Positive Linkage Research Articles

Intermarket Analysis: Oil, Gold, US Dollar and Stock Market

The interdependence among the prices of oil, gold, the US dollar and stock market prices is of fundamental importance for any investment decision. This paper studies the bilateral relationships between these asset classes in order to identify direct and indirect relationships, positive and negative interactions by using regression analysis, and then tries to demonstrate if a simultaneous relationship exists between the four asset classes via the empirical methodology: the simultaneous equation approach. The international data used to do a regression analysis to identify the bilateral relationships between assets is from November, 2011 to October, 2021 on a monthly basis. The study relies on many theoretical findings to identify the negative or positive linkage. The main goal of quantifying these relationships, is to check if they are helpful in predicting and timing the next phase of the economic cycle. The findings reveal strong cross-market interactions. An inverse relationship between oil prices and stock prices was discovered, whereas gold and the USD had a large and positive impact on oil prices. Oil, USD, and stock market developments have an impact on the gold rate. The stock market, as well as the price of gold and oil, have a considerable negative impact on the US dollar. Therefore, after studying the relationships between those assets, the results will be helpful in predicting the economic cycle.

Exploring the Nexus between Supply Chain Agility and Firms' Performance within Emerging Nations

This paper aims to determine the relationships between supply chain agility (SCA) in different directions and the operations of the firms operating in emerging nations. An additional objective of this paper is to establish the mediating role of innovative climate in the specific domain. The quantitative field study was conducted on a sample of different SME's managers in Pakistan; 200 surveys were distributed, and the search engine marketing (SEM) technique was utilized to analyze the outcome. Several factors of SCA in the supply chain have been taken into consideration to determine the links of supply chain performance (SCP) and to ascertain the effects of SCP and SCA. SCA factors like swiftness (FAWC) and alertness (FASC) were utilized to establish those linkages towards SCP along with mediating the role of innovative climate. On the basis of calculations, it was observed that there is a positive linkage between FASC and SCP. The linkage of FSWC was also found positive on SCP. Therefore, this study ascertains the fact that FAWC and FASC contain positive connections with the SCP having a positive mediating influence on the innovative climate in the domain of Pakistan. This paper contributed to establishing the fact that innovative climate positively mediates the relationships between FAWC and SCP of the organizations as well as between FASC and SCP, respectively. Such findings confirm the significance of an innovative climate in the organizations, which further support achieving the organization SCP. The findings of this study have implications for sales managers, policymakers, and practitioners who may be interested in considering the impact of personality from a sales perspective.

Divergent trends in irrigation-water withdrawal and consumption over mainland China

Knowledge of both irrigation-water withdrawal (IWW) and consumption (IWC, i.e. the evapotranspiration loss of applied irrigation water) is critical to sustainable water use and management. However, IWW and IWC are not well differentiated and an integrated analysis of their changes and causes is still lacking. Here we aim to close this gap and investigate the trends and drivers of IWW and IWC over mainland China using the logarithmic mean Divisia index approach and multivariate regression and fixed-effects panel regression models. We find that IWW decreased at a rate of −1.3 km3yr−1 (or −0.4% yr−1) while IWC increased at a rate of 2.9 km3 yr−1 (or 2.4% yr−1) from 1999 to 2013, albeit both showed upward trends from 1982 to 1999. The reduction in IWW was due to the decreased water-withdrawal intensity (WWI) (i.e. IWW per unit area), while the increase in IWC was mainly due to the irrigated area expansion. We find opposite trends in IWW and IWC in about half of the Chinese provinces, with IWW decreasing and IWC increasing in most cases. Changes in irrigation efficiency (IE, defined as the ratio of IWC to IWW) and climatic factors explain a large proportion of the variance in WWI and water-consumption intensity (i.e. IWC per unit area). IE presents a strong negative correlation with WWI but a positive correlation with water-consumption intensity. The improved IE makes a nonnegligible contribution (∼20%) to the irrigated area expansion, especially in water-scarce regions. The strong positive linkage between IE and IWC together with the significant rise in IWC with increasing IE suggest that the paradox of IE (i.e. higher IE tends to increase water consumption) has manifested in mainland China. Our findings highlight the importance of considering both IWW and IWC changes as well as farmer’s behavior adjustments in water resource management.

The moderating role of innovative organizational climate on the relationship between environmental monitoring social monitoring, governance monitoring and sustainable development goals (case of Vietnam)

Globally, the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a significant requirement for companies and economies due to the high uncertainty of environmental and economic conditions. Thus, the present research investigates the impact of effective environmental, social and governance (ESG) monitoring on the SDGs achievement of textile industry in Vietnam. The research also examines the mediating impact of innovative organizational climate among the association of ESG monitoring and SDGs achievement. The questionnaires were adapted to collect the primary data from the selected respondents. Smart-PLS was applied to examine the data reliability and linkage among variables. The results revealed that environmental monitoring and social monitoring have a positive linkage with the SDGs achievement. The findings also exposed that innovative organizational climate significantly mediates among environmental monitoring, social monitoring and SDGs achievement. This article guides the policymakers while formulating regulations related to the ESG monitoring to attain the SDGs.

Being ethically resilient during COVID-19: a cross-sectional study of Indian supply chain companies

PurposeThe present study aims to examine the relationship between techno-ethical orientation and ethical decision-making (EDM) in Indian supply chain companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also aims to explore the moderating role of technological frames (TF) in the relationship between techno-ethical orientation and EDM.Design/methodology/approachThe relationship between techno-ethical orientation and EDM is examined using correlation and regression analysis. The moderating effect of five dimensions of TFs (personal attitude, application value, organisational influence, supervisor influence and industry influence) is analysed using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe correlation coefficient between techno-ethical orientation and EDM is 0.513. Also, the regression coefficient (β = 0.213) is significant at 0.05, establishing a positive linkage between the two. R-square values showed a 45.2% variation in EDM is explained by techno-ethical orientation. Similarly, all variables of TFs have a positive and significant moderating effect on the relationship between techno-ethical orientation and EDM.Originality/valueThis is one of the pioneer studies exploring techno-ethical orientation’s impact on EDM in supply chain companies.

Assessing the role of ICT, governance, and infrastructure on inbound tourism demand in India

PurposeThe main purpose of the present research is to explore the possible effectiveness of information and communication technology (ICT), infrastructure development, exchange rate and governance on inbound tourism demand using time series data in India.Design/methodology/approachThe stationarity of the variables is checked by using the ADF, PP and KPSS unit root tests. The paper uses the Bayer-Hanck and auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration to examine the existence of long-run relationships; the error-correction mechanism for the short-run dynamics and the vector error correction method (VECM) to test the direction of causality.FindingsThe findings of the research indicate the presence of cointegration among the variables. Further, long-run results indicate infrastructure development, word-of-mouth and ICT have a positive and significant linkage with international tourist arrivals in India. However, ICT has a positive and significant effect on tourist arrivals in the short run as well. The VECM results indicate long-run unidirectional causality from infrastructure, ICT, governance and exchange rate to tourist arrivals.Research limitations/implicationsThis study implies that inbound tourism demand in India can be augmented by improving infrastructure, governance quality and ICT penetration. For an emerging country like India, this may have far-reaching implications for sustaining and improving tourism sector growth.Originality/valueThis paper is the first of its kind to empirically examine the impact of ICT, infrastructure and governance quality in India using modern econometric techniques. Inbound tourism demand research aids government and policymakers in developing effective public policies that would reposition India to gain from a highly competitive global tourism industry.

Is Job Crafting Always a Good Thing? An Examination of Interpersonal Consequence of Job Crafting

While numerous studies have revealed the beneficial effects of job crafting for crafters themselves, little is known about its interpersonal consequences. Drawing upon role theory, we take a unique recipient-focused approach to investigate how and when engaging in job crafting may elicit responses from coworkers. Utilizing the 275 dyads of supervisor-subordinate data collected at three-time points, the results indicate that job crafting is positively related to interpersonal conflict, which, in turn, causes workplace victimization from coworkers. Furthermore, the political skill was found to mitigate the positive indirect linkage between job crafting and workplace victimization. Our study contributes to the job crafting literature by advancing our understanding of the interpersonal outcomes of job crafting.

When Entrepreneurial and Customer Orientation Meet Meaningful Work: A Moderated Mediation Approach

This study suggests that a cross-level moderated mediation approach attempts to specify both how and when the effects of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) (and customer orientation (CO)) occur when acquiring new customers (and retaining existing customers). Drawing on a data set of 336 bank branches (808 managers/7,230 competitors), the perception of meaningful work mediates the positive linkage of EO and CO to each customer-oriented outcome. This indirect positive effect of EO (CO) with new customer creation (and existing customer retention) through the relationship is stronger when job autonomy is higher than when is low. Our findings provide supports to a nuanced understanding EO/CO within different work characteristics so that our study highlights how organizational strategic postures are relevant for individual perceptions of meaningful work by addressing explanatory primitives where a multilevel model makes sense.

International Entrepreneurial Aspiration and Internationalisation Speed in an Emerging Economy

Guided by the theory of planned behaviour and resource dependency logic, we explored how international EO arising from international entrepreneurial aspiration triggers the speed of the internationalisation of SMEs in an emerging economy. Based on a moderated mediation model this study posits that international political network ties moderate the positive linkage between international EO and internationalisation speed and strengthen the positive indirect effect that exists between international entrepreneurial aspiration and internationalisation speed. Results of our study based on 299 SMEs supported our hypotheses. Implications of our results for SME owners/managers in an emerging economy context, as well as the limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.

Role of Self-Efficacy and Resistance to Innovation on the Demotivation and Insufficient Learning Capabilities of Preservice English Normal Students in China.

Learning capabilities among students are the crucial element for the student’s success in learning a particular language, and this phenomenon needs recent studies. The current study examines the impact of self-efficacy and resistance to innovation on the demotivation and insufficient learning capabilities of preservice English normal students in China. The current research also investigates the mediating impact of demotivation among self-efficacy, resistance to innovation, and insufficient learning capabilities. The questionnaires were employed by the researchers to gather the data from chosen respondents. The preservice English students are the respondents of the study. These are selected using purposive sampling. These questionnaires were forwarded to them by personal visits. The researchers have sent 690 surveys but only received 360 surveys and used them for analysis. These surveys represented a 52.17% response rate. The SPSS-AMOS was applied to test the relationships among variables and also test the hypotheses of the study. The results revealed that self-efficacy and resistance to innovation have a significant and a positive linkage with demotivation and insufficient learning capabilities. The findings also indicated that demotivation significantly mediates self-efficacy, resistance to innovation, and insufficient learning capabilities. The article helps the policymakers to establish the regulations related to the improvement of learning capabilities using innovation adoption and motivation of the students.

Impact of Traditional Behavior of Customers, Employees, and Social Enterprises on the Fear of Change and Resistance to Innovation

Innovation adoption is the necessary element for the success of any organization around the globe, and this phenomenon needs a foremost solution. The current study examines this area and explores the impact of customers, employees, and social enterprises' traditional behavior on the resistance to innovation in social enterprises in China. The current article also investigates the mediating role of fear for change among customers, employees, and social enterprises' traditional behavior and resistance to innovation in social enterprises in China. This article has followed the primary data gathering methods and adopted the questionnaires for this purpose. The employees and customers of social enterprises are the respondents and ~11,000 population in the study. According to Krejcie & Morgan, the sample size criteria is around 370. Thus, the researchers' have forwarded around 615 surveys and received only 357 after a few weeks. The present research has also applied the SPSS-AMOS to analyze the association among variables and test the hypotheses. The results revealed that the traditional behavior of customers, employees, and social enterprises has a significant and positive linkage with resistance to innovation in social enterprises in China. The findings also exposed that the fear of change also significantly mediates among customers, employees, and social enterprises' traditional behavior and resistance to innovation in social enterprises in China. This study helps the regulators establish policies related to innovation adoption by changing traditional behavior to advance the behavior of customers, employees, and social enterprises.

Lack of Self-Efficacy and Resistance to Innovation Impact on Insufficient Learning Capabilities: Mediating the Role of Demotivation and Moderating the Role of Institutional Culture.

Learning capabilities have been an essential element for the success of second language learners that needs regulators' and researchers' emphasis. Hence, the current research examines the role of lack of self-efficacy and resistance to innovation on the insufficient learning capabilities of second language students in China. The current study also examines the mediating role of demotivation among the linkage of lack of self-efficacy, resistance to innovation, and insufficient learning capabilities and explores the moderating role of institutional culture among demotivation and insufficient learning capabilities. The researchers have applied the questionnaires method to gather the data from selected students and employed the smart-PLS to assess the measurement and structural models. The results revealed that lack of self-efficacy and resistance to innovation has a significant and positive linkage with insufficient learning capabilities. The results also exposed that demotivation significantly mediates among lack of self-efficacy, resistance to innovation, and insufficient learning capabilities. The findings also explored that the institutional culture significantly moderates the linkage between demotivation and insufficient learning capabilities.

Electrical Energy Dilemma and CO2 Emission in Pakistan: Decomposing the Positive and Negative Shocks by Using an Asymmetric Technique

The key aim of the current analysis was to examine the impact of electricity production from various sources (oil, nuclear, natural gas and coal) on CO2 emission in Pakistan by utilizing the annual data series varies from 1975–2020. The study employed the two unit root tests for the purpose of stationarity, while an asymmetric Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) technique was applied to expose the influence of electrical energy on CO2 emission via long-run and short-run dynamics. Findings show that via long-run and short-run the variable electricity production from oil and coal sources has a positive impact on CO2 emission in Pakistan via positive and negative shocks. Electricity production from nuclear sources exposed the adverse impact on CO2 emissions. Similarly, electricity production from natural gas demonstrates the positive and adversative linkage with CO2 emission through positive and negative shocks. There is no doubt that Pakistan is still dealing with an electricity deficit because of poor energy generation in the country, but this has contributed to an increase in CO2 emissions. To avoid additional environmental damage, the government should pursue new and major CO2 emission reduction measures.

Local fitness and epistatic effects lead to distinct patterns of linkage disequilibrium in protein-coding genes.

Selected mutations interfere and interact with evolutionary processes at nearby loci, distorting allele frequency trajectories and creating correlations between pairs of mutations. Recent studies have used patterns of linkage disequilibrium between selected variants to test for selective interference and epistatic interactions, with some disagreement over interpreting observations from data. Interpretation is hindered by a lack of analytic or even numerical expectations for patterns of variation between pairs of loci under the combined effects of selection, dominance, epistasis, and demography. Here, I develop a numerical approach to compute the expected two-locus sampling distribution under diploid selection with arbitrary epistasis and dominance, recombination, and variable population size. I use this to explore how epistasis and dominance affect expected signed linkage disequilibrium, including for nonsteady-state demography relevant to human populations. Using whole-genome sequencing data from humans, I explore genome-wide patterns of linkage disequilibrium within protein-coding genes. I show that positive linkage disequilibrium between missense mutations within genes is driven by strong positive allele-frequency correlations between mutations that fall within the same annotated conserved domain, pointing to compensatory mutations or antagonistic epistasis as the prevailing mode of interaction within conserved genic elements. Linkage disequilibrium between missense mutations is reduced outside of conserved domains, as expected under Hill-Robertson interference. This variation in both mutational fitness effects and selective interactions within protein-coding genes calls for more refined inferences of the joint distribution of fitness and interactive effects, and the methods presented here should prove useful in that pursuit.

Did the intensity of countries’ digital transformation affect IT companies’ performance during covid-19?

ABSTRACT This study explores the impact of the intensity of countries’ digital transformation on the performance of 3961 global companies in the Information Technology sector in 2020. We analyse the impact of e-government index, e-participation index, and cybersecurity commitment on firms’ performance (enterprise value, book value per share, and cash flow from operation per share) using OLS regression. A structural equation modelling was further employed to explain the mediating role of cybersecurity commitment. Results suggest that e-government has a positive linkage with cybersecurity commitment and performance. However, there is preliminary evidence that cybersecurity measures initiated by e-government will drive performance. The e-participation index has a positive association with cybersecurity commitment and a heterogeneous impact on performance, suggesting the need to differentiate between development and participation. Finally, results highlight the pivotal role of e-government and cybersecurity commitment in boosting the profitability of companies and supporting the influence of the surrounding technological environment on companies’ performance.

Role of Resistance to Innovation, Lack of Intercultural Communication, and Student Interest on the Student Demotivation Results Towards the English Education System.

Recently, second-language learning success depends upon the students' interest and motivation by adopting innovations that require regulators' and new researchers' emphasis. Hence, this article explores the role of resistance to innovation, lack of intercultural communication, and students' interest on the students' demotivation. The article also examines the mediating role of students' demotivation among resistance to innovation, lack of intercultural communication, lack of students' interest, and failure of the English education system in China. This study has gathered the data using survey questionnaires and analyzed the collected data using smart-PLS. The results exposed that the resistance to innovation, lack of intercultural communication, and students' interest have a significant and positive linkage with students' demotivation. The findings also indicated that students' demotivation significantly mediates among resistance to innovation, lack of intercultural communication, lack of students' interest, and failure of the English education system in China. This study guides the policymakers to develop the policies related to improving the English education system in China using innovation that enhances students' interest and motivation.JEL ClassificationsO31, O32, H75.

Impact of corporate sustainable practices, government initiative, technology usage, and organizational culture on automobile industry sustainable performance.

The increasing worldwide automobile production and usage adversely impact the environmental, economic, and social well-being. Although the automobile companies are trying to solve this problem by adopting corporate sustainability, there is a gap in the extant literature on sustainable corporate practices that are the most important to empower better sustainability performance. This study highlights the impact of core corporate sustainable practices attributes, government initiative, technology usage, and organizational culture on the sustainable performance of the automobile industry in India. The study proposed six aspects and fifty-three criteria from the literature review. The current article has used survey questionnaires to collect the primary data. The present article also applied the smart-PLS to test the association among the variables. The results indicated that the corporate sustainable practices attributes, technology usage, and organizational culture have a positive and significant linkage with the sustainable performance of the automobile industry. The current article guides the regulators in developing the regulations to improve sustainable organizational performance using sustainable corporate practices.

Exploring EFL Students’ Metacognitive Knowledge Based On Their Listening Abilities in Lubuklinggau

Metacognition, as a 21st-century skill, is essential in language education. Students that have this competence are those who can manage or direct their own learning experience both within and without the classroom. Since the existing study found a positive linkage between the concept and success in language learning, particularly listening, it is critical to be conscious of metacognitive knowledge in listening comprehension. Thus, the current study aims to investigate the metacognitive knowledge of EFL undergraduate students in Lubuklinggau, South Sumatera, based on their listening abilities. This study divides metacognitive information into three categories: knowledge of self, learning techniques, and learning task needs.To elicit the research data, there were three types of data collection tools, namely questionnaire, test and semi-structured interview and this study used quantitative and qualitative methods based on a case study approach. The research findings indicated that students who have high listening abilities are better in metacognitive knowledge compared those who have middle and low listening abilities. Then, those students also were able to benefit effective learning strategies, particularly metacognitive strategies, in improving their listening abilities in and outside the classroom. Therefore, the students’ metacognitive knowledge has a potential role in helping them to become successful language learners.
 Keywords: Metacognitive knowledge; EFL listening abilities

Role of Mass Media in Using Antenatal Care Services among Pregnant Women in Bangladesh

The purpose of this study is to measure the predicting factors which can play a role of mass media in using the Antenatal Care Services (ANC) for pregnant women. The mixed-method strategy is followed in this study. 50 women were selected based on a convenient sampling technique to gather survey data including open and closed-ended responses. A frequency table was carried out to generate the study findings. Along with this, a few case studies were taken to support the quantitative findings so that the outcomes proved a more solid investigation. The study findings showed that there was a positive linkage between media programs and the ANC status of rural women. Pregnant women will get a clear view of how they should be more aware when they are in complications and how they will take advice from mass media pre-post delivery period.

The role of corporate governance and environmental and social responsibilities on the achievement of sustainable development goals in Malaysian logistic companies

Globally, sustainable development goals (SDGs) have gained significant importance due to the uncertain environmental and economic condition that needs researchers’ attention. Therefore, the present paper aims to scrutinize the effect of environmental and social responsibilities and corporate governance on the achievement of SDGs of logistic firms in Malaysia. The present research also examines the mediating impact of innovative culture among the linkage of environmental and social responsibilities, corporate governance, and achievement of SDGs of logistic firms in Malaysia. The current article has applied the questionnaire method to gather the primary data from selected respondents. The present research also applied the Smart-PLS to analyze the primary data using measurement and structural model assessment. The results indicated that environmental and social responsibilities have a positive linkage with the achievement of SDGs of logistic firms in Malaysia. The findings also exposed that innovative culture significantly mediates the relationship between environmental and social responsibilities and the achievement of SDGs of logistic firms in Malaysia. The present article has provided the guidelines to the policymakers while formulating the regulations and policies related to the achievement of SDGs in the organization.