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This study explores the adoption of crowdfunding in Pakistan, focusing on the challenges and opportunities within its unique entrepreneurial ecosystem. The research aims to provide insights into the regulatory mechanisms, stakeholder engagement and institutional factors influencing crowdfunding adoption.

Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted using a purposive sampling technique. Data was collected from diverse stakeholders involved in the crowdfunding process including investors, entrepreneurs, platform owners and regulators.

The study identifies various challenges, including regulatory gaps, investor concerns, platform-related issues and systemic challenges such as political instability and weak institutions. These challenges hinder the effective implementation of crowdfunding in Pakistan. Moreover, the study highlights opportunities for financial inclusion, bridging the gap between investors and entrepreneurs, and leveraging Pakistan’s entrepreneurial landscape for crowdfunding growth. While several challenges were common to both developed and developing countries, the study also identified distinct challenges such as digital literacy, reliance on the undocumented economy, insufficient regulatory frameworks and investor mindset specific to developing countries.

Since crowdfunding is an emerging phenomenon in Pakistan, this study had limitations as no official crowdfunding platform other than the Pakistan National Investor Portal had started operations. Therefore, this study involved only those stakeholders who were involved in designing regulatory sandbox suggestions. The sample size could be increased to include stakeholders from other developing countries in the future. This article, however, provides significant strategic guidance for policymakers in developing a framework to improve financial inclusion in development.

The study provides critical areas of concern for regulatory authorities for developing appropriate legislation to help overcome the challenges to the institutionalization of crowdfunding. This study also encourages stakeholders like investors and entrepreneurs to participate in crowdfunding while looking at the perspective of other parties.

This research highlights the need for the Pakistani society to be well-informed about alternative investment opportunities, like crowdfunding. The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, along with the government, can also explore the benefits of crowdfunding to address their lack of access to capital and enable the inclusion of an informal economy to reduce poverty in a developing country.

Crowdfunding is a new phenomenon in Pakistan, and the scope of its application in the MSME sector has not been thoroughly investigated. This study reveals how micro and small firms can use crowdfunding to boost their economic operations by overcoming challenges and taking advantage of fintech (financial technology) to achieve financial inclusion, leading to economic sustainability.

Developing and maintaining green innovation (GI) and environmental performance (EP) has become a significant challenge for every organization. The present paper attempts to confirm the contributions of technology leadership (TL) and green HRM (GHRM) to green work engagement (GWE), GI and EP. The study also recognizes GWE’s contribution to connecting TL, GHRM, GI and EP.

The study applies a deductive approach where data are gathered through questionnaires from employees of manufacturing firms in Egypt. Consequently, the study utilizes 312 cases to draw its conclusions.

With regard to analysis, the researcher used path analysis through AMOS and established a positive effect of TL on GI and EP but a negative on GWE. GHRM has been confirmed to predict GWE, GI and EP positively. Furthermore, GWE positively influences GI and EP among the employees of manufacturing firms in Egypt. The indirect paths establish a significant contribution of GWE in developing the links between TL and EP, GHRM, GI and EP. On the other hand, it negatively affects the link between TL and GI.

The study assists employers in setting green goals for their employees by offering the required knowledge, skills and training for green environmental management. The study also benefits employees’ workplace green behaviors in performance appraisals and promotions.

The study’s originality assists in overcoming the remaining gaps in the literature by enriching the penetration of the literature from a developing context.

The main objective of this study is to assess kinship employee engagement as a mediating variable in the relationship between person–organization–fit (P-O Fit) and person–job–fit with turnover intention.

This research was conducted at creative industry micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The number of respondents was 331 MSME employees. The distribution of questionnaires was carried out using offline and online systems through direct questions and Google forms. The data analysis tool used was structural equation modelling.

The findings of this study revealed that kinship employee engagement is proven to mediate the relationship between P-O-fit and P-J-fit on turnover intention.

This research provides a new perspective on social exchanges, namely, exchanges that are intangible based on the relationship between employees, leaders and owners of micro and small medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the form of kinship employee engagement. Employees who feel P-O Fit and P-J fit with their organizations will exhibit positive behavior in the form of kinship employee engagement.

The first practical implication is that MSME superiors/owners must pay more attention to P-O fit; one way to do this is to assess P-O fit at the recruitment and selection stage. This may be useful for organizations that hire and retain employees whose goals and values closely match those of the organization. With regard to the P-J fit relationship, and turnover intention, which turns out to have a negative relationship, this finding has implications for the formulation of policies that should not only focus on increasing the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees but also on fulfilling their wishes. For example, providing employees with training, self-development opportunities, flexible working hours and competitive salaries will strengthen their level of compatibility with their jobs, which in turn will reduce the willingness of employees to leave their jobs.

In social practice, kinship employee engagement can be applied to MSMEs. When MSME owners have limited funds, facilities, etc., to bind employees, they can apply kinship to employees so that they are more attached to MSMEs.

This study is among the first to introduce a new construct (kinship employee engagement) which is an extension of the engagement construct that is more specific and follows the MSME context, and is the first study to propose kinship employee engagement as a mediating variable in the relationship between P-O-fit and P-J-fit on turnover intention.

Artificial intelligence (AI) carries the risk of widening gender inequalities due to the digital divide, while simultaneously promising to equalise the situation for women through the gender digital dividend. The conflicting findings from previous studies justify the need to investigate the gendered aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) diffusion. Specifically, the aim of this chapter is to understand the relationship between female entrepreneurship and the adoption of AI technologies within business contexts at the macroeconomic level. To achieve this, cluster analyses are conducted for the European Union (EU) countries. The results indicate an inverted U-shaped pattern in the relationship between the level of female entrepreneurship and the diffusion of AI technology in business. In the EU countries belonging to clusters with the highest level of AI diffusion, female entrepreneurship is at a moderate level, while in the EU countries with the lowest level of intelligent transformation, both extremes are observed: the highest and the lowest levels of female entrepreneurship. The variety of patterns in female entrepreneurship and AI technology spread in the EU countries implies the complex and multidimensional nature of the interrelationship, and, thus, it indicates the need for diverse, country-specific policies and practices to reach the intelligent transformation with respect to more equal society.

From 1979 to 2023, the takaful structure has been adopted in many jurisdictions, making the documenting of its early days of establishment relatively difficult and somewhat unreliable. This is unlike conventional insurance, where the history and legislation are well documented and archived in various research (Hellwege, 2016; Marano and Siri, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to provide a chronology for the establishment and development of takaful via the takaful establishment in each jurisdiction, documenting its first takaful operator and first takaful regulation.

This paper has used a qualitative method in the form of reviewing literature and available data such as journals, books and official resources. The data is thoroughly analysed in order to build the chronology for takaful. It adopted an exploratory research design, which is deemed suitable in situations where few works of literature have examined the subject (Neuman, 2014). The paper explores the establishment and non-establishment of takaful in 57 countries. The paper categorises the countries into seven regions starting with the GCC, Levant, Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Europe and Others.

The takaful chronology presented in this paper shows that takaful operations exist in 47 jurisdictions, starting from Sudan and the UAE in 1979, with the most recent adopters being Morocco and Iran in December 2021. It is found that 22 jurisdictions do not have takaful regulations, and the Takaful Act 1984, issued in Malaysia, is considered the first takaful regulation that sets the basis for other regulations that follow.

The paper contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive chronology of takaful, especially as the few existing timelines have been found to be incomplete and consist of contradictory information.

Building on upper-echelon and institutional theories, this study aims to investigate the relationship between CEO integrity and corporate sustainable development goals (SDGs) disclosures. It focuses on the mediating role of business reputation and the moderating influence of country-level competitiveness (HC-C).

The study is based on a comprehensive data set of 3,588 firm-year observations from Fortune-listed businesses from 2016 to 2023. It uses a multilevel generalized linear mixed-effects model with Heckman’s two-step adjustments to control endogeneity.

The study yields a significant finding: CEO integrity is a key driver of enhanced SDG disclosures, with business reputation playing a crucial mediating role. Moreover, home country competitiveness (HC-C) strengthens the relationship between CEO integrity and corporate SDG disclosures, suggesting practical implications for firms operating in different contexts in different countries.

The research offers valuable insights into how firm reputation intervenes in the relationship between CEO integrity and SDG disclosure. It also provides a deeper understanding of how country-level competitiveness augments this relationship, empowering firms to make informed decisions when operating in different countries.

This study significantly contributes to the Upper echelon theory, which states that senior executives’ traits strongly influence organizational outcomes, making CEO integrity especially important. It also contributes to the institutional theory by arguing that legal frameworks and social norms shape firms’ strategic choices.

This study investigates how tertiary education in Bangladesh can promote gender equality by integrating feminine writing into the academic environment. It examines feminine writing as a vehicle for empowering female students, encouraging critical thinking and challenging societal norms that perpetuate gender inequality.

This study follows a quantitative research methodology. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 672 students from various educational institutions across Bangladesh. Based on a research framework driven by critical pedagogy theory, the data analysis employed descriptive and inferential statistics to explore relationships among variables.

The findings indicate that 76.8% of female students engage in personal narratives and 54.9% in feminist essays, showing a significant preference for feminine writing. Female students (70.1%) exhibit greater awareness of gender issues than male students (29.9%). Arts and social sciences students show the highest engagement in gender discussions (52.7%) and are more likely to perceive supportive environments for feminine writing (65.9%). However, students in vocational fields report only 15.5% engagement in gender-related discussions and significantly lower institutional support. These disparities highlight the need for inclusive academic frameworks encouraging broader participation in gender discourse across all disciplines.

The study emphasizes embedding feminine writing and gender perspectives across curricula to foster gender equality in Bangladesh’s higher education sector. To create a more supportive academic environment, policymakers and educational institutions must integrate gender-related content across all disciplines, particularly in science, business, vocational and technical fields.

As one of the first studies to examine the intersection of tertiary education, feminine writing and gender equality in Bangladesh, this research offers new insights into the role of higher education in fostering gender empowerment and critical engagement with societal norms. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of how academic settings can serve as transformative spaces for promoting gender equality and inclusive self-expression.

This study aims to discuss literature of zakat collection, particularly to compare what Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), as the two most popular databases, provide to complete the pattern and the direction of future research of zakat collection using bibliometric analysis.

This study collected 266 manuscripts from the Scopus database and 106 manuscripts from the WoS database covering more than three decades from 1987 to the beginning of 2023.

This study identifies a wider horizon of future research of zakat collection literature. Where Scopus database mostly discusses the connection between the state, government and zakat, meanwhile the WoS database discusses smaller scope of zakat collection, which includes zakat institution and its governance along with behavioural and commitment of zakat payers.

The results imply that future research agenda may include the discussion of state-government-zakat collection policy connection and behavioural and commitment of zakat payers.

The results also imply to widening and deepening the zakat collection. Further, it also implies to administratively to zakat agencies/zakat institution.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first study (or the first) that compare Scopus and WoS database in the zakat collection literature.

In the present era, the achievement of employee Islamic performance has become a significant challenge for organizations. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of Islamic leadership on employee Islamic performance directly and indirectly by bridging the connections between employees’ Islamic organizational values, Islamic organizational culture, and Islamic work motivation among the employees of Egyptian banks.

The authors used quantitative methods in this study and based its findings on the data received from 312 respondents in response to a questionnaire.

By using SmartPLS 4, this study’s findings demonstrate that Islamic leadership has a positive and significant effect on Islamic organizational values, culture, employee Islamic performance and work motivation. While Islamic organizational values and Islamic organizational culture do not significantly impact employee Islamic performance, Islamic work motivation is a significant predictor of employee Islamic performance. On the one hand, Islamic organizational values and Islamic organizational culture do not mediate the relationship between Islamic leadership and employee Islamic performance. On the other hand, Islamic work motivation is a mediating variable that significantly develops the relationship between Islamic leadership and employee Islamic performance.

The study’s findings support policymakers and human resource management practitioners to develop plans and strategies which enhance the Islamic performance of organizations’ employees. In addition, this study’s findings provide insights for researchers and academicians in developing Islamic leadership within their organizations so that they operate by Islamic values and codes.

Finally, by offering an integrated model of Islamic leadership, Islamic organizational values, Islamic organizational culture and employee Islamic performance, this study’s findings fill the gaps in the context of bank employees in a developing country, namely, Egypt.

This study aims to determine the influence of corporate governance characteristics on carbon emission disclosure in an emerging economy.

The study is based on S&P BSE 500 Indian firms for the period of 6 years from 2016–2017 to 2021–2022. The panel data regression models are used to gauge the association between corporate governance and carbon emission disclosure.

The empirical findings of the study support the positive and significant association between board activity intensity, environment committee and carbon emission disclosure. This evinced that the board activity intensity and presence of the environment committee have a critical role in carbon emission disclosure. On the contrary, findings reveal a significant and negative relationship between board size and carbon emission disclosure.

The present study provides treasured insights to regulators, policymakers, investors and corporate managers, as the study corroborates that various corporate governance characteristics exert significant influence on carbon emission disclosure.

The current research work provides novel insights into corporate governance and climate change literature that good corporate governance significantly boosts the carbon emission disclosure of firms. Previous studies examining the impact of corporate governance on carbon emission disclosure ignored emerging economies. Thus, the current work explores the role of governance mechanisms on carbon emission disclosure in an emerging context. Further, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the current study is the first of its kind to investigate the role of corporate governance on carbon emission disclosure in the Indian context.