Work can be demanding, imposing challenges that can be detrimental to the job performance of employees. Efforts are therefore underway to develop practices and initiatives that may improve job performance and well-being. These include interventions based on mindfulness, inclusive leadership and work engagement. In the present study, authors have presented an association of inclusive leadership and mindfulness towards job performance through employee work engagement among secondary teachers in the context of Hong Kong. The sample size of 263 teachers working from three secondary schools in Sha Tin, Hong Kong has been incorporated in this study. A structured questionnaire designed on a 5-point Likert scale has been used based on purposive sampling by analysis of IBM SPSS 27 and Smart PLS version 4.0.9 by applying a structural equation modelling approach (SEM). The results indicated a strong positive influence on employee work engagement and job performance. Moreover, the bootstrap investigation showed that mindfulness and inclusive leadership were significantly associated with employees’ work engagement in the presence of mediators’ work engagement. This study adds to the very scarce literature on inclusive leadership and mindfulness. In addition, this research is the first study to test the mindfulness skill, inclusive leadership and job performance relationship. Furthermore, this is the first study to explore the concept of mindfulness and inclusive leadership in the Hong Kong context. Moreover, the findings of this research can be beneficial for future theory development on mindfulness skill and inclusive leadership in cross-cultural contexts.

Leadership behavior is a critical component of effective management, significantly influencing organizational success. While extensive research has examined key success factors in road management, the specific role of leadership behaviors in road usage charging (RUC) management remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by identifying and analyzing leadership behavior dimensions and their impact on management performance within the RUC context. Using a mixed-methods approach, focus group discussions with industry practitioners were conducted to define eight leadership behavior dimensions: Central-Level Leadership Guidance (LE1), Local-Level Leadership Guidance (LE2), Central-Level Leadership Commitment (LE3), Local-Level Leadership Commitment (LE4), Subordinate Understanding from Central-Level Leadership (LE5), Subordinate Understanding from Local-Level Leadership (LE6), Work Motivation (LE7), and Understanding Rights and Obligations (LE8). These dimensions were further validated through a quantitative survey distributed to 138 professionals involved in RUC management in Vietnam, with the data analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS) estimation. The findings revealed that LE3 (Central-Level Leadership Commitment) had the strongest direct impact on management performance (MP) and mediated the relationships between other leadership dimensions and management outcomes. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of leadership in RUC management by highlighting the centrality of leadership commitment and offering practical insights for improving leadership practices to enhance organizational performance in infrastructure management.

The issue of urban land management in the world in general and in Africa in particular has been exacerbated by the liberalization of land practices and the commodification of land, which has led to an increase in corrupt practices within land institutions in all cities. A mixed methodology was employed, combining a comparative case study of secondary towns with a quantitative survey of 559 landowners in the towns of Bohicon and Sokodé. In-depth interviews were conducted with 31 informants, who were surveyed on the land acquisition process, the individual determinants influencing corrupt practices, and the institutions most involved in these practices. The findings revealed that the acquisition of a formal title conferring property rights in both cities necessitates the completion of several steps. Corrupt practices are present at almost every stage of the transaction. The application of logistic regression models to the independent variables indicates that age and profession are highly significant in the sociodemographic characteristics of those most susceptible to engaging in these practices. Formal land administration institutions are the most involved in these types of everyday corruption. These practices are ultimately linked to people’s life paths and cannot therefore be combated without psychosociological education and the promotion of ethical behavior among all stakeholders, particularly among those who demand services.

This study investigates the roles of government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in constructing permanent housing for disaster-affected communities in Cianjur Regency following the November 2022 earthquake. Employing a qualitative methodology, the research utilizes in-depth interviews and field observations involving local governments, NGOs, and disaster survivors. The findings highlight the government’s central role in policy formulation, budget allocation, and coordination of housing development, while NGOs contribute through community empowerment, logistical support, and ensuring participatory planning. Challenges in collaboration, such as differing objectives and resource constraints, underscore the need for enhanced synergy. The study concludes that effective partnerships among the government, NGOs, and the community can expedite the development of sustainable, safe housing tailored to local needs. Emphasis on community empowerment and integrated resource management enhances resilience to future disasters. Success hinges on strong coordination, proactive challenge management, and inclusive stakeholder engagement throughout the recovery process.

Adolescent childbearing is a crucial problem challenging policymakers in sub-Saharan African countries. The objective of this study is to show how teenage pregnancy and motherhood is related to social determinants like place of residence, education level and wealth quintiles, and consequently to suggest pragmatic actions susceptible to control the burden of teenage pregnancy. Disaggregated data were analyzed using data covering the decade 2012–2022 and provided by Demographic Health Surveys. In each country considered, the index of dissimilarity (ID) was computed to illustrate the variation of teenage pregnancy and motherhood according to the level of education, the rural-urban residence and the income quintiles. Recent statistics were also used for a comparison between countries. This study showed that childbearing affected 22.7% of African adolescents (15–19 years). However, the rate of adolescent childbearing varied from 40.4% in Nigeria to 5.2% in Ruanda. Moreover, huge differences were found in each country. Teenage girls living in rural areas, illiterate or with low level of education and suffering from poverty are more likely to be early married and to be exposed to pregnancy. The rate of adolescent childbearing is higher in Sub-Saharan African countries compared with countries from Latin America and World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean. Most of the 31 countries considered in this study suffer from high rate of adolescent childbearing and large iniquities by place of residence and/or education level and/or wealth quintiles. Consequently, policymakers should adopt urgent and efficient strategies to reduce (and ideally to end) early marriage and teenage pregnancy by developing a policy that targets disadvantaged girls living in remote areas, having low or no decent income and suffering from illiteracy or low level of education.

This study investigated the variability of climate parameters and food crop yields in Nigeria. Data were sourced from secondary sources and analyzed using correlation and multivariate regression. Findings revealed that pineapple was more sensitive to climate variability (76.17%), while maize and groundnut yields were more stable with low sensitivity (0.98 and 1.17%). Yields for crops like pineapple (0.31 kg/ha) were more sensitive to temperature, while maize, beans, groundnut, and vegetable yields were less sensitive to temperature with yields ranging from 0.15 kg/ha, 0.21 kg/ha, 0.18 kg/ha, and 0.12 kg/ha respectively. On the other hand, maize, beans, groundnut, and vegetable yields were more sensitive to rainfall ranging from 0.19kg/ha, 0.15kg/ha, 0.22 kg/ha, and 0.18 kg/ha respectively compared to pineapple yields which decreased with increase rainfall (−0.25 kg/ha). The results further showed that for every degree increase in temperature, maize, pineapple, and beans yields decreased by 0.48, 0.01, and 2.00 units at a 5 % level of significance, while vegetable yield decreased by 0.25 units and an effect was observed. Also, for every unit increase in rainfall, maize, pineapple, groundnut, and vegetable yields decreased by 3815.40, 404.40, 11,398.12, and 2342.32 units respectively at a 5% level, with an observed effect for maize yield. For robustness, these results were confirmed by the generalized additive and the Bayesian linear regression models. This study has been able to quantify the impact of temperature on food crop yields in the African context and employed a novel analytical approach combining the correlation matrix and multivariate linear regression to examine climate-crop yield relationships. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on climate-induced risks to food security in Nigeria and provides valuable insights for policymakers, farmers, government, and stakeholders to develop effective strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on food crop yields through the integration of climate-smart agricultural practices like agroforestry, conservation agriculture, and drought-tolerant varieties into national agricultural policies and programs and invest in climate information dissemination channels to help consider climate variability in agricultural planning and decision-making, thereby enhancing food security in the country.

The study aims to explore the extent to which Jordanian e-news sites rely on artificial intelligence applications in their news content. The researchers will use a media survey methodology, and the sample will consist of 45 editors-in-chief and editors from 10 Jordanian news sites, namely: Ammon, Khabrny, Joe24, Saraya, Amman Net, Jafra, Crown News, Petra, Kingdom, and Roya. The researcher will use an electronic questionnaire, which led to several findings, the most significant of which are: Many news and media sites have introduced artificial intelligence systems to enhance the services they provide to the public. A significant number of journalistic and electronic media websites have shown interest in data analysis tools for their media services. Electronic news sites are clearly striving to improve their capabilities in using artificial intelligence technologies to enhance the services they provide to the Jordanian audience. Additionally, most electronic media websites have expressed a willingness to develop a plan to improve cybersecurity systems to protect against hacking and intrusion attempts, safeguarding their data and the AI systems that operate continuously.AI systems in media organizations also aim to enhance the news experience for users by enriching media services with modern, communicative content.

This study aims to investigate the difficulties local governments face as a result of the province directly managing county system reform. It reveals the various challenges faced by local governments under the provincial directly managed county reform through a thorough analysis of the history, rationale, and implementation of the reform along with pertinent literature reviews and case studies. It is discovered that the county reform, which is directly governed by the province, has not only significantly altered the functions and organizational structure of local governments, but it has also made their resource allocation, financial strain, and brain drain problems worse. To help local governments deal with the difficulties in the province-directly governed county reform, related remedies, and solutions are finally proposed to handle these issues.