Financial technology, also known as Fintech, continues to transform the financial services sector globally. Fintech adoption has been delayed in some places, particularly in the Middle East, despite the potential positive benefits. This study investigates the mediating effect of perceived ease of use on the relationship between seamless transactions, financial risk, legal risk, security risk, perceived risk, and the intention to use financial technology in Middle Eastern countries. Data was collected from 500 respondents from five Middle Eastern countries (Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) using a structured questionnaire, and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the research model. The findings demonstrate that perceived ease of use strongly mediates the links between seamless transactions, financial risk, legal risk, security risk, perceived risk, and the intention to use financial technology. The study shed light on the significance of perceived ease of use in influencing people's intention to utilize financial technology as well as the function it serves in minimizing the effects of perceived risks. The findings of this study could be useful for financial technology companies operating in Middle Eastern countries, policymakers, and researchers interested in the adoption of financial technology.

Digital entrepreneurship can be a potential alternative solution for addressing challenges faced by young people and future workers in Asia. Additional studies are required to enhance comprehension of digital entrepreneurship given the insufficiency of research conducted in this domain. This research seeks to uncover possible determinants that could impact the desire to engage in digital entrepreneurship, with a specific focus on personal traits, resilience, and the level of educational services. The participants in this study are university students as they represent the potential future workforce and potential digital entrepreneurs. A total of 517 sample data (212 Malaysian, 305 Indonesian) were collected through online surveys towards students in Malaysia and Indonesia. The study used a brief version of The Big Five Personality Traits, CD-RISC resilience scale, Liñán & Chen entrepreneurship intention scale, and Parasuraman, Zheitaml, Berry SERVQUAL to gather data. To analyze the data, the study employed structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the intention to pursue digital entrepreneurship is affected by both an individual's openness to experience and their resilience. Additionally, the study revealed that service quality is a factor that affects both digital entrepreneurship intention and resilience. This study provides new understanding of digital entrepreneurship intention antecedents and implies that improvement on education quality service can foster student’s intention to digital entrepreneurship and their resilience.

This paper examines speakers’ systematic errors while speaking English as a foreign language (EFL) among students in Arab countries with the purpose of automatically recognizing and correcting mispronunciations using speech recognition, phonological features, and machine learning. Accordingly, three main steps are implemented towards this purpose: identifying the most frequently wrongly pronounced phonemes by Arab students, analyzing the systematic errors these students make in doing so, and developing a framework that can aid the detection and correction of these pronunciation errors. The proposed automatic detection and correction framework used the collected and labeled data to construct a customized acoustic model to identify and correct incorrect phonemes. Based on the trained data, the language model is then used to recognize the words. The final step includes construction samples of both correct and incorrect pronunciation in the phonemes model and then using machine learning to identify and correct the errors. The results showed that one of the main causes of such errors was the confusion that leads to wrongly utilizing a given sound in place of another. The automatic framework identified and corrected 98.2% of the errors committed by the students using a decision tree classifier. The decision tree classifier achieved the best recognition results compared to the five classifiers used for this purpose.

The rapid growth of social media platforms has revolutionized marketing communications, and the recent trend of how people use social media led to the inception of the term "influencer marketing" as an increasingly popular approach for brands across markets. This development has been driven by the unparalleled increase in influencers’ presence on social media platforms, which has generated new venues for companies to connect with their desired demographic and interact with them in a more genuine and significant manner. Understanding the factors that drive the effectiveness of influencers has become increasingly important for both marketers and researchers. Numerous studies have been conducted on the topic of celebrity endorsements. However, the use of "traditional" celebrities is losing its appeal in the digital era of social media, as brands increasingly turn to social media influencers instead. Nonetheless, there is still a lack of understanding about how marketers can effectively utilize this new marketing phenomenon. This study aims to examine the role of trustworthiness, expertise, and information quality of social media influencers in shaping consumer purchase intention, with a specific focus on the mediating role of brand attitude. A total of 309 complete responses were collected via convenience sampling between January and February 2023 then the model examined by using SPSS and AMOS software. The results showed that all attributes of the influencers are affecting brand attitude as well as purchase intention, while brand attitude partially mediated the relationships. Implications, limitations and future research have also been discussed.

The study aimed at bridging or reducing the knowledge gap between digital marketing dimensions and customer’s happiness, by diagnosing both the level of digital marketing adoption and the level of customer’s happiness achievement, determining the nature of the relationship between digital marketing and customer’s happiness, and recognizing the level of effect and contribution of digital marketing dimensions in achieving customer’s happiness. This is based on the main idea that digital marketing activities are the main basis for achieving customer’s happiness, when designing digital services. Opinions of (360) customers in Amman five-star hotels were surveyed and viewed to achieve this direction, by designing and distributing a questionnaire. The most important results of the study showed that all digital marketing dimensions positively affect customer’s happiness, as well, the level of using dimensions of both digital marketing, and achieving customer happiness is lower than the required level, by five-star hotels in Amman. The most important recommendations were using of distinguished digital channels tools to respond to attract customers, such as the use of advertisements that accustom customers to use of products or services based on virtual reality or through the applications that use live streaming marketing system (photos or video) in order to bring customers close to what services the hotel offers. Using creative, and effective methods in communicating with customers through human emotions to create delicious marketing for customers, which makes them engaged with the offers they receive, whether through e-mail or SMS. Interest in providing real and effective content to digitally marketed service, in order not to create a gap between hotel and its customers as a result of the mis-match between what is advertised and what is actually provided. Determining success indica-tors of a hotel digital marketing campaigns by knowing customer’s feelings and their happiness (i.e. through customers’ positive feedback).

In the era of IoT gaining traction, attacks on IoT-enabled devices are the order of the day that emanates the need for more protected IoT networks. IoT's key feature deals with massive amounts of data sensed by numerous heterogeneous IoT devices. Numerous machine learning techniques are used to collect data from different types of sensors on the objects and transform them into information relevant to the application. Furthermore, business and data analytics algorithms help in event prediction based on observed behavior and information. Routing information securely over the internet with limited resources in IoT applications is a key problem. The study proposes a model for detecting network anomalies in IoT devices to enhance the security of the devices. The study employed the IoT Botnet dataset, and K-fold cross-validation tests were used for validating the values of evaluation metrics. The average values of Accuracy, Precision, Recall, and F Score was 97.4.

The increasing popularity of smartphones has led to the rise of e-wallets, which allow users to store their payment information on their devices and complete financial transactions conveniently and securely. This research extended the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model to investigate the main factors influencing users’ intention to accept e-wallets in Jordan, where little research focused on such apps. Using a quantitative method, a sample of 181 users was utilized, and an instrument of 32 items was used. Findings revealed that price value, hedonic motivations, social influence, performance expectancy and perceived trust are major predictors of users' intention to use e-wallets apps. In contrast, facilitating conditions and effort expectancy are not significant toward the adoption process. Finally, conclusions and future work are presented in the last section of the study.

This study aimed to demonstrate the impact of big data analytics techniques on reducing information asymmetry in industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange from the point of view of workers in Jordanian financial intermediation companies. Two approaches have been adopted to achieve the target of this research. The first approach is the analytical descriptive approach through a survey to collect primary data that measures the elements of the independent variable related to big data analytics techniques (Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity). The second approach is an applied approach that measures the dependent variable of information asymmetry based on the financial statements of industrial companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange for the period (2015-2021). The statistical program (SPSS) has been used to analyze data and test the hypotheses through multiple regression testing. Based on the results of the statistical analysis of the data and the opinions of the research community, it was found that the huge volume of big data has become difficult to process using traditional data processing applications. Furthermore, there is a statistically significant relationship between big data analytics techniques and the reduction of information asymmetry from the point of view of employees in intermediation firms in Jordan. Consequently, it is necessary for those in charge of the industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange to develop modern techniques capable of analyzing big data with high efficiency. It can also assist in providing target groups including investors, stakeholders, and other beneficiaries with reliable and efficient data required to make rational decisions, as well as to reduce the risks of information asymmetry.

The use of data mining to predict early employment readiness of students is gaining importance due to the expansion of data production in various industries. This study aims to address the employability issue in Middle Eastern nations by utilizing an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) data mining technology. The experimental investigation used data from tracer studies conducted by three Jordanian universities, consisting of 22 parameters. Results showed that despite achieving an accuracy of 94% for the graduate dataset, ANFIS exhibited high complexity due to the large number of attributes used. The study has implications for selecting relevant variables and investigating multiple aspects. Data mining has various applications, including classification, clustering, regression, association rule development, and outlier analysis. As data production continues to expand, this study provides insights into the potential use of ANFIS in predicting early employment readiness of students in Middle Eastern nations.

Big data has become much more widely used in recent years, particularly in the banking sector. Banks have begun to use big data to enhance customer experience, optimize operations, and create novel products and services. This study investigates the effect of big data governance on financial technology in Jordanian commercial banks. The study focuses on the four dimensions of big data governance: strategy and planning, ethics and social responsibility, data quality and management, and infrastructure and architecture. Additionally, the study considers the mediating role of organizational culture in the relationship between big data governance and financial technology. Primary data were collected from 250 IT employees working in Jordanian commercial banks, and the data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The study findings indicate that big data governance has a significant positive effect on financial technology in Jordanian commercial banks. Additionally, it has been discovered that organizational culture partially mediates the relationship between big data governance and financial technology, emphasizing the significance of creating a culture that encourages the efficient use of data in fintech. In the context of Jordanian commercial banks, this study presents empirical evidence for the connection between big data governance and financial technology. The results indicate that big data governance measures should be applied while taking organizational culture into account as a potential mediator of the effects on financial technology. This study offers guidance on how to successfully integrate big data governance policies in commercial banks to advance financial technology for bank managers and policymakers.