This study investigates the connection between the governance mechanism, the industry performance, and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions (lCO2) based on the 302 non-financial companies listed on the PSX-100 Index over 13 years (2010-2022). The analysis uses Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) technique, and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) is used to make it robust. The findings reveal that the negative influence of firm size (FS) is substantial on the emissions, which can be regarded as a major indication that the larger the firm, the less it emits because of the economies of scale and availability of cleaner technologies. CEO duality (CEO) is also associated with a negative effect on emissions, which allows concluding that unified leadership can contribute to improving environmental decisions. Conversely, board gender diversity (BG) is positively correlated with an increase in emissions, which could be as result of poor governance. The ownership concentration (lOWN) and board size (BS) are both found to be lessening the emissions, indicating that ownership concentration and larger boards are essential in ensuring environmental sustainability. The empirical findings reveal a positive relationship between the emissions and the board meetings (BM). Also, the performance (ROA) of the firms is related negatively with emissions. Such results indicate that the governance systems and profitability are central to decreasing carbon emission. Policy suggestions involve enhancement of the governance laws to facilitate sustainability in Pakistan.

Building on the consensus that residual claim is the core of innovation incentives, this study extends the conceptual framework by incorporating contract duration and organizational form as key strategic variables. Drawing on data from 521 firms, we examine how Schumpeterian competition intensity and product innovativeness influence these incentive mechanisms. Our findings indicate that: (1) higher competition and innovativeness necessitate shorter contract durations; (2) integrated teams are optimal for high-innovativeness products, while specialized teams suit polarized innovation structures; (3) residual claim allocation should decrease as competition and product innovativeness intensify. This research contributes to innovation management by integrating external competitive pressures and internal organizational structures into a unified incentive design framework. By examining how incentive institutions can accelerate the pace and direct the direction of product innovation, this study offers insights for fostering sustainable innovation. Effective innovation incentive design not only enhances firms’ competitive resilience but also facilitates the timely development and diffusion of products that meet evolving social needs, thereby contributing to broader sustainability goals.

Environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) refers to a company's commitment to sustainable environmental practices as part of its broader social responsibilities. This research aimed to find out how environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) influences female workers of small businesses to start eco-friendly ventures by considering environmental citizenship behavior (ECB) and ethical climate (EC), offering a novel examination of underlying mechanisms. Unlike previous studies, this research focuses solely on women, providing valuable insights into gender-specific environmental behavioral patterns and motivations. The analysis was conducted through structural equation modeling on 404 Gilgit-Baltistan workers. The study found a positive and significant direct and mediating relationship between the variables. Results indicate that caring for the environment through CSR helps become more successful over time. By focusing on a gender- and region-specific sample and exploring underlying mechanisms, this study provides novel insights into how organizational environmental initiatives can foster sustainable entrepreneurial outcomes. The findings support the NRBV framework, showing that environmental strategies enhance sustainability while developing unique human and organizational resources that drive innovation and entrepreneurial behavior. The study offers useful recommendations to female workers intending to be entrepreneurs in the future, entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers, emphasizing the importance of a sustainable business environment and its impact on ecology.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Gilgit-Baltistan are faced with several critical sustainability-oriented problems within the entrepreneurial ecology. This includes resistance to change, myopic thinking of looking for short-term gains and facing problems accessing advanced technology in a new environment. Thus, this study examines the multifaceted relationships (considering entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial culture, government support, and social support), sustainable digital innovation, and business sustainability performance, with a particular emphasis on SMEs in rural areas. A total of 13 hypotheses are proposed in this study to examine the above phenomena. Data were collected from 431 participants in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, through a questionnaire survey, and the data was analyzed using partial least square structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to reveal empirical outcomes. The findings acknowledge that the entrepreneurship ecosystem (entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial culture, government support, and social support) and sustainable digital innovation play a significant role in influencing the performance of sustainable businesses. Furthermore, sustainable digital innovation plays a positive mediating role between the entrepreneurial ecosystem and business sustainability. The research revealed that business sustainability increases with the positive role of different dimensions of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The findings of this study are discussed within the “ecological modernization theory (EMT)“ and add to the understanding of different sets of relationships that provide a theoretical framework. The study provides ways for different stakeholders in SMEs to handle the entrepreneurship ecosystem, sustainable digital innovation, and sustainable business performance.

In recent years, females have been significantly contributing to economic growth by their tenacity, skill, and proficiency. For emerging countries, the poor performance of female entrepreneurs is concerning due to restricted resource access and the absence of social norms. This study aims to explore the mediating role of sustainable digital innovation (SDI) in the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude (EA), perceived behavior (PB), subjective norms (SN), and business sustainable performance (BSP). Information was gathered from the female entrepreneurs in Pakistan’s autonomous territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis method served to evaluate model significance. The researcher established strong positive statistical connections among all parameters analyzed: PB, SN, EA, and SBP. In a similar vein, the association between PB, SN, EA, and SBP was positively mediated by SDI. This study helps in designing effective support systems, policies, and strategies that empower female entrepreneurs. Second, this study has significant practical implications for female workers seeking to improve long-term business performance through individual behavior controls, which are aided by sustainable digital innovation.

This research investigates how entrepreneurial intention affects career sustainability. It also examines green creativity's intervening role. The data was gathered from 150 women business owners from active small and medium enterprises, operating in Pakistan's three major cities. Via a closed-ended questionnaire. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least squares. Resultantly, entrepreneurial intention is directly associated with career sustainability and green creativity. Additionally, green creativity meaningfully mediates for entrepreneurial intention-green creativity relationship. The study's findings provide individual female managers to introduce green innovation in businesses and further study delivers insightful knowledge that the Ministry of Commerce and company owners can utilize to encourage entrepreneurship in Pakistan. The study is limited to a single nation, and limited cities further exploration is highly to flourish the field of female entrepreneurship.

The transient nature of resources and opportunities, coupled with the pervasive interconnectedness of interests in the digital intelligence era, poses significant challenges to the sustainability of corporate business models. However, this era also introduces ubiquitous human-machine collaboration, enhancing coordination between value creation and capture across different times and entities, thus presenting new avenues for sustainable business models. By examining Tesla's case, this study dissects the mechanism of human-machine collaboration- driven sustainable business models. The findings reveal that: 1) Human-machine collaboration encompasses cognitive, structural, and relational dimensions. 2) It bolsters enterprises' dynamic capabilities, including customer value analysis capability, resource intelligence integration capability, and value extension reinvention capability. 3) The framework "Human-machine collaboration-dynamic capabilities-sustainable business models" is established. This mechanism model elucidates how human-machine collaboration impacts diverse value propositions, adaptive value creation, and inclusive value capture by influencing capabilities in customer value analysis, resource intelligence integration, and value extension and reinvention. This research offers theoretical guidance and practical insights for enterprises aiming to develop sustainable business models.

Existing research has neglected to explain why freemium business models lead to differentiated performance or what accounts for the difference in their revenue models. This study investigates how the configuration effect of freemium business models promotes performance and explores the different ways through which freemium business models, their dynamic capabilities, and environmental uncertainty interact to achieve high performance. The fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach was used to test the conceptual model with data from 45 freemium business model apps. From empirical evidence on the relationship between freemium business models, dynamic capabilities, and environmental uncertainty, the study finds that (1) bundled and fragmented freemium business models are fundamental performance drivers. However, they work only in combination with dynamic capabilities and environmental uncertainty. Moreover, the bundled and fragmented freemium business models have complementary rather than substitution relationships. (2) For companies with bundled and fragmented freemium business models, high sensing and seizing capabilities are critical to achieving high performance. A high bundled freemium business model, high sensing capability, and a lack of fragmented freemium business models and seizing capability can lead to high performance, regardless of reconfiguration capabilities and environmental uncertainty. (3) Under high environmental uncertainty, offering fragmented freemium business models with or without a bundled freemium business model will lead to high performance if they have high sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring capabilities. This study can provide systematic decision support for achieving high performance through freemium business models and the configuration of dynamic capabilities under environmental uncertainty.

Entrepreneurial intention is an important concept for understanding and promoting entrepreneurship. It is a strong predictor of entrepreneurial behavior, and it can lead to a number of positive benefits for individuals, society, and the economy. This study aims to examine the impact of entrepreneurial intention (EI) on entrepreneurial orientation (EO). It also examines the intervening role of environmental uncertainty (EU). The data were collected from 150 entrepreneurs from active enterprises in the 3 major cities of Pakistan. The information was gathered through a closed-ended questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. According to the findings, EI impacts positively on EO and EU. Furthermore, EU plays a significant intervening role between EI and EO. The results of this study offer valuable information that the owners of businesses and the Ministry of Commerce may use to support entrepreneurial activities in Pakistan. This may ensure the efficient operation and elimination of organizations' failure to appropriately launch their businesses.

Data connectivity is driving a shift in corporate business models toward social responsibility and stakeholder orientation, but existing research has focused on the significant increase in business value from business model platformization and has failed to answer the question of "what kind of business model platformization creates high social value in what contexts." Business model platformization features are decomposed into three-dimensional components of technology, architecture, and capability, and the external environment in which the business model creates value is segmented in terms of demand evolution and peer competition. This paper develops a technology-organization-environment (TOE) configurational framework, adopts fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), collects data from 42 enterprises with business model platformization, and analyzes what combinations of digital intelligence technology, platform architecture, dynamic capability, demand evolution, and peer competition constitute a high social value configuration. The study suggests that four configurations of the three main types, resource-driven, demand-driven, and total factor-driven, constitute equivalent paths to high social value. With the help of the TOE framework to identify the configurations of business model platformization to create high social value, this paper provides theoretical support for enterprises aiming to create high social value in the face of peer competition and joint changes in the demand environment to choose the appropriate path of business model platformization from their own point of view.

通过对412家企业数据的实证检验,探讨数智环境下设计思维影响商业模式创新(BMI)的效应,并识别其边界条件.研究表明:设计思维的试错与评估分别显著正向影响BMI新颖性与效率性,而设计思维的迭代则同时显著正向影响BMI新颖性与效率性;试错和BMI新颖性的正向关系以及迭代和BMI的新颖性与效率性的正向关系,均受到数智环境的倒U形调节,而其对评估与BMI效率性的正向关系的倒U形调节效应不显著.

The choice of SaaS ERP service provider is the key for SMEs to successfully implement ERP projects. This paper aims to select the most suitable SaaS ERP service provider for enterprises and empirically analyses the influencing factors of SaaS ERP service provider selection through the two dimensions of the enterprise’s factors and SaaS ERP service provider factors. The influencing factors are determined as follows: SaaS ERP service provider strength, enterprise operation capability, SaaS ERP service platform configuration, and enterprise compatibility. Based on this, the index system of SaaS ERP service provider selection is determined. Aiming at the characteristics of multi-objective attributes and uncertainty, the fuzzy ELECTR-IV method is applied to establish the SaaS ERP service provider selection model of SME based on the “enterprise-service provider” matching perspective, and the case verification is carried out to guide the SaaS ERP service provider selection of SMEs.

In contemporary times, women have gained recognition as accomplished entrepreneurs who make substantial contributions to economic development by virtue of their perseverance, excellence, and expertise. The concept of women's entrepreneurship encompasses the undertaking of creating novel enterprises, with the individual's intention to assume the role of an entrepreneur serving as a pivotal factor in this developmental trajectory. The underperformance of female entrepreneurs is alarming for developing nations. Purposefully, exploring the factors correlating female entrepreneurship intention is highly regarded, and a timely research is needed, thus this study explores the context of Pakistan considered a developing country. Hence, we collected data from listed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the country by means of structured questionnaires. Using SPSS and Smart-PLS software, we developed a conceptual model and performed analysis. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constitutes a robust psychological framework applicable to understanding and anticipating various human behaviors, first and foremost, entrepreneurial intention. When applying the TPB to the area of women's entrepreneurial intentions, several crucial factors come into play, including motivation, self-confidence, personality traits, and adaptability. The results indicate that factors such as the will to start a business, willingness, personality traits, adaptability, and background factors, including education and experience, impact entrepreneurial intention. Also, their professional careers make them able to launch a business. Based on our findings, we recommend that the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), policymakers, and practitioners may provide various incentives and support systems related to these factors to encourage their own company launches. Prior research has examined various factors that impact the entrepreneurial mindsets of women. However, our study focuses specifically on closely associated aspects that have received limited attention, particularly in the context of Pakistan. This study makes a valuable contribution to the extant body of literature by providing empirical evidence in the aforementioned domains.

Since sustainable development concerns emerged, researchers have studied which environmental regulations motivate companies to improve their environmental performance. Environmental goals are best achieved by either changing people’s behavior or modifying technology. Thus, this study contributes to the existing literature on corporate governance and social and environmental accountability by examining the impact of CEO’s tournament incentives (TI) on Chinese firms’ environmental reporting and performance. Furthermore, the study consequently establishes how much tournament incentives and environmental practices connection are explained with green innovation. Using the panel data regression model, the study finds that CEOs’ tournament incentives are favorably connected with Chinese enterprises’ environmental performance and negatively with environmental reporting over 10 years (2010–2019). Furthermore, our findings suggest that green innovation positively mediates the TI environmental performance nexus. The study provided excellent implications for Chinese society, which can lead to achieving a “greener GDP” and a “harmonious society” for which China is dreaming and striving. The study findings have significant implications for stakeholders, including CEOs’ policymakers, corporate regulators, environmentalists, and policymakers.

In recent literature, scholars discussed the role of export diversification in environmental quality. However, most studies analyzed the role of export diversification in influencing carbon dioxide emissions with mixed results. However, since carbon dioxide emissions specifically capture the environmental effects of energy utilization, a change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions cannot be regarded as a comprehensive measure of environmental deterioration. Also, many previous studies use the original form of the Theil index to measure export diversification, and during the interpretation of the results, they disregard the fact that the lower value of the Theil index indicates higher diversification and vice versa. In this context, to address these gaps in the literature, a study on the contribution of export diversification in ecological footprint is necessary to understand the ecological impacts of export diversification. Therefore, this study analyzes the contribution of export diversification in ecological footprint covering the period between 1965 and 2017 using the STIRPAT model in the context of India which is required to fulfill the demands for resources of over 1.3 billion people. The study relied on the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis framework to understand the role of export diversification in ensuring environmental sustainability. Using the newly developed Augmented ARDL test, the study established that variables of interest are cointegrated. In the long-run estimation, export diversification reduces the ecological footprint of India and helps establish the inverted-U-shaped nexus between ecological footprint and economic growth. Thus, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis was evidenced to hold for India. This important finding divulges that India can control the level of environmental footprints, and therefore decrease environmental degradation by continuously increasing export product diversification. Also, India is on the right path to achieve a reduction in ecological footprint associated with more development when accounting for export diversification in the model. Moreover, energy intensity boosts environmental deterioration, while population density reduces it. Finally, the study discusses strategies to achieve environmental sustainability through increasing export diversification.

Continuing economic progress with less environmental damage and achieving a sustainable environment require switching from fossil fuels to green energy. However, alleviating environmental damage of growth has become a major challenge for BRICS where economic progress amidst rising urbanization pollutes the environment. In this context, the fight against climate change and actions towards environmental sustainability are greatly affected by rising economic policy uncertainty. Hence, this study assesses the role of green energy, urbanization, and economic growth in CO2 emissions in the presence of economic policy uncertainty in BRICS (excluding South Africa) from 1997 to 2020. The study used the cross-sectionally augmented auto-regressive distributive lag technique for revealing the short- and long-run effects of the analyzed variables on environmental quality. The empirical evidence suggested that the environmental Kuznets curve exists according to the recent framework of Narayan and Narayan Energy Policy 38:661–666, (2010) because even though economic growth increases CO2 emissions, its long-run effect is less than the short-run effect. Economic policy uncertainty boosts CO2 not only in the short-run but also in the long-run, evidencing that a sustainable environment requires decreasing the levels of policy uncertainty. For BRICS, switching towards green energy is a vital option to decrease environmental deterioration owing to the negative connection between green energy and CO2. The findings indicated that rapid urbanization is among the causes of high CO2. Furthermore, economic policy uncertainty influences both green energy and economic growth levels. Finally, policies are recommended to mitigate environmental deterioration.

Intellectual Capital (IC) is a driving force behind the financial performance of non-financial firms. Investing in intellectual and physical capital allows companies to optimize their financial performance by maximizing resource utilization. This study aims to determine whether IC efficiency impacts the financial performance of listed Pakistani and Indian companies between 2010 and 2020. Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are used to calculate financial performance, and IC is calculated using the modified Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (MVAIC) model. Regression analysis is performed using the STATA software developed by the South Texas Art Therapy Association. Human Capital (HC), Structural Capital (SC), and Capital Employed (CE) have a significant impact on Pakistani and Indian firms' financial performance. Resource-based theory (RBT) supports these findings. The findings should provide management with a prompt to improve financial performance and emphasize the importance of IC. A rare study has addressed the impact of IC on firm financial performance using the MVAIC model, rather than the VAIC model, in Pakistan and India.

This paper empirically investigates the impact of cognitive board diversity in education, expertise, and tenure facets on financial distress likelihood in the emerging economy of China. This study examines how this relationship varies across State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Non-State-Owned Enterprises (NSOEs). Paper argues that the Chinese stock market, as a typical emerging market, is an excellent laboratory for studying the impact of board diversity on the probability of financial distress. Its underdeveloped financial system and inadequate investor protection leave firms unprotected from financial hardship. A sample of 12,366 observations from 1,374 firms from 2010 to 2018 shows that cognitive diversity qualities are positively linked with Z-score, implying that directors with different educational backgrounds, financial skills, and tenures can assist in reducing the probability of financial distress. Cognitive board diversity reduces the likelihood of financial distress in SOEs and NSOEs. However, tenure diversity is insignificant in all cases. Furthermore, the robustness model "two-step system Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM)" demonstrated a positive association between educational diversity, financial expertise, and financial distress scores. The results have significant implications for researchers, managers, investors, regulators, and policymakers.

Real earning management (REM) enhances the control of managers on the financial reporting of firms. However, its influence on financial decisions in the coming years is not well documented, especially in developing countries. This study investigates the influence of three REM activities on subsequent years’ dividend payout decisions (DPDs) and annual corporate returns of firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The study employed panel data from 2011 to 2020 of 120 large manufacturing firms to 1) measure the extent of REM activities and 2) investigate the impact on future financial decisions of dividends and reported returns. This study used multiple proxies of return for robustness. Consistent with empirical studies, the REM negatively impacts the following years’ returns. However, its effect on dividend payout policy is insignificant. This indicates that Pakistani firms are more concerned with a smooth dividend payout to investors than reporting coherent returns. The study provides significant evidence from a developing economy and has implications for investors, analysts, and policymakers.

This study addresses the questions of "How" and "When" CEO duality affects firm performance from a developing country's perspective. To address the research question, CEO duality serves as an explanatory variable, board effectiveness as a mediator, CEO personal characteristics as moderator, firm-specific characteristics as control, and performance indicators as a dependent variable. Our dataset comprises 163 Pakistani firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for 2009 to 2018. Results demonstrate that CEO's duality negatively affects a firm's financial performance; however, board effectiveness mediates the link between CEO duality and firm performance. The results support the agency theory framework. Furthermore, findings proposed that the CEO's attributes (age, gender, and financial education) significantly moderate the link between a CEO's duality and firm performance. The findings may be generalized among the developing countries and net 11 (N-11) specifically. The current study claims to be the first one that explores the mediating role of the board effectiveness and moderating role of the CEO personal attributes together on a duality-performance link employing Pakistan's corporate data. The findings suggest that policymakers and regulators ensure separation of power between Chairman and CEO to assure transparency through induction of more independence in the board room.