Purpose: Currently, environmental and social concerns have made green innovation more popular among researchers and practitioners around the globe. Developed countries tend to focus more on this issue, compared to developing countries. However, the reality shows that small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered as high contributors to environmental pollution. This study is designed for, and conducted on, SMEs in a developing country, Pakistan. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main determinants of green innovation adoption in SMEs in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approach: A data sample of 288 SMEs from five different sectors was collected and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique.Findings: The results of the study indicate that organizational and human resource factors, market and customer factors, and government support and technological factors have a positive and significant impact, whereas external partnership and cooperation, and rules and regulatory factors have an insignificant impact on green innovation adoption in SMEs in Pakistan.Originality/value: The outcomes of the study have important implications for managers as well as for government policy makers regarding framing better policies to promote green practices in SMEs.

Purpose: In the era of knowledge economy, the significance of intellectual capital has been increasing globally. Similarly, recent studies have focused on the importance of green intellectual capital in mitigating environmental degradation. However, only a few studies have analysed green intellectual capital and its impacts in the specific case of Pakistan. Hence, this study aims to investigate the effects of green intellectual capital on green innovation adoption in Pakistan’s manufacturing small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approach: We used a data sample of 235 SMEs, gathered from the four manufacturing sectors of Pakistan including: textile, chemical, pharmaceutical and steel and analysed using a multiple regression analysis approach.Findings: The empirical results of this research indicate that green human capital and green structural capital significantly increase green innovation adoption. However, it must be noted that green relational capital has a positive but insignificant impact on green innovation adoption in manufacturing SMEs in Pakistan.Originality/value: The findings and recommended policy measures of this study are important for the managers of manufacturing SMEs and policymakers to mitigate environmental destruction and achieve sustainable development through green intellectual capital.

Purpose: Recent research validates an increasing knowledge of environmental concerns in manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, only a few studies maintain that green human resource management (HRM) practices and corporate social responsibility (CSR) play an important role, especially in the case of developing economies. Thus, this study aims to examine the direct and indirect relationship between green HRM practices and environmental sustainability (ES) through the mediation of CSR in SMEs in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approach: The cross-sectional design of this study considers the mechanism by which green HRM practices affect ES through CSR in the context of Pakistani SMEs. The authors collected data from 320 manufacturing SMEs and used the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique to examine the relationship between variables.Findings: The empirical findings of this study suggest green HRM practices have a positive and significant impact on ES. Further, the second hypothesis is not supported. In addition to the direct impact, the indirect effect of green HRM practices on CSR is positive and significant. Finally, the authors determine that green HRM practices affect ES through the partial mediation of CSR.Originality/value: To date, this study is the first to use CSR as a mediator between green HRM practices and ES in the context of Pakistani SMEs. The study has important implications for HRM and government policy makers, suggesting they should improve strategies in favour of the green economy. Furthermore, developing countries could design similar studies with different future sustainability factors.

Due to speedily changing surroundings and market opportunities, a firm’s digital infrastructure is becoming increasingly significant as it performs a vital role in enhancing its innovation performance and equals viable benefits to the digital divide. The firm’s success is mainly dependent on its novelty and ability to innovate. The pivotal role of the digital infrastructure in increasing innovation performance has been explored in studies relating to innovation. The current research explores how digital infrastructure enhances innovation performance by examining the interplay between digital innovation and the moderating role of e-knowledge. Utilizing quantitative methods, this study gathered data through questionnaires from 383 respondents across various SMEs in China. The results highlight the significant impact of digital infrastructure on improving innovation performance. Additionally, the findings emphasize that digital innovation plays a crucial role in influencing the relationship between digital infrastructure and innovation performance. Furthermore, the study reveals that e-knowledge intervenes in this relationship, acting as a critical moderator. These insights underscore the complex dynamics of digital infrastructure’s role in fostering innovation within SMEs. The study extends an existing pool of knowledge regarding the large-scale influence of digital infrastructure on innovation performance. This shows that digital innovations and e-knowledge deliver through the mechanism of digital infrastructure linkage and contribute to improved innovation performance.

Background: Recently, there has been significantly increased participation in online gaming and other addictive behaviors particularly in adolescents. Tendencies to avoid social interaction and become more involved in technology-based activities pose the danger of creating unhealthy addictions. Thus, the presence of relatively immature cognitive control and high risk-taking properties makes adolescence a period of major changes leading to an increased rate of emotional disorders and addiction. Aims: The critical roles of frontostriatal circuits in addiction have become the primary focus associated with reward in the striatum and cognitive control in the PFC. Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and nicotine addiction are currently becoming more and more serious. Methods: In the light of neuroimaging, the similarity between brain mechanisms causing substance use disorder (SUD) and IGD have been described in previous literature. Results: In particular, two distinct brain systems affect the way we act accounting for uncharacteristic neural function in addiction: the affective system comprises of the striatum driven by emotional, reward-related, and internal stimuli, and a cognitive system consisting of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) supporting the ventral affective system's actions via inhibitory control. Discussion and Conclusion: Therefore, as a novel concept, we focused on the implication of frontostriatal circuits in nicotine addiction and IGD by reviewing the main findings from our studies compared to those of others. We hope that all of these neuroimaging findings can lead to effective intervention and treatment for addiction especially during this critical period.