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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruptions to global industries, with the textile sector in South Asia being particularly hard hit. While previous studies have focused on the performance of textile sectors in individual countries, there is a gap in the literature on the comparative impact of the pandemic on the textile industry in South Asian nations. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the performance of the textile sector in South Asian countries and identifying best practices for overcoming the pandemic’s adverse effects.

Using a comparative approach, this study analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the performance of the textile sector in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Our findings reveal that COVID-19 significantly negatively impacts the textile industry in Pakistan and India. However, Bangladesh has shown effective practices to support the textile industry and mitigate the pandemic’s adverse effects.

The findings of this study hold considerable implications for legislators, leaders, investors and supply chain management professionals operating within the South Asian textile sector. This research has the potential to inform policymakers in formulating strategies to facilitate the textile sector’s resilience during emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper provides significant theoretical additions to the current body of literature regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the textile sector in South Asia. The research uses the global value chain (GVC) theory as a theoretical framework to enhance understanding of the impact of global supply chains and interdependencies on the textile sector in the region.

The purpose of the study is to identify factors influencing the continuance of use of non-halal certified cosmetics among Muslim university students in Malaysia.

The research framework was developed based on the stimulus–organism–response model. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed using a purposive sampling method among Muslim students in three universities in Malaysia. A total of 501 usable data were collected and analysed using Smart partial least squares.

The analysis revealed that celebrity endorsement positively influences attitude and brand image. Meanwhile, brand image has a positive effect on attitude and continuance of use of non-halal certified cosmetics. Additionally, attitude has a positive effect on the continuance of use behaviour. Regarding predictive power enhancement, brand image and attitude were found to have a mediation effect and sequential mediation effect on the relationship between celebrity endorsement and the continuance of use behaviour. Attitude weakens the relationship between attitude and the continuance of use of non-halal cosmetics among Muslim university students in Malaysia.

Findings will primarily benefit halal and non-halal cosmetic manufacturers providing stakeholders with fundamental predicting information related to customers’ continuance of use thus resulting in better marketing strategies.

This study is focused on predicting consumer behaviour towards halal products, as well as young Muslim consumers’ perspective towards non-halal cosmetics. Celebrity endorsement is introduced as a stimulus in the context of Muslim university students to predict their continuance of use behaviour of non-halal certified cosmetics. The investigation includes the moderating effect of religiosity for the relationship between attitude and continuance behaviour. Findings reveal the mediating effects of brand image and attitude as a mediator and sequential mediator for the relationship between celebrity endorsement and continuance of use behaviour. Contributions enrich the literature related to non-halal certified contexts.

Supply chain quality management (SCQM) has gained less attention in the Arab world, and there is a clear dearth in existing research on this topic, particularly in service organizations. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for investigating the impact of SCQM and associated indicators on organizational performance (OP).

Empirical data have been collected through a survey distributed to a sample of major telecom companies in United Arab Emirates (UAE). To test the conceptual framework, structural equation modeling (SEM) has been used to analyze the data collected from 248 respondents of telecom companies.

The empirical data showed that SCQM practices are significantly correlated with innovation and operations performance. Statistical analysis through SEM also revealed that customer satisfaction has highest direct impact on OP.

External factors (government regulations, policies and culture) also affect the SCQM practices. Hence, future work should incorporate these parameters as well.

This is a contribution to the continuing research into SCQM, giving supply chain managers and designers a practical way for measuring and implementing SCQM practices across service supply chains.

The contribution of this research, through successive stages of data collection, measurement analysis and refinement, is a set of reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used in conceptualization and measuring quality of service supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of perceived organizational support on employees’ performance in information technology (IT) firms in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Organizational support is critical as it ensures support given by the organization to workers and to complete one’s job proficiently and effectively.

Data were collected from IT firm employees through a self-administered questionnaire survey where a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed, i.e. 200 in each country’s IT firms. A total of 383 completed questionnaires were received (190 from Pakistan and the remaining 183 from Saudi Arabia) representing a response rate of 95%. The hypothesis was tested using confirmatory factor analyzes and direct relations were confirmed using AMOS v24.

The results indicate that perceived organizational support and affective commitment have a significant positive impact on employee performance. Findings of the study show that perceived organizational support and affective commitment directly and significantly correlated (r = 0.439**; p < 0.05) (r = 0.489**; p < 0.05) with employee performance. On other hand, results of structural equation modeling indicate that perceived organizational support and affective commitment have a significant and positive impact (ß = 0.284; p < 0.01) and (ß = 0.370; p < 0.01) on employees’ performance. Moreover, affective commitment partially mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee performance.

The outcomes are not generalized, as the researcher analyzed working employees in the IT firms in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The relationship between perceived organizational support and employees’ performance may be checked in a longitudinal study. If all items are considered because of the ambiguity of human feeling and acknowledgment, it is hard to precisely assess employees’ performance and their needs. This research proposes a straightforward and handy model that supports managers to feature the most powerful factors in building up their employees’ performance.

This study proposes managers to give chances to proficient advancement, improved occupation and satisfying the necessities identified through deference, mindfulness and endorsement. Furthermore, they ought to make more good working conditions, for example, preparing chances to support workers in their wants for self-improvement and accomplishment. The research additionally recommends recording the unmistakable standard operation procedure to clarify the understanding of the employees. In addition, managers ought to invest sensible energy with their front-line employees through socialization and training. These efforts could limit fatigue work, enhance organizational duty and performance.

The purpose of this paper is to advance the theoretical perspective of complexity leadership paradigm to introduce shared leadership style as a precursor of taking charge behavior in public sector higher educational institutions (HEIs) of Pakistan. Moreover, this study unveils the underlying mechanisms of the climate of initiative and psychological safety for clarifying the link of shared leadership and taking charge.

The multi-source and multi-wave data were analyzed by employing double mediation analysis (PROCESS Model 4); using 282 valid responses obtained from a proportionate stratified sample of faculty members working in public sector HEIs of Pakistan.

The result indicates that shared leadership is a suitable style for governing the public sector HEIs and it fosters taking charge behavior in teaching faculty. Additionally, shared leadership creates climates that support initiatives and are psychologically safe that set stage for taking charge behaviors in teaching faculty of public sector HEIs of Pakistan.

This research has filled the gap of focusing on more collaborative leadership styles instead of traditional vertical leadership practices in public sector HEIs of Pakistan. Theoretically, this study suggests new insights into the contextual antecedents and mediating mechanisms of taking charge behaviors.

This study aims to examine why tax reforms fail and explores how tax collection can be improved within a developing country context.

Data comprise 28 semi-structured interviews with taxpayers, tax experts and tax authority personnel based in Pakistan. The results are analysed using a combined lens of taxpayer trust and tax agencies’ capabilities.

Tax reforms failed to build taxpayers’ trust and tax agencies’ capabilities. Building trust is challenging and demands extensive ongoing engagement with taxpayers while yielding gradual permanent results. This requires enhancing confidence in government; educating taxpayers; removing complexities; introducing transparency and accountability in tax agencies’ operations and the tax system; promoting procedural and distributive justice; and reversing perceptions of corruption through reconciliation and stakeholder inclusivity. Developing tax agencies’ capabilities requires upgrading outdated technologies, systems and processes; implementing governance and organisational reforms; introducing an oversight board; and recruiting and training skilled professionals.

The findings can assist policymakers and tax collection authorities in understanding why tax reforms fail and identifying potential solutions.

This study contributes to the emerging literature by exploring tax administration failures in developing countries. It contributes to the literature by engaging stakeholders to understand why reforms fail and potential solutions to stimulate tax revenues.

Big Data (BD) is being increasingly used in a variety of industries including construction. Yet, little research exists that has examined the factors which drive BD adoption in construction. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in knowledge.

Data collected from literature (55 articles) were analyzed using content analysis techniques. Taking a two-pronged approach, first study presents a systematic perspective of literature on BD in construction. Then underpinned by technology–organization–environment theory and supplemented by literature, a conceptual model of five antecedent factors of BD adoption for use in construction is proposed.

The results show that BD adoption in construction is driven by a number of factors: first, technological: augmented BD–BIM integration and BD relative advantage; second, organizational: improved design and execution efficiencies, and improved project management capabilities; and third, environmental: augmented availability of BD-related technology for construction. Hypothetical relationships involving these factors are then developed and presented through a new model of BD adoption in construction.

The study proposes a number of adoption factors and then builds a new conceptual model advancing theories on technologies adoption in construction.

Findings will help managers (e.g. chief information officers, IT/IS managers, business and senior managers) to understand the factors that drive adoption of BD in construction and plan their own BD adoption. Results will help policy makers in developing policy guidelines to create sustainable environment for the adoption of BD for enhanced economic, social and environmental benefits.

This paper develops a new model of BD adoption in construction and proposes some new factors of adoption process.

There are many areas of research that are untapped in Islamic banking, and human capital is one of them. This paper aims to systematical review the relevant literature on human capital and Islamic banking.

The review process involved a structured search using well-established academic databases, Scopus and Web of Science, resulting in the selection of relevant articles. The paper has been divided into three major themes, besides other discussions on the literature, including methods of measuring human capital, determinants of human capital and human capital and performance of Islamic banks.

A few pioneering studies have explicitly examined human capital in the Islamic banking domain, while others have encompassed it under the broader umbrella of intellectual capital. The most common method of measuring human capital is accounting based, while few have adopted disclosure and survey methods as well. There are few studies that explored the determinants of human capital having focus on corporate governance, while many of the studies have explored the nexus of human capital and financial performance.

This review strongly highlights the need for more focused research on human capital within the Islamic banking sector. As Islamic banking necessitates unique human capital characteristics, it is essential to delve deeper into this aspect. Furthermore, there is a call to expand the human capital index by incorporating comprehensive aspects relevant to Islamic banking. An important area that requires further exploration is the role of Shariah governance in shaping human capital development within Islamic finance, understanding the reasons behind the observed negative correlation.

Despite its significance, the relationship between human capital and Islamic banking has received limited attention. This review paper not only addresses this gap but also lays the groundwork for future studies in this important and emerging field.

This study examines how applying innovative I4.0 technologies at the design stage can help reduce construction waste and improve the recovery, reuse, and recycling of construction materials.

The study adopts a three-stage sequential mixed methods approach, involving a thorough review of current literature, interviews with six experts in digital construction, and a survey of 75 experienced industry practitioners.

The study identifies and discusses how ten specific digital technologies can improve design stage processes leading to improved circularity in construction, namely, (1) additive and robotic manufacturing; (2) artificial intelligence; (3) big data analytics; (4) blockchain technology; (5) building information modelling; (6) digital platforms; (7) digital twins; (8) geographic information systems; (9) material passports and databases; and (10) Internet of things. It demonstrates that by using these technologies to support circular design concepts within the sector, material recycling rates can be improved and unnecessary construction waste reduced.

This research provides researchers and practitioners with improved understanding of the potential of digital technology to recycle construction waste at the design stage, and may be used to create an implementation roadmap to assist designers in finding tools and identifying them.

Little consideration has been given to how digital technology can support design stage measures to reduce construction waste. This study fills a gap in knowledge of a fast-moving topic.

Thermal and species transport of magneto hydrodynamic Casson liquid over a stretched surface is investigated theoretically in this examination for the three-dimensional boundary layer flow of a yield exhibiting material. The phenomenon of heat and species relocation is based upon modified Fourier and Fick’s laws that involves the relaxation times for the transportation of heat and mass. Conservation laws are modeled under boundary layer analysis in the Cartesian coordinates system. The purpose of this paper is to find the influence of different emerging parameters on fluid velocity, temperature and transport of species.

Reconstructed nonlinear boundary layer ordinary differential equations are analyzed through eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Due to the complexity and non-existence of the exact solution of the transformed equations, a convergent series solution by the homotopy algorithm is also derived. The reliability of the applied scheme is presented by comparing the obtained results with the previous findings.

Physical quantities of interest are displayed through graphs and tables and discussed for sundry variables. It is discerned that higher magnetic influence slows down fluid motion, whereas concentration and temperature profiles upsurge. Reliability of the recommended scheme is monitored by comparing the obtained results for the dimensionless stress as a limiting case of previous findings and an excellent agreement is observed. Higher values of Schmidt number reduce the concentration profile, whereas mounting the values of Prandtl number reduces the dimensionless temperature field. Moreover, heat and species transfer rates increase by mounting the values of thermal and concentration relaxation times.

The phenomenon of heat and species relocation is based upon modified Fourier and Fick’s laws which involves the relaxation times for the transportation of heat and mass. Conservation laws are modeled under boundary layer analysis in the Cartesian coordinates system.