Determinants of online review helpfulness that steer consumer purchase decision and their willingness to give review:an extended study in a cross-cultural context

Abstract. The increased use of social media and other online platforms have enabled consumers to communicate and discuss the products and services of brands with others. Consumers’ look for information in online reviews that assist them in informed purchase decisions. Previous literature has identified factors that influence consumers in adopting those online reviews, but whether consumers are willing to provide an online review after the purchase decision is not yet been studied previously. Another gap in the literate that is addressed is to base this study on output obtained from two countries. Therefore, our study is aimed at identifying factors that contribute to a consumer purchase decision and their willingness to give a review in a cross-cultural context. Our study aimed at restaurant reviews in Finland and Pakistan. Adopting and extending the Information Acceptance Model (IACM) proposed by Erkan and Evans (2016), that is developed by integrating Information Adoption Model (IAM) and related aspects of Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). This study examines the influence of online review helpfulness factors on consumer purchase decision, consequently influencing them to give a review to others. We also aim to identify if review adoption directly influences consumers in providing online review without purchasing the product or service. The proposed model of our study was validated through Structural Equation Modelling by using Smart Partial Least Squares software. A questionnaire was adopted from earlier studies. The questionnaire was measured on a sample size of 104 from Finland and 141 from Pakistan. This study identified review adoption leading towards consumer purchase decision, whereas, onsumers’ willingness to give is not directly linked with their adoption of information, but it is a post-purchase process. The commonalities between the two countries depict the needs of information behind seeking online review information. If the required information is being provided to the customer through online reviews, it will lead to review adoption. Generally, review positiveness, review perceived informativeness and review quality were identified most important factors in consumers review adoption that leads consumers in choosing a restaurant and try the food there. Whereas, the general attitude of consumers towards online reviews was found to be the most exciting factors identified in Pakistan output. Consumers’ perception of online reviews encourages them to read online reviews, and they think that it is always a risk to try a restaurant without referring to online reviews. Pakistani consumers find online reviews useful, providing relevant information about the restaurants that help them in choosing the best restaurant

Experimental Investigation and Assessment of Internal Stability of Granular Filters under One-Dimensional Static and Cyclic Loading

Internal instability occurs when the finer fraction of a filter escapes with the infiltrates, causing permanent changes to its particle size distribution and rendering it ineffective. Thus far, numerous criteria based on particle and constriction size distributions have been proposed to assess the potential of internal instability. This paper reports the results of pressure gradient controlled hydraulic tests performed on granular soils including silt-sand-gravel, sand, and sand-gravel mixtures with their uniformity coefficients ranging from 1 to 304 and compacted at varying relative densities between 0 and 100 %. Select dense samples were then subjected to a series of hydraulic tests under static loading up to 100 kPa and cyclic loading up to 30 Hz, simulating subballast filtration under heavy-haul freight trains with speeds as high as 210 km/h. The analysis revealed that the agitation and pore pressure development under cyclic loading promotes premature suffusion, thereby making it the worst case of filtration. An objective evaluation of some of the existing criteria led to a more realistic interpretation of experimental results based on a modified technique that accurately assessed the internal stability of soils under cyclic loading. Results of internal stability assessments from existing geometrical criteria were then compared with those from the proposed technique, which showed enhanced success, thereby contributing to increased confidence in the practical design of granular filters under cyclic conditions

Analyze Gelling Properties for Time-Dependent Non-Newtonian Fluids

Drilling fluids are visco-elastic materials. This means that they behave as a viscous fluid when subject to sufficient shear stress and like an elastic solid when they are in near static conditions. Both properties are time-dependent. While drilling a well, there could be many instances when a change in the velocity of drilling fluid is required. For instance, we may have to adjust the pump flow rate depending upon the formation drilled. In a similar manner, there could be variations in the flow rate due to the movement of the drill string as it can move axially, rotationally, and side-wise. Another example is the change of flow rate owing to the difference in the flow geometry while passing from the annulus. In all these cases, the drilling fluid required a definite time to attain new equilibrium conditions. Nevertheless, the time-dependence rheological properties of drilling fluids are usually not measured during drilling operations. Additionally, in the lab measurements, seldom are experiments performed beyond 30 minutes of resting time. Consequently, it is difficult to estimate how thixotropy impacts pressure losses in drilling operations. Against this backdrop, our research is focused on the analysis of the gelling properties of time-dependent non-Newtonian fluids. We have systematically measured the time-dependence of the rheological properties of different samples of water-based and oil-based fluids with a scientific rheometer in order to capture how the gel strength of the drilling fluids responds to variations of other relevant parameters involved. Furthermore, we have analyzed the behaviours of those fluids for the longer resting times until no further gel strength is developed in them

Analyze Gelling Properties for Time-Dependent Non-Newtonian Fluids

Drilling fluids are visco-elastic materials. This means that they behave as a viscous fluid when subject to sufficient shear stress and like an elastic solid when they are in near static conditions. Both properties are time-dependent. While drilling a well, there could be many instances when a change in the velocity of drilling fluid is required. For instance, we may have to adjust the pump flow rate depending upon the formation drilled. In a similar manner, there could be variations in the flow rate due to the movement of the drill string as it can move axially, rotationally, and side-wise. Another example is the change of flow rate owing to the difference in the flow geometry while passing from the annulus. In all these cases, the drilling fluid required a definite time to attain new equilibrium conditions. Nevertheless, the time-dependence rheological properties of drilling fluids are usually not measured during drilling operations. Additionally, in the lab measurements, seldom are experiments performed beyond 30 minutes of resting time. Consequently, it is difficult to estimate how thixotropy impacts pressure losses in drilling operations. Against this backdrop, our research is focused on the analysis of the gelling properties of time-dependent non-Newtonian fluids. We have systematically measured the time-dependence of the rheological properties of different samples of water-based and oil-based fluids with a scientific rheometer in order to capture how the gel strength of the drilling fluids responds to variations of other relevant parameters involved. Furthermore, we have analyzed the behaviours of those fluids for the longer resting times until no further gel strength is developed in them

Awareness Level of Visually Impaired College Students about Urdu Poets and Poetry in Punjab: A Qualitative Inquiry

Language has been the most popular source of communication in human society since the start of civilization. The tradition of Folk Tales appeared as the foundation of literature in ancient times. Poetry is a significant way of expression in human literature. Urdu language possesses uncountable master pieces of prose and poetry. Visually impaired persons have proved themselves as literature lovers, good readers and visionary poets in past and present. This study is an effort to depict the awareness level of visually impaired college students about Urdu poets and their creations. The population of the study consisted of all visually impaired students enrolled in public and private sector colleges located in the district Lahore and Okara. A self developed and validated structured interview schedule containing 10 open ended questions was used to collect data from conveniently selected sample of 30 visually impaired students (males= 18, females=12). Descriptive statistics (percentages of responses) were calculated, collected information was coded; major themes were derived and interpreted by qualitative data analysis technique. The Study reflected that the visually impaired college students were having a lot of information about Urdu poets and their creations although there seemed a lack of in depth knowledge. They reported the lack of talking books and material in Braille on Urdu poetry of great and famous poets. They suggested the establishment of talking libraries throughout the country. Major findings were reported, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made to Punjab Higher Education Department.&nbsp

Earning Management and Dividend Policy: Empirical evidence from Pakistani listed companies

The study is an effort to find out the impact of earning management on dividend policy in Pakistan. A set of listed companies from Karachi stock exchange (KSE) 100 indexes have been investigated to analyze the relationship from the year 2005 to 2009 in Pakistan. Dividend policy has been measured by dividend payout whereas earning management has been quantified by discretionary accruals and discretionary accrual is used as a proxy to determine earning management. Modified cross sectional model (1995) has been used to measure discretionary accruals. Regression analysis shows that earning management has impact on dividend policy that rejects our null hypothesis. But coefficient shows that the relationship is so weak that is near to no relationship. Reason behind this no impact is economic decline period, because earning management changes every year. In the decline period our earning management was increase and the companies starts downsizing divided payment. Key words: Dividend Policy, Earning Management, Karachi Stock Exchange

A Comparison of Technical Efficiency of Performance of Different Banks Before and After Merger: A Study of Pakistan Banking Industry

Mergers and acquisitions are the part and parcel of every field, especially in banking industry. This research is focused on the performance of mergers in the last decade. As evident from recent past the banking industry in Pakistan has to cop with many mergers. Mergers are not opted only for the sake of synergy and economic benefits but there are certain other reasons. In Pakistan the other stimulant is the State Bank of Pakistan’s capital requirement, which is being raised with the passage of time. This study has analyzed the performance of 6 mergers (Prime and ABN AMRO, ABN AMRO and Royal Bank of Scotland, RBS and Faysal Bank, Saudi Pak Commercial Bank and Silk Bank, Union Bank and Standard Chartered Bank and Cres and Samba Bank), occurred in the last decade in Pakistan banking industry. Regression analysis is used to analyze the contribution level of different variables in the bank profitability. The results for net assets, net advances, branches and labor productivity were found to be extensive and quite significant. In the second phase the Data Envelopment Analysis of all the banks were done and it is found that all the banks involved in merger have got their performance improved by some extent. The two stage analysis was used for the analysis of the bank performance i.e. first for efficiency and the later for effectiveness of the bank. The first stage results were found to be impressive for most of the banks but in second stage (effectiveness) the results were quite different. A complete comparison of the individual variables has been done in order to pin point the deficiency of individual banks. Main four resulting banks have shown significant improvement in all the independent variables except the Faysal Bank whose labor productivity has shown rapid downward trend. Overall, the mergers and acquisitions, especially in Pakistani environment, are found to be a win-win situation. Key words: Data envelopment analysis (DEA), Mergers and Acquisition (M&A