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Purpose: Micro-finance has a significant role in the better performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This study aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the existing literature on the role of micro-finance and its approaches in MSMEs. Design/methodology/approach: This work performs a bibliometric analysis using a data set of 631 articles collected from the Scopus database. The Bibliometrix R package and Vosviewer are used to conduct performance analysis and scientific mapping. Performance analysis shows the publication trend, key authors, journals and top influential articles. Science mapping through a bibliographic coupling network of documents is prepared to discover the intellectual structure of the field. Findings: This review has identified the four major themes: access to finance and schemes, women empowerment and poverty alleviation, the performance of micro-finance institutions and recent development in micro-financial institutions. With the help of these research themes, the paper also highlights future research agendas. Originality/value: This paper enriches the understanding of the role of micro-finance services in performance of entrepreneurship with the bibliometric review of top contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to conduct a review of the recent literature on inter-firm relationship quality (RQ) in the supply chain (SC) settings. Design/methodology/approach: 100 English-language scientific publications on inter-firm RQ, published from 2006 to 2015 were selected and analyzed by using a content analysis approach. Findings: The results of the frequency analysis map the antecedents, dimensions and consequences – particularly the performance and behavioral intentions of collaborating partners – of buyer–seller RQ presented in the current literature. The contingency analysis offers insights into the use of relevant constructs of inter-firm RQ in SCs in the individual papers. A range of research gaps is uncovered. Research limitations/implications: The category building for the content analysis was based on an RQ framework that focuses on the mediator structure and neglects the effects of moderators. Practical implications: The developed framework of inter-firm RQ in SCs provides managers with a guide to the relevant influencing factors, evaluation indicators and consequences of the quality of their relationships with SC partners. Originality/value: This paper provides the first literature review at the intersection of RQ and SC. The research framework developed specifies the use of the previous RQ framework in the business-to-business and SC context. A critique of the existing studies is discussed and the agenda for future research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The growth of the global labor force and business analytics has significantly impacted human resource management (HRM). Human resource (HR) analytics is an emerging field that creates value for employees and organizations. By examining the existing studies on HR analytics, the paper systematically reviews the literature to identify active research areas and establish a roadmap for future studies in HR analytics. Design/methodology/approach: A portfolio of 503 articles collected from the Scopus database was reviewed. The study has adopted a Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling approach to identify significant themes in the literature. Findings: The HR analytics research domain is classified into four categories: HR functions, statistical techniques, organizational outcomes and employee characteristics. The study has also developed a framework for organizations adopting HR analytics. Linking HR with blockchain technology, explainable artificial intelligence and Metaverse are the areas identified for future researchers. Practical implications: The framework will assist practitioners in identifying statistical techniques for optimizing various HR functions. The paper discovers that by implementing HR analytics, HR managers and business partners can run reports, make dashboards and visualizations and make evidence-based decision-making. Originality/value: The previous studies have not applied any machine learning techniques to identify the topics in the extant literature. The paper has applied machine learning tools, making the review more robust and providing an exhaustive understanding of the domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to review the current status of quality management (QM) research in Arab countries between 2001 and 2020. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted the content analysis methodology, searching through various databases and search engines for relevant publications using several keywords. The selected publications were classified according to several criteria and the obtained results were presented in the form of frequencies and percentages. Findings: Most research publications regarding QM were journal articles. The number of publications has steadily increased between 2001 and 2020. Moreover, QM research largely uses the quantitative research design. Questionnaire surveys are widely used as a data collection method; basic statistical analysis techniques are commonly employed to analyze the data. There is a tendency toward empirical research versus conceptual research. A few journal articles were published in reputed peer-reviewed international journals with low citation. Overall, Arab scholars research on QM and related topics over the past two decades is not significant for the field considering the number of published papers, citations and the papers published in reputed peer-reviewed international journals. Research limitations/implications: This study has several limitations. First, it does not cover non-English information sources due to the overall lack of Arabic publication databases. Second, it uses a limited number of criteria to classify the selected publications. Third, it adopts the content analysis methodology to classify the selected publications. This method has several limitations, which may negatively affect the results. Nevertheless, the study offers several implications for research scholars, educators and practitioners. Originality/value: This is the first study to attempt a comprehensive overview of the state of research on QM in Arab countries between 2001 and 2020 using the content analysis methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]