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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of policy uncertainty on firm performance and to examine how the different cultural societies deal with the policy-induced uncertainty.

The authors use data of European non-financial firms to extend the growing literature on policy uncertainty, firm performance and national culture. The authors consider financial as well as market proxies to measure firm performance and use Hofstede's cultural dimensions as a proxy for national culture. The authors apply the generalized method of moments (GMM-system) regression technique on a dataset of 702 non-financial European firms, listed during the period 2002–2018.

The authors find overwhelming evidence that policy uncertainty reduces the performance of the European firms; however, cultural differences among different European countries moderate the impact of policy uncertainty on the financial as well as the market performance of the firms. The results of this study show that European cultures with high power distance, individualism, masculinity and indulgence efficiently deal with the economic policy uncertainty. While the European societies with high uncertainty avoidance fail to cope with policy-induced uncertainty. The results are robust to different regression models, alternate proxies of firm performance and endogeneity issues.

The authors argue that policy uncertainty increases information asymmetry and decreases firm performance, therefore, the policymakers shall be considerate of the consequences of the policy-induced uncertainty in the society and business arena that would not only adversely affect the firms but also the economy.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the role of national culture on the relationship between policy uncertainty and firm performance in the European context.

The purpose of this paper is to propose customer behavior analysis based on real-time data processing and association rule for digital signage-based online store (DSOS). The real-time data processing based on big data technology (such as NoSQL MongoDB and Apache Kafka) is utilized to handle the vast amount of customer behavior data.

In order to extract customer behavior patterns, customers’ browsing history and transactional data from digital signage (DS) could be used as the input for decision making. First, the authors developed a DSOS and installed it in different locations, so that customers could have the experience of browsing and buying a product. Second, the real-time data processing system gathered customers’ browsing history and transaction data as it occurred. In addition, the authors utilized the association rule to extract useful information from customer behavior, so it may be used by the managers to efficiently enhance the service quality.

First, as the number of customers and DS increases, the proposed system was capable of processing a gigantic amount of input data conveniently. Second, the data set showed that as the number of visit and shopping duration increases, the chance of products being purchased also increased. Third, by combining purchasing and browsing data from customers, the association rules from the frequent transaction pattern were achieved. Thus, the products will have a high possibility to be purchased if they are used as recommendations.

This research empirically supports the theory of association rule that frequent patterns, correlations or causal relationship found in various kinds of databases. The scope of the present study is limited to DSOS, although the findings can be interpreted and generalized in a global business scenario.

The proposed system is expected to help management in taking decisions such as improving the layout of the DS and providing better product suggestions to the customer.

The proposed system may be utilized to promote green products to the customer, having a positive impact on sustainability.

The key novelty of the present study lies in system development based on big data technology to handle the enormous amounts of data as well as analyzing the customer behavior in real time in the DSOS. The real-time data processing based on big data technology (such as NoSQL MongoDB and Apache Kafka) is used to handle the vast amount of customer behavior data. In addition, the present study proposed association rule to extract useful information from customer behavior. These results can be used for promotion as well as relevant product recommendations to DSOS customers. Besides in today’s changing retail environment, analyzing the customer behavior in real time in DSOS helps to attract and retain customers more efficiently and effectively, and retailers can get a competitive advantage over their competitors.

Earnings management (EM) plays a vital role in risk management. This paper aims to investigate the impact of real earning management (REM) on credit risk.

This paper measures the credit risk by the expected default frequency of Kealhofer, McQuown and Vasicek model. This paper uses data from 2011 to 2020 of Pakistani manufacturing listed firms. This paper applies the fixed effect to analyze the results and generalized methods of moments to handle the heterogeneity issue.

This paper finds that the impact of REM on corporate credit risk is positive and significant and that of sales manipulation is negative and significant. This paper also reports similar outcomes of the robustness test using dynamic panel regression.

The findings of this study may help managers to modify the EM strategy to minimize corporate credit risk. Furthermore, the findings of this study are important for investors to enhance their understanding of firms’ accounting information, REM activities and cash flow patterns. It further suggests the manager should consider credit risk as an important factor while practicing REM.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and academics’ retention in universities. It draws on the conservation of resources theory to deepen the understanding of a process underlying this relationship whereby academics are more likely to stay in universities through the practice of ethical leadership. Specifically, it advances academics’ job-related affective well-being as a potential mediating mechanism, fostered by ethical leadership, which lowers their intention to leave.

This study is conducted through a cross-sectional survey of 303 academics in Australian universities. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis procedures are deployed to analyse academics’ data. The research hypotheses are tested through a bootstrapped regression analysis of academics’ perceived ethical leadership, affective well-being and intention to leave.

The findings lend support to the hypothesised relations, indicating a significant role of ethical leadership on enhanced intentions of academics to stay in universities by directly conserving their job-related affective well-being.

This paper contributes to knowledge of the relationship between ethical leadership and academics’ retention by identifying job-related affective well-being as an underlying mechanism in the university sector.

This paper has practical implications for higher educational institutes seeking to retain their academic staff. Its findings show that the practice of ethical leadership in universities matters, because it lowers academics’ intentions to leave by nurturing their well-being at work.

This is the first study to examine the impact of ethical leadership on academics’ well-being and intentions to leave in the context of universities in Australia. It is one of the first studies to explore the mediating role of affective well-being in the ethical leadership and leadership and intention to leave relationship.

Teacher Education has been transforming throughout the world to cater to the emerging needs of quality education. Significant developments have taken place nationally and internationally in political, economic, and cultural fields, influencing education in general and teacher education in particular. The quality of education depends to a great extent on the quality of teachers. And, the quality of teachers depends on the way they are educated and trained. Pakistan has a vast education sector and a huge teaching force but teacher education in the country has not been keeping pace with modernization and development globally. Teacher education curricula, dissemination, evaluation and implementation revolved around traditional models for decades. However, there has been a growing realization to reform the teacher education system lately. The education policy (2009) of Pakistan indicates such realization on the part of the stakeholders. This chapter reports on an important teacher education reform program, which is based on collaboration between the government of Pakistan and the USAID. The Teacher Education Project (TEP), assisted by USAID, is a reform initiative that aimed at restructuring and modernizing teacher education in Pakistan. This chapter aims to provide insights into the objectives, importance and achievements of the project in terms of shaping the future direction of teacher education in Pakistan. It reports on the substantial structural and policy changes that took place in teacher education under the project. This chapter also highlights the possible challenges in the way of useful implementation and sustainability of this and similar education reform initiatives in Pakistan.

The purpose of this paper is to test a studio pedagogy that originates from an experiment of a collaborative design studio held between two departments of Architecture, as a useful way for students to learn mutually. Meanwhile, it aims to capture the effectiveness, efficiency and impacts of this collaboration.

This paper presents a qualitative research study to observe the role of collaborative design studio in the pedagogical structure of architectural education. It combines the conventional studio with live projects as a unique pedagogy within the studio of Architectural Design-I (AD-I). Primary data collected using open-ended questionnaires from students and focal studio tutors at both architecture departments generated results.

Built on the analyses of the questionnaires, this paper answers the research questions based on the collaborative studio pedagogy for the course of AD-I and reports on lessons learnt from this collaborative experience. It proves that students can successfully work collaboratively and build confidence in their own abilities to solve a challenge and achieve a common goal through practical experience as well.

This research used a qualitative approach to evaluate the perspectives of 81 students and 6 tutors within a specific pedagogical approach. Given the small sample size and delimitation of the one-course approach, findings from this study are not generalizable to a broader population. Furthermore, a longer duration is needed to address collaborative learning challenges. Nevertheless, it provides valuable data for future studies and also offers pedagogical options for other schools to consider implementing and studying.

The collaborative pedagogical approach experimented in this study was the first initiative of its kind in Karachi, between a younger institution, AED-SSUET and a more established one which was DAP-NED. A four-week collaborative design studio exercise of AD-I engaging third-semester students of AED-SSUET[1] and DAP-NED[2] was a hybrid approach that combined conventional design studio with live project to promote a novel and effective collaborative learning method. In the process, students were encouraged to interact competitively with peers, facilitated by rigorous engagement of focal design tutors from both Architecture departments. It also influenced the active participation of experts from the industry and Architecture community and was exclusively designed to eliminate the pairing up of a single tutor with one student each. The students at AED-SSUET were also able to build a 1:1 scale project with an allocated budget and time-frame constraints.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the lubricity of palm biodiesel (PB)–diesel fuel with plastic pyrolysis oil (PPO) and waste cooking biodiesel (WCB).

Three quaternary fuels were prepared by mechanical stirring. B10 (10% PB in diesel) fuel was blended with 5%, 10% and 15% of both PPO and WCB. The results were compared to B30 (30% PB in diesel) and B10. The lubricity of fuel samples was determined using high-frequency reciprocating rig in accordance with ASTM D6079. The tribological behavior of all fuels was assessed by using scanning electron microscopy on worn steel plates to determine wear scar diameter (WSD) and surface morphology. The reported WSD is the average of the major and minor axis of the wear scar.

The addition of PPO and WCB to B10 had improved its lubricity while lowering wear and friction coefficients. Among the quaternary fuels, B40 showed the greatest reduction in coefficient of friction and WSD, with 7.63% and 44.5%, respectively, when compared to B10. When compared to B30a, the quaternary fuel mixes (B40, B30b and B20) exhibited significant reduction in WSD by 49.66%, 42.84% and 40.24%, respectively. Among the quaternary fuels, B40 exhibited the best overall lubricating performance, which was supported by surface morphology analysis. The evaluation of B40 indicated a reduced adhesive wear and tribo-oxidation, as well as a smoother metal surface, as compared to B20 and B30b.

Incorporation of PPO and WCB in PB–diesel blend as a quaternary fuel blend in diesel engines has not been reported. Only a few researchers looked into the impact of PPO and WCB on the lubricity of the fuel.

This empirical study aims to explore the linkage among authentic leadership traits and job performance via the mediating role of high-performance human resource practices (HPHRPs) in a developing country context. Social exchange theory and trait theory are widely employed in many disciplines but seldom applied to job performance among Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) employees.

The sample of the study is PTCL's employees. A cross-sectional design was employed and data was collected from 377 employees via questionnaire. This is an exploratory study; therefore, partial least square–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to answer the research questions.

The findings of this study revealed that relational transparency, directly and indirectly, influenced job performance with the partial mediating role of selective staffing and extensive training. Furthermore, balance processing, directly and indirectly, influenced job performance with the partial mediating role of incentive reward, while self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, employment security and result-oriented appraisal were insignificant influences on job performance.

The results of the study delineated practical applications for both the researchers and policymakers. The results of this study would also augment the body of knowledge on human resource practices in both developed and developing countries.

This study found and reported authentic leadership traits and HPHR as the main sources of job performance in PTCL. This study empirically examined the influence of authentic leadership traits on job performance with the mediating role of a bundle of HPHRPs in a developing context.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of Introduction of Smart Teaching and Learning (INSTAL) project on students' academic achievements in terms of students' science scores. Information and communication technologies (ICT)-based initiative was introduced in Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) schools at District Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan. The aim of the study was to identify whether science test scores of students have been improved with the use of INSTAL facility at schools or remained the same at SEF-supported schools.

The quantitative research approach has been used in the current study, and within it a quasi-experimental research design was employed. The descriptive (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test) were computed to find the pre- and post-difference in science scores of students. Both primary and secondary data were used. The primary data were gathered through questionnaire from 48 science teachers. Whereas, secondary data of 382 students who used ICT-based facility under INSATL project for two academic years were taken from quality assessment test (QAT) scores conducted by third party in SEF-assisted schools in District Khairpur.

The findings of the study revealed that the students' science scores improved by 10% in one year and 23% in two years with the use of ICT-based facilities under INSTAL project. Also, it can be concluded from the results that ICT has a positive as well as statistically significant impact on students' science learning by using INSTAL facility in schools. Results of the study show that students' level of interest toward learning science has been enhanced by the use of ICT.

As the world is rapidly moving toward digitalization, the modes of teaching and learning have been changing. ICT plays a very significant role in the betterment of education. ICT helps to achieve socio-economic development of a country. However, Pakistan, being a developing country, has not that much resources, and ICT-based learning is not common in Pakistan. Therefore, it is very important to be aware people about the usage of technology in teaching and learning. The present study is an attempt to create such type of awareness. Moreover, the current study may be the first kind of study in the context of Pakistan which used TPACK as theoretical framework, and this study may contribute to the body of knowledge in the context of ICT.

Implementing ICT-based software for teaching and learning in rural context of Pakistan was a challenging task, but it has brought positive results in terms of student's achievement. This may be the first study that has been conducted in the context of adopted schools of SEF.