International Journal of Social Science & Entrepreneurship

Interplay of Green Construction Procurement and Logistic Service Innovation: Advancing Sustainable Economic Growth and Sustainable Development Goals

Ahras Rashid , Sherbaz Khan, Adeel Shah, Saheer Ali — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper seeks to explore in great depth the green construction procurement influence to green logistic services, creative activities as well as their general contribution towards economic sustainable growth. Quantitative methodology was used in this study where data collection was through survey to the engineers and project managers under construction projects. The study, hence, critically tempts to examine towards environmentally responsible procurement enhanced services towards transportation as well as the developments of new and sustainable solutions in detail.The major findings indicated towards a high significant correlation between green procurement practices and enhancement of green logistic services particularly in sustainable material handling and transportation. Moreover, green purchasing is shown to considerably boost sustainability-related product and process innovation. The research points out the need for green logistic services in contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the green construction procurement and emphasis on management and innovation of the services effectively.The study identifies that self-administered surveys limit inclusion while focus within a specific demographic creates further limitation, thus suggesting necessity for further research to understand the long-term effects of green procurement and logistics over SDGs.

Bonding of Market-Based Innovativeness with Corporate Reputation Is Emotional or Rational? Evidence From the Pharmaceutical Industry of Pakistan

Haider Iqbal, Zaeema Asrar Mohiuddin — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The study is conducted to find the impact of Product Innovativeness (PI) and Market Innovativeness (MI) on the Emotional Appeal of Corporate Reputation (EA-CR) as well as Corporate Reputation about Products and Services (CR-PS) in the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan. Primary data was gathered from the sales force of the 15 companies selected via stratified random sampling. Existing measurement scales of the constructs were utilized after adaptation due to their consistency and robustness in different contexts. Moreover, PLS-SEM is used for data analysis. The findings showed that PI significantly affects CR-PS and EA-CR. On the other hand, market innovativeness does not significantly influence CR-PS, however, its impact on EA-CR is also significant. Results suggested that pharmaceutical companies of Pakistan should work over market-based innovativeness for their goods and services to be viewed as superior and innovative, besides, such companies are also admired, liked and esteemed by various publics. The role of innovativeness in shaping sophisticated and legitimate corporate reputation has been recognized by researchers. Nevertheless, both constructs are multidimensional and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study discussing the bonding of market-based innovativeness with EA-CR and CR-PS in the context of pharmaceutical sector.

The Role of Teamwork and Employee Empowerment in Enhancing Organizational Performance in the Pakistan Software Industry

Muhammad Musharaf Hanif, Amrita, Muhammad Shaiq — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the impacts of human resource planning (HRP) practices relating to teamwork and employee empowerment on the organizational performance of software firms in Pakistan. While prior research shows bundles of HRP initiatives can benefit outcomes like innovation and financial growth, there is limited focus on specific mechanisms, especially in developing country IT sectors facing talent pressures. Through a survey of 105 software companies, regression modeling indicates teamwork and empowerment together explain 48.7% of performance variation. Both practices display significant positive relationships, validating social exchange, human capital, and ability-motivation-opportunity theories positing that progressive HR systems boost competencies, creativity, and motivation to drive organizational success. However, teamwork has a relatively stronger effect. These findings carry important implications. Theoretically, they provide granular insights beyond broad HRP bundles on how contextual practices like collaboration and autonomy-support stimulate software sector outcomes. For practice, they underscore the need for targeted investments in team initiatives, empowerment policies, and complementary HRM ecosystems beyond efficiency, as software human capital is a vital asset for innovation and growth. Nonetheless, limitations of the cross-sectional design point to opportunities for longitudinal and qualitative research on mediating mechanisms and integrative bundles tailored to software industry dynamics. Overall, by highlighting the performance returns of contextual HRP dimensions in Pakistan’s burgeoning software space, this study offers actionable guidance for harnessing human capital while also elucidating theoretical linkages between targeted HR practices and organizational effectiveness.

Nexus between Public Audit Dimensions and Audit Quality

Mansoor Ahmed, Faiza Sajjad, Fahim Qazi, Hasan Raza, Muhammad Mubeen — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study attempts to examine the dimensions of public audit in the context of audit quality to investigate the association in public sector. SPSS model starts with likert scales consisting of five dimensional structures: trust and confidence, integrity and credibility, independence and impartiality, conflict of interest and professional secrecy & competence and objectivity to measure audit quality. 251 auditors are the respondents of Pakistan Military Accounts Department (PMAD) varying different demographics. The majority of the auditors were satisﬁed with the values and principle set up by DAGP regarding code of ethics for public auditors in line with the INTOSAI Code of ethics and auditing standards. The ﬁndings suggest that the standard model of public audit dimensions consist of the five dimensions and provides good determinants of satisfaction. Trust and confidence, Integrity and credibility, independence and impartiality and competence and objectivity have significant influence on audit quality and showing positive association while conflicts of interest and professional secrecy is the only variable is insignificant and negative association.

Work Engagement in Higher Education Institutes of Pakistan: The Role of Skill, Motivation and Opportunity Enhancing HRM Practices

Lata Lohana , Suresh Kumar , Gobind M. Herani , Aroon Kumar — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In the current business environment, organizations are giving a lot of attention to employee engagement. Therefore, the present study’s goal was to examine the connection between skill, motivation, and opportunity -enhancing HRM practices and employee engagement with respect to academic staff working in higher education, Sindh, Pakistan. The study
employs a quantitative research design based on SPSS and Smart PLS. Data were gathered from 307 academician working in the staff working in higher education Sindh, Pakistan. The survey approach was used to gather the data for the cross-sectional research. The findings of the study show a connection between employee engagement and HRM practices. Organizations’ HRM practices gave employees more authority and engagement, which improved their performance in their jobs. The findings of the study suggest that for universities to succeed in the long run, skill, motivation, and opportunity enhancing HRM practices should be prioritized. Therefore, organizations should concentrate on and efficiently apply human resource management practices to increase employee commitment and engagement physically, cognitively, and emotionally with their work. This study extents social exchange theory, it also offers universities insight into the significance of having efficient HRM procedures to raise academicians' levels of commitment to their jobs.

Outcomes of Humble Leadership on Employee Organizational Citizenship Behaviors; Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

Ahmad Din , Amir Hussain Shar , Qamar Abbas Mangi — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The current study model asserts a certain influence concerning humble leadership over employees' outcome (OCB) is treated through psychological safety and draws its assumptions from the social exchange theory. According to the theory, leader humility fosters high levels of employee psychological safety in order to increases employee OCB towards the organization. An analysis of the findings was done utilizing a quantitative research approach. Due to the use of a time-lag research strategy, the sample size for this study is 247. Since data was collected from Pakistan's banking industry. The findings support the idea that humble leadership and employees' OCB are mediated by employees' psychological safety. The current study draws this conclusion based on its theoretical and methodological strengths, implications, and research limitations for the future.

Analysis of Determinants for Creation of Entrepreneurial Attitude among University Students of Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Muhammad Usman Feroz — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study examined entrepreneurial support structures for the creation of entrepreneurial attitude among university graduates. The entrepreneurial several support structures comprised four elements as independent variables i.e. educational support, structural support, relational support, and self- efficacy and examined their effects on attitude of entrepreneurial by the University graduates. An extensive literature review was conducted and consequently hypothesized the relationship between several support structures and attitudes toward entrepreneurship were established. A questionnaire was also designed with the help of existing relevant studies and data were collected from the university's convenient locations. Structural Equation Modeling is employed for the analysis of the relationship proposed by the study. The study results illustrate that all the elements of entrepreneurial support structure have positive significant effects on attitude towards entrepreneurship by the university graduates of Southern Punjab. The findings of the study also present important essential implications for practitioners and researchers. This study gives us the high evidence and close association of support structures for the creation of an entrepreneurial attitude. A vital contribution to improving all these support structures will lead us to create a more entrepreneurial environment and opportunities for the students and for the people with a creative mindset but not having infrastructural opportunities. Further, this study illustrated the certain vital recommendations to the educational institutions of Pakistan in order to redesign the curriculum to an entrepreneurial attitude in the graduates.

Keywords: , , , , ,

Issues And Challenges of Academic Stress Among First-Year University Students: An Investigative Study

Shabana Akhtar , Naeem Akhtar — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

During their time in college, students face various problems and difficulties that might negatively impact their academic success if they are not adequately handled. But it does have its share of challenges and growing pains. It takes work to get used to new surroundings. Students from an academic school environment to a university may encounter psychological, intellectual, and social challenges. Continuous learning stress can exhaust a person's resources and lead to several adaptation problems, claim Bedewy and Gabriel (2015). This study sought to understand the problems and obstacles that first-year university students encounter that lead to academic stress and identify strategies or solutions that assist them in managing stress-related problems and obstacles that impact their academic performance during their first year of study. The research included semi-structured interviews to gather data from fifteen second and third-semester students at various institutions in Karachi. The participants were selected based on their backgrounds, including public sector colleges, private colleges, and A-level colleges. Based on the research results, stress is caused by fear of failing, academic workload, instructor behavior, adjustment to a new setting, and assessment and examination routines.

While-reading Strategies and Their Effectiveness on Reading Comprehension Skill: An Experiment on Secondary School Students in Pakistan

Imran Ahmed , Munawer sultana , Syed Waqarul Hasan , Zahid Ali — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This quasi-experiment meant to realize productivity of while-reding strategies for the development of comprehension skill at secondary level students of public sector schools in Karachi, Pakistan. It was organized in two secondary schools following pretest posttest approach with experimental and controlled group. The 48 individuals underwent the experiment, who were tested for i) visualizing, ii) Skimming, iii) Scanning text, iv) Vocabulary identification, v) Making Connections, vi) Drawing Inferences, vii) Verifying Details, viii) Evaluating. SPSS and independent sample -t test were the data organization and analysis sources. According to the results, it seems that the experimental group performed better in the English reading comprehension test when compared to the control group. The suggested strategies were only introduced to the experimental group and not to the control group, which could be the reason for the difference in performance.

Keywords: , , i) visualizing, ii) Skimming, iii) Scanning text, iv) Vocabulary identification, v) Making Connections, vi) Drawing Inferences, vii) Verifying Details, viii) Evaluating.

Empowering Women through Tourism and Financial Development: Empirical Evidence from Upper Middle-Income Economies

Mansoor Ahmed , Manoj Kumar , Ayesha Ahmad , Shazma Khan , Iqra Azeemi — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The concept of women’s empowerment in this study focuses on international tourism, economic growth, financial development and financial inclusion among others as integral aspects that would help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Using panel data from 15 Upper Middle-Income Countries between 1995 and 2017, the study employs cutting edge approaches such as fixed-effect models, random effect models, GMM and robust LS regressions to identify major impacts. The results show a strong relationship between these factors regarding women’s empowerment with clear impacts on self-employment among the women and increased participation in serviceability and industrial areas. In particular, these factors play a very important role in total employment of women. The analysis reinforces the ability of international tourism, economic growth, financial development and financial inclusion to facilitate women’s empowerment in Upper Middle-Income Countries. This study illuminates the complex realities that guide how a woman participates in power structures, which partly exposes broad aspiration of sustainable development.

Stereotyping through Humour in Animated Movies: A Multimodal Analysis

Samreen Fazal — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Stereotyping pervades across cultures and is carried out through several ways including media, social practices, and behaviours. Animated movies are one of the popular modes wherein humour acts as an effective discourse vehicle to represent and negotiate certain stereotypical tags associated with race, gender, and social class. There are contending claims about whether animated movies have been purged off the prevalent stereotypical biases, but the contention remains unsubstantiated. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the humour genre of animated movies with a view to figuring out whether the stereotyping associated with race has either been eliminated or reduced with the passage of time. Four popular animated movies, namely, Shrek (2001), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Zootopia (2016) and Moana (2016) were analysed using textual analysis. The data collection was based on the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH) presented by Attardo (2001) with some extensions proposed by Tsakona (2013). The notions of Script Opposition and Target Knowledge Resources (KR's) of GTVH have been treated as the selection criteria of humour incidences. Those humour incidences which portray positive or negative aspects of established beliefs have been analysed. The study identified verbal and non-verbal modes of humour employed in the selected animated movies, communicating certain positive and negative stereotypes. Results suggested that multimodal humour served to perpetuate as well as fade and neutralise negative and positive facets of existing tags associated with white, black, and Polynesian races. The analysis suggested mixed stereotypes, however, the striking pattern observed in the data analysis over the period manifested a considerable progress in promoting positive stereotypes of race particularly black and Polynesians.

Key terms: , , , , , , Zootopia, Moana.

Exploring Teacher Attitudes Towards ChatGPT: A comprehensive Review

Naweed-e-Sehar — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores teachers' attitudes towards ChatGPT, a language model created by OpenAI, and its potential implications for education. ChatGPT employs sophisticated machine learning methodologies to produce text replies that simulate human conversations, garnering millions of users in the days following its launch. ChatGPT has several benefits, yet it may encourage academic dishonesty and overuse of chatbots. ChatGPT's human-like answers and academic assignment help raise these concerns. This can boost productivity and help students immediately, but it also increases plagiarism and cheating concerns. Chatbots may also impair student's critical thinking, problem-solving, and autonomous learning. Using ChatGPT as a tool while encouraging academic integrity and self-reliance is vital. Effective implementation tactics, clear instructions, and effective monitoring can minimize these downsides and maximize ChatGPT's benefits in educational contexts. The study utilizes the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework to assess teacher attitudes thoroughly. The framework considers factors such as perceived usefulness, usability, impact on student learning, and concerns about information security and ethical considerations. According to the literature review, teachers acknowledge the capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT to revolutionize classrooms into social-constructivist learning environments. Even so, there have been expressions of concern regarding time limitations and the necessity for chatbots to encompass subject matters beyond the prescribed curriculum. The student demographic has positively perceived ChatGPT, citing its engaging and beneficial qualities. However, it is also recognized that certain limitations are associated with the platform. The precision of ChatGPT's replies is contingent upon the caliber of the training data, and discrepancies and imprecisions have been detected. However, ChatGPT exhibits the potential to enhance student efficiency and address standardized test inquiries.

The review article's findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge by offering insights into teachers' attitudes toward ChatGPT. The research underscores the necessity for enhanced faculty training and consciousness to tackle issues related to academic misconduct. Additionally, it provides suggestions for the successful integration of artificial intelligence tools in educational environments, taking into account teachers' viewpoints. By comprehending teachers' perspectives towards ChatGPT, policymakers can formulate guidelines that promote the integration of AI tools in educational settings while also considering teachers' apprehensions. Furthermore, teachers can use discoveries to improve their instructional methodologies and encourage analytical thinking and creativity in student assignments.

The Nutritional Implications of High Wheat Prices on Agriculture Households in Pakistan

Isra Asif, Ather Maqsood Ahmed — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study analyzes the potential repercussions of high wheat prices on agriculture household economic and nutritional well-being in Pakistan. This task was accomplished by formulating a theoretical model to capture the economic behavior of agricultural households that produce marketable surpluses of wheat. For empirical verification, eight modules of nationally representative Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) were combined with approximate price levels to create a pooled cross-sectional sample of annual price-indices for household expenditure from 2000-01 to 2018-19. The study uses the Linear Approximate of Almost Ideal Demand System (LA-AIDS) model to derive demand elasticities and conduct a comparative static analysis. Finally, the model is extended to assess household nutritional well-being by linking price effects to calorie intake. The empirical findings demonstrated that high wheat prices resulted in high farm revenues for agricultural households. Although wheat consumption has declined, these households have used excess profits to diversify the food basket, which in turn led to an improvement in calorie intake. An indirect spillover effect from changes in wheat prices has also been observed, leading to an increase in demand for domestically produced commodities. Since the overall impact of wheat price increase on agricultural and non-agricultural households is mixed, it is proposed to pursue a careful food security policy to ensure the economic and nutritional well-being of the entire society. This study adopts a two-pronged approach of social to integrating social safety nets that does not hinder agricultural growth to achieve a mutually rewarding outcome.

Research Analysis of Teaching Methodology Employed in Pakistani Public Sector Schools

Warsha Kshif , Imran Ahmed , Abeer Zainab — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The paper examines the role of the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) in English classrooms in Pakistani Public Sector Schools, by analyzing the aims and objectives of the English Secondary Stage books 1 and 2, as allocated by the Sindh Textbook Board, and examining whether students can fulfill these aims and reach the language objectives as mentioned in the syllabus. The research study that has been conducted consisted of a sample group comprising of a total of 33 students. Out of these, 15 students belonged to the Matric level (Grade X) while the remaining 18 were from Grade 1X, and they all belonged to a Welfare Organization known as The Justuju School. To measure the students' comprehension skills, they were given a text to read, followed by a set of questions that included both open-ended and multiple-choice questions. In addition to this, two English textbooks were analyzed as part of the study to determine whether the objectives of the curriculum were being successfully fulfilled or not. The study aimed at examining the effectiveness of the curriculum and identifying any areas that require improvement to enhance the students' overall learning experience and comprehension skills.

Asymmetric impact of coronavirus news, fear index, oil price on United States equity market: the first study on Infectious Disease EMV index

Asima Siddique, Ali Ijaz , Humaira Akram , Zeeshan Khan , Muhammad Asif Khan — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The first novel paper investigates the effect of the Coronavirus crisis (USCOVID-19), fear index, and oil price on the United States equity market price. Our study first time used the novel proxy of the fear index (Infectious Disease EMV index) developed by Baker et al. (2020). The recent paper collected the data from 21 January 2020 which is the start of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in America (US) up till the 6 July 2021. The paper has used the linear model of Nonlinear Autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) to confirm the causal factors (short-long run) of DJI. The result depicts that two out three exogenous (independent) variables USCOVID_19 and Infectious Disease EMV significantly negatively related to co-integrated with the United States equity market (DJI) in both positive and negative shocks except IDEMV negative shock are insignificant. While oil is significantly positively co-integrated with the DJI index in both positive and negative. In the case of long term co-integration all variables OIL, USCOVID_19, and Infectious Disease EMV are significantly co-integrated in case of positive shocks but insignificant in case of negative shocks. Our study is beneficial for individual and government investors by identify an important investment (Infectious Disease EMV index) when they want to diversify their portfolio. This incorporate the factor contagious Infectious Disease in EMV, so it is more helpful for sectoral investor when the measure asymmetric volatilities factors.

Multi-grade Teaching and its Detrimental Effects on the Performance of Primary School Teachers in District Hub, Balochistan

Abdul Qayoom , Abdul Aziz , Muhammad Akram , Muhammad Faseehullah Khan — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of the present study is to explore challenges faced by teachers in multigrade classes. Many rural Pakistani primary schools lack resources and teachers, so they provide multi-grade classroom instruction. In this arrangement, a single teacher oversees the entire classroom while students from two or three grades are housed in combined classes. This study looked at the elements that lead to poor instruction in multi-grade classrooms in Hub district primary schools. Time and funding constraints limited the study to thirty teachers. For this study, a quantitative research methodology was used. The quantitative research methodology was chosen due to temporal constraints. The research instrument that was used was the questionnaire. Teachers working in Balochistani primary schools in the Hub district made up the research population for this study. As a research sample, thirty primary school teachers were chosen from the Hub district. The data was tabulated and then graphically analyzed. With the aid of their interview guide, the researchers themselves serve as the primary research instrument in this study. Information gathered from one-on-one interviews was coded, transcribed, and question responses were categorized for this study. A questionnaire can be used as one research instrument. It was found that teaching multiple grades negatively affected the ability of teachers to instruct. Teachers' comments revealed that teaching in multi-grade classrooms also calls for a number of advantageous adjustments. Based on the results, constructive recommendations and suggestions were made.

Bridging Differences: The Role of Socialization and Inclusivity in Fostering Employee Performance in Healthcare Sector

Sobia Jamil , Mustafa Hyder — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The main goal of this study is to obtain a more profound understanding of employee performance among healthcare staff, while also focusing on promoting organizational socialization and inclusion in the workplace. Moreover, the study aims to determine the level of ease with which individuals from diverse backgrounds may integrate into the ideal work environment by examining their organizational commitment. The study employed probability sampling with a random sampling approach as the population is known, and the sample size is 329. Regardless of the fact that inclusive workplaces have three separate characteristics, this research focuses solely on the sector that actively promotes them.

This research shows that with the arrival of Industry 5.0, the age of people relationships, hospital workers may concentrate on acquiring new knowledge and retaining their existing experience when they are more committed and socialized to be ready for the competitive phase of progress. In addition, the study found that when hospitals fail to prioritize inclusiveness, it leads to the creation of a hostile work environment for healthcare workers. According to the results, a hospital must have a diverse workforce to boost employee performance. Doctors and Nurses adapt to new opportunities and juggle many tasks at once. Effective socialization and the development of organizational commitment sustain and increase employees' performance. Given the lack of direct evidence linking organizational socialization negatively to perceived organizational inclusion in hospitals in Pakistan, Organizations should strive to design socialization processes that promote equity, diversity, and inclusivity to ensure all employees feel valued and included.

Enhancing Sustainable Consumer Behavior through Eco-Friendly Packaging Innovations: A Case Study of Dairy industry

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

They may stay relevant in the experience economy, changing marketing landscape, and evolving psychological demands of consumers by providing a great user experience. To improve product values and build trust in brands, this study looks at how user experience affects product brand image, brand trust, and brand loyalty. Through case study research, we determined which brands were most popular with consumers. Then, we used that information to do positioning studies on variables like brand color, image, packaging design, etc. The research used a made-up user experience model to examine the effects of brand loyalty and surveyed 357 consumers. We used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to check the relational model of how user experience affects customers. Sensory, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive experiences all have a role in shaping consumers' perceptions of brands; these perceptions, in turn, seem to affect consumers' trust in those brands, and the interplay between these two variables is shown to influence consumers' loyalty to those brands significantly. Product package design, brand loyalty theory, and the ever-changing consumer products industry can all benefit from incorporating user experience into their respective fields. Marketers can glean valuable strategies from the study's findings to increase product market competitiveness and customer brand stickiness.