The sustainable environment has been a desired situation around the world for the last few decades. Environmental contaminations can be a consequence of various economic activities. Different socio-economic factors influence the environment positively or negatively. Many previous studies have resulted in the efficient allocation of inputs as an environment-friendly component. This paper investigates the effects of energy efficiency on ecological footprint in the ASEAN region using balanced panel data from 2001 to 2019. First, this paper technically derives the energy efficiency, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) of the translog production type of single output and multiple inputs. Findings of the SFA show that the Philippines and Singapore have the highest energy efficiency (94%) and Laos has the lowest energy efficiency (85%) in the ASEAN region. The estimated average efficiency score of the ASEAN region was around 90%, ranging from 85% to 96%, indicating that there is still 10% room for improvement in energy efficiency. Second, this study employed the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to explore the short run and long run impact of technically derived energy efficiency on ecological footprint in the ASEAN region. Results of the panel ARDL model show that energy efficiency is a reducing factor of ecological footprint in the long run. Moreover, energy efficiency plays a significant role to control the environmental contaminations. In addition, results of this study also explored that urbanization is an increasing factor of ecological footprint, and investment in agriculture is also beneficial for the environment. Moreover, to obtain the directional nature of the associations between the ecological footprint and its independent variables, this paper has employed the paired-panel Granger causality test. The results of the paired wise panel Granger causality test also confirm that the energy efficiency, urbanization, and investment in agriculture cause ecological footprint. Finally, this study recommends that efficient utilization of energy resources as well as investment in agriculture are necessary for sustainable environment.

This study empirically investigates the role of employees’ perceptions of CSR in improving their green behavior in the hospitality industry. In addition, this study investigates the mediating role of employee well-being and the moderating role of hotels’ environmental strategy in this relationship. Empirical analysis is performed in a cross-country setting using evidence from Pakistan and Italy. The study model is tested through PLS-SEM using survey data of 485 hotel employees. Findings from the overall sample and country-specific samples reveal that CSR is positively and significantly related to employee green behavior. Moreover, employee well-being serves as a significant mediator in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee green behavior, while hotels’ environmental strategy significantly moderates this relationship in the overall and country-specific samples. These results suggest that paradoxically, though the selected countries have different tourism implementation levels, economic development, and cultures, the employees’ perceptions of CSR and its effect on their green behavior do not vary significantly across both countries.

This study aims to empirically examine the mediating effects of psychological safety and leadership identification on the relationship between inclusive leadership and pro-social rule breaking among hospitality employees. This study analyzes the survey data collected in three waves from 589 employees working in different hotels and restaurants operating in the Northern areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The scale validity, composite reliability, and hypotheses were assessed through PLS-SEM. The study found that inclusive leadership significantly impacts employees’ pro-social rule-breaking. The study also found that leadership identification and psychological safety partially mediate the relationship between inclusive leadership and pro-social rule-breaking. Hospitality leaders can practice inclusive leadership characteristics because it may significantly enhance employee engagement in pro-social rule-breaking. Through their inclusive features, hospitality leaders can improve employees’ psychological safety and leadership identification, enhancing frontline employees’ pro-social rule-breaking.

The ecological footprint attempts to quantify human impact on nature and its resources necessary to satisfy human needs. This research study explores the long-run implications of fiscal policy on the ecological footprint in Pakistan empirically, keeping different socio-economic factors into consideration. Per annum, time series data have been collected between 1976 and 2018, and the ARDL model is applied to investigate this long-run and short-run association. The conclusion of ARDL model shows that a 1% increase in public development expenditures, total population, GDP, and energy consumption increase 0.19, 2.17, 1.16, and 2.17% ecological footprint, respectively, in Pakistan between 1976 and 2018 vice versa. However, it is also derived that a 1% increase in public tax and non-tax revenue and current public expenditures (in health, education, and other social sectors) shrink 0.36 and 0.013% ecological footprint in the long run in Pakistan. For policy implications, these results focus on practical fiscal policy significance to achieve environmental targets in Pakistan, suggesting an increase in public current expenditures in public and social sectors and increasing public revenue by expanding the tax base, which will ultimately reduce ecological footprint in the long run in Pakistan.

Despite a direct ban on charging interest, interest-based benchmarks are used as a pricing reference by a majority of Islamic banks, due in part to the absence of stable and widely- published alternatives. Benchmarking interest rate exposes Islamic banks to the problems of conventional banks, particularly the interest rate risk. Against this backdrop, the present study empirically examines the dynamic linkage between the interest rate volatility and the financing of Islamic banks. The empirical analysis is carried using evidence from the Islamic banking industry of Pakistan during the time period 2006–2020. The multivariate Johansen and Jusiles Co-integration test and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) are used as the baseline econometric models. Moreover, the DCC-GARCH model is employed for robustness and ensuring the consistency of results. The results indicate that a significant long-term and short-term relationship exists between the interest rate volatility and the financing of Islamic banking industry providing significant evidence for co-movements and convergence. These findings suggest that paradoxical as it may seem, the financing of Islamic banks operating within a dual banking system is subject to interest rate risk, mainly due to benchmarking interest rate, which in-turn makes Islamic banks vulnerable to the rate of return risk and withdrawal risk. Moreover, corporate financing, in particular, is more vulnerable to interest rate risk.