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This study aims to test the Kuznets curve between economic growth and child labor, along with the influence of exports, household size and rural population in the context of Pakistan.

To achieve the research objective, this study applied the unit root test, bound co-integration test, and autoregressive distributive lags (ARDL) method for the period of 1972–2021.

The findings show an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and child labor indicating that at the beginning stage of economic development, child labor increases due to lower per capita household and subsequently, in the long-run of economic development, child labor decreases due to the higher per capita households. Moreover, the results also show that exports, household size and rural population have a positive influence on increasing child labor.

The policymakers and government of Pakistan need to focus on long-term economic growth policies, ensure free quality education and cheap equipment which practices minimum manpower to reduce the threat of child labor.

Having long-run economic growth, the government of Pakistan need to equally benefit the households and the poor population to reduce child labor and enhance the social welfare of society.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the Kuznets curve relationship between economic growth and child labor in the context of Pakistan. Moreover, this study contributes to the reduction in child labor through long-term economic growth in the context of Pakistan.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0387

The paper aims to study the influence of Industry 4.0 technologies on the business sustainability of private hospitals by focusing on the mediating role of total quality management practices in private hospitals in the West Bank.

Data from the top and middle managers of private hospitals in the West Bank regions of Palestine were collected through a questionnaire assessed for validity and reliability. Furthermore, we used the structural equation modelling technique of partial least squares for the data analysis.

The findings confirm that Industry 4.0 technologies do not affect business sustainability. The findings also emphasise the association between Industry 4.0 technologies and total quality management philosophy, and total quality management completely mediates the relationship between Industry 4.0 and business sustainability.

This study provides practical implications for achieving the hospital sector's sustainability by merging Industry 4.0 technologies with total quality management practices, which provides valuable insights into the hospital's policies and practices and individuals vital to data exchange and policy enforcement within the sustainability of organisations.

This study is one of the first to investigate the combined effects of Industry 4.0 technologies, total quality management and business sustainability in the healthcare industry following the COVID-19 outbreak. This research is one of few empirical works exploring the interface between Industry 4.0 technologies and total quality management in developing countries, specifically Palestine.

This paper aims to identify the success factors (SFs) for total quality management (TQM) implementation in automotive spare parts companies to improve their business performance. It also intends to rank these factors in a hierarchical structure in descending order of their criticality.

In this study, a significant number of automotive spare parts companies were extensively surveyed to ascertain the contributions made by various factors toward the successful deployment of TQM practices. The collective and individual evaluation and ranking of the SFs were determined using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach to develop the framework based on the prioritisation of the identified SFs.

The findings of the study show that five success factors, namely, internal environment, top management involvement, process management, supplier management and external environment, were ranked as critical factors with a total weight of 49.2%. Nine success factors, namely, employee training, teamwork, customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, communications, using new technologies, zero-defect processes, employee empowerment and benchmarking, were ranked as important with a total weight of 39.1%. The last five success factors, namely, strategic planning, quality policy, employee satisfaction, self-assessment and cost of quality, were ranked as minor factors with a total weight of 11.7%.

The current study adds to the existing body of knowledge for scholars and practitioners of TQM by specifically focusing on identifying and categorising the critical SFs for TQM implementation. The 19 categorised critical SFs have been used to construct a framework for TQM implementation in the Palestinian automotive spare parts companies. Such a framework would offer a comprehensive overview of the SFs, their categories, significance and priorities within a TQM environment in the automotive spare parts companies.

This paper aims to examine existing literature on halal food consumption from the perspective of consumer behaviour research. It identifies progress, current state and gaps and provides direction for future research to advance the field.

This paper reviewed papers from 2007 to 2023 using Scopus and WOS databases. The review used the Theories–Context–Characteristics–Methods (TCCM) framework and followed the scientific procedures and rationales for systematic literature reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol.

The review summarises the methods, theory and approaches used in the topic and presents key findings and a proposed framework. It can guide future researchers in developing their models, making it a valuable starting point for future research. Despite the existence of SRL in halal food to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first review that proposes a model for halal food in consumer behaviour.

This review provides a twofold contribution. First, this review's theoretical contribution is advancing consumer behaviour literature on halal food. Second, this work's practical contribution is to enrich practitioners' understanding of the antecedents of consumer behaviour regarding halal food. This is the first review proposing a consumer behaviour model for Halal food. It makes a theoretical contribution to understanding consumer behaviour on Halal food and provides practical insights for practitioners.

Reconstruction of old buildings is often necessary after prolonged usage, but these projects encounter various complexities, leading to their failure. However, there is a lack of studies that focus on investigating the complexity of old building reconstruction initiatives. Thus, this study aims to examine the complexity of reconstruction projects for old buildings in Vietnamese urban areas.

Through a literature review and discussions with experienced practitioners, 12 significant complexity factors were identified. The study then utilized the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique to analyze the interrelationships among these complexity factors.

The findings revealed intricate interdependencies among the complexity factors, visualized in a complexity map. The map highlighted the critical complexities of site compensation, clearance and the long project duration. Furthermore, a causal diagram categorized the complexity factors into net-effect and net-cause groups.

By examining the relationships and interactions among these factors, the study emphasizes the interconnected nature of complex systems and the influence of one factor on others. Therefore, decision-makers and stakeholders involved in reconstructing old buildings are suggested to possess a comprehensive understanding of these interdependencies to ensure effective decision-making.

This study aims to assess the information-seeking behaviors, attitudes and beliefs about pregnancy-related nutrition, food-related myths and taboos and supplementation among pregnant women in different communities of Pakistan.

A cross-sectional quantitative survey method was used in this study, which included 150 pregnant women from various locations in Lahore and Faisalabad.

Most participants were between the ages of 25 and 29, having 14 years of education. Regardless of age or number of children, all selected women had the same dietary awareness. Regarding myths and taboos, highly significant values (p = 0.001) were found in various studied variables. No significant difference was observed in knowledge level between age and number of children. It was observed that food myths and taboos significantly (p = 0.001) impact pregnant women’s dietary choices.

This survey experienced limited representativeness; many participants provided incomplete food and nutritional information. This research was conducted in two major districts of Pakistan, i.e. Lahore and Faisalabad; therefore, the results can be generalized for a population of pregnant women living in the northeastern region of Pakistan.

This study can provide helpful insight for health-care professionals to improve pregnant women’s nutritional status and knowledge.

The outcomes of this study can help guide how pregnant women might be educated and have better nutritional awareness at domestic and professional levels.

In Pakistan, there is a lack of research on pregnant women’s nutritional knowledge, and this research can assist health-care professionals in providing diversified knowledge to promote maternal health.

The use of social media for sustainable information is important since it has the potential to influence people’s intentions and behaviour towards sustainability. As previous studies on social media and sustainable development have primarily focussed on Western viewpoints, this study presents a comprehensive Asian perspective by investigating the impact of social media on sustainable intention and behaviour amongst Malaysian and Indonesian undergraduate university students.

A campus-wide online survey was conducted with 953 students from Malaysia and Indonesia. The researchers collected data through an online questionnaire and a two-week quantitative survey of undergraduate students in Malaysia and Indonesia. Quantitative data were analysed by SmartPLS software and comparative studies were conducted.

The result of the survey indicated that Facebook and Instagram were mainly used by Malaysian students to obtain and communicate about sustainability information, whilst Instagram was mainly used by Indonesian students. The findings also discovered that social media usage and social media effectiveness and usefulness are statistically significant predictors of sustainable intention amongst the students in Malaysia and Indonesia. Sustainable intention is also a statistically significant predictor of sustainable behaviour amongst the students. Additionally, this study also found that Malaysian students appeared to have a high level of the effect of sustainable intention on sustainable behaviour and the effect of the effectiveness and usefulness of social media to sustainable intention compared to Indonesian students. On the contrary, their use of social media related to sustainable behaviour was relatively low compared to Indonesian students.

Overall, the findings can contribute to the presently scant empirical works that focus on social media’s influence on sustainability and sustainable development. Furthermore, the findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge related to sustainability communication and sustainable education, particularly in terms of the use of social media in the learning and teaching process. Future research could focus on studying postgraduate students and university students from other Asian countries. Moreover, using qualitative methods like in-depth interviews or focus group discussion and applying other theories might unveil further results.

This study examines the relationship between board gender diversity (BGD) and financial performance (FP) in the Malaysian emerging market, focusing on the mediating role of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance.

Using a dataset of 976 observations from Malaysian publicly listed companies from 2016 to 2023, this study explores BGD as the independent variable with FP measured through both accounting and market metrics. ESG performance serves as a mediating variable. The analysis employs Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to examine direct and mediating effects, supplemented by the Baron and Kenny approach and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) regression for robustness.

The findings indicate that higher BGD positively and significantly impacts all three performance measures: Tobin's Q (TQ), Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). ESG performance positively influences these measures. The SEM analysis reveals a significant positive impact of BGD on ESG performance, which fully mediates the relationship between BGD and TQ/ROA and partially mediates the relationship between BGD and ROE.

The results have significant implications for policymakers, board members, scholars and investors, stressing the importance of gender diversity and ESG performance in improving FP. The findings suggest that enhancing board effectiveness through BGD can promote sustainable practices and align corporate strategies with broader sustainability goals, which eventually helps to improve companies’ FP.

This research contributes to the literature by highlighting the mediating role of ESG performance in the relationship between BGD and FP and emphasizing the importance of gender diversity in corporate sustainability. It addresses this gap by providing insights into how ESG performance enhances the impact of BGD on FP.

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine the ethical implications surrounding generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Leveraging a novel methodological approach, the study curates a corpus of 364 documents from Scopus spanning 2022 to 2024. Using the term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and structural topic modeling (STM), it quantitatively dissects the thematic essence of the ethical discourse in generative AI across diverse domains, including education, healthcare, businesses and scientific research.

The results reveal a diverse range of ethical concerns across various sectors impacted by generative AI. In academia, the primary focus is on issues of authenticity and intellectual property, highlighting the challenges of AI-generated content in maintaining academic integrity. In the healthcare sector, the emphasis shifts to the ethical implications of AI in medical decision-making and patient privacy, reflecting concerns about the reliability and security of AI-generated medical advice. The study also uncovers significant ethical discussions in educational and financial settings, demonstrating the broad impact of generative AI on societal and professional practices.

This study provides a foundation for crafting targeted ethical guidelines and regulations for generative AI, informed by a systematic analysis using STM. It highlights the need for dynamic governance and continual monitoring of AI’s evolving ethical landscape, offering a model for future research and policymaking in diverse fields.

The study introduces a unique methodological combination of TF-IDF and STM to analyze a large academic corpus, offering new insights into the ethical implications of generative AI across multiple domains.

The purpose of this study is to explore the continuity and stability of the impact of accounting information quality on cash holdings, and the moderating effect of this relationship on state ownerships and local appointments.

Based on China's companies from 2011 to 2019, the authors divided cross-section and panel samples, adopted a linear and classification model and performed grouping regression.

The authors find that: first, the quality of corporate accounting information can significantly improve the level of cash holding, giving play to the strategic value effect of cash holding. But that boost is based on economies being able to solve agency problems. Second, the reduction of earnings management and the improvement of accounting information quality of NSOEs improve the level of cash holdings, while SOEs are on the contrary. Third, local appointments can play to the emotional strengths of their hometowns and play a synergistic role in this relationship, but the supervision effect of remote appointments is not obvious.

Through endogeneity and other tests, the conclusion is robust. Based on the agency and information asymmetry theory, the authors considered China's institutional and cultural factors, optimized accounting information's measurement and expanded the research boundary of the accounting field. The authors believe that applicable scenarios should be fully considered in the concluding relationship between accounting information quality and cash holdings. Enterprises should give full play to the advantages of cash holdings in strategic decision-making and financial efficiency, improve the quality of accounting information and also consider state ownerships and the differences in directors' emotions to reduce internal agency costs.