IT-Business strategic alignment in influencing sustainable competitive advantage in Jordan: Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach

In many review articles or studies, the researchers have encouraged further exploration on the causal links between Information Technology (IT) investments and a firm’s sustainable competitive advantage.The outcomes of empirical studies have been inconclusive, which is to a certain extent due to the omission of IT-business strategic alignment.Indeed, strategic alignment has emerged as one of the most important issues facing business and IT executives all over the world. This paper reports on the empirical investigation of the success factors, which consist of leadership, structure and process, service quality, and values and beliefs, which are representative of the culture gap between IT strategy and business strategy.A questionnaire survey among 200 IT managers was carried out and 172 data sets were collected.This represented a 86% response rate. After a rigorous data screening process including outliers, normality, reliability and validity, 172 data sets were ready for structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to examine the composite reliability, convergent validity and goodness of fit of the individual constructs and measurement models. The revised structural model demonstrates the relationships between all the four exogenous variables and IT-business strategic alignment, and all the four exogenous variables and sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, regarding the revised model there are two mediating effects of strategic alignment in the relationship between leadership, structure and process, service quality, values and beliefs, and sustainable competitive advantage

Discourse Analysis of the Political Speeches of the Ousted Arab Presidents during the Arab Spring Revolution using Halliday and Hasan's Framework of Cohesion

This study is designed to explore the salient linguistic features of the political speeches of the ousted Arab presidents during the Arab Spring Revolution.  The sample of the study is composed of seven political speeches delivered by the ousted Arab presidents during the period from December 2010 to December 2012. Three speeches were delivered by the Tunisian president, Zain Al-Abedeen Bin Ali; three speeches by the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak; and one speech by the Libyan president, Muammer Al-Gaddafi. The selected speeches are taken from the Internet.  To achieve the main goal of this study, the analysis of the obtained data is conducted using the Halliday and Hasan's (1976) framework of cohesion. The results of this study revealed that the political speeches which were delivered during the Arab Spring Revolution have their distinctive features which are different from those features of the usual speeches of these presidents during the normal circumstances.  Most of the lexical features such as repetition, synonymy, and hyponymy are widely used in the speeches of the ousted presidents to achieve different political ideologies and strategies such as the ideology of threatening the civilian protesters. Keywords: Political Speeches, Discourse Analysis, Ousted Arab Presidents, Spring Revolution and    Cohesion

Discourse Analysis of the Political Speeches of the Ousted Arab Presidents during the Arab Spring Revolution uing Halliday and Hasan's Framework of Cohesion

This study is designed to explore the salient linguistic features of the political speeches of the ousted Arab presidents during the Arab Spring Revolution.  The sample of the study is composed of seven political speeches delivered by the ousted Arab presidents during the period from December 2010 to December 2012. Three speeches were delivered by the Tunisian president, Zain Al-Abedeen Bin Ali; three speeches by the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak; and one speech by the Libyan president, Muammer Al-Gaddafi. The selected speeches are taken from the Internet.  To achieve the main goal of this study, the analysis of the obtained data is conducted using the Halliday and Hasan's (1976) framework of cohesion. The results of this study revealed that the political speeches which were delivered during the Arab Spring Revolution have their distinctive features which are different from those features of the usual speeches of these presidents during the normal circumstances.  Most of the lexical features such as repetition, synonymy, and hyponymy are widely used in the speeches of the ousted presidents to achieve different political ideologies and strategies such as the ideology of threatening the civilian protesters. Keywords: Discourse Analysis, Political Speeches, Arab Spring Revolution

Arab Muslims’ Medicine and Pharmacy in Andalusia: 138-172 A. H./ 755-788 A.D

Andalusia played remarkable role in disseminating Arab system of medicine and pharmacy to rest of Europe and through Europe to other parts of the globe at a time when most of the geographic regions were living in the ‘dark ages.’ The Islamic scholars translated the Greek classics, studied them, particularly in the realm of medicine, conducted their own research and made new innovations in the field of medicine, pharmacy and other sciences thus enriching the existing knowledge. The world had almost lost the original Greek classics texts and the Arabic translations of these classics well-preserved were again translated into Latin and other languages and thus reached to Europe and other parts of the globe. Keywords:  Andalusia, Arab- Muslim’s, Europe, Greece, Medicine, Pharmacy

Relevance of the Concept of Garden in Medieval Islamic Andalusia to Contemporary Discourse on Climate Change

Contemporary discourse on climate change lays emphasis on reduction of greenhouse gases and plantation of more trees to expand the green cover. Almost similar type of emphasis was stressed upon by the Muslim rulers of medieval Islamic Andalusia, who while building large palaces also laid stress on creating gardens and landscapes where fruit-bearing trees, variety of flowers and plants of different species were planted. The notion of garden was inspired by Quranic teachings and the quadripartite pattern of gardens developed by the Umayyad rulers was emulated by their successors. The scientific management of gardens by the medieval rulers of Islamic Andalusia bears relevance in the contemporary discourse on climate change and is worth emulating to enhance resilience against the vagaries of climate change. Keywords: climate change, gardens, Alhambra, Umayyads, Granada, Sects Er

JORDANIAN FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS THE COUNTRIES OF THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL (1999-2019)

The study aimed to research the Jordanian foreign policy towards the Gulf Cooperation Council states during the period 1999-2019, as this period is an extension of the previous stages, as during which Jordanian relations with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council were affected as a result of the second Gulf crisis 1990, and the events of September 2001, and what followed in light of the war on Iraq and its occupation by the United States of America, where the United States emerged as a unipolar force that dominates the world.The study showed that Jordanian foreign policy towards the Gulf Cooperation Council countries was affected by regional and international changes, as relations between Jordan and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council were characterized by apathy and approached isolation as a result of Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait, but Jordanian relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries improved, as a result of The multiple visits made by King Abdullah II after he assumed power in 1999, to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as Jordan's geopolitical position contributes to enhancing security and stability for the countries of the Council in exchange for Israeli expansionist ambitions, because Jordan looks at its security cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the framework of the imperatives of mutual security, which posed this perspective as one of the dimensions in the Gulf of Jordan's foreign policy, which has not changed even in periods of Arab division, or during the boycott Cooperation Council (GCC) to Jordan.The study aimed to research the Jordanian foreign policy towards the Gulf Cooperation Council states during the period 1999-2019, as this period is an extension of the previous stages, as during which Jordanian relations with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council were affected as a result of the second Gulf crisis 1990, and the events of September 2001, and what followed in light of the war on Iraq and its occupation by the United States of America, where the United States emerged as a unipolar force that dominates the world.The study showed that Jordanian foreign policy towards the Gulf Cooperation Council countries was affected by regional and international changes, as relations between Jordan and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council were characterized by apathy and approached isolation as a result of Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait, but Jordanian relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries improved, as a result of The multiple visits made by King Abdullah II after he assumed power in 1999, to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as Jordan's geopolitical position contributes to enhancing security and stability for the countries of the Council in exchange for Israeli expansionist ambitions, because Jordan looks at its security cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the framework of the imperatives of mutual security, which posed this perspective as one of the dimensions in the Gulf of Jordan's foreign policy, which has not changed even in periods of Arab division, or during the boycott Cooperation Council (GCC) to Jordan

The Antecedents of Internet Banking Service Adoption in Jordan: Using Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior

Although Internet banking services have been widely adopted in developed countries, there is still low usage in developing countries such as Jordan. There is a limited empirical research on Internet banking services in this country despite being a necessity to adopt research on Internet banking service. Among the aims of this quantitative research are to empirically determine the significant antecedents of Internet Banking Service Adoption (IBSA), antecedents of attitude, antecedents of subjective norm and antecedents of perceived behaviour control as well as to explain how the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) is being used in determining the antecedent of IBSA in Jordan. The research framework consists of sixteen (16) latent variables, twelve(12) exogenous variables and four (4) endogenous variables. Using an adopted survey instrument, seventy-eight items (7-point-likert scale) is used and one variable is adapted in the process of collecting the pertaining data. Out of the 700 samples in four universities located in three areas (South, Middle and North), 517 respondents (76% response rate) were eventually used to further analyze the data using mainly Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to investigate causal and mediating relationships between latent variables. The findings of the research reveal that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behaviour control are significant and positive antecedents of the IBSA. It also indicates that perceived usefulness, trialability, trust and awareness are significant as well as positive antecedents in terms of attitude of customers toward IBSA, while perceived risk is significant and a negative antecedent of attitude toward IBSA. It is found that, however, perceived ease of use and compatibility are insignificant antecedents of attitude toward IBSA. The results of the findings indicate that subjective norm has two significant antecedents - family influence and mass media influence. It also shows that self-efficacy and government support seem to be significant and positive antecedents of perceived behaviour control whereas technology support is insignificant. It can be concluded that DTPB is found to be a good and suitable underpinning theory to explain IBSA antecedents in Jordan by achievement of model goodness of fit for the GOF index. The research study also discusses past empirical findings and its practical applications and implications for Jordanian contexts

Antecedents of IT-Business Alignment Factors in Influencing Sustainable Competitive Advantage

More extensive studies on the causal chain between Information Technology (IT) investments and firm performance have been encouraged by scholars. However, the results of empirical studies have been inconclusive. This is partly due to the exclusion of IT - business strategic alignment (known as strategic alignment). In particular, scholars have continuously called for research to address the antecedent factors that lead to the alignment. As a result, this study has successfully developed a causal model illustrating the relationships between strategic alignment antecedents, strategic alignment and sustainable competitive advantage. Specifically, this study has looked into the impact of IT-business strategic alignment antecedents in terms of leadership between business and IT managers, structures and processes between IT plans and business plans and examined IT managerial resources between business and IT managers, service qualities, values and beliefs, and IT implementation success on IT business strategic alignment in terms of alignment gaps. Finally, the impact of IT-business strategic alignment is also tested for its impact on sustainable competitive advantage. In order to explore the above research relationships, this study has utilized the positivism paradigm. Under this method, quantitative data was collected. More specifically, this study has tested the research model by conducting 172 survey questionnaires with public shareholding firms in Jordan. The results obtained from the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique and interviews have offered very valuable insights into the research questions. The results of the main survey questionnaire show strong evidence for the impact of the following variables: leadership, service quality, value and belief, IT managerial resources and IT implementation success, on IT – business strategic alignment. Conversely, SEM has failed to support the link between structure and process on IT business alignment. In addition, the results show strong evidence for the impact of the following: leadership, IT managerial resource and IT implementation success on sustainable competitive advantage. However, SEM failed to support the link between service quality, value and belief, and structure and process on sustainable competitive advantage. Furthermore, the results from the main survey questionnaire show strong evidence for the impact of IT – business strategic alignment on sustainable competitive advantage. Moreover, the results of the main survey questionnaire through the SEM show strong evidence for the mediating effect of strategic alignment on the relationships between value and belief, service quality and sustainable competitive advantage. This study has provided a detailed roadmap that researchers and practitioners can use in order to understand the resources required, and to realize the potential values of their IT investments. Future research is clearly needed to reveal better insights into the nature of these relationships

ESTIMATING THE ENGEL CURVES FOR HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES IN JORDAN FROM 2010 TO 2011

This present study aims at estimating the Engel curves for household expenditures using data of household expenditures and income survey of Jordan for the year 2010. In order to achieve the above objective, six functional forms have been formulated and estimated. The data was grouped into nine commodity groups from the raw data which covers 13866 households from urban and rural areas. The main findings of the study are 1. The family size does not affect the demand for the Vice, Housing, Transportation and Health Commodity groups. On the other hand, the family size for the other groups is significantly different from zero which suggests that family size affect the demand for these commodity groups. 2. The family size does not affect per-capita consumption of these commodity groups. The t-test indicates that there are economies of scale only for food. 3. The consumption pattern for clothing, housing, personal care and miscellaneous commodity group, are not the same in urban and in rural areas