New Ideas Concerning Arts and Social Studies Vol. 8

Assessing Road Transport Fatalities and Safety in Cities: A Case Study of Kampala City Centre

Wanyera Francis — 2026-08-12

Public transport services are essential for people who cannot drive or do not have access to a private vehicle, including children, persons with disabilities and older adults. Transport also supports the economic and social functioning of cities. However, poor road maintenance, weak enforcement and unsafe road-user behaviour contribute to crashes, deaths, injuries, damage to goods and business losses. This study sought to ascertain trends in road-safety policies, investigate trends in crashes and deaths associated with unsafe roads in Kampala, examine perceived causes of fatalities, health problems and road crashes, and identify mitigation measures. A descriptive mixed-methods design combined desk research with a field survey using a five-point Likert scale. The target population comprised 120 Kampala City Council staff, pedestrians, motorcycle riders and vehicle drivers, from whom 92 respondents were selected through random sampling. The findings indicated that road-safety policies existed but were perceived as inadequately implemented. Respondents associated the continuing burden of crashes and fatalities with weak enforcement, poor road-user behaviour, inadequate road maintenance, congestion, corruption and mechanically unfit vehicles. Vehicle emissions, dust, particulate matter, heat and noise were also identified as transport-related health concerns. Proposed measures included stronger enforcement, road-user sensitisation, improved road construction and maintenance, appropriate signs and traffic signals, removal of mechanically unfit vehicles and mobilisation of funds for road-network expansion. The study concludes that coordinated action by government agencies, transport operators and road users is required to reduce road fatalities and protect public health.

The Role of Talent Management Practices in Strengthening Leadership Pipeline and Supporting Long-term Organizational Performance in Vietnamese FMCG Organizations

Ananta Kumar Kar — 2026-08-12

Background: Talent management has become a strategic priority for organisations seeking to develop capable employees, ensure leadership continuity, and sustain long-term performance. These concerns are particularly relevant to Vietnam’s fast-moving consumer goods sector, where intense competition and workforce volatility increase the need for integrated talent identification, development, and retention practices.

Research Objectives: This study examined the relationships among talent identification, talent development, talent retention, leadership pipeline strength, leadership continuity, and long-term organisational performance in Vietnamese fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) organisations.

Study Design: This study used an explanatory quantitative cross-sectional survey design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in FMCG companies in Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam from April to May 2026.

Methodology: Data were collected from 151 employees of FMCG organisations in Vietnam using a structured questionnaire based on validated instruments and a five-point Likert scale. The proposed conceptual model was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS, including measurement model assessment, structural model assessment, and mediation analysis.

Results: Talent Development was the strongest predictor of Leadership Pipeline Strength, with a beta coefficient of 0.520 and a P value of < .001, followed by Talent Identification (β = 0.349, P < .001); Talent Retention did not significantly predict Leadership Pipeline Strength (β = 0.048, P = .539). Leadership Pipeline Strength significantly predicted Leadership Continuity (β = 0.775, P < .001) and Long-term Organizational Performance (β = 0.756, P < .001), and significantly mediated the effects of Talent Identification and Talent Development on both outcomes. Overall, the model accounted for 67% of the variance in Leadership Pipeline Strength. Given the cross-sectional, self-reported data, these results reflect statistical associations rather than causal effects.

Conclusion: This study contributes to the talent management literature by developing and testing an integrated theoretical framework based on the Resource-Based View, Human Capital Theory, and Succession Planning Theory. The findings demonstrate the strategic importance of leadership succession strength in transforming talent management practices into sustainable organisational capabilities and provide evidence-based recommendations for HR managers and organisational leaders to prioritise talent development, strengthen talent identification systems, and integrate succession planning into long-term human resource strategies.

Gender Gaps among Master’s and Doctoral Degree Recipients at the University of Guadalajara, 2021–2025

Salvador Sandoval Bravo — 2026-08-12

Although women’s participation in higher education has increased, gender differences persist across academic levels and fields of knowledge. This study examines gender differences among master's and doctoral graduates from the University of Guadalajara during the 2021–2025 period. The findings show that, although women's participation in higher education has increased, this growth does not eliminate segmentation by field of knowledge or inequalities at the highest academic levels. The research questions guiding the study were: What is the gender distribution among postgraduate degree recipients? How does gender participation change between master's and doctoral programmes? Which fields of knowledge show a greater concentration of women or men? Are there gender differences by locality in postgraduate studies? Which postgraduate programmes show the greatest and smallest gender disparities?

A database was created using publicly available information on degrees awarded by the institution during the study period, and data for 6,969 graduates were analysed using descriptive statistics. The results show an overall distribution of 50.9% women and 49.1% men. Women represented 51.7% of master's graduates, whereas men represented 52.7% of doctoral graduates. In exact sciences and engineering, men predominated, accounting for 67.8% of master's graduates and 70.5% of doctoral graduates. In contrast, women predominated in health sciences, representing 59.6% of master's graduates and 58.3% of doctoral graduates. Most graduates completed their studies in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area. Additional findings show that the number of doctoral graduates increased from 180 in 2021 to 380 in 2025, although men remained the majority at this level. The greatest disparities appeared in engineering, computing, physics, public health, psychology, nutrition, behavioural science, and human genetics. However, several programmes, including behavioural science, chemistry, business finance, social sciences, local development, biotechnology, and pharmacology, reached near or complete gender parity. Thus, the gender gap in postgraduate education is not uniform; it depends on degree level, field of knowledge, locality, and the specific postgraduate programme.

Play-Based Learning in Early Childhood Education in Saudi Arabia: A Critical Review of Evidence, Cultural Translation and Research Priorities

Manal Obed Aullah Alharbi — 2026-08-12

Play-based learning is widely promoted in early childhood education, yet its conceptual breadth and uneven evidence base complicate implementation. These difficulties are particularly consequential in Saudi Arabia, where rapid expansion of early childhood provision, national learning standards, digital transformation, and human-capability goals are reshaping kindergarten practice. This critical narrative review examines what can reasonably be concluded about play-based learning, how international evidence should be interpreted in the Saudi context, and which research concerns require priority. Literature published between 2000 and 4 June 2026 was identified through accessible education, psychology, biomedical, open-index, DOI-registry, and institutional sources, with seminal earlier studies retained where conceptually necessary. Evidence was appraised for construct clarity, design quality, measurement validity, implementation fidelity, cultural and linguistic relevance, and correspondence between claims and outcomes. The synthesis indicates that play is not a single intervention. Child-led free play, guided play, games, playful direct instruction, outdoor play, and digital play differ in agency, adult involvement, learning goals, and plausible mechanisms. The strongest comparative evidence favours guided, goal-aligned play for selected early mathematical, spatial, and executive-function outcomes, while broad claims that play is uniformly superior across developmental domains remain insufficiently supported. Effective enactment depends on teachers’ diagnostic judgement, confidence, time, materials, assessment literacy, and capacity to scaffold without displacing child agency. Saudi studies show favourable beliefs towards developmentally appropriate, active, and playful approaches, but the evidence is dominated by teacher self-report, small qualitative samples, and geographically bounded studies. Direct observation, validated Arabic measures, implementation research, child-level outcomes, longitudinal designs, and experimental or strong quasi-experimental comparisons are scarce. A culturally responsive Saudi agenda should therefore preserve meaningful choice, exploration, social interaction, Arabic language development, family engagement, and Islamic ethical values while resisting both uncritical policy borrowing and a return to academically compressed didacticism. The immediate need is not advocacy for more play in the abstract, but precise definitions, feasible models, and rigorous evidence about which forms of play work, for whom, under what conditions, and at what cost.

Enhancing Livelihoods through Sustainable Food Security Strategies

Chipo Zinyemba — 2026-08-12

Climate change has increasingly undermined agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods, particularly in communities that depend on rain-fed subsistence farming. As climate change has shifted seasonal patterns, small-scale farmers have had to move away from traditional farming methods and adopt approaches that optimise crop yields, increase productivity during shorter growing seasons and use relatively limited resources efficiently. This review explores sustainable food-security strategies that can enhance resilience and improve livelihoods in climate-change-affected rural settings, with particular reference to experiences from Zimbabwe and other sub-Saharan African contexts. A review of literature published since 2011 was conducted using reputable databases and search engines, including Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and Semantic Scholar. The review synthesised evidence on practical, low-cost and climate-resilient livelihood interventions suitable for small-scale farmers. The findings indicate that poultry production, mushroom cultivation, beekeeping, horticulture and greenhouse agriculture represent viable strategies for strengthening household food security while generating supplementary income. These interventions require relatively modest resource investments, can be implemented on limited land and provide nutritional benefits through improved access to protein-rich and micronutrient-dense foods. Moreover, they promote livelihood diversification, reduce vulnerability to climate-related shocks and create entrepreneurial opportunities for women and youth. Greenhouse technologies and improved horticultural practices further enhance year-round production and resource-use efficiency under increasingly unpredictable climatic conditions. The review concludes that integrating diversified and adaptive agricultural practices within the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization's twin-track approach can improve resilience, dietary diversity and economic stability among vulnerable rural populations. Strengthening access to training, extension services, financial support and market linkages is essential to maximise the effectiveness and sustainability of these interventions. Policymakers should prioritise context-specific capacity-building initiatives to facilitate wider adoption of climate-smart food-security strategies.

Environmental, Social and Governance Performance and Corporate Valuation: A Critical Review of Measurement, Mechanisms and Identification

Dorcas Melza Musabi — 2026-08-12

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance has become a routine input to equity analysis, portfolio construction and corporate reporting, yet the empirical literature linking ESG performance to the valuation of listed companies remains unsettled in ways that are frequently obscured by summary statements of a positive relationship. This critical review examines how ESG performance has been theorised, measured and estimated as a determinant of corporate value, and evaluates the strength of the resulting evidence. Peer-reviewed research published between 2004 and 10 June 2026 was identified through scholarly metadata indexes and citation searching, supplemented by foundational earlier work on corporate social performance. Four findings emerge from the synthesis. Theoretical accounts that predict higher valuations for high-ESG firms and accounts that predict lower expected returns for the same firms are frequently conflated in empirical designs, so that supportive results are reported for logically incompatible mechanisms. Rating divergence is substantial and arises predominantly from measurement rather than from differences in conceptual scope, which means that the independent variable in most valuation regressions is provider-specific and only partially comparable across studies. Reported valuation effects are conditional rather than general, depending on financial materiality, disclosure credibility, investor attention and institutional context, and they weaken or reverse under stricter identification, alternative data vendors and replication. Aggregate summaries drawn from meta-analytic work overstate the practical significance of the relationship because they pool heterogeneous constructs and outcome variables. The evidence supports a defensible but narrow conclusion: material, verified and credibly assured ESG performance is associated with valuation differences in settings where investors can observe it, whereas composite ESG scores have limited demonstrated valuation content once measurement error, endogeneity and firm characteristics are addressed. Priorities for future research include provider-triangulated replication, designs that separate expected-return effects from cash-flow effects, and evaluation of whether harmonised reporting regimes reduce rather than reproduce measurement divergence.

Impulsive and Compulsive Buying: The Role of Social Media Overuse and Fear of Missing Out

S. Biswas — 2026-08-12

Background: Social media has become an integral part of daily life, with billions of people using it each day to connect with loved ones, stay informed, and consume entertainment. Additionally, shopping is a common pastime that many people view as innocent yet essential to the modern lifestyle. Almost everyone enjoys shopping for and purchasing non-essential products to some extent. Spending excessive time on social media has become widespread in today's digital era and has been linked to various negative consequences. On the other hand, FOMO is a social media-related anxiety characterised by a fear of missing out on exciting or interesting events and is often associated with constant updates, notifications, posts, and social media overuse. The research explores whether social media overuse and fear of missing out contribute to the development of compulsive or impulsive buying behaviour.

Methods: A quantitative non-experimental survey design anchored in a positivist paradigm was used in this study to investigate the extent to which social media overuse and fear of missing out influence impulsive buying behaviour and compulsive buying behaviour. This study used an Internet-based survey and a printed questionnaire, which were both cost-effective and beneficial for reaching a large number of people in a short period across a vast geographic area. Online survey data from 249 Indian young adults who actively use social media were collected using the Social Networking Addiction Scale, Fear of Missing Out Scale, Compulsive Buying Scale, and Impulsive Buying Scale. Mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage were used as descriptive statistics.

Results: The study revealed a strong positive correlation between Social Media Overuse and Fear of Missing Out, implying that individuals with greater social media overuse are more likely to experience a heightened fear of missing out. This connection is attributed to social media platforms fostering engagement and exposing users to various products, thereby creating a sense of urgency. Results from multiple regression analyses revealed that increased social media use among individuals who feared missing out predicted heightened impulsive buying tendencies and compulsive buying behaviour. Additionally, mediation analysis suggested that impulsive buying behaviour acts as a mediator, whereby excessive social media use induces impulsive buying tendencies that can contribute to compulsive buying behaviour to mitigate anxiety and avoid the fear of missing out.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this research provides a comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationships between social media addiction, fear of missing out, and impulsive and compulsive buying behaviours. The attraction of social media and its ability to trigger compulsive purchasing may present a risk to sustainable growth. This research may contribute to social change by informing policy and instruction on digital media literacy, regulation of social media use, therapeutic interventions provided by educational institutions, and psychological services provided by other organisations, all of which may enhance young adults' mental health and well-being.

Global Competitiveness: International Talent Attraction in Malaysian Higher Education

Md Ashraful Islam — 2026-08-12

Over the past several decades, Malaysia's higher education sector has witnessed remarkable growth and transformation, contributing to its emergence as a regional education hub. However, perceived competitiveness remains a key challenge in attracting international students, particularly because of increasing global competition and rising expectations regarding academic quality, student satisfaction, employability, and international recognition. These challenges require continuous efforts to enhance Malaysia’s position in the global higher education market. This study investigates the key factors influencing Malaysia’s perceived competitiveness in attracting international students, focusing on international students’ satisfaction, cultural diversity, perceived quality, safety and security, and affordability. A quantitative research approach was adopted using a structured questionnaire distributed to 150 international students studying at private universities in Malaysia. Stratified sampling was used to ensure representation across nationalities, academic programmes, and levels of study. SEM was used to analyse the data and test the proposed hypotheses. The findings reveal that international students’ satisfaction, cultural diversity, safety and security, perceived quality, and affordability exerted significant positive effects on perceived competitiveness. These results highlight the importance of enhancing international student satisfaction, maintaining a safe environment, and offering affordable education to strengthen Malaysia's global standing in higher education. The study contributes to the theoretical advancement of the international education literature and offers practical implications for university administrators and policymakers. This study has several limitations and suggests directions for future research.

Agricultural Knowledge Reflected in Assamese Bihu Geet: Documentation from Traditional Baree Homestead Gardens of Assam, India

Abhilasa Kousik Borthakur — 2026-08-12

Background: Assamese Bihu geet frequently refer to plants, seasonal change, household food production, and management practices associated with the Baree, the traditional homestead garden of Assam. This study documented and classified agricultural knowledge represented in selected songs and examined its relationship with contemporary descriptions of homegarden management and natural-farming principles.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted from January 2021 to January 2022 in 24 villages across Nalbari, Baksa, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Golaghat, and Sivasagar districts, representing three agro-climatic zones of Assam. Ten farmers aged over 60 years were included from each village, for a total of 240 respondents. Information was collected through focus group discussions and personal interviews using a semi-structured schedule. Documented songs were classified according to the agricultural practice represented, and their agronomic relevance was interpreted conservatively using published literature and institutional crop recommendations.

Results: Thirty-six Bihu geet were documented. Four concerned Baree layout and planning, three concerned planting methods, one concerned plant spacing, three concerned cropping systems, one concerned fertilisation, 18 concerned crop diversification, three concerned crop management, and three concerned post-harvest management or marketing. The songs represented vertical use of space, mixed cropping, use of household organic resources, seasonal foods, plant phenology, integrated fish-horticulture components, and traditional areca-nut preservation.

Conclusion: Bihu geet preserve culturally embedded observations concerning crops and the Baree system. Several observations are compatible with established horticultural or agroecological principles, but the songs should be treated as documentary sources and hypotheses for participatory validation rather than as proof of agronomic effectiveness. Their preservation can support research on indigenous agricultural knowledge, cultural heritage, and context-sensitive extension.