This paper examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of the Malaysian public-listed government-linked companies (GLCs) using a dimensional analysis. Four dimensions of CSR activities, namely community, employees, environment and governance, are investigated to study the latest CSR practice of GLCs in year 2016. Each dimension is divided into three subcategories to further examine the performance of GLCs on a particular CSR area. This is the first paper in Malaysia which uses CSR ratings (obtained from CSRHub database) to proxy for CSR practice. None of the past literature has been found to adopt this approach. The findings show that Malaysian public-listed GLCs performed better in community, employees and environment dimensions, whilst tend to underperform in governance dimension.

This study examined the relationship between Theory of Planned Behavior and knowledge sharing among nurses in Patient Computer Management System. Consequently, it determined the moderating effect of distributive justice on the relationship between Theory Planned Behavior and knowledge sharing. A quantitative approach was employed in this study. The research was based on a correlational and cross-sectional study which involved a total of 336 nurses. Data was collected based on random sampling via self-administered questionnaires. Partial Least Squares (PLS) (Version 3.0) analysis was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that Theory of Plan Behavior components were significantly related to knowledge sharing. These components were also found to have a significant and positive influence on knowledge sharing. The study revealed that distributive justice had significantly moderated the relationship between two components of Theory Planned Behavior (attitude and subjective norm) and knowledge sharing.

Students’ evaluation of quality in higher education is becoming increasingly important and widely accepted. Various researchers have reported that “high quality” education creates sustainability among students to accomplish their goals over a period of time. The intention of the present study was to explore students’ perceptions of quality in higher education in terms of curriculum content, learning and teaching experiences, institutional resources and outcome and assessment. A total of 91 students were randomly selected from the business and engineering colleges within Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to obtain accurate results pertaining to the motif of the research. The findings revealed that total institutional factors emerged as one of the most prominent predictors of the outcome and assessment within the two different aforementioned disciplines. This paper concludes with suggestions for further investigation.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of empowerment aspects on the competence level and success of the primary school principals in Pakdasht city in Iran. This research is a descriptive-survey method and in terms purpose is practical. The statistical population of this study consisted of principals of the primary schools in Pakdasht city. The total number of primary school principals in this city is 135 people (75 male schools and 60 female schools). As data gathering tool, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. In order to analyze the validity of the questionnaire in this study, the Content Validation Method was used in which the questionnaires were first examined by the experts and the necessary corrections were made. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and AMOS software. The results show that competence and effectiveness aspects affect competence and success of principals of the Pakdasht elementary schools. Autonomy affects the competence level of elementary school principals in Pakdasht city but does not affect principals' success. Meaningfulness aspect did not affect principals’ competency however it is effective on principals’ success in Pakdasht elementary schools. Trust aspect was not effective on the Pakdasht elementary schools principals’ competence and success.

The objective of the present study is to bring out a multidimensional metric to measure service quality delivered by employees serving in Indian small & medium manufacturing enterprises. 144 executives working at top/middle level in different small-medium manufacturing units of north India responded to a questionnaire survey. The respondents were asked to assess service quality being delivered by the shop-floor workers serving their respective units on the 1-5 perception scale. Application of exploratory factor analysis resulted in an interpretable latent structure comprising of 5 determinants and 22 indicator items. Confirmatory factor analysis condensed this scale to bring out the final scale 4 determinants viz., Dependability, Agility, Professionalism and Understanding with 13 indicator statements. This scale thus emerged is tested for validity and reliability using established tools. The study provides a framework to SME managers to assess services of their workforce. It also contributes to researchers to build up more such metrics for similar situations in other sectors so that more concrete generalizations can be made.

The developing theoretical managerial concepts and applied managerial techniques comprise the basis for the modern innovative management of an agricultural enterprise. Management consulting occupies a special place in the managerial process. It is aimed at rendering experts’ support to the specialists of an economic entity as well as developing recommendations for the promotion of activity efficiency in the enterprise on the basis of theoretical and applied knowledge in the field of management. Complicated conditions for activity carried out by the Russian agricultural commodities manufacturers cause the necessity in the real managerial activity integration with the scientific research works in the field of management. Hence, the necessity occurs in professional manage-ment consulting by considering technological features of the production process and the scientific basics of management. This article considers the economic essence of management consulting, offers a conceptual model and methodological instruments, and develops the system of key indicators of social-economic activity efficiency as an instrument of management consulting.

This paper investigates the influence of total quality management (TQM) on export performance of manufacturing sector of Pakistani’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The data was collected from manufacturing SMEs participating in exports and three hundred sixty-four (364) responses were received and further used for statistical analysis. The statistical SEM analysis was evaluated through Smart PLS-3. The results of the study show that TQM had an influential role in SMEs’ export performance. Firms with the higher-level implementation of TQM will be more successful in the international market and can achieve better export performance. Thus, the study reveals that TQM is a valuable and dynamic intangible resource which can increase the SME export perfor-mance. The study presented the relationship between TQM and SME export performance and pro-vided some insights for the practitioners and the researchers. In other words, practitioners and re-searchers will be able to make a better decision about the implementation of TQM. Furthermore, the current study contributed to the literature of TQM and SME export performance, empirically. The absence of TQM can affect the firm performance in the international market.

A series of novel 5-Bromo-3-iodo-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine linked various sulfonamide derivatives 8a-8j poly functionalized were designed and synthesized in moderate to good yield. A starting with iodination of 5-Bromo-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine 5 with iodine produced intermediate 5-Bromo-3-iodo-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine 6 with the reaction of various sulfonamide derivatives 7a-7j via copper catalyzed coupling reaction produced targeted compounds8a-8j. The isolated compounds were accepted by spectral and elemental analysis. The compounds 8a,8c,8d, and 8i were excellent active against Gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strain compare to streptomycin standard drug. All synthesized compounds showed moderate to good antioxidant properties with used DPPH and Superoxide radical scavenging assay, Compounds 8c, 8g, and 8i exerted significant antioxidant scavenging activity for the DPPH radical.

This paper is interested in mechanism of lactic acid (LA) adsorption and dehydration into acrylic acid (AA) over tin and iron beta zeolite (Sn- and Fe-BEA) catalysts. The electronic structure of clusters was calculated by ab initio density functional theory (DFT) method. The M₂Si₁₂O₃₉H₂₂ (hierarchical zeolite) and M₂Si₂₂O₆₄H₃₂ (ideal zeolite) clusters (M=Al, Si, Sn) were used in the LA dehydration reaction. The stabilization of the dimeric complex M-O_b-M (where M= Sn or Fe) in the BEA, ideal and hierarchical structure, was investigated. Possible modes of interaction of lactic acid with different cations (Si, Al, Fe or Sn) in the BEA zeolite framework as well as with added iron and tin dimers were considered. The interaction of lactic acid was only observed above the M-O_b-M dimer. The direct mechanism of lactic acid dehydration into acrylic acid was found over metal M-O_b-M dimers deposited at the BEA zeolite.

This paper compares and evaluates the performance of five different conventional job selection dis-patching rules for scheduling of multi-load automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) serving for material handling operations in variable sized flexible manufacturing system (FMS) layout. Four sizes of FMS layout are considered for the performance evaluation of the five types of conventional job se-lection dispatching rules. The FMS layouts under consideration are served by the two multi-load AGVs. The multi-load AGVs cruises under machine initiated the nearest vehicle (NV) dispatching rule for the material handling activities at all work centers (WCs) for all four sizes of FMS layout. Four sizes of FMS layout produce five different types of parts and consist of three, six, nine and twelve work centers and loading-unloading centers, respectively. In the simulation test, it is found that the identical destination first (IDF) job selection rule having selection criterion based on the destination similarity of two picked up jobs outperforms all other job selection dispatching rules for an overall production rate of the FMS (parts/hr) in all four FMS layouts.