Moade Fawzi Shubita

This research explores the influence of foreign ownership on non-financial public shareholding firms in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The study involved an investigation into the connection between non-Jordanian ownership and the company growth opportunity, stock liquidity, leverage, dividend policy and business output. The results highlight that foreign ownership can provide improved corporate governance practices by playing a decisive role in increasing the growth opportunity and enhancing the firms’ market valuation, as measured by Tobin’s Q. Moreover, the findings indicate that companies with foreign board membership have better operating performance and higher firm value. The rewards were reaped by foreign investors based on their superior monitoring ability, which affects the decisions made and actions taken by management.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Cash flow volatility is an important source of financial uncertainty because unstable operating cash flows may weaken firms’ ability to meet obligations, sustain investment, and preserve financial flexibility. This issue is particularly relevant in emerging markets, where firms often face financing constraints and sectoral structure may shape financial stability differently. This study examines the relationship between cash flow volatility and financial stability in Jordanian listed firms and investigates whether the insurance sector responds differently to operating cash flow uncertainty compared with other non-financial firms. Financial stability is measured using the Z-score, while cash flow volatility is calculated as the rolling standard deviation of operating cash flow scaled by average total assets. The analysis uses panel data for Jordanian listed firms over 2014–2024. A three-year rolling window is applied in the baseline model, while a five-year rolling window is used as a robustness check. The regression model includes an interaction term between cash flow volatility and an insurance-sector dummy, along with firm size, leverage, firm age, and sales growth as control variables. The results indicate statistically weak evidence that the Z-score is negatively associated with cash flow volatility, albeit in a directionally weak one. But this is not statistically significant in the baseline fixed-effects model. Furthermore, the interaction between cash flow volatility and the insurance sector dummy is not statistically significant and has a different sign in one robustness specification. The study therefore does not confirm that insurance firms are structurally less sensitive to cash flow volatility. Leverage remains the most robust determinant of lower financial stability.

Acknowledgment
This research was funded through the annual funding track by the Deanship of Scientific Research, from the vice presidency for graduate studies and scientific research, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia [Grant No. KFU263523].

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Environmental, social, and governance disclosure is increasingly used as a strategic communication tool, yet its immediate marketing consequences remain unclear in emerging markets. The study evaluates the marketing implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure by testing the relationship between the disclosure and value based competitive advantage through its impact on sales growth. A total of 30 Jordanian industrial firms were selected during the time frame (2019-2023) for analysis, yielding 150 firm-year data. ESG disclosure is computed as the arithmetic mean of the disclosure ratios of environmental, social and governance data, and value-based competitive advantage is calculated as return on invested capital minus the weighted average cost of capital. The panel regression results show that ESG disclosure has a positive but statistically insignificant effect on value-based competitive advantage (coefficient = 0.340; standard error = 0.299) and sales growth (coefficient = 13.159; standard error = 23.899). After including value-based competitive advantage in the sales-growth model, its coefficient remains positive but statistically insignificant (coefficient = 29.675; standard error = 19.160). The estimated indirect effect is 10.102, with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval ranging from −8.441 to 23.688, indicating that the mediating effect is not statistically supported. The environmental, social, and governance dimensions are also statistically insignificant. The results suggest that during the period of study this ESG disclosure was not associated with an immediate increase in sales via the proposed value-based channel. The study makes a contribution by exploring a marketing-oriented ESG pathway in an emerging industrial market, and by differentiating between the anticipated strategic gains of sustainability disclosure and the actual observed market impacts of ESG disclosure.

Acknowledgment
This research was funded through the annual funding track by the Deanship of Scientific Research, from the Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia [Grant No. KFU265261].