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The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of Higher Education Commission (HEC) National Digital Library among research students in different universities of Pakistan.

The study framework was based on technology acceptance model (TAM). A sample of Pakistani university students completed the questionnaire measuring the effects of extraneous stimuli through cognitive responses on adoption of the HEC digital library. To test the research hypotheses, multiple regression analysis was used.

The findings revealed that: cognitive responses predicted students’ intention of using HEC digital library; extraneous variables significantly influenced cognitive responses; system characteristics directly influenced usefulness and ease of use; interface characteristics directly influenced cognitive responses; and individual differences significantly affected the ease of use. Similarly, system quality was identified with the highest direct effect on usefulness, whereas navigation had the highest influence on easy use of the HEC digital library of Pakistan. In addition, usefulness was explored with the highest effect on intention to use the HEC digital library of Pakistan. The findings revealed that individual behaviours influence the use of digital libraries which imply that acceptance of an information system (IS) involve cognitive idiosyncrasies. Findings of the study are useful for Pakistani academic librarians to enhance adoption and usability of the HEC digital library of Pakistan. The study extended cross-cultural validation of TAM and explored how that Pakistani university students utilize HEC digital library.

These findings have significant implications for librarians in developing countries, such as to evaluate usability of digital libraries from individuals’ perspective, create awareness, customize users’ interface and train students in navigational techniques. It may also facilitate librarians to improve their current levels of library assistance and emphasize the usefulness of digital libraries towards academic excellence. The findings equally suggest that individual behaviours influence the use of digital libraries because acceptance of an information system involves cognitive idiosyncrasies. This study explored all possible links between the study constructs and emphasized that findings are useful to enhance the adoption and usability of digital library in the developing countries.

This study is the first attempt that empirically assessed the adoption of digital libraries in terms of Pakistani research students. The study validated TAM in the context of Pakistani university librarianship that extended the cross-cultural validation of TAM. Furthermore, the study focused on real constructs instead of dummy variables and predicted significant effects on acceptance and rejection of digital libraries.

This study aims to investigate the annual financial management of university libraries in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, and its relationship with Higher Education Commission (HEC) grants to examine libraries’ share.

Using survey methods, this study explores the annual budget allocation of well-established university libraries in the province of KPK in the past five years and its relationship with HEC grants to determine libraries’ shares. The survey followed a qualitative design based on an interview technique of data collection. The scope of this study covers all those public sector universities which are chartered by the Government of KPK, recognized by HEC, and eligible for HEC grants on annual basis. Based on this formulation, 15 public sector universities were selected for the survey.

The data analysis of the present study revealed that no specific norms are followed by the university administrations in allocating funds for libraries out of HEC annual grants. University libraries in the province either do not have funding polices or are administered by the concerned establishments where Library and Information Science professionals have no role in the financial management of libraries. The study also found that university administrations in KPK either do not provide sufficient share to libraries out of HEC grants or specify an inadequate share which is in violation of the clear instructions of HEC ordinance 2002, Section 10(h).

This study is the first of its kind in Pakistan as it provides an insight into how much budget is allocated for collection development in the university libraries, compares it with HEC grants to calculate libraries’ share in percentage and suggests to the HEC to encourage university administration to allocate sufficient budget for libraries to improve collection development, service provision, acquisition, selection and patronage.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of HEC digital library resources and services in the public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan on the basis of research scholars' satisfaction and its impact on their research progress.

A descriptive survey research method was adopted in order to achieve the objectives of this study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to solicit data from both genders. Research scholars of MS/MPhil and PhD from 14 public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were selected as sampled for this study. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data and a five-point Likert scale was used to know the purpose and the satisfaction level of respondents with digital library resources. The impact of digital library on research and problems faced by them while using these resources was also measured by using a five-point Likert scale.

The results of this study indicate that near to one-fourth of the respondents used digital library resources two to three times a week for article writing and thesis or dissertation purposes. The study concluded that digital library provides effective resources and services to research scholars and also found a significant impact on their research progress at these universities. However, research scholars were not satisfied with the support of library professionals regarding the use of digital library resources. The study has identified several problems encountered by respondents in the use of digital library resources and services.

The findings of this study and their implications will be helpful for HEC authorities, universities libraries administrators, decision and policy makers and LIS professionals both in Pakistan and in other places. They should benefit from considering the experience of research scholars with digital library resources. This experience can help future subscriptions, training and use of these resources to maximize research scholars' success and achievement in their research activities.

The study is the first of its kind and an important source for knowing the effectiveness of digital library resources on research scholars' progress at Pakistani universities.

As the revolution of information takes place, industrialized societies are going to become information societies. Developing countries such as Pakistan are going to change due to technology and, in turn, transform the whole structure of libraries. The concept of digital libraries (DL) has emerged due to technological advancements. This study aims to highlight the factors that encourage and discourage the use of the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) National Digital Library (NDL).

A quantitative research approach was selected for the investigation, while the data collection instrument was a questionnaire. Postgraduate research students were the population of the study. A convenient sampling technique was used for sample selection.

The results of the study indicated that the use of HEC (NDL) was frequent monthly. The display of search results, 24/7 access, the authenticity of items, availability of navigational assistance and up-to-date information encourage researchers to use DL. However, their preference for print material over electronic material, slow downloading speed of the internet and non-availability of older and archival publications were the common reasons for the low use of DL. Furthermore, there are significant differences in terms of using the NDL based on gender, the program of study and the stage of the study.

This study will contribute significantly to the literature from the developing countries and would also helpful for HEC (NDL) authorities and university libraries to design information services.

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of taking out government‐funded student loans for university study in Australia.

The paper uses an ordered probit model to quantify the influence of the various factors which affect students' decisions on funding their tertiary study using student loans or through other means.

The study finds that the probability of taking out student loans for the full cost of university is largely influenced by students' socioeconomic status. Other major influences on this decision include students' demographic and university enrolment characteristics.

A limitation of the work is that only a neighbourhood (rather than an individual‐level) measure of socioeconomic status was available, and future research should seek to address this.

The research shows that the parameters of loan schemes do not seem to be able to over‐ride the influence that family background has on loan taking behaviour. That is, poor students use loans regardless of the parameters of the loans scheme in order to overcome short‐term credit constraints. In other words, these student loan schemes channel funds to those without other means of funding their higher education.

By showing the impact that income contingent provisions have on loan taking behaviour, the paper informs policy makers of potential impacts from modifying loans schemes to reflect this characteristic.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate two issues: understanding how Chinese equipment manufacturing firms can achieve successful independent innovation; and studying the roles of technology management (TM) and technological capability (TC) in independent innovation. The paper will develop a new model for independent innovation for China's equipment manufacturing firms.

The paper reviews literature related to independent innovation models, then develops a theoretical framework combining and integrating research from different fields. First, it examines how indexes of independent innovation are defined from the perspectives of technology, patents, standard, R&D and the market. Second, technology management and technological capability are interpreted. Third, relationships among TM, TC, and independent innovation are theoretically analyzed and discussed. Based on these, the paper conducts an in‐depth case study of Harbin Electric Corporation to explain how independent innovation is achieved from perspectives of TM and TC. Finally, the paper constructs and discusses the double helix model of TC and TM for independent innovation.

The paper finds that: technology management and technological capability both exert important influences on successful independent innovation; the improvement of TC follows cyclical steps of acquisition, assimilation and improvement, and TM is promoted by reforming and updating strategy management, organization management, regulation management and resource‐quality management; TM and TC have interactive effects; and TM and TC are coupled in the form of a double helix to realize independent innovation.

The paper provides new aspects of technology management, technological capability and their interaction to deconstruct independent innovation. The paper also offers insights in presenting a detailed case study of on‐the‐ground innovation and upgrading in China.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight opportunities for the banking sector arising from the population’s aging and the expected reduction in pension incomes. Home equity conversion (HEC) instruments are a potentially useful way of restoring households’ finances and satisfying their needs, with implications for the demand for financial services.

By using an ordered probit regression model, the paper analyzes data obtained from a survey of 2,000 Italian households.

The main finding of this paper is that individuals with greater familiarity with consumer credit, a cognitive and decision-making approach favorable to use of credit, and an internal locus of control show greater interest in various forms of equity conversion.

This paper extends the analysis of the determinants of individuals’ interest in HEC products. It focuses more closely than the existing literature on households’ credit behaviors, attitudes toward credit and locus of control. The paper helps identify the potential targets of marketing campaigns and commercial proposals, and highlights the levers that the banks can focus on in communicating with customers and future prospects. Moreover, this paper suggests that there is a need to develop greater awareness on the part of people who could be interested in these products. Therefore, appropriate financial education projects should be implemented to develop a better “credit” culture, with due appreciation of the usefulness of credit as a means of supporting household budgets.

This study aims to explore the evidence-based usage patterns of higher education commission (HEC) subscribed e-journal databases in the university digital library used by the scholarly community and the academics’ online searching behaviour at a higher education institution in Pakistan.

The study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach. Raw transaction log data were collected for quantitative analysis, and the interview technique was used for qualitative data collection and thematic analysis.

Log analysis revealed that HEC subscribed databases were used significantly, and among those, scholarly databases covering various subjects were more frequently used than subject-specific society-based databases. Furthermore, the users frequently accessed the needed e-journal articles through search engines like Google and Google Scholar, considering them sources of free material instead of the HEC subscribed databases.

It provides practical implications for examining the evidence-based use patterns of e-journal databases. It suggests the need for improving the access management of HEC databases, keeping in view the usage statistics and the demands of the scholars. The study may also help create market venues for the publishers of scholarly databases by offering attractive and economical packages for researchers of various disciplines in developing and underdeveloped countries. The study results also guide the information professionals to arrange orientation and information literacy programs to improve the searching behaviour of their less frequent users and enhance the utilization of these subscribed databases.

The study is part of a PhD project and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first such work in the context of a developing country like Pakistan.

The purpose of this study is to examine the evidence-based use patterns of Higher Education Commission (HEC) subscribed e-books databases by the academic community at institutions of higher education in Pakistan. The study also investigates the differences in usage based on points of access, scholarly disciplines and gender of users.

A transaction log analysis (TLA) method was used to explore the use patterns of HEC e-books databases at the University of the Punjab, utilizing the SAWMILL analytical software and MS Excel.

The results of the study showed that the use of e-books was at a growing stage at the university. Male boarding students of the university were more active users of e-books as compared to their female counterparts. The Central Library of the University of the Punjab, the Department of Zoology and the Institute of Communication Studies were the most frequently used access points for the e-book users, and the Faculties of Sciences, Life Sciences, Economics and Management Sciences had the most active e-book readers. Furthermore, it was found that the HEC e-books databases were only being used during the four months of summer vacations at the university.

The study provides only descriptive use frequencies rather than a deep log analysis of e-books usage.

This research provides important practical implications for examining the evidence-based use patterns of e-books databases' users at the higher educational level. The research suggests that HEC should maintain subscriptions of the most required e-books databases and that the information professionals should conduct orientations and information literacy programs to enhance the utilization of these subscribed databases among female boarder students and those faculties where they were being used less frequently.

The study is the second part of the first phase of a Ph.D. project. This is the first large scale study conducted in a developing country which reports the close to actual, approximate use patterns of e-books based on raw transaction logs of local cache servers at the higher academic level.

Digital libraries promote and accelerate scientific research in academic institutions. The subscribed database resources of digital libraries have become an increasingly valuable asset for researchers. Database resources help generate new ideas, determine research directions and promote productive academic interaction between teachers and students in the information age. The purpose of this study is to examine the use of electronic resources by students in various databases, the research productivity of the faculty in the science network and the number of students who graduate each year.

This study uses a quantitative method to collect secondary data from the central database of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for the population of 26 universities for 2 years (2015–2016). In addition to the HEC digital library, data was also collected from the Web of Science to determine the quality academic performance of faculty and researchers. Moreover, in the study, the total strength of teaching staff and doctoral faculty was extracted from the HEC website for investigation. The authors applied the Spearman’s correlation test to the secondary data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.

The correlation results of the enrolled students and the downloaded papers from various databases were statistically insignificant (p > 0.05). However, the result showed a positive correlation (p < 0.05) between the use of selected/known databases from a number of databases accessed by the HEC. More importantly, it turns out that the faculty’s productivity in the scientific network and the number of students who graduated from public and private universities are found to be insignificant (p > 0.05). However, the authors found a positive correlation (p < 0.05) between doctoral and non-doctoral faculties, which show that a significant number of non-doctoral faculties are still actively involved in teaching and research.

Research based on academic activities by faculties and students, performed for the first time on the basis of secondary data, will help the HEC and university management to determine the right direction and develop plans to improve academic performance and research quality.