• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.61-71
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• 2022

Organizations pursue innovation to improve performance and gain competitive advantage, and knowledge workers represent an integral part of creating knowledge and helping organizations in their innovation efforts. The current paper seeks to examine the impact of the work environment on knowledge workers' creativity. Building on The Investment Theory of Creativity, The Componential Theory of Creativity, the Job Demand-Resource model, and the Resource Based View, we develop and test a model suggesting a relationship between work environment-social support, sufficient resources, organizational freedom, and organizational regulations-and the quantity and quality of the creative performance of knowledge workers. Using a sample of 167 engineers in Saudi Arabia, an emerging but wealthy country with huge innovation inspirations, the results of our Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis indicate that all four elements of the work environment included in our study positively impact the quantity and quality of knowledge workers' creative performance. Our paper provides important contributions to the literature on the work environment, creativity, and knowledge management, with an emphasis on creativity in developing countries. Our study highlights the importance of creating a supportive and encouraging work environment for knowledge workers to foster their creativity. The study offers several theoretical and managerial implications, along with suggestions for future research.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.31-38
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• 2021

The study investigates the diversification behavior of Islamic stocks against US financial uncertainty. Considering limitations found in the literature, a comprehensive index of financial uncertainty (FU) is used, developed by Jurado, Ludvigson, and Ng (2015). The empirical analysis uses monthly data from four Islamic markets - Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Turkey - for the period from January 2010 to September 2019. Results of the bivariate EGARCH models show that Islamic stocks can be used for diversification purpose against the financial uncertainty of the US because the volatility of US uncertainty does not propagate in the Islamic stock markets. Moreover, findings show that the spillover effect of financial uncertainty varies with the FU forecast horizon. The spillover effect of FU increases with an increase in the FU forecast horizon and becomes significant over 3-month and 12-month periods in the case of Saudi Arabia. The current volatility of Islamic stock returns is independent of the size of shocks in past volatility. The leverage effect and asymmetry have been found in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The findings validate the arguments of the literature that Islamic markets are resilient facing uncertainties and perform well during crisis periods. The findings are important for investors in making better portfolio decisions.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.67-78
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• 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world has rendered a large proportion of the workforce unable to commute to work, to mitigate the spread of the virus. This has resulted in both employers and employees seeking alternative work arrangements. Due to the pandemic, most if not all workers experienced work from home Hence work from home has become a policy priority for most governments. Individuals have started to change their behavior to stick to the curfew and rapidly conform to the new way of life. This study is conducted to understand how organizations and people adjust to these developments and challenges. Numerous organizations are changing to the online method of working because of the COVID-19. Because of the continuous adoption of a specific behavior after the COVID-19 pandemic situation ended, employees were expected to continue working from home. To investigate deep into the behavioral consequences of such a pandemic situation, in-depth interviews were conducted in several companies in Saudi Arabia. This study was conducted by extending the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the theory of reasoned action (TRA) to explore and assess the various factors that determine the continuous adoption intention of work-from-home by the Saudis. The finding shows that the employees' positive attitude, subjective norms, and self-efficacy affect the employees' intention to adopt work from home. The continuous adoption of work from home has been affected by employees' relevant intention and controllability.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.8
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• pp.375-386
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• 2021

The purpose of the research was to explore the factors which affect service innovation in organizations and how the utilization of resources can improve organizational performance, and gain a competitive advantage by adopting numerous innovative practices. This study hypothesizes Service Innovation Readiness (SIR) to consist of Strategic Alignment favoring Service Innovation (SASI) and Empowering Structure for Service Innovation (ESSI), which regulate the organization's preparedness to adopt service innovation changes. Six dimensions were identified and analyzed to understand their effects on SASI and ESSI. A structured questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale was used to collect data from the selected hospitals of Saudi Arabia. The research results contribute considerably to the subject matter by theorizing SIR and the complex variable settings essential for embracing SI. This research also provides some understanding of the service innovation management dimension through a complete assessment that measures the organization's readiness and attempts to direct organizations' efforts to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. The study conducted is unique in the current geographic limits and has explored numerous SI areas of an organization's readiness to adopt service innovation.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.23-30
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• 2021

In recent years, hazardous flash flooding has caused deaths and damage to infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. In this paper, our aim is to assess patterns and trends in climate means and extremes affecting flash flood hazards and water resources in Saudi Arabia for the purpose to improve risk assessment for forecast capacity. We would like to examine temperature, precipitation climatology and trend magnitudes at surface stations in Saudi Arabia. Based on the assessment climate patterns maps and trends are accurately used to identify synoptic situations and tele-connections associated with flash flood risk. We also study local and regional changes in hydro-meteorological extremes over recent decades through new applications of statistical methods to weather station data and remote sensing based precipitation products; and develop remote sensing based high-resolution precipitation products that can aid to develop flash flood guidance system for the flood-prone areas. A dataset of extreme events has been developed using the multi-decadal station data, the statistical analysis has been performed to identify tele-connection indices, pressure and sea surface temperature patterns most predictive to heavy rainfall. It has been combined with time trends in extreme value occurrence to improve the potential for predicting and rapidly detecting storms. A methodology and algorithms has been developed for providing a well-calibrated precipitation product that can be used in the early warning systems for elevated risk of floods.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.121-128
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• 2021

In this work, a noble walkway approach suitable for Saudi Arabia (SA) towards its aim to develop a wide range of smart cities is considered scientifically. This work intends to minimize the errors at each level by testing the events that take place in the walkway environment. similarly, the minimum requirements to develop a walkway to the additional features to be considered while designing a walkway are discussed in this paper with sensitive areas such as environmental factors, healthcare issues, patients visiting the walkways, etc. The applications of different monitoring devices such as CCTV's, global positioning systems (GPS), etc. are carefully addressed to help the proposed method for improving the monitoring activities of a variety of events that possibly cause problems to a common man. The ultimate goal of this work to ensure a safe and satisfied journey of pedestrians while they come for a walk with all suitable safety measures. The safety measures included in this work are for pollution, noise, temperature, humidity and traffic jams on the roads. To improve the accuracy and to test the proposed approach some polices are defined and will be tested for the consistency of the proposed system. The obtained accuracy of the proposed system is proved to be far better with an accuracy of 93% improvement in the results.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.809-820
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• 2021

The study aimed to investigate the impact of sectoral bank credit facilities provided by commercial banks on the non-oil economic growth in Saudi Arabia. Bank credit facilities are given for nine economic sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, mining, electricity and water, health services, construction, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and communications, services, and finance sector. The study employs annual data from 1970 to 2019. The study employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to identify the long-run and short-run dynamics relationships among the variables. The main results reveal that the overall impact of total bank credit has a significant and positive effect on non-oil economic growth in KSA. The results revealed that the effect of bank credit on the non-oil GDP growth in the short and long run was uneven. The study finds that all sectors have a positive and significant impact in the long run, except for the agricultural and mining sectors. Likewise, all sectors have a positive and significant impact in the short run, except for construction, finance, services, and transportation & communications. As a result, bank credit facilities in different sectors have played an important role in enhancing the non-oil economic growth in the KSA.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.159-168
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• 2022

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic cases around the globe has affected Saudi Arabia with around 15, 00,000 confirmed cases within the initial 4 months of transmission. The present investigation analyzed the relationship between daily COVID-19 confirmed cases and meteorological parameters in seventeen cities of KSA. We used secondary published data from the Ministry of Health, KSA daily dataset of COVID-19 confirmed case counts. The meteorological parameters used in the present investigation are temperature, humidity, dew point, and wind speed. Pearson correlation and Spearman rank correlation tests were utilized for data analysis. The incubation period of COVID-19 varies from 1 day to 14 days as per available information. Therefore, an attempt has been made to analyze the effects of meteorological factors with bins of 1, 3, 7, and 14 days. The results suggested that the highest number of correlations (15 cities) was observed for temperature (maximum, minimum, and average) and humidity (12 cities) (minimum and average). The dew point showed relationships for 7 cities and wind showed moderate correlations only for 2 cities. The study results might be useful for authorities and stakeholders in taking specific measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.201-212
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• 2022

Prior to the emergence of Covid-19, Saudi Arabia (SA) had never faced the challenge of dealing with a global pandemic. Significantly, the current crisis has impacted all industries and sectors in the country, including the healthcare system, and has led to an emphasis on human life being more precious and valuable than economic profit. This study focuses on the impact of Covid-19 on the health of nurses, including their quality of life, during 2020. Understanding the position of the nursing profession during the pandemic, including the most effective methods of preventing work-related stress is important. Information was acquired through an online survey method (i.e. self-completion), known as the Expanded Nursing Stress Scale (ENSS), which was distributed to nurses in all regions of SA. It was found that the main aspects impacting nurses' work-related stress include gender, employment type, training, and dealing with infected patients. In addition, they highlight that such stress plays a substantial role in patient safety and nurses' satisfaction at work, as well as the future survival of organizations. The emergence of Covid-19 as a novel infectious disease has increased nurses' uncertainty and work-related stress. The results of this research will provide insights into the views of both nurses and their managers, in order to identify the main indicators of stress.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.352-358
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• 2022

In this paper, we study the relationship between infection rates of covid 19 and the precautionary measures and strict protocols taken by Saudi Arabia to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease and minimize the number of infected people. Based on the infection rates and the timetable of precautionary measures, the best framework of precautionary measures was identified by applying the traveling salesman problem (TSP) that relies on ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms. The proposed algorithm was applied to daily infected cases data in Saudi Arabia during three periods of precautionary measures: partial curfew, whole curfew, and gatherings penalties. The results showed the partial curfew and the whole curfew for some cities have the minimum total cases over other precautionary measures. The gatherings penalties had no real effect in reducing infected cases as the other two precautionary measures. Therefore, in future similar circumstances, we recommend first applying the partial curfew and the whole curfew for some cities, and not considering the gatherings penalties as an effective precautionary measure. We also recommend re-study the application of the grouping penalty, to identify the reasons behind the lack of its effectiveness in reducing the number of infected cases.