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The study is aimed at examining the impact of ESG on the financial performance (FP) of firms and determining the difference between the impact of ESG on market-oriented financial performance measure (Tobin’s Q) and internal productivity-based financial measure (ROA). The study has also explored the influence of managerial ability and institutional quality as moderating variables on the relation between ESG and the financial performance of firms (both measures of FP: Tobin’s Q and ROA).

The study is quantitative exploratory and uses panel data of 687 publicly listed companies from the year 2013–2023. Data has been acquired from the reputed data providers and OLS regression has been used for panel data analysis with fixed effects.

The study reaffirms the positive impact of ESG on the financial performance of firms. Each pillar of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) has been found positively related to both measures of financial performance (Tobin’s Q and ROA). The study reveals that managerial ability and institutional quality, acting as supplementary variables, moderate the relationship between ESG and financial performance of firms.

A limited sample comprising data from only 687 firms was used for the analysis. The latest data was not available, therefore, data from 2013 to 2023 was used in the study.

This study indicates that ESG practices, which are mostly discretionary in Emerging Economies, can be induced through institutional pressures and ensuring higher quality managers. Policymakers in government institutions have to determine the inefficiencies, corrupt practices, and inconsistencies in policies that lower the effectiveness of institutions making them business-unfriendly. At the organizational level, policymakers need to ensure that responsible positions in the organization are held by managers with higher managerial ability. It is also to be ensured by shareholders that managers do not over-invest in ESG-related projects, particularly in organizations with weaker financial status. For managers, it is important to understand the positive benefits associated with ESG, even though they are in the long term.

In Emerging Economies, the official monitoring and regulatory mechanisms are weak, and lack a supportive attitude toward ESG initiatives. Voluntary and proactive firm-level environmental and social initiatives need to be encouraged and rewarded by institutions with public acknowledgment. ESG should be given priority by organizations for improving the quality of services and better social impact of businesses on society.

Most of the past research explored the impact of ESG on financial performance in advanced countries or in emerging markets in a single/limited number of countries or industries. Also, past studies investigated the impact of institutional quality and managerial ability on ESG/financial performance in separate models. Conversely, this study has used a multi-country and multi-industry sample for more generalizable findings. Against the backdrop of the institutional environment of Emerging Economies, the study extends Institutional Theory and Upper Echelon Theory to include the role of managerial ability and institutional quality in the relationship between ESG and firms’ financial performance.

The present study adopted a system thinking methodology to investigate the influence of top management commitment (TMC) on sustainable risk management (SRM) influenced by stakeholder pressures.

Three variables and 23 measurement items were derived from existing literature sources. Moreover, the methodology employed for data collection in this study involved a questionnaire. The constructs previously documented in the literature were utilized as the foundation for developing the questionnaire. Of 220 sent questionnaires, 106 valid responses were used for further analysis. To enhance objectivity, a causal loop diagram and a stock and flow diagram were created using a system thinking approach. These visual representations aim to illustrate the impact of top management factors on SRM under stakeholder pressure-related factors.

The results of the descriptive test indicate that the safety and quality issues emerged as the most significant, with the highest mean impact of 4.08 on sustainable risk impact assessments. Employee influence on customer relationships also showed a high mean impact of 4.08, while understanding customer requirements closely followed with a mean of 3.98. Additionally, causal loop analysis uncovered complex interconnections among these factors, emphasizing the intricate nature of SRM. Further, a five-year simulation analysis highlighted that SRM effectiveness is significantly enhanced when top management fosters a robust organizational culture. These findings emphasize the critical roles of safety, quality and customer-focused factors in sustainability, underscoring the importance of leadership in fostering effective, holistic sustainability and risk management strategies.

This research highlights top management’s pivotal role in effective SRM by integrating sustainability into core strategies. It identifies critical factors and emphasizes the solid organizational culture fostered by senior management, which is essential for long-term SRM effectiveness. The study’s focus on safety, quality and customer relations underscores the need for comprehensive sustainability strategies.

The purpose of this research is to determine a comprehensive coursework for teaching quality management in the universities of developing countries i.e. Pakistan pertinent to the construction industry. Additionally, a framework was also developed based on the results.

Factors and course contents of quality management are extracted through a content analysis of the published literature. Further, a questionnaire survey is conducted involving 150 professionals to assess the requirements of the industry and academic professionals of the construction industry for effective quality management. Finally, for getting a more objective perspective, using quality function deployment (QFD) matrix a framework is developed.

The results show the level of importance of each design requirement. We can identify the design requirements through which we can fulfill the needs and demands of the stakeholders. Contents like benchmarking, supply chain management, six sigma and other data analysis methods, costing and auditing of quality, customer satisfaction analysis, TQM: theory and practices and ISO certification processes and procedures should be included in any course program related to quality management pertinent to the construction industry. Along with these contents, workshops and seminars must be arranged to address the user requirement for increased leadership and communication skills.

There is a lack of literature available on course content for quality management in the universities for the construction sector, therefore, a huge scope of future research in the field of quality management in the construction industry needs to be investigated. This research highlights the most significant quality management factors and course contents as per the requirement of industry professionals. Therefore, this study adds to the existing body of knowledge by developing a robust framework that will help decision-makers and top management to develop constructive quality management course work at university level that will help in producing qualified and trained quality professionals to the construction industry.

Service–sales ambidexterity (SSA) offers sales managers crucial information about dealing with customer service failures through an effective management control system. This study aims to scrutinize the relationships among SSA, salesforce control system, salesperson’s role stressors and service recovery performance (SRP) in the business-to-business (B2B) context.

An analysis is conducted based on survey data collected from 586 B2B sales employees participating in an extensive survey. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the proposed hypotheses.

Empirical findings suggest that behavior-based control harms SSA. On the other hand, outcome-based control has a positive impact on SSA. The research outcomes further disclose that SSA positively impacts salesperson role conflict and emotional fatigue, whereas emotional fatigue negatively impacts SRP. Salesperson resilience notably moderates the association between SSA and emotional fatigue.

The study addresses there is a dearth of research on SSA applying the sales management control system. When studying about ambidexterity in sales context, many supervisory styles have been explored; however, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic attempt to understand how sales management control systems play a role in SSA.

Open government data (OGD) is making available data freely to all by the government with the aim to ensure accountability and transparency in government besides generating public value by its usage. OGD is an emerging government initiative in Pakistan, and there is a lot of potential for harnessing OGD for spearheading innovation and improvising services in different economic sectors. This paper aims to seek to investigate the usage of OGD in private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan.

Documentary analysis is conducted to review the national OGD portal of Pakistan. Besides, structured interviews were conducted with 49 senior management representatives from private sector and NGOs to solicit their perspectives regarding the usage of OGD for professional purposes. Also, questions were posed regarding the challenges in harnessing OGD for professional purposes.

OGD has immense usage for private sector and NGOs; however, more initiatives are required on the part of the government to open their data sets. Further, involvement of stakeholders from the private sector and NGOs and other interested partners is required for an optimum usage of OGD in different economic sectors of Pakistan.

As the research focuses on private sector and NGOs in Pakistan, the study requires a more broad-based approach to take into account the perspectives of different users. Further research is required to appreciate the role of contextual factors in determining the usage of OGD in Pakistan.

Government should be more forthcoming in its OGD initiatives and encourage collaboration from citizens, businesses, voluntary organizations and the like.

Working professionals from different economic sectors should tap OGD for generating value by improvising their services.

The study is the first one to be conducted in Pakistan about the OGD initiatives of the country. Soliciting views from the key management representatives in the private sector and NGOs, the paper contributed to the extant OGD literature which is more supply-focused and not demand-driven. While conceding that there are ample usages of OGD for the different economic sectors, the paper underlines the need for refining the OGD initiatives of Pakistan.

The primary study purpose is to examine whether managerial support triggers job crafting and sustainable employability, and to what extent work uncertainty moderates the managerial support and sustainable employability relationships mediated by job crafting using a moderated mediation approach. Thus, this study aims to uncover new antecedent and outcomes of job crafting using job demands and resources (JD–R) theory as no such research has yet examined these relationships.

The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was employed to test the proposed relationships based on survey data that include a final 483 knowledge workers of the services sector. The authors tested the structural model using self-developed estimates for AMOS 24.0 to examine the moderated mediation process models (process models 7, 14 and 58) rather than using a conventional process macro through SPSS.

Consistent with the formulated hypothesis, the results of this study indicate that managerial support directly stimulates job crafting and sustainable employability. Further, job crafting mediates the relationships between managerial support and sustainable employability. This validates the JD–R theory assumption that managerial support as job resources initiates a motivational process through job crafting, leading to sustainable employability as the outcome of the motivational process. Additionally, the moderated mediation results show that in the presence of high work uncertainty, employees are more engaged in job crafting to boost their sustainable employability.

Organizations may incorporate these findings while developing human resources (HR) management policies and practices to align top-down and bottom-up job re(design) approaches. For example, by designing line managers’ role in implementation of supportive HR practices, their supportive leadership behavior towards employees will successfully trigger job crafting and nurture their sustainable employability.

This research adds to the work design and employability literature. No such study has yet examined whether managerial support triggers job crafting and sustainable employability. Prior studies examine personality traits, some individual difference variable, job characteristics, or leadership influence as antecedents of job crafting. Utilizing the JD–R theory, we empirically validate that job crafting plays a vital role in the motivational process initiated by the job resources (managerial support), leading to sustainable employability as an outcome of the motivational process. The authors further show that in the presence of high job demands (work uncertainty), employees are more engaged in job crafting and more conscious to boost their sustainable employability.

This study aims to investigate the hierarchical relationship between industry-specific attributes of supply chain (SC) strategies and information technology (IT) to improve the performance of firms in textile industry in Pakistan.

This study presents a mix of enablers through literature review and experts’ opinions. Next, the driving and dependence powers of enablers were identified, using the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach.

The ISM model suggests eight levels, with customer satisfaction at the top of the model. Process automation and TQM are placed at second and third level, respectively, whereas flexible sourcing and flexible capacity are positioned at fourth level. The key enablers of IT have high driving power, hence positioned at the bottom of ISM model.

This study has value for firms in garment manufacturing and exporting industry to invest into IT and sustainable SC design for competitive performance. The theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

The purpose of this research is to quantify the effect of stakeholder conflicts on project constraints in the construction industry using ordinal regression analysis. For this purpose, the most significant project constraints and factors that cause stakeholder conflicts found in the literature are measured.

Factors causing stakeholder conflicts and project constraints are extracted through a content analysis of the published literature. Further, a questionnaire survey is conducted involving 170 professionals to assess the effect of conflicts on project constraints. Finally, to obtain a more objective assessment, a statistical model is developed, and to highlight the most severe factors causing conflict and impacting project constraints, ordinal regression analysis is performed.

The results show that in the construction industry, all project constraints are affected by stakeholder conflicts. Factors that result in stakeholder conflicts indicated a positive relationship with cost, time and resources. This means that any increase or decrease in the effect of stakeholder conflicts will directly influence these three project constraints. Similarly, a negative relationship was observed between stakeholder conflicts and quality, workforce productivity, protection of environment and safety regulations in the construction industry, indicating that increase in the effect of stakeholder conflicts will decrease these four project constraints and vice versa. The results for cumulative ordinal regression model highlight that lack of communication, poor quality of completed works and change orders and rework have intense effects on project constraints collectively.

A small number of studies have been undertaken to examine the emergence of project constraints in the developing countries. And even more, its relationship with stakeholder conflicts in the construction industry is limited. This research highlights the most significant project constraints and factors that result in stakeholder conflicts in the construction industry. Therefore, this study adds to the existing body of knowledge by developing an ordinal regression model that will help decision-makers and top management control this enigma of stakeholder conflicts in the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent and in what ways signaling theory has been explored within the field of international marketing. This paper systematically reviews the use of signaling theory in the field of international marketing. Communication is a core aspect of the international marketing process. Research in this field has explored effective and unique ways of improving the communication flow to reduce the asymmetry of information between international consumers and the firm. This notion is adopted, enhanced and strengthened by signaling theory. Signaling theory has recently received the attention of international marketing scholars.

The systematic review methodology was applied for the purpose of identifying the relevant studies. We extracted academic articles over the last 23 years from the domain of international marketing that directly contribute to signaling theory based on 57 journal articles extracted through the systematic review process.

Based on systematic research the results reveal that the topic has grown and continues to expand within the broader international marketing field. We offer a theoretical conceptual framework to better understand signaling theory in the context of international marketing.

The authors map and critically evaluate the use of signaling theory in international marketing. Relevance of signaling theory in international marketing is growing and authors present an integrative framework that organizes the existing literature, and provides scholars to further expand on emerging themes of the domain. The paper offers some useful future research directions.

Phytochemicals are known for their iron chelation ability with no side effects. Lignans and polyphenols in flaxseed have iron-chelating and antioxidant abilities. Therefore, this study aims to assess the ability of flaxseed to reduce iron overload and minimize its negative health effects.

A randomized control trial was conducted. A total of 96 patients were enrolled in this study and randomized into three groups: two intervention groups had 3 or 7 g of whole flaxseed and a control group took a placebo (gram seeds). Interventions were administered for 12 weeks. A hematological profile, ferritin quantification in serum, and liver function tests were performed to evaluate the effects of flaxseed.

It was observed that flaxseed with synthetic iron chelators caused a significant reduction in ferritin levels compared with synthetic chelators. The pre-transfusion hemoglobin level was also improved in the intervention group. A significant reduction (p value 0.0003) in ferritin levels among intervention groups indicated that flaxseed reduced the iron overload. It can be concluded that flaxseed reduced iron overload in thalassemia major patients with no side effects and may reduce iron overload solely when taken in adequate quantity.

Although the study targets a non-specific protein-ferritin for the evaluation of iron-overload, the initial ferritin value and reduction in these levels indicate the efficacy of ferritin for reducing iron overload in thalassemia major patients. Moreover, this is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that demonstrates the iron-chelation ability of flaxseed in thalassemia major patients, suggesting the use of flaxseed for iron chelation.