The Variances of Consumers’ Materialistic Personality Traits and Reduced Consumption Behavior Among Demographics in Egypt

Throughout the consumer behavior’s field, comprehending materialism across different countries has been of critical importance to transformative consumer research authors, marketers and policy makers. Materialism was discussed with its pros and cons in previous studies. However, present conflicting results exist across various contexts about its effects on socially responsible behavior. Nevertheless, the past studies included vast research on materialistic values, they embraced a limited research scope regarding the materialistic personality traits (MPT) and their influence on consumers’ sustainable behavior. This study tests the validity and reliability of Belk’s materialistic personality traits scale in Egypt, as one of the influential and mass consumer societies in the Arab region. It contributes towards understanding the influence of materialism as a personality trait on reduced consumption behavior and whether these dimensions vary among age, gender and place of residence. Large scale survey instrument was distributed across Egypt using quota non-random sampling which yielded 540 respondents. Plausible findings revealed significant effects of the materialistic personality traits on the reduced consumption behavior and indicated variances across the denoted demographics. This will help marketers and policy makers better describe and target the consumers’ materialistic personalities through designing effective communication that develops a pro-sustainable consumption behavior to bring about a change for a sustainable future. Keywords:Materialism; Belk materialism Scale; materialistic personality traits; pro-sustainable behavior; possessiveness; envy; non-generosity; reduced consumption behavior; demographics DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/88-02 Publication date: January 31st 202

The Impact of Social Media Usage on Marketing Performance via Innovation: An Empirical Study on Service Firms in Egypt

With the growing intensified competition and development of the service sector, innovation has become vital dimension for firms to enjoy competitive advantages and yield positive outcomes on the economy. The use of social media (SM) as one of the service firm communication tools fosters innovation and has always been of critical importance to both academia and practice. Thus, this study focuses on the impact of SM usage based on both knowledge exploration and exploitation on the marketing performance via the most widely accepted four innovation types in past literature, which consist of product, process, marketing and organizational innovation in the Egyptian private service sector. Questionnaires were distributed electronically to gather data. Data gathered from 385 private service firms from the top management level. Data has been analyzed via Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), AMOS 22. Results indicated that SM usage has a significant positive direct impact on all types of innovation with varying relative effects. Additionally, it has been found that marketing innovation played the greatest direct and positive impact on the marketing performance, followed by the product innovation, however, the process innovation has been found to have negative impact on the marketing performance. While the organizational innovation does not directly impact the marketing performance. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting on the SM usage and the vital types of innovation that lead to higher marketing performance in the service sector which needs more attention from service marketing managers. Also, this study helps the service providers in the private service firms to focus on the significance role of SM in exploring and exploiting knowledge especially from customers to innovate in a better way to consequently enhance the marketing performance. Keywords: social media, innovation, marketing performance, service sector, Egypt DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/75-03 Publication date:August 31st 202

The Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Organization Performance Using the Big Five Personality Traits”: An Applied Study on Higher Education Institutions

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent emotional intelligence (EI) affects organization performance through the Big Five personality traits (BFPT) in higher education institutions. Design/Methodology: Based on the Structural Equation Model, this study examines 270 faculty members within a higher education institution, to test an estimated model presenting the effect of top management EI on organization performance in the presence of the BFPT. The hypothesized model indicates that there is no significance for the presence of the one of the dimensions of EI domain as an independent variable. Thus, this dimension is deleted and another hypothesized model is re-estimated. Results/Findings: The findings revealed that EI would strongly predict organization performance through the BFPT. Specifically, only three out of four dimensions of EI would predict organization performance through only three effective dimensions out of five of the BFPT. Theoretical and practical implications: The findings enable a better theoretical understanding of how BFPT mediates the effects of EI on organization performance. Furthermore, the implications from this study allows human resources professionals to improve investigating personalities of potential management before hiring, as well as training and developing current management, as stable management personalities within any organization are vital to achieve high performance. Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Big Five Personality traits, and organization performance. DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/76-06 Publication date:October 31st 2021

Authoritarianism and Subject Formation in Post-Independence Egypt: Egyptian Literature and Western Social Theory in Dialogue

The study grew out of a desire to examine how it feels to be denied what Hannah Arendt famously referred to as the ‘right to have rights,’ including the right to disobey. More specifically, this study seeks to understand how people living under particular regimes of power—characterised by distinct politics of fear, uncertainty, and silence—feel, define, and express themselves in relation to power, whether in the form of submission or resistance. In other words: How do authoritarian power dynamics affect individuals’ perception of self and how does it play into and shape the everyday life of the individual? At the heart of this inquiry is the notion of the subject, which forms both the conceptual foundation and the central focus of this study. The study draws primarily on the theoretical contributions of Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, and Hannah Arendt on the interplay of power, resistance, and subjectivity. To frame the discussion, a socio-historical examination of post-independence power practices in Egypt and their impact on the constitution of the political subject is conducted. Research data is generated through an art-inspired qualitative research approach, primarily using Egyptian novels as a source of data to uncover the nuances and interiorities of the process of subject formation. Through a dialogue between Western social theory and Egyptian literature, the study provides an understanding of power practice in Egypt from 1952 to the present, particularly at the level of the inner panorama of the self in society and expands it into a reading of social and political theories on the question of power, subjectivity, resistance, and agency. The study is divided into six main chapters, including an introduction and a conclusion. Each empirical chapter of this study tells the story of a particular episode in time and is somewhat self-contained, yet all chapters are connected into a large coherent reading of modern Egyptian power practices. Just as the novels examined in this study tell a story with their words, so does my research. The study concludes that the process of subject formation in Egypt should be understood as an artefact of historical continuity that connects the past to the present, not necessarily in a linear fashion, but in a way that gives it a genealogical context, and as a dynamic process of shifting subject positions. The study further argues for the limitations of the status conception of citizenship as a defining framework for the state—society relationship in the context under study and proposes instead the use of the power—subject framework as a substitute. Last but not least, the study suggests that the connection between theory and method, expressed in the very structure of the research, reveals the epistemic relevance of literature to the conceptual imagination, contributing in a sense, to the discussion of the decolonisation of knowledge production. In some ways, this interdisciplinarity underscores the sheer breadth and hybridity of the concept of subject formation that has become apparent throughout this analysis. Keywords— Power, Subject Formation, Subjectivity, Egyptian Literature, Resistance, Agenc

The effect of nanodiamonds on candida albicans adhesion and surface characteristics of PMMA denture base material : an in vitro study

Candida albicans is the main causative pathogen of denture stomatitis, which affects many complete denture patients. Objective: To evaluate the effect of different concentrations of nanodiamonds (NDs) added to polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) denture base material on Candida albicans adhesion as well as on surface roughness and contact angle. Methodology: Acrylic resin specimens sized 10×10×3 mm3 were prepared and divided into four groups (n=30) according to ND concentration (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% by wt). Surface roughness was measured with a profilometer, and the contact angle with a goniometer. The effect of NDs on Candida albicans adhesion was evaluated using two methods: 1) slide count and 2) direct culture test. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's post hoc test were used in the statistical analyses. Results: Addition of NDs decreased the Candida albicans count significantly more than in the control group (p<0.05), with a lowest of 1% NDs. Addition of NDs also significantly decreased the surface roughness (p<0.05), but the contact angle remained the same. Incorporation of NDs into the PMMA denture base material effectively reduced Candida albicans adhesion and decreased surface roughness. Conclusion: PMMA/NDs composites could be valuable in the prevention of denture stomatitis, which is considered one of the most common clinical problems among removable denture wearers

Differences in COVID-19 Preventive Behavior and Food Insecurity by HIV Status in Nigeria

The aim of the study was to assess if there were signifcant diferences in the adoption of COVID-19 risk preventive behaviors and experience of food insecurity by people living with and without HIV in Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study that recruited a convenience sample of 4471 (20.5% HIV positive) adults in Nigeria. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to test the associations between the explanatory variable (HIV positive and non-positive status) and the outcome variables—COVID-19 related behavior changes (physical distancing, isolation/quarantine, working remotely) and food insecurity (hungry but did not eat, cut the size of meals/skip meals) controlling for age, sex at birth, COVID-19 status, and medical status of respondents. Signifcantly fewer people living with HIV (PLWH) reported a positive COVID-19 test result; and had lower odds of practicing COVID-19 risk preventive behaviors. In comparison with those living without HIV, PLWH had higher odds of cutting meal sizes as a food security measure (AOR: 3.18; 95% CI 2.60–3.88) and lower odds of being hungry and not eating (AOR: 0.24; 95% CI 0.20–0.30). In conclusion, associations between HIV status, COVID-19 preventive behaviors and food security are highly complex and warrant further in-depth to unravel the incongruities identifed

The effect of nanodiamonds on candida albicans adhesion and surface characteristics of PMMA denture base material - an in vitro study

Candida albicans is the main causative pathogen of denture stomatitis, which affects many complete denture patients. Objective: To evaluate the effect of different concentrations of nanodiamonds (NDs) added to polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) denture base material on Candida albicans adhesion as well as on surface roughness and contact angle. Methodology: Acrylic resin specimens sized 10×10×3 mm3 were prepared and divided into four groups (n=30) according to ND concentration (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% by wt). Surface roughness was measured with a profilometer, and the contact angle with a goniometer. The effect of NDs on Candida albicans adhesion was evaluated using two methods: 1) slide count and 2) direct culture test. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s post hoc test were used in the statistical analyses. Results: Addition of NDs decreased the Candida albicans count significantly more than in the control group (p<0.05), with a lowest of 1% NDs. Addition of NDs also significantly decreased the surface roughness (p<0.05), but the contact angle remained the same. Incorporation of NDs into the PMMA denture base material effectively reduced Candida albicans adhesion and decreased surface roughness. Conclusion: PMMA/NDs composites could be valuable in the prevention of denture stomatitis, which is considered one of the most common clinical problems among removable denture wearers.</p