Pakistan Business Review Pakistan Business Review (PBR) is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal that publishes original and high-quality research in all major areas of business, economics, and management sciences. The journal welcomes research articles and research-based case studies in diverse fields, including strategy, marketing, management, human resource management, finance, accounting, business ethics, entrepreneurship, economics, business psychology, social marketing, and business analytics. Its mission is to provide a global platform for academics, researchers, and practitioners to share original and unpublished work that contributes to theory, practice, and policy in business and related disciplines.
Institute of Business Management, College of Business Management
Climate Change will impact Natural Calamities, Socio-Economic activities, Health, Nutrition, Crops, Biodiversity, Costal & Marine Life and Regional Diplomacy in CPEC Region
Although China Pakistan Economic Corridor was envisaged by former Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai in 1963 as a link to the Middle East market for Chinese product, however was formally announced in 2015. Since its inception, most of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Phase-1 projects, including electricity, communication infrastructure, Gwadar Port and Gwadar International Airport have been completed, however a phase comprising of social sector development projects is under progress. Focus of future development includes cooperation among industrial, science, technology and agricultural sectors. Development of Special Economic Zones, oil and natural gas pipelines, Gwadar Port and Main Line-1 Railway Project needs special attention for an early completion. The progress of China Pakistan Economic Corridor, especially being a flagship component of ever-expanding Chinese Belt Road Initiative has emerged as a point of concern for a few Extra Regional and Regional Powers, which are endeavouring to implicate China Pakistan Economic Corridor by creating terrorism-based security scenario in Pakistani coastal Balochistan province. Both Chinese and Pakistani nations are working relentlessly to end the malicious menace of terrorism. Apart from the threat of terrorism, China Pakistan Economic Corridor is also facing the hazardous impacts of climate change in form of cloud bursts, glacier melting and floods due to increasing temperatures. It needs to be analysed by conducting qualitative research by collecting the available information and deducing the fact pragmatically that the hazards of climate change can cause more damage in comparison with terrorism hence there is a need to address such impacts diligently for prudent solutions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Hasan Yaser Malik https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
A Moderated Mediation Analysis of HPWS and Work Alienation: The Roles of Thriving at Work and Promotion Focus
This study explores how high-performance work systems (HPWS) reduce employee work alienation through a moderated mediation framework grounded in conservation of resources (COR) theory. It posits that HPWS not only directly diminishes feelings of alienation but also indirectly does so by enhancing thriving at work. Additionally, this study identifies promotion focus as a key boundary condition that strengthens the indirect HPWS ? thriving ? alienation pathway. Data were collected from 524 managerial employees in Pakistan’s banking sector, a high-pressure setting where HPWS is widely implemented, by employing a three-wave time-lagged survey with four-week intervals. Analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS macro confirmed that HPWS significantly lowers work alienation, thriving at work serves as a mediating mechanism, and promotion focus moderates the thriving–alienation relationship, with promotion-focused employees deriving greater protective benefits from it. A significant moderated mediation effect was also observed in this study. These findings contribute to COR theory by illustrating how resource gain spirals function within service industries and suggest practical interventions, such as promotion-focused training, transparent communication of HPWS goals, thriving-centered wellness initiatives, and the integration of regulatory focus principles into HR practices. The results of this study have significant practical implications for bank managers who want to alleviate work alienation by examining its causes of work alienation at the individual level.
Copyright (c) 2026 shumaila atiq Atiq, imran shafique, Amad Rashid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
How do emotional exhaustion and work overload experienced by frontline employees influence perceived customer discrimination among minority customers? Mediating role of psychological contract violation
COVID-19 has altered service operations and heightened job stressors for frontline employees in the service sector. The current study develops a conceptual model connecting pandemic-related job demands—emotional exhaustion and work overload—to perceived customer discrimination through psychological contract violation. More precisely, we propose that these job demands affect perceived customer discrimination directly and indirectly through psychological contract violation. We evaluated the hypotheses using matched employee–customer (dyadic) responses. A total of 299 usable dyadic responses were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) supports hypothesized relationships. Both emotional exhaustion and work overload were positively associated with perceived overt and subtle discrimination. Moreover, psychological contract violation partially mediated these effects except for emotional exhaustion on overt discrimination. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of these findings for the service industry, along with limitations and future research directions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Shakeel Aslam, Farhan Ahmed, Saif ul Haq, Samia Tariq https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
What Persuades Muslim Female Consumers to Purchase Halal-Certified Beauty Products? – An Empirical Evidence from the Pakistani Cosmetic Industry
The demand for Halal products across various sectors is rising, driven by the increasing global Muslim population. Brands are designing products and services, complying with Islamic values and beliefs to satisfy Muslim customers by making them realize that their religious beliefs are unviolated during the consumption and usage of such products/services. However, due to the scarcity of existing literature there is a need to study consumer behavior of Halal brands, particularly in the cosmetic sector. Therefore, this research identifies the antecedents of buying behavior of female Muslim customers in the context of Shariah Compliant beauty products in the developing landscape of Pakistan. This study aims to examine the effect of internal variables, including availability, generativity, and skepticism, in addition to the traditional constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior, on the purchase intention, modifying the current theory. Furthermore, the novel relationship between world-view orientation and actual purchase behavior is also identified. This research employs a quantitative approach, and a conceptual model is formulated to study the actual purchase behavior of Halal cosmetic buyers in Pakistan. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire is used to collect information from 250 female customers of Halal cosmetic brands. The model is tested via smart PLS-4 employing the PLS-SEM technique to assess the relationships between model variables. The findings of the study indicated a strong positive association between availability, generativity, attitude and PI, along with a similar relationship between world-view orientation and PB. This study would help the brands to anticipate the needs of Halal cosmetic consumers and develop offerings to fulfill those needs, providing meaningful implications to cosmetic brands to monitor the buying patterns of Muslim consumers and devise strategies to reach them. Consequently, it would add value to the halal cosmetic sector by examining actual purchase behavior, which has been understudied previously.
Copyright (c) 2026 Atiya Jan Muhammad, Syed Shahid Zaheer Zaidi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Impact of Implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards-9 on Profitability and Dividend Payouts Ratio of Pakistani Banks
The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the International Financial Reporting Standards-IFRS-9 implementation on earnings and dividend payouts ratio of Pakistani banks. The data is collected from the yearly financial reports of banks from 2008 to 2020. For that purpose, panel regression method is utilized. The study reveals, a positive relation among the IFRS-9 and earnings of banks in Pakistan. While, there is negative association among the IFRS-9 and dividend payouts ratio of banks in Pakistan. The Institute of Chartered Accountant of Pakistan (ICAP) may provide training and development program for auditors and other related members, thereby significantly improving the implementation of IFRS 9 in banking sector of Pakistan. Therefore, this study contributes for the regulators, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), auditors, investors and other stakeholders of banking sector of Pakistan. This study has not been investigated before as per my knowledge.
(International Financial Reporting Standards-IFRS-9 implementation, Earnings per Share, Dividend Payouts Ratio, Pakistan Banking Sector, Stakeholders.)
Copyright (c) 2025 Mazhar Hussain Choudhary, Husnain Ali https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Impact of Corporate and Sustainability Reporting Quality on Firm's Performance: Pakistan’s Perspective
Corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) is an essential component of corporate governance. This study examines the effect of corporate sustainability reporting on firm performance. The research examines the quality of disclosures for corporate sustainability practices and their implications for operating, financial, and market performance, as well as the holding period return of the stocks. A scoring index is constructed based on the hierarchical awards announced for best corporate and sustainability reports, published jointly by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Pakistan (ICAP) and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants, Pakistan (ICMAP). Empirical evidence indicates that the quality of disclosures and reporting related to Corporate Sustainability Practices has an insignificant effect on corporate performance in the context of Pakistan. The evidence can be ascribed to determinants such as economic and political instability, lack of commitment by boards and top management team, limited stakeholder engagement and over-investment in ESG initiatives. To effectively navigate the unique challenges associated with Pakistan, development of tailor-made indigenous framework is required, to facilitate corporate transparency in the form of CSR / ESG initiatives’ reporting that can improve firm valuation.
Corporate sustainability reporting (CSR)
best corporate and sustainability report awards
Copyright (c) 2026 Zahra Ashfaque Nizami, Dr. Nauman J. Amin, Dr. Saqib Sharif https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Corporate Social Responsibility in Pakistan’s Banking Sector: A Critical Analysis, SDG Alignment and Way Forward
This case study is an exploratory study of the current CSR environment in the Banking Industry of Pakistan. The inclusive case studies that present the critique, way forward, and SDG alignment for the banking sector of developing economies has been a literary gap. This creates a high call for case studies that could pave the way forward for inclusive theoretical as well as empirical sense for the concerned problem. The observations, experience, insight, and pattern extraction from primary as well as secondary data on the subject concerned in terms of the Pakistani Banking sector were the building blocks and method for the research case study. The findings are presented in the form of workable solutions. The value of this research endeavour is depicted through the implications that could be inferred from the workable solutions for steering the positive impact of CSR by the Banking sector towards the overall society.
CSR, Banking Industry, Pakistan, SDG alignment, Workable Solutions
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Imran Bashir Dar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Herding in Oil-Rich Markets Evidence from Saudi Arabia and the UAE
This paper examines herding behaviour in the Saudi Arabia Stock market in Saudi Arabia (Tadawul), the UAE stock market (The Dubai Stock Market) between January 2001 and December 2023, looking at oil-rich economies susceptible to commodity price fluctuations in addition to investor sentiment. With the help of the State Space model, CSSD and CSAD models, the study validates the existence of herding in both markets, especially in times of market stresses and financial crises. In Saudi Arabia, herding is more prevalent due to the strong retail investor involvement and low foreign investments, whereas, in the UAE, herding is prevelant during financial crisis and shocks. These findings explain the variations in herding intensity because of market structures, regulatory systems, and investor composition. The implications of the findings extend to investors, regulators, and policymakers recommending suitable risk management practices, country specific regulatory response, and a more transparent market. The use of behavioral understanding in forecasting models and policy frameworks can probably enhance stability in the markets and also lead to investor trust in these new financial markets.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vijay Kumar, Syed Shabib Ul Hasan, Sultan Salahuddin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
A Qualitative Analysis of Followership Behaviors among University Teachers in Balochistan : An Exploratory Study
Followership behavior is an important aspect of leadership. It is believed that leadership, with followership, is nothing. That is why; this construct has gained a great deal of management researchers. Researchers, around the globe have presented various models of followership styles or behaviors. However, this study, drawing upon the Kelly’s Model of Followership, explored the followership styles of university teachers in Balochistan, Pakistan. Due to qualitative and exploratory nature, in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data. These interviews were properly transcribed and then converted into ‘codes’ and ‘themes’ for analysis. These ‘codes’ and ‘themes’ were then matched with the styles in Kelly’s Model. Results indicate that ‘Exemplary style’ prevails most among faculty members in HEI’s of Balochistan. In the end, certain important insights and implications are discussed.
Followership Behaviors, University Teachers, Baluchistan.
Copyright (c) 2025 Raheela Maula-Bakhsh, Dr. Anjum Parvez, Dr. Ammarah Ahmed, Zonia Nabil Farooqi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Divergent Effects of Economic Policy Uncertainty on European Banks Profitability: Role of Capital Adequacy Ratio
This study aims to shed light on how economic policy uncertainty (EPU) affects the profitability of European banks across various banking groups and how capital adequacy ratio (CAR) moderates this relationship. Quantile regression analysis is used to analyze the relationship for 3941 yearly observations for the period from 2010 to 2020 for banks in 12 European countries. The findings indicate that the impact of EPU on profitability differs significantly depending on the kind of bank. For instance, while Investment and Saving Banks remain unaffected or even profit from greater EPU, Bank Holdings, Commercial Banks, Real Estate and Mortgage Banks, and Islamic Banks all see a decline in profitability due to EPU. CAR moderates the negative relationship between EPU and bank profitability, but the impact is asymmetrical among different types of banks. Overall, the paper's findings emphasize how crucial bank-specific traits like institutional framework, business focus, and risk attitude determine how banks respond to shifts in EPU. The diverse impacts of EPU on bank profit by category show that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to policy intervention in the banking industry.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ahmed Shahzad, Ammar Abid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Impact of Traditional Monetary Policy and theModerating Role of Macroprudential Policy onPakistan’s Financial Stability
This study empirically investigates the impact of traditional monetary policy and the moderating role of macroprudential policy on Pakistan’s financial stability. Panel data (2008–2023) of top 20 banks were examined with Hausman test, fixed, and random-effects models. The study assesses financial stability through bank performance (ROA, ROE,NIM) and risk indicators (z-score, LLP). The independent variables include discount rate and inter-bank offer rate. The findings indicate that tight monetary policy improves banks performance as it enhances ROE, however it has no impact on banks ROA and NIM. In addition, monetary policy doesn’t have any impact on bank default risk i-e z-score, however, tight monetary policy reduce LLP hence enhances bank asset quality. Moderation analysis finds that macroprudential policy reduces NIM hence depress banks performance, although it has no moderating effect on bank risk. The monetary policy exerts a positive influence on banks’ profitability and asset quality, whereas macroprudential policy tends to suppress bank performance. Hence, monetary policy instruments are more effective than macroprudential policy for financial stability.
Monetary policy, Macroprudential policy, Financial stability
Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad Abbas, Dr. Sayed Irshad Hussain https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Triple Bottom-Line: A Critical Review and Need for Strategic Renewal
The concept of Triple Bottom Line (TBL), as proposed by John Elkington in 1994, is centered on three pillars of sustainability: Economic Performance, Social Performance and Environmental Performance. The TBL initially received much attention from industry and academia. Nevertheless, given the rapidly changing global corporate landscape, there is an overarching need for a more balanced and comprehensive perspective for deriving sustainable performance outcomes. Several authors, including Elkington, have identified some limitations in the current TBL framework. Keeping this in mind, this paper critically identified and evaluated the critique done by the prior researchers. In this regard, the data were collected using the Scopus database by using Boolean search terms. A systematic search of 156 studies was performed, followed by removal of duplicates, relevance screening and quality assessment to achieve 36 critically analyzed articles. These were coded and categorized to recognize gaps and suggested solutions regarding the TBL framework. Based on a critical review and literature inquiry, this research identified and discussed seven major criticisms on the TBL approach. This research recommends that if contemporary business firms ought to reap maximum value benefit, the underlying criticisms must be addressed as part of the strategic renewal of the existing TBL framework. The renewed TBL framework would consequently assist the business firms in creating, sustaining and maximizing the performance advantage for diverse organizational stakeholders.
Copyright (c) 2025 Junaid Rehman, Asif Ali Bhatti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Beyond Inclusion: An Empirical Study of Religious Minorities’ Perceptions Towards Idiosyncratic Deals and Workplace Ostracism
Fairness in the workplace is a key component of organizational justice. However, disparities in the granting of Idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) can lead to a perception of injustice among bystanders. These perceived inequities can trigger negative emotional and behavioral responses, such as malicious envy and workplace ostracism. This study investigates the relationship between co-worker perception of other employees’ I-deals and workplace ostracism, with serial mediation considering perceived I-deals differentiation and malicious envy. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected from 330 employees across 26 departments within the Government of Balochistan, Pakistan. Religious minority groups were chosen as participants in this study with the perception of purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to test the relationships that were proposed. The findings demonstrate that perceptions of inequality in the allocation of I-deals ignite the process of social comparisons, boost an ill feeling of envy, and eventually culminate in ostracism in the workplace. The results emphasize the essence of fair and transparent human resource practices in reducing these negative organization aspects. Enhancing equity in assigning I-deals enables the organization to practice inclusiveness at the workplace, which improves the well-being of employees and social cohesion. The study fits the overall discussion on workplace fairness, social exchange processes, and relationships between different groups and other goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely SDG 10, that are related to inequality reduction, and SDG 16, which promotes peace, justice, and stable institutions.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ramish Zafar Bhatti, Dr. Beenish Malik https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Analysis of Pakistan’s comparative advantage in Sugar Industry Products
This study evaluates Pakistan’s comparative advantage in sugar industry products by analyzing export data from 2013 to 2022. It examines trends and performance of Pakistan’s sugar industry products relative to global competitors using the normalized revealed comparative advantage (NRCA) index. The NRCA index is preferred as it addresses the conventional need to normalize comparative advantage measures across countries and products, thereby providing more accurate insights into the competitiveness and magnitude of various countries’ comparative advantages in particular product categories. The results indicate that Pakistan possesses a clear comparative advantage in four categories of sugar products, while it has an unstable and wavering comparative advantage in HS 1701 (table sugar). The magnitude of this advantage comparative advantage is better and consistent in three categories of sugar products and inconsistent in the remaining two categories. Despite these advantages, Pakistan’s export shares across all product categories are low, indicating that the country has not capitalized on export opportunities in the international market. The results highlight the need for Pakistan to enhance export promotion efforts, especially in processed and value-added sectors, and to undertake relevant policy reform.
Copyright (c) 2025 Qadeer Ahmed Bhutto https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Role of Empathy in Enhancing Workplace Performance: A Systematic Review with Insights from Pakistani Financial Institutions
The concept of empathy, has gained increasing importance and support in the existing literature. Particularly, fostering positive dynamics within the human social exchanges in workplaces. Management in organizations that believe in empathy boosts employee engagement, organizational productivity, high customer satisfaction, and overall professional enhancement with entire stake stakeholders. To support further, how empathy relates to strategic outcomes, the Social exchange theory, Systems Theory, and Perception Action Model have been studied for understanding empathy concerning organizational gains at bigger and better levels in the present theoretical and review-based research. Furthermore, empathy plays a significant role within the context of Pakistani financial institutions in these organizations usual practices concerning empathy are varied. Some may have considerations towards employees and customers generally, and some may be more empathic towards customers, and other banks and institutions might have some degree of empathy for employees. A comparative analysis of the studies in cultural parameters would help policymakers, practitioners, managers and key stakeholders to understand the value of empathy and observe it even more for sustainability. The PRISMA approach has been used in presenting a picturesque image of databases, exclusion criteria and inclusion criteria of articles for a clear understanding of the audience.
To enhance business performance by focusing on ampathy and its impact on employees performance.
Copyright (c) 2025 Asiya Gul https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Unlocking Investment Potential in Agriculture: An ISM-Based Challenge Analysis
Impact funds have become common in the past few years due to the urgent need to adopt sustainable practices. The practice of sustainable financial investment techniques is urgently required to efficiently control the aftereffects of environmental deregulation, climate change, emissions, nuclear attacks, and human harm. All these situations create global concerns and are directed towards generating hunger and food crises. The emerging concept of impact funds is significant but is hindered by many challenges in its adoption phase. Still, no study has identified and listed the challenges in adopting impact funds. The present study has identified and ranked the challenges faced by the individual investors of impact funds in a hierarchical model by adopting the ISM approach. An in-depth literature review was conducted, and knowledgeable comments from the panel of 15 experts were taken to explore the contextual relations among the listed challenges. R software performed the ISM and MICMAC analyses of the 17 final obstacles. The impediments were ranked in a hierarchical model according to their challenge-creating intensity. The findings revealed that political and economic uncertainty, poor governance and regulatory framework, inflationary pressures, low scalability and sustainability, etc., are the foremost factors that create challenging situations for investors of impact funds. The study findings can be helpful for future researchers and scholars, policymakers, active and potential investors, and the members of regulatory bodies accordingly.
Copyright (c) 2025 Kanwal Iqbal Khan, Ayesha Shehzad https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Interactional Injustice, Stress, and the Rise of Coworker Incivility: A Time-Lagged Study in the Banking Sector of Pakistan
The study aims to examine the relationship between interactional injustice and perceived coworker incivility directly and through stress, building on stress-appraisal theory. The theory provides the framework for how individuals interpret and respond to stressors. The time-lagged study design was used to collect data from 192 bank employees, and data was analyzed by developing and testing a structural model in AMOS. The finding reveals that interactional injustice and stress are positively related to perceived coworker incivility. Moreover, the stress significantly mediated the relationship between interactional injustice and perceived coworker incivility. The primary novelty of the current study lies in developing a framework that identifies the antecedent of coworker incivility and the mechanism that breeds incivility at work. In this way, the current study offers actionable insights for managers to foster fair interpersonal treatment in the workplace that can reduce stress and perceived coworker incivility. Moreover, the current study was conducted in Pakistan's banking sector. Future research may be conducted in other sectors to generalize the findings.
Copyright (c) 2025 Nasreen Anis, Tariq Hameed Alvi, Ahmad Qammar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Cognitive and Emotional Drivers of Risk Perception and Financial Success: Pakistan Stock Market Perspective
This study investigates the impact of cognitive and emotional biases; herding behavior, loss aversion, cognitive biases, and overconfidence on risk perception and financial performance in the Pakistani stock market. Employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze data from 248 individual investors, the findings reveal that herding behavior, cognitive biases, and overconfidence significantly influence risk perception, whereas loss aversion has an insignificant effect. Risk perception mediates the relationship between psychological factors and financial performance, highlighting its critical role in investment outcomes. The study underscores the importance of addressing behavioral biases to improve decision-making and economic success. Practical implications include the need for investor education and strategies to mitigate biases, thereby promoting rational investment behavior in emerging markets like Pakistan. This research contributes to the behavioral finance literature by providing localized insights into the psychological drivers of investor behavior and their implications for financial performance.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sumera Mehmood, Ammar Ahmed Siddiqui, Danish Hussain, Faryal Abbas Abdi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Impact of Capital Structure, Corporate Governance, Macroeconomic Factor on Financial Distress of Shariah Compliant Firms in Pakistan
Abstract Purpose: Capital structure choice, corporate governance practices and the economic condition of the country are some of those factors that may influence the firm’s financial health. This study evaluates the effect of capital structure, corporate governance, and macroeconomic factors on firm financial distress of Shariah compliant firms in Pakistan. Design: This empirical analysis contains 238 listed Shariah non-financial firms of Pakistan during the period of 2015 to 2022. Findings: The study finds a negative linkage between capital structure, macroeconomic factor and firm financial distress of Shariah compliant firms. The corporate governance index is positively correlated with the firm’s financial distress. Conclusion and Implications: The outcomes of this study have practical implications for managers, investors, authorities, and researchers. Managers should be aware of debt financing and governance practices because it is one of the major causes of firm financial distress. Managers should also embrace the financial position and governance structure as their top agenda because financial position and governance quality helps to establish good relationships with various stakeholders which helps to facilitate a firm’s access to alternative sources of finance and decrease the firm usage of debts, hence reducing the probability of firm financial distress. Investors should consider their financial position when making investment decisions because a strong financial position decreases default risk which serves as potential protection for investments.
Copyright (c) 2025 Hamood Ur Rehman, Resul Sapar, Muzafar Shah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Trust is changing its shape from local to institutional and now to be distributed. The sharing economy is one example of distributed trust enabled through technology. At the same time, the risk is perceived as high in the sharing economy due to transactions between strangers. The extant research investigating how trust is developed in the sharing economy needs to be expanded. The dynamic landscape of trust, risk perception, and the limited incidence of trust mechanism research in the sharing economy call for research to investigate the effects of different trust-inducing mechanisms on the sharing economy's performance. Employing the stimulus-organism-response model as the theoretical lens and reviewing the literature on trust in the sharing economy, the current conceptual research categorizes the trust-inducing mechanisms: (a) the platform, (b) interpersonal, and (c) third-party trust mechanisms. In so doing, it advances two theory and practice-based propositions: (1) platform, interpersonal, and third-party trust-inducing mechanisms spur sharing economy performance by mitigating the risk perceived by peers, and (2) these trust mechanisms spur sharing economy performance by fostering trust in the platform, which mitigates the risk perception of using the platform. Thus, this research highlights the importance of trust mechanisms in enhancing sharing economy performance. It offers valuable insights for future research on trust-building strategies and their impact on user engagement and platform success.
Copyright (c) 2025 Tariq Hameed Alvi, Samia Tariq, Amad Rashid, Maryyam Qasim Khan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Impact of Social Media Influencers on Follower’s Purchase Intention and the Mediation Effect of Consumer Attitude
The advancement in the digital landscape in recent years has driven brands, especially in the food industry, to adopt modern marketing approaches by leveraging social media influencers (SMIs). These individuals have the ability to change the perception of their customers while influencing their buying decisions. Due to lower profit margins in traditional marketing than in SMI marketing, and with the surge in social media usage like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, food brands are now moving more towards SMIs to promote their products. The aim of this report is to determine the impact of source credibility (i.e., trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, and similarity) of SMIs on follower’s buying intention and the mediating effect of consumer attitude towards it. The research involves a target audience of the age group 16-40 years. The data was gathered from 284 participants using a purposive sampling technique. Then the measurement and structural models were taken into account to carry out analysis. As per the results, all hypotheses are accepted except one hypothesis. Findings suggest that attractiveness has the most effect on the purchase intention of the followers, followed by similarity. It was found that the consumer attitude behaves as a mediator between attractiveness of SMIs and follower’s purchase intention. Besides that, trustworthiness also affects the followers’ purchase intention but to a lesser extent compared to attractiveness and similarity. Moreover, no relationship exists between follower’s purchase intention and expertise. This research aims to assist brand managers in assessing the potential benefits of investing in SMIs and understanding their key attributes that significantly impact consumer preferences. By identifying the types of SMIs that resonate most with consumers, the research seeks to provide insights into whether engaging with SMIs can enhance product sales and contribute positively to overall business.
Copyright (c) 2025 Zeeshan Hyder Memon, Zoha Furqan, Shahnihal Alwani, Syed Farzan Azhar , Bilal Ahmed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Investigating the Relationship between ERP-Related Technostress and Employee Performance
This study investigates the factors affecting the adoption of ERP systems in enhancing employee performance. Interestingly, it integrates the mediating role of Techno-Stressors to understand the negative effect of technology on the employee well-being which ultimately affects the performance of employees. The theoretical framework of this study is majorly based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM is most extensively applied model for the adoption of IT by end users. The data for this was collected from 123 participants in order to test the hypothesis while the hypothesis was checked with the SPSS Amos 23. This study firstly reconfirmed the TAM, stating that the intention to use ERP is driven by Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU). Furthermore, findings show a positive link between Intentions to use (IU) ERP systems with Usage of ERP. Additionally, the interesting part is that the study finds Usage of ERP positively impacts Employee performance but when the techno-stressor introduce as a mediator it will not enhance employee performance but instead causes stress to individuals in different forms. These insights underscore the importance of managing techno-stress to optimize ERP outcomes. It is concluded that ERP systems pave the way for substantial performance benefits, so organizations must consider and address the effects techno-stress to fully leverage these systems for sustainable productivity gains.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
Copyright (c) 2024 Muhammad Mustafeez ur Rehman Khanzada, Shaheryar Khan, Fawad Alam, Sadaf Nagi, Muhammad Bilal Kamal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Cryptocurrency Predictive Analytics: A Comparative Study of LSTM, CNN, and GRU Models
This paper investigates the efficacy of deep learning models such as Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) for cryptocurrency price prediction, examining their short-term and long-term forecasting accuracy for investor guidance and advancing AI in financial analysis. The study uses time series analysis with LSTM, CNN, and GRU models on daily cryptocurrency prices from Investing.com, preprocessing data before testing on Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, and the other 37 cryptocurrencies. RMSE, MAE, and accuracy rates measure performance. Findings revealed that only six cryptocurrencies were selected for final analysis, including Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero. Results indicate that the deep learning models, particularly the LSTM and GRU, can predict cryptocurrency prices with high accuracy, especially for short-term forecasts within a 7-day window. The CNN model demonstrates significant predictive power, suggesting its utility for immediate trading decisions. Across the models, short-term precision was remarkably high, while long-term predictions maintained a moderate level of accuracy. This study presents a comparative analysis of LSTM, GRU, and CNN models for forecasting cryptocurrency prices, emphasizing LSTM and GRU's ability to navigate price volatility and suggesting their use for real-time trading analysis. The study's historical data reliance curtails forecasting unforeseen market shifts. Future studies should include new variables like social sentiment and blockchain analytics and test real-time adaptive models to enhance predictive strength. Model validation in actual market conditions is recommended for practical application.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jahanzaib Alvi, Kehkashan Nizam, Saeb Muhammad Jafri , Muhammad Rehan, Muhammad Muzaffar Ali https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Culture: A Qualitative Study of Pakistan's Banking Sector
Purpose: The study aims to identify the impact of knowledge sharing mechanism and Organizational culture on the banking sector of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: For the purpose of this study qualitative research method was employed incorporating semi-structured interviews from employees in the banking industry. The present research is qualitative research and allowed the researcher to study experiences in greater depth and come up with the universal essence of experiences, so the phenomenological methodology was used to get profound understanding of OC and KS in banking sector of Pakistan. Findings: Findings of current research revealed that banking sector of Pakistan especially private sector is improving the quality of their services by focusing and improving their KS culture but in public sector government strongly affects its culture, policies and regulations. Research limitations/implications: Future research should aim for a larger and more diverse sample to generalize the findings. Furthermore, mixed-method approaches can be conducted to further validate the findings. The limited sample size of the present research may not represent the larger population. Originality/Value: Contribution of this study is to both practical and hypothetical bodies of knowledge. Practical contributions are related to the banking sector whereas hypothetical contributions are relevant to other businesses and firms that want to be successful through KS. Current research has made important contribution to the exiting literature in terms of OC and KS.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jasim Tariq, Aneeqa Naz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Perceived Abusive Supervision and Job Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Dark Triad
The Contemporary research entails the significance of Perceived abusive supervision as a phenomenal type of destructive leadership and it has fatal consequences. The rationale behind this research is to explore the ramifications of perceived abusive supervision over the outcomes of jobs in Information Technology (IT) firms in the cosmopolitan locality of Lahore. To solidify the anticipated relationship between the variables, the most appropriate technique was used. For this study, the field survey employed a self-administered questionnaire. 220 questionnaires were given in order to gather data at various workplaces, and all responses were obtained from the participants. The outcome of this research put forward that perceived abusive supervision is positively associated with job stress, retaliation and negatively associated with job performance. Moreover, the study explains that the Dark triad’s moderator role proposes that Machiavellianism, Narcissism and Psychopathy is inversely related with job performance and directly related with job stress and retaliation. Furthermore, this research shows that the association of perceived abusive supervision with job performance, job stress and retaliation is stronger when Machiavellianism is high as well as the association of perceived abusive supervision with job performance, job stress and retaliation is also stronger when Psychopathy is high. In addition, the present study proposes that when Narcissism is high then the association among perceived abusive supervision and job performance is not stronger but relationship between job stress with perceived abusive supervision and retaliation is stronger when Narcissism is high.
Copyright (c) 2024 Saima Hassan Ikram, Tayyaba Ikram, Saba Shaikh, Kanza Aijaz, Usman Bashir https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Determinants of Work Family Conflict: Studying Gender Ratio as a Significant Predictor
The increase in the number of dual-earner couples and multi-workers is resulting in socio-economic changes which ultimately trigger the change in lifestyle of the people. Shortage of time to accomplish family and work-related jobs is reported as a common source of conflict causing stress and resulting in health and family functioning issues. The phenomenon of Work-Family Conflict (WFC) is therefore becoming a prevalent research area for scholars concerned with human resource management. This study has examined appropriate data for studying the mediated and moderated mechanism of the determinants of WFC. Gender Ratios in Family (GRF) and Time Management (TM) have been studied as antecedents of Time-based Work Family Conflict (TWFC). The direct impact of GRF on TWFC, mediation and moderation impact of TM on the relationship between GRF and TWFC has been studied in this research. The population of this study is the employees working in public sector organizations of Pakistan. Cross-sectional research design has been used with a sample size of 150 respondents. The study establishes that GRF has a significant impact on TWFC whereas the mediation and moderation impact of TM on said relationship was not found significant.
Copyright (c) 2025 Shahid Iqbal, Arshad Zaheer , Muhammad Irfanullah Arfeen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Empirical Assessment of Sustainability using Content Analysis and TOPSIS method
Sustainability is a concept characterized by its complexity and multi-faceted nature. The study investigates the sustainability initiatives of Indonesian Islamic banks (IBs). A combination of methodologies including Content analysis, Simos, and TOPSIS has been used for the assessment of sustainability initiatives of Indonesian IBs . The evaluation of sustainability practices among Indonesian Islamic Banks (IBs) over the decade from 2013 to 2022 has indicated a notable upward trend in the reporting of sustainability dimensions. The IBs in Indonesia demonstrate a balanced approach in their reporting across various sustainability aspects. The significant advancements observed in Indonesian IBs can be linked to the sustainable finance roadmap established in 2014, along with the regulations set forth by Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK). Indonesian Islamic banks have exhibited a strong commitment to sustainability through enhanced reporting and integration of sustainability considerations into their operations. Research on the sustainability of Islamic banking predominantly consists of conceptual studies with less emphasis on empirical analysis. Owing to this literature gap, this study employs a thorough methodology for assessing sustainability, which includes a sequence of steps to identify industry benchmarks
Sustainability, Islamic Banking, TOPSIS, Ranking, Content Analysis, Sustainability Practices
Copyright (c) 2024 Qunita Rehman, Akhtiar Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed Shaikh, Naveed R Khan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Beyond Green washing: Profit with Purpose Measuring sustainable textile manufacturing for business excellence
This paper examines the implementation of Lean manufacturing (LM) in the textile/garment manufacturing industry of Pakistan, a developing country in the global south, aiming to enhance operational efficiency and financial performance. Data was collected from the garment production floor supervisors, and a current state map was created, identifying non-value-added activities and waste sources. The respondents were the actual process owners of production and stitching departments of different textile/garment manufacturing factories. The paper provides a blueprint for the textile/garment manufacturing process and presents the outcomes of applying Lean manufacturing. Comparing the current and future state maps, the study demonstrates that fully adopting Lean principles with the proper support of higher management levels can significantly benefit the textile/garment industry by reducing excessive production and waste in Pakistan, a developing country. Hence, there are actual production practices beyond greenwashing. LM is crucial for improving competitive performance in the current market landscape, enabling them to become key players in achieving sustainable practices. These practices assist in achieving SDG 07, 08, 09, 12, 13, 16. This research highlights the financial benefits of adopting LM. It shows that Lean principles can help remove the greenwashing label and allow industries to sustain and expand their production edge through continuous employee development.
Copyright (c) 2024 Salman Hameed, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, Ahsan Ahmed Jaleel, Zain Ul Abdin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Enhancing Supply Chain Sustainability through blockchain Integration and Mapping
This motivational research study shows a better understanding of the influence that aspects like blockchain technology, integration, and mapping have on supply chain sustainability in Pakistan's supply chain industry. The sample size used for the illustration mentioned above was 384, with a 5% error margin and a 95% confidence level. The supply chain sector was selected as the target industry for the campaign. We circulated 500 questionnaires and received valid responses from the targeted supply chain sector 384 through a Google form survey using the PLS-SEM model for work. We will use the PLS-SEM sampling technique to assess the power of latent variables and how well they are able to explain the target structure. The reason PLS-SEM is mainly used here is that it can estimate very complex models with a small amount of data. The results support each of the following direct hypotheses: blockchain technologies have a negative relation with supply chain integration, blockchain technologies have a negative impact on supply chain mapping, the integration has a significant influence on the supply chain sustainability, and supply chain mapping has a significant influence on the sustainability. At least in the future, it should be added with more variables to understand the supply chain sustainability across industries or nations. The focus of this study was mainly on blockchain technologies, supply chain integration, and mapping of supply chain sustainability This study highlights the need for supply chain managers to improve integration and mapping independently to boost sustainability. Fostering collaboration and information sharing can enhance traceability and compliance. Adapting resilient practices helps organizations manage inflation and support sustainable operations. This study enhances the working environment by improving the research piece that charts the influence of BT and SCs in Pakistani supply chain firms.
Copyright (c) 2025 Irfan Ul Haque, Asma Irfan Ali https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Pricing Intellectual Capital in Asset Pricing Models: A study on Shanghai Stock Exchange
This study aims to examine the validity of intellectual capital as a priced risk factor in the asset pricing model. We have used the data of companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2021. To test the models, time series as well as cross sectional analysis have been done using the Fama-MacBeth method. The results show that intellectual capital is a significant risk factor and after augmenting IC into asset pricing models improves the explanatory power to explain the variation in the stock returns. It further suggests that IC can be priced in the Chinese market, over and above what can be explained by covariance risk, size, value, investment and profitability factors.
Copyright (c) 2024 Maria Waki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0