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Affordable housing provision is one of the visions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), as highlighted in Vision 2030. For about 21 months now, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has ravaged the world and has increased the level of economic crisis and financial uncertainty to achieve planned projects. Studies investigating the reality of how the COVID-19 pandemic may streamline the chances of achieving affordable housing for all in 2030 are scarce. Thus, this study examined the relevance of affordable housing, the perceived impact of COVID-19 on affordable housing and proffered measures to promote affordable housing finance in Vision 2030.

Medina, Riyadh and Al Qassim were the participants' cities engaged via panel interviews and supported by existing relevant Vision 2030 documents. The Delphi method was adopted to explore the government officials, financial operators (bankers), academicians and employees' opinions, and the analysed data presented in themes.

Findings show that SA Vision 2030 blueprint expresses an exemplary country in all ramifications, including affordable housing finance for the citizens. Findings reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic threatens SA affordable housing finance Vision 2030. The increased housing shortage, high construction housing cost, increased foreclosures, increased eviction, possible homelessness, financial instability and vulnerability emerged as the perceived impact of COVID-19 on affordable housing finance in Vision 2030. Refinancing housing loans to boost Vision 2030, forbearance to promote Vision 2030, improve payment relief, among others, emerged as measures to promote affordable housing in the post-COVID-19 era.

The research only identified the possible negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on affordable housing finance in Vision 2030 and proffered policy solutions from the engaged participants' perspective. Also, the study covered three cities (Medina, Riyadh and Al Qassim). The suggestions that will emerge from this research may be adopted to address other sectors captured in Vision 2030 that are critical and hit by the ravaging pandemic.

Measures such as refinancing mortgages and strengthening government housing agencies will promote affordable housing for Vision 2030 if the relevant policymakers and mortgage institutions are well implemented.

This research identified the perceived early threats from the COVID-19 pandemic that could affect affordable housing transformation in Vision 2030 from the participants' perspective. Studies regarding COVID-19 and affordable housing in Vision 2030 are very few.

Organizations seek to achieve the best results for their strategic decisions by increasing the effectiveness of the vertical and horizontal interconnection. This leads to an efficient and effective flow of information when making decisions (from the bottom-up) and information related to those decisions when starting to implement them on the ground (from Top-down). Thus, the article aims that, it requires managers at all levels to practice relational leadership skills, the most important of which is dealing with emotions (through emotional intelligence (EI)) and conflicts (through personal styles).

In this paper the views of 324 managers were surveyed in several small and medium-sized companies in Saudi Arabia. The respondents were selected randomly.

A direct positive effect of EI, patterns of cooperation and comprehension to deal with conflict was found on the results of strategic decisions and indirectly through relational leadership.

This paper is restricted to the relevant literature on the influence of EI and personal styles of dealing with conflict on strategic decisions.

As part of the practical implication and managerial decision, policymakers should note that intelligence directly impacts strategic decisions.

This is one of the few studies that focused on the level of EI when choosing managers for organizational units and divisions.

Even with the Saudi Arabian Government's discretionary measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the economic sectors were not spared from the damage. Thus, the paper aims to use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's (KSA) economy, with a special focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and production. These influence the level of poverty.

The paper adopted the social accounting matrix (SAM) for Saudi Arabia built in 2021 by Imtithal Althumairi from Saudi Arabia's 2017 SAM. The model represents a snapshot of the economy and different flows that exist within the tasks and institutions. Two simulations (mild and severe) were conducted because of the focus on the distributional outcomes.

Decrease in job creation and economic growth were significant evidence from the study's findings. Findings show that more families hit below the poverty line because the negative impacts of the pandemic have shifted the income allocation curve. Findings show that the weakest of the poor are mitigated by government social grants during the pandemic.

The paper is restricted to the relevant literature relating to the impact of COVID-19 on Saudi Arabia's economy and evaluated using the SAM model. Moreover, the COVID-19 is still an ongoing scenario; thus, the model should be updated as data utilised for the operationalisation are made available.

The information from the suggested model can be suitable to measure the degree of the harm, and thus, the likely extent of the desirable policy feedback. Also, the model can be updated, as data are made available and formulated policies based on the updated data implemented by the policymakers.

Apart from the recovery planning of SMEs during the pandemic, the paper intends to stir up Saudi Arabia's policymakers through the macro-micro model to recovery planning and resilience of the economy with emphasis on mitigating unemployment.

The sound viability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) positively influences nations’ economic growth. Studies investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs in Saudi Arabia (KSA) and how the owners will source for working capital and short-term loans to kick start in the post-Covid-19 recovery are scarce. Hence, this study aims to investigate the perceived negative impact of Covid-19 on SMEs and suggests policy solutions to improve access to finance and investment sustainability for the SMEs owners in the post-Covid-19 recovery via the stakeholders’ perception in KSA.

The paper sourced data from Medina, Riyadh and Alqassim via virtual interviews. The study engaged SMEs owners, government agencies and banks within the covered regions in KSA. The sourced data were analysed via a thematic, and the results were presented in themes.

The findings show that the SMEs sector plays a pertinent role in KSA gross domestic product growth. But, the recent ravaging of the SME sector by the Covid-19 pandemic was adversely unprecedented, and stakeholders were caught unaware. The paper categorised the perceived impacts into most severe, severe and fairly severe. The findings show that SMEs sector post-Covid-19 recovery will require access to finance-friendly policies to revive the unique sector. This should be supported with an enabling business environment via policies that encourage investment and sustainability to achieve KSA Vision 2030.

The study is restricted to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs and data collected via virtual interviews across three cities in KSA. Other developing Islamic nations can modify the policy suggestions from this paper to improve their SMEs sectors.

The significance of a robust SMEs sector to grow the economy has been established. The emerged recommendations from this paper may provide insights to the policymakers and other stakeholders. This will enhance the rebuilding of the SMEs sector across KSA in the post-Covid-19 era.

This study is unique because it investigated the impacts of the ravaging pandemic on SMEs owners and proffered possible solutions for quick post-Covid-19 recovery from the KSA stakeholders’ perspective.

For almost two years, the economic shocks and financial uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic have affected all sectors. The private sector employees may be the worst hit. This is because of the lockdown across many countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), leading to income irregularities. Studies exploring private-sector employees concerning housing finance for the houses purchased and how the lockdown has affected their sources of income for repayment plans are scarce. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the possible early negative impacts of Covid-19 on private sector employees’ housing finance homeownership in KSA.

A phenomenology type of qualitative research was used. Data were sourced from three cities (Riyadh, Al-Qassim and Medina) and three mortgage banks across KSA. Virtual interviews via Zoom and WhatsApp video calls were conducted with engaged participants (bankers, government agencies and private sector employees). Thematic analysis was adopted, and the analysed data was presented in themes.

Findings show that the partial and full lockdown resulted in income irregularities in many private businesses. Also, findings identified downsizing, leading to large-scale unemployment, half-monthly income for employees, loss of profit, human resources wastage, etc. Findings reveal that because of the economic shock, many homeowners have not been able to meet up with their monthly mortgage repayment obligation. Also, the absence of financial support in form of socioeconomic needs has not helped the matter.

The paper is limited to the early negative impacts of Covid-19 on private sector employees’ housing finance homeownership in KSA and data collected via Zoom and WhatsApp video calls across the three main cities. The recommendations that will emerge from this study may be adopted by other Gulf and Islamic countries with similar homeownership repayment challenges.

This study would stir key stakeholders, especially the policymakers and mortgage institutions to consider future policy principles that focus on who is at the highest risk for housing-related hardships because of the Covid-19 or future pandemic. The outcome can be used to develop an equitable housing policy framework to foster long-term economic mobility and be validated in the future by scholars.

Similar research in this area is limited, which makes this study one of the pioneering attempts to investigate the early negative impacts of Covid-19 on private sector employees’ housing finance homeownership in KSA. The paper sheds light on the emerged early negative impacts and proffer feasible possible solutions to promote homeownership amongst Saudi citizens.

The study is interested in knowing “the role of the organizational structure as a mediating variable of the relationship between the information technology and organizational communication”.

The study was conducted in several service companies, and the study adopted the questionnaire as a basic tool for the data collection on the practical side, as 267 opinions were surveyed, in addition to conducting personal interviews, and the normal distribution of data was tested, analyzing, describing and diagnosing study variables, testing correlations and determining direct effects.

Findings show that there is no direct and significant statistical impact of information technology on organizational communications. Whereas there was a positive, direct and statistically significant impact of information technology on the organizational structure. There was also a positive, direct and statistically significant effect of the organizational structure on organizational communication.

This paper is restricted to the role of the organizational structure as a mediating variable of the relationship between the influence of information technology on organizational communication.

As part of the practical implication, the paper suggests the need to increase support and attention to the importance of information technology in service organizations in order to increase coordination and organizational communication and achieve a high ability to explore and exploit ideas.

Apart from the fact that several companies were engaged, the organizational structures of these companies were engaged too to examine the impacts of Information technology (ICT) on organizational communication.

The internet creates ample opportunities to start a mobile social commerce business. The literature confirms the issue of customer trust for social commerce businesses is a challenge that must be addressed. Hence, this study aims to examine the antecedents of trust in mobile social commerce by applying linear and non-linear relationships based on partial least squares structural equation modeling and artificial neural network model.

This study applied a non-linear artificial neural network approach to provide a further understanding of the determinants of trust in mobile social commerce based on a non-linear and non-compensatory model. Besides, a questionnaire was distributed to 340 social commerce customers in Malaysia.

The conceptual framework for investigating trust in mobile social commerce has various advantages and contributions to predicting consumer behavior. The results of the study showed there is a positive and significant relationship between social support, presence and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology2 (UTAUT2). In addition, UTAUT2 has fully mediated the relationship between social support, presence and trust in social commerce. Finally, the results concluded the relationship between UTAUT2 and trust in social commerce would be stronger when the diffusion of innovation and innovation resistance is high and low, respectively.

The current study provides a novel perspective on how customers can trust social m-commerce to provide real solutions to managers of encouraging e-marketing among consumers.

This paper shows how businesses can develop trust in social m-commerce in Malaysian markets. The findings of this study probably could be extended to other businesses in Asia or other countries. Because trust in social e-commerce has a dynamic role in consumer behavior and intention to purchase.

This study provided a new perspective on mobile social commerce and paid more attention to an investigation of such emerging commerce. The originality of this study is embodied by investigating an integrated model that included different theories that presented new directions of trust in mobile social commerce through social and behavioral determinants.

This study aims to examine the relationship between religiosity and branding on small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs’) performance in Saudi Arabia. It also examines the mediating role of financial literacy on the relationship among Islamic religiosity, branding and SMEs’ performance.

This study adopts the purposive sampling technique in three major commercial cities, namely, Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Qassim to sample 100 SMEs each, resulting in a total sampling of 300 SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the hypotheses formulated in this study. The structural equation modeling is aided with the help of Smart-PLS software.

This study finds that Islamic branding (on customer, compliance and origin) significantly affect financial attitude, while Islamic religiosity affects financial awareness among the SMEs. Findings reveal that there is a mediating role of financial awareness on the relationship between Islamic branding and Islamic religiosity with the SMEs’ performance. No mediation effect was recorded for financial attitude and financial knowledge. Further investigation reveals that financial attitude, financial awareness, Islamic branding (compliance and origin) and Islamic religiosity were the most significant determinants of SMEs’ performance in the context of Saudi Arabia.

This study is conducted on SMEs in Saudi Arabia only. Further studies are required to examine SMEs in other Islamic countries and regions to improve the explanatory power of financial literacy on Islamic religiosity and Islamic branding for improved SMEs performance.

This study establishes that Islamic religiosity and branding could further increase the predictive power of financial literacy on SMEs’ performance. This study concludes that efforts to improve financial literacy should be religion-based as well as culture-based depending on where the SMEs are located so that specific strategies can be implemented, to enable the conducive growth of the SMEs and maximize the contribution of the SMEs to economic growth.

The purpose of this study is to investigate dimensional accuracy (Δd), surface roughness (Ra) and micro hardness (HV) of partial dentures (PD) prepared with synergic combination of fused deposition modelling (FDM) assisted chemical vapour smoothing (CVS) patterns and conventional dental casting (DC) from multi-factor optimization view point.

The master pattern for PD was prepared with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic on FDM set-up (one of the low cost additive manufacturing process) followed by CVS process. The final PD as functional prototypes was casted with nickel–chromium-based (Ni-Cr) alloy by varying Ni% (Z). The other input parameters were powder to water ratio P/W (X) and pH value (Y) of water used.

The results of this study suggest that for controlling the Δd and R_a of the PD, most important factor is X, followed by Z. For hardness of PD, the most important factor is Z. But from overall optimization viewpoint, the best settings are X-100/12, Y-10 and Z-61% (in Ni-Cr alloy). Further, based upon X-bar chart (for HV), the FDM-assisted DC process used for preparation of PD is statistically controlled.

This study highlights that PD prepared with X-100/12, Y-10 and Z-61% gives overall better results from multi-factor optimization view point. Finally, X-bar chart has been plotted to understand the statistical nature of the synergic combination of FDM, CVS and DC.