This study aimed to explore the indirect effects of appearance-related anxiety (ARA) on Instagram addiction (IA) through sequential mediators, namely social media activity intensity (SMAI) and Instagram feed dependency (IFD). The study also aimed to provide theoretical explanations for the observed relationships and contribute to the understanding of the complex interplay between appearance-related concerns, social media usage, and addictive behaviors in the context of IA. A sample of 306 participants was used for the analysis. The results of the sequential mediation analysis (SMA) revealed several important findings. Firstly, the mediation model demonstrated that SMAI mediated the relationship between ARA and IA. However, there was no direct relationship observed between ARA and SMAI. Secondly, the analysis showed that IFD acted as a second mediator in the relationship between ARA and IA. Both ARA and SMAI had significant direct effects on IA, indicating their individual contributions to addictive behaviors. Furthermore, the total effect model confirmed a positive relationship between ARA and IA. This finding suggests that ARA has a direct influence on the development of IA. The examination of indirect effects revealed that ARA indirectly influenced IA through the sequential mediators of SMAI, IFD, and ultimately IA itself. The completely standardized indirect effect of ARA on IA through these mediators was found to be significant. Overall, this study provides evidence for the indirect effects of ARA on IA and highlights the mediating roles of SMAI and IFD. These findings contribute to our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the complex relationship between appearance-related concerns, social media usage, and the development of IA.

This study analyzes the importance of strengthening the design of Indonesia’s maritime axis policy. This research uses a qualitative approach to systematically explain the dynamics and importance of strengthening world maritime policy, where the Nvivo 12 Plus tool is used to analyze data and answer the research questions posed. This research shows that Indonesia still has complex bureaucratic and institutional problems and aspects of political identity and leadership attitudes that require systematic and comprehensive improvement. Then, the draft for strengthening the maritime axis policy in Indonesia includes three policy recommendations: reformulating the focus of the maritime axis policy, comprehensive and coherent governance, and an integrated administrative framework, as well as improving the political identity and attitudes of leaders in public policy. Substantially, the relative failure of the Global Maritime Axis (GMA) policy, known as Joko Widodo’s concept of regulating the Indonesian government based on geographical location, was caused by the dominance of political factors and domestic bureaucratic problems. Apart from that, the lack of priority narratives in the maritime and development sectors means that the Indonesian government’s priorities are more oriented towards GMA infrastructure aspects and at the expense of other fundamental elements. This study encourages the Indonesian government to accelerate a more substantive GMA. However, this research needs to be expanded because the analysis results were only carried out through secondary data and focused on two important aspects of GMA. Therefore, further research is needed that explains the prospects for GMA policy in Indonesia in more detail.

Praxeology is the study of practice, i.e., human activity, primarily in the context of its rationality. The study of manager’s praxeological activity from the point of view of management theory is an important direction of modern science, since it contributes not only to improving the management effectiveness in an organization, but also to the development of new managerial concepts and techniques. In the article, the authors’ concept of praxeological managerial activity is proposed based on the analysis of existing scientific approaches to praxeology. An extended list of criteria for the manager’s praxeological activity efficiency was developed. These criteria include performance, productivity, accuracy of the decisions taken, purposefulness, reliability, innovativeness, quality, and ethics. The authors’ model of the manager’s praxeological activity includes the following elements: a subject (a manager), an object (a company, its staff and activities, etc.), motives (success, growth, profit, etc.), the goal (to ensure the effectiveness of the company’s activities), methods and tools (analysis, planning, organization, motivation, and control), process (praxeological activity), result (efficiency improvement), and reflexivity, correction and iteration. Within the framework of the model of praxeological managerial activity, the manager’s ability to influence the managed object (an organization, employees or the manager’s activities) is particularized. This influence should result in an increase in the employees’ performance, an increase in the managers’ performance, and an increase in the performance of the organization as a whole. The article will be of interest to specialists in the field of management, and corporate governance, as well as for anyone interested in the problems of effective management.

This article focuses on studying how transportation connectivity affects Vietnam’s trade with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. By using a gravity model, the article applies fixed effects (FE) and random effects (RE) to analyze panel data on trade, GDP, tariffs, border effects, and indicators. The number represents Vietnam’s transport connectivity with ASEAN countries from 2004 to 2021. Research results show that transport connectivity hurts Vietnam’s trade with other countries. ASEAN. The article proposes solutions for the Government and Vietnamese export enterprises to promote intra-ASEAN trade in the direction of increasing the added value of Vietnam’s imported and exported goods within ASEAN countries and balancing between Developing intra-ASEAN and foreign trade.

The quest for quality postgraduate research productivity through education is on the increase. However, in the context of the African society, governance structures and policies seem to be impacting on the quality level of the provided education. Hence, this conceptual study explored the roles of governance structures and policies in enhancing and ensuring quality postgraduate education programmers in African institutions of higher learning. To this end, various relevant literature was reviewed. The findings showed amongst others that governance structures and policies affect the quality of education provided. Meanwhile, other factors such as curriculum, foreign influence, lack of resources, training, amongst others contribute to the quality of education provided. The study concludes that there is need for the current structures of governance and the designed and implemented policies for postgraduate education to be reviewed and adjusted towards ensuring the desired transformation.

Given the issues of urban-rural educational inequality and difficulties for children from poor families to succeed, this study explores the impact mechanism of internet usage on rural educational investment in China within the context of the digital divide. Using data from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), this study analyzed the educational investment decisions of 2064 rural households. Results indicate that in the Eastern region, a high level of educational investment is primarily influenced by the per capita income of the family, with social capital and internet usage also playing supportive roles. In the Northeastern region, the key factor is the diversity of internet usage, specifically using both a smartphone and a computer. In the Central region, factors such as the diversity of internet usage, subjective risk attitudes, the appropriate age of the household head, and per capita income of the family contribute to higher levels of educational investment. In the Western region, the dominant factors are the diversity of internet usage, subjective usage and per capita income of the family. These factors enhance expected returns on the high level of educational investment and boost farmers’ confidence. High internet usage rates significantly promote diverse and stable educational investment decisions, providing evidence for policymakers to bridge the urban-rural education gap.