Sana Khan, Muhammad Asif Naveed and Mumtaz Ali Anwar
This paper aims to investigate the relationship of information-seeking anxiety (ISA) with socio-academic variables of business students in the digital environment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship of information-seeking anxiety (ISA) with socio-academic variables of business students in the digital environment.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire was conducted. The questionnaire, composed of 47 items of Information Seeking Anxiety Scale along with certain socio-academic variables, was administered personally among business students by visiting their classrooms at the Lahore School of Economics, Pakistan. The received 283 responses were analyzed by applying descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, standard deviation, t-test and one-way analysis of variance.
Findings
The results revealed that a large majority of business students were less comfortable in information seeking and experienced anxiety from mild to moderate levels. There were only a few respondents who faced either low or severe levels of ISA. In relationship testing, the students’ socio-academic variables such as program type, gender, school background, geographical background, information communication technology skills and English language competence did not appear to be the predictors of their ISA.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study should carefully be used while making generalizations for all the business students in Pakistan and abroad as this research collected data from the business students of a single university in Pakistan.
Practical implications
These results have greater implications for the future directions of information literacy as creating awareness and building capacity for skills about the information search process will help in reducing ISA. These findings provided a pragmatic insight that can be used as a guide by information professionals, especially those engaged in information services, to develop a need-based curriculum of information literacy which would ultimately help in the alleviation of anxiety and combating its effects on students’ academic performance.
Originality/value
This study address specifically ISA of business students that would make a worthy contribution to the existing research on ISA as, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no such study has appeared so far.
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Sajjad Ullah Jan, Mumtaz Ali Anwar and Nosheen Fatima Warraich
The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of library anxiety, which has received relatively little research attention in Pakistan, and its relationship with library use…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of library anxiety, which has received relatively little research attention in Pakistan, and its relationship with library use, academic performance (grade point average), gender and academic discipline among the undergraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using a questionnaire from 725 fourth year undergraduate students of three different disciplines from three universities. The participation was voluntary. The data were processed using SPSS version 20.
Findings
A majority of the respondents (72.1 per cent) experienced a mild library anxiety. The factors: user education and user knowledge were the greatest sources of library anxiety. Findings revealed differences in library anxiety on the basis of gender and academic discipline. Library anxiety and academic performance had a significant negative relationship with each other.
Originality/value
This is the first study in Pakistan that addressed library anxiety and its relationship with library use, academic discipline and academic performance using a large group (N = 725) of undergraduate students.
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Shaheen Majid, Mumtaz Ali Anwar and Tamara S. Eisenschitz
This study investigated those factors that contribute positively in shaping users’ perceptions of library effectiveness. A questionnaire‐based survey of five major agricultural…
Abstract
This study investigated those factors that contribute positively in shaping users’ perceptions of library effectiveness. A questionnaire‐based survey of five major agricultural libraries in Malaysia was conducted. It was found that the adequacy of collections, services and facilities were closely linked to the perceptions of library effectiveness. Certain other factors contributing positively to the perception of library effectiveness were the adequacy and effectiveness of library promotion, involvement of users in the selection of library materials, convenient library location, participation in user education programmes, availability of assistance for using library resources and facilities, and subject background of library professionals. The paper suggests that for any reliable library effectiveness study, all factors associated with user satisfaction should be investigated together.
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Mumtaz Ali Anwar and Hamid Saeed
This study presents quantitative analysis of 251 items contributed by 64 Pakistani LIS professionals culled from LISA‐PLUS. Volume of contribution, sources where published…
Abstract
This study presents quantitative analysis of 251 items contributed by 64 Pakistani LIS professionals culled from LISA‐PLUS. Volume of contribution, sources where published, periodic distribution, type of publications and topical coverage are dealt with in the analysis. Journal literature which represents 90.4 per cent of the citations is published in 43 periodicals, most of which are from the United States. However, more than half of the journal literature comes from one national journal. A wide range of topics is covered, but critical areas such as information needs, user education and collection evaluation receive very little attention.
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Shaheen Majid, Tamara S. Eisenschitz and Mumtaz Ali Anwar
Investigates resource sharing activities undertaken by agricultural libraries in Malaysia. It was found that resource sharing was basically limited to interlibrary lending and…
Abstract
Investigates resource sharing activities undertaken by agricultural libraries in Malaysia. It was found that resource sharing was basically limited to interlibrary lending and document delivery activities. On the average, each scientist from the participating research institutions made 1.25 document delivery and interlibrary loan requests per annum. Nearly 74 percent of these requests were met from local libraries. The participating libraries preferred to make their overseas document delivery requests to the BLDSC. Only a limited resource sharing activity was observed between the participating libraries and libraries in the ASEAN region. Heads of the participating libraries were in favour of a “loose” resource sharing scheme where it should be at their discretion to decide with whom to share their resources and at what level. The study offers several suggestions for improving resource sharing activities among agricultural libraries in Malaysia.
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Describes the current status of the use of computers in Pakistani libraries. Discusses the problems faced by librarians and information specialists in automating their libraries…
Abstract
Describes the current status of the use of computers in Pakistani libraries. Discusses the problems faced by librarians and information specialists in automating their libraries. Reviews internationally accepted database management systems mostly used in library housekeeping routines in Pakistan. Also introduces locally developed library packages. Gives a brief account of training facilities in library software offered by library schools and professional associations in the country, particularly the Pakistan Library Association.
The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on schools and schoolchildren across the globe. There is still a dearth of studies that investigate this recent phenomenon…
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on schools and schoolchildren across the globe. There is still a dearth of studies that investigate this recent phenomenon in a developing country context, and this is true of Pakistan. Much of the population in Pakistan resides in rural settings and a lack of technology and of online provision of teaching for more than one year must have had huge negative impacts on students’ learning. The school dropout rate was already high in rural settings (Geven & Hasan, 2020) and, with school closures, this will likely have increased further, and cause some schoolchildren to lose interest in going back to school. However, no current data appear to exist to corroborate this. Due to the lack of available current quantitative and qualitative data, this study seeks to explore the impact of COVID-19 on schoolchildren’s education in Pakistan by examining recently published related studies. This study employs a literature review technique that gathers data to ascertain the potential overall impact on schoolchildren during the pandemic. The findings reveal that there remains a lack of detailed studies on this important topic and that urgent attention is needed from researchers to assess the scale of the impact. In addition, the review found that many children from rural communities had little to no school engagement due to technology poverty and their families being unable to support home-schooling, either due to family and/or work constraints or a lack of prior education and/or skills. Themes that emerged were that families, especially mothers, struggled to balance both caring and home-schooling duties, pupils from private schools had a better experience than those from public school backgrounds, and many of these reported that online provisions helped students develop new skills. This study may help to improve the understanding of the impact on the lost learning of schoolchildren during the pandemic by guiding practitioners as well as policymakers.
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Sadaf Nisar, Mumtaz Anwar Chaudhry, Asma Awan, Faisal Faisal and Sami Ur Rahman
This paper examines and compares the role of social protection to promote inclusive growth in two countries (once related), Pakistan and Bangladesh, from 1984 to 2020, using…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines and compares the role of social protection to promote inclusive growth in two countries (once related), Pakistan and Bangladesh, from 1984 to 2020, using annual time series data.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used principal component analysis to develop the index of social protection, inclusive growth and macroeconomic stability. It also employed co-integration with impulse response function and fully modified ordinary least squares test for long-run cointegration.
Findings
The key results highlighted that social protection positively promotes inclusive growth in both countries. However, Bangladesh attains a high position in achieving inclusive growth through the mechanism of welfare programs. Findings show that institutional quality, macroeconomic stability and globalization are the positive and significant drivers of inclusive growth in both countries. It also confirms that macroeconomic stability and globalization are contributing more to achieving inclusive growth in Bangladesh as compared to Pakistan.
Practical implications
Institutions and macroeconomic stability in both countries are critical toward providing a transparent system of welfare schemes to achieve inclusive growth. Shocks to social protection schemes in Pakistan are inconsistent for achieving inclusive growth as compared to Bangladesh.
Originality/value
The study extends the empirical measurement of social protection and inclusive growth while using protracted dimensions and indicators. It further examines and compares the dynamics of social protection programs for inclusive growth in two countries once related. For further originality and reliability, this study checks the robustness of long-run estimates by disaggregating the institutional quality and globalization into their key dimensions.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2023-0548
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Ahmad Samarji, Enakshi Sengupta, Sarwat Nauman and Farah Sabbah
The COVID-19 crisis has forced the majority of higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide to transition to distance education. All countries have faced several challenges…
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis has forced the majority of higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide to transition to distance education. All countries have faced several challenges, such as the deteriorating economy, poor ICT infrastructure, and insufficient training, in their transition to distance education, with the severity of these challenges being remarkable for developing countries. This chapter aims to investigate tertiary students’ perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and expectations of their higher education journey amid COVID-19 across four developing countries: Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh through an online questionnaire that was administered in each of these countries. This study found that many of the stances, attitudes, concerns, and challenges related to online learning experiences and the emergency status of higher education were common amongst the Lebanese, Afghani, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi participants. The participants across the four countries favored the physical classroom over online learning and identified the disadvantages of distance education that included lack of ICT skills, poor infrastructure, and insufficient training. The few differences that were identified across participants from these countries were mainly attributed to differences in contexts, including socio-economic and political contexts. These findings voice the concerns of one of the key stakeholders, tertiary students, that address the transition to distance education during emergency times and call for immediate intervention from decision and policy-makers.
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Fatima Majid, Muhammad Mustafa Raziq, Mumtaz Ali Memon, Adeel Tariq and John Lewis Rice
This paper aims to examine how role clarity mediates the effect of transformational leadership on job engagement and championing behavior in support of the conservation of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how role clarity mediates the effect of transformational leadership on job engagement and championing behavior in support of the conservation of resources theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a cross-sectional approach to collect data from managerial/nonmanagerial employees within the Pakistani hospitality industry via online and offline questionnaires. A total of 170 responses were used in the data analysis using partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Findings show that transformational leadership directly predicts improved role clarity and job engagement. Moreover, role clarity leads to job engagement and championing behavior. Role clarity exhibits a partial mediation effect on job engagement and full mediation on championing behavior.
Originality/value
To bridge the gap in leadership literature, this research assesses the underlying effect of role clarity on the relationship between transformational leadership and its positive outcomes. It provides theoretical and managerial implications regarding the role of transformational leadership characteristics and outcomes.