Crowdfunding is a successful disruptive innovation of fintech that substitutes financial intermediaries and contributes toward financial inclusion and sustainable development. The present research aimed at exploring the underlying determinant factors that shape the investors’ intentions to fund in a crowdfunding platform, a phenomenon still under-researched in the developing world. To bridge this void in the literature, we investigated how calculus and relational trust mediate the effects of perceived accreditation, blockchain technology, structural assurance, and third-party seal on the investors’ intention using the SEM technique to analyze the data collected from 110 platform investors in Pakistan. Findings suggest that third-party seal and blockchain technology strongly influence the calculus trust. While the investors’ intention to invest is mediated by calculus trust, the relational trust fails to show any mediation effect, suggesting that investors make investment decisions based on what makes sense to them cognitively instead of affectively. The research was concluded with implications for both theory and practice.

Purpose: The strict regulations and reporting requirements in microfinance institutions require a high level of knowledge and expertise in finance, accounting and risk management. Therefore, microfinance institutions (MFIs) must possess a high absorptive capacity to understand their customers’ needs and develop appropriate products and services to meet them. This study explains how organizational culture influences absorptive capacity in MFIs, with a particular focus on the mediating role of knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 450 randomly selected employees of microfinance banking institutions in Pakistan. The data were tested for reliability and validity, and hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling in WarpPLS 8.0. Findings: The findings show that knowledge! sharing mediates the relationship between organizational culture and absorptive capacity. Thus, MFIs should promote knowledge sharing as a cultural value to improve their ability to acquire and utilize new knowledge, enhance absorptive capacity to drive innovation and facilitate the development of new products and services. Practical implications: MFIs with higher absorptive capacity are more likely to be able to respond to changes in the market, such as new technologies or shifting customer demands. Therefore, managers should promote a culture of sharing knowledge and expertise to ensure adaptability in dynamic market conditions. Originality/value: This research provides a framework for organizations to better understand the role of knowledge sharing in their success and how to leverage it to enhance their absorptive capacity. It is valuable for academics and practitioners seeking to improve organizational performance and competitiveness.

Purpose: This study explores the adoption of crowdfunding in Pakistan, focusing on the challenges and opportunities within its unique entrepreneurial ecosystem. The research aims to provide insights into the regulatory mechanisms, stakeholder engagement and institutional factors influencing crowdfunding adoption.Design/methodology/approach: Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted using a purposive sampling technique. Data was collected from diverse stakeholders involved in the crowdfunding process including investors, entrepreneurs, platform owners and regulators.Findings: The study identifies various challenges, including regulatory gaps, investor concerns, platform-related issues and systemic challenges such as political instability and weak institutions. These challenges hinder the effective implementation of crowdfunding in Pakistan. Moreover, the study highlights opportunities for financial inclusion, bridging the gap between investors and entrepreneurs, and leveraging Pakistan’s entrepreneurial landscape for crowdfunding growth. While several challenges were common to both developed and developing countries, the study also identified distinct challenges such as digital literacy, reliance on the undocumented economy, insufficient regulatory frameworks and investor mindset specific to developing countries.Research limitations/implications: Since crowdfunding is an emerging phenomenon in Pakistan, this study had limitations as no official crowdfunding platform other than the Pakistan National Investor Portal had started operations. Therefore, this study involved only those stakeholders who were involved in designing regulatory sandbox suggestions. The sample size could be increased to include stakeholders from other developing countries in the future. This article, however, provides significant strategic guidance for policymakers in developing a framework to improve financial inclusion in development.Practical implications: The study provides critical areas of concern for regulatory authorities for developing appropriate legislation to help overcome the challenges to the institutionalization of crowdfunding. This study also encourages stakeholders like investors and entrepreneurs to participate in crowdfunding while looking at the perspective of other parties.Social implications: This research highlights the need for the Pakistani society to be well-informed about alternative investment opportunities, like crowdfunding. The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, along with the government, can also explore the benefits of crowdfunding to address their lack of access to capital and enable the inclusion of an informal economy to reduce poverty in a developing country.Originality/value: Crowdfunding is a new phenomenon in Pakistan, and the scope of its application in the MSME sector has not been thoroughly investigated. This study reveals how micro and small firms can use crowdfunding to boost their economic operations by overcoming challenges and taking advantage of fintech (financial technology) to achieve financial inclusion, leading to economic sustainability.

Although mobile shopping is a new norm after the pandemic, its proliferation is still not very mature in developing nations. Drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, this research employs the SEM technique to examine the effect of mobile shopping frequency and repurchase intent among 198 young mobile shopping consumers in Pakistan. Our findings suggest that purchase frequency is a key variable in consumer behavior and plays a significant role in building mobile shopping repurchase intentions. Findings further suggest that effort expectancy, unlike the performance expectancy, also strongly affects the relationship between purchase frequency and repurchase intention as an intervening mechanism, while a strong interaction effect from the social influence is also noted. This research offers insightful implications for researchers and marketers in the realm of e-commerce and mobile shopping domains.

This paper presents a panel data study of microfinance banks in Pakistan. The data includes a random sample of financial statements from 8 microfinance banks over the period from 2011-2015, totaling 40 firm year observations. The study aims to evaluate the effect of government interventions on these microfinance banks and brings up a statistically critical assessment of various government policies applied to the sector. To quantify the effects of government intervention, panel data analysis is conducted. For a better selection of model, the Hausman’s specification test is employed. The random effect model was found suitable for analysis. Using statistical tools, this paper investigates the causal effect of government regulations, government grants, market size, and governmental audits on the profit ratios of microfinance institutes. This is one of the few studies that investigates the impacts of the small and medium sized government policies on microfinance bank from inception of these policies. By analyzing the period during which these policies were first implemented, the study provides a clear and direct picture of the relationship between governmental policy and SME entities. Taking a snapshot of the impacts in the beginning provides undiluted results that are not confounded by other environmental and regulatory effects. The results show that most of the variables used in the study, such as market size and number of audits are significantly related, while government grants have an insignificant relationship with the performance of microfinance banks. The study makes a significant contribution by demonstrating that government policies and grants have limited impact on SME performance and should be reevaluated, while they should rely more on audits.