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The study aims to investigate the effect of corruption and crime on the investments by firms in emerging economies (EEs).

The study adopts the generalised methods of moments (GMM) estimator and data across 57 EEs.

The study shows that crime management, corruption and external quality assurance drive-up investments. Additionally, investments decline with firm age and crime incidence. Corruption and crime managements increase investments by exporting firms more than non-exporting firms investments. Also, external auditor services benefit investments by large firms more than small-medium firms.

There is a need for EEs to implement policies that will curtail corruption and create a level playing field and sustainable firm growth. EEs firms must be innovative to expand their productive investments and grow over time. Also, EEs firms should seek external quality certification, invest in internal security and monitor goods in transit.

This study examines the impact of transformational leadership on employees' innovative behavior via the mediating role of employee affective commitment and the moderating effect of psychological capital.

A sample of 555 employees from Ghana's textiles and dress-making industry through a three-wave self-administrated questionnaire participated in this study. The study's hypotheses were analyzed using Hierarchical Regression.

Results revealed that the dimensions of transformational leadership positively influenced employee affective commitment and employees' innovative behavior. Furthermore, employee affective commitment positively influenced employees' innovative behavior. Moreover, employee affective commitment exercised mediation effects in the relationship between transformational leadership and employees' innovative behavior. Hope and Optimism moderated the employee affective commitment and employees' innovative behavior relationship. Self-efficacy negatively moderated the employee affective commitment and employees' innovative behavior relationship. Staggering, resilience had no moderation impact on the employee affective commitment and employees' innovative behavior relationship.

The research provides guidlines to employers to prioritize training and development, institutionalize coaching and promote policies and investment that help to uphold employees’ positive emotions and positive psychological development.

This study tests the mediating role of employee affective commitment and moderating role of psychological capital in relation to transformational leadership and employees' innovative behavior. In addition, it assesses the interactive outcome of positive affect and positive psychological development of employees, which has attracted less theoretical and empirical deliberations.

Conceptual Paper

Purpose of paper – The study investigates the association between corporate governance mechanisms (proportion of finance experts on the audit committee, PFAC; frequency of board meetings, FBMG and proportion of non-executive directors, PNED), dual language reporting (DULR) (in English and Swahili) and timeliness of annual reports (TIME) of companies listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) in Kenya.

Design/methodology/approach – The data for the analysis is gathered from annual reports of 36 companies listed on the NSE for two financial years ending in 2005 and 2006. Ordinary least square (OLS) is used to determine the association between the corporate governance mechanisms, DULR and TIME. Company size (SIZE), gearing (GEAR), profitability (PROF) and industry (INDS) are used as control variables.

Findings – The findings suggest that there is a significant negative relationship between corporate governance mechanisms (PFAC and FBMG), DURL and TIME. Consistent with extant research, the study also found that SIZE and INDS are significantly associated with TIME. No significant association is found between PNED, GEAR, PROF and TIME.

Research limitations/implications – The findings of the research will help Kenyan policy makers and practitioners in formulating corporate governance policies. However our research is limited, among others, because it focuses on only companies listed on the NSE. The results may therefore not be representative of all companies operating in Kenya.

Originality/Value of paper – The value of the paper lies in that the results provide, for the first time, evidence of the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms (PFAC, FBMG and PNED), DURL and timeliness of the annual reports.

This paper aims to examine barriers to information literacy (IL), including: language use, social structures, and the neutrality‐advocacy dilemma.

In this paper critical analysis is used to discuss: effect of language used on audience reach; cognitive locus assumptions in IL standards and oversight on structural factors; opportunities for libraries to overcome IL barriers. Arguments are substantiated with theories and research from sociology, psychology, and education.

Effective diffusion of IL depends on using common language and being relevant to learners. However, knowledge differences between librarians and the public can make finding common language challenging. Additionally, by assuming information illiteracy in people, the term may convey negative‐evaluation, which may negatively affect learners' sense of competence and motivation for learning, and result in ineffective learning. Extracurricular/civic activities in schools are rich settings for effective learning, but structural factors, often overlooked by proponents of IL, constrain students' opportunities for civic participation. Fortunately, the library provides a sense of relatedness to students and has the potential to support conditions for effective learning in civic contexts.

Propositions have not been empirically tested in IL contexts.

The paper proposes ways to address barriers to information literacy and calls for empirical research.

The paper legitimizes librarians to play advocacy roles for students' civic engagement.

No literature in information literacy examines in‐depth the effects of its language choice and cognitive locus on audience reach. This paper integrates theories from sociology, psychology, and education, to argue how language choice and social structures constrain IL attainment and proposes ways to address those barriers.

This paper aims to discuss whether alignment between corporate real estate strategy and corporate strategy exists for non-property companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and what effects alignment has on the firms’ financial performance.

The study was both qualitative and quantitative in nature, with a specific focus on non-property firms listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. The qualitative part of the study involved the analysis of the firms’ annual reports to determine the presence and use of corporate real estate strategies and their alignment to corporate strategy and the extraction of financial indicator data. The quantitative portion of the study involved the use of multivariate analysis, to distinguish and quantify the relationship, if any, between corporate real estate strategy and the identified financial performance indicators. The independent variables were the CRE strategies employed and the dependent variable was the share price. The methods used in this study have been applied before in European and Asian studies; this assisted in ensuring that validity and reliability was achieved.

The study finds that the most used strategy by firms (47%) is that which facilitates production, operation and service delivery. The Consumer Goods, Healthcare and Telecommunications sectors appear to demonstrate the highest level of alignment. Return on Shareholder Funds has a strong significant positive correlation with share price. Flexibility as a corporate real estate strategy also has a significant positive coefficient, which indicates a positive relationship with share price.

Although consistent with results of studies conducted in Europe and Asia, the results of this research may not be applicable to privately held non-listed firms, state-owned enterprises, non-profits and educational institutions. This study also ignores the dynamic external environment in which firms operate and the necessity of firms adjusting their corporate real estate strategy to their changing business strategy.

These results suggest that the incorporation of corporate real estate strategy in the firms’ corporate strategy formulation has the potential to enhance shareholder value for South African firms. Real estate developers, landlords and owner occupiers would benefit from better understanding the strategic requirements of corporations to ensure that the solutions they provide increase the likelihood of maximizing shareholder return.

The role of corporate real estate strategy in the firms’ corporate strategy formulation has the ability to enhance shareholder value. This research adds to the scant literature on corporate real estate management in South Africa.

Transnational corporation (TNC)-led oil investments have been widely encouraged as a mechanism for the development of the Global South. Even though the sector is characterized by major accidents, oil-based developmentalist narratives claim that such accidents are merely isolated incidents that can be administratively addressed, redressed behaviorally through education of certain individuals, or corrected through individually targeted post-event legislation. Adapting Harvey Molotch’s (1970) political economy methodology of “accident research”, this paper argues that such “accidents” are, in fact, routine in the entire value chain of the oil system dominated by, among others, military-backed TNCs which increasingly collaborate with national and local oil companies similarly wedded to the ideology of growth. Based on this analysis, existing policy focus on improving technology, instituting and enforcing more environmental regulations, and the pursuit of economic nationalism in the form of withdrawing from globalization are ineffective. In such a red-hot system, built on rapidly spinning wheels of accumulation, the pursuit of slow growth characterized by breaking the chains of monopoly and oligopoly, putting commonly generated rent to common uses, and freeing labor from regulations that rob it of its produce has more potency to address the enigma of petroleum accidents in the global south.

This paper seeks to probe key issues concerning library instruction and the problem‐based learning (PBL) curriculum. This is important because the curriculum has particular non‐traditional characteristics, and library instruction may be able to play a greater role, giving students more support in both their study and information‐seeking behaviour.

The paper systemically surveyed and reviewed literatures related to library instruction, library user education and medical curriculum design.

To sustainably integrate library instructional materials and activities into the PBL curriculum, it is important to help medical libraries to become learning organizations that can respond to changing external environments.

The paper presents a hybrid template of the instruction for different year medical students. The template can be an example for those who plan library instructional activities in medical schools.

The paper also provides five strategies for the library to manage the previous task more smoothly and effectively. The strategies are: small group education; problems of the curriculum; librarians' re‐education and retraining; information literacy; and the faculty‐librarian partnerships.

This study aims to examine the determinants that influence housing prices in Dammam metropolitan area (DMA), Saudi Arabia, by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. The study considers determinants such as building age (BLD AG), building size (BLD SZ), building condition (BLD CN), access to parking (ACC PK), proximity to transport infrastructure (PRX TRS), proximity to green areas (PRX GA) and proximity to amenities (PRX AM).

The AHP decision model was used to assess the determinants of housing prices in DMA, using a pair-wise comparison matrix to determine the influence of the investigated factors on housing prices.

The study’s results revealed that building size (BLD SZ) was the most critical determinant affecting housing prices in DMA, with a weight of 0.32, trailed by proximity to transport infrastructure (PRX TRS), with a weight of 0.24 as the second most influential housing price determinant in DMA. The third most important determinant was proximity to amenities (PRX AM), with a weight of 0.18.

This study addresses a research gap by using the AHP model to assess the spatial determinants of housing prices in DMA, Saudi Arabia. Few studies have used this model in examining housing price factors, particularly in the context of Saudi Arabia. Consequently, the findings of this study provide unique insights for policymakers, housing developers and other stakeholders in understanding the importance of building size, proximity to transport infrastructure and proximity to amenities in influencing housing prices in DMA. By considering these determinants, stakeholders can make informed decisions to improve housing quality and prices in the region.