Review of Economics and Development Studies (READS) (E-Journal)
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Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: Valid Predictors of Turnover Intentions
No full textHuman resource capital is the most strategic part of any organization. Retention of human resources is a critical issue these days. Keeping in view the importance of human capital and its retention, present study aimed to explore the impact of two strong predictors, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, on turnover intentions of employees in banking sector of Pakistan. 250 Survey questionnaires are distributed in Islamic and Conventional banks to elicit responses of professionals among which 207 questionnaires are returned and used for analysis. Findings reveal surprisingly contradictory results from previous studies. Job Satisfaction and organizational commitment are having very negligible impact on turnover intentions. Although employees are not much satisfied as well as committed with the organization but still they have minimal intention towards leaving the organization. Results indicated that turnover intentions of employees in banking sector of Pakistan depend on various other factors. Results are surprising but the paradox can be understood by keeping in view few demographics of respondents as well as the economic condition of the country. The study has significant decision-making implications for banks and called for an urgently inquiry about those influential factors that largely affect the turnover intentions of their employees. In addition, banks also need to apply measures to enhance the job satisfaction and organizational commitment as empirical results indicate very less satisfaction and commitment of employees
Factors Determining the Effective Role of Microfinance
Get PDFThe focus of this study is on the effectiveness of economic, social andinstitutional factors in manipulating the role of microfinance. It is a primarydata research conducted in the Bahawalpur division, Pakistan. The sampleconsists of 773 respondents, belonging to different microfinance providersof Pakistan that are NRSP, AKHU, FMFB, KASHF, KB, NRSP-B, TMFB.Data has been collected through face to face structured interviewing using aquestionnaire. It has been found that economic wellbeing and economicempowerment of borrowers after availing microfinance is positivelyaffected by consumer protection, education of borrowers, experience,business training, number of employed persons, length of membership,relation to household head, area and family reaction to business activity butnegatively by diversion of loan, interest rate, age of the borrowers andnumber of dependents
Public Spending and Macroeconomic Performance in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis
Get PDFPublic spending management is the base of stable macroeconomicenvironment .This empirical study has explored the relation betweenpublic spending and economic performance, in the context of Pakistan.An attempt is made to examine the growth effects of public spending forthe economy of Pakistan. To observe the public spending and Pakistan’smacroeconomic performance, time series data has been used for theperiod of 1972-2012. GDP growth has taken as the dependent variable.By applying the Auto regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) technologymacroeconomics performance of Pakistan has been analyzed. Our resultsindicate that government expenditure has positive and significant effectsbut excessive government expenditure have negative effects on theeconomy’s performance. This study may suggest that provision of moreincentives to the main sectors of the economy will lead to the soundeconomic conditions
Electricity Generation and Real Output in Asia: A Panel Co-Integration Approach
Get PDFPurpose: The present study concentrates on the relationship of electricitywith real output in Asia. The paper analyzes this connection individuallyamong all regions of Asia. Some countries are selected from Central Asia,East Asia, South Asia and South East Asia. Time period of 1990 – 2015 hasbeen chosen for the analysis. We have considered Solow growth model andhave taken labor and capital as necessary variables for growth. Afterconfirmation of integration of order as 1 for all variables, Kao Cointegrationtest infers presence of long run relationship in all models. FMOLSsuggests that labor and capital are positively significant factors for thedevelopment of real output in all the regions of Asia. Electricity Productionis positively influencing real output in Central Asia, South Asia and SouthEast Asia; For East Asia, it has been stated as negative. On the basis ofresults, study suggests that government should develop more skilled labor,cheap investment opportunities, efficient and cheap electricity production
Foreign Direct Investment, External Debt and Economic Growth: Evidence from Some Selected Developing Countries
Get PDFPurpose: The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between foreign direct investment, external debt and economic growth. The study is based on a sample of 25 region wise selected developing countries. Panel unit root tests suggest that selected variables are stationary at the level of first difference. Using data from 1990 to 2014, results of FMOLS method suggest that the core variables, foreign direct investment and External Debt have significant positive relationship with economic growth. Labor, Gross Domestic Saving and Government expenditures have positive while Gross capital formation exerts negative impacts on economic growth. Moreover, FDI exerts outstanding effects on growth because one unit rise in FDI raise the growth by 4.03 units while one unit rise in external debt upgrade the growth up to 2.13 units. It means that boundaries of selected developing nations are absorbent to FDI than external debt. The results of “Johansen Fisher Panel Co-integration test” reveal that, there exists a long period relationship among all the explained and explanatory variables. In order to investigate the causal relation among selected variables, pair wise granger causality test is employed
Space of Green Politics in South Asia: Myth or Reality?
Get PDFGreen politics is a political ideology comprises social progress through sustainable development, peace, social justice, and grass-root democracy. Green politics is an evolving trend in world politics emerged in 1970s and revolutionized the political scenarios after the mid-80s with the discovery of ‘Ozone Hole’ in 1984. Currently, green or eco political parties are popular in many advance countries such as Germany, France, UK, Netherland, and Spain etc. Regions which present a bleak picture on eco-politics are backward in environmental sustainability, and same is the case with South Asia. Environment is considered a secondary thing in South Asia; because region is already tackling the primary goals of life such as food, shelter, inflation, health, and education etc. Until achieving these goals; eco-politics will remain an illusion in South Asia despite facing many environmental related challenges. Hence, environmental slogans are not Asian political parties. Yet, there are some conservation and reforestation projects such as a billion-tree project in KPK of Pakistan or KFCC (Kerala forest conservation campaign) etc. South Asia is prone to climate change and global warming; Karachi, Mumbai, and Maldives are in the immediate threat to be drowned till 2050 if the sea level keeps rising due to the melting of glaciers. Hence, the need is to focus on more environmental oriented political programs before it is too latepopular in the region. There is a nominal finding about environment in the manifestoes of South
Effects of Despotic Leadership and Sexual Harassment on Emotional Exhaustion of Employees in Health Sector of Pakistan: Moderating Role of Organizational Cynicism
Get PDFThe purpose of this research study has been to examine the relationship between despotic leadership, emotional exhaustion and sexual harassment in the presence of organizational cynicism as the moderator. The above-mentioned relationships were empirically tested by collecting and analyzing the data from the government sector hospitals in Pakistan. The target respondents were female nurses working in the six different hospitals of Multan and Bahawalpur region. The sample of 350 nurses was randomly chosen to collect the data. The results of the study proved the positive effect of despotic leadership with the employee emotional exhaustion. The other relation, which is proved, is the significant positive relationship between sexual harassment and the emotional exhaustion in the presence of organizational cynicism as the moderator. Based on the social exchange theory it is inferred that a reciprocal relationship exists in the organizational context between the leaders and the subordinates when the trauma and depression is lent to the subordinates the subordinates feel emotionally deteriorated
Brand-Centered Human Resource Practices and Brand Citizenship Behavior: The Notion to Develop Competitive Advantage
Get PDFThe Brand citizenship behavior (BCB) is relatively a new aspect in marketing literature. Researchers have given a label of BCB to the discretionary behavior that employees’ exhibit for the successful delivery of brand promise. In internal branding, the role of an employee is recognized as critical in delivering the service as promised by the brand. As practitioners and academicians argue that, an employee’s brand-aligned behavior that goes above and beyond the job responsibility can be an asset for the company and is difficult for competitors to imitate. Drawing on employees’ brand- aligned behavior to build the strong organization brand this study conceptualized that, the successful implementation of internal branding doctrine could be strengthened by brand-centered human resource practices and develop a new route for companies to build the competitive advantage. Thus, the study found that the human resource practices such as fair recruitment process, training programs, and socialization practice could enhance the employees’ brand citizenship behavior
Perceptions of Prospective Teachers about Peer Assessment as a Tool for Reflective Practices
Get PDFPeer assessment is a collaborative learning method that assists students to have a control of their learning and involve them in reflective process. This study focuses on exploring the perceptions of prospective teachers about use of peer assessment as a reflective tool in classrooms of teacher education programs. This study was quantitative in nature and used descriptive research design. All prospective teachers enrolled in the bachelor programs of teacher education programs (i.e., BS and B.Ed. Hon. Elementary) of public sector universities of Pakistan served as population of the study. Using multistage purposive sampling technique, a sample of 1374 prospective teachers was selected. For seeking prospective teachers’ opinion, a questionnaire comprising 17 items on a five-point Likert scale, was developed. Questionnaire was validated by experts. Reliability of questionnaire was ensured with Cronbach alpha value of 0.79. For data analysis, both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. From analysis of data, it was found that prospective teachers perceive that they are sometimes equipped with necessary skills for involving in peer assessment and occasionally their teachers provide them necessary tools to carry out peer assessment for the reflective learning. It was also found that majority of students agree that peer assessment helps them in identifying their weaknesses and strengths more effectively. While prospective teachers reported that peer assessment is an activity that takes a lot of time and it carries biasness with its procedure. It is, however, recommended that peer assessment might be an important component of classroom teaching and learning practices. It is further recommended that promotion of peer assessment in classrooms may be used as a tool for creation of reflective teaching and learning environment
Uncovering the Myths of TQM in Readymade Garment Sector of Pakistan: An Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach
Get PDFQuality has always been center of gravity for superior competitive advantage. TQM has captured attention of both practitioners and academicians because it is an important management practice for improving performance. This research is aimed to provide insight of the challenges faced by readymade garment industry of Pakistan for implementation of TQM principles. In depth literature, Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and Matriced' Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement (MICMAC) analyses have been employed to investigate the phenomena under study. Discourse of literature revealed that there are twenty challenges in implementation of TQM. Lack of employee trust in senior management is the most critical challenge to be addressed that occupies bottom of the model. Lack of formalized strategic plan for change and lack of leadership occupy highest position in the model hence attracts least attention. MICMAC analysis revealed that lack of consistency of purposes autonomous, lack of evaluation procedures and benchmark indices and obsolete technology are independent and all other challenges fall in linking quadrant. Whereas no such challenge is exclusively categorized as dependent, however, most of the linking factors have high degree of dependence as well. This study is useful for the organizations which are in process of implementing TQM practices