Muhammad Faisal Shahzad

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the factors that drive and enhance sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices and performance, leveraging smart-contract-enabled green blockchain technology (BT). Specifically, it builds a research framework based on the dynamic capability view (DCV) theory to explore the interrelationships among green knowledge acquisition (GKA), generative AI (GAI), green BT, green organizational memory, and organizational environmental and operational performance. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative research approach was adopted. Cross-sectional survey data were collected via an online survey, yielding 318 valid responses from supply chain professionals in China. The hypothesized relationships within the proposed framework, grounded in DCV theory, were tested using Structural Equation Modeling via AMOS 24 and SPSS 23. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to validate the measurement model, and moderation effects were examined using mean-centered interaction terms within the SEM framework. Findings: The analysis confirms the proposed framework’s validity and reveals several key findings: GKA positively impacts green BT. GAI significantly moderates the effect of GKA on green BT, strengthening the transformation of green knowledge into smart-contract-enabled blockchain capability. Green BT positively influences both environmental performance and operational performance. Green organizational memory acts as a crucial moderator, strengthening the positive relationships between green BT and both environmental and operational performance, amplifying the performance effects of green BT on both environmental and operational outcomes. Environmental performance ultimately contributes positively to operational performance. Practical implications: Organizations in the supply chain sector can leverage these insights by prioritizing and maximizing GKA to effectively embed sustainability. Managers should promote the effective use of GAI in their processes, as it enhances the conversion of knowledge into tangible green BT implementations. Furthermore, maintaining a robust green organizational memory is recommended to maximize the performance returns from investments in green BT innovations. Originality/value: This paper offers significant theoretical novelty by integrating GAI and green organizational memory as key dynamic capabilities within the DCV framework to examine green BT adoption in SSCM, a perspective previously underexplored. It is among the first to empirically confirm the moderating roles of both GAI and green organizational memory in the context of sustainable technology implementation, providing a unique model for achieving superior environmental and operational outcomes.

Product quality is essential for companies' success because it is integral to meeting customers' expectations. In this context, blockchain technology (BT) offers potential solutions for tracking products' origins and flows, eliminating or reducing fraudulent activities efficiently and effectively. Drawing upon signaling theory, this study investigates how BT's traceability and transparency attributes can enhance consumers' urge to buy impulsively and impulsive buying behavior. The results reveal that transparency positively affects perceived product quality and trust in BT‐enabled e‐commerce platforms. Moreover, traceability positively affects perceived product quality and product affection. The study also identifies that perceived product quality positively affects the urge to buy impulsively and product affection. In addition, product affection and consumers' trust positively affect the urge to buy impulsively and impulsive buying behavior. Furthermore, the urge to buy impulsively positively affects impulsive buying behavior. Finally, consumers' situations moderate the relationship between the urge to buy impulsively and impulsive buying behavior. The findings provide insight for e‐commerce platforms and sellers to refine marketing strategies by providing BT‐related signals.

As local governments play a decisive role in attaining sustainable development goals, notably SDG 13 (climate action), decentralization policies offer the flexibility to modify climate strategies according to local necessities and enhance resource distribution. However, the simultaneous demands for economic advancement and environmental conservation pose notable hurdles. Drawing on a county‐level time‐varying quasi‐natural experiment, the results explore that fiscal decentralization, when implemented alone, significantly reduces firm pollution emission intensity. This pollution reduction is attributed to its alleviating fiscal stress on counties. In contrast, administrative decentralization is associated with increased pollution emissions, driven by tax preferences and competition in infrastructure investment. Moreover, the study reveals that fiscal and administrative decentralization reforms are complementary in their impact on a firm's intensity of pollution emissions. Furthermore, the joint implementation of complementary decentralization reforms is observed to decrease the intensity of pollution emissions in developed counties, particularly in areas characterized by high institutional quality and improved mobility. The study provides insights into the interplay between different decentralization policies and their contextual factors, enhancing our understanding of how nations can articulate decentralization policies to adopt an informed and context‐sensitive approach in crafting a balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability.

Purpose – Deregulation of key industries in Asian countries has had a significant impact on competitive activities and corporate performance. This article examines the relationship between firms’ heterogeneous competitive actions and their sales performance in deregulated industries. Based on the secondary-data from the telecommunication industry of Hong Kong, the empirical results indicate a U-shaped association between heterogeneous competitive actions and sales performance, in which competitive positioning plays a mediating role. In addition, on the demand side at the macro level, market munificence positively moderates the main effect. On the demand side at the micro level, user network size positively moderates the main effect, but user network coverage negatively moderates the main effect. The conclusion provides theoretical guidance for improving internal governance on the supply side (firm) and formulating matching strategies on the demand side (user), firms need to manage the amplification effect of demand-side factors on the effects of their competitive actions.

This study investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and brand perception. It specifically examines how negative attitudes toward CSR activities and emotional contagion influence brand perception. The research focuses on young consumers as the sample population. The findings underscore the significance of CSR in shaping consumer attitudes and emotions toward brands. The results indicate that negative attitudes toward a company's CSR initiatives can exacerbate negative brand perception. Therefore, the study emphasizes the importance of companies demonstrating their dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship to appeal to environmentally conscious customers. However, the research also acknowledges certain limitations include the geographical sampling size and sampling techniques, which should be taken into consideration.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) significantly bolsters brand loyalty by demonstrating a company's commitment to societal and environmental well‐being. This article investigates the link between brand loyalty based on consumer perception and CSR. The study looks at the effects of unfavorable perceptions of CSR initiatives and how emotional contagion affects brand loyalty. The results emphasize the importance of CSR and how it influences consumer attitudes toward brands. To this end, this study particularly targeted young consumers for adopting a sample of this study. The findings reveal that brand disloyalty can be caused by negative attitudes toward a company's CSR initiatives, and brand perception can amplify this effect. The study emphasizes how crucial it for businesses is to demonstrate dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship to sustainable environmentally conscious clients. However, the geographical sampling size and sampling methods are the research's limitations, which should be considered by the researchers in the future for additional validation and contribution.

Purpose: This study undertakes a comprehensive exploration of the relationships between psychological ownership (PO) in playful consumption and its substantial impact on consumer happiness (CH). Specifically, this study aims to investigate the moderating effects of personality and game performance on the association between PO and CH.Design/methodology/approach: Subsequently, this study proceeds to evaluate consumer happiness in the context of playful consumption experiences through two distinct studies, one quantitative and the other experimental. For Study 1, a randomized sample of 453 respondents from Pakistan is utilized, and data is analyzed using SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) techniques. In Study 2, this study employed an EEG emotive insight device, offering valuable insights into the factors associated with psychological ownership. This experimental approach allows exploring the neuro-marketing perspective of players engaging in playful consumption activities.Findings: The research findings demonstrated multiple positive associations with psychological ownership (PO). Perceived control, competitive resistance, emotions, customer participation, personality and performance all exhibited significant positive correlations with PO. Furthermore, the study highlighted that game performance has the capacity to enhance feelings of happiness among participants.Practical implications: This study offers innovative insights into the mechanisms that underpin consumer happiness and serves as a reliable guide for policymakers, applied psychologists, consumers and marketers who play a role in shaping the future in the domain of happiness and well-being through playful consumption experiences.Originality/value: This study offers new insights into the processes that drive consumer happiness and provides a vigorous guide for policymakers, applied psychologists, consumers and marketers who shape the futures in the field of happiness and well-being through playful consumption experience.

In order to understand the characteristics of bio-convection and moving microorganisms in flows of magnetized Walters-B nano-liquid, we developed a model employing Riga plate with stretchy sheet. The Buongiorno phenomenon is likewise employed to describe nano-liquid motion in the Walters-B fluid. Expending correspondence transformations, the partial differential equation (PDE) control system has been transformed into an ordinary differential equation (ODE) control system. The COMSOL program is used to generate mathematical answers for non-linear equations by employing the Galerkin finite element strategy (G-FEM). Utilizing logical and graphical metrics, temperature, velocity, and microbe analysis are all studied. Various estimates of well-known physical features are taken into account while calculating nanoparticle concentrations. It is demonstrated that this model's computations directly relate the temperature field to the current Biot number and parameter of the Walters-B fluid. The temperature field is increased to increase the approximations of the current Biot number and parameter of the Walters-B fluid.

The study aims to determine the role of personal factors, consumer social responsibility, and social marketing among meat anti-consumers. The study tests a model of anti-consumption using a sample of 597 (n = 597) participants from a cluster of young consumers through the distribution of the questionnaires in the Pakistani market. SEM employing the AMOS model for path relationships along with the Johnson-Neyman technique for moderation was mainly used. Results prescribe religiosity as the moderating driver of the anti-consumption of meat among young consumers in Pakistan. Consumer social responsibility is a robust antecedent, while social marketing is significantly documented for sustainability motives. Consumers apprise the personal health and environmental domain as an auspicious component for meat anti-consumption. The study reveals social marketing motivations for anti-consumption that eventually steers marketers and policymakers in shaping the concerned strategies. Our study delivers new insights into food anti-consumption behavior that provides guidelines for policymakers who heed consumer eating behaviors. The study is among pioneer work that establishes the moderating role of religious motivations and meat anti-consumption behavior among Muslim consumers to acquire healthy wellbeing.