Higher Education Institutions In Pakistan Research Articles

Alumni Engagement and Financial Sustainability of Higher Education Institutions: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to describe the various attitudes of alumni towards engagement in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of Pakistan, based on a phenomenological study of their lived experiences. Empirical data was collected in the form of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 26 alumni from eight selected public HEIs of Pakistan, which was later analysed through employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). This paper highlights six superordinate themes which indicated that alumni held strong determination to engage with institutions to meet the financial sustainability challenge, provided that institutions observed adequate communication and engagement efforts with them. Theoretically, this paper extended the use of S-O-R framework in the higher education philanthropic domain where institutional engagement efforts and personal connection, coupled with emotional bonding, led to alumni engagement with institutions. In addition, this study also contextually extended the use of social exchange theory where the inclination of alumni to engage with institutions is driven by their sense of indebtedness and serving the community.

The Carbon Footprint of a Public Sector University Before and During the COVID-19 Lockdown.

<p>Carbon footprint (CF) is a measure of greenhouse gas emissions generated from daily human-induced activities as carbon dioxide equivalent. This study is an attempt to represent a consumption-based CF study from the scope of transportation, electricity, and waste generation for University of the Punjab (PU), Lahore under the WRI/WBCSD greenhouse gas protocol corporate standards. Data acquired through fieldwork, questionnaire surveys, direct sampling, and existing records for the year 2019-20 suggested that electricity is the greatest contributor of CO2 emissions at 59%, followed by transportation at 36%, and waste generation at approximately 5%. The total CF(CO2_eq) generated from different sources is about 18360.62MT for one year. The recent COVID-19 lockdown has offered inimitable prospect to compare the carbon footprint of one of the largest higher education institutes of Pakistan before and during this pandemic. The data can serve for tracking, assessing, and setting goals for greenhouse gas emission reduction programs in future.</p>

How Organizations Can Use High Performance Work Practices To Augment Employees’ Performance Oriented Behaviors?

We examine the relationship between high performance work practices and employee performance mediated by employee involvement, motivation, and satisfaction. We collected data on adapted scales from 292 heads of departments of various public and private sector institutions from Pakistan. The results indicated a positive and significant impact of high performance work practices on employee involvement, motivation, satisfaction, and performance. Besides, results also supported the mediation of employee involvement and motivation. However, the relationship between employee satisfaction and performance was not found significant and similarly, its mediation was also not established as we expected. The study is first of its kind, where a composite model of high performance work practices was tested for its employee-related outcomes. Moreover, the mediation of employee involvement and employee motivation in the relationship between high performance work practices and employee performance is also a noteworthy contribution of the current research in the Pakistani context. The results are generalizable to public and private sector higher education institutions of Pakistan but can also be used in other organizations with caution.

Exploring the impact of green HRM practices on pro-environmental behavior via interplay of organization citizenship behavior

<abstract> <p>Using Green human resource management practices (HRMPs) as a multi-component construct, this study investigated the influence of bundle of Green HRMPs on pro-environmental behavior (Pro-EB) and organizational citizenship behavior towards the environment (OCBE), and examined the mediating effect of OCBE as a psychological mechanism that defines Green HRMPs and Pro-EB relationships. Data were obtained using self-administered questionnaires from a sample of 247 full-time academics working in public sector higher education institutions of Pakistan. The hypotheses were verified using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that Green HRMPs bundle had a significant and positive effect on both Pro-EB and OCBE, and OCBE, in return, had a positive relationship with Pro-EB. It was further revealed that OCBE positively mediated the association between Green HRMPs bundles and Pro-EB. The originality of the study lies in conceptualizing Green HRMPs bundles as a multi-component construct and examining the relationships between Green HRMPs bundle, OCBE, and Pro-EB in the context of Pakistan's higher education institutions. Besides, exploring OCBE as a mediator between Green HRMPs bundles and Pro-EB is one of the novel contributions of this study. This study helps management and practitioners in developing Green strategies that can promote Green and Pro-EB among academics/faculty members.</p> </abstract>

Sustainable leadership in higher education institutions: social innovation as a mechanism

Purpose Considering the vital role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in accomplishing sustainable development goals, this study aims to examine how and when sustainable leadership (SL) influences sustainable performance by examining social innovation (SI) as a mediating mechanism and managerial discretion (MD) as a boundary condition based on upper echelon theory. Design/methodology/approach This study is cross-sectional in nature. The authors adopted a cluster-sampling approach to collect data from 500 employees of HEIs in Pakistan and China. The response rate for this study was 52.63%. As the proposed model is complex, the authors used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the research hypothesis. Findings The empirical findings confirm the presence of SI as a competitive partial mediator between SL and sustainable performance. Nevertheless, the findings of this study do not suggest a higher positive effect of SL on SI in the presence of high MD. Research limitations/implications The study evaluated the role of SL and SI in fostering sustainable performance from the perspective of employees in HEIs in China and Pakistan. Before the empirical evidence can be generalized, there is a need to conduct similar studies in other parts of Asia and Western countries as well. Practical implications This study presents implications for higher education leaders and policymakers at the national level to foster the sustainable performance of their institutions. Social implications The current evidence reveals the effectiveness of SL in achieving the social goals of HEIs through SI. The recommendations presented in this study can have an impact on society, providing it with a sustainable future. Originality/value This study is the first of its kind to examine the mediating role of SI on the relationship between SL and sustainable performance. The present study also provides pioneering empirical evidence about the negative effects of MD in the context of HEIs.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND ITS IMPACT ON INTRINSIC FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE FACULTY MEMBERS MOTIVATION: A STUDY ON HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES OF ISLAMABAD AND RAWALPINDI IN PAKISTAN

Organizational goals are achieved via the use of performance appraisal (PA), which is designed to enhance workers' contributions to the attainment of those objectives. However, unless a performance assessment system is seen to be equal, appraisers and appraises are unlikely to react positively to it. A surprisingly small amount of empirical research has been done on the relationship between faculty members' motivation and performance appraisal in higher educational institutions, despite recent research efforts into the experiences of organizational commitment, particularly in developing economies. The study is a survey with objective to establish the relationship between performance appraisal and its effect on intrinsic factors of employee’s motivation in Higher Educational Institutes of Pakistan. The study was conducted on higher educational institutes of Pakistan; however, sample will be collected from universities of twin cities. The study in hand is classified in to explanatory and quantitative. Primary source of data will be used to gather the data. A survey was conducted to distribute a questionnaire among all faculty members, collecting data from them and then data will be evaluated to find the results. To inspect the outcome of performance appraisal on employee’s motivation, Frequency, Percentage and Correlation method was utilized with SPSS tool. Results show that performance appraisal system has impact on Employee Motivation in Higher Educational Institutes and Intrinsic factors also has impact on motivation. Conclusion and recommendations are also discussed.

ASSESSING THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION AND STUDENT SATISFACTION BY APPLYING THE SERVQUAL MODEL

The aim of the paper is to assessing the relationship among service quality dimensions in higher education institutions and student satisfaction by applying the SERVQUAL model (tangibility, responsiveness, empathy, reliability and assurance). Furthermore examine the major purpose of service quality dimensions in higher education institution of Karachi, Pakistan. The data were collected based on SERVQUAL instrument on LIKERT scale, by distributing from 100 questionnaires to convenient selected undergraduate in higher education institutes of Karachi. The findings show that assurance has substantial impact on student satisfaction and rest of the variables has low impact on dependent variable which is student satisfaction. This research has some limitation the first is the sample size of this study is not that much enormous second limitation is due to short time period this study has not covered all higher education institutes of Pakistan. The quality of education in under developing countries is a serious problem. In order to improve this situation it is necessary to take serious action and capitalize in quality system and tools for upgrading. Especially in Pakistan the education sector is not giving the standard education as per the expectation of the students so, it is important to analyse this serious issue.

Factors limiting optimal students’ engagement on Social Media: A study of Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan

Limited research on Social Media (SM) marketing by Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) primarily focuses on understanding important practices followed to enhance students’ engagement on SM or its association with different branding constructs. However, there is dearth of research that can guide regarding practices negatively influencing SM based communication between HEIs and Students. This research explores these limiting factors affecting optimal students’ engagement on SM. A qualitative exploratory research methodology was adopted based on in-depth interviews and Netnography. 25 interviews were conducted and 6 months content analysis of Facebook account of selected HEIs was carried out for Netnography. The findings revealed different content and non-content factors negatively influencing students’ engagement on SM. Content related factors included poor design of SM content, lack of informality, inconsistent content posting and content posting during office hours. Whereas non-content related factors include selective platform presence, selective response to students' queries, fearful attitude towards official SM and absence of incentives for students to engage on SM. All these factors are believed to affect different stages of Customer Engagement including Connection, Interaction, Loyalty and Advocacy. Findings of this study have enabled gaining empirical knowledge regarding negative practices on SM, highlighted above, that shall be avoided to attain optimal results for SM marketing communication and learning how these practices affect different stages of students’ engagement on SM.

Engaged Versus Workaholic Employees Job Crafting Behavior: The Moderating Role of Perceived Organization Support

Purpose: Making jobs challenging and interesting is becoming a new trend in organizations and is related to job crafting behavior. Employees with different sort of wellbeing predict diverse crafting behaviors. This study is about making comparisons between the two states of wellbeing that can be differentiated on theoretical backgrounds: work engagement and work holism. Specifically, both well beings may differently predict job crafting behavior
 Design/Methodology/Approach: This study was quantitative in nature and applied on a sample of 285 faculty members working in higher education institutions in Pakistan. Further, the moderating effect of perceived organizational support was tested by using the SEM-AMOS.
 Findings: The findings revealed that engaged employees always craft their jobs even if they don’t perceive considerable support from their organizations. But the employees who are workaholic, do not usually craft their jobs, but adopt job crafting behavior when they perceive an organizational support.
 Implications/Originality/Value: This study points towards an important theoretical connection between employee wellbeing and job crafting behavior. It concludes that employee wellbeing is essential for job crafting and, specifically, for workaholic employees, perceived organizational support is also important.

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

SUS Urdu based Evaluation of Websites of Higher Educational Institutes of Pakistan

An institute needs to grow day by day in all aspects like a large number of admissions, educational quality, innovations, etc. Educational marketing provides a variety of opportunities for an institute by getting the attention of students. The students seeking admission for higher education can check the official website to get the know-how of an institute as it’s the first authentic source of information. The website must be easy to use for students to get the latest information. In this study, the websites of University of Engineering and Technology, University of the Punjab, and University of education are evaluated through the SUS scale developed in the Urdu language. A total of 60 participants were engaged. The results show that the SUS score of these websites was in the “low marginal” range.

Exploring the relationships between socio-economic indicators and student enrollment in higher education institutions of Pakistan.

Higher education is considered as the engine of the economic development of a country due to its role in cultivating human capital. The provision of higher education is regarded as a productive investment in human capital for improving nation’s productive capacity. However, there is a large gap in enrollment between students of different socioeconomic statuses. The ever-widening socio-economic inequalities between individuals from disadvantaged and advantaged backgrounds make the government’s efforts to enroll a higher number of students to pursue higher education challenging in developing countries, as the students’ socioeconomic status plays a decisive role in their priority to attain higher education. This study anticipated quantifying the impact of socio-economic indicators and underlying situations on students’ enrollment in higher education in Pakistan. A descriptive study, involving correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), clustering, and stepwise regression using 15-years data of enrollment and socio-economic indicators was conducted. The correlation between different socio-economic indicators and students’ enrollment was positive and highly significant (0.73 to 0.99), except for the unemployment rate (- 0.39 to -0.57). PCA showed that the first two components were the most influential with 93.85% of the total variation. Enrollment (total and male) showed significant relationships with general government expenditure and unemployment rate, while female enrollment showed a significant relationship with general government expenditure. Findings revealed that socio-economic factors can serve as a significant predictor of students’ enrollment in higher education. The minimum values of correlation coefficient (R) and adjusted R2 for enrollment were ranged from 0.875 to 0.748 (female enrollment), while maximum values (0.987 to 0.993 and 0.973 to 0.983), respectively were observed for total enrollment. The findings will assist educationists, social scientists, and policymakers to better understand the association between socio-economic indicators and student enrollment in higher education for formulating future education policies for enhancing enrollment in higher education.

Analysing the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Educators in Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan: AN Exploratory Research

Lockdowns have been implemented worldwide to halt the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, owing to the virus's potential threat and infectious nature. The coronavirus outbreak has wreaked havoc on the world and poses a serious hazard due to the virus's infectious natureObjective:To examine the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 on educators (250) teaching at various public and private higher educational institutions in Pakistan during the lockdownMethods:A Google form was used to conduct an online cross-sectional survey. The questionnaire included questions about the following topics: demographic information. demographic details, physical exercise, health consciousness, relationship with family members, social relationship, Information and technology (IT) skills, digital courses, research activities, work from home, time spent on social media, expenditures, and lockdown activities. The sample was collected from 1st January 2021 to 12th May 2021 and 250 responses were recorded from the educators working from homethrough the snowball sampling technique. The data were analyzed through SPSS version 25. Results: The findings revealed an overall reduction in expenditures, preference for healthy and homemade food, adequate intake of supplements, enhancement of professional grooming (E-courses and IT skills), quality time with family, improvement in social relationships with family, friends, and colleagues. Conversely, the study also brought to the light negative impact of COVID-19 lockdown, for instance, overindulgence in social media, sedentary lifestyle, hard time-saving money, inadequate training for online classes, increased workload, strict schedule, incessant fear of downsizing, and pay cuts.Conclusions:The study recommends that educatorsengage themselves in yoga, meditation, physical exercise, and eat a healthy diet. Furthermore, they should continue upskilling the professional development through E-courses and technology-based skills.

Digital Divide, Socio-Economic Outcomes and Subjective Well-Being in Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan

This research examines the relationship between internet usage, socio-economic outcomes, and subjective well-being. Social outcomes are measured in the form of formal and informal networks and economic outcomes are measured through education, employment, and financial status. Subjective well-being is defined as assessment of one’s own life satisfaction. The cross-sectional study is conducted through a survey. The data was collected through a self-designed questionnaire from 500 university graduates in different region of Pakistan. The Cox regression is used to investigate the relationship among the variables. In Cox regression the gender, education, major, subjective wellbeing (SWB), positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA) are significantly affecting the duration of internet usage. Internet usage increases with age, likewise internet usage is found more in women and married individuals than men and unmarried individuals. Economic outcomes are less for internet users than the non-users similarly social outcomes are lower for users than the nonusers. Similarly, internet usage is found to decrease with increase in the level of education. This shows how online activities affect the economic and social activities of the individuals and in turn affect their subjective well-being.

The influx of Perpetual Reforms to Cope with Global Challenges in Educational Governance (A Case Study of China-Pakistan Higher Education)

Reforms in higher education have occurred practically the world over during last three decades, and governance, or higher education as it is, or as it should be integrated, , has turned into a major problem. The governance of institutions of tertiary education is a concern for developing world. These institutions have unrestricted autonomy on the one side, but they are also answerable to the society and government on the other. Against this backdrop, Chinese higher educational governance reform and Pakistani tertiary education arose. The present studies on both countries' higher education changes mostly focus on the reform processes and consider the governments as the driving force behind the reforms, while the Chinese and Pakistani governments' susceptibility to the impact of overseas influences is largely unexplored.. The focus of this article is on the restructuring tactics used by both governments to develop their university systems well-organized and achieve a competitive advantage in the international market. In China, university mergers ought not to be viewed as a simple reform of higher education, however more as a radical shift in governance of tertiary education from “interventionist state model” to “accelerationist state model.” Instead of the nation-state collapsing, as a result of globalization, this article demonstrates how changes in Chinese institutions may not necessarily reduce the state's capabilities, but rather make the Chinese government more proactive in specific areas. Higher education institutions in Pakistan are constantly hounded by the government to supervise their operations, despite the fact that they now have complete autonomy following the 18th amendment, which introduced improvements to Pakistan's constitution by decentralizing power and giving provinces autonomy. It is concluded, based on an examination of the Chinese government’s and Pakistan government’s latest documents and literature which are influenced by international reform concepts and theories which have been institutionalized through the rhetoric of global bodies and the successful experiences of other countries.

Online Learning System in Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan

Novel COVID‐19 caused turmoil in every domain of life around the globe. To halt the further spread of virus, preventive measures such as social and physical distancing has led the temporal cessation of all education institutions in numerous countries. To minimize disruption of teaching and learning process during epidemic, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan directed universities transition to an online learning system. The research paper explores deeply the problems faced by students in the current online education system introduced by various universities. A survey research method was employed and the data were collected through convenience sampling. The link of the semi-structured questionnaire was shared with 550 students enrolled in public and private universities in Lahore, Pakistan. The study brought to light the diversified problems such as lack of internet facility, load shedding, financial issues, ear pain due to prolong use of hand free/Bluetooth and unreliable results in assessments.

Perceiving the Paradigm of Semester System and the State of Affairs in Running it in Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan

The semester system is, now a days, prevailing in almost every country around the world due to its more effective in conducting the process of teaching and learning. As with other systems, this system also has a specific philosophy that gives it a certain shape of semester. If it is to run with its genuine mode, then its philosophy should be understood. The ideas that work behind its functioning are flexibility, freedom, continuous assessment,relevant principles of evaluation and grading, self-assessment, and monitoring. In Pakistan, this system was introduced without genuine homework. Most of the teachers and other authorities who designed and developed this system were not trained on the semester system. The dominant number of teachers who are teaching in this system have studied under the annual system, and after inducting them in the semester system, no reasonable training was given to them. As a result, they do not know how to develop syllabi, what could be the teaching and assessment strategies suitable for the semester system, and how to utilize the concept of a credit hour to involve the students in continuous learning. Phenomenology, as the major approach, has been adopted to analyze the documents,observation, and discussion.

University Teachers’ perspective on HEC’s Faculty Appointment Criteria: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

System devised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for Higher Education Institutions (HEI) aims to promote innovation and develop human capital. The efficiency of the system is ascertained if it could help in recruitment and retention of faculty members. Therefore, the study of faculty members' perspective on HEC’s Faculty Appointment Criteria (FAC) is needed to determine whether it motivates and facilitates them. This study reports the faculty’s perspectives on FAC. This qualitative interpretive phenomenological study gathers data using a semi-structured questionnaire for interviewing. The analysis reveals that the criteria do not cover the overall performance of faculty members and is only based upon minimum qualification, duration of service and number of publications. There is a dire need of reviewing the current appointment criteria and for that the involvement of all stakeholders is suggested to devise a profound scheme for better human resource development at HEIs of Pakistan.

Can adaptive–academic leadership duo make universities ready for change? Evidence from higher education institutions in Pakistan in the light of COVID-19

PurposeIn rapidly changing global village, individuals, organizations and the society are faced with various unforeseen challenges every day, and these challenges continuously trigger and test the instincts for survival, and higher education is of no exception. In the context of today’s most critical uncertainty, i.e. COVID-19, the purpose of this study is to highlight the significance of two leadership styles, i.e. adaptive and academic leadership, and assessing readiness for change among higher education institutions (HEIs) of Punjab, Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted to collect data from 404 permanent faculty members in the public sector universities identified using stratified random sampling. The hypotheses developed were tested using co-variance-based structural equation modeling.FindingsAs per the findings, both leadership styles as exogenous constructs and the presence of organizational learning capability as mediators contributed positively in crafting organizational readiness for change (ORC) among HEIs in the course of unpredictable circumstances.Practical implicationsThe COVID-19 episode globally has reiterated the importance of change, and the role of leadership in this regard cannot be undermined. This study, for that matter, stresses on the importance and benefits of academic and adaptive leadership dealing with uncertainties or change and the readiness of HEIs for change. Several institutions faced challenges in doing so, and the transition was not smooth, except for institutions where leaders were the differentiating factor. On top of it, institutions that had timely invested in digital systems and had enhanced organizations learning capacity survived in these turbulent times.Originality/valueCOVID-19 has placed tremendous challenges on HEIs to adapt with the rapidly changing conditions. Hence, this study is unique in understanding the academic and adaptive leadership styles in context of ORC. This study further helps in understanding that how public sector universities that are already influenced by stringent bureaucratic structures react to change.

Innovation speed and quality in higher education institutions: the role of knowledge management enablers and knowledge sharing process

Purpose Higher education institutions, particularly in developing countries, are striving for superior innovation performance to cope with the challenges of contemporary educational environment. Drawing on the knowledge management capability model and knowledge-based view of firms, this study aims to determine the impact of knowledge management enablers, namely, top management knowledge value, knowledge-oriented culture and knowledge-based rewards, on innovation speed and quality and assessing the mediating role of knowledge sharing process. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from 234 academics of higher education institutions in Pakistan and analyzed through the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique. Findings The results indicate that top management knowledge value and knowledge-based rewards have a positive effect on innovation speed and quality. Although knowledge-oriented culture also contributes to innovation quality, it does not influence the innovation speed. Moreover, the knowledge sharing process mediates the effect of all these knowledge management enablers on innovation speed and quality. Practical implications This study underscores the importance of three key knowledge management enablers in higher education institutions. The findings of this study suggest that signaling knowledge value from the top management, fostering knowledge-oriented culture and enacting a knowledge-based reward system are critical in facilitating knowledge sharing process and enhancing innovation speed and quality in higher education institutions. Originality/value This is among one of the earlier studies that investigates the influence of top management knowledge value, knowledge-oriented culture and knowledge-based rewards on innovation speed and quality, particularly in higher education institutions, and determines the mediating role of the knowledge sharing process.