Rana Muhammad Sohail Jafar

Consumers' online information adoption behavior: Motives and antecedents of electronic word of mouth communications

Electronic word of mouth influences the consumer buying behavior through the online exchange of customer opinions and experiences about commodities using social networking sites. Reviews or comments posted on the Internet by consumers and experts are based on their personal experiences and the evaluation and expert analysis of a product. The current study explains an overview of key elements of eWOM communication antecedents, addresses eWOM motives to analyze food products purchasing factors associated with consumer engagement. We found certain factors of eWOM that should be considered in decision making according to the model for information adoption. It revealed that consumers need for social interaction, economic incentives, and self-worth reinforcement are the primary drivers of eWOM involvement. However, argument quality was found to be more appealing then eWOM source credibility for food product purchasing. Practitioners should make their strategies to follow the credibility standards, trustworthy vehicles, perceived values, informative and digital channels for the enhancement of eWOM communications. eWOM communication is an emerging area, further research can be focused on the meta-analysis of relative factors, such as responses, moderators, and credibility to eWOM communication. Electronic word-of-mouth is an online exchange of customer opinions and experiences.The current study addresses eWOM readership from food product purchasing perspective.Self-worth reinforcement is significantly effective compared to other involvements.eWOM factors for information adoption should be considered in decision-making process.

A Comprehensive Evaluation: Water Cycle Algorithm and Its Applications

Recently nature-inspired optimization algorithms have become a popular choice for solving complex optimization problems. Water Cycle Algorithm (WCA) is a nature-inspired new optimization technique, which has successfully applied to solve the constrained optimization and engineering design problems. As a result, the WCA studies have extended significantly in the last 5 years. This review paper provides the comprehensive assessment of WCA in the area of modifications, hybridizations, and applications. Moreover, it will provide the awareness to the researchers how the current algorithm can be modified according to the nature of the problems. The narrative of how WCA was used in the tactics for solving these kinds of problems. Future research directions are also discussed based on the comprehensive conclusion as well as discussion. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review article which has enclosed extensive information about the WCA and its applications.

Supply-side Vs Demand-side Factors Facing Rural Households’ Accessibility to Microcredit in Pakistan

Agreed on the current attractiveness of microcredit schemes as a means of poverty alleviation, their accessibility to the poor households is of obvious concern. This research article examines the factors influencing the accessibility of microcredit by rural households in Pakistan. An empirical analysis utilizes logit model, with empirical data collected through interviewing 600 households, including both non-borrower and borrower households, a survey conducted between January 2017 and March 2017 in Punjab Province of Pakistan. A total of 13 household-level factors are defined as the determinant of households’ access to microcredit, including household size, income, education level and others. Also, the results indicate that the accessibility of rural households to microcredit can also be reduced by the program-related factors (e.g., interest rates and loan processing time). An empirical examination establishes a significant positive relationship between household microcredit demand and access to microcredit. This paper thus concludes that households should be reinvigorated to raise capital requirements (e.g., generate investment opportunities in on/off agricultural activities) to increase their demand for microcredit, which can enhance their access to microcredit. Also, microcredit institutions such as ZTBL (Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited) should expand their loaning schemes and collateral free products to suit the diversified needs of the rural population.