Private Sector Universities In Pakistan Research Articles

Identifying librarians’ readiness to leverage artificial intelligence for sustainable competence development and smart library services: an empirical investigation from universities’ librarians

Purpose This study aims to identify the librarians’ readiness to leverage artificial intelligence for sustainable competence development and smart library services. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative research design for addressing the objectives. The population consisted of librarians from the public and private sector universities of Pakistan. The data were analyzed by using Smart PLS software. Findings The analysis consisted of two major parts: first the assessment of measurement model and second the structural equation modeling analysis. A significant positive impact of AI adoption was found on the implementation smart library services. Findings revealed that behavioral intention motivated librarians to adopt AI tools in university libraries for the delivery of smart library services. Research limitations/implications We applied quantitative method to carry out the study while future authors may conduct a systematic literature review on the same topic for offering a broader outlook. Practical implications It has provided practical contributions by providing a baseline for management bodies to construct policies for the successful adoption of AI in libraries for sustainable competence development of practicing librarians and implementation of smart library services. Social implications The study has social implications too as AI integrated library services prove fruitful for society and digitally skilled librarians play a vital role for the promotion of reading and research culture in society. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on librarians’ readiness to leverage artificial intelligence for the enhancement of digital literacy skills, sustainable competence development and smart library services in the context of Pakistan.

Moving beyond myths and realities: impact of the 5C’s strategies on the internationalization of higher education in the context of COVID-19

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic impacted almost all areas of our lives, including the internationalisation of higher education. Therefore, enabling the internationalisation of higher education is one of the biggest challenges for academic institutions, and in this context, there is a need to move beyond myths and realities. Owing to the scarcity of research in the domain, this study aims to identify various critical strategies and empirically examine their impact on the internationalisation of higher education. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore strategies and develop a theoretical framework. To test research hypotheses, this study employed an explanatory research design utilising a survey instrument methodology to collect data from 253 respondents from both the public and private sector universities in Pakistan. The measures of the internationalisation of higher education were adopted from earlier studies while an instrument was developed to measure strategies on a 5-point Likert scale. The reliability and validity of data were ensured, and correlation and regression analyses were utilised to test hypotheses, in addition to validation of hypotheses through AMOS and PLS-SEM. Findings revealed a significant and positive impact of communicating, cooperating, coordinating, collaborating, and continuing strategies (5C’s) in enhancing the internationalisation of higher education. Also, the finding implies that an integrated policy through the adoption of the 5C’s strategies needs to be implemented by academic institutions to overcome the challenges of the internationalisation of higher education.

Comparison of Satisfaction of Students in Public and Private Sector Colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Background: Student satisfaction in educational institutions is a multifaceted issue influenced by various factors. In Pakistan, the distinction between public and private sector education provides a unique context to study these factors. Understanding these elements is crucial for improving educational standards and student experiences in these sectors. Objective: This study aims to compare and analyze the factors affecting student satisfaction in public and private sector colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It seeks to identify key determinants of student satisfaction and challenges faced by students in these educational settings. Methods: A qualitative research approach was employed, utilizing structured interviews as the primary data collection method. Eight students from both public and private sector universities in Pakistan were interviewed. The interviews comprised five targeted questions designed to explore factors influencing student satisfaction. Thematic analysis was conducted on the interview transcripts to identify recurring themes and patterns. The data were assessed using SPSS version 25 to provide a nuanced understanding of these themes. Results: The study revealed that student satisfaction in both sectors is influenced by the quality of teaching, availability of resources, cleanliness, and access to technologically advanced equipment. Key challenges identified include economic constraints, teaching methods, lack of technological resources, and political influence in educational settings. The thematic analysis indicated that improving teaching quality, resource allocation, and infrastructure are vital for enhancing student satisfaction. Conclusion: The study concludes that student satisfaction in Pakistani educational institutions is contingent on a variety of factors, with significant differences observed between public and private sectors. It highlights the need for targeted improvements in teaching methods, resource provision, and infrastructure development. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and educational administrators in Pakistan to enhance the quality of education and student experiences.

Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from Private Sector Universities of Pakistan

Manpower has been the most important part in any organization. Senior Managers has huge essence of responsibility to achieve their organization’s goals. Job stress is a crucial phenomenon which has immensely impacted the job performance. Therefore; organizations must take certain steps in order to deal with the stressed employees. Employees play a constructive role in promoting the organization’s good image. This study focuses upon the impact of emotional intelligence of senior management on their job performance. The data were gathered from 304 university employee individuals by incorporating the convenience and stratified random sampling methodologies. Pre-tested questionnaires were administrated to among the respondents. Henceforth; the association between job stress and job performance was investigated while emotional intelligence was taken as a moderating variable. Bar on emotional intelligence and job satisfaction questionnaires were used in this study and then with the help of SPSS (23.0) data was analyzed statistically. The results revealed a positive association between job stress and job performance. Moreover, the emotional intelligence moderates the relationship which indicated that it plays a crucial job in attaining the organizations goals.

A National Survey of Islamic Psychology Content in Psychology Programs in Pakistan

This research explores the curriculum of various psychology programs offered in different universities across Pakistan for inclusion of Islamic content in the curriculum. The curriculum management authorities, like Deans, Directors, Head of Psychology Departments and Program Incharges were asked about the inclusion of Islamic studies and guidelines in the psychology courses taught at public and private sector universities in Pakistan. The qualitative analysis is suggesting that out of a sample of 24 universities, only 33% had courses on Islamic psychology and 67% did not offer any course or module on Islamic or Muslim psychology. The findings also include that 29% of the course content is focused on history of Muslim psychology and famous Arab scholars and is offered in undergraduate programs. The implications are first to explore and report existing Islamic content in Psychology programs. Second to promote the significance of inclusion of content related to Islamic psychology, Islamic and religious based therapies and trainings based on Quran and Sunnah in the curriculum. This research is an endeavor to highlight how the curriculum of various university programs are far behind and lacking in recent innovations in religion-based techniques of therapy, treatment and counseling based on Islamic principles.

Integrating Social and Family Support as a Measure of Health Outcomes: Validity Implications from the Integrated Model of Health Literacy.

(1) Background: Health literacy (HL) is one of the key determinants of health and healthcare outcomes. The objectives of this study are to measure and validate Sørensen et al.'s integrated model of health literacy (IMHL) in a developing country's youth population, as well as to assess the impact of family affluence and social and family support on healthcare domains. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out of undergraduate university students in 19 public and private sector universities in Pakistan during June-August 2022. A nine-factor measurement model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) based on the 56 valid items obtained from three different validated scales, such as the family affluence scale (FAS-II), the multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS), and the European Health Literacy Questionnaire (the HLS-EU-Q). (3) Results: The data were collected from 1590 participants with a mean age of 21.16 (±2.027) years. The model fit indices indicate that the model partially fitted the data: χ2 = 4.435, df = 1448, p = 0.000, RMSEA = 0.048, TLI = 0.906, CFI = 0.912, IFI = 0.912, GFI = 0.872, NFI = 0.889, RFI = 0.882, PGFI = 0.791. The structural equation model showed acceptable goodness of fit indices, indicating a significant direct influence of social and family support on healthcare and disease prevention. (4) Conclusions: Social and family support are the most influential factors, with regard to HL dimensions, in improving healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion in low-income settings and among non-English-speaking communities.

Pandemic Information Access Challenges and Expectations about the Post-Covid Era: A Survey of Pakistan Students' Opinion Regarding Academic Libraries' Services and Staff

The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges students faced in accessing the information from academic libraries during COVID and factors that contributed to stress among students during the pandemic. Another purpose of the study was to know the expectations of the students regarding libraries' services and library professionals' competencies in the post-COVID era. A quantitative research approach and survey method was employed to conduct this study. The population of the study was students of public and private sector universities in Pakistan. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the collected data. Results revealed that lack of digital resources (limited access to the internet and digital devices such as smartphones) and limited information skills found the highest mean score (3.92 and 3.90 respectively) regarding contributing to stress among the students. Similarly, findings confirmed that lack of access to printed material and printers, scanners, recorders, and websites with limited guidelines were the major challenges students faced while accessing the information from academic libraries during the period of a pandemic. Students agreed and expected remote access to information sources, availability of more electronic content, presence of online tutorials regarding the use of information sources and access to institutional repositories from libraries after the COVID era. Respondents also agreed that post-COVID librarians should be good information managers, communicators, problem solvers and internet librarians. The study also shares the implications for practitioners and polisymakers and future research directions for academics and researchers.

Proactive Personality as Mediating variable between Career Skills, Servant Leadership and Subjective Career Success of Working Women: A Study from Private Sector Universities of Pakistan

Purpose: To examine the effect of career skills and servant-leadership on intrinsic career success with surrogating effect of proactive personality traits.
 Design/method/approach: Structural equation modeling has been applied to extract the statistical finding by applying MPlus Software.
 Findings: Proactive personality traits mediates between the relationship of career skills, servant-leadership, and intrinsic career success.
 Research implications: The model have a look at providing the suggestion for policy makers to hire and train highly educated faculty to participate in servant-leadership for the betterment of career skills and intrinsic career success, which improves institutional performance.
 Originality: The research study examined the P-E fit theory and the model in this particular context of Pakistan is unique and constructed to suggest policy makers the techniques for advancing the career success of working women in academia.

Librarian’s perception on data librarianship core concepts: a survey of motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate trainings platforms

Purpose Data librarianship, or data-driven librarianship, is the combination of information science, data science and e-science fields and is gaining gradual importance in the library and information science (LIS) profession. Hence, this study investigates the data librarianship core concepts (motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate training platforms) to learn and successfully launch data librarianship services.Design/methodology/approach A survey method was used and the data were collected through online questionnaire. Purposive sampling method was applied and 132 responses were received with 76 respondents from the public and 56 from the private sector universities of Pakistan. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 25) was used, and descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyzed the data.Findings LIS professionals understand the importance of data-driven library services and perceive that such services are helpful in evolving the image of the library, helping with the establishment of institutional data repositories/data banks, developing data resources and services for library patrons and especially researchers, and receiving appreciation and acknowledgment from the higher authorities. The major challenges that emerged from the data were: missing data policies, limited training opportunities for data librarianship roles, no additional financial benefits, lack of infrastructure and systems, lack of organizational support for the initiation of data-driven services, and lack of skills, knowledge and expertise. Data librarianship is in its early stages in Pakistan, and consequently, the LIS professionals are lacking basic, advanced and technical data-driven skills.Research limitations/implications The policy, theoretical and practical implications describe an immediate need for framing data policies. Such policies will help the libraries or any other relevant entities to store the data and assign metadata and documentation in such a way that it is easy to retrieve and reusable for others.Originality/value This is the first study in Pakistan to investigate the perceptions of LIS professionals about data librarianship core concepts: motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate training platforms to grasp data-driven skills and successfully launch library services.

The Impact of Social Media Usage on Students’ Fear during COVID-19: A Study of Postgraduate Students in Pakistan

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of social media usage on students’ fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a cross-sectional survey approach, a closed-ended questionnaire was administered as a data collection tool among 600 students of 10 public and private sector universities in Pakistan and 438 responses were received. It was found that the respondents’ believed that uploading more information on social media about COVID-19 had spread fear and panic among the students. It was also found males had a high level of psychological fear and physical fears as compared to female respondents. Respondents between the age group of 31 years or more had more psychological fear, followed by respondents between the age group of 24-30 years. However, those whose age was between 18-23 years had fewer psychological fears. The findings of this study could contribute to the body of knowledge on the subject matters.

Impact of Protean Career Attitudes on Career Outcomes via Job Crafting Behavior: A Serial Mediation Model

Purpose: The study proposes that the individuals with protean career attitudes employ best work practices through job crafting behaviors and attain desired career outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of protean career attitudes on career outcomes, i.e., Perceived Employability (PE) and Subjective Career Success (SCS) through job crafting behavior.
 Methodology: The study has a quantitative, deductive research design that mainly focuses on the testation of the hypotheses. This study has been conducted on full-time faculty members of public and private sector Universities of Pakistan
 Findings: The data from the employees working in the universities of Pakistan revealed that PCA has a positive impact on individual career outcomes. It was also found that there exists a pathway of serial mediation from job crafting towards perceived employability to achieve career success. The individuals who craft their jobs are more likely to enhance their employability, ultimately leading to career success. The study highlights the importance of PCA and Job Crafting behaviors, yet un-explored phenomena, for the employees for career development.
 Implications: Employees who want to progress and develop their careers should actively engage in task crafting behavior in task crafting, relational crafting, or cognitive crafting.

Using Facebook to Enhance the Academic Ability of Undergraduate Students

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of Facebook adoption on the academic capabilities of undergraduate university students. An online survey was conducted to collect the empirical data of 470 undergraduate students from public and private sector universities in Pakistan. The study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to estimate the proposed conceptual model. The empirical results show that the adoption of Facebook has significant and positive effects on undergraduate students. These findings provide significant policy implications for higher education institutes.

2- Evaluation of the Policy of Quality Assurance in Public and Private Sector Universities in Pakistan

Quality assurance is increasingly becoming an important aspect of universities in developing countries. Development and implementation of quality assurance in universities is a challenge. The objectives of the study were to evaluate policy of quality assurance in public and private sector universities in Pakistan, to assess the practices of quality assurance in public and private sector universities in Pakistan, to find out the gap in policy and practices of quality assurance in public and private sector universities in Pakistan. Research design of the study was descriptive. The population of the study was 22 directors of quality enhancement cells, 3265 Ph.D. teachers and 288 heads of the department in sixteen public and six private sector universities in Islamabad. Through stratified random sampling technique, the sample of the study included 515 teachers, 215 HODs and 20 directors of QECs from the sixteen public and six private sector universities in Islamabad. Policy and practices of quality assurance in public and private sector universities was evaluated through questionnaire and interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed with the help of SPSS, Mean score, t-test and percentage. Public sector universities’ staff was more skilled and performing their duties according to required standard. Public sector universities promote research culture among faculty and students. It was recommended by the researcher that local and international training on policy and practices of quality assurance should be given to QECs staff, HODs and faculty members

What Factors Affect the Entrepreneurial Intention to Start-Ups? The Role of Entrepreneurial Skills, Propensity to Take Risks, and Innovativeness in Open Business Models

Start-ups are launched every day, and most of them will fail at the same pace. Worldwide unemployment has become a major concern due to the geometric increase in the population. However, job opportunities are not created at the same pace as the overall population, and jobless people are becoming a burden on the economy. This situation led to introduce a system that helps people become self-employed and gives dignity to their lives. Prior studies reported that many factors could motivate an individual to pursue entrepreneurial projects. However, there is still a gap in identifying a path that promotes entrepreneurial intention among young graduates. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to determine the effect of self-motivation, family support, peer influence, and institutional support on entrepreneurial intention through entrepreneurial skills, propensity to take risks, and innovativeness. Data were collected from 416 business students from six public and private sector universities in Pakistan. The results revealed that self-motivation, family support, peer influence, and institutional support positively and significantly affected entrepreneurial intention. The mediating role of entrepreneurial skills, a propensity to take risks, and innovativeness also enhances entrepreneurial intention among young graduates. A categorical analysis was conducted to explain the characteristics of the individuals motivated to launch start-ups. The results revealed a significant difference in the grouping variables of gender and education. The conceptual model provides more pronounced results in the case of male and post-graduate students. These findings may motivate young graduates to start new venture capital start-ups based on open business models. In this way, they can contribute to the complex and evolutionary economics that accelerate efficiency through technological innovation.

Relationship of Graduate Students with their Academic Supervisors: A Study of Public and Private Sector Universities of Pakistan

This study is aimed to observe different aspects of working relationship between supervisees with their academic supervisors from the supervisees’ perspective. Respondents were inquired about networking, instrumental, and psychosocial help received from their supervisors; their satisfaction level with their supervisors; and about their behavioural intentions. Supervisees’ satisfaction was used as a mediator here. A descriptive study was carried out in public and private sector universities. Respondents were 350 MS and PhD level students. Linear Regression was used to analyze relationships among variables. Full mediation was observed in private sector universities, whereas partial mediation was found in public sector universities. Independent sample t-test was employed to observe significant mean differences between public and private sector universities. Significant mean scores differences were observed in independent samples t-test in instrumental and psychosocial help between these two types of universities.

Relationship between Organizational Justice Dimensions and Organizational Commitment: A Mediating Mechanism of Overall Justice

The research on organizational justice (OJ) by and large focuses on OJ dimensions and their impact on employees’ attitude and behaviour. However, some researchers suggest an equal focus on the concept of overall justice. The objective of this paper is to determine the level of prevalence of OJ dimensions within private sector universities of Pakistan, and to evaluate whether overall justice mediates between OJ dimensions and OC. Kenny’s contemporary approach to mediation was used to test the mediating effect of overall justice. Our results reflect that with the exception of distributive justice, remaining three dimensions prevails within private sector universities. Similarly, there is no direct relationship between OJ dimensions and OC, rather, this relationship is best explained by incorporating overall justice in the model.

Climate Change with Reference to Green Economy: Carbon Accounting of Hamdard University

Hamdard University is one of the biggest private sector universities in Pakistan. It is a not-for-profit organization whose objective is to serve people of Pakistan with excellent education system while taking care external factors into consideration, as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), especially the environment which is a key concern due to the climate change. This research paper focusses on measuring the carbon footprint or performing the carbon accounting of Hamdard University and to measure its share in climate change. Primary data, which is necessary to measure carbon footprint, have been taken by direct reporting and site surveys. Methodology and secondary data regarding the emission factors have been taken from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, World Resources Institute, Word Bank, Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The carbon footprint of Hamdard University is 1786.2019 tonnes of CO2-e in 2018 which is 0.000547% of Pakistan 2014’s total GHG emission. Scope 1 emission constitutes 54.14% of total GHG emission which is mostly caused by the fuel combustion by varsity’s transport followed by scope 2 emission caused by purchased electricity which constitutes 45.32% of GHG total emission. Scope 3 emission is because of official air travel which is not significant, hence, constitutes 0.54% of total GHG emission.

Institutional facilitation for learning improvement with consideration of students’ voices

This study investigates the students’ perceptions regarding their voices towards improvement in learning at public and private sector universities in Pakistan. These voices are collected by the Quality Enhancement Cells of the varsities through either technological tools or other ways. To understand how this data is utilized, a self-constructed and validated tool was utilized to get information about four categories; understanding of the term student voices, inquiry of learning process; university facilitation for best learning and implementation of student voices. Using purposive sampling technique, a survey of 112 under graduate students from four fields of studies (social sciences, natural sciences, business administrations and languages) from a Public and Private Sector University each from District Lahore was conducted. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 22, and t-test and chi-square was performed to measure the difference in institutional facilitation of public and private sector universities. One-way ANOVA was applied to check the effects of student’s status in the class on the inquiry of learning process. The study indicated statistically significant effect of public and private sector on students’ perceptions regarding institutional facilitations for learning improvement. The study also reported the significant effects of student’s status on the inquiry of learning process. It is suggested that further studies need to explore how and where the students’ voices are being used for planning, assessment and course development.
 Keywords: Institutional facilitation, students’ voice, Higher Education, Pakistan

Institutional facilitation for learning improvement with consideration of students’ voices

This study investigates the students’ perceptions regarding their voices towards improvement in learning at public and private sector universities in Pakistan. These voices are collected by the Quality Enhancement Cells of the varsities through either technological tools or other ways. To understand how this data is utilized, a self-constructed and validated tool was utilized to get information about four categories; understanding of the term student voices, inquiry of learning process; university facilitation for best learning and implementation of student voices. Using purposive sampling technique, a survey of 112 under graduate students from four fields of studies (social sciences, natural sciences, business administrations and languages) from a Public and Private Sector University each from District Lahore was conducted. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 22, and t-test and chi-square was performed to measure the difference in institutional facilitation of public and private sector universities. One-way ANOVA was applied to check the effects of student’s status in the class on the inquiry of learning process. The study indicated statistically significant effect of public and private sector on students’ perceptions regarding institutional facilitations for learning improvement. The study also reported the significant effects of student’s status on the inquiry of learning process. It is suggested that further studies need to explore how and where the students’ voices are being used for planning, assessment and course development.
 Keywords: Institutional facilitation, students’ voice, Higher Education, Pakistan

From pragmatic competence to intercultural competence: Pakistani ESL teachers perspectives of teaching interculturality in ESL classroom

In recent years, the areas of intercultural pragmatics and transcultural pragmatics under the phenomenon of “interculturality” have been investigated by linguists and language scholars because interculturality has a deep-rooted connection with the language and second language teaching and learning. This data-oriented study follows a quantitative research design. The data is collected through a survey questionnaire from 75 English teachers who are teaching at the university level in five different public and private sector universities in Pakistan. The overall results encourage embedding the knowledge of interculturality in ESL/EFL classes. There is a need to organize training sessions for teachers because many teachers reported that they do not utilize such skills in their ESL/EFL classrooms. In addition, the majority of teachers also believed in employing new approaches for teaching transcultural pragmatics to their students. This study further highlights that teacher/educators could also benefit from working together to develop the teaching of interculturality and transcultural competence, and to make this development happen in relation to teacher professional development.