Faheem Muhammad, Muhammad Azher Hassan and Tariq Mehmood
The purpose of this paper is an attempt to cover available literature on natural resource management, which reflects the involvement of Pakistan communities living in different…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is an attempt to cover available literature on natural resource management, which reflects the involvement of Pakistan communities living in different regions for sustainable management in agriculture, forestry and livestock sectors differentiated by women. In addition, it was also highlighted about the lack of access to productive resources for rural women farmers. The conclusion was drawn and key recommendation were suggested.
Design/methodology/approach
It is authors real-life experiences or observations in a given field to support colleagues in a variety of ways including advising, establishing best practices and noting trends.
Findings
It was concluded that there are no opportunities such as training of most advanced launched technologies for the sake of better crop production, dairy and fisheries sector sustainable development, as well as the availability of microfinance to support the women farmers in Pakistan rural areas to make them self-dependent.
Originality/value
The opinions and key recommendations are genuine and useful, which should be adopted for the more bright future of women farmers, especially in Pakistan’s rural area.
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Fauziah Rabbani, Farah Naz Hashmani, Aftab A Ali Mukhi, Xaher Gul, Nousheen Pradhan, Peter Hatcher, Mounir Farag and Farhat Abbas
The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office has emphasized health system strengthening among the top five strategic priorities. One of the integral elements of health systems…
Abstract
Purpose
The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office has emphasized health system strengthening among the top five strategic priorities. One of the integral elements of health systems are the hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to review the need for formalized training in hospital management to improve the quality of care.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review and hands on experience of conducting a regional training in hospital management for Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries.
Findings
Majority of patients in EMR bypass Primary Health Care facilities due to inadequate quality of services and prefer seeking specialized care at a tertiary level. There is mounting evidence of mediocre to poor patient satisfaction due to inefficient health care practices in hospitals of EMR. Strengthening the management capacity of the hospitals through a formal training programme is therefore necessary for improving the performance of health care delivery and the overall health system. Hospital management encompasses hospital planning and operational activities including development and implementation of organizational strategies to ensure adequate numbers and quality of trained human resources and effective financial management, disaster management, health management information system utilization, support services, biomedical engineering, transport and waste management. Such training will prepare health care professionals with leadership skills to deliver quality hospital services.
Originality/value
This is one of the first papers emphasizing the need for a formal structured regional training in hospital management for the countries of EMR. A modular incremental training approach developing an EMR Credit Transfer and Accumulation system is proposed.
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Milad Farzin, Marzieh Sadeghi, Fatemeh Yahyayi Kharkeshi, Hedyeh Ruholahpur and Majid Fattahi
The purpose of this study is to investigate important factors that help explain customer willingness to adopt mobile banking (M-banking). To this end, the unified theory of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate important factors that help explain customer willingness to adopt mobile banking (M-banking). To this end, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) was applied and to more accurately predict customer behavioral intentions, it was attempted to extend it.
Design/methodology/approach
The research data were collected from 396 customers of Iranian private banks who had the experience of using M-banking. The structural equation modeling technique was used to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
Findings suggest that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, habit, hedonic motivation, perceived value and trialability are endorsed as proponents of M-banking adoption intention. On the other hand, M-banking adoption intention has also had a significant positive effect on actual use behavior and word-of-mouth (WOM). WOM has also influenced actual use behavior and mediated the relationship between M-banking adoption intention and actual use behavior.
Research limitations/implications
The present study focuses on private banks, therefore, although it is sufficient, it is limited to private cases. This study contributes to the literature on M-banking services and actual use behavior. By appropriately focusing on M-banking adoption intention and the service quality provided, banks can strengthen their relationships with customers, thereby stimulating actual customer behavior such as actual use behavior and WOM.
Originality/value
From theoretical and managerial aspects, this study has particular value for the literature on M-services’ intention in general and banking in particular. The present study provides a conceptual framework for M-banking adoption intention, which could be used in M-banking services. In addition, this study sought to extend UTAUT2 and to examine the mediating role of WOM in actual use behavior motivation as well.
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Muhammad Junaid Shahid Hasni, Maya F. Farah and Ifraaz Adeel
This paper aims to analyze the adoption of social media platforms by tourists in Pakistan. Based on an adaptation of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study assesses the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the adoption of social media platforms by tourists in Pakistan. Based on an adaptation of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study assesses the factors that lead users to adopt these platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to a convenience sample of 399 travelers who use social media in Pakistan. A Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using AMOS to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity as well as composite reliability. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the causal relationship among all proposed constructs.
Findings
The findings reveal that the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEoU) of a social media platform positively impact the behavioral intention of its users. The proposed constructs of compatibility, enjoyment, user expertise and e-trust all demonstrated their crucial roles in the adoption of a social media platform for tourism-related activities by enhancing the platform's PEoU and usefulness.
Originality/value
This research validates the relationship between PEoU and PU of a social media platform in the hospitality industry. Interestingly, this study has expanded TAM by validating the addition of four more constructs, (1) compatibility, (2) enjoyment, (3) e-trust, and (4) expertise, to add worth to this model regarding the understanding of social media usage in this specific industry. The findings are valuable both for managers and policymakers in the tourism sector in Pakistan, as the latter can utilize the results to entice a larger segment of social media users to the tourism industry.
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Andriani Kusumawati, Rizki Yudhi Dewantara, Devi Farah Azizah and Supriono Supriono
This study aims to investigate city branding as a post-pandemic COVID-19 outcome factor on brand satisfaction, brand experience, perceived risk and revisit intention. In addition…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate city branding as a post-pandemic COVID-19 outcome factor on brand satisfaction, brand experience, perceived risk and revisit intention. In addition, this research contributes to the discussion of post-COVID-19 city branding that needs to be considered in the development of future tourism marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach was used with PLS-SEM statistical analysis and a 263-tourist sample. The study was conducted on tourists from Malang Regency in Indonesia by distributing questionnaires modified from previous studies in a similar context.
Findings
The results of this study found that there were significant influences of city brand personality on brand experience, brand satisfaction, brand experience on perceived risk, brand satisfaction on revisit intention and perceived risk on revisit intention. This study also presents the mediating role.
Research limitations/implications
The study was only conducted on a small regency in Indonesia, and therefore the results cannot be generalized for other cities over the world.
Practical implications
The proposed study model suggests that stakeholders must seek to socialize services to potential tourists, so that tourists can understand the description of tourism activities that can be enjoyed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the way they travel in the future.
Social implications
Understanding the determinant factors of city branding post-COVID-19 was valuable for developing marketing strategies to cope with intense competition among the city.
Originality/value
This study emphasizes the determinants of COVID-19 perceived risk and revisit intentions as explained in the tourism marketing literature by considering the role of brand satisfaction, brand experience and city brand personality which significantly contribute to build the city competitiveness. Therefore, various creative strategies should be implemented to promote the city as well as escalate tourist visits without ignoring the pandemic’s risks.
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This study analyzed 24 IELTS Task One (data explanation) prompts for task type, diagram type, subject matter, level of critical thought, and geographical references, in order to…
Abstract
This study analyzed 24 IELTS Task One (data explanation) prompts for task type, diagram type, subject matter, level of critical thought, and geographical references, in order to determine whether Emirati university students’ anecdotal claims of cultural bias on the IELTS academic writing exam (as experienced by the researcher in the past decade of teaching IELTS in the United Arab Emirates) are valid. The analysis found that the majority of the task types (88%) were non-process in nature (i.e. required the description of data in the form of a chart or graph, rather than the description of a process); 40% of the non-process prompts consisted of more than one diagram. The analysis revealed that 33% of the non-process prompts included bar graphs and 29% included line graphs. Pie charts appeared in 25% of the prompts and tables in only 17%. An Emirati student English preparatory program survey indicated the pie chart as the easiest to understand – a finding that may highlight a difference between the most commonly used IELTS prompt and the students’ prompt preference. A content analysis of topics found a high percentage (58%) of subject matter related to the social sciences, with 79% of the geographical references pertaining to Western contexts. An analysis of the amount of critical thought needed for graph interpretation revealed 52% of non-process prompts required some form of critical thought. The study therefore found that the cultural bias perceived by Emirati students has some validity, given the students’ socio-cultural and educational background.
P.G.S. Amila Jayarathne, B.T.K. Chathuranga, N.J. Dewasiri and Sudhir Rana
This study aims to investigate the motives of mobile payment adoption from both customers' and retailers' perspectives in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic period. It also…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the motives of mobile payment adoption from both customers' and retailers' perspectives in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic period. It also aims to compare the motives of mobile payment adoption across rural and urban contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a mixed-method approach with a concurrent research design. Both a survey of customers and in-depth interviews of managers in retail companies are used.
Findings
The study discloses that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions (PEFC), Hedonic motivation (HM) and perceived technology security (PTS) as significant motives for customers to adopt mobile payment during this pandemic period. Such findings are confirmed by the four challenges disclose by the retailers. The unfamiliarity of customers, lack of employees' knowledge on mobile payment systems, poor management orientation and lack of computer literacy of customers are the main challenges from the retailers' perspectives. Further, it shows, though PEFC is a common motive, other motives are different across rural and urban.
Practical implications
The findings of the study are helpful for retailers and policymakers. Retailers can develop strategies to enhance mobile payment adoption through PEFC, HM and PTS by giving special attention to the rural community. The main motive possible to use in both rural and urban contexts is PEFC. Further, retailers should take the initiatives to uplift the technological know-how of their employees while inculcating supportive management orientation. Policymakers can use this study to develop policies to enhance the community's familiarity with mobile payment technology and computer literacy.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate motives for adopting mobile payments from both customers' and retailers' perspectives while being the first scrutiny to compare rural and urban scenarios. The use of mixed methods with concurrent research design also contributes to originality.
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The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a “vision” of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.
Findings
There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.
Research limitations/implications
Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.
Practical implications
This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.
Originality/value
This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.
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RS. Koteeshwari and B. Malarkodi
Among the proposed radio access strategies for improving system execution in 5G networks, the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme is the prominent one.
Abstract
Purpose
Among the proposed radio access strategies for improving system execution in 5G networks, the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme is the prominent one.
Design/methodology/approach
Among the most fundamental NOMA methods, power-domain NOMA is the one where at the transmitter, superposition coding is used, and at the receiver, successive interference cancellation (SIC) is used. The importance of power allocation (PA) in achieving appreciable SIC and high system throughput cannot be overstated.
Findings
This research focuses on an outage probability analysis of NOMA downlink system under various channel conditions like Rayleigh, Rician and Nakagami-m fading channel. The system design's objectives, techniques and constraints for NOMA-based 5G networks' PA strategies are comprehensively studied.
Practical implications
From the results of this study, it is found that the outage probability performance of downlink ordered NOMA under Rayleigh, Rician and Nakagami-m fading channel was good.
Originality/value
Outage probability analysis of downlink ordered NOMA under various channel conditions like Rayleigh, Rician and Nakagami-m fading channels were employed. Though the performance of Nakagami-m fading channel is lesser compared to Rayleigh channel, the performance for user 1 and user 2 are good.
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Ramon Palau-Saumell, Jorge Matute, Belén Derqui and Jan-Hinrich Meyer
This study analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the consumption of locally produced food. In particular, it examines an extended model of the theory of planned…
Abstract
Purpose
This study analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the consumption of locally produced food. In particular, it examines an extended model of the theory of planned behavior, with the addition of the perceived risk of becoming infected with the disease, locavorism and internal locus of control.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs data collected from an online panel of consumers from the five largest cities in Spain (n = 1,000). It uses partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test and validate the proposed theoretical model.
Findings
The results indicate that the perceived risk of COVID-19 drives consumers to embrace locavorism more and, although locavorism is a strong predictor of attitude, internal locus of control also has a strong impact on attitude and switching intentions. Subjective norm and attitude are strong predictors of switching intentions and purchase intentions, and switching intentions also have a powerful impact on purchase intentions.
Originality/value
This study extends previous research on locally produced food consumption in that it has proposed and tested a new conceptual model with the inclusion of the perceived risk of COVID-19, locavorism, internal locus of control and switching intentions, which were found to have an influence on purchasing behavior.