The Mediating Role of Job Involvement between Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in a Small and Medium Sized Business Enterprise

The level of competition among companies nowadays have intensified even further. Companies compete not only with domestic entities but with international and global companies as well. In view of this, there is this never-ending pursuit of that competitive advantage a company can utilize to stay at least a step ahead of competition. Many others have looked at developing superior and more technologically advanced products while other have looked in improving their services. But no matter what strategy a company employs, there will always be a need for them to have good people. Good, motivated, satisfied, involved and committed people. Without this, nothing can ever be accomplished. The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among these motivation management variables-job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment. Furthermore, this study would like to find out if job involvement can be a mediating variable between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Respondents in this study were employees of a small and medium sized business enterprise engaged in the manufacturing of processed meat products. Data collection was done using online questionnaire in combination with face to face interview. Findings indicated that job satisfaction can be good predictor of organizational commitment and job involvement among employees of a small and medium-sized business entity here in the Philippines. Job involvement also significantly mediated the impact of job satisfaction on employee organizational commitment. Results of this study can be used as a reinforcement as to how important job satisfaction is with regards employee motivation management. Job satisfaction among employees may also contribute in making sure that they become committed to the organization as well as involved with their jobs. Furthermore, results of this study can also be used by scholars in further probing the various control variables that may be used in further enhancing and improving the current model at hand.

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, the level of competition among companies have intensified even further. Companies compete not only with domestic entities but with international and global companies as well. In view of this, there is this never-ending pursuit of that competitive advantage a company can utilize to stay at least a step ahead of competition. Many others have looked at developing superior and more technologically advanced products while other have looked in improving their services. Managers are always thinking of that one edge that they could have to beat competition.
But no matter what strategy a company employs; no matter what new product or improved services managers think they can dangle to attract and retain customers, there will always be a need for them to have good people. Good, motivated, satisfied, involved and committed people. Without this, nothing can ever be done.
connection with their various employment opportunities. This being said, a country and a company in particular should always constantly be thinking on how to keep its people or its employees satisfied in order for them to stay and function the best possible way it can in helping the company forward itself into the future. But before a company can truly motivate and satisfy its employees, it must first assess the level of satisfaction that these employees have with regards their current employment.
Job satisfaction is one of the most researched phenomena in the domain of human resource management and organizational behavior. It is commonly defined as a "pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences" (Schneider and Snyder, 1975 as cited in Ćulibrk et al., 2018). Nowadays, companies are beginning to realize and fully comprehend the importance of their employees and that without good employees there is just no way a company can ever achieve its objectives. Therefore, it is imperative that companies understand what motivates their employees so that they can contribute and provide their absolute best in moving the company forward.
Organizational commitment, on the other hand, represents the degree to which the employees identify with the organization in which they work, how engaged they are in the organization and whether they are ready to leave it (Greenberg and Baron, 2008 as cited in Ćulibrk et al., 2018). Employee turnover is very costly to a company. All companies wish that their employees do not leave the company after a short span of time considering the high cost of recruiting and training them. It is therefore also very important for companies have a sense of understanding as to how committed an employee to an organization. There is just simply no sense in compensating, rewarding and training an employee who has no sense of belonginess and affection to the company since most likely this employee will leave the company sooner than later.
The link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment has been studied quite extensively (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990;Meyer et al. 2002;Morrow, 2011). Some studies supports the hypothesis that job satisfaction precedes organizational commitment (Stevens et al., 1978), while others suggest that the organizational commitment predicts job satisfaction (Price and Mueller, 1981;Bateman, Thomas and Strasser, 1984).
Job involvement represents a type of attitude toward work and is usually defined as the degree to which one identifies psychologically with one's work, i.e., how much importance one places on their work (Ćulibrk et al., 2018). Job involvement relates to the current job and is conditioned with the one's current employment situation and to what extent it meets one's needs (Brown, 1996). All companies should strive to have their employees be satisfied and thoroughly be involved with their jobs and be committed to the organization. I believe that it is only after a company was able to do this that employees will stay for the long haul and start giving their best for the betterment of the organization.

Statement of the Research Problem
Considering the strengthening emphasis on human capital as an indispensable source of competitive advantage in today's modern and highly competitive business environment, it is worth investigating the relationships between and among job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job involvement. As such, the research problem is: Research Problem: Does job involvement have a mediating role on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in a small and medium sized business enterprise in the Philippines? Sub Problems: 1. Does job satisfaction have a positive relationship with organizational commitment? 2. Does job satisfaction have a positive relationship with job involvement? 3. Does job involvement have a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment?

Objectives of the Study
This paper will attempt to fill up a research gap by examining whether job involvement serves as a mediating variable in predicting organizational commitment while having job satisfaction as an explanatory variable. Conceptual model was replicated by the author from Ćulibrk et al. (2018) wherein it was concluded that job involvement can be a mediating variable between job satisfaction and organizational commitment in a study conducted in Serbia.

General Research Objectives
To understand whether job involvement can act as a mediating variable between job satisfaction and organizational commitment among employees of a small and medium sized manufacturing company in the Philippines.

Specific Research Objectives
1. To determine if job satisfaction has a positive relationship with organizational commitment. 2. To understand if job satisfaction has a positive relationship with job involvement. 3. To determine if job involvement have a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Scholars and the academe
Results of this study will be able to validate if not contradict the results of a similar study conducted in Serbia in 2018. Serbia being a country undergoing transition from a centralized economy to a market-oriented economy is significantly different from the Philippines being a third world economy and/or developing economy. In addition, this study would be a welcome addition to the rather minimal number of extant literatures concerning job involvement as a mediating variable.

Future Research
The topic at hand is both deep and wide. Several modifications, adjustments and advancements can still be thought of and included in future researches as a result of this study. One future study may involve the investigation of the impact of various moderating variables like age, education and economic status on job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment.

Scope and Limitations of the Study
Data will be gathered from employees of a processed meat manufacturing company. Respondents range from college to high school graduates with work either at the production, accounting, administrative and sales departments.
There are 110 employees in this company, and only 73 respondents were able to provide acceptable and non-defective questionnaires. Questionnaire will be administered using google forms sent online. In addition, printed copies will also be distributed with the author administering the questionnaire with the respondents.
One limitation of this study is that some of the respondents are high school graduates and may not be too familiar with the concepts or constructs being investigated in this study. They might have difficulty in fully appreciating the words, questions to be used in this study. Thus, the author decided to administer the questionnaire himself so that proper guidance can be given whenever deemed necessary.

Job involvement as a Mediating and Moderating Variable
Various studies have been done in the past wherein job involvement was used as a mediating and moderating variable. One such study involves the study of mediating role of job involvement in manager's good character, influences on employees' organizational affective commitment (Ghassemi et al., 2015). Other study involved the investigation whether there are significant relationships among perceived organizational support, organizational commitment, job involvement, job commitment, and job satisfaction (Chi et al., 2018). In this particular study, it was found out that job involvement had a moderating effect on the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction.
In another study, researchers have examined the moderating effects of emotional contagion, including leaders' emotional contagion and subordinates' emotional susceptibility, on the relationship between transformational leadership and subordinates' job involvement by investigating 210 soldiers from eight companies of the Taiwan Army (Cheng et al., 2012).
In addition, job involvement was also studied to determine the effect of perceived positive styles of leadership, that is, transformational and transactional leadership, on job involvement of 250 teachers (men = 146, women = 104) from public and private sector colleges and universities of the Punjab province in India wherein multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass & Avolio, 1994) and Job Involvement Scale (Kanungo, 1982) were used to measure study variables (Rana et al., 2016).
Lastly, one study was conducted to investigate whether there are significant relationships among perceived organizational support, organizational commitment, job involvement, job commitment, and job satisfaction. The sample for this study included 275 employees in Vietnam. The findings revealed that organizational commitment had a partial mediating effect between perceived organizational support and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the study found that job involvement had a moderating effect on the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Chi et al., 2018).
In the studies mentioned above, job involvement has been tested both as a moderator, and as a mediating variable. Results of studies conducted have shown that job involvement was a significant variable in the over-all motivation process of individuals across different industries and continents.

Studies on Job Satisfaction, Job Involvement and others
In one study conducted by Van Wyk et al. (2012) showed that the relationship between job involvement and job satisfaction was significantly positive concerning general job satisfaction (r = 0.24), internal job satisfaction (r = 0.19) and the job satisfaction total (r = 0.23) (Van Wyk et al., 2012). Although the correlation was moderately positive at best based on these correlation coefficients, it was good enough to warrant a significant result.
In another study, they investigated to find out how Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment may mediate in the relationship between person-job fit and Turnover Intentions (Chhabra, 2015).
Again, several previous studies have established the inter relatedness of these different variables job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment. Therefore, the pursuit of this study by the author has conceptual basis. Lastly, the researcher did use the job involvement scale by Lodahl and Kejnar (1965), and though there are some criticisms pointed towards this scale (Ramsey, Rosemary; Lassk, Felicia; Marshall, n.d.), it is still one of the most widely used scale in measuring this construct.

Organizational Commitment as Distinct from Job Satisfaction
The construct validity of organizational commitment has recently been investigated in several studies. It might be rather easy for someone to erroneously think that job satisfaction and organizational commitment to be one and the same making them think further that those two constructs can be used interchangeably. Rather in one study by Gerhart and Judge (1991), it was concluded that organizational commitment is a valid construct, and that it is sufficiently distinct from job satisfaction (Gerhart and Judge, 1991).

Theoretical Framework
Theoretical framework of this study is based on the research by Ćulibrk et al. (2018) wherein they investigated the relationship among different motivational management variables, of which the following were included, job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work characteristics, and organizational policies and procedures. Their study was based on the model developed by Latham and Locke (2014) as shown below in Figure 1.
As discussed by Ćulibrk et al. (2018), majority of the existing theories and previous discussions concerning motivation were about a specific aspect of the different parts of the motivation process. And as such there was this realization for the need to integrate the entire motivation process that will encompass work motivation, process of motivation and employee expectations (Ćulibrk et al., 2018). The theory and model of Locke and Latham is one such integrated theory.
In addition, the above model of Locke and Latham (2004) includes various theories and it also shows relationships among various constructs. Locke and Latham (2004) also stated that the above model needs further validation with empirical studies.
Thus, Ćulibrk et al. (2018) took the challenge and focused on the right most section of the above model. In Culibrk's study, it was concluded that model of Locke and Latham (2014) could be further improved by having job involvement as a mediating variable between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Conceptual framework developed and derived by Ćulibrk et al. (2018) from Locke and Latham (2014) is shown below in Figure 2. In this conceptual model, Ćulibrk et al. (2018) included in their study the variables of work characteristics and organization policies and procedures as predictors of job satisfaction.

Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework shown below in Figure 3 is based on the model of Ćulibrk et al. (2018) with a few modifications.
Researcher decided not to include the construct of organizational policies and procedure which was used in the original model of Ćulibrk et al. (2018) for the same reason that they mentioned which was the lack of appropriate measurement scales. Author therefore will just focus on the three constructs shown above and in particular, job involvement will be tested if it will be a significant mediating variable between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Research Design
Causal explanatory research design was employed in this study along with convenience sampling technique.
Research was conducted in the city of Las Pinas in the Philippines. Respondents were all employees of a processed meat manufacturing company. Customers of this company are predominantly casinos and hotels in the greater Metro Manila area.
Quantitative method was used in this study. Unit of analysis in this study will be employees. Quantitative research is believed to be the best approach. Mathematical models will be formulated and used to find out the relationship between the independent variable, dependent variable and mediating variable as provided in the conceptual framework.
Since it is anticipated that the response rate will be poor with regards the online questionnaire, the researcher augmented the online survey with face to face interview and self-administered survey.
The company's owner has intimated that she has around 110 employees. With a 5% margin of error, 95% confidence level, and a population of 110 people, sample size required is 86 respondents based on Slovin's formula.
Previously developed measurement scales were used to measure all the constructs used in the survey. The construct of job involvement was measured using the scale developed by Lodahl and Kejnar (1965). For Job satisfaction, it was measured using the Job Satisfaction Scale by Macdonald and Maclntyre (1997

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Majority of the respondents are aged between 20 and 40 years old comprising 65% of the total respondents. Females accounted for a big slice of the sample at 52% while those who has a college degree accounted for 75% of the total respondents.

Shapiro Wilk's Test of Normality
Based on Table 1, the distribution of all the variables are not normal, although according to Norman (2010), data from the use of Likert scale being ordinal in nature does not necessarily invalidate the results of various parametric tests. Norman (2010) further stated that parametric tests were found to be powerful even though there were several violations of the parametric tests assumptions which includes normality and linearity. In his study, Norman (2010) concluded that the resulting models developed in various previous studies were found to be just robust in spite of the violations of normality and linearity (Norman, 2010). Carifio and Perla (2007) even stated based on their study that Likert scale results that were summated as compared to a single Likert question produces interval data as opposed to ordinal data (Carifio and Perla, 2007).

Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variance
Levene's test was applied to the three variables job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment to check its error variances in relation to gender. Results in Table 2 showed that data are all homoscedastic.

T-Tests
Based on Table 3, results of T tests showed no significant differences in the scores between males and females towards all the variables.

Linear Regression
H 1 : Job Satisfaction has a positive relationship with organizational commitment.
H 1 : y 1 + a + b 1 x 1 A linear regression analysis was used to test if job satisfaction scores significantly predicted organizational commitment scores.    The result of the regression indicated that the predictor explained 75% of the variance (R 2 = 0.76, F (1, 69) = 215, P < 0.001). It was found that job satisfaction scores significantly predicted organizational commitment scores (β = 0.88, P < 0.001).
For every 1 unit increase in job satisfaction scores, there is a. 88 increase in organizational commitment scores. Breusch-Pagan (1979) test indicated there is heteroscedasticity in the model based on P = 0.03.

Diagnostic Tests for Model 1
Ramsey's RESET test showed that there is no specification error based on the P-value = 0.08.
The Shapiro-Wilk's normality test revealed that the distribution of the residuals is normal (W = 0.97, P = 0.06).
H 2 : Job Satisfaction has a positive relationship with job involvement.
H 2 : y 2 = a + b 2 x 1 A linear regression analysis was used to test if job satisfaction significantly predicted job involvement scores. The result of the regression indicated that the predictor explained 41% of the variance (R 2 = 0.42, F (1, 69) = 49.2, P < 0.001). It was found that job satisfaction significantly predicted job involvement scores (β = 0.88, P < 0.001).
For every 1 unit increase in job satisfaction score, there is a 0.88 increase in job involvement scores.

Diagnostic Tests for Model 2
Breusch-Pagan test indicated there is homoscedasticity in the model based on P = 0.69.
Ramsey's RESET test showed that there is no specification error based on the P-value = 0.13.
However, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test revealed that the distribution of the residuals is not normal (W = 0.91, P < 0.001).
H 3 : Job Involvement has a positive relationship with organizational commitment.
H 3 : y 1 = a + b 3 x 2 A linear regression analysis was used to test if job involvement significantly predicted organizational commitment scores. The result of the regression indicated that the predictor explained 40% of the variance (R 2 = 0.40, F (1, 69) = 46.9, P < 0.001). It was found that job involvement significantly predicted organizational scores (β = 0.47, P < 0.001).
For every 1 unit increase in job involvement, there is a 0.47 increase in organizational commitment scores.

Diagnostic Tests for Model 3
Breusch-Pagan test indicated there is heteroscedasticity in the model based on P < 0.001.
Ramsey's RESET test showed that there is no specification error based on the P-value = 0.35.
However, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test revealed that the distribution of the residuals is not normal (W = 0.92, P < 0.001).
Level of JI

Causal Analysis
Based on the results of the regression analyses as shown on Table 4, all results turned out to be significant. Job satisfaction as a predictor of organizational commitment yielded significant results with adjusted r 2 at 75%. It can be said based on the results that job satisfaction can be used as a barometer in gauging employee organizational commitment.
On the other hand, job satisfaction also turned out to be a good predictor of job involvement with explanatory power at 41% yielding significant results as well.
Job involvement as a predictor of organizational commitment also yielded significant results with adjusted r 2 at 40%.
Based on the responses, employees are very loyal and proud to be part of the organization despite the fact that the same employees do not much agree with the company values and company policies towards them.
Employees are very much personally involved with their job, although their involvement seems to be at a high level only when they were at their workplace, and once they leave the work premises, it seems that their job is not any more their priority.
Lastly, employees do not agree much that they are properly recognized for their performance. They also do not agree much Standard errors are reported in parentheses, * , ** , *** indicates significance at the 90%, 95% and 99% level, respectively that their salary is good. Employees based on the questionnaire were very much satisfied with their colleagues, supervisors, the company and work in general.

CONCLUSIONS
The objective of this research was to find out and validate the relationships between job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment. Specifically, researcher wanted to test if job involvement can be a mediating variable between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Results showed that job satisfaction is a good predictor of organizational commitment. Results also showed that job involvement can be a significant mediator between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
In view of the above results, managers should always find ways on how their employees can achieve job satisfaction since based on the model presented, job satisfaction is the prelude in achieving job involvement and organizational commitment. It can be posited that employees lacking organizational commitment might be a symptom of lack of job involvement or more so lack of job satisfaction.
All three traits-job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment-with regards employees are important. Because presence of all these traits may lead to better employee performance thus advancing the objectives and goals of the company. It is worth noting that among the three variables, the key is job satisfaction since this is what precedes job involvement and organizational commitment. If the company will be able to satisfy its employees, then the likelihood that will be involved and committed with the organization will most likely be achieved as well.
Lastly, based on T Tests conducted, male employees scored higher on all three variables though the results were not significantly different with that of the female employees. Managers may therefore consider providing programs to enhance job satisfaction with employees not worried that their program might cater only to males and not to females and vice versa. Companies can therefore implement a unified job satisfaction improvement program that can be applicable to both genders.

Management Implications
The result of this study can definitely be used by the subject company in shaping its future decisions with regards how their employees may achieve an increased level of job involvement and organizational commitment.
This study can be an additional source of information with regards the topic at hand. As mentioned in the previous section of this paper, researcher did not find enough scholarly studies with regards job involvement as a mediating variable between job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the Philippines setting. Hopefully, future researchers will be able to add more or improve on this research.

Recommendations
For the subject company, it is best that they continue to provide job satisfaction to their employees knowing that people are the ones that will propel the company forward. No matter how brilliant and ingenious the strategy is, but if there will be no one competent enough to execute and carry through those strategies then it is all for naught. In addition to achieving job satisfaction for tis employees, the company should also make sure that its employees are committed to the organization and intimately involved with their jobs. There is no point in motivating employees and providing them job satisfaction if these same employees are not committed to the organization. Incidentally, since job satisfaction has been found to be a good predictor of organizational commitment and job involvement, ensuring job satisfaction among its employees hopefully may be enough to ensure their commitment as well.
For scholars, it will be better if they can continue to add more and better scholarly studies with regards the topic at hand. Future studies might explore the addition of control variables to the model at hand like age, number of years in the company among others. It might also be worth finding if the results will be different if organizational commitment will be the independent variable. Likewise, it might also be interesting if this study can be applied to other industries in the Philippines as well. Lastly, the statistical analyses applied in this research project was rather basic and that a more sufficient number of respondents along with advanced statistical analyses might yield more interesting findings with regards future study in this subject area.


The Effect of Job Insecurity on the Welfare and Performance of Contract Employees at the Administration Center Office, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh

Job insecurity prefers to affect the welfare and performance of contract employees. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of job insecurity of contract employees on welfare and the performance at the Administrative Center Office, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. This is a quantitative research using SPSS version 2:00 in analyzing the data. The population in this study were all contract employees, at the Administration Center Office Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh. Among the total number of 314 employees, 176 of them were taken by random sampling technique using the Slovin formula as respondents. The results of testing the hypothesis indicate that job insecurity has a negative and significant effect on welfare, and job insecurity has a negative and significant effect on performance.

Kuala University, and hopefully this institution and government will consider the finding of this research in making policy about employees in the future.

II. METHOD A. Sample
This study conducted a survey with 176 as respondents selected randomly from 314 contract employees at the Administrative Center Office, Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, using Slovin formula. The survey used questionnaire measuring the respondents' characteristics, the job insecurity, the welfare, and performance of a contract employees.

B. Measurement
To provide the respondents background, they were given the questions about gender, age, and education. Furthermore, series of questionnaires about job insecurity, welfare, and performance, were asked to measure the variables in this study.
The job insecurity was indicated by 5 indicators: the work status, the importance of the work felt, the threat of being resigned, the possibility of changing the job, and the powerlessness (by Ashford, Lee, and Bobko: 1989), each contains 5 items. The items were measured with a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree). The higher score showed the higher job insecurity.
The level of welfare measured by the level of a return obtained both material and nonmaterial (Malayu SP Hasibuan, 2007). The indicators as economy, facilities, and services included in five items in questionnaire to get the data. The items had p-values less than 0.05 using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) which means all items are valid.
The level of performance indicated by quality, quantity, effectiveness, punctuality, and independence / autonomic (Robbins, 2006: 260) were made in items to be chosen index a 5-Likert Scale rated from 1= strongly disagree, and 5 = strongly agree. All items are valid as the p-values of the items were less than 0.05.

C. Analysis
This is a quantitative research using SPSS version 2:00 in analyzing the data. The descriptive analysis used following the table made based on the data found. Analysis of Effect between Variables is also presented. This study uses three variables: job insecurity (X) as the independent variable, welfare (Y1) and Performance (Y2) as the dependent variable. Results of SPSS output coefficient independent variable job insecurity (X) affects the welfare of the dependent variable (Y1) can be seen at the following tables:  Ages of 21-30 are 82 (46.6%), then ages 31-40 are 82 (46.6%) and respondents whose ages 41-50 are 12 employees (6, 8%).   (2018) All items had good correlations, where all of them have a loading factor of more than 0.40, by Hair et al, (2006). The biggest value is in the item of "I always complete tasks on time ", 0971, and for the statement" I always follow company procedures "also gets a score of 0971. This means that employees can complete their work and tasks on time following the company's procedures. The results showed that all the items involved in this study showed a good correlation, seen from Eigen value of 2,780. The highest value is for the statement "I think education and seminars that are held by the company have been able to develop the ability of employees ": 0923, which means that the education and seminars organized by the company is able to create welfare of the contracts employees. The results showed that all the items involved in this study indicated a good correlation, seen from Eigen value of 2,333.

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 292
The highest loading factor is 0,807 for statement " I am anxious and powerless against the possibilities of my work will be resigned or I will be transferred to another unit " which means a contract employee feel anxious and powerless if at any time they are resigned or transferred to other work units. The results showed that all the items involved in this study explain a good correlation, seen from Eigen value of 2,452. The value of variance explained is at a factor of 49 040%. Value of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy on the dependent and independent variable, of 0,656, and the test results Bartlett's Test of Sphericity shows the significant value of 0.000 (p <0:01). From the results of the SPSS output, line of linear equations is Y = -0.508 X. The regression coefficient of job insecurity (independent) has value of -0.508, which means if job insecurity of employees increased by 1 unit, then welfare will decrease by -0.508 on a Likert scale. The increasing of job insecurity of employees, then decreasing of the employees' welfare. Thus the first hypothesis is supported. The table above gives the value 0.258 to construct welfare, which means that job insecurity is able to explain the welfare of 25.8% and 74.2% is influenced by other variables outside of this research. The line of linear equations is as Y = -0.548 X. Thus the equation can be explained that the regression coefficient job insecurity (independent) worth -0.548, which means if insecurity of an employee increased by one unit, the performance will be decreased by -0.548 on a Likert scale. The increases of job insecurity of an employee, it means the decreases of the employee's performance. This result supports the research by Adhian Nugraha (2010) that there is the effect of job insecurity on employee's performance. The rated R square on performance variables that are affected by job insecurity is 0,296. This means that job insecurity is able to explain the variance of performance by 29.6%, so it can be explained that the variable performance can be affected by variables job insecurity by 29.6% and the remaining 70.4% is influenced by other variables outside of this research.

IV. CONCLUSION
After analyzing the processed the data, the conclusions are: 1. Job insecurity has a significant negative effect on welfare as the R value is 0.254. This means welfare variables can be affected by job insecurity variables as 25.4%. Job insecurity has a direct effect to welfare with a beta coefficient of -0508. This means if job insecurity increased by 1 unit then welfare will decrease by -0508.
2. Job insecurity has a significant negative effect on the performance with the R value is 0,296 that means that job insecurity is able to explain the variance of performance by 29.6%. Next, the effect of job insecurity on the performance variable has a beta coefficient of -0548, which means when job insecurity of an employee increased by 1 unit, his/ her performance would decrease by -0548. Increasing job insecurity brings the decreasing of the employee's performance.


The Impact of Quality Management Systems on the Efficiency of Current Assets Management in Small Commercial Enterprises

: Purpose: Financial security and high profits are the basic goals set by the owners and managers running an enterprise. To achieve them, management tools and systems should be introduced to improve the efficiency of resource management that the company has. By optimizing the level of current assets one can reduce costs, which has a positive effect on the company profits and the level of financial liquidity. Therefore, improving the efficiency of wealth management is an important element of business management. The purpose of the article is to show how standardized quality management systems affect the efficiency of managing current assets and their basic components Design/Methodology/Approach: The analysis was carried out on a group of 159 trade companies. The research period covered the years 2015-2017.The enterprises surveyed were divided into those that implemented quality management systems (52 enterprises) and those that do not use this type of solutions (107 enterprises).Then, analyzes were made and the results obtained by the associated enterprises in individual groups were compared. The analysis of financial indicators and basic statistical methods (average, median) were used as the basic research tools. Findings: The introduction of quality management systems is designed to improve the efficiency of business management, also has the large impact on costs. The decrease in costs reduces the price of products and goods sold. Practical Implications: The results demonstrate that quality management systems have the significant impact on the price, which is the most important criterion for buying goods or services Originality/Value: Analysis showed that enterprises which use quality management systems manage their assets more efficiently compared to enterprises that do not use quality management systems

Introduction
Business owners are primarily interested in the profits of the company. When assessing enterprises most often, they analyze profitability and financial liquidity, i.e. the most important areas from the point of view of the company security and development. In order the results of profitability and financial liquidity could be at a high level, it is necessary to introduce appropriate tools, methods and management systems that will improve the efficiency of managing current assets. Current assets are assets that are strongly associated with short-term decision making, which has the direct impact on the financial security of enterprises. Effective management of current assets also allows reducing the costs of managing them, which in the long run certainly will positively affect the profitability of enterprises. A tool that should improve the efficiency of managing current assets is basically standardized quality management systems in every enterprise. Quality management systems are most often used in manufacturing companies, where the product is subjected to tests regarding its quality in the next stages of production.
The complexity of quality management systems largely depends on the industry in which the company operates. In the chemical, medical, metallurgical and food industries, research into product quality is necessary and provides the basis for making decisions on admission to trading. The situation is different in manufacturing enterprises dealing with e.g. furniture production, construction enterprises where quality management systems are used to a lesser extent. In turn, the introduction of quality management systems in commercial enterprises is not popular. These types of units deal with trade in goods and have direct contact with individual customers. Here, the lack of high quality customer service will result in their loss, which is why in this area every company will focus on high quality and the introduction of additional quality management systems can increase the efficiency of acquiring contractors. However, if an enterprise wants to improve the effectiveness of wealth management, then the introduction of quality management systems allowing to assess the work of employees seems to be the most reasonable. Inventories and receivables from customers are the two most important components of current assets, they are such elements for which the use of modern quality management systems can bring a lot of benefits. The aim of the article is to assess the impact of standardized quality management systems on the efficiency of managing current assets.

Management of Current Assets
Quality management systems in small enterprises are rarely used. There are three main reasons for this. The main reason is the costs of their introduction and maintenance. The introduction of quality management systems suitable for a given enterprise costs money, and the effects they are supposed to bring in the form of revenue increase or cost reduction are hardly noticeable, especially by the owners. In addition, the reluctance of employees to perform additional obligations also has the large impact on the desirability of introducing quality management systems. However, the most important barrier is the opinion of the owners as company managers often do not see the benefits that standardized quality management systems could bring to the company. In the case of managing current assets, it seems necessary to introduce quality management systems for the proper functioning of the enterprise. The introduction of an appropriate quality management system in the area of the most important elements of current assets management, i.e. inventory and receivables from customers, is able to optimize their level, which will positively affect the financial liquidity and profitability of enterprises.
As previously stated, current asset cost management is closely related to the management of current assets. The two most important components of current assets generating the largest costs are inventories and receivables from customers. In the enterprises analyzed, these components constitute about 99% share in current assets. Inventory management costs depend on the management strategy chosen by the company. Conservative policy means high costs, other strategies depending on the choice are characterized by lower costs but a higher risk of losing financial liquidity. In general, it can often be found in the literature that inventory is an area where there is a large waste of costs (Coyle et al., 2010;Zimon, 2015). There are authors who claim that high levels of inventory are savings in supplies (Blinder & Macciani, 1991). However, in general, warehouse management costs occupy the highest position in inventory management costs. Inventory costs are determined by the costs of warehouse management, they result from activities that involve inventory, and thus their creation, maintenance and exhaustion. A detailed breakdown of inventory management costs is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Division of costs due to inventory management
Source: Author's own research.
When analyzing Figure 1, it can be seen that inventory management applies to many areas where the introduction of quality management systems should optimize the level of costs, e.g. the area related to maintaining inventory and stock depletion. Lack of quality control of goods received in the event that the entity uses inventory management systems based on JiT strategy may result in the suspension of production or sales. This will be caused by the receipt of damaged or poor-quality materials or Stock costs Inventory maintenance costs Inventory costs Stocking costs goods. In this situation, you may not have enough time to replenish your missing inventory. This will stop production and sales. Therefore, the costs of lost opportunities arise, in the case of such inventory management policies, quality management systems are a must.
Inventory management and maintaining a high level of inventories is necessary to increase employment. There are authors who believe that overloading employees during the organization of orders has been identified as a key factor that causes reduced efficiency of warehouse management and increased costs (Gue & Meller, 2009;Parikh & Meller, 2009;. Most often, in order to improve the efficiency of inventory management, appropriate logistic management systems are introduced, e.g. EOQ, JIT, various types of inventory classification methods based on the ABC or XYZ principles. The introduction of these systems is the first stage to improve the efficiency of warehouse management, the second stage is the introduction of appropriate quality management systems. In the case of inventory management, the lack of adequate motivation and control systems for employees on the line of warehousemen, the procurement department, transport are a large source of neglect in the inventory management process. Very often, mistakes and omissions of warehouse or transport employees lead to unnecessary inventory management costs. In order to avoid such situations, an appropriate employee motivation and control system should be introduced, which can be served by appropriate quality management systems. To achieve improvement in the area of corporate finance, standardized quality management systems are often implemented (Fonseca & Domingues, 2017;Zaramdini, 2007, Zimon 2019Zimon & Zimon 2019). Compliance with their guidelines leads, among others to organize basic business processes, reduce costs and minimize non-compliance (Sampaio et al., 2012).
Receivables from customers are the second main component of current assets. Managing them is much more important than inventory management, because it is responsible for the inflow of cash into the company. The management of receivables from recipients is primarily trade credit management. The impact of trade credit on business management is confirmed by numerous studies conducted around the world. Its impact on financial liquidity is indisputable and depends on the receivables management strategy. Many authors indicate that trade credit has a direct impact on profitability (Ukaegbu, 2014;Lazaridis & Tryfonidis, 2006;Kim & Chung, 1990) and claim that trade credit is an important criterion for selecting suppliers when it is difficult to decide from who to buy products (Sarotis & Hill, 1983;Schiff & Lieber, 1974, Schipley & Davis, 1991. There are authors who also show that additional discounts have the big impact on trade credit management since an enterprise can get important rebates for earlier payments when it settles its obligations to suppliers beforehand (Bougheasa et al., 2009). In the literature you can also find many analyzes and explanations informing that the trade credit offer has the impact on financial security (Blais & Gollier, 1997, Brennan et al., 1988Mateut et al. 2006, Zimon 2018, the quality of the products offered , behavior of recipients (Jainn, 2001;Cunat, 2007;Lee & Stoce, 1993;Long et al., 1993;Frank & Maksimovic, 2005;Burkart & Elingsen, 2004;Daripa & Nilsen 2005). Additional loans for earlier payment are of great importance for shaping the entire receivables management policy. The decision whether to pay earlier or take advantage of the additional discount determines the receivables management policy. Debt managers should investigate the cost of trade credit. Trade credit costs consist of three categories (Pluta, 2004): 1. Credit maintenance costs are usually the costs of servicing a short-term loan taken to finance a trade credit granted. 2. Costs of monitoring receivables is a group of costs to which we include the costs of continuous monitoring and collection of receivables. These costs relate to the most important element in the process of managing receivables monitoring receivables (Scherr, 1989). 3. Bad debts are receivables that the company will not recover.
The improvement of management efficiency in these two areas definitely leads to a reduction in the costs of managing current assets, which will positively affect the financial results. In the case of receivables and inventory management, it should be remembered that too aggressive policy of managing these current assets leads to a loss of financial liquidity.

Research Methodology
The purpose of the analysis was to determine the impact of the implementation of standardized management systems, quality on the improvement of processes related to the management of current assets. The research covered small enterprises conducting commercial activity in the construction industry dealing in trade in sanitary and heating equipment. 159 small Polish trading enterprises were subjected to analysis. The research period concerned the years 2015-2017. The analysis was conducted to assess the impact of quality management systems on the inventory management process. The enterprises surveyed were divided into those that implemented quality management systems (52 enterprises) and those that do not use this type of solutions (107 enterprises). Then, analyzes were made and the results obtained by the associated enterprises in individual groups were compared. The analysis of financial indicators and basic statistical methods (average, median) were used as the basic research tools.

An Analysis of the Impact of Quality Management on Current Assets -Results
In order to determine the impact of quality management systems on the efficiency of managing flight assets, the enterprises were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of 52 enterprises not using quality management systems, they were designated as group A. The second group was 107 enterprises using standardized quality management systems, they were designated as group B. The first stage of the analysis was the analysis of the structure of current assets in the audited entities. Table  1 presents the share of receivables in current assets in the analyzed enterprises. A much lower share of receivables in current assets was recorded in enterprises using quality management systems. In both groups of enterprises, the average result in individual years is lower than 50%. This result indicates that the share of inventories in current assets in the analyzed enterprises will exceed 50%. The detailed results regarding the share of inventories in current assets are presented in Table 2. Enterprises using standardized quality management systems recorded significantly higher inventory levels. The results they achieve in individual years are generally about 60% share in current assets. The next stage of the analysis was the analysis of receivables and inventory turnover in days (Table 3). The analysis showed that clearly lower results of receivables turnover appeared in the case of enterprises using quality management systems. Then inventory turnover ratios in days were determined. The results are presented in Table 4. When analyzing inventory turnover ratios in days, no significant differences were noted between the results in both groups of enterprises. The last indicator that was used for the analysis was the operating cycle. This indicator is defined as an indicator of the effectiveness of property management. Table 5 presents average results for the analyzed enterprises in individual years.

Conclusions
The customer buying a good or service most often pays attention to the price, trade credit and then to the time, quality of service or quality of the goods offered. The introduction of quality management systems is designed to improve the efficiency of business management, also has the large impact on costs. The decrease in costs may cause a reduction in the price of products and goods sold. So it can be said that quality management systems have the significant impact on the price, which is the most important criterion for buying goods or services. Therefore, the use of standardized quality management systems in wealth management is becoming a necessity.
In the enterprises analyzed, assessing the operational cycle, enterprises using quality management systems demonstrated higher efficiency of wealth management. This is due to the effective management of receivables from customers compared to a group of companies that have not implemented quality management systems. The second element positively influencing the efficiency of asset management is the result of the inventory turnover ratio. The results in both groups of enterprises are at a similar level.
However, it should be noted that in units using quality management systems, the share of inventories in current assets is definitely higher than the share of inventories in current assets in enterprises that do not use quality management systems. Inventory management with such a high share is difficult, it requires a very good organization of work. Therefore, the operation of quality management systems should be positively assessed, thanks to which enterprises obtain inventory rotation results similar to those of the second group.
To sum up, it can be stated that efficient management of receivables and inventory allows enterprises that use quality management systems to manage their assets more efficiently compared to enterprises that do not use quality management systems. The analysis is an introduction to the next, broader research that should be extended to various industries.


THE ATTITUDE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Purpose of the study: The study aims to identify the factors that influence students’ attitudes when celebrity endorsements are used through social media. It seeks to determine how effective endorsements are from the consumers’ point of view. Methodology: A study model was developed to show the effect of different factors on students’ attitudes. A quantitative approach was used for data collection to support the model. This study employed a survey method using a questionnaire to gather information from participants. Main findings: The findings show celebrity characteristics and social media advertisements affect students’ attitudes. The results were positive for students’ attitude towards celebrity endorsements through social media. Applications of the study: The study provides insights into how businesses should plan marketing campaigns and influence students’ attitudes towards celebrity endorsements through social media. Companies are encouraged to use social networks to track and respond to the opinions of their customers in a timely manner. Novelty/Originality of this study: There is a shortage of literature that is associated with celebrity endorsements through social media. This study aims to fill in the gap in knowledge and practice by identifying business opportunities and optimizing available marketing tools that can be used in order to gain a better image.

INTRODUCTION
Social media has reached a stage that changed people's opinions about certain behaviors. People check their social accounts frequently as they want to be connected to their friends, families, acquaintances and favorite personalities all the time. This has resulted in forming online fan base clusters for each of those personalities. Celebrities attract people in different ways; each one attracts the public with his/her particular attributes and is loved for unique qualities such as soothing voice, physical strength, look, sex appeal, beauty, talents, personal reincarnation, wealth, and power (Arora &Sahu, 2013). Celebrities are idolized by millions of people all around the world. People look up and envy them in the sense that the public perceives celebrities as individuals who have attained their dreams and accomplished most of what they aim for in life whether it is fame, wealth or peoples' admiration (Zipporah &Mberia, 2014).
Celebrities are adored, admired, respected, loved and even worshiped on each one of the existing continents. Social media is one of the marketing tools that play a huge role in impacting the public's perception through the use of celebrities' extravagant lifestyle, infamous gossip, monumental achievements, and unrealistic earnings. The public than are hooked and addicted to those sorts of news and stories. Social media has become an important part of people's lives that is causing a shift in their lifestyles and is the best way to communicate with family and friends, finding a job and gaining knowledge and learning (Chan, Leung &Luk., 2013). Marketers cannot ignore the role of social media and celebrity endorsements in influencing people's minds and impacting the final purchasing dissection (Williams & Chinn, 2010).
The young generations have become so charmed and obsessed with celebrity news and affairs as part of the indispensable conversation topic in their lives (Kowalczyk &Royne, 2013). Professionals described the Arab region as highly competitive and many celebrities are endorsing several products via social media. Many studies have been conducted to examine the endorsement of a single product or brand by a specific celebrity endorser, but there are less studies that have examined the impact of using celebrity endorsements through social media in the Arab region and a country like Bahrain. A few researchers like Tripp et al.(1994) found that negative credibility is held by consumers when the celebrity endorses numerous products. On the other hand, many researchers proved that celebrity endorsements boost the popularity of the product and increase sales (Schlachte, 2014;Samat et al., 2014;Gazal et al., 2016).
People in Bahrain are fascinated by celebrities like the rest of the world from news to trends and even gossip is immensely followed, tracked and commented on. Most individuals that are found to respect celebrities have a more positive perception of products and brands endorsed by their stars (Ilicic& Webster, 2015). Youth may have more admirations to their idols and may well be more influenced or impacted by their friends and virial marketing campaigns (Roy et al., 2015). Since social behavior studies in our region are few (Al-Ahmadi, 2011; Mohd Suki, 2014), the current study aims to discover the perception of Bahraini college students and their attitude towards the celebrity endorsement process on various social media channels. The remainder of this paper is organized into six sections. First, we review related literature of celebrity endorsements through social media and students' attitudes. Second, covers the conceptual model and research hypotheses. Third, we explain the research methodology used in this research study. Fourth, we present the study results and analysis including hypotheses testing. Fifth, we discuss the main findings along with implications. Finally, we draw the conclusion along with suggestions for future research.

LITERATURE REVIEW
A celebrity is an individual that gets acknowledgment from ordinary people for his work, talent, skills, attributes or position in the society and receives recognition from a significant number of people (Arora &Sahu, 2013). Celebrities achieve larger than life images for attributes like likeability, unattainable beauty and physical attractiveness (Ravi & Saxena, 2015). Marketers think that the great power of celebrities is that they can influence reference groups in different ways, such as giving personal recommendations about the benefits of using a product or act as a spokesperson for a company or brand (Chan et al., 2013). For breaking through clutter and seeking audience attention a growing use of celebrities in advertising as a tool of marketing strategy is noticed (Wilson & Till 2011).
Celebrity endorsements were originated from the developed world, but now are extending more in Asian markets (Roy et al., 2015). In Asia, the growth of celebrity endorsements has seen a major rise. Celebrities influence Asian consumers and different generations, genders (Roy et al., 2015) needs to be strategically planned. For example, Islamic principles may influence Muslim consumers' perception of products and services endorsed by the celebrities that are in line with their faith (Mohd Suki, 2014). Celebrity endorsements gained a massive significance as an element of the marketing communication and media mix Celebrity endorsements impact brand image significantly, improve recognition of brand names (Petty et al., 1983) and increase revenue when implemented well (Arora &Sahu, 2013).
Social media grew and evolved over time and enforced marketers to adapt to those changes by enhancing their tools and techniques. For instance, the use of word of mouth has shifted to social messaging and buzzes marketing, traditional flyers replaced by online banners, telemarketing and mailing list to emailing subscriptions, radio to podcasts and television taken over by video sharing and streaming. Celebrities on social media have boomed because of the increase of smart devices usage (Barhemmati& Ahmad, 2015), the spread of smartphones, and the availability to access virtual space which has reached everyone's fingertips. Celebrity endorsements are the most preferable and solid advertising technique to be used by marketers in the 21 st century to influence consumer purchasing decisions (Choi &Rifon, 2012). Traditional media is being swapped as the source to which people gather information about products and is replaced by social media which provides people with a new technique (electronic word of mouth) to gather information and evaluate the product from previous purchasers (Hajli, 2014). It enables any potential customer to make a better assessment of the product from social media and make his decision (Bruhn et al., 2012).
Marketers are expected to increase their effort through, application advertisements, blogs, and celebrity endorsements to deliver their message to consumer and influence their purchasing decisions to gain more profit. Marketers are not expected to miss out on the opportunities to get their message across directly to the user and influence the purchase behavior with the help of the celebrity endorser (Nekatibebe, 2012). The social media boomed in the early 2000s for major players like Facebook in 2004, Twitter in 2006, Instagram in 2010 and Snapchat in 2011, just to name a few; each with its different appeal, functionality, and specification (Neumayer& Rossi, 2016). While initially some social media channels did not allow companies to advertise within that as part of their policy, in fear of upsetting the users, today companies are allowed to use social media in more than one way, since they provide consumers with a speedy channel for voicing their experiences and comments. It also allows businesses to reach new consumers and gather data in a convenient way (Chikandiwa et al., 2013).
Establishing a business presence and signing up for social media accounts are essentially simple and free. The right information is a key factor that keeps the user interested and engaged. When the information provided by the business is not relevant, then it will be ignored or considered as spam in the realm of social media (Gazal et al., 2016). Credibility and confidence can play an important role in improving the persuasiveness of a message (Atay, 2011). A study that examines the antecedents of advertising avoidance on online social networking sites, highlights that an online social networking advertising is more likely to be ineffective if the user has a negative experience, the advertising is irrelevant to the user's needs, the user casts doubt in the communicated message, or is skeptical toward the communication medium (Kelly et al., 2010).
Culture is a complex term that is comprised of multiple layers and elements that contribute to defining and differentiating societies. The outer layer includes language, food, buildings, art, and monuments. The middle layer includes norms, customs, and values shared within the group. The core layer includes morals and beliefs held by individuals. Culture is a universal trigger of social behavior and interaction that is passed on to new generations within a society, sharing a common language and environment in various ways (Reeves, 2012). The Middle East and North Africa region are undeniably rich and diverse in its culture, heritage, and customs. The Arabian countries including Bahrain share the same Arabic language, traditions, and gender roles(Al-Ahmadi, 2011; Chow, 2013; Littrell & Bertsch, 2013). The society with a low level of tolerance for uncertainty prefers to attain control over everything in order to eliminate or avoid the unexpected. As a result, society does not willingly accept change and is very risk-averse, (Littrell & Bertsch, 2013). The individualism ranking is the lowest Hofstede dimension for the Arab world if compared to a world average ranking. This translates into a collectivist society culture and is established in a strong long-term commitment to the group including a family, as loyalty over-ride most other societal rules in a collectivist culture (Hofstede, 2011).

CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The conceptual model for this research study is developed based on the empirical studies discussed in the literature review. The independent variables used in the study were the celebrity characteristics (CC), social media as the marketing delivery method (SM) and the students' culture (SC). The dependent variable was students' attitudes towards the endorsement on social media (AE). Figure 1 illustrate the study variables which are explained in the sections that follow.

Figure 1: Conceptual model
Celebrity endorser is defined as any person who is recognized in the eyes of the public for the accomplishment rather than the affiliation of the product endorsed (Friedman & Friedman, 1979). It can be viewed as the attachment of a popular character to a product or service via a contractual agreement between the firm and the character (Sassenberg et al., 2012;Sridevi, 2012). Studies have shown that brands endorse celebrities primarily to get noticed and stand out from the overcrowded world of broadcasted advertisements (Bhatt et al., 2013;Subhadip, 2012). Research indicates that choosing a celebrity solely on the stardom status does not guarantee success. Rather, the belief is to consider the worth of star association and connection to the brand and re-assessed as all mixtures are not equally effective (Ravi & Saxena, 2015). Thus, linkage between the star image and product features is very important in the selection of brand representative for any company.
Celebrities would not want to damage their reputation by associating themselves with a bad product. Celebrity endorsement mainly focuses on the strength of the celebrity and tends to make the celebrity speaks directly to the public and provides an alternative to creative advertisement. The main motives behind celebrity endorsements for companies and marketers are instant brand awareness, recall, refreshing and strengthening brand image, and credibility (Abdussalam, 2014). Multiple studies give the same virtues for using celebrities (Opuni_et al. In the past decade, almost all traditional media have gone through a major change that affected the marketing field and most of the physical advertising means have declined in use. The majority of printed media like magazines or newspapers faced difficulties and has seen a decline in the face of a rising virtual alternative, noting social media as one of those alternatives that have increased significantly as a marketing tool which is supported by communication technologies advancements (Gazal et  H2: Social media advertisements influence students' attitudes toward celebrity endorsements. Culture holds a level of importance in different industries such as tourism as well as marketing and advertising. Cultural elements could be used in advertising to ensure effectiveness (Maldonado, 2011). According to Hofstede (2011) some countries focus on the individual rather than society as a whole and are called individualistic countries. As in the case of Western cultures, people are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families. Alternatively, people from the Middle East and Asia are integrated into specific groups from a young age, categorizing them as collectivistic cultures.
Maintaining the harmony of the group becomes the main concern of any individual decision or action (Hofstede, 2011).
In collectivistic countries, advertisements emphasize the sense of belonging, conformity, and harmony. An example would be portraying people working together. Reeves (2012) research shows different studies comparing Eastern and Western advertisements and describes some findings. The dominant theme in Chinese advertisements is the family, as they must maintain stability and harmony within their societal cells. Other studies found that advertisements in Asian countries are linked more towards status, celebrity, beauty, and modernity (Bhatt et al., 2013), which contrast with individualism advertisements which emphasized independence and being different (Reeves, 2012).
Internet shopping is considered a global behavior; nonetheless, purchasing habits remain culturally bound. As members of a community, people can identify themselves with one or more cultures and countries. Some scholars have emphasized that on certain occasions, locally embedding a website is vital to business success. Hence, targeted websites should also be culturally sensitive in their thematic appearance, interactivity, and content. That could be achieved by adopting a product or service to a particular language and adjusting the look-and-feel to align with cultural taste and ensure successful global communication through websites, even though e-commerce sites are the outcomes of standardization in web communications and content (Jin, 2010).Therefore, we can hypothesize that: H3: Culture influences students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements on social media.

METHOD
The study focuses on the influence of celebrity characteristics (CC), social media advertisements (SM) and culture (SC) on students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsement on social media (AE).The study targeted Bahraini college students exposed to celebrity endorsements via social media. Estimated registered college students in both private and public universities about 38,113 students in total (Moedu.gov.bh, 2018). Data was collected through a structured questionnaire as the main research instrument and primary source used to gather data consisting of multiple sections where mostly Likert scale was used with 1 being strongly disagreed and 5 strongly agree. The hypotheses were tested to figure out if the statements were true or not as well as the level of significance by implementing correlation and multi-regression tests. The target segment consists of young adults that are highly susceptible to celebrity influence, tech-savvy and greatly impacted by the Bahraini culture. Bahraini university students as a population, fall appropriately within the research objective.
To ensure the validity of the adapted questionnaire items, the questionnaire was validated by four academic experts where few amendments were made on the questionnaire items based on their feedback. The result of Cronbach's α for research constructs used in this study is shown in  The sample size was calculated using a formula. The sample was approached through interaction with respondents (university students) as well as an online survey. The sample data was collected throughout a non-probability sampling method (Etikan, 2016). The sample size (SS) was determined by setting 90% level of confidence at 5% tolerance error, standard deviation assessed at .5 and the population was estimated at 38,113 of registered students (Moedu.gov.bh, 2018).

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
This section presents and discusses study findings including the results of hypotheses testing. Pearson's correlations test between all the variables was carried out.  A multiple regression analysis tests (Hair et al., 1998) is used to test the hypotheses, but in order to do multiple regressions we have to convert the data to linear equation and find out the mean of each construct.  1.96), and the F significant is (0.000) which is < than 0.05, and that significance rate indicates that independent variables used in the study have a significant relationship with the dependent variable AE. Celebrity characteristics factor-beta is (.210), t-test value is (3.984), and significant level is (.000)< than (0.05) leading to accept the hypothesis because of having a positive impact on students' attitude towards celebrity endorsements on social media. Social media factor-beta is (.519), t-test value is (9.447), and significant level is (.000which is < than (0.05). Based on the result of the beta test for this factor, we could say that this factor has a positive impact on Bahraini college students' attitude towards celebrity endorsements on social media. Culture factor-beta is (.022), t-test value is (.475), and significant level is (.635)> than (0.05). The results inform that we should reject the hypothesis, as it has a positive but insignificant impact on students' attitude towards celebrity endorsements on social media in Bahrain.
For hypotheses testing, Table 4 shows two out of three hypotheses were accepted. Findings show that celebrity characteristics and social media advertisements have a significant impact on university students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements through social media in Bahrain. However, the culture factor was rejected after examining its significant level (0.635) which is larger than 0.10. Moreover, comparing the beta for all the previous factors, it was found that social media held the highest beta among all the factors (0.519), which means that social media have the highest impact on student's attitude towards celebrity endorsements in Bahrain. Celebrity characteristics' beta score was 0.210, indicating that celebrity attributes have a high impact on students' attitude towards celebrity endorsements through social media. At 5% significance P-value= 0.000 < 0.05 Accepted H2: Social media advertisements influence students' attitudes toward celebrity endorsements.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Students' attitude towards celebrity endorsements on social media in Bahrain was positive. Based on the conceptual model, the factors that influence celebrity endorsement on social media were identified. The data analysis shows that following a celebrity endorser on social media influences student's brand awareness. It was not surprising that the majority of the students participating in this study have indicated that they became aware of a brand because a celebrity-endorsed it on social media and celebrities post information about brands that they use and engage with their fans, since fans frequently follow celebrities on social media to gain information about them (Cunningham & Bright, 2012). Attractiveness had the most positive impact of celebrity characteristics, followed by informative ability and interactive attributes from social media. The results showed that Snapchat and Instagram were more used and preferred by Bahraini students. This requires business to carefully select the right social media platform for businesses to use when implementing a celebrity endorsement marketing campaign. Our study goes in line with Liligeto et al. (2014) who emphasized the importance of selecting the right advertising medium.
The study aimed to set a benchmark and evaluate the trend in social media adoption and its function as a marketing tool. According to the results obtained from the survey, all the respondents were found to be social media users and have a social media presence. Furthermore, they all spend significant amount of time on different social media channels. The culture was found to be an insignificant factor on students' attitude towards celebrity endorsements through social media, but this research was limited to the quantitative approach and does not provide the "why". Culture might still be an influencing factor in how students select their favorite celebrities or what celebrity attributes they find most appealing. Nonetheless, open to other interpolations, culture was not influencing students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements through social media as they may have found the social media environment to be a constraint-free from any cultural obligations.
Several studies have pointed out that celebrity endorsements are effective for product promotion because they increase the recalling capacity of a brand and helpful for brand awareness (Abdussalam, 2014; Arora &Sahu, 2013). Our study results are supported by literature review on celebrity endorsements as trustfulness and attractiveness were found to have impacted over students' attitudes (Ohanian, 1990). Our study found that products that endorsed were seen better than other products. Cunningham and Bright (2012) too concluded that source characteristics are important to know the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements on social media.
Endorser credibility was found to be significantly linked to attitude toward social media advertising. A credible source of characteristics such as attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness creates online users have a favorable attitude towards social media advertising (Samat at el., 2014). Findings also correlate with other studies where credibility is viewed an important factor in the success of celebrity endorsements in social media (Jin&Phua, 2014). Furthermore, the study results support the findings of Maoyan at el., (2014) that social media marketing stimulates external factors and influences consumer's inner perception factors for likely purchase intention. Variation was found in the culture factor as the results did not show significant impact on Bahraini college students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements through social media. Younger people were predominantly attracted by celebrity endorsers as they value the entertainment skills of media celebrities (Chan et al., 2013). A significant increase in revenue is made when a firm's product is endorsed by celebrity advertising (Opuni et al., 2014).

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
This study investigates the factors influencing the attitude of university students towards celebrity endorsements through social media. The findings indicate that two of the three factors (Celebrity Characteristics and Social Media Endorsements) do indeed influence university students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements through social media. The culture was found to be an insignificant factor. The celebrity characteristics factor contains attractiveness, trustworthiness, experience, and credibility. Those elements were found to have positive impact on how Bahraini students feel and behave towards celebrity endorsements. Furthermore, social media elements such as interactivity, shareability, and ease of use were found to have high positive significant contribution to Bahraini students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements.
Bahraini college students' preferences are slightly different in terms of social media applications from global trends. Nevertheless, college students are well informed and in sync with global behavior. As this research has further highlighted the important roles of celebrity characteristics and communication medium on students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements, the findings pointed out the fact that students' attitudes towards celebrity endorsements through social media were influenced by celebrity and social media without specifying neither any celebrity nor a specific media channel. This study brings new findings with regards to Bahraini consumer's perception of celebrity influence and communication technology in marketing strategies, which is not much covered in the literature of this region's consumer perspectives.
This study shows a significant relationship between attitude towards endorsement and celebrity characteristics as well as social media, thus, providing additional insights into consumer "Students" attitude towards marketing tools, adding a new element to the academic literature on marketing strategies while extending the knowledge about the Bahraini consumer. The study provides insights into how businesses and organizations should plan upcoming marketing campaigns and influence students' attitudes towards the delivered message. With more media reporting on celebrities, firms can further understand factors that can influence consumers' buying behavior. Marketers can align their actions; marketing offers and marketing communications using social media effectively. Companies are encouraged to use social networks to track and respond to the opinions of their customers in a timely manner. They are recommended to select more preferable social networks such as Snapchat and Instagram that help them reach and influence younger targeted Bahraini consumers.
A comparison between celebrity types or nationalities could be examined in future research to understand their impact on consumer behavior. A change in research methodology, for example; a mix of qualitative and quantitative could enhance findings. Future research can focus on celebrity's categorization based on talent and gender. The factors influencing Arab consumers' attitude towards celebrity endorsements to be tested on a bigger population. Celebrities go beyond just products' endorsements as they have become brands. Another research opportunity is to study a celebrity brand.