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Green, lean and six sigma (GLSS) practices are widely used and well accepted techniques that have the capability to improve the economic, social and environmental performance of Pakistani small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, implementation of these practices in an integrated approach has not yet been witnessed in Pakistani SMEs due to a variety of challenges. To overcome the implementation challenges, this study has analyzed the impact of GLSS implementation over the sustainability in Pakistani SMEs.

This study consists of two phases. In phase 1, interviews were conducted to scrutinize the elements of GLSS implementation to simplify the model and in phase 2, a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the data from the SMEs. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach is used to analyze the relationships among the latent variables and constructs.

Results showed that, leadership for GLSS, understanding GLSS techniques and technology upgradation are considered the most important elements for GLSS implementation in Pakistani SMEs. The environmental and social perspectives have been given more weightage compared to economical perspective. This inferred that there is a need to focus more on environmental and social perspectives in SMEs as compared to economic perspectives to achieve sustainable growth. Moreover, the results of the hypothesis testing revealed that GLSS implementation has a significant positive impact over the sustainability in SMEs considering the Pakistani scenario (β = 0.529, STDEV = 0.078, t = 6.81, p = < 0.001).

This study is the first of its kind for Pakistani SMEs. The structural model developed in this study for Pakistani SMEs will help practitioners to understand the important elements of GLSS implementation and sustainability dimensions.

This study aimed at exploring the differential effects of different corporate governance (CG) indicators on risk management practices in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) and conventional financial institutions (CFIs) of Pakistan. It also investigated the moderating role of institutional quality (IQ) in shaping the effects of CG practices on financial institutions of Pakistan.

A sample of 57 financial institutions including commercial banks, insurance companies and Modarba companies over the period 2006–2017 is used to carry out the empirical analysis. The authors applied the robust two-step system-generalized method of moments estimator, which is also called the dynamic panel data estimator. They also built the PCA-based composite index of CG and IQ by using different indicators to investigate the moderating role of IQ. They used three proxies for risk taking, five for CG and one for Shari’ah governance. To test the validity of the instruments, they applied the Arellano and Bond’s (1991) AR (1) and AR (2) tests and the J-statistic of Hansen (1982).

The results provided strong evidence that several individual characteristics of CG and the composite index are significantly related to the operational risk, the liquidity risk and the Z-score (a proxy for solvency risk). The results also revealed that IQ significantly and substantially contributes in reducing the level of risks. Finally, the estimation results indicated that the effects of CG on risk management are significantly different at IFIs and CFIs. This differential impact is mainly attributed to the fundamental differences in business models, operational strategies and contractual obligations of both types of institutions.

The findings of this study are important for enhancing our understanding of how CG relates to risk taking in Islamic and conventional financial services industries and how good quality institutions are important for formulating the governance effects on the risk-taking behavior of financial institutions. The findings suggest that a suitable size of board should be chosen to manage the risk effectively. As the findings show that the risk-taking behavior of IFIs differs from that of CFIs, the regulators and international standard setting bodies should tailor the regulatory frameworks accordingly.

This paper is different from the existing studies in four aspects. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation in Pakistan, which does the comparison of IFIs and CFIs while examining the impacts of CG on risk management. Second, the paper constructs the composite index of CG by considering several different indicators of governance and examines the combined effect of governance indicators on risk management process. Third, this paper adds to the growing literature on the role of IQ by investigating whether it acts as a moderator between CG structures and risk management and if yes, then whether this moderating role is different for IFIs and CFIs. Finally, the paper builds upon the existing research work on the CG effects for different types of financial institutions by proposing a single regression based analytical framework for comparing the effects across two different types of institutions, harvesting the benefits of higher degrees of freedom and avoiding/minimizing the measurement error.

Sustainable tourism will be an appropriate strategy to be promoted during the post COVID-19 pandemic, as this is a turning point for the tourism industry to grab the unique chance to have a true reset by focussing on achieving long-term sustainability and a shift from a ‘me to we’ economy. To support sustainable tourism and foster future success in the tourism industry, the process of integrating green knowledge and knowledge management can begin with entrepreneurial education in higher education institutions (HEIs). However, empirical research on university students' green entrepreneurial intention in sustainable tourism has not been exhaustively studied. Additionally, there is a need to further explore knowledge management process and entrepreneurial learning in HEIs. Hence, the aim of this study is to analyze knowledge management as a technique to explore the green entrepreneurial intention of students in HEIs in sustaining Malaysia's tourism post COVID-19 pandemic. Exploratory research with quantitative analysis was conducted through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that there is a positive and significant relationship between green entrepreneurial knowledge and green entrepreneurial intention in sustainable tourism among university business students. Additionally, knowledge revision and conceptual change positively and significantly influence green entrepreneurial knowledge and green entrepreneurial intention in sustainable tourism. However, knowledge application has no impact on green entrepreneurial knowledge and green entrepreneurial intention. The results of this study also reveal that green entrepreneurial knowledge does not have a mediation effect on green entrepreneurial intention. The present work contributes by going beyond the study of entrepreneurial intention, as the research focusses on interconnection among these three major areas: knowledge management, sustainable tourism, and entrepreneurship education post COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, the combination of these diverse aspects in this study provides insights to educators and policy makers to investigate the importance of green entrepreneurial knowledge and benefits of knowledge management that can be integrated into entrepreneurship education for current and future sustainable tourism development.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between outpatient satisfaction and the five constructs of healthcare projects’ service quality in Pakistan using Deng’s grey incidence analysis (GIA) model, absolute degree GIA model (ADGIA), a novel second synthetic degree GIA (SSDGIA) model and two approaches of decision-making under uncertainty.

The study proposes a new synthetic GIA model and demonstrates its feasibility on data (N=221) collected from both public and private sector healthcare projects of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan, using a self-administered questionnaire developed using the original SERVQUAL approach.

The results of decision analysis approach indicated that outpatients’ satisfaction from the private sector healthcare projects is higher as compared to the public healthcare projects’. The results from the proposed model revealed that tangibility and reliability play an important role in shaping the patient satisfaction in the public and private sectors, respectively.

The study is pioneer in evaluating a healthcare system’s service quality using grey system theory. The study proposes the SSDGIA model as a novel method to evaluate parameters comprehensively based on their mutual association (given by absolute degree of grey incidence) and inter-dependencies (given by Deng’s degree of grey incidence), and tests the new model in the given scenario. The study is novel in terms of its analysis of data and modelling. The study also proposes a comprehensive structure of the healthcare delivery system of Pakistan.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the latest digital transformation (DT) technological trends the university library can use to provide library users with alternative educational services. AI can foster intelligent decisions for retrieving and sharing information for learning and research. However, extant literature confirms a low adoption rate by the university libraries in using AI to provide innovative alternative services, as this is missing in their strategic plan. The research develops (AI-LSICF) an artificial intelligence library services innovative conceptual framework to provide new insight into how AI technology can be used to deliver value-added innovative library services to achieve digital transformation. It will also encourage library and information professionals to adopt AI to complement effective service delivery.

This study adopts a qualitative content analysis to investigate extant literature on how AI adoption fosters innovative services in various organisations. The study also used content analysis to generate possible solutions to aid AI service innovation and delivery in university libraries.

This study uses its findings to develop an Artificial Intelligence Library Services Innovative Conceptual Framework (AI-LSICF) by integrating AI applications and functions into the digital transformation framework elements and discussed using a service innovation framework.

In research, AI-LSICF helps increase an understanding of AI by presenting new insights into how the university library can leverage technology to actualise innovation in service provision to foster DT. This trail will be valuable to scholars and academics interested in addressing the application pathways of AI library service innovation, which is still under-explored in digital transformation.

In practice, AI-LSICF could reform the information industry from its traditional brands into a more applied and resolutely customer-driven organisation. This reformation will awaken awareness of how librarians and information professionals can leverage technology to catch up with digital transformation in this age of the fourth industrial revolution.

The enlightenment of AI-LSICF will motivate library professionals to take advantage of AI's potential to enhance their current business model and achieve a unique competitive advantage within their community.

AI-LSICF development serves as a revelation, motivating university libraries and information professionals to consider AI in their strategic plan to enable technology to support university education. This act will enable alternative service delivery in the face of unforeseen circumstances like technological disruption and the present global COVID-19 pandemic that requires non-physical interaction.

Sustainability issues are crucial in today’s competitive environment. The integration of technology plays a vital role in the attainment of sustainability objectives. The study aims to investigate the relationship between green intellectual capital (IC), green information systems (IS), green management initiatives (GMI) and green technology adoption in light of natural resource-orchestration theory (ROT). Moreover, digital technology adoption mediates between green IC, green IS, GMI and sustainable performance. Finally, digital transformation strategy is used as a moderator between green technology adoption and sustainable performance.

A sample of 484 managers from automobile manufacturing companies was used in this study to evaluate the proposed relationships using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) methodology.

Findings reveal that green IC, green IS and GMI significantly influence green technology adoption. Besides, green technology adoption plays a crucial role in improving sustainable performance. Moreover, green technology adoption significantly mediates between green IC, green IS, GMI and sustainable performance. Finally, a digital transformation strategy significantly strengthens the relationship between green technology adoption and sustainable performance.

The organizations need green technology adoption to address environmental concerns, respond to consumer demand, achieve cost savings and comply with government regulations. Besides, in decision-making, organizations must focus on green IC, green IS, GMI, green technology adoption and digital transformation strategy to boost sustainable performance.

The originality of this study lies in its use of the natural ROT as a framework to examine the impact of multiple green resources on green technology adoption, leading to sustainable performance. Digital transformation strategy is used as a moderator between green technology adoption and sustainable performance. This study provides a comprehensive and integrated perspective on the subject with empirical evidence and relevant insights, contributing to the advancement of the field.

The study explores the current research trends within the responsible leadership (RL) domain and proposes a future research agenda by conducting an extensive review of past research. The study aims to understand recent developments in theories, constructs and contexts in RL literature.

Scopus database is used for the data collection on RL and patterns from 1998–2022. In total, 138 articles were covered for a systematic literature review (SLR) of RL behaviors. Further, the search was extended, and 109 more articles were included for bibliometric analysis of RL using R software. In total, 247 papers were reviewed.

The results present the consequences and antecedents of RL behaviors with external and internal stakeholders. Literature also indicates that researchers are more attentive to empirical studies with internal stakeholders, such as responsible leaders' impact on employee outcomes. Among theories, stakeholder theory's normative integrative and instrumental perspectives are used with RL.

The first limitation of the study is that this study collected data only from the Scopus database and the choice of language was English. Future studies may use other databases, languages and keywords. Instrumental and integrative RL behavioral styles would help balance organizations' financial and social goals.

This research enhances the literature on RL by combining content and bibliometric analysis to develop a more systematic and comprehensive understanding of integrative and instrumental leadership behaviors.

This study aims to examine the association between responsible leadership and work engagement through the mediation of knowledge sharing. Further, the study explored the boundary condition of helping initiative behavior (HIB) between responsible leadership and knowledge-sharing (KS) behavior.

Considering work engagement as a global challenge, the data for this study was collected from 386 employees working in various organizations on convenience basis. Specifically, the data was collected in two waves through a questionnaire-based survey method and structural equation modeling was used for hypotheses testing.

The results reveal that responsible leadership directly and indirectly (through knowledge sharing) affects work engagement. In addition, HIB strengthens the association between responsible leadership and knowledge sharing.

The study collected data from a developing country. However, the findings suggest management should implement such practices that enable leaders to be more responsible. Such leaders create a learning environment that enhances knowledge sharing and promotes work engagement.

Based on social exchange, this study explored the mediating role of KS behavior between responsible leadership and work engagement and the conditional role of HIB between responsible leadership and KS behavior.