Pakistani University Research Articles

Provision of research support services across the research lifecycle in university libraries

This study aims to identify current offerings of research support services (RSS) by Pakistani university libraries to their research community at various phases of the research lifecycle. It also offers data on the future planning of libraries about RSS and compares the results with international studies to gauge the progress of Pakistani university libraries in this direction. This study used a quantitative design to collect data from 138 reference/head librarians of university libraries across four research lifecycle stages. The Cronbach alpha reliability of the questionnaire was 0.95, and the data were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Frequency analysis and the Chi-square test were used to draw inferences. The results indicated that more than 50% of university libraries in Pakistan were providing most of the research support services associated with all stages of the research lifecycle. The majority of libraries offer traditional research support services as compared to advanced services which have been developed in recent times across the globe. The results of the study further indicated that private-sector university libraries were offering a higher level of research support services than public-sector university libraries. Furthermore, libraries associated with public sector universities showed more inclination toward offering these services as a part of their future planning. This study examined the current status of Pakistani university libraries’ research support services, grouped according to each stage of the research lifecycle. The study is an amalgamation of traditional and advanced research support services in order to give new dimensions to this area and the structured instrument designed for this study may be used by other researchers to conduct similar studies in their social setting. The findings will aid public sector university libraries in their efforts to provide their research communities with greater research support services. The results will be valuable to university and library administrators for strategic planning to meet the community’s need for research-based services.

Investigating applications of Artificial Intelligence in university libraries of Pakistan: An empirical study

This study aims to investigate the applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the university libraries of Pakistan. Following the explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach, this study was completed in two phases. In the first phase, quantitative data was collected from 237 university librarians from across Pakistan. In the second phase, 10 purposefully selected university librarians were interviewed. The results reveal that Pakistani university libraries are using limited AI-based library services including text-to-speech and speech-to-text technologies, Google Assistant to search by voice command, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system for self-checkout, check-in, and security purposes, and intelligent data analysis for collection management. This study explored key factors that influence implementation of AI applications including highly integrated technological infrastructure, funding/cost associated with AI, collaboration between AI experts and professionals, and library users' feedback. The major identified challenges were the requirement of a highly networked and integrated environment, lack of budget, high cost of AI technologies, and lack of staff expertise. This study claims to implement the first comprehensive survey of AI applications in Pakistani university libraries at the national level. The research findings would support library and university administrators to integrate AI applications in libraries not only in Pakistan but also in other developing countries.

Librarians’ Perceptions toward Virtual Reference Services in Pakistani University Libraries

This study determines librarians’ perceptions of Virtual Reference Services (VRS) in university libraries in Pakistan. Based on the census, data was collected from 29 head librarians of Lahore through a questionnaire. The results show that short messaging, instant messaging, and ask a librarian are prominent VRS. Time-saving, 24/7 service, reduced workload, and easy access are significant merits. Increased users’ expectations, staff training, and special skills to answer users’ queries are the key challenges. Librarians with higher qualifications have a positive opinion and fewer challenges to offering VRS. This service is likely to become necessary in academic libraries in Pakistan.

Perceptions of academic librarians regarding their interpersonal competencies: A case of Pakistani universities

This investigation aimed to assess the perceived level of interpersonal competencies possessed by academic librarians working in public and private sector universities across Pakistan. The study also examined differences in perceived interpersonal competencies of academic librarians based on demographic characteristics. A quantitative survey method was opted to collect data from 276 academic librarians selected through proportionate stratified simple random sampling technique. A total of 257 (92.4%) responses were received back that were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-23). The findings showed that academic librarians’ perceived collaboration, communication, customer service, ethics & values, leadership, and learning & innovation were at very skilled level. On the basis of age and professional experience, there were no significant differences in respondents’ opinions; however academic librarians from private universities were found to be more skillful about interpersonal competencies than those from public universities. Female respondents thought they were more adept at interpersonal skills than male respondents. Further, the respondents having MS/MPhil degrees were more interpersonal competent than those having BS (Hons.)/MLIS/MA degrees. Strong interpersonal abilities enable university librarians to play a significant role that support social and political well-being of the university. In local scenario, they could organize lectures and training sessions to help other academic librarians develop their skills. They could join statutory groups that develop laws to advance the field of librarianship. Moreover, the present study suggested the development a comprehensive instrument in assessing the interpersonal competencies of academic librarians based on the competency index for the library field prepared by OCLC web junction in 2014.

An Investigation of Academic Inbreeding and Professionalism in Pakistani Universities

An Investigation of Academic Inbreeding and Professionalism in Pakistani Universities

Opportunities and Challenges Facing Entrepreneurial Education in Pakistani Universities in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

Opportunities and Challenges Facing Entrepreneurial Education in Pakistani Universities in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

Evaluating the Readability of English Instructional Materials in Pakistani Universities: A Deep Learning and Statistical Approach

Evaluating the Readability of English Instructional Materials in Pakistani Universities: A Deep Learning and Statistical Approach

From Loyal to Saboteur: The impact of Aggression on Consumer-Brand Relationships

Purpose: This study examines the phenomenon of consumer brand sabotage (CBS), with a particular emphasis on exploring the relationships between aggressive personality traits and intentions to engage in CBS. This study specifically investigates that how hostility, rage, physical aggression, verbal aggression, and customer brand sabotage intentions are interrelated. The study's objective is to provide details on the motivations and actions of those who deliberately take action to harm a brand by eroding consumer associations.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Data for the study comprises a sample of 178 Pakistani university students using survey questionnaires. In order to assess aggressive personality traits, the (Buss and Perry, 2002) aggression scale was used, as well as a scale developed by (Kähr, 2016) and colleagues to gauge customer brand sabotage intentions. In addition, we considered control variables like age, gender, and education.
 Findings: There is a direct link between hostility and customer brand sabotage intentions. Anger and customer brand sabotage intentions were found to have a similar positive and significant relationship. Contrary to expectations, however, verbal or physical aggression was not significantly correlated with customer brand sabotage intentions.
 Implications/Originality/Value: This study makes recommendations for brand managers and marketers that emphasize the importance of understanding and preventing consumer brand sabotage. Furthermore, the paper argues that avoiding CBS might not be immediately compatible with techniques for handling verbal and physical aggression, necessitating the development of novel approaches.

Pronunciation of English velar nasal (angma) by undergraduate students in Pakistani universities

Pakistani English (PakE) is an emerging variety of English that is in the process of developing its own norms and standards. Besides, distinguishing lexical and syntactic structures, it also has unique phonological features (Baumgardner, 1993; Hassan, 2004; Rahman 1991). Many Pakistani linguists have discussed unique consonantal and vocalic features of Pakistani English (PakE). However, there has not been any significant research conducted on the pronunciation of English velar nasal or angma /ŋ/ by Pakistani English speakers. This study analyses the pronunciation of English velar nasal by Pakistani English speakers. The sample was selected from 20 undergraduate students of the Department of English studying in the first semester of a large-scale public sector university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. A number of 20 English lexical items were selected and were divided into three categories according to the distribution of angma in the English language. The items were presented to the participants in diagnostic sentences. PRAAT, the speech and phonetics analysis software, was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that Pakistani English speakers pronounce angma inaccurately in the medial position and insert velar plosive /ɡ/ in the poly-morphemic words. However, in the final position, angma is pronounced correctly by most Pakistani English speakers. The findings highlight that Pakistani English speakers are not concerned about the morpheme boundary and pronounce angma without /ŋɡ/ coalescence. Thus, it is found that Pakistani English speakers have distinguished pronunciation. The study recommends more research on Pakistani English pronunciation as well.

A multiple mediation model testing whether the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction is explained by gratitude and spiritual jihad

ABSTRACT People with elevated materialistic values often report reduced life satisfaction. To understand this, our study investigated if gratitude and the spiritual jihad mindset, denoting the aspiration to bond with God through spiritual challenges, mediate this relationship. We surveyed 404 Muslim young adults (191 men; 213 women; aged 19–32) from Pakistan. Findings revealed a negative correlation between materialism and gratitude, spirituality, and life satisfaction. Conversely, gratitude, spirituality, and life satisfaction positively correlated with each other. Importantly, spiritual jihad was a negative mediator between materialism and life satisfaction, while gratitude was not significant in this role. Thus, for Muslim Pakistani university students, chasing materialistic ambitions may adversely impact well-being by neglecting spiritual closeness to Allah.

An Empirical Study of YouTube advertisement impacts on young generation: An ethos of YouTube influence

In recent times, there is a remarkable increase in number of people who are using internet for different purposes, but a large number of internet user are the ones, who are the viewers at the YouTube and those who are the creators, who publish their videos and different material on YouTube. Not all factors that sway customers to think YouTube advertising is effective have been discovered. This paper listed YouTube advertising's entertainment, informativeness, customizability, and irritability can affect advertising value, brand recognition, and customer intent to buy. The conceptual model hypothesizes that ad value strategies improve brand recognition, which affects users' views of You Tube's utility and their propensity to keep buying. This study used Pakistani market and young generation which are studying in Pakistani Universities and 250 surveys were analyze variable data. Entertainment, informativeness, and customization are the strongest positive drivers, while irritation is the strongest negative driver for YouTube ads. However, YouTube's advertising value affects brand awareness and buy intent

Barriers to Preservation for Digital Information Resources in University Libraries of Pakistan

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate barriers faced by Pakistani university libraries to implement digital preservation programs. A questionnaire was developed and pilot tested before being sent to 70 libraries of the public sector universities and degree awarding institutions to measure the phenomena. Out of the targeted 70 libraries, 63 responded to the survey (90 % response rate). The results highlighted that a lack of institutional/national policies, financial and technological resources, and administrative support are key barriers that hinder the implementation of digital preservation practices in Pakistani university libraries. The findings of this novel study emphasize devising a national policy for digital preservation in Pakistan. Results point out key barriers to digital preservation and help designing knowledge-based systems in order to meet information and knowledge needs of library users around the clock.

Awareness of Digital Preservation Among Pakistani Librarians

Abstract For implementation of effective and efficient digital preservation programs, librarians and other professionals in the memory institutions need to have sufficient levels of awareness of digital preservation key concepts, strategies, tools, and standards/best practices. This survey aimed to investigate the awareness of librarians in Pakistani universities about these components. The population of the study included the librarians working in the central libraries of public sector universities and degree awarding institutions (DAIs) of Pakistan established before 2010. A questionnaire was developed after reviewing the relevant literature and was thereafter pilot tested in selected libraries. After successful completion of this phase, data was collected from the target population. A total of 178 responses were received from 63 out of 70 universities and DAIs. Overall, respondents showed a good level of awareness of different components of digital preservation.

Higher education and ‘marketization of intellect’: university admission advertisements from a genre perspective

ABSTRACT Recent years have witnessed drastic changes in the priorities of higher education institutions due to evolving market ethos in academia. The trend has resulted in the hybridization of academic genres, impacting their generic structure and communicative purpose/s. This paper uses discourse analysis to qualitatively investigate admission advertisements as a case to witness the impact of corporate culture and marketization on academic genres. The framework of genre analysis is used to uncover the rhetorical strategies for fulfilling informational and promotional goals. A ten-move structure establishes private universities as comparatively more promotional, while public universities increasingly follow the ways to capture the ‘market’. The results affirm the adoption of corporate trends in Pakistani universities. The discovered move-patterning has implications for the higher education sector across the globe. The in-depth generic knowledge thus gained can act as a resource for the expert members of academia to bring reforms to the existing academic culture.

Psychometric properties of classroom creativity climate scale (CCCS): Evidence from confirmatory factor analysis in the Pakistani context

AbstractCreativity has long been emphasized as an essential skill identified and developed in classrooms by eminent psychologists. A high level of creativity is required to adapt to the changing world of innovation. University‐level students are privileged as they get multiple opportunities to learn creative skills. They are facilitated with autonomy and a creative environment. This study aimed to investigate the Psychometric Properties of the classroom creativity climate scale (CCCS) through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the Pakistani context. The study involved 711 (males = 359, females = 352) Pakistani university students pursuing BS, MS/MPhil, and PhD degrees. Based on CFA, the proposed structure of the scale was confirmed, consisting of 22 items with a Likert‐type response set loaded on four variables: Teacher Support for the Expression of Student Ideas, Student Self‐perception about Creativity, Student Interest in Learning, and Student Autonomy. Alpha reliability coefficients range from .61 to .82 for the full scale. A comparison of demographics among different age groups and degree levels has been conducted. This scale is useful when investigating Pakistanis University students' perception of creativity, diagnosing the creative climate in the classroom, or asking the teachers for a creative environment inside the classrooms.

Media and non-media sources for disaster risk reduction

Media and non-media sources are used for disaster risk reduction (DRR). This study aims to investigate the use of media such as social media, television, newspapers, radio and non-media channels such as mobile phone, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, government and local authorities for DRR. A survey was conducted in order to obtain quantitative data; 384 respondents from various universities of Pakistan were asked to fill the questionnaire using random sampling. Focus groups with the faculty members of Pakistani universities were also conducted to support the quantitative data. Findings of the study indicate that all major forms of media, including radio, television, newspapers and social media were providing information about DRR. The women were more inclined to get information from social media about DRR and were less likely to use radio for the same purpose. Television was the second most important source regarding DRR. In comparison to the role of media in providing information about DRR, where social media was ranked first for getting information on DRR, television news overrides social media when it comes to effectiveness of media sources. While DRR prepares the public for challenges, which may arise before, during, and after a disaster, the respondents tend to only discuss environmental catastrophes with family, friends, neighbors or co-workers once a disaster occurs. Women use mobile phones to inform unaffected family members about the crippling effects of a specific disaster in their daily lives. Although the government is the primary stakeholder tasked with caring for the general public, it was not considered as valuable by the respondents when compared with other communication modes.

Pandemic, Problems, and Possibilities: A Qualitative Study of EFL Teachers’ Perspectives in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

Pandemics are always unexpected scenarios where the education system has to scuffle and survive. Most recently, the Coronavirus plague caused dramatic changes in t educational settings, most prominently shifting from face-to-face to virtual systems of learning and teaching. A positive side of this online teaching and learning process is that the education system did not cease even in the most critical situations. However, the problem lay with the students and teachers who were not sufficiently qualified or trained for the technology used in virtual learning management systems (LMS). Occasionally, the educational institutes provided them with training workshops that were not sufficient. In this regard, the present study intended to probe into the experiences of EFL teachers in Pakistani universities to identify the problems they faced during e-teaching in the pandemic. In addition, it aims to identify ‘solutions’ for these problems as applied or suggested by the relevant teachers. For the said purpose, semi-structured interviews of 12 English Language teachers in three public and private sector universities have been taken. The responses are analyzed using inductive thematic analysis for qualitative data to develop codes and categories (using NVivo12). The findings indicate that EFL teachers faced an array of problems; however, they also found significant solutions and benefits during this online shift. The study reveals that besides all issues, teachers found online teaching quite beneficial in many ways. Therefore, the analysis suggests policymakers and stakeholders promote blended learning (a combination of the traditional and online systems) as a futuristic approach to cope with persisting and forthcoming situations.

Teaching Intercultural Literary Genres in Pakistani Universities: The Undergraduate Students’ Perspective on the Poetry of Rumi and Blake

Pakistan is a multicultural country and people are divided across political and religious values. The major objective of this study is to investigate pedagogical relevance of the poetry of Rumi and Blake for culturally diverse undergraduate classes in Pakistani universities in Lahore. The study was based on survey research design. A closed ended questionnaire was developed for data collection from 100 students purposively selected from two universities in Lahore. Findings of the study indicate that intercultural poetry with the theme of Love written by poets like Rumi and Blake needs to be taught at the undergraduate level. The study has implications for students, teachers, and genre based syllabus designers associated with teaching of English Literature in Pakistani universities.

Business Angels & Entrepreneurial Intentions of Management Students in Pakistan

This empirical paper's goal is to analyze management students' entrepreneurial desire at Pakistani universities and to solicit funding from business angels. This was a quantitative study and data was collected from 230 management students in Pakistan, 68% of whom were female and 33% of whom were male, and it was broken down using SPSS and AMOS using a questionnaire containing 23 items on a 5-point Likert scale. The study mainly claimed that perceived behavioural control, cultural norms, and entrepreneurial education all have a favourable impact on entrepreneurial intention. This research can assist students who have start-up ideas but lack the necessary funding and it may push students with motivation. However, it only provides a snapshot of university students in a single country at the time and the author did not highlight the study's qualitative component, which would have boosted the efficiency of mediators or moderators. This document gave the perspective to business owners of Pakistan that they might start new associations with business angels' help.

L 2 Motivation, Demotivation: A Case of a Pakistani University

Motivation is thought to be one of the elements in learning anything. Zoltán Dörnyei has carried out remarkable work on the role of motivation in second language learning. The paper aims at investigating the correlation among various motivating and other factors researched by Zoltán Dörnyei in Pakistani context. It also examines correlation between total motivation and demotivation assuming that there must be a causal effect. The paper adapts Zoltán Dörnyei’s questionnaire and surveys. Two seventy three learners of English Language from different disciplines of a university participated in the study. Three variables have been added pertaining to demotivation which include DMG, DMR, and DMW. The findings show correlations among various motivational factors but no correlation has been found between total demotivation and motivation which means they probably don’t impact each other. But it is suggested to carry out longitudinal studies in this regard to obtain better results. The study paves ways for the future research in the area of L2 motivation and its relation to demotivation. It also informs teachers that certain motivational factors may augment each other. Therefore, material and pedagogies that may trigger such factors can be incorporated in their teaching practice.