Moderating role of leadership behaviour among entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, global mindset and firm international performance

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role to strengthen the total exports of developing countries. These exports depend on firm international performance. This study empirically examined the major factors of firm international performance which attained researcher’s attention in previous studies. Among those factors include entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, and global mindset. This study also investigated the moderating role of leadership behavior on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, global mindset and firm international performance in the sports industry of Pakistan. A structured questionnaire representing dimensions related to entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, global mind set, leadership behavior and firm international performance was designed. Data were collected using a cross-sectional study, whereby 550 questionnaires were randomly distributed and 320 were successfully collected through personal administered method. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test six hypotheses. This study found that entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, and global mindset are high impacting independent variables in a relationship with firm international performance. Furthermore, leadership behavior has a strong moderating effect on the paths between entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, global mindset and firm international performance. The study also contributed to the theory as it extended Resource Based View (RBV) and Contingency Theory perspective. Policy-makers should encourage firms to improve their entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and global mindset which may increase exports of Pakistan sports industry to all over the world. Lastly, the scope of the study is limited to moderating effect of leadership behavior on entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, and global mindset in sports industry only. Future research are suggested to select the data from other exporting industries by applying longitudinal study and undertake other moderators such as competitive structure, absorptive capacity, or environmental dynamism

Joint Beamforming and Power Allocation Design in Cooperative MIMO-NOMA Networks

Due to its improved spectral efficiency, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is regarded as a promising multiple access technology for beyond fifth-generation (5G) networks. In this paper, we examine the performance of a cell-edge user and suggest a beamforming scheme in a cooperative two-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)-NOMA system with Rayleigh fading channels. In the envisaged scenario, a cell-center user with better channel gain harvests energy and assists a cell-edge user with poorer channel conditions by using a simultaneous wireless information and power transfer mechanism. We first obtain the outage probability expressions in closed form for the cell-edge user for the Kronecker structured channel model in the covariance shaping and indefinite quadratic form. Next, the beamformers at the transmitter and receiver are introduced to reduce outage probability, with transmit beamformers maximizing the signal-to-leakage-plus-noise ratio and receive beamformers minimizing cross-covariance across all users. Furthermore, beamformers are adopted in the two-user network to adjust the power ratio and power allocation coefficients for better performance of the cell-edge user. Moreover, our scheme is also compared with a transmit antenna selection baseline scheme. Simulation results demonstrate that our approach enhances the performance of the two-user cooperative MIMO-NOMA system’s performance, validating the theoretical analysis.© 2024 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Celebritization of Political Corruption in Pakistan: A Bourdieusian Perspective

In this thesis, I explore how political corruption gets celebritized by the action/in-action of the state of Pakistan. Although the state has long been claiming to have stringent controls against political corruption, however, over the years, the country has become a vessel for more political corruption instead. By promoting a national interest-based narrative, the state runs two parallel political systems (one seemingly run by the politicians while the other controlled by the establishment) hence doubling political corruption and making the accounting and accountability systems doubly vulnerable to misappropriations. I theorise the relations between political corruption and the state using Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical concepts, focusing on two political corruption cases, the Asghar Khan case and the Mehran Bank scandal. I make three contributions in this regard. First, I contribute to the literature on political corruption and accounting by contending that political corruption in developing countries takes the form of an institution in itself (a field) that continuously extends its boundaries over time. Second, I develop a theoretical framework that shows how political corruption (field) develops and how it violates accounting controls and accountability systems (causing sufferings). Moreover, when it comes to public attention (through hysteresis), how the state response (using social magic) turns this corruption into no-corruption causing no harm to corruption (partial revolutions) and hence its perpetuation (conatus) in the system becomes inevitable. Finally, I contribute to the literature on political corruption and accounting by proposing that such actions of the state, especially with its art of calling for positive emotional responses (national interest) from the public, not only prolong political corruption but also celebritize it in Pakistan. Thus while promising to end political corruption, the state does precisely the opposite

Hypoalbuminemia in Jaundice Neonatorum among Term Newborns at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Jaundice which occurs in about 60% term and more than 80 % preterm neonates. It remains on the most common morbidities observed in the first week of life of newborns and is most prevalent cause of re-hospitalization after their discharge from birth hospitalization. This study was conducted to document the frequency of hypoalbuminemia in neonatum jaundice as there is no such study conducted in Pakistan. Objective: To determine  the frequency of hypoalbuminemia in jaundice neonatorum in term infants. Material and methods: A total of 265 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria from indoor department of pediatrics Nishtar hospital Multan were included in the study from May 2016 to May 2017. Demographic information of patients (gestational age, mode of delivery, gender, weight) was taken and recorded in study proforma. Three ml blood sample was collected from all participants for serum albumin levels and hypoalbuminemia was defined as serum albumin level of less than 2.5 g/dL by laboratory test. Data was analyzed with statistical analysis program (SPSS version11.5). Results: Of these 265 study cases, 150 (56.6%) were boys while 115 (43.4%) were girls. Mean gestational age of our study cases was 39.84 ± 1.67 weeks (with minimum gestational age was 37 weeks while maximum was 42 weeks). Mean gestational age of the boys was 40.41 ± 1.42 weeks while that of girls was 39.10 ± 1.69 weeks. Our study results have indicated that majority of our study cases i.e. 160 (60.4%) had gestational age ranging from  40- 42 weeks. Majority of these babies i.e. 222 (83.8%) were born through vaginal mode of delivery. Mean weight of our study cases was 3084.08 ± 344.422 grams (with minimum weight was 2550 grams while maximum weight was noted to be 3750 grams). Majority of our study cases i.e. 150 (56.6%) were from rural areas and 115 (43.3%) belonged to the urban areas. Of these 265 study cases, 104 (39.2%) were from poor socioeconomic background while 125 (47.2%) had middle income. Mean level of serum albumin was 2.55 ± 0.31 g/dl (with minimum albumin level was 2.2 and maximum was 3.6). Hypoalbuminemia was seen in 141 (53.2%) of our study cases.Conclusion: In our study, very high frequency of hypoalbuminemia has been noted in neonates presenting with jaundice. Neonatal jaundice was more prevalent in boys than girls. Hypoalbuminemia was significantly associated with rural residential status, vaginal mode of delivery and poor socioeconomic status. Keywords: Hyperbillirubinemia, hypoalbuminemia, jaundice

An Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) towards Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic Retinopathy among Patients of Nishter Medical University Hospital Multan, South-Punjab Pakistan

Objective: This study aimed to determine the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) towards diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy among the patients of a tertiary care hospital. Study design This study was an observational, cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study The current study was conducted at department of General Medicine, Nishtar Medical University Hospital Multan, Pakistan. The time span of the study was from March 2016 to February 2017. Method After taking approval from Ethical Review Committee, a questionnaire based descriptive study was conducted on 692 patients.  The technique of convenient sampling was used. All the gathered data were retrieved into MS Excel. The data were analyzed by using computer program SPSS 21 version. Results: Six hundred ninety two adults were interviewed. Of these, 271 (39.2%) were suffering from diabetes mellitus. Lowest mean knowledge score (5.28 ± 6.09) was seen in illiterate study population. Male’s Mean Knowledge score (5.61 ± 5.56) was better than female’s (4.46 ± 5.21). Over all mean score of Attitudes towards diabetes was 4.43 ± 2.37. It was higher (6.62 ± 2.03) in diabetic respondents as compared with non-diabetic respondents (4.70 ± 2.59) with p < 0.000. In Practice module majority of the respondents (69.9%) did not exercise, 49% took high caloric snacks between meals and 87% ate outside home once a month, 56.8% diabetics visited ophthalmologist for routine eye examination; but only 9.2% asked for retinal examination. Conclusion Poor knowledge of diabetes was found in the community. The problem was more marked in females, illiterate and the individuals not having diabetes mellitus. Key Words: Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic retinopathy, Diabetic Education Program, Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP

Evaluation of Risk Management Strategies in Government Institutions: Case Study on Abu Dhabi Municipalities

Government institution’s failure around the world has motivated researchers to investigate the link between risk management strategies and performance of government institutions. The prime objective of this study is to examine the impact of risk management framework implementation (RMFI) and risk management success factors (RMSF) on the performance of government institution in Abu Dhabi.  Survey data on 163 employees from three Abu Dhabi Municipalities (Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain City Municipality, Al Dhafra Region Municipality) were collected. PLS-Sem 3.0 software were applied to test hypotheses. The findings of this research release that RMFI, and RMSF has significant effects on the performance of Abu Dhabi municipalities. The study recommends that government firms and regulatory agencies should promote sound risk culture with a view to increase risk awareness, establish a robust information management system for comprehensive risk analysis and reporting, devise internal risk knowledge sharing strategies to boost staff capabilities and entrench effective leadership role to handle complex firms’ operational activities. Keywords: Risk management framework implementation, risk management success factors, government institute firm performance DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/56-03 Publication date: February 29th 202

Role of Social Commerce Forums in Establishing Purchase Intention: A Nexus Between Credibility, Trust and E-Commerce Satisfaction

Social media is persuading to consumers in field of social commerce (S-Commerce) by providing goods or services and fulfill their demands in a very short period of time. Electronic-satisfaction (e-satisfaction) and credibility have distinctive activities of social media that motivate and successively build the trust at various stages of purchase intentions. For better understanding it is necessary to recognize the factors of social commerce such as referrals, reviews & ratings because they have a strong influence on buying behaviour of ecommerce consumers. A quantitative and descriptive approach has been projected through simple random sampling. A cross-sectional data of 250 participants were collected by a survey questionnaire from social commerce users examined through Partial Least Square- Structural Educational Modeling-3 (PLS-SEM-3). A social support theory has supported relationship on trust through social media activities, surface credibility, and presumedcredibility as well as e-commerce satisfaction. Interestingly trust, surface and presumed credibility considerably significant impact on e-commerce and social commerce satisfaction that leads to develop purchase intention. The current study theoretically contributes novel indicator, presumed credibility in the social commerce industry and practically it promotes specific websites that triggers trust

Is Stock Price Volatility A Risk? : An Evaluation Review

Price volatility presents the investor possibilities and opportunities to buy securities at cheap prices and then sell it when they are overpriced, resulting in a profit at the end of the day. Recently, the volatility has become more valuable aspect for investors. Investment risk and return is important for investors. Investors have risk averse nature, they concerned about the information flow of stock price volatility. This study aims to review the literature on stock price volatility significance and its measurements by different methods. This study provides the detail review of stock price volatility different types including historical, implied, intraday, and indices volatility. This study discusses various measurements of stock price volatility forecasting with the empirical findings. Efficient market hypothesis supports the changes in stock prices in prior literature. Some studies shows that volatility can be measured by standard deviation of investor’s stock return. The price volatility mostly determined by high, low and closing prices. It is found that forecasting volatility can be measured by different methods. The literature review suggests that GARCH and Parkinson formula is considered most reliable method to measure volatility. Parkinson is more reliable measurement because it has daily high and low stock prices

Colonizer to Drug Resistant isolate, What is Happening to our Staphylococcus Aureus?

Objective: To evaluate resistant trend of multiple antimicrobial agents against Staphylococcus aureus isolates along with its prevalence.  Material and Methods: This prospective descriptive study was carried out in the department of microbiology Allama Iqbal Medical College Lahore from 1st January 2015 to 25 may 2016. Simple random technique was used, and 4570 clinical samples (Pus, blood, pleural fluid, tracheal aspirate, urine, sputum, HVS) were received from ICU, Surgical Unit, Medical Unit and OPD for culture sensitivity testing, antimicrobial resistant trend was tested according to CLSI guidelines  Results: Maximum isolates were recovered from surgical unit 31.9%, sample-wise maximum isolates were recovered from pus samples 26.8%. age group and genderbased distribution showed among male’s high isolation rate was observed in 21-40 years while in females 41-60-year age group. Every isolate was (100%) susceptible to linezolid, vancomycin and teicoplanin, cotrimoxazole also showed very low rate of drug resistance only 8.3%, while penicillin Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacin, Erythromycin showed 95.9%,69.8%55.4% and 48.2% drug resistance respectively, 43-45% drugresistant rate observed in case of Co-amoxiclave, Methicillin, Gentamicin, Fusidic Acid, Amikacin, and Clindamycin  Conclusion: Linezolid, Vancomycin, and Teicoplanin are best therapeutic Choices against Staphylococcus aureus associated infections