This paper investigates the socio-economic determinants of four stages of borrowing process of the Jordanian microfinance market. The equations and functions corresponding to the stages of the borrowing process are estimated using a sample of 474 microentrepreneurs. The main results are as follow: variables that reflect the repayment ability are the main determinants of credit rationing in the microfinance market; religious beliefs, social responsibilities, availability of local microfinance providers, application costs, level of knowledge about microfinance providers significantly affect the borrowing process of microentrepreneurs. Credit rationing is found to be a problem for some applicants, but not for the majority.

While the literturte on SMEs performace foucused on the enabling external environement, little research focused on internal factors, mainly training. Moreover, most studies ignored enterprises that don't train their employees. This study addresses this issue and contributes to knowledge in two ways. First, it conceptualises training as a three stage process: in stage one, the manager decides whether to train employees or not. In stage two, mangers who decide to train their employees determine their demand for training measured by training expenditures. In stage three, training impact can be assessed. Secondly, the study identifies the detreminants of training and examines its impact on SMEs performance. The study found that manager's charatcteristics, enterprise's characteristics and other factors affect both the manager's decision in stage one and training expenditures. More importantly, the study found that training has a positive impact on SMEs' performance as measured by profits, revenues and employment growth.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationship between job characteristics (JC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) moderated by job satisfaction (JS) among educators in the higher education institutions in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman, taking into consideration that most educators at the higher education institutions in this area are expatriates. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 157 faculty members and instructors was used. Five job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback) and five OCB behaviors (altruism, civic virtue, courtesy, conscientiousness, and sportsmanship) were studied. The overall job satisfaction was measured with seven general items adopted from Al-Damour and Awamleh (2002). Data were collected voluntarily using social media network announcements and pencil and paper. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used in testing this moderation relationship. Findings Results showed that job satisfaction plays a significant moderating effect in enhancing the relationship between four out of the five job characteristics (feedback, skill variety, task identity and autonomy) and only two out of five OCB behaviors, namely, altruism and courtesy. Also, culture showed no significant impact on results. Research limitations/implications Using a self-reporting tool, the respondents could give biased responses that might influence results. In addition, the use a complex relationship to establish a causality relationship among many variables measured with many items did make it difficult and sometimes errored out using SEM analysis. Practical implications This study delivers important suggestions to the management of these institutions as well as higher education administration about how to enhance their educators’ OCBs as a source of competitive advantage taking into consideration that expatriates work within certain legal and social contexts. Originality/value With very limited related research covering this region, this study provides an insight into how educators’ OCBs can be enhanced within unique employment structures and policies designed for expatriate educators in the GCC countries.

Numerous researchers argued that the goal of many technology parks and the factors driving innovation success are still a mystery. In addition, it is argued that the problem with analyzing technology parks and cluster building is that recent studies analyze "the most celebrated case studies… to 'explain' their success" and ignore the less successful ones especially in developing countries. This study uses intensive interviewing to explore obstacles to success of technology parks in Jordan. It identified the following obstacles: 1. absence of a culture of entrepreneurism, 2. lack of autonomy and independence from university officials and government bureaucrats, 3. lack of a critical mass of companies that allows for synergies within parks and, 4. lack of a shared vision among parks' stakeholders. The study also found that the education system is unable to instill a culture of entrepreneurism among graduates therefore reducing the number of entrepreneurs and start-ups in Jordan.

COVID-19 has posed unprecedented challenges for organizations and impacts on employees worldwide, particularly in the healthcare sector. This paper proposes a conceptual model to examine the mediating effects of job satisfaction and job burnout on the relationship between COVID-19 organizational support (COVID-OS) and employee voice among pharmaceutical stakeholders in Jordan. To empirically test the model, the data were collected through a questionnaire from 248 community pharmacists in Jordan. Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation between variables, and hypothesis testing were carried out. The findings supported the proposed model and showed that there is a direct relationship between COVID-OS and employee voice. The findings also revealed that this direct relationship can be mediated by the work-related well-being dimensions of job satisfaction and job burnout. Moreover, It is found that job satisfaction negatively affects job burnout of the employees. This paper makes significant contributions to the theoretical knowledge base and provides practical implications for the context of pharmaceutical employee management, with broader implications for professions related to healthcare services