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The proliferation of digital tools and instant access to information has diversified reading habits among Generation Z (Gen Z) students. The primary objective of this study is to examine the reading habits of Gen Z students at Dhaka University.

A survey questionnaire method was employed to collect data from 354 university students. We collected research data through printed questionnaires, and randomly selected students to answer survey questions. A total of 500 printed questionnaires were distributed to the seminar library, university hall library and Dhaka University library. Additional efforts made to engage students in classrooms.

Students prefer printed materials, particularly fiction and enjoy reading at home. The majority have emerged as dormant readers and prefer using mobile phones for reading. Hobbies and interests have been identified as significant influencers in shaping reading habits. Promoting a reading culture, improving access to books, integrating technology, expanding fiction collections, creating engaging content and tailoring outreach strategies are key steps to enhancing the reading habits of the Gen Z students in Bangladesh.

These findings provide valuable guidance for policymakers and educators seeking to foster effective reading habits among students by aligning strategies with their preferences and needs.

This study offers original insights into the reading habits of Gen Z students at Dhaka University, focus on enhancing library collections, particularly in fiction literature, addresses challenges such as space constraints and reflects innovative approaches to fostering improved reading habits among students.

The purpose of this study is to measure the awareness of the global university ranking and its parameters among the faculty members at Dhaka University. This also identifies the challenges linked to university ranking and explores opportunities to overcome these challenges.

The target population of this study is the faculty members of Dhaka University. This study used the online survey questionnaire method, contacting approximately 2,000 faculty members individually through their email addresses. In total, 311 faculty members responded, and the response rate was 15.55%. Data were collected from September to December 2022, and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyze the survey data.

The findings indicate that a majority of the faculty members are acquainted with global university rankings, with Times Higher Education being the most recognized. Faculty members at Dhaka University are confident in their ability to excel in research and citation weighting scores in the ranking parameters. However, challenges such as a lack of incentives, inadequate recruitment policies, limited research funding, minimal collaboration, a scarcity of international students and faculty and limited local journal publications hinder the university’s ranking.

Due to the limited number of responses, the findings may not accurately represent the entire faculty. The findings of this study can guide Dhaka University and other universities to design policies for overall improvement of university ranking.

This is the first time an attempt has been made to measure the awareness of university ranking by collecting primary data in the context of a public university in Bangladesh.

This research investigates the moderating impact of independent directors on the relationship between tax avoidance and the key characteristics of the listed firms, namely profitability, company size and leverage in an emerging nation setting.

The generalised method of moments (GMM) technique, dynamic ordinary least squares and second-generation unit root test are used in this study. A long-term cointegration of the variables is supported by the Kao residual cointegration test.

The current study finds that a company’s profitability, firm size and independent directors have a considerable favourable impact on corporate tax avoidance. In addition, independent directors have a negative and significant moderating effect on the association between firm size, profitability and tax avoidance. This relationship implies that the presence of independent directors can lessen the tax avoidance practice of business firms.

Our findings highlight the importance of including independent directors to improve corporate governance, reduce tax avoidance and make better-informed investment decisions. It also highlights the role of policymakers and regulatory bodies in implementing laws, providing guidance and transparency and ensuring active shareholder engagement.

As far as the authors are aware, this is the first research conducted in Bangladesh to examine the influence of independent directors on a company’s likelihood of engaging in tax avoidance.

The study aims to assess the awareness, perception and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in Bangladesh’s healthcare sector.

This study utilizes a quantitative methodology. A survey with structured questionnaire was conducted with a sample of 399 healthcare professionals and public members through stratified random sampling. Descriptive statistics summarized participant demographics, while inferential statistical techniques, including regression analysis, examined relationships between AI readiness and adoption.

Using a conceptual framework, the study explored factors influencing AI adoption in Bangladesh’s healthcare sector. The measurement model confirmed reliability and validity, with strong factor loadings and discriminant validity. Structural model analysis revealed that social media influence (SMI) and technological awareness (TA) significantly enhanced readiness for AI (RAI) (path coefficients: 0.354 and 0.162, respectively). Perceived risk (PR) had a weaker positive effect (0.123), while perceived susceptibility (PS) and personal innovativeness (PI) were insignificant. Mediation analysis showed that RAI significantly mediated the effects of TA and PR on the adaptation of AI (AAI).

The study suggests policymakers develop robust regulatory frameworks to address privacy concerns, enhance trust in AI and implement educational initiatives to improve AI literacy among healthcare stakeholders in Bangladesh.

This study offers insights into AI adoption in Bangladesh’s healthcare sector. It addresses gaps in awareness and perceptions among professionals and the public, contributing to the limited research in this context.

Lean Manufacturing Systems (LMS) gained popularity among manufacturers globally. However, their efficacy in developing and least-developed countries remained noticeably understudied. Motivated by this research gap, the researchers of this study designed a quantitative study with a structured survey technique to investigate its context-specific impact on the apparel industry of a developing country. Hence, this study aimed to examine the relationship between LMS and elimination of waste (EOW) and operational performance (OP) and comprehend how the EOW mediates the relationship between an LMS and OP within the apparel industry of a developing economy.

The researchers collected data from 227 garment companies in Bangladesh. These organization-level data were then analyzed using the structural equation modeling approach with AMOS 20.0 software to examine the direct and indirect effects among EOW, LMS and OP.

The findings of this study suggest that EOW has a direct and significant effect on OP. This research also revealed that EOW has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between LMS and OP.

This research focused on a single industry administering self-reported data and cross-sectional design, limiting generalizability and causal inference.

LMS and directing efforts towards EOW can significantly improve the operational performance of apparel companies by reducing lead times and costs, improving quality and increasing productivity.

These findings can provide useful insight to managers, practitioners and future researchers to understand the relationship between EOW, LMS and OP to optimize their production processes and improve OP in the apparel industry.

This study aims to identify how the involvement of female university students in volunteer organisations is contributing to their self-empowerment in Bangladesh.

A cross-sectional study with a qualitative approach was conducted. A total of 20 in-depth interviews with female student volunteers, two focus group discussions with student members of the volunteer organisation and ten key informant interviews with academics, gender experts and high-level representatives of civil society organisations were conducted. The data were collected from eight purposively selected universities in Dhaka. The data were collected between 1 January 2023 and 23 March 2023.

The inter-organisational environment appears to be supportive and welcoming, despite the fact that some male colleagues belittle women with insulting comments. Female students are predominantly involved in public presentation activities and their advice is rarely considered. To reach a top position, they have to show more commitment than their male colleagues. Subjective prejudices discourage women from taking on positions of responsibility. Participation in voluntary organisations strengthens the self-confidence, critical thinking, networking and social capital of female students, making it easier for them to gain employment. These factors contribute to the empowerment of female students.

This study is an excellent empirical document that establishes a link between the empowerment of female students and their participation in voluntary activities. The recommendations of this study pave the way for future research in different countries on how volunteering helps young people, especially female students, to shape their future by taking on social responsibility alongside their academic activities.

This study aims to investigate the sustainable development goals (SDGs) awareness of public librarians, their perceived understanding of public libraries to achieve United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) and identify the challenges affect the library adoption to SDGs.

In this study, a quantitative survey method was used to collect responses. The study population was all head of public libraries in Bangladesh. Seventy-one personalized individual e-mails with a link to a Web-based questionnaire were sent out to the public librarians (head of public libraries) inviting them to participate in this study. Fifty-nine responded to the survey, which was 83.09% of all population.

The findings revealed that public librarians working in different public libraries were generally aware of UNSDGs. The perceived understanding on the role of public libraries to achieve SDGs varies from SDG#1 to SDG1#7. However, most of the librarians’ responses ranked well in line with SDGs#1, #2, #3, #4 and #17, and they believed that their public libraries are doing well on some of these goals. Out of 17 SDGs, public libraries are working well on 7 goals. Lack of SDG-related activities, awareness, funds, implementation plan and unwillingness of the policymakers are challenges identified in this study.

There are not many studies on public libraries in Bangladesh, and the research areas are not diverse. There are only few studies in this area, and there is a need for different kinds of studies to reach a better overview and understanding when developing public library services to support SDGs. This could serve as the basis for a deeper study.

Internships are widely used as one of the best learning tools for professional practice. The purpose of this research paper is to comprehend to what extent the LIS interns become competent with practical tasks through this program, current facilities offered by the internship-offering institutions and their plan in this regard.

This study used a mixed-method approach. To examine LIS students’ practical experience, this study conducted a survey. Participants were 110 students having internship experience from the LIS bachelor’s degree offering universities of Bangladesh. For qualitative data, representatives of internship-offering institutions were interviewed.

Results indicate that there is a certain lack of coordination between theoretical knowledge with practical demonstrations. Some essential ICT-based tasks missed out from this program like library automation software (e.g. KOHA); online-based cataloging such as Machine Readable Cataloguing, Resource Description and Access; digital library software (Greenstone); Institutional Repository software (Dspace, EPrint, etc.); virtual library services; radio frequency identification, etc. which should be taken into consideration in internship modules. Including faculty members and practitioners is suggested for a model internship framework ensuring ever-advanced LIS education. There is no significant difference between interns’ gender with their satisfaction level.

The major limitation of this study is the absence of coverage of faculty perceptions regarding Internships. As in the higher education institution, the three stakeholder groups’ subsets, namely, faculty members, practitioners and students are parallelly important to take any initiative.

The input from interns will assist the industries in redesigning their modules in light of interns’ feedback to best prepare interns for the competitive job market.

Internship in LIS education is not a new research area; however, research attempts to show students’ experience along with organizations’ preparedness in offering internships is new in nature.

Both QS World university rankings and US higher education accreditation agencies provide external quality evaluation for institutions to deliver quality control and assurance, which causes ample criticism about the academic freedom of teaching staff. Moreover, Austria-based Green Pedagogy advocates outcome-based sustainable quality learning, which promotes teachers’ psychological empowerment and autonomy and the UNESCO model of education advances a transformative paradigm to sustain social, economic and environmental well-being. In this backdrop, this study aims to attain two objectives: the first is to conceptualize a research framework investigating psychological empowerment for predicting faculty academic autonomy, which, in turn, influences sustainable quality education in private higher education institutes (HEIs); and the second is to explore the expert opinion on the suitability of an approach to sustainable quality education between the movements of Green Pedagogy and the UNESCO model globally.

To attain the objectives, this study uses a model of psychological empowerment (MPE) as its theoretical basis. The data (n = 390) was electronically collected from the teachers of 21 private universities through a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed following the procedure of Smart-PLS-SEM. Respondents were selected based on a random sampling procedure.

Findings of this study indicate that psychological empowerment significantly influences teacher autonomy, which significantly influences sustainable quality education. The findings also highlight that the scholars vie for the Green Pedagogy in comparison to Education for Sustainable Development to ensure sustainable quality education in private HEIs. Furthermore, content analyses show that the US higher education accreditation process dilutes faculty academic freedom as well as quality education.

From a research perspective, this study results demonstrate that the MPE appears to be a robust theoretical approach. It also implies that a psychologically empowered teacher is characterized by greater autonomy, responsibility, belief in their competences and application of them in work practice and ability to teach their students effectively. Future research needs further investigation to reconfirm the results.

From a practical standpoint, the results of this study have significant and pervasive lessons for the administrators and academic leaders in HEIs. First, the management of HEIs can capitalize to psychologically empower the faculty members and also allow adequate academic autonomy to ensure sustainable quality education. Second, this study highlights that the Green Pedagogy approach is practically more suitable to attain sustainability in HEIs. And third, with the advancement of new technology, faculty members have to prepare themselves with improved knowledge and pedagogy techniques for which they need to be empowered more by allowing significant level of faculty autonomy.

Social implications of this study are that Green Pedagogy is observed to be superior to UNESCO model in terms of ensuring sustainable quality education by which the students and teachers can contribute more in social and community development.

This study has a significant empirical contribution in understanding the importance of faculty empowerment and freedom or autonomy to ensure sustainable quality learning embodying the Green Pedagogy approach in HEIs, when international HEIs are competing for accreditation and QS rankings.

Bangladesh recently experienced frequent demonstrations by drivers of ridesharing applications. Since the drivers are not excluded from the technology environment, rather they are a part of the digital ecosystem, these protests may point toward the existence of unequal interactional outcomes for different stakeholders afforded by the digital system within the country’s social and cultural contexts. This research is an attempt to unveil the reasons behind value inequality experienced by drivers of ridesharing applications in Bangladesh and understand how power asymmetries influence adverse digital incorporation that can result in the emergence of resistance.

We obtain the data by conducting interviews with 91 drivers of ridesharing platforms in Dhaka, Bangladesh and analyze our data using thematic analysis. We propose an integrated framework unifying adverse digital incorporation (ADI) with the “powercube” model to illuminate our inquiry.

We find the existence of all three drivers to ADI – ignorance/deceit, direct compulsion and exclusion – exclusion being the most prevalent – that are experienced by the drivers of ridesharing applications in Bangladesh. We also find support for the four causes behind value inequality – design inequality, resource inequality, institutional inequality and relational inequality with the respondents placing the highest emphasis on relational inequality. There are visible, hidden and invisible forms of power involved in how the drivers are incorporated into the ridesharing platforms. The forms of power in the platform environment are exercised primarily in closed spaces and the invited spaces for the drivers are very few. The drivers in response to the closed spaces of power create their own space (claimed space) through the help of social media and other messaging apps. We also find that the power over the drivers is exercised at global, national and local levels.

Our research identifies norms specific to the social and cultural contexts of Bangladesh and can help decision-makers to make more informed choices during the formulation of future digital platform guidelines. Based on the research findings, the paper also makes short-term and long-term policy recommendations.

This research has implications for creating a decent work environment for ridesharing drivers which broadly falls under the Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that integrates the ADI model with the “powercube” framework to reveal that the drivers working on the ridesharing platforms in Bangladesh are adversely incorporated into the digital system where value inequalities are operating within the power dimensions.