Social media has become one of the primary sources of communication, information, entertainment, and learning for users. Children gain several benefits as social media helps them acquire formal and informal learning opportunities. This research also examined the effect of social media on formal and informal learning among school-level children in Ajman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), moderated by social integrative and personal integrative needs. Data was gathered by using structured questionnaires, which were distributed among a sample of 364 children. Results revealed that social media significantly affects Informal and formal learning among children, indicating its usefulness in child education and development. The results also indicated a significant moderation of social integrative needs on social media’s direct effect on informal learning, indicating the relevant needs as an important motivating factor. However, the moderation of personal integrative needs on social media’s direct effect on formal learning remained insignificant. Overall, this research highlighted the role of social media in providing learning opportunities for children in the UAE. It is concluded that children actively seek gratifications from social media, shaping their learning within structured educational contexts in their daily lives. Through the lens of UGT, certain needs play a critical role in strengthening the gratification process, affecting how children derive learning advantages from their interactions on social media platforms. Finally, implications and limitations are discussed accordingly.

Spiritual Intelligence (SI) has become a key contributor towards enhancing employee well-being and job satisfaction (JS) in the modern competitive business world. This study examines the impact of SI on JS among Sri Lankan IT professionals, considering gender’s role in this relationship. Analyzing data from 383 respondents using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the study reveals a strong positive correlation between SI and JS, with no moderating effect on gender. The study highlights the importance of embedding SI into HR and organizational policies to enhance workforce resilience and retention while contributing to broader industry development and global competitiveness in the IT sector.

The aim of this study is to determine how bank diversification affects bank stability. To this end, it examines data of 136 commercial banks operating in 14 MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries observed from 2005 to 2021, using the System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) panel data regression analysis. The selected countries are Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. The main results point to the enhancing effect of income diversification on bank stability. Our results underline the “Bright Side” of banking income diversification in the MENA region. However, this stabilizing income diversification effect is not always maintainable. The results also point to a non-linear relationship between interest/non-interest income and financial stability, suggesting that higher diversification reduces risk. We use a dynamic panel threshold model to determine income diversification thresholds that stabilize banks in the MENA region.

The scientific discourse on university towns (UT) has progressed for a long time, with a surge of interest in recent years. However, a global overview of the research conducted on this topic have yet to exist. This paper aims to re-examine the relationship between UT and urbanization in literature. Built environment and people are often the most talked aspects in UT literatures. The variety of definitions remains largely uncharted. Policies behind UT development are also rarely studied. This article used an R studio-based bibliometric literature review to synthesize findings from various scientific literature. Keywords related to university towns and urban were used in digital search engines to examine and analyse the literature. Results revealed a significant gap in scientific research on critical theoretical concepts that planners can use as a guide in creating, formulating, and evaluating UT, especially in developing countries. This study promotes simplification of existing literature by examining the impact of UT on the stakeholders involved.

Small-scale businesses have long been recognized as an important part of economic development and integrating them with industrial parks is both recommended and necessary for long-term success. In line of this, the objective of this study was to investigate the role of IPs entrepreneurial ecosystem in boosting the capabilities of small businesses. Data were collected from 245 small manufacturing business owners via simple random sampling and analysed using multivariate regression analysis. Thus, the ability of small enterprises is positively impacted by the presence of a more robust and appropriate entrepreneurial ecosystem. Similarly, a firm’s resource capabilities are more impacted by the entrepreneurial ecosystem when there is a better link between academia and industry. Furthermore, entrepreneurial skills are found to play a mediating role between the entrepreneurial ecosystem and firms’ technological capabilities. Another finding revealed that managerial expertise significantly mediates entrepreneurial ecosystems and firms’ resource capabilities. This finding suggested that the policymakers, better to formulate policies that encourages small businesses to engage in the industrial parks which results in an inclusive firm’s performance.