Muhammad Zubair Tariq, a lecturer in marketing at Malak Malik Firoz Khan Noon Business School at University of Sargodha (UoS) has won the 2025 Outstanding Academic Research Paper Award from the School of International Education, Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU), Chengdu, China.

He received the honor as the sole awardee in the Business and Management category, recognized for producing the highest-impact paper among international scholars. Following the announcement, the Pakistan Institute of China Studies (PICS), UOS, congratulated Mr. Tariq on the achievement, according to a report carried by Gwadar Pro.

Tariq’s award-winning paper, published in the Service Industries Journal (SSCI, Q1; impact factor 9.4; CiteScore 16.1), is titled “Transforming retail with humanoid service robots: exploring the impact of customer mindsets on value co-creation via perceived robot anthropomorphism and the moderating roles of robotic service proactivity and customer emotional intelligence.”

The study explores how customer psychology shapes interactions with humanoid service robots as their presence grows in retail.

Grounded in implicit mindset theory and service-dominant logic, the research positions customer mindsets as key resources that shape perceptions and engagement within AI-enabled service ecosystems.

Survey data from 420 Chinese retail customers show that a growth mindset enhances both perceived robot anthropomorphism and value co-creation, while a fixed mindset inhibits these outcomes.

The study further finds that perceived anthropomorphism partially mediates the relationship, offering evidence of how customers cognitively interpret robot behavior.

Robotic proactivity and customer emotional intelligence, however, did not significantly moderate the link between mindset and value co-creation, a result suggesting that personal psychological traits may outweigh contextual service factors in shaping customer, robot engagement.

PICS officials said the recognition highlights Pakistan’s rising visibility in global research networks and reflects the strengthening academic collaboration between the University of Sargodha and Chinese institutions.

Tariq’s paper is currently showcased at SWJTU among high-impact publications by international scholars.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP) — Pak-China