This study examined the relationship among blockchain technology utilization, information sharing, supply chain flexibility, and competitive advantage in UAE financial institutions. For this purpose, a theoretical framework was examined regarding the relationship among blockchain technology utilization, information sharing, supply chain flexibility, and competitive advantage. Additionally, mediating effect of supply chain flexibility was also examined. This research is cross-sectional by design. The respondents collected the data in the form of questionnaires. The response rate of this study was 63.03%. The data collected was examined by Smart PLS. The study's findings confirm that supply chain flexibility is affected by blockchain technology and information technology, which affects the financial institutes' competitive advantage. The implications of these findings cannot be neglected in the financial industry.

The organization needs to improve on a steady basis. For this purpose, organizations must gauge their performance regularly. To achieve this purpose, the agility of the supply chain may play a key role. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the relationship between big data analytics, organizational flexibility, supply chain agility, and organizational performance. This study assessed the mediation effect of supply chain agility as well. The research design of the cross-sectional and research approach was quantitative. The data of this study was gathered from the retail sector employees. In total, 516 questionnaires were distributed using simple random sampling. The usable response rate of the study was 54.90%. The gathered data was examined through smart PLS 3.3.2. The findings of the study revealed that Supply chain agility plays a crucial role in improving the performance of the organization. The study also confirmed the mediating effect of supply chain agility. The findings of the study are helpful for the policymakers of the retail sector.

Nowadays, global technologies, especially digital things, have become an important tool for businesses to maintain feasible partnerships and build a great value connection with other companies. New digital technologies that are emerging every day are on their way to affect nearly all business processes and activities. This study investigates the effect of the digital supply chain on the supply chain and organization performance in the Malaysia manufacturing industry. This paper also further assesses the mediating effect of supply chain performance in the relationship between the digital supply chain and the organizational performance in the Malaysia manufacturing industry. The objectives are achieved via quantitative research design. The researchers emailed the online survey questionnaire to 1160 manufacturing companies listed in the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) directory via stratified sampling technique and received 63 responses. 7 incomplete responses have been deleted and 56 usable responses representing 5.43% of the response rate used for data analysis. The data was analyzed by using the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Three hypotheses are not supported and seven hypotheses are supported, which includes all the hypotheses of moderating effect. The manufacturing companies in Malaysia can consider adopting the DSC in the business process to remain reliable in the competitive market by providing good supply chain performance and best organizational performance as a whole. The implication of the study is given to academics and practitioners, specifically manufacturing companies. The limitations and the recommendation for future study have been highlighted.

In Malaysia, manufacturing industry is a major contributor to the economic advancement. As a result, cutting-edge technology like the internet of things (IoT) is projected to have a significant impact on business operations and supply chain management (SCM). However, research into the influence of IoT deployment on supply chains and organizational performance is relatively sparse. Therefore, this study is to determine the relationship between benefits and challenges of IoT adoption and organizational performance. Furthermore, this study looks into the mediating role of supply chain performance in the relationship between IoT adoption benefits and challenges and organizational performance. The population of this study is comprised of 3019 manufacturing companies in Malaysia, while the minimum sample size needed is 43 manufacturing companies.1160 complete set of survey questionnaire were distributed through email and 63 responses received representing five per cent of response rate. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) is used to assess all of the study's hypotheses. The results of this paper support six out of the seven hypotheses tested. In conclusion, the manufacturing industry in Malaysia needs to be exposed more to the benefits of IoT rather than keep discussing its challenges. This study can be a guideline to the manufacturing companies in decision making for IoT adoption. The limitations and recommendation for future study is highlighted.

The arrival of the era of robots and autonomous machines is undisputable. It is anticipated that the future business environment will be characterized by a variety of intelligent systems and autonomous robots. In 2017, the International Federation of Robotics reported that momentum gained by robotic technologies is strong and that the sales volumes of both service and industrial robots is expected to grow. Building on this projection, the present study proposes a set of prerequisites or key determinants for the adoption of autonomous robots in the supply chain and logistics industry: technological context (i.e., relative advantage, complexity, and cost), organizational context (i.e., management support, financial support and employee competence) and environmental context (i.e., competitive pressure, customer pressure and vendor support). The study adapts a quantitative research design and uses an online survey to collect the needed data to test the conceptual framework and hypotheses proposed. Part of the study results confirms the association between the cost of digital technologies and the adoption of autonomous robots. However, the study found no evidence that the perceived relative advantage positively impacts supply chain and logistics firms’ adoption of autonomous robots. The study offers some managerial advices to supply chain mangers and marketers of the digital technologies and tools that can be applied in the supply chain setting.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries economy is one of the biggest economies in the world with high per-capita income and high purchasing power. Although the member countries exhibit similarity in production, the GCC takes many steps to facilitate the intra-trade. The objective of this study is to analyze the intra-trade of the GCC during the period 1995-2018 and elaborate the impacts of the main three stages in the intra trade agreements be-tween the GCC countries by considering the main sages in facilitating the intra trade among GCC members. The result of the study shows that Bahrain is the biggest importer and exporter from the GCCC followed by Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. Still the trade GCC intra trade consists very small proportion from the total trade of the GCCC, with increasing trends over years of the study period, however the analysis shows that there is no impact of the trade arrangements between the GCCC in the case of the stage of the GCC customs union during 2003-2008 and the stage of common market after 2008 on the progress of the intra trade.

The interpersonal competences and good relationship among employees are directly linked to the team effectiveness and indirectly to the higher productivity at the workplace. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify interpersonal needs of Arab business students by using Fundamental Inter-personal Relations Orientation-Behaviour instrument (FIRO-B). The study is based on the survey of 192 business students in the UAE. The results have also revealed that the gender and academic level of participants had an influence on their interpersonal needs. The study has shown that it is essential to have different approaches towards students on the bases of their interpersonal needs and, by doing so, to try to enhance their interpersonal and communication skills. Moreover, the gender and academic level of students should be considered when organizing training in the improvement of students’ soft skills.

The aim of this study was to study the relationship between knowledge management in its operations; including knowledge generation, knowledge sharing, knowledge usage and business intelligence; including OLAP, data mining on the performance of organizations in the branches of the Housing Bank in Irbid, Jordan. A total of 126 questionnaires were distributed to the sample of the study. A multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses of the study. The study concludes that there was a positive relationship between the knowledge management processes and the performance of organizations. Moreover, the components of business intelligence had positive impacts on the performance of organizations. The results have some enormous implications for the banking sector of Jordan.

This study explores technology adoption through the lens of Technology Acceptance Model and Technology-Organization-Environment model in the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the United Arab Emirates. A survey designed research was carried out at UAE SMEs, leading to a sample of 370 establishments that were included in the final analysis. Data was analyzed using partial least squares structure equation modelling technique. The main findings propose that the Computer Self-Efficacy (CSE), Compatibility (COM), significantly affect the adoption of VAT-compliant accounting systems. Further, the possible mediator relationships are partially supported. Implication and limitation of study are also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to measure the role of job stress among the academic staff of the public universities of UAE. A survey was conducted among 350 academic staffs of the public universities across UAE, concerning the trends of job stress and satisfaction and a possible relationship between these two variables. Primary data analysis reveal that the public universities showed different directions for varying forms of job stress. Moreover, five types of stressors were found to be significant for the academic staff at the universities and when they were tested on job stress, the results revealed the significant impact on job stress. More specifically, pay, and growth stressors as well as work-related stressors were found to negatively influence job stress for the academic staff. Future research of time series analysis can be conducted to understand the trends of stress under different situations over time for academic staff.