Employee Well-Being During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Adaptability, Work-Family Conflict, and Organizational Response

Well-being has always been a topic of interest for individuals, organizations, and policy-makers. COVID-19 pandemic made it tremendously relevant as employees were forced to work from home due to the successive lockdowns that governments have implemented to curb the spread of the virus. This crisis has raised concerns about employees’ well-being due to the implementation of these tight measures. In the present study, we examined the direct and indirect effects of employees’ adaptability, work-family conflict, and organizational response on employees’ well-being through the mediating role of perceived stress. Data have been collected from 184 employees working in various organizations in Malaysia and analyzed using Smart-PLS Structural Equation Modeling with the bootstrapping procedure. The results indicated that organizational response, work-family conflict, and adaptability directly affect perceived stress and well-being, except for organizational response, which has no direct effect on well-being. Furthermore, it was found that perceived stress mediates the relationship of organizational response and work-family conflict with well-being but not adaptability

Motivation and study engagement: a study of Muslim undergraduates in Malaysia

There has always been a serious concern about students’ academic performance in schools and institutions of higher learning. Mostly, it has been seen in terms of lack of motivation. However, little attention has been given to the reasons for poor motivation. The SelfDetermination Theory (SDT) of motivation provides a new perspective on motivation. This paper investigates students’ motivation and study engagement using the SDT framework. It examines the role of learning climate, intrinsic motivation resulting from basic needs satisfaction, self-perception of choice and self-awareness of students’ study engagement. This study attempts to validate SDT propositions on students’ motivation and study engagement in the Asian context and within an Islamic institution of higher education. Data were collected from 432 undergraduate students (Females = 62.2%) representing several study disciplines. Standardised instruments were employed to measure the constructs of learning climate, basic needs, perceived self-determination and study engagement. Results provided strong support for the SDT propositions suggesting that an autonomy supportive learning climate significantly contributed to intrinsic need satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness. It was also found that the autonomy supportive learning climate and satisfaction of competency need contributed to greater study engagement. This study provides good empirical support to the SDT propositions from a non-Western cultural context

A new delayed ACK strategy for TCP in multi-hop wireless networks

In multi-hop wireless networks, TCP suffers from performance deterioration due to poor wireless channel characteristics. Earlier studies have shown that the small TCP ACK packets consume wireless resources as much as the long data packets. Moreover, generating acknowledgment for each data packet reduces TCP throughput. The main factor affecting the TCP performance in multi-hop wireless networks is the contention and collision between ACK and data packets caused by taking the same path. Due to this, lowering the number of ACKs using the delayed acknowledgment option defined in IETF RFC 1122 will improve TCP throughout. On the other hand, the large cumulative ACKs will induce packet loss. Motivated by this understanding, we propose an adaptive delay ACK algorithm for multi-hop wireless networks. The simulation results show that our strategy can improve TCP throughput up to 233% compared to the regular TCP

Integrating self-determination theory and theory of planned behavior to strengthen entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students

It is well established that entrepreneurship is a major contributor to the growth of wealth and well-being of societies. It is increasingly getting more recognized among researchers, practitioners and policy makers around the globe. It directly affects the development of nations’ economies by creating jobs and transforming people’s lives through innovation and technology. It is observed that when nations promote entrepreneurship, they become more competitive and have advantage over other nations. Promoting entrepreneurship encourage people, especially the youth, to produce new ideas and help them transform those ideas into tangible services or products. It is also noticed that it reduces the pressure on governments of the unemployment by not only securing jobs for entrepreneurs themselves, but also it is likely that those entrepreneurs will employ others as well. Despite its significance, little attention is given to entrepreneurship in Arab countries, like Yemen. In Yemen, majority the population is under 25 of age, which is a great resource that needs to be fully utilized for the betterment of the whole nation. Young people prefer to get jobs with government or the private sector, for which they wait for years and they may never get ones. Perhaps due to the lack of promotion for entrepreneurship, majority of the university graduates tend to have negative attitudes towards entrepreneurship. It is also well-established that entrepreneurship is an intentional process and a planned behaviour. A lot of research has confirmed that intention is the best predictor of entrepreneurial behaviour. Little is done in the Arab region including Yemen. According to theory of planned behaviour, taking a decision to start a business is an intentional that may lead to actual behaviour. One of the factors that influence intention to be an entrepreneur is personal attitude. This exploratory study tries to shed light on how to develop positive attitudes among university students towards entrepreneurial intentions and behaviours. In this study, it is argued that those students have a full potential to be entrepreneurs if they find a supportive environment. This supportive environment involves family, friends, universities, vocational training and community colleges, government institutions, private sector and etc. Perhaps, in order to raise awareness and inculcate the value of entrepreneurship in university students’ hearts and minds, a culture of entrepreneurial activities should be developed through supporting their autonomy, competence and relatedness needs. When this support is provided, then they will be able to recognize entrepreneurial ideas and work toward transforming this idea to real projects. More specifically, this study argues that satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs has a positive influence on their perception of the entrepreneurship and attitudes and thus on entrepreneurial intention. Thereafter, this study presents a conceptual framework and hypotheses based on the literature review to guide future research. Also, discussion on the study’s implications will be presented. The limitation of this study is that it is based on literature review and empirical research is needed

Organisational justice and employee work engagement: LMX as mediator

The paper examines the role that organisational justice plays in determining employees' work engagement and the way quality of leader-subordinate relationship (LMX) mediates this association. Data was obtained from an airline company from the Middle East. The sample consisted of 218 employees from several job levels who responded to a questionnaire measuring the study variables. Results indicated that distributive and procedural justice perception promoted quality relationship between leader and subordinate and higher quality of leader-subordinate relationship contributed to employees' work engagement. Among the three organisational justice factors, only interactional justice was related to employee work engagement. The study found a full mediation effect of LMX on interactional justice and employee work engagement

AN OVERVIEW OF WAQF ASSETS IN YEMEN: IMPORTANCE AND CHALLENGES

Purpose of Study: Waqf has played a significant role throughout Islamic history. This has been possible through proper management, investment and financing of various Waqf assets to enhance the socioeconomic development of Muslim societies. In particular, it has contributed significantly to the encouragement of religious practices, improvement of education, health and helping the poor and the needy, creating employment and supporting other socio-economic activities. Methodology: The current study attempted to uncover these challenges facing by Waqf institution in Yemen. Particularly, issues such as management, investment and finance will be emphasized. Results:  However, nowadays most of Waqf assets have become idle and no longer serves the needs of the Ummah due to problems, such as poor governance structure and human resource. Few studies have tried to address challenges facing Waqf but unfortunately these studies have been conducted in countries where the governance structure is robust and the quality of human resource is very good. Such models may not be suitable in contexts such as Yemen where Waqf assets are mostly in the form of physical assets such as lands and buildings and the quality of human resource and governance structure are poor

Attitude of youth towards self-employment: Evidence from university students in Yemen

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files: Self-employment intention questionnaire (available at: https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Self-employment_intention_questionnaire_/16612528); Data used in the study (available at Data used in the study).Copyright: © 2021 Al-Qadasi et al.. This study assesses whether final-year undergraduate students at Sana’a University, Yemen intend to start their own business. The study employs the theory of planned behaviour and two environmental factors to explore whether the theory’s behavioural factors and the contextual factors of Lüthje & Franke’s model have an impact on students’ intentions to start their own business. A questionnaire survey with a random sample of 335 final-year university students from the largest public university in Yemen has been conducted. Data has been analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that students’ perceptions of entrepreneurship have a strong, direct impact on self-employment intention, excluding social norms and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Students’ self-employment intention is directly affected by perceived barriers and support factors in the entrepreneurship-related context. To increase their entrepreneurial abilities, university students require more training and education to be able to start new businesses. Developing entrepreneurial skills among citizens may improve the societal norms of business. The outcomes provide significant implications for policymakers, academic communities and international bodies.Jilin Universit

Employee Well-Being During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Adaptability, Work-Family Conflict, and Organizational Response

Ethical Approval: As a voluntary survey, there were no ethical issues associated with this survey. The responses were fully anonymous.Copyright © The Author(s) 2022. Well-being has always been a topic of interest for individuals, organizations, and policy-makers. COVID-19 pandemic made it tremendously relevant as employees were forced to work from home due to the successive lockdowns that governments have implemented to curb the spread of the virus. This crisis has raised concerns about employees’ well-being due to the implementation of these tight measures. In the present study, we examined the direct and indirect effects of employees’ adaptability, work-family conflict, and organizational response on employees’ well-being through the mediating role of perceived stress. Data have been collected from 184 employees working in various organizations in Malaysia and analyzed using Smart-PLS Structural Equation Modeling with the bootstrapping procedure. The results indicated that organizational response, work-family conflict, and adaptability directly affect perceived stress and well-being, except for organizational response, which has no direct effect on well-being. Furthermore, it was found that perceived stress mediates the relationship of organizational response and work-family conflict with well-being but not adaptability.The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article

The Prospect of Waqf in Financing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Yemen

The role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in economic development has been duly recognised. However, SMEs encounter a number of challenges. The most pressing obstacle SMEs face is the lack of finance. Therefore, it is extremely important to find new and suitable finance sources in order to support SMEs either in their establishment or growth phases. Waqf is regarded one of the best sources of finance in the Islamic financial system. There is much potential in its use to finance SMEs financing. The present study explored the prospect of Waqf as an Islamic financial instrument to finance SMEs. It further examined a proposed modified Waqf model and whether it was applicable in Yemen. The study has adopted a qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interviews with 6 experts from Waqf institutions and from SMEs developmental institutions. The experts interviewed are mainly SMEs owners, Waqf directors and beneficiaries specialized in the areas of Waqf and SMEs. The findings of the study indicate that Waqf appeared to be one of the most important instruments in financing such economic activities as it can play a crucial role in financing SMEs. Further, the study significantly contributed by suggesting a new method that will help in financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Yemen. Thus, providing a finance for these firms will help to create more jobs for the low income, which in turn helps in the economic development

How to Build a Returnee Entrepreneurship Technology Capacity in Developing Countries Using A Learning Economy Approach? Replicating the Chinese Experience in Malaysia

Purpose: In the current globalised economy, the brain-drain phenomenon is increasingly perceived as brain circulation. Returnee Entrepreneurs (REs) are vital players in this shift. REs are defined as people who return to their country of origin and start new businesses after settling overseas for some time as workers, students, or trainees. While REs have proven effective in assuming key roles in technology transfer and sustainable in some developing economies in the last two decades or so. This has been widely seen in China and some other Eastern countries, but is yet to find its way to other countries, particularly those enjoying global diaspora. In Malaysia -focused in this study-, despite the institutional efforts meant to attract both national and foreign talents, little research, if any, has dealt with issues related to returnee entrepreneurs in general and those in the technology sectors in specific. Theoretical framework: The study builds on the learning economy theory and proposes a relevant approach that is likely to boost the development of technology returnee entrepreneurship in the country. Method: Using a narrative review, the paper presents the Chinese model of developing returnee entrepreneurship and shows how its well-adjusted replication could benefit Malaysia as well as other developing countries to initiate, implement, and monitor an impactful returnee entrepreneurship in the technology sector. Result and conclusion: Malaysia’s strategies designed to attract technology returnee entrepreneurs must consider three principal components: infrastructure, training, and support, with primary emphasis on the establishment of advanced science and technology parks with university-industry linkages, university-overseas-student ties, conducive institutional framework, financial support, and updated understanding of return motives and conditions.RESUMO: Objetivo: Na economia globalizada atual, o fenômeno da fuga de cérebros é cada vez mais percebido como circulação de cérebros. Os Empreendedores Retornados (REs) são atores vitais nessa mudança. REs são definidas como pessoas que retornam ao seu país de origem e iniciam novos negócios depois de se estabelecerem no exterior por algum tempo como trabalhadores, estudantes ou estagiários. Embora as energias renováveis tenham provado ser eficazes na assunção de papéis fundamentais na transferência de tecnologia e sustentáveis em algumas economias em desenvolvimento nas últimas duas décadas, aproximadamente. Isso tem sido visto amplamente na China e em alguns outros países do Leste, mas ainda não foi encontrado para outros países, particularmente aqueles que desfrutam da diáspora global. Na Malásia - focada neste estudo -, apesar dos esforços institucionais destinados a atrair talentos nacionais e estrangeiros, pouca pesquisa, se houver, tem lidado com questões relacionadas a empresários retornados em geral e aqueles nos setores de tecnologia em particular. Estrutura teórica: O estudo se baseia na teoria da economia do aprendizado e propõe uma abordagem relevante que é susceptível de impulsionar o desenvolvimento do empreendedorismo de pessoas que retornaram à tecnologia no país. Método: Usando uma revisão narrativa, o artigo apresenta o modelo chinês de desenvolvimento de empreendedorismo para repatriados e mostra como sua replicação bem ajustada poderia beneficiar a Malásia bem como outros países em desenvolvimento para iniciar, implementar e monitorar um empreendedorismo voltado e impactante no setor de tecnologia. Resultado e conclusão: as estratégias da Malásia destinadas a atrair empreendedores repatriados de tecnologia devem considerar três componentes principais: infraestrutura, capacitação e apoio, com ênfase primária no estabelecimento de parques avançados de ciência e tecnologia com vínculos universidade-indústria, vínculos universidade-estrangeiros-estudantes, quadro institucional propício, apoio financeiro e compreensão atualizada dos motivos e condições de retorno