Critical Thinking in Research and Analysis for Business Development

The aim of this paper is to highlight the need for more emphasis on the research and analysis required to obtain the right information needed for effective business development. The research examines the literature for examples of good practice for business research and analysis, which would lead to obtaining the most advantageous information for guiding the business. The result will show that insufficient attention is given in business studies to the analysis requirement to sift through vast amounts of available and interesting data for the critical useful information. More attention needs to be given to understand what information is most useful to the strategic development of the organisation. The limitation to this investigation is that the research is not empirical but normative in approach, but the practical result indicates that if more analysis subjects were included in business studies there will be better trained managers available. These managers would be betterable to develop their organisation by having more meaningful information available to guide them in their strategic planning role. Keywords: critical thinking, development, information, strategic planning, analysis

Banking Governance in The Era of Digital Transformation

For nearly four decades, we have been witnessing the development of the concept of corporate governance. This concept has evolved considerably since its appearance because of its multidisciplinary nature and the high diversity of its theoretical grids. There are two main theoretical approaches. The disciplinary and cognitive approaches. Given the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation and its inevitable impact on the bank's business model, it is natural that it also impacts on its governance. This impact can be analyzed from the two dimensions of governance. First, a cognitive dimension, which concerns all the players in the governance system, particularly the board of directors. Then, a disciplinary dimension dictated by the radical transformation of the confidence relations (Board of Directors/managers) established by the blockchain technology which could call into question the notion of opportunism advocated by the agency theory as the basis of the disciplinary approach of governance. In this paper, we will explore from an unprecedented analysis of the impact of digital transformation on banking governance. This analysis will focus on the two dimensions of governance: disciplinary and cognitive. Finally, an empirical study will be presented on the digital transformation at the level of Moroccan banks which refers in particular to the cognitive aspects of governance. Keywords: corporate governance, disciplinary governance, cognitive governance, banking governance, digital transformation

Extend Theory of Planned Behavior for Recycling in Electronic Waste

Electronic waste (e-waste) is generated at a rapid pace when there are millions of electronic appliances including mobile phones, televisions, computers, laptops, and tablets have very short time lifespans. In addition, e-waste is classified as any types of electric and electronic merchandises that have no value to consumers. Even though e-waste is known as trash, but it can be used as a secondary resource to decrease the number of hazardous contents that may harm the environment. Despite being thrown away,e-waste can be reused, resold, recovered, remanufactured, and recycled. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is used as an underpinning theory to examine the factors that influence consumer’s behaviour towards e-waste recycling in Malaysia. TPB is a classical theory to predict one’s beliefs and behaviour. The theory shows that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control could explain an individual’s behavioural intentions and behaviours. However, TPB is insufficient to explain pro-environmental actions such as returning e-waste. Recycling behaviour involves external resources and expertise. Thus, this study extended the theory by incorporating other factors such as awareness of the environment consequences, perceived convenience, and moral obligation. This study will use an online survey. Data will be selected and collected from respondents in Malaysia who age above 18 years old and use electronic products via purposive sampling method. Structural equation modelling (SEM) approach will be employed for data analysis and hypotheses testing. The findings of this review are significant to the government, organizations, electronic consumers and researchers that e-waste recycling can be enhanced using extended TPB. Keywords: Electronic waste (e-waste), Electronic Appliances, Recycling, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

Gendering of Time Management: Perceptions and Experiences of Working Women

Understanding and experiencing time has been historically and socially formed by various bodies of power and control who have advocated commodifying clock time of the capitalist economy. This has significantly impacted the lives of working people in general and working women with care and domestic duties in particular. So, many studies have demonstrated the gendering of time management in the Western workplace, but none so far – to the best of the authors’ knowledge – has been reported in the Middle Eastern countries in general and in Syria in particular. Here comes the contribution of this study, which investigates a sample of Syrian women with paid work duties by conducting in-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. The investigation explores the individual perceptions of time as well as the individual experiences of time management regarding the participants’ paid and unpaid work duties. The focus here is on identifying and explaining the internal and external factors which drive the participants’ perceptions and experiences. The interview narratives have revealed that time management is gendered – it requires women rather than men to strike a balance between their employment role and domestic role. However, not all participants were aware of the boundaries between time spent on public paid work and time dedicated for private unpaid or domestic work. In conclusion, the study has demonstrated that gendered time allocation is culturally embedded through gendering domestic and care work, which affected the time spent on paid work in the public sphere. Keywords: time management, time allocation, work, gender, cultural norms

Palestinian Entrepreneurs in Honduras: A Case of Success and Triumph in the Diaspora

Through the years, Palestinians have immigrated to Central America where they have been able to assimilate into a diverse cultural environment while still maintaining a strong link to their cultural heritage. Additionally, certain individuals have been able to prosper financially through the development of increasingly significant business enterprises. Through an analysis of in-depth interviews with three successful Palestinian entrepreneurs now established in Honduras, it is evident that these immigrants used energy, wit, common sense, hard work, and financial resources not only to survive but also to flourish. Their stories highlight how their success developed from peddling, to business ownership, to stock market investing. Keywords: Palestinian entrepreneurs, Honduras, abonos, peddling

The Impact of Covid-19 Crisis on The Hedonic Purchase Behavior: Case of Care Products

The Covid-19 crisis affected the economy as a whole. The rational behavior is becoming more impactful than the spontaneous one. Consumers concentrate their purchases on hygienic needs. The purpose of our study is to understand the consequences of such a global pandemic on the hedonic purchase behavior, particularly the care products category. The problematic is: How crisis impacts consumer’s behavior towards care products? A cluster analysis was conducted among 255 consumers based on their usage of product care. The study has been conducted during the lockdown and revealed results that will be covered in the following paper. Keywords: Consumer behavior, Covid-19, hedonic purchase, care products

Strategic Greening and Social Responsibility of Organizational Development

This study has the aim to analyze the characteristics of the strategic greening and social responsibility of organizational development. The main assumption of the analysis is based on the consideration that the strategic organizational development should take into consideration the greening of organizations and corporate social responsibility. Using holistic and humanistic approaches on individual and organizational development, the analysis focus on individual freedom, lifetime education and training, consciousness on human values and ethical concerns related to the implementation of the organizational greening and corporate social responsibility. Finally, it is proposed a strategic organizational development model. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, organizational development, organizational greening, strategy