Capital structure of a business refers to its sources of finance. The value of a company is independent of its capital structure and the cost of equity for a leveraged firm is equal to the cost of equity for an unleveraged firm (Miller and Modigliani, 1961). All this prevails if there is no transaction or bankruptcy cost and there is perfect information. The pecking order theory of Myers (1984) ranks internal sources such as debt and equity which paves the way for expansion of the concept of capital structure. Many of the previous studies reveal rising debts to have positive effect on the growth of economic activities of the business. On account of rising growth the business is likely to be overvalued; the benefits of which are accrued to the management. When the management is after these benefits, this creates agency costs. Agency costs provide relevance of capital structure. Unless free cash flow is given back to investors, management has an incentive to destroy firm value through empire building and perks. Increasing leverage imposes financial discipline on management. The studies of Black (1976), Allen and Michaely (2003) and Baker (1999) provide room and gap to explore link of agency cost, capital structure and dividends. This study is an academic contribution to fill the gap. This study investigates significance of agency costs in relationship of capital structure and dividend policy of Pakistani nonfinancial sector. Type and size of the industries, performance of business enterprises possess significance in capital structure. Industry-specific qualitative variables, market capitalization, performance indicators, risk factors are also included in the model. Finding interactive effects of the agency costs, capital structure and dividend policies are an important contribution of the present study. The study finds significance of agency costs which determines dividend policy at variable proportion. Certain leading theories helped in providing the scope of this study. ‘Dividend Puzzle’ of Black (1976); growth prospects of the industry, earnings of the firm, and dividend policy of Lintner (1956); capital structure irrelevance of Miller and Modigliani (1961); dividend policy perspective of Brealey and Myers (1991) & Brigham and Gapenski (1991); significance of agency costs for the determination of dividends (Lloyd, et al., 1985; Alli, Khan, & Ramirez, 1993; Dempsey, Laber, & Rozeff, 1993) are a few to mention. Objectives of the study include understanding of the environment and features of Pakistani business enterprises; dividend policies of the listed companies of nonfinancial sector of Pakistan; understanding significance of agency cost using nonlinear and interactive approach; bringing together various advanced econometric methods as measuring source of relationship of variables; exploring empirical effects of three different sizes and nine different types of industries on the dividend policy; investigating homogeneity/heterogeneity of management style of the Pakistani business enterprises. The present study employs qualitative response variable models and the panel data models using the variable modeling technique consulting Amemiya (1981); Daniel & Yu, (2000); Gujarati & Sangeetha (2007) and Greene (2005). Findings of the study reveal interesting results. Pakistani management is relatively efficient in meeting regulatory requirements as compared to other countries of the South Asian region. The highest degree of bureaucratic culture in tax department is observed in Pakistan. The highest degree of problem is in the sectors related to the utilities which make very important component of infrastructure. Descriptive statistics reveal inconsistent overall performance of nonfinancial sector of Pakistan and that 2004, 2005 and 2006 are the years of better performance of Pakistani business enterprises. However, there is no significant difference of the level of uncertainty across the Pakistani industries. The results also show increasing probability of paying dividend with market capitalization, sales growth and ROA of companies; increasing impact of debt-equity ratio xiv(agency cost) on the probability of paying dividend and that leverage compels managers to act more in the interests of shareholders. Liquidity has the least relevance with the dividend policy of the Pakistani nonfinancial sector. There are significant chances of receiving dividends from engineering, paper, transport and communication industries. There are fewer chances of receiving dividends from cement, chemical, fuel, and energy. There are significant chances of receiving dividends from sugar and textile industries, though less than that of miscellaneous group. Findings of the estimated models show significance of industry-specific qualitative variables in the determination of dividend policy and performance of the business enterprises. An agency cost significantly raises the probability of paying dividends. Significance of the risk factor is not so high in the determination of dividend policy and performance of the corporate sector of Pakistan. Performance (ROA; sales growth) raises the probability of paying dividends. Medium and large companies look more inclined towards payment of dividends. Structural interaction of size and the leverage has no significance in this study. Negative interactive effect of the agency cost on the dividend policy of cement, sugar and textile show overvaluation as per Pecking Order theory. Identical findings are observed for ROA and ROE in respect of dividend policy. However, risk-related ROE has statistically insignificant role in dividend policy. Significant performance of Cement, Engineering, Sugar, Textile, Fuel & Energy, Paper & Board, Transport & Communication, in the Pakistani NFS has been found in the this study. The better business operations in the form of cash flows may be considered as source of better performance in terms of their profit efficiency. The performance of small firms in the industry is better in terms of profit margins as compared to medium and large firms on account of management efficiency. Finding interactive effects of the agency costs, capital structure and dividend policies are an important contribution of the present study. The study finds significance of agency costs which determines dividend policy at variable proportion. Application of nonlinear methods is another contribution of the study. The management must be careful while deciding about leverage. This study also considers dividend policy instead of dividend payout which remains controversial in Pakistani context. Leverage as control variable has potential to resolve ‘dividend puzzle’. Variable Proportional relationship of agency cost and dividend policy is an academic contribution of the study. The study also provides guidance for the investors as to the choice of industries for the purpose of investment. The study recommends application of Almon Distributed lag models if quarterly data for the Pakistani businesses were available. Dynamic Panel data models could be another option for the further studies. Behavioral financial analysis through survey data can be another option of future research. Testing of the assumptions of market perfection in the framework of M-M model is desired. The future research can be extended to South Asia, as a comparative study. ‘Dividend Puzzle’ can be resolved by optimal utilization of leverage because there is variable proportional relationship of leverage and dividend policy. ‘Agency Cost’ does have significance through interactive relationship of other capital structure, performance, size and types of industries. The study augments to the worth mentioning contribution of Michel (1979); Baker et al. (1985); Dempsey et al. (1993); Pandey (2003); Black (1976); Baker (1999) who missed the interactive effects.
In Western, countries there is a great fear of Islam and Muslims leading to a great hatred which in turn makes them think that Islam is a religion of violence that it allows the massive killing of people. After the incident of 9/11, Islamophobia has taken another turn. In this regard, it is the utmost duty of every Muslim to find the solution to this problem collectively as well as individually. It is therefore necessary, to think of a solution which favors the teachings of Islam without harming the humanity. It is a pressing need of the day that the true picture of Islam be brought forth through practice upon Shariah. We as muslims should play our role in changing the perception of our religion as the religion of ‘peace’ and preserver of humanity.
The lack of capable faculty members in academic institutions is the greatest problem in developing economies because of its inevitable influence on the efficiency and effectiveness of quality education and education system itself. Recruitment of sound faculty members is a deep rooted problem in job satisfaction. This research analyses and identifies the significant components influencing the job satisfaction among teachers serving at,academic institutions in Balochistan at school, college and university level. These determinants influence to leave the institution, turnover or switch academic institute. Constructing job satisfaction indices and classifying teachers into satisfied and dissatisfied clusters, exploring association between job satisfactions of teachers’ among different disciplines are key dimensions of this research. In previous literature job satisfaction is proved to be related to leaving intention and organisational turnover. The population size was 59713 teachers, according to Pakistan Education Statistics 2014-15 and sample of size 1048 was determined by Cochran formula. Sample was then distributed into different wards using multistage sampling technique. At first stage the cluster-sampling technique was adopted, then sample was distributed into schools, colleges and universities. At second stage, samples were then distributed in different ward for these clusters. At third stage, convenient sampling was applied. A sample of 1048 teachers from 25 districts of Balochistan was collected. Among them 576 teachers were serving in schools, 314 teachers were serving in colleges and 158 teachers were serving in universities of Balochistan. Using the SPSS software, the collected data was found reliable with Cronbach alpha. The data was then subjected to Principal Component Analysis, Chi-square, Cluster Analysis, Logistic Regression, Stepwise Regression, Multivariate Analysis (MANOVA) and Hierarchical Regression Analysis. It was found that teachers’ age, qualification, marital status, salary, experience, nature of job, sector of job and type of academic institution played a significant role in job satisfaction level of the teachers. Using Principal Component Analysis the average Job satisfaction index of faculty members of Balochistan was found 55.38 and majority of teachers in Balochistan (64%) were found satisfied with their jobs, whereas 36% teachers in Balochistan were dissatisfied with their jobs. Using the logistic regression, it is predicted that probability of teachers being satisfied with their job is 0.8265. Current study identifies that pay and monetary benefits, working environment, learning opportunities (professional skills), awareness of responsibilities, independence, policies and regulations of academic institute and passion towards growth are main factors for job satisfaction. Hope, happiness and job satisfaction among teachers might be increased by bringing these factors under consideration by policy makers for an improvement in both qualities of teaching and quality of education. Also, additional research is required to highlight relatively important factors among all predictors of job satisfaction. This research also provides a robust model and quantities review based on demographic characteristics and family background of teachers for determining job satisfaction of teachers that was lacking in previous research studies for development of intervention to improve teachers retention. The findings of the current study indicated no gender difference among the classification of academic institute teachers on pay and benefits; and growth and passions factors of job satisfaction. Male teachers were more concerned to increase the job satisfaction factors (pay and benefits, working environment and learning opportunities in job responsibilities) than the female teachers. University teachers were more disturbed concerning the job satisfaction factors (pay and benefits, and policies, rules and regulations) than the college and school teachers. Motivation, sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of teachers in Balochistan were statistically significant. A satisfied teacher leads to positive and productive behaviour. Teachers’ gender does not moderate the relationship between satisfaction and motivation, sense of accomplishment, positive productive behaviour at educational institutes in Balochistan. Furthermore, the current study indicated that job satisfaction was significantly related to the supervision. There was a positive relationship between the reward, recognition and job satisfaction. Motivation and job satisfaction have also been found to be associated with each other. The intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were strong predictors for job satisfaction In the light of current research and results, an agenda for future research on job satisfaction is provided. An intervention for teachers training program and observation study is suggested to manage symptoms of stress and practice mindfulness meditation. Furthermore, it is suggested by establishing the agencies and organisations that are dedicated to formulate a finest evaluation system will help in improving teachers’ capabilities.