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The primary purpose of this study was to check the online information retrieval self-efficacy among library professionals in predicting the satisfaction of patrons within universities’ libraries.

The study was grounded on Bandura four sources of self-efficacy, encompassing mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion and physiological states. To accomplish this, a meticulously designed questionnaire was administered to collect data from library professionals employed in universities libraries recognized by the Higher Education Commission in Punjab and capital city of Pakistan (Islamabad). Following by the validation of assumptions, researchers conducted a multiple linear regression test to predict the outcomes of the dependent variable by using the independents variables. Additionally, a comparative evaluation was carried out among all the independent variables to determine their respective contributions to satisfaction of library patrons.

The results emphasized the distinct and substantial significance of three variables, physiological states, social feedback and mastery experience in predicting the satisfaction of library patrons. Nevertheless, vicarious experience did not demonstrate a significant influence on the satisfaction of library patrons. Furthermore, influence of physiological states on the improvement of library patrons’ satisfaction was relatively higher compared to other three self-efficacy sources. In conclusion, research established the essential role of online information retrieval self-efficacy in enhancing the satisfaction of library patrons.

The findings of the study can form a solid basis for devising academic programs to train the library professionals for effective utilization of various information systems and databases. These programs play an important role in improving the self-efficacy of library professionals, ultimately refining their skills in online information retrieval.

In essence, this study provides insights into the factors which are pivotal in effective information searching process, ultimately leading to increase the satisfaction level of library patrons which has not been previously researched in Pakistan as well as the world context. Moreover, the study significance lies in contribute to academic discourse, its potential to transform and promote the library services and as well as empower library professionals in delivering the satisfying and efficient experience for library patrons in the current digital age.

This study aims to examine the relationship between personality traits and digital literacy skills among university librarians of Punjab, Pakistan.

Five research hypotheses were established to achieve the study objectives. Two instruments; namely, “big five inventory (BFI)” scale of personality traits and a structured questionnaire of digital literacy skills (library literacy, computer literacy, tool literacy, information retrieval literacy and research support literacy) were used to collect the data. Pearson correlation test and correlation research design were used to examine the relationship between digital literacy skills and personality traits of university librarians.

The findings of the study revealed significant relationships between personality traits and all digital literacy skills. The study concluded that librarians having the extraversion trait are more inclined toward digital literacy skills and they can perform well in the libraries as compared to professionals with other traits.

This study measures the digital literacy skills among the librarians of “higher education commission” recognized universities of Punjab, Pakistan. The study conclusions and findings are limited in scope to only the librarians of these universities. Such topic has no previous research.

This study has practical implication for university libraries, library associations, librarians and library professionals. The results of the study are also useful for librarians to acquire digital literacy skills, which are necessary in the current digital environment to manage the libraries.

Library professionals can get digital literacy skills to face the challenges of digital age.

Some researchers examined the relationship of personality traits with the social networking sites, internet addiction, knowledge sharing behavior, information seeking behavior and academic performance. This study in particular identified the relationship of personality traits with the digital literacy skills, which are essential for managing the libraries. It helps libraries to find suitable library professionals and also help managers in assigning the duties based on these personality traits and digital literacy skills.

Despite its devastating nature, the COVID-19 pandemic has also catalyzed a substantial surge in the adoption and integration of technological tools within economies, exerting a profound influence on the dissemination of information among participants in stock markets. Consequently, this present study delves into the ramifications of post-pandemic dynamics on stock market behavior. It also examines the relationship between investors' sentiments, underlying behavioral drivers and their collective impact on global stock markets.

Drawing upon data spanning from 2012 to 2023 and encompassing major world indices classified by Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) market and regional taxonomy, this study employs a threshold regression model. This model effectively distinguishes the thresholds within these influential factors. To evaluate the statistical significance of variances across these thresholds, a Wald coefficient analysis was applied.

The empirical results highlighted the substantive role that investors' sentiments and behavioral determinants play in shaping the predictability of returns on a global scale. However, their influence on developed economies and the continents of America appears comparatively lower compared with the Asia–Pacific markets. Similarly, the regions characterized by a more pronounced influence of behavioral factors seem to reduce their reliance on these factors in the post-pandemic landscape and vice versa. Interestingly, the post COVID-19 technological advancements also appear to exert a lesser impact on developed nations.

This study pioneers the investigation of these contextual dissimilarities, thereby charting new avenues for subsequent research studies. These insights shed valuable light on the contextualized nexus between technology, societal dynamics, behavioral biases and their collective impact on stock markets. Furthermore, the study's revelations offer a unique vantage point for addressing market inefficiencies by pinpointing the pivotal factors driving such behavioral patterns.

This research aims to conceptualize and validate the mall service design as a multidimensional construct and then test a conceptual framework by investigating the impact of mall service design on customer mall experience and its subsequent outcomes, that is, intention to revisit and desire to stay in mega shopping malls.

The survey data of 455 shopping visitors in Pakistan were collected using a mall intercept technique and tested through structural equation modeling in AMOS.

The study reveals that service design significantly impacts customer experience and subsequent outcomes. Customer mall experience mediates the relationships between mall service design and the intention to revisit and desire to stay at malls.

Data from a collectivist culture country (Pakistan) were collected. To explore the impact of service design on customer mall experience, researchers should conduct similar studies in individualistic societies like Europe and North America. Additionally, the authors recommend assessing the effect of each dimension of service design on customer experience separately.

The research provides policy guidelines for the owners and operators of mega shopping malls in developing experience-oriented retailing strategies based on service design.

The research conceptualizes and validates the mall service design as a multidimensional construct using the service theater model and empirically tests its relationship with the customer mall experience.

The purpose of this study is to present a complete framework that defines the link between choices and decision criteria based on existing research on digital influencers (DIs) connected to consumer purchase intentions. The primary goal of this article is to assess the effect of DIs on customer purchase intentions via the creation of an integrated knowledge-based system (KBS).

The suggested KBS is based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which creates a link between DI elements and their overall effect on consumer purchase intentions.

With the help of a KBS, the performance of DIs may be evaluated. It demonstrates the link between choices connected to factors and decision criteria of various variables, demonstrating the beneficial effect of DIs in molding customer purchase intentions in the organic skincare industry.

The proposed KBS would aid marketing managers and decision makers in assessing the effect of DIs on customer purchase intentions. This research would also give decision makers with extensive information on influencer marketing and crucial elements that have a significant effect on customer purchase intentions.

This is the first research to employ the fuzzy AHP methodology and KBS in relation to influencers' effect. No prior research has targeted the organic skincare industry to assess the effect of Internet influencers on consumer purchase intentions. Furthermore, the KBS offers a holistic and complete way to studying influencers' effect on cost per impression (CPI) by establishing a linkage between choices and decision criteria.

Employees compete for organizational resources as scarcity of resources has always been a critical issue in organizations. Since every employee cannot get equal pay raises, promotions and other incentives, therefore, they start feeling competition in the workplace which may further lead to negative outcomes such as envy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the negative consequences of the competitive psychological climate in the hospitality industry. The authors further intend to familiarize with the envy reducing mechanism.

Drawing on social comparison theory our study intends to explain the role of competitive psychological climate in workplaces. The authors utilized an exploratory qualitative research approach and surveyed through semi-structured interviews of the hospitality professionals working in the star hotels in Pakistan.

The authors’ findings reveal that there is a huge psychological competitive climate in the hotel industry in Pakistan. The psychological competitive climate leads to workplace envy among workers which further results in poor employee performance. The authors further found the role of personality traits in affecting employees' envious feelings.

Despite the fact that this study only examined the star-category hotels in Pakistan and its findings may not be representative of the whole hospitality industry, it offers a clear illustration of the effect that competitive climate can have on individuals in the form of workplace envy.

The authors examined the dark side of the competitive climate in the hospitality industry which was overlooked in the literature. The study highlights key research implications and sets the future agenda for research in the hospitality industry.

This study examines the role of behavioural factors, such as confidence, optimism, pessimism and rational expectation, in affecting investment decisions in the Pakistani stock market.

Using daily trading data of Karachi Stock Exchange-100 index from January 2012 to December 2015, different regression models, including descriptive statistics and stationarity tests, are performed.

Results indicate that stock market trading has suffered from pessimistic behaviour of investors. In the first model, the authors find a positive sign of confidence and negative sign of optimism with the trading volume. The second model shows a positive role of confidence and rational expectations in affecting the trading volume in daily, Monday and Friday samples. The results of the third model show a negative sign of both optimism and rational expectation with the trading volume. Furthermore, the next model shows a negative sign of confidence combined with pessimism while testing their relationship with the trading volume. Finally, results of the final model suggest that optimism negatively affects the trading volume, and on the other hand, pessimism has a positive impact on the trading volume.

The method and empirical testing of behavioural biases and their relationship with economic variable used in this study seem to be a promising way to better understand the role of psychology in deriving financial decisions for academics and policymakers.

This study uses secondary data for measuring behavioural biases and decomposes the effect between rational expectation and behavioural biases.

Najib Mahfuz is the first Arab‐language author to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Born in 1911 the son of a middle‐class Jamaliyah merchant, he became the most popular novelist in Egypt and the Arab countries.

This chapter briefly explores selected English and general education policy documents, curricula, and textbooks within the context of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective and examines how they have changed pre- and post-21st century. First, a policy document related to education in KSA in general (pre-21st century) is analyzed along with an English language teaching (ELT) policy document of the same period. Next, two general policy documents post-21st century are explored, followed by one related to ELT policy. Finally, one post-21st century document related to higher education is discussed. The “network of practices” within which these documents are situated are first detailed, as well as the structural order of the discourse, and some linguistic analysis of the choice of vocabulary and grammatical structures (Meyer, 2001). Issues which might be problematic to the learning and teaching identities of the students and teachers interpreting these documents are also highlighted. Finally, we consider whether the network of practices at this institution and KSA in general “needs” the problems identified in the analysis and critically reflect on the analysis.