Journal of Management Research

Pakistan's Next Industrial Revolution: The Case of Industrial Estates in Hazara Region

2022-07-01T12:53:09+00:00

Objective: This research paper aims to identify the major hurdles in the industrial development of Pakistan. Hazara division being located on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route is one of the important hubs and is, therefore, the universe of this study.

Method: The relevant data needed for the research was collected from Abbottabad and Haripur industrial estates using snowball sampling. An in-depth personal interview with seven industrialists in the targeted area was conducted to get an insight into the underlying causes of industrial sickness. Interviews were recorded using smart phones, were then transcribed and analyzed. The themes were deducted after listening to the recording multiple times.

Result: The themes we deduced from the interviews were Location Disadvantage and Supply Chain disruptions, Technological backwardness and low-skilled workforce, Complicated System of Taxes, Inefficient and unhelpful governmental policies, power shortage, and Threats from Cheap Chinese Goods.

Conclusion: Based on the findings of this research it is concluded that the government needs to revise its policy making it more supportive for industrial development. Concrete power supply policy and preparing skilled laborers will enhance industrial development. Similarly, the industry needs to adopt a proactive policy and introduce a collective solution rather than working individually as a unit. A university-industry collaboration is needed to be developed for ensuring the technical and skilled workforce as well as keeping in pace with the advanced countries.

POST-COVID-19 PANDEMIC TURNOVER INTENTION OF NURSES AND THE ROLE OF JOB-EMBEDDEDNESS

2022-07-07T06:32:30+00:00

A catastropheinstigatedas a result of COVID-19 epidemic influenced the entire world and left enduring effects on virtually every aspect of the society. This research study examines nurses’ turnover intention in the post-COVID19 period and the effect of job embeddedness on it. Data is gathered based on an anonymous self-administered survey from nurses employed in large tertiary care providing hospital in 2022 in Peshawar, Pakistan. A total of 178 observations are analyzed through PLS-SEM path modeling using SmartPLS version 3.0. Results indicate turnover intention to be well below average and a significant negative effect of job embeddedness on turnover intention of nurses. Job tenure is also found to be negatively associated with nurses’ turnover intention. The findings thus indicate that despite the relatively detached period, on-the-job embeddedness can reduce the turnover intention of nurses and that as tenure increases the intention to quit the current job decreases. The findings of the study imply that job embeddedness can help retain employees in the context of a period followed by social distancing and detachment. Managers must continuously make a concerted effort to enhance job fit, build building positive relationships among employees, and encourage them to build a strong social network.

Keywords: Turnover Intention, On-the-job Embeddedness, Post-COVID-19, Nurses, Peshawar, PLS-SEM

Weekly Stock Market Index prediction of Pakistan Stock Exchange and Dhaka Stock Exchanges. The Demonstration of Machine Learning Algorithms

2022-07-18T09:20:49+00:00

Stock market is an index of a country financial performance. Evaluating stock markets and predicting their performance using machine learning algorithms is mostly preferred in finance these days. We use stock market data of Pakistan Stock Exchange and Dhaka Stock exchange applying numerous machine learning algorithms i.e. Smoothing Spline Algorithm, Group Mean Data Handling, Neural Net Work Auto Regression and Support Vector Machine to predict the stock market performance and to highlight the forecasting accuracy of these models. We collect data of stock market indices form the first week of July 2011 to the last week closing indices on March 2022. Our study findings confirm that in case of Pakistan the Smoothing Spline Algorithm has better predicting accuracy as compared to the other counterpart machine learning algorithms on the basis of all three error matrices while in case of Bangladesh the Support Vector Machine is preferred model. The results are very meaningful for the investors in these stock exchanges.

Home bias and investor investment decision: A case of developing country

2022-07-14T07:43:31+00:00

The key objective of the study is to investigate the impact of home bias and stock market psychology on individual investment decisions in the Islamabad and Lahore Stock markets. Further, the study investigates how these individuals perceive their investment decision in light of the impact of home bias and stock market psychology. Using the survey-based methodology the current study used descriptive statistics, correlation, and logistic regression techniques to achieve the research objectives. The findings of this study show that the impacts of home bias along with its sub-variables and stock market psychology have a significant positive impact on individual investment decisions in Islamabad and Lahore Stock markets. The results would be significant for Pakistani stakeholders as they seek to link practices and consequences. Pakistani stakeholders will understand better the role of the impact of home bias and stock market psychology on individual investment decisions in Islamabad and Lahore Stock markets and its impacts on stock market performance. This could lead to changes in stock market trading practices to achieve the desired rate of return from their investment in stock markets.

Moderation Effect of Information Network Centrality – The Relationship Between Positive Psychological Capital And Entrepreneurial Hustle

2022-07-22T09:50:32+00:00

The current study explains the relationship between Positive psychological capital and Entrepreneurial hustle and further explains the moderation role of Information network centrality on the relationship between Positive psychological capital and Entrepreneurial hustle through mindset theory. A Survey technique was used for the collection of required data. Questionnaires were collected from 185 entrepreneurs surveying in Quetta and proposed relationships were analyzed through SMART-PLS structural equation modeling software because it is the second generation technique of multivariate data analysis. This study found a significant positive relationship between Positive psychological capital (Hope, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism) and Entrepreneurial hustle. The results also revealed that Information network centrality as a moderator strengthens the relationship between Positive psychological capital and Entrepreneurial hustle. The role of independent and dependent variables was assigned to the construct through mindset theory. Positive psychological capital, Entrepreneurial hustle, and Information network centrality, all three multidisciplinary constructs are relatively new and no previous research discusses the relationship between these threeconstructs. This is the first study that discusses the relationship between these constructs. This study addresses a gap by creating an understanding of entrepreneurial actions in the context of uncertainty.

Keywords - Positive psychological capital, Entrepreneurial hustle, Information network centrality

Understanding the Entrepreneurial Motivations and Barriers for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: a case of religious education institutions’ students in Pakistan

2022-11-04T07:31:23+00:00

Unemployment is a global challenges and economists and scholar have recommended entrepreneurship as a solution to it. Motivations for, and barriers to, entrepreneurship play a major role in aspiring young graduates to becoming entrepreneurs.In this regard, numerous studies have focused on students’ intentions and perception to be entrepreneurs. However, there is little to no research available to understand the motivation and challenges of Pakistani religious education students to become entrepreneurs so far. Therefore, this study aims to identify the perceived entrepreneurial motivations and barriers among students of the religious education institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Data for this study was collected through focus group interviews from twenty (20) final year students of religious studies, who expressed interest in starting their own businesses in the near future. The study identifies seven factors, namely the lack of employment opportunity, better earning, more autonomy (freedom or independence), more flexibility, family business background, better living standards, and fulfilling ones dreams, as motivators for religious scholars to take up entrepreneurship. It also identifies six major barriers, namely financial barriers, lack of business information, lack of government support, marketing challenges, rising competition, the English language, and lack of technological knowhow, that hinder entrepreneurship in this cohort. The present study contributes to the literature by exploring the motivators and barriers that affect business formation among students of religious education institutions. Furthermore, it will help policy makers and academicians to ease the market access and present potential solutions to entrepreneurial challenges to bring these students into economic circle.

Effect of Environment on Entrepreneurial Culture with mediating role of Opportunity Creation

2022-11-04T07:46:54+00:00

The role of entrepreneurial culture in reducing socio-economic issues of a country is emphasized by policymakers and academics alike, but the effect of the environment to promote entrepreneurial culture is scarcely studied in literature. Furthermore, a focus on the mediating role of opportunities in developing such a culture is missing in entrepreneurship literature. The current study addresses this gap by examining the potential influence of environment on entrepreneurial culture with mediating role of opportunity creation. For this research, data was gathered through questionnaire from 200 micro level enterprises in Peshawar using random sampling. Then the Structural equation modeling (SEM), a statistical technique, was used for analyzing this data. The findings of this analysis reveal a positive effect of the environment on facilitating an entrepreneurial culture. Our findings additionally reveal that opportunity creation also serves as a significant driver in enhancing an entrepreneurial culture. In this vein, environment was found to also have a significant effect on opportunity creation. Finally, as per our findings opportunity creation fully mediates the relationship between environment and entrepreneurial culture. Therefore, this research holds that friendly business environment creates opportunities, which leads to the development of entrepreneurial culture in a society. The researchers also provided future directions and various limitations in this study

Reducing Cyberloafing Behaviors among Followers: Important Roles of Supervisor Communication Styles and Meaningful Work

2022-11-09T10:57:57+00:00

The current study aim was to investigate the link between meaningful work and supervisor communication styles with employees cyberloafing activities. For this, data from employees working in banking organizations operated in Sothern region was collected using structured questionnaire. Through purposive sampling, the study selects 300 employees to participate. Finally, the study received 256 actual responses from the respondents. Using multiple regression model, it was found that assertive communication style and meaningful work are negatively related to cyberloafing. on the other hand, passive and aggressive styles are positively related to cyberloafing. Based on the results of the current study and past literature, the study recommend that leaders of the firms not only practice assertive communication style but also find ways how to engage their followers in meaningful work-related activities. Study implications and future avenues of research are also discussed.

Impact of Working Capital Management Policies on Financial Performance of Textile Sector: Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange

2022-11-11T02:00:36+00:00

The study aims at empirically explore the impact of working capital management (WCM) policies on firms performance of most notable and influential sector of textile firms listed in Pakistan stock exchange (PSX). Non-financial sector contributes 13.5% in GDP of Pakistan while textile sector is a major part of this contribution in terms of socio-economic growth in the country. A balanced panel data of 74 Textile sample firms listed on PSX covering the period of 2011-2016 is used for analysis through fixed effect panel data regression approach. The empirical results indicate that adopting a conservative investment policy & aggressive financing policy has a positive impact on firms performance and inventory turnover in days( ITID), average collection period (ACP), SIZE & financial leverage (FL) have negative and significant impact on firms performance whereas, cash conversion cycle (CCC) has positive and significant impact on performance. Finally, average payment period (APP) has negative but insignificant impact on firm’s performance. By validating the findings with previous researches, this endeavor may contribute to the existing literature and may be beneficial to the academicians, investors; managers and policy makers while the study present recommendations that in turn bring improvements in the performance of sample firms.

ICT, FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN BRICS COUNTRIES

2023-07-09T17:25:02+00:00

The development and transformation of advanced technologies are considered vital for maintaining competitive economic growth and to have treasure and capacity of more efficient energy in the region. This has attracted many researchers and policy makers to explore the impact of ICT and other digital technologies to check their contribution in the country’s economic growth and sustainability. In lieu of these connections, the study aims to explore the impact of ICT and financial development on economic growth of BRICS countries. We analyzed the data of these countries from 2000 to 2018. The data was checked for the penal protocol procedures and hypothesis were tasted using Quantile Regression. The outcomes of the study revealed that all dimensions of ICT i.e. ICT-Tel, ICT-Mob and ICT-Net have positive significant effect of the GDP of BRICS countries. The results also highlight the impact of financial development on economic growth and reported positive significant impact of financial development on the economic growth of this region. The results are expected to be very meaningful for the relevant regulatory bodies and specially the economic think tank of these countries.

AN EXPLORATION OF ERP ADOPTION AT SMES IN GAUTENG AS A STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

2023-08-28T08:06:43+00:00

Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in developing countries like South Africa. They face many detrimental challenges, including COVID-19 and a shrinking economy. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can help SMEs mitigate some critical risks by providing real-time accurate information to aid decision making.The study was conducted with active Covid-19 restrictions in South Africa. A qualitative research method was applied using semi-structured interviews and snowball sampling to gain a better understanding of the perceptions and unique perspectives on the use of ERP by SMEs in Gauteng. Thematic analysis, aided by NVivo version 12 software, was used to analyse the data.When SMEs reach a size where they cannot keep track of company information themselves, an ERP system becomes a great asset. It provides timely and accurate information to facilitate decision making and strategic planning. SMEs tend to purchase a mixed selection of ERP software. ERP provides SMEs with the capabilities to become more sustainable and there is a great desire for such systems to be implemented, budget permitting. SMEs using ERP systems are in a better competitive position when compared with those enterprises who choose not to use it.SMEs can become more resilient in times of crises so the integration of ERP systems must be part of the strategic objectives of SMEs.

IMPACT OF FINTECH ON ISLAMIC BANKS: UNBLOCKING POSSIBILITIES : A LITERATURE BASED STUDY

2024-05-17T07:38:54+00:00

Customer satisfaction and banking operations in Pakistan have significantly improved as a result of the integration of Financial Technology (FinTech) into Islamic banking. This study examines the revolutionary effect of FinTech on Islamic banking practices and its consequences for the Pakistani financial environment, drawing on an extensive analysis of the literature. Results show that the use of FinTech has improved accessibility, decreased prices, and increased transparency with regard to financial services. This is especially true with regard to innovations like block chain technology, Islamic crowd funding platforms, and payment systems that comply with Shariah. FinTech solutions drive innovation, competitiveness, and socioeconomic development. Notable gains have been reported in operational efficiency and financial inclusion. Based on these findings, the paper makes suggestions for how Pakistani Islamic banks might use FinTech more, such as making investments in technology infrastructure, adhering to regulations, and developing ability.