Excessive social media use has become a growing concern due to its potential to affect self-perception, particularly through lowered self-esteem and a heightened fear of negative evaluation. With the increasing tendency for individuals to curate idealised online personas, understanding the psychological factors that drive this behaviour is critical. This study applies Self-Discrepancy Theory, Social Comparison Theory, and Gender Schema Theory to explain how self-perception, constant comparisons, and internalised gender norms drive online behaviours. A survey of 400 active social media users in Pakistan was conducted, and the data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). This study revealed that false self-presentation significantly heightened the fear of negative evaluation, which mediated its influence on excessive social media use. Social comparison, contrary to expectations, boosted self-esteem while also fuelling excessive use, as individuals sought validation online. Gender also appeared to play a moderating role, with women experiencing a stronger link between social comparison and self-esteem. However, gender did not moderate the relationship between false self-presentation and the fear of negative evaluation, suggesting similar psychological effects across genders. This study highlights that the fear of negative evaluation and social comparison-driven self-esteem are key psychological mechanisms behind excessive social media use, while gender plays a role in shaping the impact of social comparison but not false self-presentation. This study provides empirical evidence that excessive social media use is shaped by psychological factors, such as fear of negative evaluation and validation-seeking, driven by social comparison. Interventions aimed at reducing the emotional distress associated with excessive social media use should prioritise digital literacy programs that help users identify how false self-presentation and social comparison shape their fear of negative evaluation and validation-seeking behaviours, especially in appearance-driven online environments.

This chapter presents a comprehensive analysis of women’s entrepreneurship in Pakistan, focusing on gender differences in growth intentions and challenges women-led businesses face. Examining theoretical perspectives such as liberal feminism, the chapter elucidates how unequal access to resources, education and business experience influences women’s entrepreneurial behaviour. It discusses the early-stage failure of women-led businesses in Pakistan, highlighting the staggering failure rates and attributing challenges to limited financial resources, sociocultural barriers and difficulties in accessing capital. The sustainability of women-led businesses is explored in the context of sustainable development goals, emphasising the vital role female entrepreneurs play and the challenges they confront, including limited access to resources and entrepreneurial training. Additionally, the chapter profiles trailblazing women entrepreneurs in Pakistan who defy societal expectations, reshape business dynamics and contribute to broader societal change, challenging institutional norms and barriers. Moreover, the chapter emphasises the pivotal role of government in policy formulation and framework establishment to eliminate barriers and ensure a conducive environment for women entrepreneurs. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->

This research study focuses on the growing concern of academic misconduct in distance education courses. A quasi-experimental study was conducted to measure the impact of introducing webcam recording software as an online supervision tool for high-stakes exams in two separate online courses (Management and Accounting). Results revealed that overall performance decreased following implementation of the software, and persisted after taking potential confounding factors into account. Additionally, the explanatory power of the regression analysis was higher for scores under supervision, which suggests that cheating was occurring before online supervision was introduced. It can be concluded from this study that online supervision is an effective tool to combat academic dishonesty in distance education courses.