Energy, technology, and economic growth in Saudi Arabia: An ARDL and VECM analysis approach.

This paper investigates the effects in short and long run of renewable and non-renewable energy, technological advancement, population, foreign direct investment, energy export, energy price, and carbon dioxide emissions on economic growth in Saudi Arabia as one of the largest oil producing and richest countries in the world and as a leading country in investing in modern technology, during 1990-2022 by using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag(ARDL) approach and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) Granger causality technique. In first step, the ADF and DF-GSL tests are used to identify the order of integration of variables. In the second step, the Bounds test and the Wald test are used respectively to verify the existence of long run cointegration relationships and the long run relationships between variables. In the third step, we have applied the ARDL approach to capture the effect of each variable on Saudi economic growth in long term. Finally, the VECM technique was used to detect the direction of causality running from variable to another. It is appearing that all variables are stationary in first difference, and there are a long run cointegration and relationships among variables. The results of ARDL estimation show that non-renewable energy, renewable energy, population, foreign direct investment, energy export, and energy price positively affect the Saudi economic growth. While technological advancement and carbon dioxide emissions have negative effects on the economic increase of Saudi Arabia. These two results appear important and useful because of their consequences. In effect, it could damage its worldwide standing and dishearten foreign investment, stopping economic diversification efforts and increasing the income inequality. Though, the results of VECM technique show four bidirectional causal relationships between economic growth and non-renewable energy, foreign direct investment, energy export, and energy price. The findings of this study have several policy implications for Saudi Arabia. First, Saudi government should continue investing in the energy sector. Second, to attract more FDI, Saudi government should continue its efforts to reduce bureaucracy, simplify regulations, and provide a business-friendly environment. This strategy can help transfer technology and knowledge. Third, the government should monitor and control energy prices, as these can significantly impact economic growth. The government should invest in technological advancement, as this can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and improve energy efficiency; also, investing in human capital is essential for long-term economic growth. Policies that promote the health, education, and general well-being of the population can lead to a more productive and innovative workforce. However, the article reveals that technological advancements have a negative impact on economic growth in Saudi Arabia. This could be due to a number of factors, such as a lack of skilled workers to implement new technologies or a mismatch between the skills of the workforce and the needs of the economy. As solutions, Saudi government must invest in education and training can help address these challenges by developing a workforce capable of adapting to the changing needs of the economy and effectively using new technologies. Also, it's important to create science and technology parks to foster innovation and collaboration between businesses and universities. By taking these steps, the Saudi government can help create more diverse and knowledge-based economy, making it less dependent on oil and gas exports and more resilient to economic shocks.

Examining the critical factors of internal audit effectiveness from internal auditors' perspective: Moderating role of extrinsic rewards.

An effective internal auditor can support an organization in achieving its goals and protect its assets and funds. However, to be effective, the internal auditors need to be empowered with relevant resources. This study aims at probing the influence of the empowerments (management support, external auditors' collaboration, independence, size of internal audit units, and extrinsic rewards) on the internal auditors' effectiveness, and to examin whether extrinsic rewards moderate the association between respective empowerments and the effectiveness of Jordanian public sector internal auditors'. The current work relied on 117 surveys collected from Jordan's internal audit and financial managers in the public sectors. According to the Resource-Based View (RBV), the findings show that management support, external auditors cooperation, independence, and extrinsic rewards all have a significant influence on the effectiveness of internal auditor. The of the Internal Audit Department (IAD) size was discovered to be insignificant. Also, the results have revealed partial support for the influence of the extrinsic reward as a moderator. Because of the prominence of the public sector in the Jordanian market, this current research expands on the idea of enabling internal auditor (IA) to accomplish their assigned objectives. The findings might help authorities develop new norms and legislation for the internal audit profession. These empowering characteristics may also improve internal auditors' capacity to execute their duty in saving public monies and limiting corrupt practices inside public sector organizations.

Exploring global trends and future directions in advertising research: A focus on consumer behavior.

This study aims to select the physiological and neurophysiological studies utilized in advertising and to address the fragmented comprehension of consumers' mental responses to advertising held by marketers and advertisers. To fill the gap, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework was employed to select relevant articles, and bibliometric analysis was conducted to determine global trends and advancements in advertising and neuromarketing. The study selected and analyzed forty-one papers from the Web of Science (WoS) database from 2009-2020. The results indicated that Spain, particularly the Complutense University of Madrid, was the most productive country and institution, respectively, with 11 and 3 articles. The journal Frontiers in Psychology was the most prolific, with eight articles. The article "Neuromarketing: The New Science of Consumer Behavior" had the most citations (152 T.Cs). Additionally, the researchers discovered that the inferior frontal and middle temporal gyri were associated with pleasant and unpleasant emotions, respectively, while the right superior temporal and right middle frontal gyrus was connected to high and low arousal. Furthermore, the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) and left PFC were linked to withdrawal and approach behaviors. In terms of the reward system, the ventral striatum played a critical role, while the orbitofrontal cortex and ventromedial PFC were connected to perception. As far as we know, this is the first paper that focused on the global academic trends and developments of neurophysiological and physiological instruments used in advertising in the new millennium, emphasizing the significance of intrinsic and extrinsic emotional processes, endogenous and exogenous attentional processes, memory, reward, motivational attitude, and perception in advertising campaigns.

Environmental Transformational Leadership and Green Innovation in the Hotel Industry: Two Moderated Mediation Analyses.

This research aims to investigate the relationships between transformational environmental leadership (ETL), organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE), and green innovation (GI). At the same time, green perceived organizational support (GPOS) and promotion focus (PF) roles were examined as moderators. Integrating transformational leadership, ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO), social exchange, expectancy, and regulatory focus theories, a quantitative research-based methodology was adopted with structural equation modelling (SEM), and smart partial least squares (PLS) program to analyze the obtained data from 388 guest-contact employees. The results show that ETL positively affects OCBE; in return, OCBE mediated the association between ETL and GI. The results also approved the positive moderation effects of the GPOS and PF variables on the association between ETL and OCBE. In the context of the hotel industry, we discuss the implications that these results have for both research and practice.

Perception of Occupational and Environmental Risks and Hazards among Mineworkers: A Psychometric Paradigm Approach.

This study aims to assess workers' perception of occupational and environmental risks and hazards using the psychometric paradigm. For this purpose, data were collected using survey questionnaires from 360 mineworkers recruited from mineral and sand mines. Respondents were asked to evaluate eight occupational and environmental risks and hazards on nine commonly used risk characteristics. The principal component analysis revealed that two components, "Dreaded" and "Unknown", explained 73% percent of the total variance in workers' risk perception. The results also showed that the risk of developing an occupational disease was perceived as the most dreaded and unknown type of risk, while landslide, occupational noise, and vibration exposure were the least familiar to the respondents. A practical implication of this research is that the results may offer an insight into the employees' perceptions of the hazards and risks associated with their working environment. This could help risk management develop and implement effective risk management and communications strategies.