Pakistani Context Research Articles

Role of Politicians in Creating Political Polarization through Media

This research article investigates the significant role politicians play in exacerbating political polarization through media in the context of Pakistan. Political polarization is a growing concern in many democracies worldwide, and the media's role in reinforcing this division has been widely studied. This study delves into specific instances and strategies employed by politicians in Pakistan to manipulate the media landscape, thereby deepening existing societal divides and contributing to the polarization of the nation. Drawing upon empirical evidence and qualitative analysis, this research article sheds light on the complexities and implications of such actions for democratic processes and national unity. The methodological section reviews the existing academic literature on political polarization, media influence, and the relationship between politicians and the media in the Pakistani context. It draws on previous studies that explore similar topics globally to establish a foundation for the research. The study employs a qualitative research design, including interviews with key stakeholders, content analysis of media coverage, and case studies of specific political events.

Strategic Utilization and Factors Influencing Financial Derivatives in Pakistan's Financial Landscape

The purpose of this study was to investigate the derivatives usage available in Pakistan. The investigation encompassed an in-depth analysis of the diverse services offered by Pakistani financial institutions, with a focused assessment aimed at understanding the impact of these services on derivative usage. The data was gathered using a customized questionnaire. Several banks' statistical tools were used to examine the data after different users of derivatives filled out questionnaires. The study employed cross-sectional data, drawn from diverse demographic categories within a single locality, facilitating the potential replication of the model in other countries through longitudinal financial institution data. The study has several practical consequences for financial service providers that aim to grow the derivative market in Pakistan by providing high-quality services for derivatives. This research contributes to the existing literature by delineating the determinants and patterns of derivative usage in the Pakistani context, thereby establishing a cognitive motivation relationship. It uses a cognitive motivation relationship. This study is useful in the financial institutions/banking industry for a better understanding of this concept.

THE STUDY TO EXAMINE THE DIFFICULTIES’ OF STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN GOVERNMENT HIGH SCHOOLS DISTRICT JAFFARABAD, SOHBATPUR AND NASEERABAD

Urdu is national language of Pakistan but English enjoys the status of second language. English is mandatory subject which is being taught from primary to university level in Pakistan. In Pakistani education system, after clearing secondary education, the whole subjects are being taught in English language at higher secondary, bachelor, graduation, master’s and doctorate level in all public and private educational institutions. The medium of instructions and medium of communication at higher education is in English language. The study focused on students in government high schools district Jaffarabad, Sohbatpur and Naseerabad Baluchistan faced by more difficulties in English language because school is existing in a rural area of Baluchistan. This research was examined the difficulties in learning English language in Baluchistan and researcher made proper suggestions that help students to make their learning easy in view point of Pakistani context of learning. Quantitative data was collected from survey questionnaire and qualitative data conducted through semistructure interview. Data was analyzed through SPSS, excel and thematic analysis The sample of investigation were collected from 240 students in government high schools. The students are facing different difficulties in different learning areas which need highly consideration to solved.

Impact of Workplace Violence on Sustainable Performance of Nurses with the Mediation of Social Well-being in the Pakistani Context

The current study investigated the impact of the predictors of workplace violence (harassment, physical violence, stalking, and ostracism) on sustainable work performance with mediating the role of social well-being of Pakistani nurses considering the ‘hierarchy of need’ theory. A survey method was used to conduct the current study. The data was collected from 400 respondents of four nursing teaching colleges, affiliated with hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. The data was analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Smart Partial Least Square (PLS) software using structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results revealed a negative influence of workplace violence on the performance of nurses. Moreover, it tends to dissatisfy their safety and social needs, the most important human needs according to Maslow’s theory. Since Maslow’s time, researchers continued to explore how safety and social needs impact the well-being of nurses. Social well-being is related to better physical, mental, and social health and conversely, feeling isolated (unmet safety and social need) bears negative consequences for health and well-being. Eventually, it became the reason for low performance. The findings confirmed that workplace violence is the strong predictor of sustainable performance. Whereas, nurse’s social well-being mediates the relationship between the predictors (workplace violence) and the outcome variable (performance). Therefore, the study concluded that when safety and social needs are fulfilled, nurses perform their duties enthusiastically. This is the first endeavor to use the “hierarchy of need” theory in order to mediate the effect of violence, performance, and social well-being of nurses. Therefore, the current study served as a baseline for further research in this area. The findings helped the higher authorities and hospitals’ management to devise such policies which help nurses towards organizational growth and sustainable work environment.

Identity Construction of Pakistani Female Entrepreneurs in Religious Framework: An Interplay of Sociocultural and Religious Factors

This article focuses on the identity construction of Pakistani female entrepreneurs as an interplay of religion, culture and entrepreneurial context. We contribute to theory development on how in a Pakistani context the Islamic values and Pakistani cultural values shape the entrepreneurial identity of the women entrepreneurs through an intersectional analysis. We draw on five in-depth interviews of women entrepreneurs to illustrate how the women entrepreneurs execute their ventures and carry their entrepreneurial identity while carrying a blend of Islamic values and Pakistani cultural values. Pakistani women entrepreneurs employ the Islamic norms and values that are particularly practised by the family as a boundary, however, the cultural norms sometimes overweight the Islamic values in construction of identity. There is an evidence for negotiating process that acts as an enabler to make space for individualism, honour and entrepreneurship. In order to resist the rigid cultural interpretation of behavioural norms, various cultural, religious and familial identities are crafted to expand the boundaries of what is allowed. This enables them to bank on the Islamic values that enable them to be economically active without violating religious boundaries. Our study contributes to studies on entrepreneurship by showing how these female entrepreneurs gain agency at the crossroads of gender country context and religion.

Charismatic Leadership and Job Performance: Mediation of Interpersonal Communication and Moderation of Leader Vision

The study investigates the association between charismatic leadership and job performance using interpersonal communication as a mediator and leader vision as moderator variables. The social cognitive theory uses as a theoretical lens to understand this conceptual framework. The sample of the study is those organizations that have undergone a central level of change. The study used a cross-sectional research design and data was collected from 350 participants through paper–and–pencil questionnaires to 30 different organizations. This exploratory study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) with common method bias (CMB), discriminant, and convergent validity tests to analyze the data. The results of this study explain how charismatic leadership impacted job performance with moderated (leader vision) mediation (interpersonal communication) analysis. These significant insights delineated practical as well as theoretical implications for both researchers and policymakers. This study significantly contributes to the body of knowledge on human resource literature. According to researchers’ knowledge, this study is one of the pioneer studies to investigate leader vision as a moderator variable between stated associations in the Pakistani context.

Analysis of the Effects of Teachers’ Scaffolding on Project-Based Learning of BS-English Students of University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

The present study investigates the effects of scaffolding on project-based learning (PjBL) of BS-English students at the University of Sindh. The objectives of the study were to disclose students' behaviour and the impacts of scaffolding during project work. This study adopts the mixed research methods under the explanatory research design to obtain the answers to the research questions. This study used questionnaires and reflection accounts for data collection. The statistical packages for social sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics version 23) were used for questionnaire data analysis and reflection accounts' data were analysed through content analysis. Considering data analysis distinct major themes emerged that were associated with the benefits and challenges of scaffolding and PjBL. Moreover, in the Pakistani context rarely teachers and students are familiar with modern ELT methods and their implementation is quite challenging. It is therefore recommended that mainly in PjBL teachers focused on the outcomes of the project but it is important to consider whether students acquire various skills during project work which is also the integral aim of PjBL. Hence, teacher's scaffolding is not confined to the completion and outcomes of the project but the teacher must observe whether the student develops the language and soft skills during project work.

سزائے موت : پاکستان پر عائد عالمی ذمہ داری،تحقیقی جائزہ

This paper examines the compatibility of international human rights law and Islamic law regarding capital punishment in the Pakistani context. Despite the adoption of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by the United Nations in 1989, which aimed to completely abolish the death penalty worldwide, countries continued to practice capital punishment for several offences. The paper highlights Pakistani laws and discusses the challenges that hinder the country from ratifying the Optional Protocol. The paper suggests an adaptable solution to the issue by analysing the restrictions of death penalty under Islamic Law. Principally, both Islamic law and international human rights law consider the protection of life and endurance of justice to be very significant, but the conflict, which has raised the discrepancy is in the priorities between the interests of the individual and the public at large. This paper presents a comprehensive and impartial study to bridge the gap between International Human Rights Law and Pakistani domestic laws. Moreover, ICCPR also requires minimal death penalties in a legal system, it is mandatory for Pakistan, being a member party, to curtail the punishment in the domestic legal system. It seeks to examine the challenges that arise when reconciling these two systems and propose possible solutions.

An Analysis of Lexico-Semantic Variations in Pakistani English Newspaper Corpus

The present study focuses on the corpus-based lexico-semantic analysis of Pakistani English to identify the variations in the language of newspapers. It also investigates how Pakistani English newspapers consider their readers' cultural and social ideals for intelligible contact while selecting language posts. As a result, they often deviate from the native norms of the language adopting many indigenous linguistic features and emerging new varieties of New English to define their tasks easier in order not only to facilitate but to attract people’s attention. Therefore, Moag’s model on New Englishes, Boas’s theory of cultural relativism, and Kachru’s Theory of Nativisation and Acculturation with the conception of the Outer Circle (1986) mainly connected to institutionalize Second Varieties of English have been used for the theoretical analysis within Pakistani context dependent socio-cultural scenario. The usage of these lexical items shows that Pakistani English is derived from the source, namely, Standard British English, for example, shadi hall, Jihadi outfits, etc. These lexical item categories followed in coinage, borrowing, idiomatic collocations, and semantic shift. This study also attempts to create lexicographical entries to represent the diverse Pakistani English and become available to society's educational and global communication. The study purposively compiled the 2 million corpora from the websites of two major Pakistani English Newspapers, The Nation and The News, and then analyzed it by using corpus software tools Antconc 3.5.8w to search for the key terms and to identify these elements of the stance. The study's finding highlights the New English variety of Pakistani English Newspapers and the adapted lexemes used in the local sociolinguistics context. One of the study's most significant findings shows that the New Englishes lexemes are infused with Islamic, historical, and social culture, highlighting the diverse local colours adapted to the Pakistani setting. The New Englishes in Pakistan comprises the amalgamation of Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, and English lexemes. The study also broadens the horizon of society's educational and communicational usage while maintaining the endonormative standard.

Impact of Housing Microfinance on Socio-Economic Indicators: A Study of Prime Minister’s Low-Cost Housing Scheme in Pakistan

The objective of this paper is to check the impact of dividend policy and firm Housing Microfinance / Low-Cost Housing Scheme has been promoted to fill the national housing demand/supply gap in Pakistan in recent years. Prime Minister’s Low-Cost Housing Scheme (PM-LCHS) was introduced with the aim of providing financial assistance to poor and deserving families enabling raise in their living standards. A total of Rs. 8.54 billion has been disbursed so far through Akhuwat Islamic Microfinance. The study aims to empirically test the impact of PM-LCHS loan utilization on beneficiaries’ welfare in terms of socio-economic indicators. This research also proposes to assess governance and administrative efficiency and design effectiveness of the initiative The total population of 17, 344 beneficiaries is sampled using Proportionate Stratified Sampling; Group 1 (stratum 1) constitutes beneficiaries who are in utilization phase and Group 2 (stratum 2) constitutes beneficiaries who are repaying the loan post 100% loan utilization. The proposed frameworks are tested using data collected from 463 beneficiaries. Key findings show that PM-LCHS utilization improved sense of security, societal standing and psychological conditions of respondents. Moreover, the loan utilization has enhanced multiple components of sanitation conditions and housing infrastructure; yet the repayment amounts causing no negative impact on their financial wellbeing. However, PM-LCHS utilization is not found to have any effect on beneficiaries’ health. Furthermore, Akhuwat has administered PM-LCHS efficiently and beneficiaries are satisfied from its governance. Thus, any other financial institution interested in offering such a HMF initiative must have appropriate human resource and skillset to reach the eligible clientele and address their financial requirements like AIM. Though, respondents are satisfied from the scheme as a whole, the study elucidates concerns about some design elements, namely financing limit, repayment period and number of disbursement instalments. These findings again have policy implications for the institutions seeking to enter the HMF market; incorporate these results to formulate the HMF/LCHS product that better suit the financing needs of low-earning people. The originality of this study is theorizing and empirically testing the effect of Housing Microfinance/ Low-Cost Housing Scheme and analyzing the linkages between PMLCHS loan utilization and beneficiaries’ living standards and welfare in Pakistani context.

GRADE-ADOLOPMENT of clinical practice guideline for postmenopausal osteoporosis management-a Pakistani context.

Postmenopausal osteoporosis affects one in every five postmenopausal women in Pakistan. An evidence-based clinical practice guideline (CPG) is needed to standardize care provision to optimize health outcomes. Hence, we aimed to develop CPG for the management of postmenopausal osteoporosis in Pakistan. The GRADE-ADOLOPMENT process was used to adopt (as is or with minor changes), exclude (omit), or adapt (modify based on local context) recommendations to the source guideline (SG)-clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis-2020 update from American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE). The SG was "adoloped" to cater to the local context. The SG consisted of 51 recommendations. Forty-five recommendations were adopted as is. Due to unavailability of drugs, 4 recommendations were adopted with minor changes, and one was excluded, while one recommendation was adopted with the inclusion of use of a surrogate FRAX tool specific for Pakistan. One recommendation regarding vitamin D dosage was adapted to recommend a dose of 2000-4000IU of vitamin D in patients with obesity, malabsorption, and old age. The developed Pakistani postmenopausal osteoporosis guideline consists of 50 recommendations. The guideline created recommends a higher dose (2000-4000IU) of vitamin D for patients who are old, have malabsorption, or are obese, which is an adaptation from the SG by the AACE. This higher dose is justified as lower doses prove to be suboptimal in these groups and should be complemented with baseline vitamin D and calcium levels.

Exploring the Mediating Role of Non-Attachment in the Relationship between Mindfulness and Subjective Wellbeing in Pakistani context

The study aims to explore the role of nonattachment in relation to mindfulness and subjective wellbeing and provides an insight into the imperatives nonattachment plays in achieving mindfulness. This quantitative study was conducted in a mid-size Pakistani university and the participants were faculty and students. 384 (141 men and 243 women) age group from 16 to above 40 years of age were contacted via email to complete online survey. The descriptive statistics analysis was done by using SPSS and Smart PLS. The Findings affirm that greater levels of mindfulness and nonattachment are correlated in a positive way contributing to greater life satisfaction furthermore; nonattachment has a positive influence on negative emotions. The study is in line with the existing research conducted on the association of nonattachment with subjective wellbeing and is a replication of the previous findings for the association of mindfulness and personal wellbeing. Result suggests that to achieve optimal psychological wellbeing conditions with significant increment in positive emotions and life satisfaction, connection of mindfulness to a wide variety of mental effects are partly decided with the aid of using nonattachment. The result findings offer perception into the effect of mindfulness on intellectual fitness and feature implications for improving and evaluating life satisfaction and emotional wellbeing.

Assessment of Capacity-Building Needs Challenges and Opportunities

The present research work asses the capacity-building needs and perceived challenges and further opportunities in the school health nutrition program. In this research, demographic factors act as a control variable. The deductive research approach was applied with positivist philosophy. The focal teachers and school health nutrition supervisors were the respondents for this study that was chosen from convenience sampling method. The statistical tests were applied through SPSS software. The reliability of all variables was above 0.8. The response rate was 98 percent. The statistical confirmed that demographic has no impact on variables association. The liner regression models demonstrate that perception and knowledge, workload capacity, facility support service capacity and system, structural role capacity have significant positive effect on the skills and practices of SHNSs and teachers. This research is one of the rare studies in Pakistan which examine a comprehensive model using; perception and knowledge, workload capacity, facility support service capacity and system, structural role capacity as an independent variable and skills and practices of SHNSs and teachers as a dependent variable and test the ecology of human performance theory in Pakistani context.

Bullying prevalence in Pakistan's educational institutes: Preclusion to the framework for a teacher-led antibullying intervention.

Increasing reports of bullying and cyberbullying in schools in recent years are undeniable and have been recognized as a serious public health problem. Conventional bullying and cyberbullying are not only a problem in higher educational institutions in Pakistan, but also in primary and secondary schools. Although statistics show higher levels of bullying and cyber-risky behaviors among youth, policies and interventions to control the consequences of conventional and cyberbullying are rare in the Pakistani context. This study explores teachers' perspectives and experiences in identifying bullying strategies in different school contexts. Four hundred fifty-four teachers working in different educational institutions completed an online survey that provided data to draw conclusions and to get a better sense of the situation in educational institutions in Pakistan. According to the results, teachers experience verbal and social bullying more frequently than online and physical bullying. In addition, teachers in lower grades reported noticing more physical bullying than teachers in higher grades. Facebook was reported to be the most common platform students used to bully each other. Researchers also found significant differences between rural and urban teachers' experiences with social bullying. Bullying intervention strategies should be developed and integrated into educational settings in Pakistan. The data presented will be used to develop tailored anti-bullying interventions that are culturally and socially appropriate for Pakistani educational settings.

Perceptions of Higher Education Students towards E-Learning and Face-to-Face Learning in Pakistani Context

Perceptions of Higher Education Students towards E-Learning and Face-to-Face Learning in Pakistani Context

Impact of change leadership on perceptions of organizational performance after ERP implementation: the moderating role of vendor support in a Pakistani context

This research focuses on the impact of change leadership of ERP on organizational performance with moderating role of vendor support. To test our ideas, data was collected from both technical and non-technical employees of public and private sector organizations located in Rawalpindi and Islamabad (Pakistan) which implemented ERP in the recent past. Data were analyzed through structural equation modelling using SmartPLS. Results suggest that change leadership was positively related to enhancing organizational performance after ERP implementation. However, vendor support moderated this link such that the impact of change leadership was higher when organizations received higher levels of vendor support.

A CORPUS BASED STUDY OF RHETORICAL DEVICES EMPLOYED IN PAKISTANI PRINT MEDIA

Advertisements in all the forms whether print, Electronic or Social media is an important part of our contemporary modern life. We encounter many advertisements frequently in a single day. The fact is that the general public is too much influenced by the verbal and visual part of Advertisements. The employment of Rhetoric is a significant study which can assist the advertiser in drawing appealing features called Rhetoric. The study of Rhetoric is important as it brings forth the implicit techniques which make the form and content of Print advertisements appealing. To address the Rhetoric aspect of print advertisements a Corpus based approach has been employed to analyze the rhetorical devices used by the Advertisers in Pakistani print media including Newspapers, Magazines, journals and bill boards .The advertisements have been selected with timeline of Jan, 2019 to April, 2020.The advertisements have been selected randomly to highlight the rhetoric strategies employed in Pakistani context at both levels: Visual and Rhetoric level .The Text-interpretive analysis is used to analyze the Pakistani advertisements at both Visual and verbal level .The mixed method approach has been employed as this study is based on both qualitative and qualitative methods. Qualitative approach is applied when the advertisements are analyzed according to the McQuire and Mick framework. Qualitative approach is employed when the parsons’ chi square is calculated by taking opinion of the people regarding rhetoric devices merely. The purpose of the study is to find out those rhetoric devices which are employed at both the visual and verbal level by employing the theory of visual rhetoric as a theory to point out the persuasive techniques of Ethos, Pathos, logos and on the verbal level by studying the schemes and tropes at three different levels. The results of the research show that people exhibited a positive attitude which provoked the people to be inclined towards advertisements which employed schematic devices rather than those which employed Tropic devices .The findings suggest the use of schematic and tropic device in advertisements at both visual and verbal level to convey the message effectively and in a persuasive manner.

Diluting the patriarchal dominance: Review of Developing Feminist Discourse in Pakistani Context

The present study is aimed to review of the development of feminist critical discourse in Pakistani context. It is considered that Pakistan is an Islamic country and there is a misperception in the Western world that women are oppressed in Pakistan on the name of Islam. This article provides a review of the dual version of female oppression in Pakistani context i.e. religious and cultural. The very first perception of women oppression in Pakistan by the western world is wrong as Pakistan as an Islamic ideological state does not oppress women rather guarantees their equal rights. In this regards there is a long list of legal development for the protection of the rights of women. The second kind of oppression is the cultural oppression against women. There are a lot of cultural practices in different regions of Pakistan which are oppressive towards women like Wata Sata, dowry death and forced marriages. The data for the present study has been reviewed as per available academic resources and research journals. The significance of the study is to counter western misunderstanding about the female oppression in Pakistani context. While at the same time the study is significant as it raises voice against the prevalent cultural practices of oppression against women in Pakistan. The findings of the present study reveal that there is a development of feminist critical discourse which is diluting the patriarchal dominance that is maintained through cultural practices in Pakistan.

Influence of Organization Based Self-Esteem, Role Breadth Self-Efficacy and Voluntary Learning Behavior on Perceived Employability

The study examines the impact of organizational-based self-esteem, role breadth self-efficacy, and voluntary learning behavior on perceived employability. Perceived employability is determined by an individual's capabilities and competencies, which enhance their employment opportunities in the future. The study collected data through a survey of employees in the banking sector in Karachi, using SPSS tools to analyze the effects of the antecedents of perceived employability and voluntary learning behavior. The research aimed to investigate the relationship between self-concepts and voluntary learning behavior, highlighting the critical influence of employees on both antecedents. The findings of this study could improve employee performance and help develop specific abilities and skills required by employers, such as creativity and inspiration. The study emphasizes the importance of perceived employability in obtaining better employment opportunities and its impact on the Pakistani context.

Effect of Autonomous Learning on University Students’ Academic Motivation

The main objective of this research is to investigate the effect of autonomous learning on university students’ academic motivation at University of the Punjab. This quasi-experimental study was based on two groups of students; the experimental and the control group. In this study, the experimental group of the students were taught through autonomous learning approach. The control group of the study was taught through the traditional teacher directed learning method. Pretest and post-test from both the control and experimental group were conducted to check the level of students’ academic motivation. Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was used to collect data for the study. Two intact groups/classes (comprising 60 students in total) of undergraduate students, were purposively selected for this study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. This research showed that there was no significant effect of autonomous learning on students’ academic motivation in Pakistani context. The longitudinal research may need to be conducted from elementary grades so that students may develop habits of autonomous learning and may have better academic motivation in result of autonomous learning.