M.Phil / MS
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repository.cuilahore.edu.pk/handle/123456789/48
This collection archives the complete set of theses produced by students of the COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus.
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Item Explaining the mediating role of Service Quality and Operational performance between TQM enablers and Organizational Performance of Software Industry; a Managerial Perspective.(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2017) UMAIR SULTAN TIPU; FA13-MSPM-007; Dr Faisal Tahseen Shah; LHR TP 4776The Software industry of Pakistan is enhancing and becoming more focused towards the incorporation of quality attributes and software firms are focused towards inducing the quality programs to survive in highly competitive market (Arumugam & Chang 2009; Chung, Tien , Hsieh , & Tsai 2008). The present study focuses on determining the association between the six Total Quality Management practice elements with the organizational performance, that is the outcome variable of MBNQA framework in Software Industry of Pakistan. Moreover, it deals with determining the mediating role of service quality and organizational performance between the TQM enablers and organizational performance. The present study aims to be significant for the top management of software houses and will theoretically contribute to the knowledge associated with TQM practice and service quality role in Software Industry of Pakistan. The quantitative research methodology using the survey questionnaire is being adopted in present study to collect data from employees and managers through convenience sampling technique with a positivism philosophy. The present research upholds a unique importance of being the only research of its kind exploring the mediating role of service quality and operational performance among TQM enablers and performance of software firms in Pakistan as Sadeh and Garkaz (2014) raised the need to check such mediating roles in TQM and performance relationship. This study is also closely relevant to project management as it is incorporating the concept of MBNQA in TQM to assess project‟s operational and overall performance.Item Impact of Project Governance on Benefits Realization Management and Project Success: Towards a Framework for Supporting Organizational Strategy(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2016) Ata Ul Musawir; FA13-RPM-001; Dr. Imran Ali; LHR TP 4319This thesis aims to shed light on two fields of project management that are rapidly gaining importance: the first is project governance and the second is the emerging concept of Benefits Realization Management (BRM). Both concepts are at the forefront of the fairly recent drive to revisit and re-conceptualize the theory and practice of project management, as evidenced by comprehensive initiatives such as Rethinking Project Management. A key recommendation of said initiative is to shift focus from product creation to value creation. This is fueled by the increasingly large body of evidence that the majority of projects fail to meet success criteria. Adding to the urgency is the increasing pressure from business managers for projects to justify their value contribution to the organization. In this context, project governance and BRM are vital for ensuring that projects deliver expected business benefits and value. In doing so, these concepts help align project outcomes with organizational strategy. This study aims to address an important gap in the literature: the relationships between project governance and BRM, and their effects on project success. These relationships were based on 326 responses from Pakistan’s burgeoning IT & Software sector, which is increasingly becoming vital for the country’s future economic growth as Pakistan transitions from an industrial to service-based economy. The findings of this study indicate that the aspects of project governance included in this study have a positive significant effect on both BRM and Project Success. Also, it is found that BRM mediates the relationship between two aspects of project governance, namely Relational Governance and Governance of Project Management (GoPM), and Project Success. The results supports the overall proposition of this study that strong project governance creates the context in which effective BRM can occur. For the theory of project management, specifically project governance and BRM, this study hopes to contribute much needed empirical evidence to the literature and responds to recent calls for research on BRM. Additionally, this study attempts to adapt a scale for the GoPM concept, which fills an important gap in the existing operationalizations of different aspects of project governance and may prove useful for future academic studies. For the practice of project management, this study hopes to initiate a discussion on how project governance and BRM may be integrated to support the achievement of organizational strategic objectives through projects and programs. Furthermore, this research aims to assess the current levels of, and create awareness of the developments in, project governance and BRM in Pakistan. This should help organizations to not only improve the success rates of their projects but also to extract business value from projects.Item Assessing the Influence of Transformational Leadership on Project Success: Role of Team Building Dimensions(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2018) Hafiz Fakhar Abbas; FA13-MSPm-003; Dr. Faisal Tehseen Shah; LHR TP 4860This study examines the impact of transformational leadership on project success in presence of team building dimensions (goal setting, interpersonal relations, role clarification and problem solving) (as mediators) in construction sector of Pakistan. If manager has the characteristics of transformational leadership can help ensure the success of the project even at a large scale. They actually inspire the followers to perform better and even beyond their expectations to foster healthy relationship. Similarly, a transformational leader may incorporate the team building dimensions in the project teams. With transformational leadership, team building dimensions also becomes the part of the team creation which ultimately impact the performance of the project team. This will help team members even in the absence of the team leader. Data collection was done using questionnaire. These questionnaires were distributed to the project managers in the construction sector of Pakistan. Findings suggest that there exists a significant relationship of transformational leadership and project success. There also exists a significant relationship between team building dimensions (goal setting, role clarification and problem solving except interpersonal relations) and project success. Future research dimensions and recommendations are also presented.Item Assessing the Influence of Transformational Leadership on Project Success: Role of Team Building Dimensions(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2018) Hafiz Fakhar Abbas; FA13-MSPm-003; Dr. Faisal Tehseen Shah; LHR TP 4860This study examines the impact of transformational leadership on project success in presence of team building dimensions (goal setting, interpersonal relations, role clarification and problem solving) (as mediators) in construction sector of Pakistan. If manager has the characteristics of transformational leadership can help ensure the success of the project even at a large scale. They actually inspire the followers to perform better and even beyond their expectations to foster healthy relationship. Similarly, a transformational leader may incorporate the team building dimensions in the project teams. With transformational leadership, team building dimensions also becomes the part of the team creation which ultimately impact the performance of the project team. This will help team members even in the absence of the team leader. Data collection was done using questionnaire. These questionnaires were distributed to the project managers in the construction sector of Pakistan. Findings suggest that there exists a significant relationship of transformational leadership and project success. There also exists a significant relationship between team building dimensions (goal setting, role clarification and problem solving except interpersonal relations) and project success. Future research dimensions and recommendations are also presented.Item The Effect of Psychological Contract Fulfillment and Organizational Justice on Employee Reactions under Moderation by Organizational Trust among the Lady Health Workers of District Gujranwala, Punjab Pakistan(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2015) Sajjad Ahmad; FA13-MSMS-019; Dr. Syed Muhammad Imran Haider Naqvi; LHR TP 4351In this mounting competitive atmosphere, organizations attempt to gain competitive advantage with the assistance of employees’ heartfelt and paramount efforts towards realizing organizational goals. In this regards, justice perceptions and implied expectations of employees play an imperative role in drawing positive reactions of employees at workplace. This research study highlighted the contribution of fulfillment of employees’ promises and justice perceptions in shaping positive employee reactions (ERs). Scant literature shed light on the impact of organizational justice (OJ) and psychological contract fulfillment (PCF) on ERs especially in the health sector. The study aimed to probe the effect of OJ and PCF on different components of ERs among the lady health workers (LHWs) of the district Gujranwala of the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The organizational trust (OT) has also significant role in augmenting ERs. In most studies, OT mediated the relationship among OJ, PCF and different components of ERs. The fundamental contribution and objective of the present study was to investigate the moderating role of OT on the relationship between OJ – ERs and PCF – ERs. The data were collected from the LHWs of four Tehsils of district Gujranwala by using simple random sampling. All the variables were measured by using instruments of numerous past researchers. The questionnaire was translated into Urdu. To check validity and reliability of questionnaire, factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha were used. To test hypotheses i.e. the impact of OJ and PCF on employee engagement (EE), organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), organizational commitment (OC) and work motivation (WM), simple regression analysis method was used. The check the moderation of OT on the relationships of OJ – components of ERs and PCF – components of ERs, Hayes’ (2013) method namely PROCESS was applied. Moreover, the findings depicted that OJ and PCF had positive and significant effect on EE, OCB, OC and WM. The results also demonstrated that OT antagonistically moderated the relationship of OJ with EE, OCB, OC and WM. Similarly, the findings also revealed that OT also antagonistically moderated the relationship of PCF with EE and WM but didn’t moderate the relationship of PCF with OCB and OC. The present study contributed to the literature of PC, OJ, OT and ERs. For government, it provided prodigious guidance such as by fulfilling its promises with employees and by augmenting positive justice judgments develop positive ERs. Self-reported data, sectional and cross analysis established the present study’s limitation. Directions for future research were also deliberated such as future researchers should go for longitudinal research.Item Impact of External Factors on Lending Rate of Microfinance institutions: An Empirical Evidence(Library Information Services COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus, 2015-02-03) Nida Fatima; FA13-MBO-016; Dr. Ahmad Nawaz; LHR TP 4304In microfinance high lending rate has recently become an important topic in ethical debate because of its impact on poor borrowers and lenders. Microfinance institutions are moving towards commercialization in an effort to become sustainable and profit oriented. Lending rate is an essential element in covering up the cost of loans in microfinance so it needs to be set at a rate so that it is desirable and affordable for both the borrowers and lenders. There are certain underlying external factors contributing towards higher lending rate which are many others related to (business environment, financial developments and macroeconomic environment). This paper adds to the debate by providing empirical evidence on the impact of various external factors on lending rate in microfinance by controlling certain variables. A panel data set for a sample of 493 worldwide MFIs from the year 2008-12 has been generated from the MIX market website and the World Bank website. By employing random effect model our findings suggest that business environment, financial developments and macroeconomic environment have a role in driving lending rate in microfinance.”Item Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction of Insurance and Takāful Industry: A Comparative Study of Pakistan(Library Information Services COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus, 2016-02-03) Hassan Jamil; FA13-MSMS-026; Dr. Waheed Akhtar; LHR TP 4373Customer satisfaction is one of the most important antecedent to customer switching intension. Customer satisfaction has become of larger interest to researchers and marketers as a multiphaser concept as well as a useful segmentation of customers with more practical strategies. In Pakistan the majority of customers are Muslims it is therefore, important to identify and understand the factors that are affecting customer satisfaction, so that relationship between the three main constructs of customer satisfaction which are service quality, relationship quality and Shari’ah perceptions needs to be investigate. As customer satisfaction been considered as an important factor of customer switching we have gone further and investigated the partial mediating role of customer satisfaction to customer switching intentions. Moreover, this is a comparative study of conventional insurance and the Takāful industry. The SERVQUAL scale have been used to analyse the core service quality of the insurance and Takāful companies. The customers of major life insurance and family Takāful companies were taken by using convenient sampling method. The data was obtained from the 400 customers of both service providers (200 each). We used regression based approach process plugin developed by Hayes (2013). The results indicate that the service quality has a positive impact on customer satisfaction in life insurance and family Takāful respectively. The relationship quality has positively affecting the customer satisfaction in life insurance and family Takāful industry. The impact of Shari’ah perceptions in life insurance and family Takāful was also found significant. Furthermore, Customer switching intentions are mediated by customer satisfaction. The results of this research have some important implications for the insurance/Takāful practitioners and policymakers and for the market participants. It is essential for Insurance/Takāful operators to provide high standards of service quality and maintain and develop strong long term relationships with the customers in order to increase their satisfaction. For Takāful practitioners there is a need to develop clear understandings about the halal and haram among the customers.Item The Holy Day Effect and Stock Performance: Evidence from Asian and African Markets(Library Information Services COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus, 2016-02-03) IRFAN ALI; FA13-MSMS-024; Dr. Waheed Akhter; LHR TP 4370Religion play an important role in people’s lives but its impact on stock markets is rarely investigated. Past literature of calendar anomalies mostly established on the Gregorian calendar such as day of the week, turn of the year and holiday effects etc. However, Islamic calendar anomalies are hardly investigated in finance literature. To explore this issue, this study examines the impact of Muslim’s Holy Days (Ashura, Eid Melad-un-Nabi (SAW), Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha) on daily stock returns of Asian and African Muslim financial markets for a period of 2001 to 2014. Muslim Holy Days are helpful to isolating the effect of faith and decoupling it from possible contaminants. This study has tried to isolate the impact of Muslim Holy days from Gregorian calendar anomalies. First, we check the impact of Holy days on stock returns of Asian and African markets together, then the impact of stock returns of Asian and African markets separately. We divide our data into two sub groups i.e. on the basis of income and population. On the basis of income, we check the impact of Holy days on stock returns of high income, upper middle income and lower income markets separately. Similarly on the basis of population, the impact of Holy days on stock return of high populated and less populated markets. Pooled fixed/variable effect regression is used to investigate the impact of Muslim Holy days on stock return. Hausman test is used to check, which effect either fixed or random is suitable for our data. The study found that Muslim Holy days are effecting stock returns of under study markets differently. This effect of Muslim Holy days on stock returns is not unidirectional as Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha yield a positive impact on stock return, while Ashoura and Eid Melad-un-Nabi (SAW) are associated with negative one. These findings strengthen our argument that the documented effect is a result of Muslim Holy days, not due to Gregorian calendar anomalies. This study also opposed to traditional financial philosophy (EMH) that distribution of stock return should remain same across all trading days of the year (Fama, 1970, Jaffe, Rozeff & Kinney, 1976 & Westerfield, 1985). Even by isolating and controlling the effect of Muslim Holy days from Gregorian calendar anomalies, the Gregorian calendar effect still exist in all under studies markets. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that investors can formulate investment strategy and select a trading time in order to outperform the market.Item Competency Development and Career Success: Moderated role of Social Networking Sites(Library Information Services COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus, 2015-02-03) Aizza Anwar; FA13-MSMS-001; Dr. Muhammad Amir Rashid; LHR TP 4312Competent human resource contributes significantly to the success and growth of business organization. It parallelly defines growth opportunities for themselves within the organization and outside the organization by associating themselves with social networking sites. It provides them the opportunity to share and discuss the emerging trends and realities, and define possibilities of career development and success. This research accordingly examined the role of integrated approach of competency development and career success through mediation and moderation of employability and social networking sites respectively. The proposed framework was tested by using the data collected from the various branches of three leading banks in Lahore, Pakistan. The response rate of data collected from managerial level employees of bank was 64.25%. For preliminary data analysis different test were run on collected data set using SPSS. To test the proposed model and hypotheses, SEM with AMOS was used. The findings of the study revealed that almost all hypotheses results were in accordance with the theoretical model as competency development and career success were mediated and moderated through perceive employability and social networking sites respectively. However, one hypothesis rejected and results revealed that there social networking sites negatively affected career success of banking employeesItem An Investigation of Business Continuity Management Practices in Services Sectors of Pakistan(Library Information Services COMSATS University Islamabad Lahore Campus, 2015-02-02) Aleena Shuja; FA13-MSMS-003; Dr. Abdus Sattar Abbasi; LHR TP 4476Businesses need to take certain rational steps to sustain long term continuity under turbulent situations. Business Continuity Management (BCM) is a framework whose systematic execution leads to sustained survival and competitive advantage for business. Both internal and external environmental factors influence accomplishment of BCM framework. The study intends to investigate the impact of strategic planning coupled with top management commitment, training and development for developing competencies, work ethic, resource mobilization and political influence on BCM in services sectors including IT companies and banks operating in Lahore, Pakistan. A structured questionnaire based survey was conducted to collect data from managers from 29 services sectors’ companies including banks and IT companies randomly selected. Findings obtained using structural equation modeling, suggest that strategic planning is insignificant for BCM in services sectors i.e. IT companies and banks but plays consequential role under support of top management commitment. Role of top management commitment in services sectorsis important in reinforcing of strategic plans and decisions in term of successful BCM. Trainings in services sectors are significant predictors of BCM when they contribute to fortifying the best skills and capabilities exhibited for BCM, whereas, competencies of managersin services sectors are appropriate and relevant for implementing BCM practices. Competencies do supportively facilitate the outcome of training and development programs in terms of BCM. Work ethic being an important factor for services sectors contributes to their longstanding continuity. Services sectors efficiently mobilize their resources for successfully achieving the ongoing business continuity. Moreover, political influence has undermining role for BCM and significantly undermines the continuity of services sectors