Sahar Afshan

Acceptance of mobile banking framework in Pakistan

Tasks & technology characteristics are significant to facilitate task technology fit.Initial trust is facilitated by structural assurance & familiarity with bank.Intention is affected by task technology fit, initial trust & facilitating condition. PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the untapped (behavioral, environmental and technological) dimensions of mobile banking acceptance by following a more comprehensive approach to address mobile banking intention adoption. Design/methodology/approachCFA and SEM analyses have been used to analyze the data collected from university students. The study strives to examine the role of technological and environmental variables in predicting behavioral intention of individuals to adopt mobile banking by integrating three pre-established frameworks of UTAUT, TTF and ITM. FindingsThe empirical findings established the significant contribution of task (TAC) and technology characteristics (TEC) in facilitating task technology fit (TTF). Initial trust is also found to be facilitated by structural assurance (SA) and familiarity with bank (FB). The statistical results also support the significant association of task technology fit (TTF), initial trust (IT) and facilitating condition (FC) with intention to adopt m-banking. Originality/valueThe present study provides an all-inclusive approach to understand the acceptance of mobile banking by incorporating three established theories of technology acceptance. The existing literature on mobile banking emphasizes greatly on the perception aspects of technology and hardly studies the impact of the task technology fit. The strength of present research lies in combining behavioral, technological and environmental aspects of mobile banking. This is evidenced by high explanatory power of our research model that depicted 60.1% of the behavioral intention to adopt m-banking compared to 31% by Kim et al. (2009) and 53% by Oliveira et al. (2014).

Is stock market sensitive to foreign capital inflows and economic growth?: Evidence from Pakistan

This study investigates the impact of foreign capital inflows and economic growth on stock market capitalization in Pakistan by using the annual time series data from the period of 1976 to 2011. The ARDL bound testing cointegration approach confirms the valid long run relationship between considered variables. Results indicate that foreign direct investment, workers’ remittances and economic growth have significant positive relationship with the stock market capitalization in long run as well as in short run. Results of dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) suggest that the initial results of long run coefficients are robust. Results of variance decomposition test show the bidirectional causal relationship of foreign direct investment and economic growth with stock market capitalization. However, unidirectional causal relationship is found in between workers’ remittances and stock market capitalization. It is suggested that in Pakistan, investor can make their investment decisions through keep an eye on the direction of the considered foreign capital inflows and economic growth.

Does democracy embolden economic growth in Pakistan? Evidence from ARDL bound testing and rolling window analysis

This study investigates the relationship between democracy and economic growth in Pakistan by using the annual time series data from the period 1972 to 2013. The ARDL bound testing cointegration approach, Johansen and Juselius cointegration approach and Gregory and Hansen structural break cointegration approach confirm the valid long-run relationship between democracy and economic growth. Results suggested that democracy, labour force and gross fixed capital formation have positive and significant impact on economic growth in both long run and short run. Results of generalised forecast error variance decomposition method under vector autoregressive (VAR) system suggested unidirectional causal relationship between democracy and economic growth in Pakistan. The present study may guide policymakers in formulating conclusive monetary and fiscal policies to increase economic growth in Pakistan and also get sustainable economic growth for long span of time.

Does Military Spending Impede Income Inequality? A Comparative Study of Pakistan and India:

There are few empirical models that analyse the interactive relationship between defence spending and income inequality in economic theories (Meng, Lucyshyn, & Li, 2013). This proposition is addressed in the present study with sound statistical investigation by utilizing annual time series data from 1980 to 2014. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing cointegration approach, Johansen and Juselius cointegration approach and Gregory and Hansen structural break cointegration approach altogether confirm the valid long-run relationship between military expenditure and income inequality in both countries. Results of long-run analysis also indicate the positive significant effect of military expenditure on income inequality in both India and Pakistan. A bidirectional causal relationship between military spending and income inequality is found from the variance decomposition method in case of India. However, for Pakistan, there exists a unidirectional causality of military expenditure with income inequality. The direction of this causal relationship is run from excessive military spending leading to higher income inequality in the country. Lastly, the results of rolling window analysis established that the coefficient of military expenditure remained positive for last 16 years, that is, from 1999 in both countries. The result endorsed that military spending is an essential factor of income inequality and, thus, the policymaker should focus on this option to regulate income inequality in Pakistan and India. Furthermore, policymakers should also emphasize on categorizing their budget expenditures on more social and developing welfare expenditure as an alternative to improve the standards of living and reduce the income inequality in Pakistan and India.

Determinants of Exchange Rate in Pakistan: Revisited with Structural Break Testing

This study examines the determinants of exchange rate in Pakistan by using the time-series data from 1972 to 2013. The results of the autoregressive distributed lag bound testing co-integration approach, the Johansen and Juselius co-integration approach and the Gregory and Hansen structural break co-integration approach confirm the significant long-run relationship between a few considered variables. The estimations of the long run indicate a significant negative association of exchange rates with terms of trade, trade openness and economic growth. However, money supply and inflation rate have a positive and significant effect on exchange rates. The outcomes of the error correction model suggest the negative and significant relationship of the terms of trade and trade openness on exchange rates of Pakistan in the short run. However, all other variables are found insignificant in the short run. The Granger causality test confirms the presence of a bidirectional causal relationship of the exchange rate with economics growth and trade openness in Pakistan. However, the inflation, money supply and terms of trade possess the unidirectional causality which runs from the explanatory variable to the exchange rate of the country. The present study may guide policymakers in formulating conclusive monetary and fiscal policies to ascertain the less volatile and productive exchange rate for Pakistan to attain sustainable economic growth for a long span of time.

Impact of tourism on CO2 emission: evidence from Pakistan

ABSTRACT This study investigates the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission–tourist arrival–growth in Pakistan by taking time series data from the period of 1972 to 2013. The study applied three approaches of co-integration (autoregressive distributed lag bounds test, Johansen and Juselius and Gregory and Hansen structural break test) to confirm the valid long-run positive interaction between CO2 emission and tourist arrivals. The robustness of cointegrating vectors is further checked using fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic ordinary least square tests and results validate the long-run coefficients. The results of variance decomposition method exhibit the uni-directional causality between CO2 emission and tourist arrivals running from tourist arrival to CO2 emission. It was therefore noted that policies which moderate the influence of tourism development to emission are necessary for reducing the harmful effect of tourist activities and also to increase the impact of tourism upon the economic growth. The study may guide policy-makers in formulating categorical energy and tourism development policies for sustainable growth for long periods.