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The purpose of this paper is to find the applications, advantages and challenges of human resource information system (HRIS) from different sectors of Pakistan. It also finds the demographic perspective of HRIS.

Questionnaire was adopted from previous studies. Responses were gathered through social websites and physically. The questionnaire was sent to 491 respondents from which only 99 responded. Reliability, t-testing and chi-square were used for the analysis.

Result shows that HRIS is widely used in Pakistani organizations for the purpose of accessing employees’ information, absence monitoring and performance appraisal to get quick responses to information, reduction of error and paperwork. It helps standardizing the program and manpower requirement, but lack of commitment by the lower management is the most significant barrier for its implementation because of fear of change by them. It is also found that there is no association between gender and adoption of HRIS but different employment position perceives differently the adoption of HRIS.

The research is limited to the Pakistani organizations. The research paper is useful for the Pakistani human resources professionals, as it gives the local perspective of HRIS.

The previous results are from the developed countries and there is merely any reliable paper found on the several aspects of HRIS in Pakistani context. The research has also focused on the demographic variables that are employment position and gender with respect to their perception on the adoption of HRIS.

U-commerce is an emerging paradigm transcending traditional e-commerce boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to highlight those issues that deserve attention in developing successful u-commerce models.

The interpretive structural model technique is adopted to construct a hierarchical structure, and the impact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification (MIC-MAC) approach is employed to analyze the effect and dependence among these factors.

The research shows that there exists a group of enablers having a high driving power and low dependence requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance, while another group consists of those variables that have high dependence and are the resultant actions.

Organizations that plans to develop a u-commerce model would be benefited from this study. They can understand the difference between the independent and dependent variables and their mutual relationships. This would help them to prioritize their budget and implement suitable strategies to cater to key variables so as to exploit the benefits of u-commerce.

Most of the GCC countries have very similar business environment. This research can easily be adapted to other GCC nations thereby saving the duplication of time, efforts and money.

This research was conducted in a developing economy in a GCC country which is very fast adopter of new technology. The findings of this study would serve as a guide to the businesses who are migrating to a u-commerce model in future.

The study evaluates the effects of governance and other regulatory structures on the development of financial institutions in the subregion of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Data for the analyses were compiled from relevant sources from 1996 to 2019 from a sample of 36 countries in the subregion. Empirical analyses were carried out using the Prais-Winsten panel corrected standard errors panel estimation technique augmented by pooled ordinary least squares with Driscoll and Kraay (1998) standard errors model.

Findings from the study suggest that governance and institutional quality index, as well as individual governance and regulatory variables, have positive effect on the development of financial institutions among economies in SSA. Further empirical estimates show that output growth volatility has negative moderating impact on the relationship between effective governance, control of corruption, rule of law, regulatory quality, voice and accountability, and development of financial institutions. Additionally, the results show that during periods of heightened macroeconomic risk, financial institutions could benefit from improved governance and effective regulatory structures.

Compared to related studies that have reviewed the discourse on financial institutions, this study rather focuses on how governance structures and institutions influence development of financial institutions instead of the impact of financial institution on the broader economy. The authors further augment this interaction by examining how the relationship in question may be moderated by macroeconomic shocks.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and develop a hierarchical model for the barriers affecting the growth of mobile commerce (M-commerce). Based on the model developed, the authors’ objective is to identify those variables that are of strategic nature and are the root cause of the issue.

Variables considered as barriers are identified, and utilizing the interpretive structural model approach, a relationship model is developed. Further, the impact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification approach is used to analyze the effect and dependence among these factors.

The research in the area of M-commerce in the Arab world and related to the strategic aspect is limited in the extant literature. The present study tries to fill this gap by investigating the variables that inhibit the growth of M-commerce in Qatar. The research shows that there exists a group of barriers having a high driving power and low dependence requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance, while another group consists of those variables that have high dependence and are the resultant actions.

There is a growing concern that although the numbers of mobile subscribers are increasing at a very fast pace in Qatar, actual M-commerce activities in the country remain low. The findings of this study can be used to understand the differences between the independent and dependent variables and their mutual relationships. The study would also help the policy makers to develop suitable strategies to facilitate growth of M-commerce in the country.

This research was the first attempt to investigate the relationships among the variables inhibiting the growth of M-commerce in a fast-growing economy in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Given that there is limited research on M-commerce in the GCC context, the study can be viewed as an investigation that provides a good understanding of the variables and their interrelationships affecting M-commerce proliferation.

The purpose of this paper is to review the development of quality assurance (QA) processes in higher education in Afghanistan and chart and assess the current achievements and challenges. Drawing on fieldwork, documentary research and secondary sources, the analysis seeks to integrate these elements into an integrated overall analysis of the phenomenon of QA in Afghan higher education, including its evolution over time, with some attention given to the implications for future development.

The methodology is based on field study, conducted by one of the authors, interviews with the Ministry of Higher Education officials by the second author, collection and analysis of policy documents and review of relevant literature.

Key findings reveal some tensions between stated policies regarding QA in Afghan higher education: limited finance, growing levels of insecurity and limited capacity within the Ministry of Higher Education, including staff training. Some barriers within higher education institutions are also pointed out in both public and private higher educational institutions.

Implications of the research are that although further funding is needed to institute QA in higher education institutions, both public and private, this is unlikely in the current circumstances, with donor funds limited and commitments not always fulfilled. Anti-corruption measures will continue to be important, and declining security, in some provinces more than others, will likely limit the effective implementation of QA measures.

Given current conditions in Afghanistan, there are clear practical limits to what can be achieved in strengthening QA in higher education. The undoubted enthusiasm of the people, however, means that the situation must be addressed as far as possible. Greater engagement with regional QA networks, more training for QA assessors and greater regulation of the burgeoning private sector would go a long way to bring about improvement, as would ongoing efforts to rein in corruption.

An important move regarding direct social implications would be to maintain and strengthen moves to engage more women in higher education, including higher proportions of (senior) female administrative and academic staff. Although barriers to women’s empowerment are by no means restricted to the higher education sector, it should show the lead in both enrolment and employment.

While QA in higher education is a major focus of higher education literature, there are less research studies on QA measures in developing country contexts and even less on fragile states such as Afghanistan. But for the country to prosper, good quality higher education is vital, and a study of the implementation of QA measures is an important contribution.

This chapter investigates the presence of a difference in the systemic risk level between Islamic and conventional banks in Bangladesh. The authors compare systemic resilience of three types of banks: fully fledged Islamic banks, purely conventional banks (CB), and CB with Islamic windows. The authors use the market-based systemic risk measures of marginal expected shortfall and systemic risk to identify which type is more vulnerable to a systemic event. The authors also use ΔCoVaR to identify which type contributes more to a systemic event. Using a sample of observations on 27 publicly traded banks operating over the 2005–2014 period, the authors find that CB is the least resilient sector to a systemic event, and is the one that has the highest contribution to systemic risk during crisis times.

The unstable money demand function over the recent decades may explain the unsatisfactory performance of the exchange rate model. Numerous studies have shown that Divisia money serves as a better variable for a stable money demand function. In this study, Divisia money is used as an alternative money supply in MYR/USD exchange rate determination. This study finds that Divisia money differential, real income differential, relative short-term interest rate and real stock prices affect the MYR/USD exchange rate in the long run. The major implication of this study is that policy-makers could monitor the MYR/USD exchange rate via the money supplies following the principle of Divisia monetary aggregate, which assigns higher weightage to more frequently traded monetary assets.

The main objective of this paper is to highlight the main features of interest‐free banking theory and practice in Pakistan over the last three decades. It explores the country‐wide interest‐free banking movement since its inception in 1980 to its demise in 2002, and the reasons for such outcome. Moreover, it addresses the question why interest‐free banking has been recently reinstated by the government of Pakistan under the dual banking system and more importantly, would it be any real and big success?

The paper explores concepts, model, strategies and practical issues related with the Islamic banking and finance system. It holds a conceptual approach. It is designed as a case study that provides comprehensive analysis over the contributions made by political, government, financial, legislative and religious institutions of Pakistan in setting‐up the interest‐free banking and finance system in the country.

The findings of the paper hold that all intellectual, practical, institutional, political, constitutional and regulatory measures undertaken by the government and top policy makers of Pakistan to transform the banking system of the country Shariah compliant were devoid of real urge and effectiveness, only piecemeal solutions. The interest institution got very firm roots in the financial sector of Pakistan and strongly supported by other exploitative agents and systems that prevail in the socio‐economic life of the country. There is a dire need to take revolutionary steps with strong political and public support and commitment to uproot interest along with its allies from Pakistan economy and society. After all, Pakistan is an ideologically‐based Muslim country that holds the constitutional responsibility to eliminate interest from its economy and establish a fair and just socio‐economic order.

The paper envisages the main concepts, models and strategies adopted in implementing the Islamic economic and finance system in Pakistan. However, it does not deal in quantitative data and statistical tools to support its findings by empirical evidence. Rather it entails subjective analysis and critique work.

The paper provides the deeper insight of highly technical, complex and mammoth job of eradicating interest from Pakistan economy that was deeply rooted and also strongly supported by other exploitative forces prevailing in the socio‐economic life of the country, causing gross distribution of wealth and concentration of resources and powers in the hands of few. It explains that the need for a major change in one institution or system entails the demand for bringing radical changes in the whole set‐up of country. This paper undertakes longitudinal view to analyze the institutional, financial, judicial and political developments that took place in Pakistan to restructure its economy on Islamic lines. It lays down all relevant facts and issues systematically to provide a clear‐cut assessment over the past, present and future of interest‐free banking movement in Pakistan.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence and antibiograms of bacteria isolated from various fresh fruit juices at a local market in Faisalabad.

Fresh fruit juice samples (n=125) were randomly collected using aseptic technique. Each sample (10 mL) was serially diluted with 90 mL of sterile peptone water, from 1×10⁻¹ to 1×10⁻⁵. Each dilution was then used to inoculate nutrient agar by surface spread plating. Aerobic colony counts (ACCs) were determined by colony counting. The isolates were sub-cultured on blood and MacConkey agar. Preliminary identification was achieved on the basis of colony morphology and culture characteristic, and confirmed by API® 20E, 20NE, and API® Staph testing. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion assay, per CLSI 2015 guidelines.

The mean ACC ranged from 2.0×10⁶ CFU/mL to 4.93×10⁶ CFU/mL, with the highest ACC determined for orange juice. Overall, 153 polymicrobial were identified in 125 samples; 103 of these were Gram-negative rods (GNR) and 28 were Gram-positive cocci (GPC). Escherichia coli (n=38), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=32) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=24) were the predominant GNR; Staphylococcus aureus (n=28) was the predominant GPC. Antibiogram analysis revealed that all GNR were resistant to ampicillin. However, most E. coli isolates were resistant to ceftazidime (72.4 percent of isolates), and ceftriaxone and cefepime (68.9 percent), while most K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to cefepime (72 percent) and ceftriaxone (64 percent). All S. aureus isolates were resistant to penicillin, while most (64 percent) were resistant to piperacillin; the most effective drugs against bacteria were vancomycin and imipenem.

The findings suggest that the local government regulatory food and public health authorities should take immediate emergency measures. Appropriate surveillance studies and periodic monitoring of food items should be regularly performed to safeguard public health.

The current study revealed the prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in freshly prepared fruit juices sold by local street vendors.

Socioeconomic development needs quality governance to provide and protect property rights and other economic means. In this regard, the current study examines the symmetric and asymmetric effect of composite governance index, unemployment rate (UR) and consumer price index on the crime rate (CR) in Pakistan.

The current study uses time series data (1996–2020) on CR, composite governance index, UR and consumer price index. In this study, the authors first constructed a composite governance index from six governance indicators using the principal component analysis (PCA) method. After that, the short-run and long-run symmetric and asymmetric effects were estimated through linear and non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models, respectively.

The authors found short-run and long-run symmetric and asymmetric effects of governance, unemployment and consumer prices (CPI) on the CR in Pakistan. For asymmetric effects, the findings show that high-quality governance diminishes and poor governance accelerates committed crimes in Pakistan. Interestingly, the asymmetric unemployment effect suggests that criminal behavior diminishes when people find job opportunities and do not adopt criminal behavior even if people lose employment. In other words, if unemployment decreases CR will fall, and when unemployment increases, the CR may not increase. Lastly, rising product prices lead to criminal behavior, while falling prices do not help to diminish the CR in Pakistan.

The study provides the first empirical evidence of symmetric and asymmetric responses of CR toward composite governance index, UR and consumer price index.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0625