Public Sector Universities Of Pakistan Research Articles

Motivation during Online Classes: Analyzing Socio-Demographic Profile of Engineering Students

The study aimed to analyze the socio-demographical profile of engineering students in the context of their motivation during online classes. Engineering students (N=1616) of both genders (males N=1352 & females N=264) enrolled in 9 public sector universities of Pakistan were included in this study. The age range of the students was between 17 to 26 years. The Academic Motivation Scale (Vallerand et al., 1992) and an extensive self-structured demographical profile were used as a tool for data collection. The Academic motivation scale measured seven sub-categories of intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation, while the demographical sheet collected different dimensions of the personal, educational, social, and residential information. The study gathered an enormous collection of information about significant demographics of engineering students studying through online classes. According to the perspective of gender, there was no significant difference found in the motivation level of students during online classes. Access to the internet was the most significant demographic variable, positively correlated with the sub-categories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation during an online class. This study added a unique finding in the literature that students' motivation during online classes could be increased when they have better access to internet facilities.

Political Skill and Career Success: Exploring the Mediating Role of Mentoring and Moderating Role of Career Adaptability

What determines success in academia? Both researchers and academics have disagreements regarding the notion of success and its determinants in academia. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of political skill on employees’ subjective career success and the mediating and moderating role of mentoring and career adaptability in the said relationship respectively. The hypothesized relationships were tested utilizing a representative stratified random sample of 362 faculty members employed in the public sector universities of Pakistan. Results revealed that political skill positively influences subjective career success. The mediation model was supported and as expected: mentoring mediated the link between political skill and career success. The moderated relationship between mentoring and career success was stronger for individuals with higher career adaptability. The study adds to the understanding of underlying mechanisms involved in the political skill-career success nexus. Moderating role of career adaptability in the relationship between political skill and subjective career success was also probed, which further adds to the theoretical contribution of the study. The findings suggest that academics must realize that they need to be politically skilled, should be proactive in seeking mentoring relationships and should better equip themselves to cope with the work uncertainties.

Impact of Social Support and Aggression on Sport Achievements of University Student Athletes

The primary objective of present study was to investigate the impact of social support and aggressive behaviors on sports achievements of student athletes. The existing research was based on quantitative measures in nature. The population of the present research was comprised of all student athletes of two public sector universities of Pakistan. The sample size was consisted of 300 survey cases.Researchers used survey questionnaire as an instrument for the purpose of data collection. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient of Pearson, and multiple regression analysis were considered suitable statistical and analytical techniques which were utilized to find out the results from the collected data. The results investigated that social support had significant and greater impact than aggression on sports achievement of student athletes. It was concluded that if proper social support had been provided to university athletes, this might have reduced the level of aggressiveness from the young adults.

How Do Organizational Commitment and Work Engagement Mediate Between Human Resource Management Practices and Job Performance?

The main goal of this study is to empirically determine the mediating roles of organizational commitment and work engagement between the relationship of human resource management practices and job performance of the faculty members working in public sector universities of Pakistan. Data were obtained by self-administrated questionnaire. This study used stratified random sampling. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has been applied by using SMART PLS registered version 3; to test the statistical model. The study found that work engagement and affective organizational commitment has partially mediating relationship with human resource management practices and job performance. Social Exchange Theory used as under pinning theory to develop theoretical model. Data were collected from 247 faculty member working in public sector universities of Pakistan.

Mediating Role of Job Embeddedness between Interruptions at Work and Job Satisfaction of Gritty Faculty Members

Purpose: The study has examined the job satisfaction of gritty faculty members working on Basic Pay Scale, in public sector universities of Pakistan. The construct is derived from motivational intensity theory in the context of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
 Design/methodology/approach: A total of 289 gritty faculty members from Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s Public Sector Universities participated in this study by filling survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was adopted from different sources and tested for validity and reliability.
 Findings: The study found that interruptions at work have significantly positive relationship with job embeddedness and job satisfaction and most importantly the unique concept for mediating relationship of job embeddedness between interruptions at work and job satisfaction has been established in this study. The study further examined and found that self-efficacy, multitasking, social astuteness has significantly positive relationship with job satisfaction.
 Research limitations/implications: Results come at the convenience of the researchers from cross sectional study. The results might not have the generalizability for other countries. The application of the results requires intensive care for other universities and type of appointments in public and private universities of Pakistan and other countries of the world.
 Practical implications: The universities in public sector are required to define the job statues and flexible working hours for the faculty members working on basic pay scale to enhance the job satisfaction of faculty members.
 Originality: This study focused on mediating role of job embeddedness with interruptions at work, multitasking, self-efficacy, social astuteness, and job satisfaction of the gritty faculty members. Multitasking and interruptions at work are dimensions of information ergonomics in knowledge world. The concept of job embeddedness and ergonomics for gritty faculty members working on basic pay scale basis has not been examined intensively.

Leadership styles and employee knowledge sharing: Exploring the mediating role of introjected motivation.

Drawing on Social Exchange Theory and Self-Determination Theory, this study examines the impact of three leadership styles (ethical, transformational, and passive avoidant) on employee knowledge sharing. Further, this study explores the mediating effect of introjected motivation in the relationship between three leadership styles and employee knowledge sharing. Using time lag data this study employed a sample of 254 faculty members of public sector universities in Pakistan. Results supported the positive relationship between three styles of leadership and employee knowledge sharing. Moreover, our findings confirmed the mediating role of introjected motivation in the relationship between three leadership styles and employee knowledge sharing. Our study is unique, as it simultaneously examines how various styles of leadership predict introjected motivation and employee knowledge sharing. Implications along with limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Formative Assessment Practices in Public Sector Universities of Pakistan

Formative Assessment Practices in Public Sector Universities of Pakistan

Total Quality Management Implementation and Performance of Public Sector Universities in Pakistan

Total Quality Management Implementation and Performance of Public Sector Universities in Pakistan

Article Transforming Pedagogy: Studying the Relationship between Students’ Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement at Higher Education

Recently an increasing focus has been observed on the learner-centred approaches for their role in preparing more independent and skilful graduates. Of these active learning styles, self-regulated learning has received greater attention in higher education. In this context, it is highly important to examine current state of self-regulated learning adopted by students, along with examining the gender differences and the nature of discipline in adopting self-regulated learning. Considering this situation, the prime objective of the study was to map the link between students' self-regulated learning and their academic achievement in their related disciplines, and on basis of their gender. Using the descriptive design, a quantitative survey was used to collect the data from 300 students of two public sector universities of Pakistan. A questionnaire was adopted to collect data from students to measure their level of adopted self-regulated learning and CGPA. Simple linear regression and t-test and ANOVA were applied to reach to certain results. Our findings rejected the main hypothesis that there is no impact of self-regulated learning on students’ academic achievement. Likewise, this study could not identify the difference in view of adopting self-regulated learning strategies by male and female students at higher education. However, in view of measuring SRL at faculty level, students from the faculty of science adopted self-regulated learning strategies to some extent. Next to concrete discussion in relation to these findings limitations and directions for future researches were stressed.

I Regret as My Family Fallows My Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy! Evidence from the Male Sample of an Emerging Economy (Pakistan)

Abstract Entrepreneurial activities require thoughtful and cumbersome efforts, positive and forward-looking upward spiral, and strong entrepreneurial intentions. Drawing from the work-family interface model, this study aims at investigating the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) on venturing intentions through moderated mediation mechanisms of family support and regret. The data were collected from 335 male graduate students of business schools through questionnaires from public sector universities of Pakistan in two lags, because the participation of the labor force in Pakistan is primarily influenced by the demographical composition (i.e., Males), which is linked with cultural traits of the nation. The study used Hayes Macros to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study reveal that ESE positively influences intentions, while low family support reduces the effects of ESE. Low family support also increases the regret of not starting a business for those individuals who had high self-efficacy. A Moderated-mediation mechanism also exists among the variables of the interest. This study reports the effects of low family support and regrets on intentions in the short-run (i.e., four months interval), future studies should conduct longitudinal studies to understand the long-term relationship. Increasing unemployment in developing countries requires unique and timely solutions and entrepreneurship is the most viable one. But this study highlights an important considerations of family support while making policy decisions. The findings highlight that mere entrepreneurial self-efficacy is not enough, and due to collectivist culture the family norms have great impact on the entrepreneurial choices and intentions. This study examines the mechanism between ESE and entrepreneurial intentions considering anticipated regret as a mediating variable and family support as a conditional variable. This study is first of its kind that has linked family support, ESE, regret, and entrepreneurial intentions using the work-family interface. It explains how family support can enhance regret and the relationship between self-efficacy and intentions.

Lived experiences of women academics during the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.

This study explores the experiences of women academics while combining the challenging job of online teaching and familial responsibilities during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Pakistan. The aim is to outline the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on women academics. We employed a qualitative research design and collected data through in-depth qualitative telephonic interviews with thirteen women academics in four public sector universities in Pakistan. The findings show that women academics remained overwhelmed by the workload; lacked support; and endured a tiring struggle to manage their official duties and familial responsibilities. They were stressed and stuck in their children and family care and online teaching and had hardly any time for academic writing. The participants expressed being burned out, depressed, exhausted, angry, and in desperate need of personal time. Since women experienced the lockdown differently than men we suggest that they may be compensated at the time of tenure/promotions.

The Acoustic Effect of Urdu Phonological Rules on English Speech

The paper is about the acoustic effect of Urdu phonological rules on Pakistani Urdu speakers' English speech. The objective of the study is to discuss the phenomenon of multiple pronunciations of an English word that has the same spellings, meaning, and part of speech but different pronunciations in the English speech of Urdu speakers. Sometimes these alternative pronunciations are considered mispronunciation rather than multiple pronunciations. The primary purpose of this study is to make a boundary-line between mispronunciations and multiple pronunciations of English vocabulary. Thus, an acoustic analysis of Urdu speakers' English speech has been done by collecting speech data of 30 Urdu speakers from the Public sector universities of Pakistan. Consequently, this paper caters to language-dependent variations of Urdu. This paper only deals with three phonological rules, i.e., segment alternation, ellipsis, epenthesis, which become the cause for re-syllabification of English words. These three foci of research have been selected because the data analysis has confirmed that the 'multiple pronunciation' is mainly occurred due to these three elements. These three categories cover several sub-categories that cover many instances in the data analysis. The data also confirms that phonological variations occur due to stress shifting in Urdu speakers' English speech in Pakistan.

Impact of University Climate on Teachers’ Morale in Public Sector Universities in Pakistan

An institution that works for individuals or is fretful with fulfilling the requirements of students may have a climate where the teachers sense an assured egotism and self-importance, have their place in that organization. Various factors are involved to get the highest competence and output from the teachers i.e. service safety, positive institutional climate, and good income. The self-confidence of professors and a positive university climate play an important role to give the students a quality education. This study identified the university atmosphere and examined the influence of the university environment on the confidence of professors. A mixed-methods approach was used to perform the study. The initial seven plus ten declarations on the tool signify the exposed environment, and the preceding seven plus ten avowals represent the confined environment. A self-developed morale scale and face-to-face meetings were steered for data collection. The population of the study was 4210 teachers and 350 heads of departments in Punjab province. The sample was 35 leaders, 255 male and 171 female teachers from public sector universities in Punjab, using proportional, and stratified random sampling techniques. Tested the readability test of the revisions with participants, the null hypotheses were tested. Both data were analyzed with quantitative and qualitative analytical tools that followed the content analysis technique. The results showed that most public sector universities in Pakistan have an open climate like a closed university climate. However, it was found that noteworthy variance existed in the ethical level of teachers working in open and closed atmospheres.

Readiness for Online Learning during COVID-19 pandemic: A survey of Pakistani LIS students

This study was designed to determine the perceived online learning readiness (OLR) of LIS (Library and Information Sciences) / IM (Information Management) students in Pakistan during COVID-19 pandemic. A quantitative approach based on survey method was used to collect data from 340 LIS students from nine public sector universities of Pakistan through an online questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using the SPSS and AMOS. The findings revealed that LIS students were not fully personalized and successful in decisions about their online educational activities during COVID-19 pandemic. However, they were motivated to learn through online learning and felt confident in performing basic functions of computers and internet. A significant difference of opinion was observed on ‘computer/internet self-efficacy’ and ‘online communication self-efficacy’ based on respondents' gender. Similarly, students from different levels of degree programs reported significantly different computer, internet, and online communication self-efficacy and learning motivation. Moreover, the age and grades of respondents were noted to be strong predictors of their OLR. These findings would be helpful for library schools, universities, and faculty members in Pakistan to improve the quality of online education and implement clear policies and guidelines. This study provides some theoretical and practical implications based on the findings.

The nexus of physical, cognitive, and emotional engagement with academic staff turnover intention: The moderating role of organizational politics

AbstractThe goal of the study is to investigate the effect of physical, cognitive, and emotional engagement on turnover intention among academic staff in public sector universities in Pakistan. The study highlights the buffering effect of organizational politics on employee engagement and turnover intention. The study employs a quantitative research design based around a partial least square analysis of datah gathered from academic staff in public universities in Sindh. The study shows there is a significant negative association between turnover intention, and employees' cognitive and emotional engagement. The findings of the study confirm the buffering effect of organizational politics on physical and emotional engagement and turnover intention. The direct effect of employees' physical engagement on turnover intention was not found to be significant. This study contributes to the conservation of resources theory; it also offers solutions to the problem of staff turnover based on building an organizational culture grounded in justice and teamwork.

Linking organizational cronyism to deviant workplace behavior: Testing the mediating role of employee negligence in Pakistani higher education institutions

ABSTRACT Organizational cronyism is described as a relationship, companionship, and friendship based favoring. There are a number of examples regarding the existence of organizational cronyism in the workplace. However, there are a few empirical studies on this most observable fact and its consequences specifically in the higher education sector. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of organizational cronyism on deviant workplace behavior in public sector universities of Pakistan. Second, we use employee negligence as a mediating mechanism to explain how the construct of organizational cronyism translates into deviant workplace behavior. Using a time-lagged (three waves) research design, the data were collected from 250 faculty members of public sector universities of Pakistan. Hypothesized relationships were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, using SmartPls 3.2.8 software. The results reveal that organizational cronyism increases employee deviant workplace behavior and employee negligence partially mediates the relationship between organizational cronyism and deviant workplace behavior. Managerial and theoretical implications, along with future research directions, are also discussed.

Effects of SMS Texting on Academic Writing Skills of Undergraduate Students at a Public Sector University in Pakistan

The growing concern about the use of texting endangering the standard forms in language prompted the present research to determine the presence or absence of SMS features in the academic writing of the participants. Triangulation was used for data collection i.e. questionnaires for learners and educators and samples of the learners’ English written work were examined for SMS features. Simple average and ratio were used for descriptive analysis of the data. Contrary to the expectation, there were no significant evidences of these features in the sample. It seems being proficient in standard forms, these learners are context conscious and can switch to the appropriate register or style when writing formally .Thus the present study has demystified the popular belief about texting adversely affecting writing and thus destroying Standard English. Moreover, the evidences of one punctuation mark used in place of another indicate there can be other factors like carelessness or lack of knowledge of students and the lack of training, feedback or emphasis by educators or the system. So the matter of concern should be the general neglect of punctuation even out of the context of texting. It is found that the higher the exposure to the SMS, more the negative effect on the writing skills of the university students. The excessive use of this medium is leading students towards writing wrong spellings and using SMS language’s short abbreviations that are not standard in examinations and daily academic work that is very harmful in academia. Keywords: Orthography, Phonetic Transcriptions, SMS (texting), Writing skills DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/75-05 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

EXCESSIVE DAYTIME SLEEPINESS AND ITS RELATION WITH QUALITY OF LIFE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN MEDICAL STUDENTS

OBJECTIVES: To establish a relationship between excessive daytime sleepiness, quality of life (QOL) and academic performance among medical students. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from August to December 2018 on 441 medical students, selected through non-probability convenience sampling from a public-sector university in Pakistan. Data collection tool was a closed ended, self-administered questionnaire, consisting of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), WHO Quality of Life-brief version (WHOQOL- BREF) scale and demographic information. Questions regarding sleep quality before exam and self-perceived academic performance were also included. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 25. Pearson correlations and student t-tests were used at a significant level of p <0.05. RESULTS: Out of 596 questionnaires distributed among students, 441 students returned the questionnaire with a response rate of 73.9%. The mean age of the study population was 20.56±1.61 years. The sample comprised 274 (56%) female and 194 (44%) male students. Majority of students (37.6%) had average sleep of 6-7 hours/night. Higher scores on the ESS correlated with lower scores on the WHOQOL-BREF domains and a statistically significant correlation (p<0.05) was obtained between ESS scores and WHOQOL-BREF’s physical and psychological domain scores. The study established no significant correlation between daytime sleepiness and self-reported academic performance of medical students. CONCLUSION: Excessive daytime sleepiness is related to decreased quality of life in medical students. Thus, medical schools should provide necessary support for students to overcome such challenge in order to cope better with their continuous academic demands.

A Study of Motivational Factors for Pre-service Teachers Choice of Teaching as a Career

This study explored 270 student-teachers' attitudes towards teaching profession in two public sector universities in Pakistan. A self-developed questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire included 5-point Likert scaled items. The results of an initial descriptive analysis showed that 'teaching as a source of lifelong learning received the highest positive response. While 'I chose a teaching career because I had no other choice' was the lowest. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that there were three major motivational factors in choosing teaching career: (1) Relatively easy availability (2) being more respected job, and (3) teaching being a relaxing job. Comparisons on demographics showed no significant difference between universities, as t (268) = 3.476, p&lt;.05. Gender wise difference was statistically significant, as t (268) = -2.589, p&lt;.05. The respondents' academic background had no significant effect on their motivation towards a teaching career.

Examining the Links Leading to Behavioral Support for Change: An Expectancy Theory Perspective

Purpose of the study: An individual’s support for change is a critical factor in successfully and effectively implementing change. Therefore, identifying possible antecedents and mechanisms leading to one’s behavioral support for change is necessary. The study aims to unpack this avenue of research empirically by examining the role of both person and context as factors in promoting behavioral support for change. Methodology: Data was collected from 292 academic staff members of six public sector universities in Pakistan via cross-sectional means. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect responses from the desired sample. SPSS 25 and AMOS were used to analyze the data for its relevance to the objectives of the study. Main Findings: Results revealed a positive impact of change-efficacy on academic staff members’ behavioral support for change. Moreover, change-valence provides an effective intervening mechanism to translate the effect of change-efficacy on both dimensions of behavioral support for change, that is, compliance and championing behavior. Research limitations/implications: The study contributes to the existing literature on organizational change, particularly in the university setting, by examining and empirically validating the factors of both person and context as significant predictors of behavioral support for change among academic staff. However, more research is needed in other organizational and work contexts to further apply the study’s implications within these diverse contexts. Novelty/Originality of this study: The study offers useful insights for senior university officials intending to build support for change by enhancing academic staff levels of efficacy and positive expectations regarding such change and enables them to successfully execute the change-related tasks into viable actions.