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The use of social media has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media platforms provide opportunities to share news, ideas and personal stories. Twitter is used by citizens in Pakistan to respond and comment on emerging news stories and events. However, it is not known whether Twitter played a positive or negative role in spreading updates and preventive messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to analyse content from Twitter during the pandemic.

NodeXL was used to retrieve data using the keyword وائرس کورونا (written in Urdu and which translates to Coronavirus). The first data set (Case Study 1) was based on 10,284 Twitter users from the end of March. The second data set (Case Study 2) was based on 10,644 Twitter users from the start of April. The theoretical lens of effective message framing was used to classify the most retweeted content on Twitter.

Twitter was used for personal and professional projections and included certain tweets included political motives even during the unfolding health crisis. There appeared to be very few successful attempts to use Twitter as a tool for health awareness and risk communication. The empirical findings indicate that the most retweeted messages were gain-framed and can be classified as personal, informative and political in nature.

The present study provides insights likely to be of interest to researchers, health organizations, citizens, government and politicians that are interested in making more effective use of social media for the purposes of health promotion. The authors also provide novel insights into the key topics of discussions, websites and hashtags used by Pakistani Twitter users during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Selected volumes of the Pakistan Development Review (PDR) and the Pakistan Economic and Social Review (PESR) were analysed to find the citation pattern of their articles. Eight volumes of each journal were selected, two volumes representing a decade. The results revealed that the PDR has been the most cited journal. The mean score of citations per article remained insignificantly different in the two core journals. More than 50 per cent of the citations from both journals were single‐authored. More than 50 per cent of the citations were from non‐journal sources, mainly books. Although citations from online sources were seen, it was a negligible number. About 47 per cent of the total citations of the PDR were up to five years old compared with the citations of the PESR, where only 25 per cent fell into this category. Most of the authors used foreign books as citations. There is a significant similarity in the top most cited journals in both cases. Most of the frequently cited journals were from the USA.

Stock market performance is paramount to every country, as it signifies economic growth, business performance, wealth maximization, savings deployment and consumer confidence. This study investigates the disparities in the market performance of listed firms in Romania. This study also examines whether the COVID-19 crisis affected market performance.

The data were collected from 69 firms listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) from 2018 to 2022, belonging to 11 sectors. This study used several methods to achieve its objectives. Difference tests were considered to analyze the performance of Romanian companies before and during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as across sectors. Regression analysis was also conducted to estimate the effect of the COVID-19 crisis and classification type on Romanian companies' performance. Additional analyses were performed to verify the findings of the present study.

The study’s findings indicate a clear difference in market performance between the pre-crisis and crisis periods. The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse and significant impact on market performance. However, after the market contraction in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the stock market outperformed the pre-pandemic capitalization levels and the regional and global indices evolution. Furthermore, there was a difference in market performance across sectors. In particular, the communication services sector has specifically demonstrated accelerated growth.

This research examines the variation in the market performance of companies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and across different sectors. It also provides evidence of the potential impact of COVID-19 on firms' market performance. This research contributes to a better understanding of how sectors perform during times of crisis.

According to the Government Response tracker (oxCGRT) index, the strictest policy responses to the coronavirus pandemic from January 2020 to May 2022 belong to Italy, China, Hong Kong, Greece, Austria, Peru, Singapore and Malaysia. The main question is: “this level of strictness has been able to reduce the uncertainty of the stock market?”

To achieve this goal, the authors investigated the effect of oxCGRT index, and the growth rate of COVID-19 confirms cases on stock market uncertainty from January 2020 to May 2022 in the GARCH, EGARCH and TGARCH models.

Among these countries, the oxCGRT index has reduced uncertainty in the stock market only in Malaysia and Singapore. This result says an appropriate pattern of applying government policy responses is more important than the degree of stringency.

The study will contribute to the existing literature by examining the impact of the comprehensive oxCGRT index on the uncertainty of the stock market.

The applications of artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing and machine learning in e-commerce are growing. Recommender systems (RSs) are interaction-based technologies based on AI that can offer recommendations for products for use or of interest to a potential consumer. Curiosity, focused immersion and temporal dissociation are often treated as the dimensions of cognitive absorption, so exploring them separately can provide valuable insights into their dynamics. The paper aims to determine the effect of the cognitive absorption dimensions namely focused immersion, temporal dissociation and curiosity independently on RSs continuous use intention.

A quantitative research design was used to explore the effect of dimensions of cognitive absorption on AI-driven RSs continuous use intention in e-commerce. Data were gathered from 452 active users of Amazon through an online cross-sectional survey and were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The findings indicated that curiosity and focused immersion directly affect RSs continuous use intention, but temporal dissociation does not affect RSs continuous use intention.

The current research focused on Amazon’s RSs that use AI and machine learning techniques. The research aimed to empirically explore the effects of the dimensions of cognitive absorption separately on AI-driven RSs continuous use intention in e-commerce. This research may be of interest to executives working in both public and private industries to better harness the potential of recommendations driven by AI to maximize RSs’ reuse and to enhance customer loyalty.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to help improve a higher education institution’s research profile by using existing resources and existing research outputs.

This study was based on quantitative data extracted manually from QS University Rankings-Asia 2016, the 2015 Ranking of Pakistani higher education institutions (HEI) and ResearchGate (RG). Resultant data were loaded into Excel and analyzed in SPSS version 21.

The results of this study indicate that, while there is no direct correlation between an institution’s national/international ranking and its respective RG score, there is a tendency for lower-ranked institutions to have a lower RG score.

This study was limited to data extracted from RG; however, it would be useful to apply the same methodology to other relevant academic scholarly network sites (ASNS).

This paper has suggested strategies which may be of relevance to those institutions in other countries which are aspiring to lift their national ranking through improved research profiles. Libraries are important contributors to the support of institutional research goals.

There have been no previous published research studies on either the potential for ASNS to contribute to enhancing research outcomes for Pakistani HEI or the role that libraries could play in supporting these outcomes.

This study aims to explore how financial factors affect both conventional and Islamic stock market indices of G7 countries from July 27, 2015, to February 29, 2024.

It examines local factors like CDS, exchange rates and bond yields, along with global ones such as USCDS, VIX, OVX and MSCI, using the innovative MM-QR method to identify any asymmetric effects on stock market returns during bull, bear and normal market phases.

The findings suggest that CDS has a more pronounced negative impact on the conventional index compared to the Islamic index. While 10-year bond yields generally have a positive influence on both indices, except during bullish phases in Islamic markets. Exchange rates tend to negatively correlate with stock returns in both markets, except for a specific quarter in conventional markets. USCDS has a positive relationship with both conventional and Islamic indexes. The MSCI World Index has a significant positive effect on both markets, while VIX negatively affects the conventional market but tends to be positive in Islamic markets during bear and normal market conditions. OVX indicates that adverse news from the global oil market negatively impacts both conventional and Islamic stock markets.

Previous research has overlooked the comparative analysis, focusing solely on either Islamic or conventional equities. Therefore, the study initiates by analyzing how changes in financial factors affect Islamic equity returns within the G7 nations, with a parallel investigation into whether these effects align with those observed in conventional equity markets.

Linseed oil was employed to modify polyesteramide resin via the condensation of hydroxyethylamide derivatives of fatty acids of linseed oil, i.e. {N, N′‐bis(2 hydroxylethyl) linseed amide} and phthalic anhydride and dicarboxylic acids such as adipic acid, succinic acid and sebacic acid. The polyesteramide resins obtained were tested for their application as a vehicle/binder in the preparation of surface coatings. The resins obtained were also characterised for their physico‐chemical properties, film forming properties and chemical resistance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS), employee development and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) while considering the moderating effect of person–organization (P–O) on this association.

Using a stratified sampling technique, the data was collected from 331 employees working in different bank branches located in five metropolitan cities of Pakistan. To test the hypotheses, the structural equation modeling technique was applied using AMOS 21.0.

The results of the study strongly supported the relationship between POS, employee development and organizational commitment. However, an insignificant relationship was found between POS, employee development and OCB. The results also reported a significant relationship between organizational commitment and OCB. Moreover, the relationship between organizational commitment and OCB was found to be moderated by P–O fit.

The findings of the study can be useful for banking organizations and policymakers responsible for employee and organizational productivity. The findings of the study can also assist the organizational leaders in working on long-term employee support programs to maximize their commitment to the organization. The study also provides the scope and space for potential scholars and researchers for carrying out further research.

While there is extensive literature is available on POS, employee development and its impact on OCB. However, it appears that very little work has been done to examine the moderating role of the P–O fit in the relationship between organizational commitment and OCB. Therefore, this study can be considered as original and of great value in understanding its relationships between various constructs in the scenario of Pakistan.

This study examines the role of continuous trust (i.e., a trust that develops over time as a result of continuous usage interactions) in determining customers' intention to continue using online product recommendations (OPRs).

Based on information system (IS), continuance model, and continuous trust, we propose that continuous trust will influence customers’ intention to continue OPRs’ use directly and indirectly via their satisfaction and usefulness of the OPRs. The research model is tested using data collected via an online survey from 626 existing users of OPRs in 15 different countries.

The empirical results revealed that continuous trust is shown to be a significant predictor of customers’ intention to continue OPRs use for future purchases. Additionally, the customers’ perceived confirmation and continuous trust positively influence their perceived usefulness and satisfaction with the OPRs, which subsequently influence customers’ OPRs continuous usage intention.

The saliency of continuous trust and usefulness of OPRs present e-retailers with potential fruitful areas to shape future usage of OPRs. In addition, e-retailers must understand that improving the OPR usefulness on its own may not lead to OPRs continuous usage until OPRs trustworthiness is not continually improved. OPRs itself may be convenient and useful, but trustworthy OPRs will pay stronger dividends for customer satisfaction and OPRs’ continuous usage.

The incorporation of continuous trust into the IS continuance model offers a new theoretical lens and an alternative explanation for the OPR continuous usage intention. This study stands in contrast to the large majority of research concerning initial trust and OPRs adoption, in that it focuses on continuous trust (as opposed to initial trust) and on a customers’ OPRs continuous usage intention as opposed to the initial adoption decision.