Objectives: The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the stress on blood banks and deprived the blood sources due to the containment measures that restrict the movement and travel limitations among blood donors. During this time, Malaysia had a significant 40% reduction in blood supply. Blood centers and hospitals faced a huge challenge balancing blood demand and collection. The health care systems need a proactive plan to withstand the uncertain situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigates the psychosocial factors that affect blood donation behavior during a pandemic and aims to propose evidence-based strategies for a sustainable blood supply. Study design: Qualitative design using focus group discussion (FGD) was employed. Methods: Data were acquired from the two FGDs that group from transfusion medicine specialists (N = 8) and donors (N = 10). The FGD interview protocol was developed based on the UTM Research Ethics Committee’s approval. Then, the data was analyzed using Nvivo based on the General Inductive Approach (GIA). Results: Analysis of the text data found that the psychology of blood donation during the pandemic in Malaysia can be classified into four main themes: (i) reduced donation; (ii) motivation of donating blood; (iii) trends of donation; and (iv) challenges faced by the one-off, occasional, and non-donors. Conclusions: Based on the emerging themes from the FGDs, this study proposes four psycho-contextual strategies for relevant authorities to manage sustainable blood accumulation during the pandemic: (1) develop standard operating procedure for blood donors; (2) organize awareness campaigns; (3) create a centralized integrated blood donors database; and (4) provide innovative Blood Donation Facilities.

The ongoing dissemination of globalization and digitalization may suggest that personal relationships are becoming less crucial in the context of retail banking and financial services. In Hungary, in addition to private banking, which is associated with high income levels, personal banking also plays an important role. The objective of this study is to develop a model that can identify the factors that determine customer satisfaction and their relative importance. Furthermore, the aim is to incorporate gender and age as moderator variables to identify demographic differences in satisfaction. The analysis was conducted via a questionnaire survey in October to November 2023 employing a purposive sampling approach in a university environment, as the respondents are likely to possess the highest level of existing financial knowledge within this population. The 214 valid responses were analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, with the objective of contributing to the development of theory in this field of study. The results demonstrate that perception (β = 0.519) and reliability (β = 0.253) collectively explained 51.8% of the variance in satisfaction. Moreover, the results indicate that perception accounts for 49.2% of the variance in reliability, suggesting the existence of an indirect effect on satisfaction. Therefore, the findings suggest that, despite the advent of digital banking, face to face service remains a pertinent concern in Hungary, and financial institutions should prioritize the factors that shape customer satisfaction. The study contributes to the literature and to the development of customer loyalty strategies for banks based on these findings.

This study meticulously explores the crucial elements precipitating corporate failures in Taiwan during the decade from 1999 to 2009. It proposes a new methodology, combining ANOVA and tuning the parameters of the classification so that its functional form describes the data best. Our analysis reveals the ten paramount factors, including Return on Capital ROA(C) before interest and depreciation, debt ratio percentage, consistent EPS across the last four seasons, Retained Earnings to Total Assets, Working Capital to Total Assets, dependency on borrowing, ratio of Current Liability to Assets, Net Value Per Share (B), the ratio of Working Capital to Equity, and the Liability-Assets Flag. This dual approach enables a more precise identification of the most instrumental variables in leading Taiwanese firms to bankruptcy based only on financial rather than including corporate governance variable. By employing a classification methodology adept at addressing class imbalance, we substantiate the significant influence these factors had on the incidence of bankruptcy among Taiwanese companies that rely solely on financial parameters. Thus, our methodology streamlines variable selection from 95 to 10 critical factors, improving bankruptcy prediction accuracy and outperforming Liang’s 2016 results.

This paper investigates the factors influencing credit growth in Kosovo, focusing on the relationship between credit activity and key economic variables, including GDP, FDI, CPI, and interest rates. Its analysis targets loans issued to businesses and households in Kosovo, employing a VAR model integrated into a VEC model to investigate the determinants of credit growth. The findings were validated using OLS regression. Additionally, the study includes a normality test, a model stability test (Inverse Roots AR Characteristic Polynomial), a Granger causality test for short-term relationships, and variance decomposition to analyze variable shocks over time. This research demonstrates that loan growth is primarily driven by its historical values. The VEC model shows that, in the long run, economic growth in Kosovo leads to less credit growth, showing a negative link between it and GDP. Higher interest rates also reduce credit growth, showing another negative link. On the other hand, more foreign direct investment (FDI) increases credit demand, showing a positive link between credit growth and FDI. The results show that loans and inflation (CPI) are positively linked, meaning higher inflation leads to more credit growth. Similarly, more foreign direct investment (FDI) increases credit demand, showing a positive link between FDI and credit growth. In the long term, higher inflation is connected to greater credit growth. In the short term, the VAR model suggests that GDP has a small to moderate effect on loans, while FDI has a slightly negative effect. In the VAR model, interest rates have a mixed effect: one coefficient is positive and the other negative, showing a delayed negative impact on loan growth. CPI has a small and negative effect, indicating little short-term influence on credit growth. The OLS regression supports the VAR results, finding no effect of GDP on loans, a small negative effect from FDI, a strong negative effect from interest rates, and no effect from CPI. This study provides a detailed analysis and adds to the research by showing how macroeconomic factors affect credit growth in Kosovo. The findings offer useful insights for policymakers and researchers about the relationship between these factors and credit activity.

While extensive research has explored interconnectedness, volatility spillovers, and risk transmission across financial systems, the comparative dynamics between Islamic and conventional banks during crises, particularly in specific regions such as Saudi Arabia, are underexplored. This study investigates risk transmissions and contagion among banks operating in Islamic and conventional modes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Daily banking stock data spanning November 2018 to November 2023, encompassing two major crises—COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukraine war—were analyzed. Using the frequency TVP-VAR approach, the study reveals that average total connectedness for both banking groups exceeds 50%, with short-run risk transmission dominating over long-term effects. Graphical visualizations highlight time-varying connectedness, driven predominantly by short-run spillovers, with similar patterns observed in both Islamic and conventional banking networks. The main contribution of this paper is the insight that long-term investment strategies are crucial for mitigating potential risks in the Saudi banking system, given its limited diversification opportunities.

The distress of commercial companies is considered one of the most critical stages leading to the liquidation and termination of the business. This danger increases in the context of poor management, stagnation, and the occurrence of crises and external circumstances that affect the company’s ability to cope. Rules regarding financial restructuring of distressed commercial companies may be regarded as the most prominent legal framework adopted by Emirati, Kuwaiti and French legislators to address the instability and distress of commercial enterprises and to provide solutions to mitigate the risk of bankruptcy and liquidation. It is a preventive measure aimed at reaching an agreement between the debtor and creditors to resolve the disturbances or difficulties faced by the company, which may affect its obligations to others. Therefore, financial restructuring is considered a mean of prevention and rescue for commercial companies, and the success of this rescue is linked to the debtor’s cooperation and seriousness in overcoming such issue.