Multiple Skills and Medium Enterprises' Performance in Punjab Pakistan: A Pilot Study
In: The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Special Issue 4, pp: 44-49, 2018
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In: The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Special Issue 4, pp: 44-49, 2018
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This study examines the influence of various factors on the green purchase intentions of Pakistani consumers. To this end, a conceptual model has been proposed and subjected to empirical verification with the use of a survey. The survey results obtained in two major Pakistani cities provide reasonable support for the validity of the proposed model. Specifically, the findings from the correlation matrix, simple regression followed by multiple regression analysis confirm the influence of OGI, EK, EC and PPP&Q on consumers purchase intentions toward green products. The OGI, EK and EC, in turn, also seem to affect consumers green purchase intentions via the moderating role of PPP&Q of a green product. Although the present findings provide a better understanding of the process and significant antecedents of green purchasing intentions, this also highlights one area for more thorough investigation. This is the significant moderating role of PPP&Q variables in consumers' green purchasing process. As the findings suggest that respondents have a high positive attitude regarding green products and are ready to buy green products more often, but as for as the product price and quality are concerned, green products must perform competitively just like the traditional products. This study also discusses how the present findings may help the Pakistani government and green marketers to fine-tune their environmental programs.
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In: Intercultural communication, S. 54-64
ISSN: 1404-1634
This study is an attempt to provide an alternative insight into the nature of foreign language anxiety (FLA) from a cross-cultural perspective. The participants were 122 Arab and 107 Iranian second/foreign language students. The present study used a mixed methods design, i.e. questionnaire and interview, to gain a richer understanding of the participants' FLA. It was found that in addition to experiencing anxiety due to pressures related to teacher feedback, a majority of Arabs also experienced FLA because of their perceptions of their instructors. The results further showed that both groups of participants did not consider attending additional foreign language classes anxiety-provoking. This study also corroborates the findings of the previous work on the negative relationship between FLA and self-concept variables. Finally, this view that FLA is a concern of face in different cultures is supported by the findings of the present study, especially with reference to the Iranians.
In: Intercultural communication, S. 43-62
ISSN: 1404-1634
The study examines the determinants of companies' key skills and strategies to understand better how firms can use their resources to achieve success. This study is, therefore, undertaken for this reason to investigate the connections between possible variables. Specifically, it aims to examine the mediating effect of strategic planning on the relationship between technical skills, managerial skills, entrepreneurial skills, business skills, and performance of the small and medium enterprises in Punjab, Pakistan. Data was collected through self-administrative questionnaires with 265 owners/managers of small and medium enterprises in Punjab, Pakistan. PLS-SEM is used to analyze the data and test the hypothesis. The study's findings suggest a significant relationship between managerial skills, entrepreneurial skills, business skills, and strategic planning. Strategic planning mediates the relationship between managerial skills, entrepreneurial skills, business skills, and firm performance for the mediating effect. However, no empirical support has been found from the mediator on the relationship between technical skills and firm performance. This study provides valuable insights into strategic planning's role in improving the firm's performance to the owners/managers of small and medium enterprises, policymakers, and researchers. SMEs owners/managers should also be encouraged to undertake strategic planning that can encourage them to utilize their resources to improve their performance. Finally, the study concludes with feedback from theory, methodology, consequences, guidelines, limitations, and future research.
In: Intercultural communication, S. 01-13
ISSN: 1404-1634
Employee voice is perceived as an approach with both significant advantages and disadvantages. The current study aims to analyse the behaviours of supervisors when endorsing the ideas of employees who raise promotive voices and consider the employees positively for the development of quality relationships. Specifically, 970 employees were recruited from various small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including manufacturing and electronics companies, in Pakistan for the current study participation. Data collection was conducted in two stages through two sources (supervisors and subordinates) before examining the collected data on the Mplus software for random coefficient regression analyses. Subordinates' promotive voice was significantly and positively correlated to the Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX) quality and creative idea endorsement when supervisors interpreted the voice as driven more by performance enhancement motives instead of impression management motives. The findings suggested that performance enhancement motives and impression management motives would produce contrasting material consequences for subordinates. The present study limitations and future research directions were also discussed.
In: Intercultural communication, S. 31-42
ISSN: 1404-1634
The number of immigrants living in Finland has significantly increased since the 1990s. It can be challenging to live and integrate into a new society. This study explores the challenges immigrants face living and integrating into Finnish society. Drawing on data collected from 103 immigrants living in Finland, this study shows that the challenges immigrants face integrating into Finnish society can be classified into four main categories: (1) language barrier, (2) discrimination in employment opportunities, (3) racism and inequality, and (4) fewer opportunities of integration. Implications and recommendations are briefly considered.
In: Intercultural communication, S. 65-73
ISSN: 1404-1634
This research aims to classify the interpersonal meaning in Joe Biden's victory speech. It is an interesting phenomenon because by revealing the interpersonal meaning, people can be assisted to be successful in communication. The researchers used a qualitative research design to answer the research question and chose content analysis since the results of data analysis were in descriptive phenomena, such as words, clauses, and utterances. The research findings showed that mood elements: found 174 subjects and 176 finites. Meanwhile, residue elements found 120 predicators, 133 complements, 9 mood adjuncts, 71 circumstantial adjuncts, 2 comment adjuncts, and 54 conjunctive adjuncts. In addition, the speech function identified 162 Statements, 4 Questions, and 11 Commands. Thus, it is concluded that Joe Biden tended to use finites, in contrast with comment adjuncts, and Statements, in contrast with questions (only 4 questions were found in his speech). This study also showed that the speaker was greatly assisted by using interpersonal meaning to make a good speech.
In: Intercultural communication, S. 43-53
ISSN: 1404-1634
Cultural words usually pose some challenges to translators, especially when they translate texts into languages which are culturally different. This study investigates the translation of cultural items in The Forty Hadiths by Imam Al-Nawawi. It adopted the qualitative approach for selecting and analyzing the translation of culturally-bound items of the selected Prophet Mohammed's hadiths posted on the Web by Sunnah.com. Moreover, it used Lambert and Van Gorp's (1985) method to examine the translations and Vinay and Darbelnet's translation strategies to identify the procedures selected by the translators to convey the meanings of the cultural contents. The findings indicated that the translators implemented various procedures to convey the cultural meanings of the hadiths. However, whenever confronted with difficult categories, due to the lexical, syntactic and cultural differences between Arabic and English, they were inconsistent in their choices of translation procedures. Furthermore, they did not succeed in rendering the aesthetic features of the Prophet's utterances, an issue that is yet to be addressed by researchers. The present study provides implications which could be useful for translators, especially translators of religious texts.
In: Intercultural communication, S. 1-17
ISSN: 1404-1634
The purpose of this study is to lay its prime focus on the support for creativity that defines the self-analysis of creative capabilities and potential among men and women. Benefitting from the cross-level interactionist perspective, social role theory, and role congruity theory, this research developed an integrated multilevel model to examine gender differences in risk-taking behavior and determine how the contextual factor of support for creativity shapes employees' risk-taking and influences their creativity performance. Data for this study were collected from 347 employees and their respective 98 supervisors of a pharmaceutical company in Jakarta, Indonesia. The proposed cross-level moderated mediation model was tested using data obtained at two points in time from two data sources (subordinates and supervisors) working at a pharmaceutical company. The obtained data were then analyzed with Mplus. Our findings indicate that women may have lower risk-taking than men in organizational contexts. However, support for creativity restores parity between men and women through cross-level moderated mediation, such that support for creativity has a stronger effect on women's risk-taking than that of men, resulting in increased creative performance for women. Research contributions and future research directions are also discussed in the relevant sections.