Search results

The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments all over the globe to bring radical changes to all walks of life. Strict lockdowns are not only adversely affecting the social, economic, and psychological wellbeing of individuals but also questioning the sustainability of most businesses. In wake of the current scenario, this study is aimed at exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic is influencing the sustainability of entrepreneurship particularly from a female perspective and further providing insights into the role of Islamic financial institutions in the sustainability of businesses during COVID-19.

This is a qualitative study that takes social constructivism approach to study the underlying phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews are conducted to collect primary data. Secondary data are also utilized in this study to theoretically define various concepts relating to entrepreneurial sustainability. The application of thematic analysis revealed various risks associated with sustainability. The interviews reveal the ground realities and tell us about the hardships being faced by the entrepreneurs due to ongoing crises. The participants of the study also shed light on the role of Islamic financial institutions during the pandemic.

The study results revealed that it may look impossible for women entrepreneurs to halt or avoid the adverse consequences of the pandemic; however, a few female entrepreneurs strived to guard their existing portfolios with the help of Islamic microfinance institutions. Whereas, several women, especially those running home-based businesses, lost their income streams. Despite these rapid challenges, most female entrepreneurs are working on inventive online systems to sustain their business activities during the crisis. Finally, guidelines are suggested which can help achieve sustainability of the entrepreneurial startups.

The outcomes of this study are expedient for funding agencies, government authorities and Islamic financial institutions as well as for non-government institutions to establish sustainable and broader policies for women to become successful entrepreneurs during severe disasters like COVID-19. Moreover, the study is a helpful tool for women entrepreneurs to avert the worst impact of the pandemic with the help of Islamic microfinance institutions. The themes of this study help generate realistic information to appraise the strategies to create facilitating business environments that drive the women to carry out the entrepreneurial activity during any crisis like the COVID-19.

The results of this study provide evidence that crisis can be anticipated up to some extent if entrepreneurs become able to take proactive decisions in case of expected or identifiable threats. The study may also help the women entrepreneurs to comprehend the serious consequences of the pandemic by shifting their mode of financing to Islamic finance. Although this pandemic is a cause of physical discomfort instead this research may encourage the female entrepreneurs not to lose heart, just find the potential opportunities for their home-based and small businesses and manage funding from the Islamic microfinance institutions.

The study adds to the existing literature on entrepreneurial sustainability with a particular focus on the role of Islamic microfinance institutions for women entrepreneurs' sustainability in Pakistan. Secondly, the study employs the entrepreneurial sustainability model (ESM) that, according to the best of our knowledge, has not been used by the researchers earlier to study the given research phenomenon. Thirdly, the study findings are expedient for funding agencies, government authorities and financial institutions as well as for non-government institutions to establish sustainable and broader policies for women to become successful entrepreneurs during disasters like COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between youth empowerment and sustainable development (SD) with regards to the Prime Minister’s Youth Program (PMYP).

Data were collected from randomly selected respondents (n=275) studying in Higher Education Institutions through online and self-administered structured questionnaire and from multiple secondary data sources.

The research findings infer that youth empowerment is significantly affected by the PMYP and there is a significant positive relationship between youth empowerment and SD. Overall, respondents appear to be satisfied with the program offerings and consider it a genuine effort toward youth empowerment for SD, but such notion also necessitates an integrated youth development paradigm in Pakistan.

The cornerstone of nation’s development is an established realization worldwide that the involvement of youth in development processes is essential to save the country from “youth bulge” while converting this contour into a “demographic dividend.” It was, therefore, pertinent to explore how development actors can engage youth in order to transform priority areas into development programming and policies.

This study deals with quite an unexplored phenomenon of youth empowerment; hence, it serves as one of the first studies to provide evidence of the relationship between youth empowerment and SD in Pakistan’s perspective. Further, it also provides a basis for carrying out advance research on youth empowerment which may assist the government, NGOs and other donor agencies to understand youth issues and blueprint apposite strategies accordingly.

This qualitative study deals with the career longevity phenomenon in the hospitality sector of Pakistan and aimed at exploring the factors which become the reason for continuing services in this sector for a longer period despite the prevailing perception of the short-term and unsatisfactory hospitality careers.

The study has taken up an interpretive social constructivism approach to carry out the research. The purposive sampling technique is used to solicit expert insights into the dynamics of the hospitality career. A thematic analysis was employed to identify the common themes, extract the meaning from the discussion patterns of the respondents, and outline viewpoints and ideas of the respondents.

The findings of the study are discussed at three levels of career, i.e. entry level, development level, and consolidation level. Long careers in the hospitality sector are a product of dedication and commitment to the job, professionalism, variety, complexity of the job, and healthy relationship with coworkers, supervisors, and guests.

The study links the belief of belonging and socialization attributes to the retention of employees in the hospitality sector jobs. Secondly, the study uses a qualitative approach to provide a diverse perspective of employee–industry loyalty rather than employee–organization loyalty. Thirdly, the study brings forth practical implications for personnel managers in the hospitality sector and proposes that the management should systematically stimulate the socialization of the workers to hold the talent despite providing workers with the opportunity to join another sector. Finally, the study informs about research limitations and directions for future research.

This paper holds considerable importance in the educational dynamics specifically ChatGPT as generative multimedia in English language writing pedagogy and presents a unique lens, as it uses a narrative literature review to view this cutting-edge topic. This paper compiles the knowledge and information already available regarding the views and integration of ChatGPT in English writing pedagogy. This review attempts to determine the potential that ChatGPT provides for improving pedagogical practices and facilitating individualized learning by looking at the experiences and viewpoints of educators. Simultaneously, it addresses the crucial challenges educators must overcome to optimize the advantages of artificial intelligence (AI) while preserving academic fairness and honesty. The ultimate goal of this paper is to offer a nuanced understanding of ChatGPT’s role in education, especially in English language writing pedagogy, educating researchers, teachers and policymakers on how to integrate generative multimedia successfully AI into teaching and learning and aiding in the creation of inclusive and more effective teaching strategies.

The review was done using a narrative approach by analyzing the latest international and national studies, research papers, blog posts, newspaper articles and documentaries, and by collecting the data, facts, figures and pictures. This narrative literature review approach provides a contextual understanding of how different English language teachers view ChatGPT in English writing pedagogy allowing for a comprehensive synthesis of data about its opportunities and challenges as well. It also helps in finding patterns and gaps in the body of knowledge, directing future studies and emphasizing areas that require more research, which is important for this new cutting-edge invention. The narrative approach, in contrast to systematic reviews, enables a detailed qualitative analysis that is necessary for delving into complex topics. This review offers useful insights into the prospects and practical challenges of integrating ChatGPT in English language writing pedagogy by concentrating on the experiences of teachers. The narrative literature review is a useful and relevant means of comprehending and using AI in educational settings since its ultimate goal is to synthesize current knowledge and provide practical recommendations for teachers, students, administrators and, last but not least, policymakers for the effective integration of ChatGPT as generative multimedia specifically in the English language writing pedagogy.

Grounded on findings, it is essential to mention here that ChatGPT holds immense value in terms of English language writing pedagogy. The findings deal with the three research questions: each research question has a main theme followed by sub-themes about the views of teachers on ChatGPT integration into English writing pedagogy, its benefits and, last but not least, challenges; however, very few traces of AI have been found in the early most downloaded Language learning apps, but ChatGPT covers it all with the features like personalized learning, contextually adaptable feedback, human-like conversational skills and preparation of standard tests, which make ChatGPT stand apart and stand tall in the race of new AI inventions. On the contrary, the paper identifies vital challenges associated with ChatGPT. First, there is a severe concern that students’ creativity may be at risk. Second, the concern of data privacy is a critical consideration. Finally, dealing with the trust issue of English language teachers regarding the use of ChatGPT for English language writing pedagogy and, last but not least, the paper also talks about low digital literacy as an additional challenge to integrating ChatGPT in educational settings. The incorporation of ChatGPT is not only a new trend but also a door to future AI wonders, so the education community needs to make the most of it.

The paper has broad implications that address multiple aspects of educational theory, practice, policy and future research when incorporating AI systems such as ChatGPT into English language writing pedagogy. The findings imply that ChatGPT can result in more dynamic and customized learning experiences, which has important implications for improving English language writing pedagogy with the integration of ChatGPT. AI can help teachers customize lessons to each student’s needs, which could increase student engagement in writing classes and improve learning results. Additionally, for the school administration and policymakers, the integration of ChatGPT depends upon access to smooth internet connection and other resources needed for effective learning of the students. Policymakers can develop policies as per the changing needs of the hour by providing professional development training to the teachers for the incorporation of AI inventions such as ChatGPT for English language writing pedagogy. Furthermore, the research also highlights significant ethical and policy issues, especially those dealing with academic integrity. Policies by the administration and teachers must be developed to stop students from misusing ChatGPT and to guarantee that AI tools are applied morally and responsibly in educational contexts because students can utilize the tool to complete assignments in an unethical manner.

This narrative literature review is unique as it provides insights into the new invention of OpenAI ChatGPT from the education perspective, specifically about the teaching of English language writing pedagogy, and offers some exciting revelations that have not been done previously.

This chapter offers a comprehensive review the literature on authentic leadership (AL). The authors employ a bibliometric approach to identify, classify, visualise and synthesise relevant scholarly publications and the work of a core group of interdisciplinary scholars who are key contributors to the research on AL. They review 264 journal articles, adopting a clustering technique to assess the central themes of AL scholarship. They identify five distinct thematic clusters: authenticity in the context of leadership; structure of AL; social perspectives on AL; dynamism of AL; and value perceptions of AL. Velt and Sinkovics assert that these clusters will help scholars of AL to understand the dominant streams in the literature and provide a foundation for future research.

This study aims to study the impact of corporate governance (CG) versus ethical investment on the firm performance. It takes into account the firms of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan for the purpose of the study. A composite variable of CG index and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) index is used to test the impact on the firm performance. Separate country wise and overall analysis is obtained. Regression analysis is used to obtain the results. Two measures of performance are used, one is return on assets (ROA) and other is Tobin Q. The findings of the study reveal that there is an impact of corporate governance index (CGI) on firm performance (overall and country wise) whereas ethical investment (EI) has an impact on firm performance when tested overall and no impact when checked for country wise results. The results further show that on country level, increase in CG measures may lead to positive results, but at the macro level, it may lower the performance. On the other hand, at the micro level, ethical finance may not show its impact; however, at the macro level, it has an impact. The study has implications for the investors and policymakers.

This study aims to envisage the impact of green project management (GPM) practices on sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). Moreover, this study also accessed the mediating role of green knowledge acquisition (GKA) as a mechanism between GPM and SCA.

Using a quantitative field survey, the data were collected from the multi-sector manufacturing enterprises (n = 265) in Pakistan. The measurement and structural model were tested through Analysis of Moment Structure by conducting a covariance structure analysis.

The findings suggest that GPM practices are positively related to SCA. In addition to this direct effect, GKA play a significant role in explaining the associations between GPM practices and SCA. The findings bring essential insights for the enterprises, policymakers, practitioners and project managers to promote GPM practices for low-carbon projects to achieve SCA.

The data used in this study is cross-sectional in nature. The geographic location is limited to firms in Pakistan, while well-validated subjective measures are used to make the survey more convenient for participants.

The practitioners in general, while project managers in particular, are recommended to implement GPM practices and GKA to achieve high performance of SCA.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine GPM practices and its effect on SCA directly and via GKA in a single model.

The increasing interest of organizations to innovate and survive in the market, combined with a decreasing level of trust in their leaders, has now led thinkers and researchers to begin exploring beyond traditional leadership theories. The literature indicates that, due to the lack of a strong and explicit moral dimension, positive leadership may be incomplete. The purpose of this study is to understand the creativity mechanism that is fostered by authentic leadership through empowerment and commitment to the supervisor.

The data of 214 employees were collected from the strategic units (product generation, customer services, marketing and sales) of all five telecoms which are currently operating in Pakistan. The parallel mediation model was used to analyze the hypothesized model.

Results confirmed that authentic leadership leverages creativity. Mediation results further confirmed that creativity increases when employees feel empowered and are committed to an authentic leader. However, contrast analysis indicated that empowerment has a stronger role in increasing creativity.

Not limited to theoretical debate, the present study emphasized that organizations improve creativity by adopting a management model which delivers moral values along with an efficient, transparent system and empowered culture. Managers should be trained to develop authentic traits so that they can then identify and address critical areas which will serve to nurture creative and innovative behavior in their followers.

Authentic leadership is an emerging concept, yet debate on authentic leadership and creativity is in the establishment phase. The present study highlights that authentic leadership is not simply a consequence of success or the development of a pool of loyal subordinates; rather, empowered leadership at all levels is at the heart of a successful organization.

In order to achieve sustainable development objectives, safeguard the ecosystem, combat global warming and preserve biodiversity for a more sustainable and secure future, the ecological footprint (EF) must be reduced. Therefore, embracing holistic methods, emphasizing renewable energy (RN) and environmental taxes (ET) is crucial. Therefore, the present study aims to capture the effect of ET and RN on EF in Germany.

To achieve this aim, the novel Fourier-based Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ADL) cointegration and the time and frequency-based connections among the variables are investigated in this work throughout the 1994–2021 time span using the wavelet analytic methods, including wavelet power spectrum (WPS) and wavelet coherence (WC) methods, respectively.

The study’s results express that (1) RN, ET and EF are cointegrated in the long run; (2) EF and RN have volatility; (3) RN use in Germany prevents environmental deterioration and (4) ET decreases EF.

The research findings imply that Germany needs rigorous environmental restrictions and enforcement of alternate energy sources for energy use plans and sustainable production objectives.

To the best of our knowledge, the effect of RN and ET on EF in Germany has not been comprehensively explored by using newly developed econometrics techniques and a single dataset. Therefore, the study provides important policy implementations for the German government and is also likely to open debate on the concept.