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The purpose of this paper is to assess the implications of COVID-19 shocks on household income, food security and the role of social protection in Tunisia.

We used food insecurity classes proposed by FAO and data from the Economic Research Forum (ERF) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Monitor Household Survey conducted over four waves of COVID-19 (November 2020, February 2021, April 2021 and June 2021). Here, the regression of a multinomial logistic model (MLM) is used to highlight the likelihood that a respondent’s eating habits were degraded by the COVID-19 crisis.

The findings first indicate that low-income and labor income-dependent households are the most vulnerable to shocks induced by COVID-19 and have had their food habits deteriorate considerably. Second, self-produced food by farmers who inhabit rural areas represented a food safety net during the pandemic. Finally, households that received a social transfer did not manage to overcome severe food insecurity.

As a result, the challenges are to extend social protection coverage to households that face transitory poverty.

This is among the first studies to examine the effects of COVID-19 on household income and food insecurity in Tunisia. The study uses a new survey whose main objective is to monitor the impact of health crisis on Tunisian households, taking into consideration the strong labor market fluctuations. Indeed, these fluctuations, when measured against the pre-pandemic period and subsequent periods, would help to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on households’ well-being.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2023-0867.

The purpose of this paper is to study the important factors which help explain consumer intention and use behavior in mobile banking (m-banking) adoption. All constructs of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 are studied. Non-monetary value is studied through perceived value. Trust and perceived risk are also included to predict intention.

A questionnaire was utilized to evaluate customer responses on a five-point Likert scale. A convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from a sample of 490 respondents in Pakistan. The data were analyzed using AMOS and SPSS for Cronbach’s α, CR, CMV, AVE, Harmon’s single factor test, correlation and structural equation modeling.

The results of the study show that most of the predictors of intention, including perceived value, performance expectancy, habit, social influence, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation (except for facilitating condition), perceived risk and trust, are significant. All predictors of usage behavior are significant.

A cross-sectional study was conducted due to time constraints.

Bank managers must focus on improving customers’ intentions to use m-banking as well as on providing facilitating conditions to increase its actual use. To boost mobile banking, banks’ management must consider the customers’ habits while designing their m-banking products.

The findings of this paper are not only interesting in terms of boosting m-banking diffusion rate, but also in terms of financial inclusion of the vast majority of mobile users. Further the impact of intention, facilitating condition and habit were checked on actual use behavior since people tend not always to act upon their intentions.

Corporate governance plays a significant role to overcome agency issues and develop the culture of transparency and openness. In this context, this paper aims to examine how corporate governance mechanisms affect the performance of Islamic banks (IBs).

Stepwise, two-step system generalize method of moment estimation technique is used in the analysis in which control variables are added into the model sequentially. This study used data on 129 IBs from 29 Islamic countries (Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia) during the period of 2008 to 2017.

The findings suggest that the audit committee (AUDC) and Shariah board (SB) have positive impact on the performance of IBs (return on assets and return on equity). However, board size and risk management committee have negative and significant effect on the performance of IBs. CEO duality and non-executive directors have mixed relationship with the performance of IBs. These results support the argument that IBs need to improve their financial performance through appropriate governance mechanism.

The findings of the study added a new dimension to the governance research that could be a valuable source of knowledge for policymakers and regulators to improve the existing governance mechanism for better performance of IBs.

The study fills the gap in the literature by addressing the issue of corporate governance on performance of IBs across countries. Agency theory is discussed to explain the relationship between corporate governance mechanism and performance.

This paper aims to present insights on the governance of sustainability transitions in higher education in Africa. The authors interrogate the research literatures on the governance of socio-technical transitions in water, electricity, transport and waste management, and identify barriers and enabling factors that enhance transformative practices in universities.

The analytical framework proposed in this paper combines the elements of governance network theory (GNT) and transition topology. The framework of this study is grounded in an actor-centric approach using GNT to understand networks conducive to sustainability transitions. Events and governance networks were mapped on a transition topology to visualise organisational and institutional changes over time. The study engaged students, management, academic and administrative staff in building a community of practice towards sustainability. This research is based on qualitative content analysis grounded in interview data, focus group discussions, workshops, webinars and secondary data analysis.

The findings show that the university has consolidated a sustainability vision and targets, but several factors prevent the community from achieving these targets, including hierarchical decision-making processes, a multitude of disjointed committees and fragmentation in the campus community.

This research adds to an emerging body of literature in the field of sustainability in higher education with two contributions. Firstly, the study presents a novel perspective(s) on the governance of sustainability transitions by combining the literatures on governance and sustainability transitions using a new methodological approach of transition topology to show organisational and institutional changes. Secondly, the study presents new empirical evidence for improving the governance of sustainability transitions in a diverse and highly unequal African university community in the process of (de)colonisation of knowledge and governance.

Trust within hawala networks (HN) (a type of deeply embedded informal value transfer network) has been associated with minimal bureaucracy, relationship versatility and low operational costs. In the absence of formal governance structures, HN business relationships largely depend on trust as a control mechanism that brings operational efficiency and transactional effectiveness. However, a basic and a static view of HN business trust has been reported. This paper aims to track the progress and development of trust within HN. More specifically, this paper charts HN relationship trust transformation from inception to maturity. Social exchange theory (SET) and Dwyer et al. (1987) topology of formal business relationship development were used as conceptual frameworks to study development of trust within HN.

Twenty-five in-depth interviews were conducted with HN members in the South Asia region. Chain referral sampling was used to contact and recruit suitable respondents within the semiscattered HN. The data were collected from practicing and retired HN members from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The data were analyzed using keyword categorization and further substantiated, and validated, by NVivo analysis.

Four types of trust (i.e. calculative, verifiable, reciprocal and earned) were identified in HN relationships. It was revealed that trust progressed in a stepwise fashion from calculative trust (basic trust form) to earned trust (ultimate trust form). SET explained the progression of trust in terms of key drivers of different trust types at various stages of HN exchanges and relationships. In addition, it was observed that HN trust development followed Dwyer et al. (1987) topology of business relationship development.

This study extended the oversimplistic treatment of trust within HN by looking into its different types and its transformation over time. More specifically, this research provided an insight into how various types of trust were used within deeply embedded informal business networks to maintain and nurture business exchanges.

Post-Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX), the audit committee has been empowered greatly to play a central role in the corporate governance of firms. Embedded in agency theory, this study aims to examine the effect of the audit committee on the likelihood by firms to pay dividends.

The study population is US firms in the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) database from 2007 to 2018. The authors apply the multivariate logit fixed-effect regression for the analyses after conducting the appropriate statistical tests.

From the results of the research model, the authors find that there is a positive relationship between the size and gender diversity of the audit committee and the propensity to pay dividends suggesting that a larger audit committee with substantial women representation improve the information environment in firms leading to higher dividend distribution. The extent of busyness of the audit committee impacts negatively on the propensity to pay dividends. The results are driven by high-performing firms and not driven by specific levels of firm size.

The findings of the study give impetus to the audit committee as an important component of the corporate governance mechanism that advances the interest of stakeholders. Thus, efforts that seeks to promote the audit committee’s resourcefulness must be embraced by all stakeholders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to focus on audit committee and dividend payout policy of US firms post-SOX. The study demonstrates how the audit committee characteristics including its size, gender diversity and busyness affect dividend policy by mitigating information asymmetry problems.