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The purpose of this study to highlight the changing living patterns in the Pakistani community from joint family to nuclear family setup which is becoming the main reason for the loss of days when family members used to be responsible for elderly care. The ageing population in Pakistan are suffering from severe health and care issues. The Pakistani society, which once used to consider the senior citizen as a blessing now started considering them as a forced liability.

This study adopts the qualitative research strategy and interviews conducted in the local language with five women and men elderly each residing in old folk homes.

The study revealed that the main reasons behind increasing old folk trends in Pakistan are lack of family support, migration of children, less community awareness, economic issues, loneliness, dementia and invasion of western culture.

This study adopts the qualitative research strategy and interviews conducted in the local language with five women and men elderly each residing in old folk homes. The study revealed that the main reasons behind increasing old folk trends in Pakistan are lack of family support, migration of children, less community awareness, economic issues, loneliness, dementia and invasion of western culture.

Quality of life is dependent on a healthy lifestyle and the self-care behavior of individuals. The study's purpose is to find out the determinants of individuals' self-care behavior. As such, self-care behavior is influenced by several factors that include individual knowledge, available information sources and their use, information-seeking related skills and cognitive state.

A quantitative research design followed using a questionnaire-based survey method. A total of 384 responses from the Pakistani public were collected using the convenience sampling technique. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed for examining the possible link between the variables.

Health literacy, Internet and social media use, and health information-seeking behavior had a direct/indirect positive impact on self-care behavior, but health anxiety had a negative impact. Health literacy and health information-seeking behavior positively mediated the relationship among Internet and social media use health anxiety and self-care.

Improving health literacy appears to be key to supporting better self-care, but it is an exploratory study, more research is required to confirm these findings. Policymakers, health professionals and information professionals should work together to improve health literacy and support informed self-care among the population.

Thus far, no previous study has examined the collective role of social media exposure, health anxiety, health literacy and health information-seeking behavior as predictors of self-care behavior. Although self-care behavior among the general population might be different compared to chronic patients, only few studies have examined the former as a unit of analysis.

The aim of this empirical study is to examine how religiosity, animosity and ethnocentrism interact to influence judgment about US products and purchase actions of young consumers in a conservative Islamic country like Pakistan. Many studies have been conducted before in progressive Islamic countries such as Malaysia, Jordan, Turkey and Tunisia but not in conservative Islamic countries like Pakistan.

A validated questionnaire derived from literature is used for data collection. Data were collected from 381 college students in four provincial capital cities of Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar). Structural equation modeling is used to test the framework.

This study reveals key significant cause and effect relationships like consumers religiosity on foreign product judgment, consumers animosity on foreign product judgment, consumers religiosity on ethnocentric tendencies of consumers, consumers ethnocentric tendencies on foreign product judgment and foreign product judgment on purchase action of consumers.

This study attempts to add value to the existing literature on consumer behavior, especially the role of religiosity, animosity and ethnocentrism in young consumers. This study is the first of its kind on examining religiosity, animosity and ethnocentrism among young consumers in Pakistan. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study will guide the marketing managers to formulate appropriate strategies when targeting young consumers, especially when they decide to boycott US products.

The purpose of this study is threefold: firstly, to compare Pakistani and French consumers’ perceptions of well-being; secondly, to investigate how consumers in both countries relate to food; and thirdly, to assess whether they associate food with well-being.

Thirty participants (15 French and 15 Pakistani) between the ages of 24 and 35 were interviewed, using convenience and snow bowling sampling. Data triangulation was performed by combining three qualitative techniques, word association, photo-elicitation-based interviewing and open-ended questions to explore consumer perceptions of well-being, food and food well-being.

The study’s findings suggest that well-being is a broad concept in which food is an ingredient. Food and well-being share common elements, and food well-being can be defined as an individual’s psychological, physical, social and societal relationship with food ascribed by affordability and food literacy.

Pleasure, sharing and respect emerged as dimensions of food well-being that can be applied to transfigure consumer behaviour and reduce over-consumption, food waste and hunger. The dimensions of well-being and food were explored for both countries to understand their cultural nuances and determine the influence of food on well-being. This comparative analysis will help researchers understand consumers’ preferences for food in various aspects from two regions. This study can potentially contribute to scale development in food and well-being, which can help researchers measure the effects of food and well-being in different sectors of the economy, particularly in health care. The most aspiring aspect of the current research is the insights unveiled during interactions with research participants, which will help develop consumer baseline feelings.

In the digital transformation race, the older generation, called digital immigrants (generation X), encounter various obstacles. This study aims to investigate the e-reading adoption and cross-cultural differences among generation X.

This study collected survey-based data from generation X e-readers in Iraq and Pakistan (Pakistan, N = 235; Iraq, N = 251). Structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis (MGA) were used to arrive at a statistical decision regarding the hypotheses and the study’s primary objectives.

Three hypotheses (H2, H3 and H8) were supported by both data sets. However, there is positive variance based on MGA for two hypotheses (H1 and H3) where the Pakistani sample’s path coefficients are greater than the Iraqi sample’s path coefficients. In contrast, there is negative variance based on MGA for two hypotheses (H7 and H9) where the Iraqi sample’s path coefficients are greater than the Pakistani sample’s path coefficients. Finally, these distinctions are examined, along with a few potential research topics

Although there is a plethora of literature on digital immigrants and technology adoption in general, and specifically on e-reading uptake. Research on e-reading adoption in a global learning context is still lacking. Therefore, this study examines the e-reading behavior of digital immigrants from two developing countries (Iraq and Pakistan) and identifies significant cross-cultural differences in e-reading adoption.

This research aimed to find out both direct and mediating relationships between the fear of COVID-19 (FC) and the usage of digital financial services (UDFS) via mediator financial anxiety (FA). It also attempted to ascertain the moderated effect of education of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners (ESO), i.e. business degree holders (BDH) vs nonbusiness degree holders (NBDH), in the relationship between FC and the UDFS.

This research employed a simple random sampling technique. In total, 387 complete responses were collected from Pakistani SMEs. The complete analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23, AMOS 24, Process Marco 4.1, and Interaction 1.7.

According to the findings, FC leads to UDFS and FA mediates this relationship. Additionally, the findings show that the ESO between FC and UDFS was moderated. However, conditional analysis shows that BDH-SME owners strengthened the moderated relationship between FC and UDFS compared to NBDH-SME owners, who did not show any relationship.

Policymakers might use the study's findings to promote business education, which has been recognized as essential for making sound financial decisions. Finally, because the study is cross-sectional, the authors are unable to draw definitive generalizations.

The key novelty of this research work lies in the inclusion of FA as a mediator and the education of SME owners as a moderator in understanding the relationship between FC and the UDFS. This study illuminated the positive aspects of the COVID-19 epidemic based on the theory of emotional finance, risk avoidance theory and theories of emotion.

Tinnitus patients are among the most vulnerable group to develop psychopathological symptoms over time if left unresolved. This study aims to investigate the role of tinnitus distress between tinnitus magnitude, cognitions and functional difficulties in the development of somatization symptoms among male and female patients experiencing ear-related problems due to lack of proper access to health care.

This study was based on a purposive sampling technique and sample consisted on 159 patients (97 male, 62 female) having tinnitus complaints, with age range 18–87 (M = 47.94, SD = 17.47) years, recruited from various clinics and hospitals of Islamabad, Pakistan, from December 2020 to July 2021.

The findings of this study showed that tinnitus distress is significant positively associated with tinnitus-related magnitude, negative cognitions, functional difficulties and somatization symptoms. Gender-related differences between male and female tinnitus patients revealed that females are more prone to depict higher levels of tinnitus distress, tinnitus magnitude, negative cognitions and somatization symptoms than male patients. Mediation analysis demonstrated that tinnitus distress serves as a mediator between tinnitus magnitude, cognitions, functional difficulties and somatization symptoms.

Cross-sectional nature and self-reporting measures serve as a limitation of the study. An experimental study appears to be vital to ascertain the time-based relationship with tinnitus magnitude in the development of various psychopathological issues. The findings of this study contribute to the literature by highlighting the role of tinnitus distress in the origination of psychopathological symptoms like somatization and need of upgraded health-care systems in Pakistan.

This study has explored the mediating role of tinnitus distress between magnitude, cognitions, functional difficulties and somatization symptoms among Pakistani population, specifically mentioning the development of somatization symptoms among this population, which can contribute in the loss of earning and increased health expenses due to unawareness of proper health-care approach.

Physical activity is an eminent practice for the maintenance of physical and mental health. Physical fitness always enables students to perform their various tasks efficiently specifically in academic performance. Student health is a principal factor for the performance of all kinds of activities particularly in academic performance. This study aimed to evaluate physical activity among university students and the factors for being inactive.

A questionnaire was designed and distributed among the students via WhatsApp, Skype and email, however, some responses were collected physically to maintain the quality of data. The questionnaire was categorized into demographic factors, current physical activity status and reasons for physical inactivity. Each section was further divided into questions and total 24 questions were asked from each individual for evaluation of inactiveness.

The finding of this research explored that enormous number of students are doing part time jobs and unable to find enough time for relaxation. The research was limited and evaluated limited factors and explored that 60.6% of students had less time for entertainment and this is only 2 h for this 60.6% of students. Among all factors of physical activity walking was preferable for 48.34% of the students. Students want to participate in healthy activities. Moreover, students are unable to perform physical exercise due to busy schedules of jobs (47.02%), part-time job burden (15.89%), study burden (35.10%) and poor health conditions (1.32%).

This study concluded that higher percentage of students have stress of limited resources and under this stress condition they are unable to take a balanced diet which they considered cost-effective. They did not perform maximum in their academic and daily activities and did not participate in sports activities. It was also observed that institutions did not provide a sufficient platform for physical activity for students. The research shows the factors which affect the student’s academic performance as being physically inactive. Evaluation of results explored that numerous students have limited resources during their career development and their attention remain diverted to overcome their limited resources which keep them physically unfit. The findings also explored that physically inactive students have heavy study and job burden which is not overcome and analyzed by their institutions.

The learning outcomes of this case study are to understand and apply the PESTLE framework with a special focus on sociocultural nuances of a conservative society, appreciate the role of innovation and effective leadership in the success of entrepreneurial ventures, understand the bricolage theory to critically evaluate the role of entrepreneurs as agents of social change and develop monetization strategies for digital start-ups and recommend strategies that would help social enterprises to strike the right balance between their social aspirations and commercial goals.

In March 2020, Kanwal Ahmed, founder of the much-lauded Facebook group Soul Sisters Pakistan (SSP), was posed with a critical situation. SSP’s first face-to-face member meetup, which had been hyped up by Pakistanis residing in Canada for months, had to be called off due to the advent of COVID-19. What worried Ahmed was not just the immediate impact of the postponement; rather, she was more concerned about how her social enterprise would sustain in the longer run. The new normal had changed the way businesses operated; tried and tested revenue generation strategies of SSP would neither be feasible in a COVID-stricken world nor reap the same results. Ahmed knew that her social enterprise could have a far-reaching impact in a pandemic-stricken world. However, she was unsure about how to monetize her business model so as to ensure steady revenue generation streams that would keep the enterprise afloat. Ahmed knew that the clock was ticking, and she had to act quickly and think of ways to ensure SSP’s long-term sustenance.

This case study is suitable for undergraduate students enrolled in courses of entrepreneurship and strategy.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.