Creditworthiness is a quality that is important to all stakeholders of an organisation, especially bondholders. It is posited that good corporate governance practices assist the confidence that stakeholders have in an organization’s ability to generate the strong cash flows that are needed to meet financial obligations, which in turn should enhance credit risk assessments. Much research has been conducted into rating assessments, but these have largely been directed at developed markets and they have not generally been focused on the impact of good corporate governance practices and procedures. The primary focus of this research is to address this issue through an investigation into the impact of key factors upon the credit risk assessments of listed companies on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) in Jordan, as assessed by World'vest Base Inc. (WVB) credit risk assessment scores for Jordanian companies between 2005 and 2007 inclusively. Drawing upon insights from agency (including management disciplining and wealth redistribution hypotheses), stewardship, stakeholder, signalling, legitimacy and the diffusion of innovation theories, this thesis investigates the determinants of WVB credit risk assessments of Jordanian firms under five headings: accounting and financial aspects, market and regulatory perspectives, influence of ownership structure, financial transparency/disclosure and corporate governance factors. To achieve this, an array of modelling techniques is used in order to provide a more comprehensive picture. They include bivariate analysis, one-way analysis of variance, ordinary least square regressions for numerical scores, binary logistic regressions, and ordinal logistic regression. The results demonstrate that accounting and financial factors have a significant impact on credit risk assessments but not capital intensity. Profitability is positively associated with credit risk assessments, while leverage and loss propensity have a negative association. With respect to market and regulatory factors, size and Tobin’s Q are positively associated with credit risk assessments. By contrast type of sector and audit are not related to credit risk assessments. Foreign ownership enhances ratings, whilst institutional ownership has a negative impact. Also, insider ownership and family ownership have some importance. It was surprising to find that whilst financial transparency and disclosure variables are significantly associated positively with credit risk assessments in some models, they were generally not significant across other models. Nevertheless, the study finds empirical evidence to support a degree of association between credit risk assessments and corporate governance factors. There is also a positive association between board size and credit risk assessments, but the most important aspect of corporate governance for Jordanian firms is board expertise. The originality of this thesis also embraces the inclusion not only of externally published WVB risk assessments in the Jordanian context, but also internal numerical ratings that were made available with kind permission from the WVB agency for the purposes of this research. The question is whether there are insights that can be gained from such internal ratings that have not hitherto been made available to other researchers. The answer is in the affirmative, for role duality on the board of directors is evidently more important to WVB’s own internal numerical rating assessments than is evidenced by the WVB externally published credit risk assessments. Specifically, the significance of corporate governance (role duality) is missed by multivariate models that are based solely on externally published data. Furthermore, financial transparency and disclosure variables reveal more (albeit moderate) support for the more refined internal scores of WVB than for the external assessment ratings. Finally, family ownership is also important to WVB’s internal scores. Thus, this research has enabled deeper insights to be gained into credit risk assessment determinants within the Jordanian context.

Although digital media has been exploited to improve digital libraries, social networking sites, and book promotion for adult and child stakeholders, but encouraging children who have the choice to either read from a book or on a screen remains limited worldwide, including Jordan. This interest has meant that data about children's reading habits were needed, and the present study was intended as a contribution towards this aim. Interviews were conducted with Jordanian writers, publishers, child specialists, and various children's cultural centres. The managers and personnel unanimously showed that Jordanian children are not good readers and that a limited number of books are published for children as there are actual boundaries preventing Jordanian writers from publishing books. In particular, subjecting the typical sorts of children's websites - 'Club Penguin', 'PBS Kids', 'A Story before Bed', 'Baraem', 'Storyline Online', and 'Raneen' - to evaluation showed that 'Club Penguin' got the highest rank among the other websites in terms of multimodal features, usability, and language, while 'PBS Kids' got the highest rank regarding interactivity, and 'A Story before Bed' got the highest rank in reading activities. Although it was realised that most children were satisfied with the aspects of usability and ease of use rather than the structure or the aesthetic of the website, and were more attracted to the websites that provide multimodal features such as special characters, narration, gesture, and interactivity. The targeted websites' parameters obtained from the survey were used as guidance in the design structure of the KITABAK website, as a virtual reading environment for children's reading practices. The evaluation results that were obtained showed that there is a significant correlation towards encouraging children's reading habits and reading from printed books accompanying the website; girls showed more interest in reading iv than boys; and there is an obvious willingness for the adaptation of the website as a part of the Jordanian school curriculum. In addition, the KITABAK website was accepted significantly more than 'Club Penguin', mainly because the KITABAK website has facilities, games and reading activities. Also, results showed that children who were subjected to testing the KITABAK website for a one-week period proved to accept the website significantly more than those who were subjected to testing it once.

The purpose of this analytical study is to determine the degree of application of Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy and practices in the industrial corporations in Jordan. Through detailed examination of primary and secondary empirical data from these corporations, the study examines the link between TQM and labour productivity. The population of the study consists of all Jordanian shareholding corporations listed under the industrial category in Amman Stock Exchange. In late 1998, this consisted of a total of 90 companies. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed in investigating the relationship between TQM implementation and labour productivity. Detailed survey responses from 76 participating companies were classified into two groups: high-level TQM implementation and low-level TQM implementation. About 60% of these companies were classified as companies with high-level TQM. Descriptive analysis of the survey responses plus company report data found that mean labour productivity measurements for companies with high-level TQM were significantly higher than for those with low-level TQM over the years (1993-1998). Also mean growth rates of labour productivity measurements for companies with high-level TQM were higher than for those with low-level of TQM during this period. Regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant positive relationship between TQM and labour productivity. This relationship showed a high positive slope in companies with ISO 9000 certification, and considerably lower (but still positive) slope in companies without ISO 9000 certification. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The constraints experienced by water utilities in developing countries, with regard to the universal provision of access to water and improved water services, have been defined by international policymakers as "a crisis of governance". This study departs from the theoretical perspectives on governance and aspires to accumulate knowledge and advance understanding on how the performance of water utilities can be enhanced. The thesis comprises five papers and the cover essay. Four of the papers address case studies and one is a theoretically based paper, while all five papers are supported by reviews from the literature relevant to the topic of each paper. The thesis uses insights from literature reviews mapping relevant scientific theories and concepts in the areas of mainly governance, deliberative policymaking and communicative planning, social capital, civil society and institutional theoretical perspectives. The study integrates different research methods and explores theoretical perspectives on governance to examine the governance aspects of water utilities in the transition phase from public to private management and operation. The study investigates whether the  governance structure that involves the private sector in the form of Public Private Partnership (PPP) of water utility has produced "good governance" and enhanced water governance in two cases, the Lema Water Company in Amman, Jordan and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in Accra, Ghana. The analysis highlights evidence of governance deficiency. Accordingly, the thesis argues against the policy design that assumes that simply transferring the management and operation of water utility to private operators would resolve the problems of water utilities and enhance water governance. The analyses and the conclusions reached in the papers, together with a review of the literature on New Institutional Economics theory that knits together all the theories that are utilised in the papers, offer insights in the understanding of aspects of water governance. The insights suggest that policymakers need to better understand how institutions at different levels impact the overall performance of a water utility. The performance of the water utility cannot be detached from the wider institutional setting or reduced to simply changing the operator.  What has been disregarded from the calculus of international policymakers, the thesis mainly argues, is the institutional perspective. The study concludes that actors’ performances are affected primarily by their institutional settings. The constraints of water utilities to provide a better performance and good governance processes reside in different kinds of institutional settings To address this, the thesis develops a generic institutional framework within which water governance aspects can be assessed at different institutional levels, from the higher level of politics to that of the individual level. According to this perspective, the study views governance process as "the interaction between actors from the spheres of a society within specific sets of formal and informal institutions in a social setting that produces certain political, economic and social outcomes".  It defines good governance as "the legitimacy given by the wider public to institutions in a social setting and the coherency of formal and informal institutions to produce socially effective outcomes for the collective public". The developed generic institutional framework is used to more thoroughly analyse the two cases integrated in the study. This approach to assessment of water governance provides an explanation for why the water utilities were not able to meet their performance goals and enriches our understanding of water governance processes. It also modestly maps the main problematic institutional areas that in each case constrained aspects of good water governance. In practical terms, this thesis emphasises that policymakers have to map and identify the institutional factors constraining the overall performance of a water utility, at all levels. The thesis also urges policymakers to be cautious regarding which formulated policies are seen as solutions. Policymakers should restrain themselves from experimenting with policy when they are not sure that certain outcomes are likely to be produced by adopting a particular policy. In the long run, inappropriate policies may negatively affect local institutional settings and are likely to undermine the capacity of local governance. / QC20100628

Using a panel data analysis of a sample of 80 listed non-financial Jordanian firms during the period from 2000 to 2011, we investigated the corporate cash-holding decision. The firm’s decision to hold cash has come to the fore in last two or three years as a result of the recent global financial crisis, and the impact that this has had on the firms’ ability to raise funds from external sources. There is evidence in the US, for example, that firms have increased their holdings of cash as a result of increasing constraints from external sources. This current study therefore examines this issue from the point of view of a developing economy. We started by investigating the empirical determinants of corporate cash holdings; the results showed that firm size and growth opportunities have no significant effect on corporate cash-holding decisions, while firm’s cash flow, leverage, and liquid assets substitute have a significant negative effect on cash-holding decisions, and profitability and cash dividends have a positive effect on cash-holding decisions. Then we investigated empirically how cash-holding affects the value of corporate firms. Based on Fama and French’s (1998) valuation model and Faulkender and Wang’s (2006) model, the results showed that the marginal value of each Jordanian Dinar (JD) is valued at a discounted value of 0.41 JD; with higher leverage the marginal value of cash is declining, with a higher level of cash the marginal value of cash is increasing and, finally, cash dividends have no significant effect on shareholders’ value. We also investigated empirically how a group of explanatory variables affect a firm’s debt ratio by focusing on the liquidity variable. Results showed that the total debt ratio is positively affected by firm size and is negatively affected by growth opportunities, profitability, assets tangibility and total liquidity, cash, and non-cash liquidity. The long-term debt ratio is positively affected by firm size, non-debt tax shield, asset tangibility, total liquidity, cash, and non-cash liquidity, while the long-term debt ratio is negatively affected by growth opportunities and profitability. For the short-term debt models, the debt ratio is negatively affected by firm size, asset tangibility, and liquidity in its different forms. An investigation into the speed of adjustment showed that Jordanian firms quickly adjusted the total and long-term debt ratio, while they do not have an optimal or target short-term debt ratio.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-162).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-162).

The last seven years have been a transformation point for graffiti and street art in Jordan. Due to the constant inequality that women face in Jordan, graffiti and street artists grabbed the first opportunity presented to them in order to address these issues, when the Baladk Street Art Festival took place in the capital of Jordan, Amman. They used this festival as an opportunity to spread awareness and tell stories related to inequality as well as claim their rights. Resistance from conservative groups in the society towards these murals resulted in more restrictions from the municipality about the content of them. However, artists did not back up and fought their way to keep their art on the city’s walls, but they had to work harder in order to disguise the messages they wished to send to the public. Social change was used as the main concept to follow in this thesis in order to arrive at a conclusion that shows the change that had taken place in Jordan due to graffiti and street art, especially social change regarding ideas and social movements as well as political processes. In order to get the people’s, the municipality’s and artists’ perspectives, qualitative methods were used such as interviews and a survey. Results showed that the municipality's position on the effects of graffiti and street on the society as well as the strict regulations are partially the same. In the meantime, interviews with artists and the survey showed the struggle the artists go through when painting and also the change in the people’s behavior that occurred in the last seven years, from the start of the project until now. The survey’s results showed that most of the people understood the exact meaning of the murals and some respondents interpreted the messages according to their experiences. Therefore, it was concluded that graffiti and street art can serve as a prospective tool to drive social change in the Jordanian society, yet not solitarily. Different aspects, such as people’s behavior, shifting norms as well as a change in laws and policies need to work hand in hand in order to achieve the desired change and cause a social and cultural evolution.

What is a Cultural Collage? It is what is happening in Jordan today; different people from different backgrounds come to one piece of land looking for any refuge and hope. I wanted to create a building for this phenomenon. This is a building where people could come to and meet at to drink coffee and smoke hookah and share their stories. The characters that played the role in the Surrealist Movement in Paris in the 20s were my inspiration to design this building. The Artists came together in a time of war. The first World War was in action and yet, they met at a small coffee shop in Paris to discuss what they felt like discussing and at the end of the day an art movement was born. Storytelling. In these small rooms, the meeting rooms, or even the coffee house on the first level, people meet. As they order their coffee and move into the next room they can sit and socialize, tell stories and make art. As they move up to the next level the spaces become bigger and more open. The whole building starts telling a story. / Master of Architecture

Although digital media has been exploited to improve digital libraries, social networking sites, and book promotion for adult and child stakeholders, but encouraging children who have the choice to either read from a book or on a screen remains limited worldwide, including Jordan. This interest has meant that data about children¿s reading habits were needed, and the present study was intended as a contribution towards this aim. Interviews were conducted with Jordanian writers, publishers, child specialists, and various children¿s cultural centres. The managers and personnel unanimously showed that Jordanian children are not good readers and that a limited number of books are published for children as there are actual boundaries preventing Jordanian writers from publishing books. In particular, subjecting the typical sorts of children¿s websites ¿ 'Club Penguin', 'PBS Kids', 'A Story before Bed', 'Baraem', 'Storyline Online', and 'Raneen' ¿ to evaluation showed that 'Club Penguin' got the highest rank among the other websites in terms of multimodal features, usability, and language, while 'PBS Kids' got the highest rank regarding interactivity, and 'A Story before Bed' got the highest rank in reading activities. Although it was realised that most children were satisfied with the aspects of usability and ease of use rather than the structure or the aesthetic of the website, and were more attracted to the websites that provide multimodal features such as special characters, narration, gesture, and interactivity. The targeted websites¿ parameters obtained from the survey were used as guidance in the design structure of the KITABAK website, as a virtual reading environment for children¿s reading practices. The evaluation results that were obtained showed that there is a significant correlation towards encouraging children¿s reading habits and reading from printed books accompanying the website; girls showed more interest in reading iv than boys; and there is an obvious willingness for the adaptation of the website as a part of the Jordanian school curriculum. In addition, the KITABAK website was accepted significantly more than 'Club Penguin', mainly because the KITABAK website has facilities, games and reading activities. Also, results showed that children who were subjected to testing the KITABAK website for a one-week period proved to accept the website significantly more than those who were subjected to testing it once. / Applied Science University