This study selects and employs the model of Dwyer and Kim (2003) [Dwyer, L. & Kim, C. (2003). Destination competitiveness: Determinants and indicators. Current Issues in Tourism, 6(5), 369-414.] to assess the competitiveness of tourist destinations, in particular, the sea and island tourism in Nghe An province of Vietnam in the general development of sea and island tourism; based on the comparison with other similar destinations and top destinations in Vietnam. The study also indicates strengths and weaknesses of the sea and is-land tourism in Nghe An. We collect both qualitative and quantitative data and the results show that Nghe An stands in the middle position among five studied localities, reaching a level between neutral and good. Most of the competitive criteria of Nghe An are a little higher than Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh but much lower than Da Nang and Khanh Hoa. Market demand is viewed as the strongest aspect of the sea and island tourism in Nghe An with criteria brand and the friendly/hospitality of local people, employees and office staff while the results of tourism activities and resources especially natural tourism resources are underestimated.

This study was aimed at investigating the impact of creative accounting methods called “Earnings Manage-ment and Income Smoothing” on earnings per share in the Jordanian industrial companies. The model of Dechow et al. (1995) [Dechow, P. M., Sloan, R. G., & Sweeney, A. P. (1995). Detecting earnings management. Accounting Review, 70(2), 193-225.] was adopted to measure earnings management, and the model of Francis et al. (2004) [Francis, J., LaFond, R., Olsson, P. M., & Schipper, K. (2004). Costs of equity and earnings attributes. The accounting review, 79(4), 967-1010.] was adopted to measure income smoothing. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the analytical quantitative approach was adopted. The study community consisted of the 57 industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). As for the study sample, 36 companies were selected according to the target sample method in the period from 2008 to 2017. The results showed that there was a statistically significant impact of using the creative accounting methods on earnings per share in the industrial companies listed on the ASE, and there was an impact of practicing both earnings management and income smoothing on earnings per share in the industrial companies listed on the ASE. The results also showed that 27.8% of the industrial companies practiced earning management, while 47.2% of the industrial companies practiced income smoothing.

The objective of this research was to identify the role of empowerment in enhancing Safeway Company's performance in Jordan using structural equation model (SEM). The authors used a predictive-descriptive strategy to determine Safeway Company's levels of empowerment. To evaluate the role of empowerment and performance, a questionnaire was designed and circulated. The data were examined using means, standard deviations, and multiple linear regression analyses. Empowerment and its dimensions from the Safeway company workers’ viewpoint were ranked high in this survey. The performance level and its dimensions were also con-sidered high from the Safeway company workers’ perspective. Furthermore, the results suggest that both of the experienced groups showed significant differences regarding their empowerment's and performance per-spective, meaning that employees with less than five years of job experience were more likely to perceive em-powerment and performance, positively. In light of this result, the authors suggested the Safeway Company to increase and improve its performance to obtain customer satisfaction by encouraging employees to provide the company with feedback which improves the provided services to customers.

This paper gives first empirical evidence from Vietnam, an emerging country, on the impact of financing decision on firm performance in Vietnam. The study uses data of 102 non-financial firms listed on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) in the 2008-2018 period. Generalized method of moment (GMM) is employed to overcome drawbacks of the model to assure stable and efficient findings. In this study, return on assets (ROA) is utilized to measure firm performance. Further, financing decision is measured by three indicators: total debt to total assets (TDTA), long-term debt to total assets (LTDTA), and short-term debt to total assets (STDTA). Besides, firm size (SIZE), economic growth (GDP) and inflation rate (INF) are also used as control variables. The paper reveals that firm performance is significantly correlated with financing decision. The findings confirm that the increase in debt use decreases firm performance. Therefore, it is recommended that firms should be chary of using debt to finance business operation as it can lead to bad effects on their performance. The results also report the positive effects of inflation rate on financial development. Accordingly, some strong implications are suggested in order that the authorities and management can develop suitable policies to improve firm performance and aim to a sustainable and steady development.

This paper reports the findings of a study examining the relationship between transformational leadership, work engagement and workplace spirituality of academic employees in four PHEIs in Malaysia. The perceptions of academic employees regarding the transformational leadership style, work engagement and workplace spirituality were assessed in an empirical study on a sample of 369 full-time academic employees working in higher education institutions in Malaysia. The study found a satisfactorily good level of influence between transformational leadership and workplace spirituality and work engagement. The paper also provides insights into enhancing employees work engagement via transformational leaders through their abilities to create work-place spirituality. The findings also provide evidence that transformational leaders play a crucial role in shaping workplace spirituality and employee’s level of work engagement in an emerging country work setting.

The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting the performance of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The research team uses a sample size of 456 SMEs. The information is collected by the authors based on the survey results and the financial statements of SMEs listed on Vietnam stock market. Descriptive statistical methods and multivariate linear regression analysis are also used in the study. The data processed through SPSS 20.0 software and the research results show that factors of access to government support policies, education level of enterprises owner, enterprises scale, society relationships of enterprises and revenue growth rate affect the business performance of SMEs in Vietnam. In addition, the study uses a multi-variate linear regression model based on the least squares method to estimate the factors affecting the performance of SMEs in Vietnam. The research results also show that the performance of the enterprises is influenced by different factors: scale, growth rate, profitability, and industry cohesion of enterprises. On that basis, the article proposes some solutions to improve the performance of SMEs in Vietnam in the current period.

This study aimed to find out the impact of work-life balance on employee satisfaction in five-star hotels in Amman, Jordan based on a descriptive analytical approach. The questionnaire of the survey was designed and distributed to a sample of participants in order to collect the necessary data for this study and they were analyzed later through the SPSS V22 program. The study population was the hotel sector in Jordan, while the study sample included the five-star hotels in the capital, Amman, and the sampling unit included the employees of the middle and lower levels of management in the five-star hotels in Amman. The study showed a number of results, including the existence of a good level of work-life balance by employees in top manage-ment in the five-star hotels in Amman, as well as the high level of employee satisfaction within the sector. The study recommended the importance of the need to identify the concept of work-life balance and understand the relationship to achieve better satisfaction for the employees. The study also recommended future studies to determine the effect of work-life balance on the employee satisfaction in different sectors in Jordan.

In this paper, the microfinance services are evaluated in the context of small-scale businesses in Jordan. The aim of this study is to emphasize on the importance of factors related to micro-finance as it helps in enhancing the firm’s performance. This study utilizes a quantitative approach to conduct a research on approximately 308 small-scale businesses. The study employs a method of confirmatory component analysis (CFA) held by applied Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) to achieve the research objective. The results demonstrate that performance was significantly associated with various micro-finance services such as training for managers, training skills, and loan size. In particular, micro-finance programs should be considered by small entrepreneurs, micro-finance institutions, and policy makers. Thus, the contribution of this work is the incorporation of micro-finance factors on SMEs performance. Managers of the SMEs will find guidance about which micro-finance factors is the most important for them to be considered in their roles and for improving SMEs performance.

Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report of the Bank Negara Malaysia reported that household debt grew by 5.4% to RM1.09 trillion from a year earlier. Notably, households merely borrow or use credit for pur-chasing in order to smoothen their consumption. Less secure and vulnerable current, and retirement stages would be the result among public employees in Malaysia due to high household debts. Enhancing trend of better financial management practices is essential, especially for working employees due to the increased levels of existing personal indebtedness, and increasing focus on personal responsibility for financial planning among them. Nowadays, employee’s role in managing their finances is becoming complex due to experiencing with the complexity of financial commodities in the marketplace. Therefore, studying of the determinants of employees’ financial well-being (FWB) among employees in Malaysia is the major objective of this research. The sample of 590 employees in the public sector from four states was selected by applying multi stage sampling technique. The data gathering was accomplished using a self-administered questionnaire. According to the re-gression analysis, contribution of the variables to the model was 32.3%. Money attitude, financial practices, self-efficacy, and emotion coping had conspicuous contribution to FWB, while financial practices were identified as the key performing aspect to FWB. The findings of this study are beneficial to the government, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to create a comprehensive approach specially to advance the living standards, and enhance the FWB of the lower-household income cluster of employees. More comprehension about the determinants of FWB plays a vital role to support workers to equip with financial prudence, and in the long-run would minimize the rate of Malaysian workers with financial difficulties.

Knowledge plays an important role for the development of any economy, any business especially within the law profession which requires profound knowledge. Knowledge sharing behaviors may improve the performance of the work. The proposed study of this paper is conducted among 398 lawyers in Vietnam to assess the factors affecting the knowledge sharing behavior of lawyers. After analyzing data based on Smart PLS software, the results show that the knowledge sharing behavior of lawyers in Vietnam contributes to their jobs except for the development process according to the planned behavioral theory. At the same time, the paper examines the mediating role of behavioral intent for the relationship between attitude and knowledge-sharing behavior which is statistically significant. However, the level of information use does not have any statistically significant role for the relationship between intentional behavior and knowledge sharing behavior of lawyers in Vietnam.