The worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 has forced higher education institutions to shift from face-to-face to online education. However, many public institutions, especially in developing countries, often do not have access to formal online learning management systems (LMS) for facilitating communication with students and/or among faculty members. This research empirically examines the extent to which social media sites are adopted by faculty members and students for sustaining formal, i.e., sole and official tools, academic communication. For this purpose, online questionnaire surveys, supplemented with in-depth interviews, were undertaken with both faculty members and students. The results showed that students’ personal usage of social media has promoted its effective usage for sustaining formal teaching and learning. However, significant differences were found between faculty members and students regarding social media usage for student support and building an online community. Students used social media for building an online community and supporting each other, whereas faculty members were focused on teaching and learning exclusively. The results confirm that proper usage of social media could promote a new era of social learning, social presence and an alternative platform to foster online learning. Research implications for higher education policymakers, especially in developing countries, and scholars are discussed.

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Small lodging enterprises encompass a major proportion of the lodging industry worldwide. Nonetheless, limited research has addressed the HRM-innovation-performance link on these enterprises. This research draws on ability, motivation, opportunity (AMO) theory and resource-based view (RBV) theory to examine the influences of green human resources management (GHRM) practices by owner-managers of small lodging enterprises on their enterprises’ green innovation and environmental performance. More specifically, the research examines the direct influence of GHRM on the environmental performance of small lodging enterprises and the indirect influence through green innovation. A self-administered questionnaire was given to owner-managers of small lodging enterprises in Greater Cairo, Egypt. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) showed direct, positive and significant influences of owner-managers’ green ability, motivation and opportunity on both enterprise green innovation and environmental performance. The ability of owner-managers was the most influential GHRM practices on both green innovation and environmental performance. Moreover, the results showed that the influence of GHRM on environmental performance was doubled with green innovation, reflecting the value and vital role of green innovation in small lodging enterprises’ environmental performance. Several policy-level, theoretical and practical implications are identified and discussed.

This study examines the impact of both transformational leadership (TFL) and transactional leadership (TCL) on employee intention to stay (ITS) in deluxe hotels. It also examines the mediating role of organisational commitment (OC) in the relationship between leadership styles, i.e. TFL and TCL, and ITS. A pre-tested questionnaire survey was self-administered to front-line employees in deluxe hotels in Egypt, where these leadership styles were prominent. The key findings showed that TFL has more positive impact on OC and ITS than TCL. Affective commitment (AC) and normative commitment (NC) were found to partially mediate the relationship between both leadership styles and ITS. Employees exhibit higher ITS when they perceive proper leadership practices, especially TFL. Hotel executives should place more emphasis and investments on TFL to effectively achieve OC and positively influence ITS which is critical for the hotel industry that often suffers from high employee turnover.

The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 forced governments to continue with distance learning. Due to the absence of a formal digital learning management system (DLMS), public universities in many countries adopted social network sites (SNSs), e.g., Facebook and WhatsApp, and/or digital communication platforms, e.g., Microsoft (MS) Teams and Zoom for teaching and learning. This research investigates students’ learning experiences and responses to course/s incorporating SNSs and MS Teams as a sole distance learning platform during COVID-19. An online, pre-tested, questionnaire was used, directed at bachelor students in public institutions in Egypt, offering tourism and hotel programs, who received their courses using both SNSs and MS Teams. The results showed that the usage of both SNSs and MS Teams helped students to access information and learning resources, have good impact on their knowledge construction and critical refection, and report overall positive learning experience. The results of paired-samples t-test showed statistically significant differences between students’ experiences of course/s incorporating SNSs and MS Teams. However, students recorded limited support by their educators and peers and low participation in course activities that adopted MS Teams. They also reported poor assessment and feedback with course/s that incorporated SNSs. Hence, several implications for scholars, policymakers, and educators were presented for achieving better learning experience and to cope with the pandemic or similar crises, especially in universities with poor infrastructure, including unavailability of DLMS.