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This study intends to unveil the imbalance in gender portrayal, reflected in English textbooks, used at the primary level in the four provinces of Pakistan.

Within the framework of feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA), this paper aims to explore the ways in which gender stereotypes and ideologies are inculcated through the discursive schemes in the selected textbooks. The methodology adopted is to connect the linguistic features in the texts (the Micro) to the social factors (the Macro). The analysis has been done on two levels: on the first level, the content analysis was employed to quantify the gender representation in the textbook. On the second level, the discourse analysis was carried out to view gender stereotypes in the wide spectrum of social norms.

The results of this study reveal a significant disproportion and imbalance in gender representation in the four books. They clearly show that the textbooks in Pakistan contribute to the socialization of children in a very traditional and stereotypical way. The findings of the study recommend extensive awareness at societal level in general, and particular reforms in the education sector for a step toward a progressive and prosperous society.

The current paper is innovative as it demystifies how gendered ideologies are ingrained in the curriculum, used for English language teaching in a developing country like Pakistan. It fosters the value addition in existing research since it investigated the gender disparity systematically by employing quantitative content and qualitative FCDA.

The aim of the present study is twofold. First is investigating the factors associated with the effectiveness of Facebook advertising and its resultant impact on behavioral and attitudinal loyalty. The second is testing the moderating impact of control over ads and brand authenticity.

This study is conducted by adopting the cross-sectional data collection technique, two samples with 396 and 482 sample sizes were collected at different points in time. Partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique, using Smart PLS 3.0 software, was applied to analyze the data.

The results show that the moderating effect of behavioral control on the relationship between advertising intrusive and attitude towards Facebook advertising was insignificant for both samples. Brand authenticity was significant in moderating the relationship between an individual's attitude towards Facebook advertising and behavior towards the brand for sample 1 and was insignificant for sample 2. Behaving towards brands resulted in attitudinal and behavioral loyalty intentions of individuals for both samples.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge in four ways besides contextual contribution. First, it investigated the moderating influence of perceived behavioral control on the relationship between advertising intrusiveness and attitude towards Facebook advertising. Second, this study also studied the relationship between attitude towards Facebook advertising and behavior towards the brand, moderated by brand authenticity. Third, this study extended the Facebook advertising Framework to behavioral and attitudinal loyalty. Fourth, this study methodologically contributes by conducting a two-sample study to enhance the generalizability.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has given an upsurge to online retailing in Pakistan. This shift has escalated the issues about privacy concerns among consumers. Keeping in view the growing concerns, the objective of this study is to investigate customer patronage in online shopping and the role of privacy concerns in this relationship.

To generalize the relationship between antecedents and outcomes of privacy concerns, a cross-disciplinary macro model was used. Data were collected through a survey method from the consumers who used credit and debit cards during online shopping.

Results show that government regulations have a significant positive relationship with privacy concerns and customer patronage. Privacy concerns are found to have a significant negative relationship with organizational ethical care while customer patronage was found to have a significant positive relationship with organizational ethical care. Customer patronage was also found to have a significant negative relationship with privacy concerns. Privacy concerns mediated the relationship between government regulations and customer patronage, whereas privacy concerns does not mediate the relationship between organizational ethical care and customer patronage.

The research adds to the existing literature and highlights the customer behavior toward online shopping/e-commerce in developing economies. The research gives a direction to stakeholders to counter privacy concerns and ensure safer e-commerce practices.