effect of the Time Management Art on academic achievement among high school students in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The researcher employed the descriptive-analytic research to achieve the purpose of the study where he chose a sample of (2000) high school female and male students as respondents to the questionnaire. In the conclusion, the findings showed that there was a medium degree and static significance at the level of time management according to the high school students in Irbid city. And the presence of statistically significant relationship between the ability to manage time and academic achievement among high school students, also it showed that there was a statically significance at the level (α≤0.05) of this relationship  regarding the gender variable running on the  behalf of females while there was no any differences according to studying hours . At the end of the study, the researcher recommended the need to hold seminars and lectures for students to help them know about how to allocate the right time for subjects in order to obtain higher levels of academic achievement. Key words: Time Management, Academic Achievement

MIS CONTRIBUTION DEGREE IN MAKING EDUCATIONAL DECISIONS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE EDUCATION PRINCIPLES OF IRBID DISTRICT

This study aimed to reveal the degree of MIS contribution in making decisions from the perspective of principles. The study relied on the descriptive analytical method for the purpose of achieving its objectives. The study sample consisted of 221 employees of educational Irbid Districts (the first, the second, and the third). The study concluded that there is a statistically significant effect of MIS application degree at educational institutions in the Irbid District. It also shows the presence of a statistically significant effect of the degree of making educational decisions by the ministry of education principles at Irbid District. In addition, there is the presence of a statistically significant effect of the degree of making educational decisions at the education directorates in Irbid District. There is a presence of a statistically significant differences at the significance level (α ≤0.05) of the MIS contribution level in making educational decisions processes and instrument as a whole depending on the variable (sex, age, years of experience, educational qualification). The value (F) did not reach the level of statistically significant degree (α ≤0.05). The recommendations proposed to work on the introduction and integration of MIS in the supervision and rehabilitation of human resources process in the departments of Education