Exploring the Causes of Plagiarism among Post Graduate Research Students- A Phenomenological Case Study Approach

The study aimed to unearth the reasons that influence university students to plagiarize assignments. A phenomenological case study approach was adopted. Sixty-seven participants were selected from the Faculty of Education of a public university, located in Karachi, Pakistan. They took part in semi-structured interviews. The obtained data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings uncovered that most participants lacked a deep understanding of different types of academic plagiarism, and practical skills to evade it. Prevalent sources of information for preparing assignments included websites followed by research papers, e-books, and project reports, without verifying quality. The most common reasons that have influenced research students to plagiarize assignments included weak language and academic writing skills, easy access to online resources, conventional assignments, inadequate digital literacy, short time-frame, and challenge to balance personal, professional, and academic life. In conclusion, plagiarism is a conscious act coupled with indirect pressures scattered by academia. It is recommended to promote the culture of academic honesty among learners. In this regard, courses on preventing plagiarism, digital literacy, academic reading, and research writing should be integrated as a pre-requisite for a postgraduate research degree. It is also proposed to help learners embracing conscious networking skills and ownership of learning. Furthermore, contextual information literacy and plagiarism framework should be introduced.

Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of Workplace Spirituality Scale in Pakistani Context School Teachers

Workplace Spirituality (WS) is recognized as inner state of individuals and an aspect of their working life. This study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of Workplace Spirituality Scale (WPS) developed by Petchsawang and Duchon (2009) in Pakistani context school teachers. The participants for this study were 400 public school teachers. The present study was a quantitative research and cross-sectional survey design was applied. The data were collected personally by researchers and necessary guidelines were shared with the respondents. EFA and CFA were applied to evaluate the psychometric properties of Workplace Spirituality Scale (WPS) in Pakistani context. The results confirm the four factors model (transcendence, mindfulness, compassion and meaningful work) and generalizability of WPS. Furthermore, statistical analysis established adequate reliability and validity of WPS. The modifications in this scale are mentioned, and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Take a Public Speaking Course and Conquer the Fear

The purpose of this research project was to investigate if students today still report a fear of public speaking more often than death and if after completing a public speaking their fears change. Participants in a multi-section public speaking course (N = 374) completed a pre- and post-course survey asking them to select their fears and also complete public speaking anxiety questions. The results showed that pre-course public speaking was chosen more often than death and all other fears except for family tragedy, but after completing the course, the fear of public speaking was no longer selected more than death and was not even among the top five fears students listed. The review of literature also addresses why students should enroll in a basic public speaking course and conquer their fear or anxiety about public speaking while still in college.

Determining Factors of Organizational Learning Capabilities: In the context of educational institutes of third world country Pakistan

The purpose of this quantitative study was to test the dimensions of Organizational learning capability (OLC) and the reliability of the newly develop measurement instrument to capture those dimensions using structural equation modelling. Data was collected using Likert-style survey from teachers (N=150) in the context of public secondary schools (N=15) in the developing country, Pakistan. Methods included statistical equation modeling including gender as moderating variable. This study extends the literature on OLC to the demographic of educational institutes. The results of the analysis revealed the four-factor structure of managerial commitment (MC), systems perspective (SP), openness and experimentation (EX), and knowledge transfer and integration (TR) provides a reliable model of OLC, with a statistically significant correlation between the factors and OLC. The main effect in explaining changes in OLS was demonstrated by EX, with gender showing statistically significant in moderating the relationships of the variables with OLS.

Mediating Role of Fluid Intelligence Between Working Memory and Academic Achievement of University Undergraduates: Does Gender Matter?

The present study examined the mediating role of fluid intelligence between working memory (WM) and academic achievement and tested the invariance of this model across gender in a random sample of university students (N = 560, 228 boys & 332 girls). Heart and Flower task (Diamond, 2013) and Raven’s Standard Progressive MatricesTM Plus (Raven, 1998) were used to operationalize WM and fluid intelligence, respectively. Academic achievement was operationalized through the CGPAs of students. Findings of the path analysis suggested that fluid intelligence mediated between WM and CGPA. Test of the model invariance indicated that fluid intelligence was a stronger predictor of academic achievement for boys as compared to the girls, which suggested that the indirect effect of WM on academic achievement through fluid intelligence was stronger for boys. Significant gender differences were observed as girls’ mean scores on WM and academic achievement were higher than those of the boys.

The Effect of Gender on the Relationship between Critical Thinking and Pattern Recognition: Students’ Perspectives

In this qualitative study, individual interviews were conducted on 11 private school students to seek their opinions about the effect of gender on the relationship between critical thinking and cognitive pattern recognition. The participants, age 16 to 19 inclusive with six males and five females, were students recruited from three private schools in Singapore. All the interviewees have enrolled in the General Certificate of Education (GCE) 'O' level preparatory courses. The interview transcripts were analyzed using Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Miner software. The majority (64%) of the interviewees agreed that gender influence the relationship between critical thinking and pattern recognition. Two primary themes were identified that affect the effect of gender: the internal character traits of a person and society's influences. Two recommendations were to examine the impact of various internal character traits in more detail and to include interviews from school teachers and administrators to obtain more professional insights.

Academic Resilience: The Ultimate Thriving Constituent Toward Persistence in Doctoral Studies

A doctoral degree is perceived as a milestone in one’s expedition of educational advancement; however, studies show that 40% to 60% doctoral candidates do not possess persistence to complete their degree. The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry is to explore the factors that contribute toward increasing the persistence level among the doctoral students. Semi structured in-person interviews of eight participants (four male and four female) selected through snowball sampling were conducted in a university setting. The thematic analysis identified certain motivational factors including career progression, gaining subject command, and the desire to achieve self-actualization. Autonomy, sense of purpose, self-determination, and problem-solving skills were found to be the most effective factors that promote resiliency in the students to help complete their degrees.

The Effect of Mushroom Manager Behavior on Organizational Charlatan and Organizational Loneliness

The mushroom-type manager expects employees not to have much knowledge on organizational issues, but to follow the instructions and directives without question. This study aims to examine the effect of the mushroom-type management approach on the loneliness levels of the employees and organizational charlatan behaviors. Therefore, the research is designed in a relational screening model. The research was carried out in the province of Denizli in Turkey with 464 participants. In the research, the mushroom type management scale, UCLA loneliness scale-3, and organizational charlatan scale were used. Validity and reliability studies of the Turkish mushroom-type management scale for schools have been reconstructed. UCLA loneliness scale-3 and organizational charlatan scale were adapted to Turkish by the researcher. The data were collected with the help of electronic forms. Regression analysis was carried out to determine the extent to which mushroom type management predicted teachers’ organizational loneliness behaviors and teachers' organizational charlatan behaviors. As a result of the research, it has been found that mushroom management positively affects the other two variables. For this reason, school principals can be suggested mushroom management behavior.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Blended Learning: A Quantitative Assessment of Revised Community of Inquiry (RCoI) Framework

This paper presents the Revised Community of Inquiry (RCoI) framework to identify different aspects of learning presence (Learner, Teaching, Social and Cognitive presence) in a blended learning course. RCoI framework emphasizes on the roles of stakeholders in online education. This research tested the impact of RCoI on Students Learning with the moderating role of Technology (Learning Management System). The data was collected from 462 students in different universities in Karachi, Pakistan. Results identified that there is a positive relationship of RCoI and Technology Use (LMS) on Students Learning in a Blended/Hybrid course. Further, there was one moderating role of technology Use (LMS) found in this research. Technology moderates the relationship between Cognitive presence and Students Learning. It shows that technology reduces the cognitive presence of students and reduces their effective learning. They are lesser involved in critical thinking and problem solving as compared to classroom teaching.

Impact of Work Family Conflict on Job and Life Satisfaction for Female Executive MBA Students

Work family conflict is an established phenomenon of modern economies. It becomes more intense for female labour force performing multiple roles in the society. This study was conducted to answer the research questions of impact of Work Family Conflict on Job Satisfaction and affect of job satisfaction on life satisfaction of female executive students who are working as well as studying. Purpose of the study was to identify areas of conflict, for the female students to enhance their qualification as future labour force, and examine the association between Work Family Conflict, Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction. The study worked on three hypotheses. The data was collected from a sample of 200 population of executive MBA students during semester from four business universities in Karachi. Questionnaire also included demographic survey questions information regarding age and marital status. The results of the survey reported negative correlation between work family conflict and job and life satisfaction. Family support, value system of traditional societies like Pakistan and individual interpretation of self-reporting method were the reasons ascertained for the results.