The purpose is to explore whether the CEO’s personal and professional attributes affect corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure or not in particular context of Pakistan. This article attempts to bridge this gap using the data set of 1,790 firm-year observations comprising of firms listed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. For this purpose, the logistic regression technique is employed while taking CEO personal and professional attributes as explanatory variables and CSR disclosure as the dependent variable. Results indicate that firm size and CSR disclosure has a positive relationship. The outcomes based on binary logistic regression demonstrate that CEO ownership has a negative impact, whereas CEO tenure, CEO education, CEO age, and CEO compensation are the variables that have a positive impact on CSR disclosure. In addition, duality, ownership, and gender of the CEO are found to be insignificant. Evidence on CEO demographics and their impact on disclosure choice might be helpful for policymakers and regulators. This study lacks generalization due to the unique setting of Pakistan. Our research contributes to the body of knowledge containing upper echelons theory in several ways. First, it answers the call for an extension of research toward social responsibility disclosures and individual’s traits impact on it. Second, our study adds to the scarce literature available on CSR research and practices in developing countries. Third, it is one of the first quantitative studies in the specific context of Pakistan as data for these variables is not available in organized form publicly.

Intellectual Capital (IC) is a driving force behind the financial performance of non-financial firms. Investing in intellectual and physical capital allows companies to optimize their financial performance by maximizing resource utilization. This study aims to determine whether IC efficiency impacts the financial performance of listed Pakistani and Indian companies between 2010 and 2020. Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are used to calculate financial performance, and IC is calculated using the modified Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (MVAIC) model. Regression analysis is performed using the STATA software developed by the South Texas Art Therapy Association. Human Capital (HC), Structural Capital (SC), and Capital Employed (CE) have a significant impact on Pakistani and Indian firms’ financial performance. Resource-based theory (RBT) supports these findings. The findings should provide management with a prompt to improve financial performance and emphasize the importance of IC. A rare study has addressed the impact of IC on firm financial performance using the MVAIC model, rather than the VAIC model, in Pakistan and India.

The aim of this paper is to reinvestigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on welfare or poverty reduction in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) economies. We used FDI net inflows per capita and the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index (HDI) as the principal variables ranging from 1990 to 2014. Our analyses confirm the positive and strongly significant relationship between FDI net inflows and poverty reduction in Asia. However, it indicates significant differences between South Asia and Southeast Asia. Generally, we find that FDI has a greater impact on welfare in SAARC countries than in ASEAN countries. Our results hold true for both HDI and real gross domestic product (GDP), and are shown to be robust using both panel and pool model specifications.