CSRC Publishing: Open Journal Systems (Center for Sustainability Research and Consultancy)
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Why do Anti-corruption Agencies Fail in Pakistan? A Phenomenological Study
No full textPurpose: Pakistan's consistently poor ranking on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) highlights the urgent need to address the pervasive corruption problem in the country. This study aims to explore the reason behind the failure of anti-corruption agencies in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach: This study has adopted a phenomenological research design. Six in-depth interviews were conducted with government officials working in anti-corruption agencies. NVivo 20 software was used to analyze the data.
Findings: The study identified three main themes; Political influence, legislation, and lack of capacity building. The finding indicates victimization, job insecurity, weak prosecution, self-beneficiary reforms by lawmakers, and lack of resources are the major reasons behind the failure of anti-corruption agencies in Pakistan.
Practical implications: The study provides implications for policymakers, regulators, and anti-corruption agencies to formulate effective policies and regulations to combat corruption.
Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is the first that explores the reasons behind the failure of anti-corruption agencies from the perspective of anti-corruption agencies
Gender Differences and the Usage of Online Banking Services in Swaziland
No full textPurpose: Through centuries, women are being perceived as being unable to adapt to change and are more likely to be technophobic. The usage of online banking changed the lives of both males and females globally, by providing customers access to their accounts, at any given time or place. With that said, the purpose of this study is to determine if and how male and female online banking customers differ in how they perceive the usage of the online banking systems in an emerging economy such as Swaziland.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A self-administrated survey was used to collect data from more than 280 banking customers within two regions in Swaziland.
Findings: The findings highlighted that no significant differences exist between male and female customers, however both genders were not fully comfortable and satisfied with the usage of the current online banking systems in Swaziland.
Implications/Originality/Value: In an emerging country such as Swaziland, it is vital for banks to understand why online banking users are still not fully satisfied with the current online banking system. By understanding the reasons can assist banks in the development of a more efficient and user-friendly system which would ultimately satisfy the needs to these customers
Disaggregated Components of Public Debt and Economic Growth of Pakistan
No full textPurpose
This study analyze the impact of the disaggregated components of Public debt and its servicing on the economic growth of Pakistan. More specifically, the domestic debt components are Floating Debt, Unfunded Debt and Permanent Debt, and external debt components are Multilateral Debt, Paris Club Debt, and Bilateral Debt.
Approach and Methodology
The data has been collected from 1976 to 2021 from World Bank Indicators and Statistics department of SBP and Pakistan Economic Survey Reports. ARDL model is employed on the Karagol Model (2002).
Findings
The finding as; the floating, unfunded multilateral, bilateral debt’s component and debt servicing impact negatively on the economic growth of Pakistan except Paris Club debt and Permanent debt.
Policy Recommendations
The recommendation of using Permanent Debt among domestic debt components and Paris Club Debt as of external debt components despite using other components of public deb
Empowering Education: Unleashing Teacher Self-Efficacy in Harnessing Instructional Technologies for Elementary-Level Students with Hearing Impairment
No full textPurpose: The primary aim of this descriptive study was to assess the self-efficacy of teachers working with hearing-impaired students at the elementary level in utilizing instructional technologies.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This survey-based research was conducted among hearing-impaired teachers in the Punjab Province. A sample of 124 teachers was randomly selected. The data collection tool employed was a questionnaire consisting of four and five-point Likert scale items. Data collection was performed through personal interviews, telephone interviews, and Google Forms. The study utilized both descriptive and inferential statistics, employing SPSS for data analysis. The research framework included components related to teacher self-efficacy in instructional technology, the variety of technologies employed in the classroom, factors influencing self-efficacy, and sources of self-efficacy.
Findings: The study's results revealed that special education teachers' self-efficacy in utilizing instructional technologies was positively associated with their years of experience in teaching hearing-impaired students, the availability of technical support, and the frequency of technology use.
Implications/Originality/Value: These findings carry significant practical implications. They suggest that improving professional development opportunities and providing adequate technical support can enhance the self-efficacy of special education teachers in using instructional technologies to benefit students with hearing impairments. This, in turn, may contribute to enhancing the overall quality of special education services for students with hearing impairments
Advanced Deep Learning-Based Predictive Modelling for Analyzing Trends and Performance Metrics in Stock Market
No full textObjective: This study's main goal is to investigate how deep learning approaches may be used to analyze stock market performance. The complex patterns and nonlinear interactions present in stock market data may be difficult to completely capture using traditional approaches, which are mostly based on statistical models.
Methodology: Our work uses a large dataset of historical stock prices, macroeconomic indices, and other crucial financial factors to address this. Simple Moving Averages (SMA) are one of the feature engineering approaches that are used to combine fundamental and technical indicators. To capture the temporal dynamics of the stock market, the study goes further into a variety of deep learning architectures, including as long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and recurrent neural networks (RNNs).
Findings: The results show that thorough feature engineering combined with deep learning approaches may effectively capture the complexity of the stock market and provide forecasts that are more accurate.
Implications: This highlights how deep learning may revolutionize financial market research and points to a paradigm change toward more trustworthy instruments for investors and decision-makers
Strategic Direction and Firm Performance: Evidence from the SACCO Sector
No full textPurpose: Strategic direction setting is a critical leadership practice to be adopted by organizations that intend to attain good performance. This study sought to examine the influence of strategic direction on Sacco performance.
Design/Methodology: The study utilized descriptive and correlational research design. The study was conducted in SACCOs in Kenya. Primary data was collected using a close ended questionnaire from SACCOs senior managers and CEOs were also interviewed. For data analysis, the study used descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and content analysis.
Findings: The study established that strategic direction setting significantly influenced SACCO performance.
Implications/Originality/Value: The findings provide a valuable insight on the importance of strategic direction setting in enhancing performance. This study will guide SACCO leaders to proactively set strategic direction through developing and communicating the vision, mission, goals and objectives as this will boost performance in terms of increased level of customer satisfaction, increase in members, asset base growth and growth in deposit base. The findings can be used as a basis for further research by scholars who are interested in understanding strategic direction in SACCO’s
Facebook and the Spiral of Silence: Examining the Social Media Dynamics among Female Students in Pakistan
No full textThe aim of this study is to investigate the way in which female Facebook users engage in political discourse, aligning its inquiry with Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's seminal Spiral of Silence theory (1974). Focusing on key variables like participants' perceived opinion climate, willingness to express opinions, fear of social isolation, the research explores the dynamics within two distinct Facebook audience compositions: the expansive macro climate and the intimate micro-climate. The former encompasses a diverse range of connections, from old friends to online communities, while the latter involves daily interactions with friends, family, and significant others. Survey data (quantitative analysis) has been collected targeting university students in the federal capital and Rawalpindi. This study corroborates earlier findings, affirming the presence of the Spiral of Silence phenomenon on Facebook. Notably, it reveals that Pakistani women who use Facebook are more likely to express themselves in micro groups with friends and relatives compared to macro-Facebook communities with lots of individuals. The study confirmed that fear of isolation has a major impact on opinion expression in macro circles, and that opinion climate evaluation is significant for both circles
Nexus Employee Engagement and Human Resource Management Practices: A Mediation Study through Psychological Involvement
No full textPurpose: This study investigates the relationship of human resource management practices with employee engagement, in hospitality industry. This study also explores the mediation role of psychological involvement in the relationship.
Methodology: The data utilized in this study was obtained from a sample of 380 employees working in the hospitality industry of Pakistan, via purposive sampling techniques. While the data of present study was analysed through structural equation modeling using smart-PLS 4.
Findings: Results of the present study confirms that there exists a significantly positive relationship between human resource management practices and employee engagement. Results also confirmed that psychological involvement significantly mediates the relationship of human resource management practices and employee engagement.
Implications: With this present study emphasizes the significance of implementing efficient human resource management strategies to promote employee engagement, while also suggesting that psychological participation plays a substantial role in this process. Through an in-depth understanding of the fundamental mechanisms through which human resource management practices exert influence on employee engagement, hospitality companies can formulate strategies aimed at augmenting employee well-being and performance. Additionally, the study clearly addresses shortcomings and provides recommendations as well.  
Testing the Reciprocal Relationship between Work Engagement and Job Crafting Behavior with the Mediating Role of Psychological Capital
No full textPurpose: The prevalence of crafting tasks in the workplace is rising in today's enterprises. Little is known about the underlying mechanisms of job crafting as of now. In this study, we examine how psychological capital plays a mediating role in the reciprocal relationship between job crafting and work engagement.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The necessary information for the analysis was gathered from Pakistani higher education institution faculty members, with a sample size of 240 faculty members. To test these hypotheses, we employed SmartPLS.
Findings: The study's conclusions show that psychological capital plays a role in mediating the reciprocal relationship between work engagement and job crafting. According to this study a person who is confident, hopeful, resilient, and self-efficient asks for more job resources and challenges at work.
Implications/Originality/Value: By examining the reciprocal association between work engagement and job crafting behavior among Pakistani academic members, the study genuinely contributes in policy designing for employees who are more engaged at work and having high psychological capital are more motivated to craft their jobs at work
Collaborative Communication Model for MSEs Business Sustainability at Pongkor National Geopark
No full textPurpose: Local economic development is part of the development of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the Geopark area which distinguishes them from MSEs with the Geoproduct concept, namely products that have a geoliteracy. Collaborative communication in development communication requires the involvement of stakeholders in the development process from planning, implementation to monitoring and evaluation to realize the sustainability of MSEs business. The research objectives are: (1) analyzing the characteristics of MSE actors and MSE business conditions in the Pongkor National Geopark area; (2) analyzing the perceptions of stakeholders and their influence on MSE business sustainability; (3) formulating a collaborative communication model that describes the variables that affect MSE business sustainability.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The research was conducted using a Mix Method approach, namely sequential exploratory, with the first order of quantitative methods and the second order using qualitative methods. The qualitative research method was conducted with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The quantitative research method was carried out with the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method to determine the communication model of MSE business sustainability in the Pongkor National Geopark.
Findings: The results showed that the characteristics of MSE actors have secondary education with a generally culinary business and have joined the community. There are differences in perceptions from stakeholders related to factors that affect business sustainability which include competitive products, competent human resources and collaborating stakeholders; and the collaboration communication model shows that collaborative competence is influenced by digital competence, stakeholder support and interest in Geopark and Geoproduct, and collaborative competence affects MSE business sustainability in Pongkor National Geopark. Based on this, it is found that the collaborative communication model has not been effective because the level of understanding of collaboration by stakeholders, especially MSE actors, is not optimal.
Implications/Originality/Value: So in the future, the collaborative communication model can be improved through rational choices from the use of digital communication that can eliminate space and time barriers, especially for MSE actors