YU -AlKhobar

Dr. Rana M. Sohail Jafar

Assistant Professor of Management

Biography:

Dr. Rana Muhammad Sohail Jafar, Ph.D., is a distinguished academic and researcher specializing in Management and Information Systems. Currently, he serves as an Assistant Professor at the College of Business, Al Yamamah University, Saudi Arabia. His research delves into emerging technologies, continually advancing knowledge in areas like the Metaverse, mobile technology, information systems, social media, and eCommerce.

Dr. Rana has held notable postdoctoral positions at the School of Business Administration, Guangzhou University, China, and UCSI Graduate Business School, UCSI University, Malaysia, a top 250 university in the QS rankings. Prior to these roles, he was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, PMAS-University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Dr. Rana earned his Ph.D. in Management Science & Economic Decisions from Shenzhen University, China, in 2020. With over 30 research papers published in international refereed journals and conferences indexed by the Web of Science (SSCI/SCI/IE/CPCI), his work is well-regarded within the academic community. His research contributions have earned him a Google Scholar H-index of 10 and over 1100 citations, reflecting the impact of his scholarship.

In addition to his research, Dr. Rana is an editorial board member of the journal Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies (Wiley) and Heliyon Business and Management, indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and rated Q1 with a notable impact factor. His role reflects his ongoing commitment to advancing research in technology and human behavior.

Prior to his academic career, Dr. Rana worked as a Senior IT Executive at PTCL (Pvt. Ltd.), Pakistan’s largest telecommunications company, gaining valuable industry experience that complements his research. Known for his versatility, Dr. Rana’s transition from industry to academia underscores his dedication to producing impactful research with real-world applications.

Research Platforms IDs

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9260-5581

Web of Science (WOS-ID): AAE-1874-2021,

Research Gate (RG): https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rana-Jafar

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=N0nWSzQAAAAJ

Awards and Honors:

  • 2024 The Guangzhou Municipal Government Postdoctoral Research Grant of 200,000 RMB
  • 2020 Award for 1st international PhD graduate at college of management, Shenzhen University
  • 2020 Award for 1st international PhD who successfully obtained degree with minimum time at Shenzhen University
  • 2019 Best Research Paper award at annual China Higher Education Conference
  • 2018-2019 48000 RMB Shenzhen Universiade International Scholarship, Municipal Government, Shenzhen
  • 2017-2020 Full Bright PhD Scholarship Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, P.R China
  • 2014-2017 Full Bright MPhil Scholarship Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University Fuzhou-China
  • 2019 Champion of inter colleges Badminton tournament SZU.
  • 2011 1st position in inter universities Drama competition.
  • 2010 1st position in inter universities debate competition.

Publications:

Published Journals Articles (selected publications)

  1. Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Dan-Andrei Sitar-Taut, (2024), Breaking into the Black Box of Consumers’ Perceptions on Metaverse Commerce: An Integrated Model of UTAUT 2 and Dual-factor Theory, Asia Pacific Management Review (in press), SSCI, IF 5.5-/Q1, ABDC/A
  2. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Zhu, Jianhua, Crabbe, M. James C., Gabriel Yue, Xiao-Guang, Yang, Yuqing, (2024) Unlocking the Power of Metaverse Technology in Tourism: Enhancing Experiences and Perceptions about Tourism Destinations, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, Accepted (in Press), SSCI, IF 5.0-/Q1, ABDC/A.
  3. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Ahmad, Wasim, & Chen Yi (2024). Metaverse in Human Behavior: The Role of Telepresence and Flow Experience on Consumers’ Shopping Behavior in the Metaverse. Sage Open, Accepted (in Press), SCI, IF 2.0-/Q1, ABDC/C.
  4. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Ahmad, Wasim., & Sun, Yanming (2023). Unfolding the impacts of metaverse aspects on telepresence, product knowledge, and purchase intentions in the metaverse stores. Technology in Society, 74(3) SSCI, IF 10.2/Q1, ABDC/A.
  5. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Ahmad, Wasim. (2024), Tourist Loyalty in the Metaverse: The Role of Immersive Tourism Experience and Cognitive Perceptions, Tourism Review, 79(2), 321-336, IF 7.8/Q1, ABDC/A.
  6. Sohail Ahmad, Qingyu Zhang, Muhammad Ali Hussain, Zaheer Ahmad, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Muhammad Irfan Shakir (2024), Insights from the COVID-19 perspective on the necessity of corporate social responsibility in times of crisis in the context of Pakistan, PLOS ONE, Accepted (in Press), SSCI, IF 3.7-/Q2, ABDC/B.
  7. Ahmad, Wasim., Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Waheed, Ahmad., Sun, Huaping, & Kazmi, Syed Sibtain. Ali Shah. (2023). Determinates of CSR and green purchase intention: Mediating role of customer green psychology during COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Cleaner Production, 389(2) SSCI, IF 11.10/Q1, ABDC/A.
  8. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail & Niu Ben, “Social Media Usage and Employee’s Job Performance: The Moderating Role of Social Media Rules” Industrial Management & Data Systems 120 (2019) SCI, IF 5.50/Q1, ABDC/A
  9. 9. Hussain, Safdar, Wang Guangju, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Zahida Ilyas, Ghulam Mustafa, and Yang Jianzhou. "Consumers' Online Information Adoption Behavior: Motives and Antecedents of Electronic Word of Mouth Communications." Computers in Human Behavior 80 (2018): 22-32. SCI, IF 9.90/Q1, ABDC/A.
  10. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Ahmad, Wasim., Sun, Yanming (2024). Digital Entrepreneurship in the Event of COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Employees' Entrepreneurial Behaviour, Int. J. of Business and Information Systems (IJBIS), Accepted (in Press), DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2023.10062496, Scopus ABDC/B
  11. Khan, Naveed. R., Siddiqi, Aamna H., Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Ahmad, W. (2023). Manager’s Age, Employee Environmental Passion, and Employee Green Engagement: A Conceptual Framework. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective. SSCI, IF:2.8/Q3 ABDC/C.
  12. Rafiq, Muhammad., Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Ahmad, Wasim, Dastane, Omkar., & Sial, M. Adnan, (2022) “Job Embeddedness: Cross-cultural Comparison Between China and Pakistan During COVID-19 Pandemic” Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective 26(4), SSCI, IF:2.8/Q3 ABDC/C.
  13. 13. Waqas Umar Latif, & Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, “Microcredit and Economic Welfare: Experience of Poor Rural Households from Pakistan” Journal of International Development (2020) IF 1.82/Q2, ABDC/B.
  14. Hussain, Safdar, Ahmed, Wasim, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Rabnawaz, Ambar, JianZhou, Yang, 2017. “eWOM source credibility, perceived risk and food product customer's information adoption”, Computers in Human Behavior 66:96-102. IF 9.90/Q1, ABDC/A.
  15. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Hussain, Safdar, Ahmed, Wasim, Ullah, Sana, Latif Umer Waqas, Zhuang, Peifen 2016. “Micro-Finance and Its Impacts on People and Societies”, Journal of Poverty, Investment and Development Vol.27. www.iiste.org (International Journal).
  16. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Rabnawaz, Ambar, Hussain, Safdar, Ahmed, Wasim, Zhuang, Peifen, 2015. "Aptitudes of Pakistani Rice Industry with Respect to Global Trade," Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, Vol.6, No.22, www.iiste.org. (International Journal).
  17. Ahmad, Wasim, Safdar Hussain, Sanaullah, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Waqas Umar Latif, Muhammad Umar Sultan, and Yang JianZhou. "Impact of E - Service Quality on Purchase Intention through Mediator Perceived Value in Online Shopping." Journal of Information Engineering and Applications www.iiste.org 7, no. 8 (2017). (International Journal).
  18. Rabnawaz, Ambar & Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail. "Impact of Public Investment on Economic Growth." South Asia Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies 1, no. 8 (2015). (International Journal).
  19. Hussain, Safdar, Wasim Ahmed, Ambar Rabnawaz, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Zulkaif Ahmed Saqib, Sana Ullah, and Yang Jianzhou. "Client Intentions and Buying Behavior with Regard of Dairy Products-Review." Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org 7, no. 3 (2016). (International Journal IF=7.15).
  20. Saqib, Zulkaif Ahmed, Jafar Rana Muhammad Sohail, Khubaib Ahmad Saqib, Safdar Hussain, and Muhammad Zulqarnain. "Moderating Role of Consumer's Demographics on the Relationship between Consumers’ Shopping Orientation and Behavior." Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org 6, no. 5 (2016) (International Journal).
  21. Hussain Safdar, Wasim Ahmed, Ambar Rabnawaz, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Haseeb Akhtar, Wang Guang-Ju, Sana Ullah, and Yang JianZhou. "Integration and Effective Supply Chain Management: A Review of Agriculture in Pakistan and China." Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org 06, no. 21 (2015). (International Journal).
  22. Hussain, Safdar, Wasim Ahmed, Ambar Rabnawaz, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Haseeb Akhtar, Wang Guang-Ju, Sana Ullah, and Yang JianZhou. "Integration and Effective Supply Chain Management: A Review of Agriculture in Pakistan and China." Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org 06, no. 21 (2015). (International Journal).
  23. Sultan, Muhammad Umar, Waqas Umar Latif, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail Sana Ullah, Safdar Hussain, Wasim Ahmed, and Yang Jian Zhou. The Role of Microfinance on Poverty Alleviation and Its Impacts on People and Society: Evidence from the Grameen Bank Vol. 38, Journal of Poverty, Investment and Development www.iiste.org 2017. (International Journal).

Book Chapters

  1. Ahmad, W., Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Khan, N.R., Hameed, I. and Fatima, N. (2023), "Does Green Blogging Affect Consumer Green Behaviour? Moderating Role of Green Psychology Variable", Raza, S.A., Tunio, M.N., Ali, M. and Puah, C.H. (Ed.) Entrepreneurship and Green Finance Practices, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 183-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-678-820231010.
  2. Khan, N.R, Rahies Khan, M., Ahmad, W. and Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail (2023), "Barriers and Challenges in Green Concepts Implementation", Raza, S.A., Tunio, M.N., Ali, M. and Puah, C.H. (Ed.) Entrepreneurship and Green Finance Practices, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 141-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-678-820231008
  3. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Globalization and Agriculture, Redefining Unequal Development” November 2017, Lexington Books, ISBN 978-1-4985-4227-2, www.rowman.com.

Conferences Articles:

  1. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Shuang Gang, Wasim Ahmad, Safdar Hussain and Hong Wang, A comprehensive review: Water Cycle Algorithm (WCA) and its applications 13th International Conference, BIC-TA Beijing, China 2018:360–376. (CPCI, EI)
  2. 2. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail and Niu Ben*, “Understanding the Effect of Social Media Usage and Employee’s Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Knowledge Exchange” National Education Conference of China Higher Education 19th October, Nanjing Agriculture University China, 2019:1-6. (CPCI, EI)
  3. Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail*, Niu Ben*, Hussain Safdar, “Impact of Agricultural Trade Liberalization and Climatic threats on Food Security in Pakistan”, The Twelfth Biennial ACFEA Conference, Fuzhou, China 2018:1-8. (CPCI-EI)
  4. Huan Wang, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail*, Bian Fei, “Research on an Evaluation Model of Social Impact Bonds to Reduce the Short-Term Achievements Tendency”, 15th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM) Hangzhou, China 2018:1-5. Scopus.
  5. Nian-Jiao Peng, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail*, Yitao Tao, “The Britain-China Economic Cooperation on the One Belt, One Road Initiative”, 15th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM) Hangzhou, China 2018:1-5. Scopus
  6. Safdar H., Wasim A., Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Ambar R., Yang J. “Electronic Word of Mouth Communications and Consumer's Information Adoption on the Internet”, First IEEE International Conference on Computer Communication and the Internet (ICCCI), At Central China Normal University, Wuhan P.R. China. 2016: 493-497. Scopus
  7. Chen, Y., Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Michael M.B., Chang L., Lingcheng C., Wu R., Zhuang P. “On the Marketing Mix of Fujian Tea Tourism. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, International Conference on Social Science, Public Health and Education. 2017: 127-137. Scopus
  8. Waqas U.L, Sana U, Wasim A., Safdar H., Muhammad U.S, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Linping W. “Supply-side Vs Demand-side Factors Facing Rural Households’ Accessibility to Microcredit in Pakistan”, 2nd International Conference on Computer, Mechatronics and Electronic Engineering (CMEE), 2017: 770-788. (CPCI-EI) 9. Wasim A., Safdar H., Sana U., Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Waqas U.L, Yang J., “Impact of Electronic Service Quality on Purchase Intention in Online Shopping Towards Food Product of China”, 4th International Conference on Manufacturing Engineering and Technology for Manufacturing Growth (METMG), 2017: 87-98. (CPCI-EI)
  9. Sana Ullah, Waqas Umar Latif, Wasim Ahmad, Muhammad Pervez, Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail, Xu Xuerong “Willingness-to-Pay for Organic Food in Pakistan: The effect of Motivational factors and Mediated role of Attitude”, 4th International Conference going to held in Hangzhou 2018: 10-20. (CPCI-EI).

Teaching Experience & Areas of Interest:

  • Organizational Behavior
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Tourism Management
  • Business Research
  • eCommerce
  • Human Resource Management
  • Training & Development
  • Qualitative and quantitative analysis

Services:

Academic Editor, Article editor & Ad-hoc Reviewer for (selected journals):

  1. Human behavior and emerging technologies (Publisher: Hindawi & Wiley; Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR-Q1- 2022, IF= 10.3; ABDC-A).
  2. Heliyon Business and Management (Publisher: Cell press; Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR-Q1- 2023, IF= 3.4;).
  3. Technology in Society (Publisher: Elsevier; Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR-Q1- 2022, IF= 10.2; ABDC-A; ABS Level-3)
  4. Sage Open Publisher: Sage; Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR-Q2- 2022, IF= 2.0; ABDC-C)
  5. Journal of Business Research (Publisher: Elsevier; Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR-Q1- 2022, IF= 11.30; ABDC-A; ABS Level-4)
  6. Journal of Cleaner Production Publisher: Elsevier; Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR-Q1- 2022, IF= 11.10; ABDC-A; ABS Level-4).
  7. Journal of Retailing & Consumer Services (Publisher: Elsevier; ISSN: 0969-6989 Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 10.972; ABDC-A; ABS Level-3)
  8. Computers in Human Behavior (Publisher: Elsevier; ISSN: 0747-5632; Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 8.957; ABDC-A; ABS Level 2)
  9. Internet Research (Publisher: Emerald; ISSN: 1066-2243; Clarivate Analytics; Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); JCR- 2022, IF= 773; ABDC-A; ABS Level 2)
  10. Tourism Review (SSCI, JCR-Q1-2022, IF 7.690, ABDC-A; ABS-Level-2)
  11. Industrial Management & Data Systems (Publisher: Emerald; ISSN: 0263-5577; Clarivate Analytics; Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); JCR- 2022, IF= 4.803; ABDC-A; ABS Level 2).
  12. British Food Journal (Publisher: Emerald; ISSN: 0007-070X; Clarivate Analytics; Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); JCR- 2022, IF= 3.224; ABDC-B; ABS Level 3).
  13. Chinese Management Studies (Publisher: Emerald; ISSN: 0007-070X; Clarivate Analytics; Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); JCR- 2022, IF= 2.351; ABDC-C; ABS Level 2).
  14. PloS one Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
  15. International journal of human-computer interaction: Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 5.5; ABDC-A; ABS Level-3).
  16. Social media + society Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 5.5; ABDC-A).
  17. Online information review: Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 3.5; ABDC-A).
  18. Information technology & people Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 4.9; ABDC-A).
  19. Information & management Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 8.2; ABDC-A).
  20. IEEE access Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 3.1).
  21. Electronic commerce research and applications. Clarivate Analytics; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); JCR- 2022, IF= 5.9; ABDC-B).

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