Mo’tAz Al Zobi

This study addresses the critical question of when green investments pay off by investigating how firm size generates asymmetric threshold effects in the relationship between eco-innovation and corporate financial performance. While prior research reports mixed findings, most studies rely on linear specifications that overlook structural breaks across firm scales. Using a dynamic panel threshold regression model on a global sample of 383 non-financial firms (3830 firm-year observations) from 2013–2022, we endogenously identify divergent size thresholds for operational (ROA) and shareholder (ROE) performance. Our findings unveil a significant regime-switching dynamic: for ROA, the positive impact of eco-innovation is confined to firms below the 20.106 threshold, turning marginally negative at larger scales due to coordination and complexity costs. In striking contrast, for ROE, eco-innovation initially imposes a financial burden on smaller firms but becomes a significant value driver once the 21.497 ‘critical mass’ threshold is surpassed. These asymmetric thresholds reconcile prior contradictory evidence by demonstrating that financial outcomes are strictly regime-dependent. The study advances the Natural Resource-Based View by uncovering scale-dependent capability thresholds and provides size-contingent implications for managers and policymakers to mitigate the “liability of smallness” through targeted support and to maximize the financial viability of green transitions.

This study investigates the relationship between intellectual capital and corporate performance, with a particular focus on the moderating role of financial technology (FinTech) in Jordanian industrial firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. It aims to clarify how different components of intellectual capital contribute to financial performance and how FinTech adoption enhances this relationship. The study employs a quantitative approach using panel data regression analysis based on a sample of 55 industrial companies over the period 2015–2020. Intellectual capital is measured through Human Capital Efficiency, Structural Capital Efficiency, and Capital Employed Efficiency, while corporate performance is proxied by Return on Assets. The findings reveal that Human Capital Efficiency is the most influential determinant of financial performance, highlighting the importance of investing in employee capabilities and knowledge development. Capital Employed Efficiency also shows a strong and significant positive effect on profitability, indicating the critical role of efficient resource utilization. Structural Capital Efficiency demonstrates a positive but comparatively weaker impact. Furthermore, the results confirm that FinTech adoption positively moderates the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance, strengthening the effects of both Human Capital Efficiency and Capital Employed Efficiency. These findings suggest that firms can enhance their financial outcomes by integrating digital financial technologies with effective intellectual capital management, providing practical insights for managers and policymakers aiming to improve competitiveness and performance in the industrial sector.

Corporate tax avoidance has become a major governance and fiscal sustainability concern, particularly in developing economies where corporate tax revenues constitute a critical source of public financing. While prior research suggests that board gender diversity (BGD) enhances ethical oversight and monitoring, its effectiveness in constraining aggressive tax planning may depend on firms’ informational and technological environments. This study examines whether artificial intelligence (AI) capability strengthens the governance role of BGD in reducing corporate tax avoidance. Using a balanced panel of 1586 non-financial firms from developing economies over the period 2009–2023, the analysis employs firm FE models and dynamic two-step System GMM estimations to address unobserved heterogeneity, endogeneity, and the persistence of corporate tax behavior. The results indicate that BGD is positively associated with effective tax rates, implying lower levels of corporate tax avoidance. Furthermore, AI capability—measured using a lagged specification—significantly strengthens this relationship, suggesting that firms with higher AI adoption exhibit a stronger governance effect of gender-diverse boards on tax compliance. Additional robustness tests—including alternative tax avoidance measures, alternative BGD specifications, heterogeneity analysis, and selection-bias corrections using Heckman, propensity score matching (PSM), and instrumental variable (2SLS) approaches—confirm the stability of the findings. Overall, the results highlight the complementary role of technological capability and board diversity in strengthening corporate governance (CG) and fiscal discipline in developing economies.

This study explores the mediating role of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) in linking Triple Bottom Line (TBL) sustainability practices—economic, social, and environmental—to the performance of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Jordan. Drawing upon the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), data were collected through structured surveys from 516 NGO employees, with 444 valid responses analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show that economic sustainability directly enhances NGO performance, while social and environmental sustainability exert indirect effects through EO. EO was found to partially mediate the impact of economic sustainability and fully mediate the effects of social and environmental dimensions. The model explains 62% of the variance in performance outcomes, affirming EO as a critical internal capability. These findings contribute to the growing literature on sustainability and strategic capabilities in nonprofit contexts and offer practical guidance for NGOs and policymakers seeking to integrate sustainability with adaptive, entrepreneurial approaches to enhance long-term mission performance.

Emerging economies confront the dual challenge of accelerating digital transformation while simultaneously mitigating environmental degradation under conditions of institutional and governance heterogeneity. In this context, this study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) capability influences green innovation efficiency (GIE) in emerging Asian economies and investigates whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance conditions this relationship. Using an unbalanced panel of 59,112 firm-year observations from 4926 publicly listed firms across 15 emerging Asian economies over the period 2011–2022, we employ a comprehensive panel-data econometric framework that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity, dynamic effects, endogeneity, and potential self-selection bias. The empirical results indicate that AI capability is positively and significantly associated with higher green innovation efficiency. More importantly, ESG performance strengthens this relationship, suggesting that robust governance frameworks enhance firms’ ability to translate digital intelligence into environmentally efficient innovation outcomes. These findings underscore that AI adoption alone is insufficient to generate sustainable value; rather, its environmental effectiveness depends critically on complementary governance structures that promote transparency, accountability, and responsible risk management. The results remain robust after correcting for endogeneity concerns, alternative model specifications, and extensive sensitivity and heterogeneity analyses. Overall, this study contributes to the literature on digital transformation and sustainability by providing large-scale, multi-country evidence that highlights the pivotal role of ESG in shaping the sustainability returns to AI adoption in emerging economies.

Through harnessing innovative technologies, financial technology (FinTech) services streamline and organize access to capital, improve operational effectiveness, and facilitate various transactions, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to thrive in competitive and complex economies. The purpose of this research is to examine whether financial literacy (FL) moderate the relationship between FinTech indicators and SMEs’ performance in the Jordanian context. SMEs’ performance was measured by the operational and financial indicators. While the Fintech indicators were: financial inclusion (FI), trust in FinTech (TF), alternative payment methods (APMs), and perceived risk (PR). Data have been collected using a developed questionnaire. The study’s population was the SMEs in Jordan. Utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyse the collected 172 questionnaires, the results revealed that FinTech indicators have a significantly positive effect on SMEs’ performance. FL moderates the relationship of FinTech indicators with SMEs’ performance. The current study contributes to the existing research regarding the FinTech, FL and SMEs’ performance. The current research contributed to the literature by examining new variables, namely, FI, APMs, TF, and PR. The outcomes of this study highlight the importance of FinTech services in enhancing SMEs’ performance. Such outcomes indicate that SMEs in Jordan are strongly benefiting from FL and FinTech indicators.

The present research aims to examine the influences of board gender composition on debt costs and its significance to Jordanian creditors: mainly banks, using agency and resource dependence theories. A sample of 113 non-financial Jordanian firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) from 2010 to 2019 was utilised to explore the impact of board gender on the cost of debt financing through panel regression analysis. To tackle endogeneity concerns, we employ a two-step system generalised method of moments estimator. The findings discovered that more female directors on firm boards generated economic benefits for non-financial sectors, which achieved an average 0.75% cutoff interest rate incurred by lenders compared to the counterparts with fewer female directors. Our findings are still robust to endogeneity concerns. The findings offered valuable insights for academics, shareholders, firms, and regulators. Shareholders are required to provide more pressure on firms to