Climate change has increasingly been recognised and associated with consumer behaviour: Practitioners are developing their strategies to reduce environmental degradation while increasing the management of sustainable consumption; it needs to better understand consumer attitudes and eco-friendly factors about the issue. Therefore, the current study focused to understand the effects of pro-environmental factors on individuals’ environmental attitudes through the lens of theory of planned behaviour in a cross-cultural setting. Moreover, present research focuses on the moderating role that religiosity plays in causal (...) pathways between certain determinants and intentions in this context. A multi-wave time-lagged research design was employed in this study, and university students from two developing countries were surveyed. The findings revealed pronounced similarities between the two examined countries. Overwhelmingly, pro-environmental factors examined were found to be positively related to attitude formation. Further results showed that attitude and subjective norms are significant predictors of the intention to purchase products with recycled packaging. Moreover, with the exception of perceived behavioural control, religiosity moderates the relationships between all the determinants of TPB and intention to purchase recycled packaged products. Present study offers insightful implications to management of these emerging and/or similar cultural markets regarding customer value for green products. Using TPB, present study broadened and deepen extant stream of literature on consumption of recycled packaged products in two highly emerging markets; Pakistan and Malaysia. (shrink)

Using the assumptions of Sternberg Duplex Theory of Hate, the present study reveals the combined effects of similar competitor offer and narcissistic personality on brand equity through the underlying mechanism of brand hate. Specifically, we hypothesize that brand hate mediates the relationship between similar competitor offer and brand equity. Moreover, we propose that similar competitor offer and brand hate relationship are stronger for narcissistic individuals. By employing a multi-wave time-lagged research design, we collected data from a sample of dairy product (...) consumers in Pakistan. The findings of moderated-mediation regression analyses indicate that Brand hate mediates the relationship between similar competitor offer and brand equity; and Narcissistic personality moderates a similar competitor offer and brand hate relationship such that a high similar competitor offer led to greater brand hate when narcissism was high. Furthermore, conditional indirect effects reveal that brand hate mediates the relationship between similar competitor offer and brand equity only with individuals exhibiting narcissistic personality traits. The current study offers great insights to managers that by managing similar competitor offer, they can manage the development of brand hate, which can subsequently effect brand equity. Moreover, by profiling customers on the basis of their personalities, marketing managers can effectively invest only in customers with positive tendencies. The current study is unique in that it highlights new avenues in existing research by extending the nascent domain of brand hate in consumer–brand relationships. (shrink)

Markets, just like states, are systems of governance. Their justification must therefore meet similar standards of moral scrutiny, despite the fact that their authority structure is impersonal. In order to argue for the role of markets as systems of governance that raise similar justificatory burdens, this book provides a philosophical account of market institutions. According to this view, shared social institutions define a framework for how members of a political community think and act toward one another, consistent with citizens respecting (...) themselves and one another as free persons, each entitled to guide their activities in light of their own judgments. The market is one of these shared institutions, so its rules must also be consistent with mutual respect as free persons. This perspective represents a fundamentally different way of thinking about economic life, which rejects both the view of economic actors as disconnected individuals in a state of nature and the view of economic actors as mere preference orderings that are inputs to a giant social welfare function. The book formulates a deeper framework for thinking about economic life, which can displace the familiar ideas that underpin contemporary neoliberalism and finance capitalism. In so doing, the book works out the implications of the idea that the burdens of equal citizenship extend to economic life, such that appropriately regulated markets and workplaces elicit and realize a system in which people respect one another as free. The book concludes with a defense of economic democracy, elements of which can be found under German codetermination. (shrink)

According to Palazzo and Scherer, the changing role of business corporations in society requires that we take new measures to integrate these organizations into society-wide processes of democratic governance. We argue that their model of integration has a fundamental problem. Instead of treating business corporations as agents that must be held accountable to the democratic reasoning of affected parties, it treats corporations as agents who can hold others accountable. In our terminology, it treats business corporations as “supervising authorities” rather than (...) “functionaries.” The result is that Palazzo and Scherer’s model does not actually address the democratic deficit that it is meant to solve. In order to fix the problem, we advocate removing business corporations from any policymaking role in political CSR and limiting participation to political NGOs and other groups that meet the standards we set out for a politically representative organization (PRO). (shrink)

An extensive work has been done on corporate social responsibly practices that mainly emphasized the larger firms within developed nations. Nonetheless, still work is needed to observe the importance of CSRPs’ and ethical cultural practices in terms of sustainable competitive performance that garnered far less attention by the existing literature. This study explores the impact of CSRPs on SACP with the mediating role of ECL from SMEs of two emerging nations, i.e., China and Pakistan based on stakeholders’ theory and practices. (...) The results using SEM affirmed the positive linkages of CSRPs—environment responsibility, community responsibility, customers' responsibility, suppliers responsibility, employee responsibility, and Govt. rules & regulations’ responsibility —on SACP. It found that CSRPs have positive relationships with ECL whereas ECL further positively correlated with SACP in the context of both countries. The findings revealed the positive mediating influence of ECL between CSRPs and SACP, respectively. This study furnishes insightful information for management on how firms may achieve sustainable performance by incorporating ethical cultural practices and corporate social responsibility practices as the strategic tools. The study reports numerous implications for management together with lines for future directions. (shrink)

Philosophy &Public Affairs, Volume 48, Issue 1, Page 79-113, Winter 2020.

The efficiency argument for profit maximization says that corporations and their managers should maximize profits because this is the course of action that will lead to an ‘economically efficient’ or ‘welfare maximizing’ outcome. In this paper, I argue that the fundamental problem with this argument is not that markets in the real world are less than perfect, but rather that the argument does not properly acknowledge the personal sphere. Morality allows each of us a sphere in which we are free (...) to pursue our personal interests, even if these are not optimal from the social point of view. But the efficiency argument does not come to terms with this feature of social life. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Two Forms of Property‐Owning Democracy What Is Stability? Why Does It Matter? The Sense of Justice Participation in Public Life Three Distinctive Features of Rawls's View Democratic Corporatism and Participation Objections Conclusion References.

Most theorists believe that when it comes to freedom, no economic system does better than laissez-faire capitalism the system may have other problems, but as far as freedom is concerned, laissez-faire is as good as it gets. The goal of this paper is to show that this view is mistaken. I begin by criticising two important contemporary conceptions of freedom, the libertarian and the liberal egalitarian conceptions, both of which support the dominant view. I then develop a better alternative, one (...) that I call the social democratic conception of freedom. Using this conception, I go on to show that an economic system that requires firms to have an internal structure that makes decision-making more transparent and responsive to the concerns of workers actually shows greater respect for freedom than laissez-faire capitalism does. (shrink)

This paper is an attempt at re-examining the question of co integration and causality between money supply and inflation. As a first step we have used the statistical theory of integrated regresses to establish the time series properties of MI, M2, CPI and WPI economic series for Pakistan and then tested causality between money supply and inflation using Granger causality test. The result indicates that M,, M2, CPI and WPI are integrated of order one. Both M1 and M2 are co (...) integrated with CPI and WPI. The result also indicates that money supply cause inflation irrespective of whether it is represented by the CPI or WPI. It is also observed that inflation. cause changes in money supply, irrespective of whether it is measured as M1 or M2. (shrink)

The present study focused on this particular situation in which doctoral candidates become anxious, impatient, and disappointed while experiencing a prolonged delay in processing their dissertation during and after the submission. The researchers tend to explore doctoral candidates’ storied experiences they had while confronting such procedural barriers and delays. We undertook a narrative mode of inquiry to explore the events and storied experiences through interviewing doctoral candidates from public universities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Nine doctoral candidates were selected (...) through snowball sampling with the criterion of including those participants who were waiting for their external reviews at least for more than 1 year. From the narratives, the emergent themes include supervisors’ mutual relationships, the pressure of paper publication, lack of administrative support, external evaluation and follow-up and stress of delayed evaluation. The study has implications for relaxing procedural formalities during and after submission of a doctoral dissertation to facilitate students in the timely attainment of their doctoral degrees. (shrink)

BackgroundOver the past few years, five domains of importance about the current state of bioethics in Saudi Arabia have shaped the perspective of most research: doctor-patient relationship, informed consent, do-not-resuscitate, organ donation, and transplantation, medical students’ knowledge and attitudes about medical ethics curriculum. This systematic review aimed to systematically identify, compile, describe and discuss ethical arguments and concepts in the best-studied domains of bioethics in Saudi Arabia and to present cultural, social, educational, and humane perspectives. MethodsSix databases were searched using (...) Boolean operators from December 2020–June 2021. The search and report process followed the statement and flowchart of preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.ResutlsThe search resulted in 1651 articles, of which 82 studies were selected for a final review and assessment. There is a gradual increase in research, whereby a substantial increase was observed from 2017. Most of the published articles focused on ‘Organ Donation & Transplantation’ with 33 articles, followed by ‘Doctor-Patient Relations’ with 18 publications. Most of the published articles were from Central Province, followed by Western Province. The authorship pattern showed a collaborative approach among researchers. The thematic analysis of keywords analysis showed that ‘Saudi Arabia,’ ‘attitude PHC,’ ‘organ donation,’ ‘knowledge and education,’ and ‘donation’ have been used the most commonly.ConclusionThis systematic quantitative synthesis is expected to guide researchers, stakeholders, and policymakers about the strengths and gaps in knowledge and attitudes regarding medical ethics in Saudi Arabia, both among the general public and health professionals. (shrink)

While emancipatory ethical social media campaigns play an imperative role for fostering relationship and facilitating peace, limited research has examined the motivational response from peace-promoting viral videos. This research scrutinizes the effects of a viral video titled “Peace Anthem”: a mash-up between Pakistani and Indian national anthems, performed by famous artists and broadcasted in the wake of Independence Day in India and Pakistan. We examine the effect of listening to the anthem medley on relationship harmony using a longitudinal study design (...) and contribute to the burgeoning body of knowledge on peace music and relational musicology fostering relationship harmony. Study 1, consisting of 1048 cases, determines the effects of the likeability of the “Peace Anthem” and education on relationship harmony, and it also examines the moderating role of education. Study 2 with 605 cases investigates the persistency of these effects over time. The results demonstrate significant relationships between the likeability of the “Peace Anthem” and education with relationship harmony, as well as validate the moderating role of education. Although these effects decrease over time, there are noteworthy changes that consequently call for the persistence of ethical social media campaigns for stimulating peace. We discuss the policy implications of these findings and conclude with study limitations and recommendations for further research. (shrink)

Journal of Human Values, Volume 28, Issue 3, Page 247-258, September 2022. Recently, there has been increasing growth in the use of substance amongst the youth especially in higher education institutions of Pakistan. Literature indicates the existence of self-deception in substance users through self-reports. However, a dearth of qualitative exploration leads us to investigate self-deception through lived experiences of students who use the substance. The aim of the current study is to explore the phenomenon of self-deception through in-depth semi-structured interviews. (...) Smith et al. interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilized as a method for data collection. The investigators deployed semi-structured interview guide designed through the interview protocol framework. Four themes that emerged from the data were denial, where users exhibited persistent denial from negative effects of the substance; overconfidence, an illusionary aspect of substance users through elevated self-esteem; rationalization, where substance users frequently rationalized their usage through multiple attributions, such as family environment, cultural beliefs and common practices. Moreover; and awareness about positive and negative consequences of substance use, which highlighted paradoxical nature of substance users that move to and from between negative and positive aspects of substance use. Findings suggest a progressive advancement towards the understanding of the phenomenon of self-deception through its prevalent forms in university students who use the substance. (shrink)

Islamic philosophy; Ismailites; doctrines.

Progress in psychological science can be limited by a number of factors, not least of which are the starting assumptions of scientists themselves. We believe that some influential accounts of autism rest on a questionable assumption that many of its behavioral characteristics indicate a lack of social interest – an assumption that is flatly contradicted by the testimony of many autistic people themselves. In this article, we challenge this assumption by describing alternative explanations for four such behaviors: low levels of (...) eye contact, infrequent pointing, motor stereotypies, and echolalia. The assumption that autistic people's unusual behaviors indicate diminished social motivation has had profound and often negative effects on the ways they are studied and treated. We argue that understanding and supporting autistic individuals will require interrogating this assumption, taking autistic testimony seriously, considering alternative explanations for unusual behaviors, and investigating unconventional – even idiosyncratic – ways in which autistic individuals may express their social interest. These steps are crucial, we believe, for creating a more accurate, humane, and useful science of autism. (shrink)

In this paper, a complex non- linear programming problem with the two parts (real and imaginary) is considered. The efficient and proper efficient solutions in terms of optimal solutions of related appropriate scalar optimization problems are characterized. Also, the Kuhn-Tuckers' conditions for efficiency and proper efficiency are derived. This paper is divided into two independently parts: The first provides the relationships between the optimal solutions of a complex single-objective optimization problem and solutions of two related real programming problems. The second (...) part is concerned with the theory of a multi-objective optimization in complex space. (shrink)

A key feature of ISCT is the claim that individuals are required to comply with the norms that are "accepted by a clear majority of the community as standing for an ethical principle" [Donaldson and Dunfee, 1999, "The Ties that Bind", p. 39], so long as these norms are consistent with hypernorms. I refer to this as the communal authority thesis. Many people see the communal authority thesis as an attractive feature of ISCT, a welcome move away from the abstraction (...) of principle-based ethical theories. I argue in this article, however, that the communal authority thesis is false: we do not have a general moral obligation to comply with the accepted norms in our community. I consider and reject several defenses of the communal authority thesis, including the central arguments put forward by Donaldson and Dunfee. I go on to develop my own position, which accepts that social norms can be important from the moral point of view. However, I argue that social norms are important because they can shape the morally important features of our situation, not because we have a general obligation to comply with these norms as such. I use examples such as gift giving in Japan and the housing crisis to illustrate my position. (shrink)

Despite the seemingly widespread agreement that racial and ethnic immigration criteria are always wrong, some cases seem potentially permissible and, in particular, do not seem to wrong either disfavored members or nonmembers. I demonstrate that an “antidiscrimination” approach to understanding when and why discrimination is wrong provides a compelling general explanation for this. The explanation’s key ingredient is the concept of global social status: many groups sharing a race or ethnicity have a social status beyond, and that can differ from, (...) their status in a particular state. (shrink)

Whilst considerable research exists on determining consumer responses to pre-determined statements within numerous ad ethics contexts, our understanding of consumer thoughts regarding ad ethics in general remains lacking. The purpose of our study therefore is to provide a first illustration of an emic and informant-based derivation of perceived ad ethics. The authors use multi-dimensional scaling as an approach enabling the emic, or locally derived deconstruction of perceived ad ethics. Given recent calls to develop our understanding of ad ethics in different (...) cultural contexts, and in particular within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, we use Lebanon—the most ethically charged advertising environment within MENA—as an illustrative context for our study. Results confirm the multi-faceted and pluralistic nature of ad ethics as comprising a number of dimensional themes already salient in the existing literature but in addition, we also find evidence for a bipolar relationship between individual themes. The specific pattern of inductively derived relationships is culturally bound. Implications of the findings are discussed, followed by limitations of the study and recommendations for further research. (shrink)

Significant challenges confronting China include reducing carbon emissions, dealing with the resulting problems, and meeting various requirements for long-term economic growth. As a result, the shift in industrial structure best reflects how human society utilizes resources and impacts the environment. To meet China's 2050 net-zero emissions target, we look at how technological innovations, financial development, renewable energy investment, population age, and the economic complexity index all play a role in environmental sustainability in China. Analyzing short- and long-term relationships using ARDL (...) bounds testing, we used historical data spanning 1990–2018. According to the study's findings, the cointegration between CO2 emissions and their underlying factors was found. The deterioration of the environment directly results from financial development, increasing economic complexity, and population aging. Technical advancements, investments in renewable energy sources, and changes to the industrial structure all contribute to lower CO2 emissions. Granger causality results were also reliably obtained in this study. According to our findings in the fight against environmental problems, a key tool for meeting long-term sustainability goals is policy prescriptions that use technological innovations, renewable energy investment, and industrial structure. (shrink)

The interaction between environment and individual personality determines career. Over the past decades, the role of personality traits in explaining entrepreneurship cannot get much attention of researchers. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the effect of personality traits on the entrepreneurial intentions along with the mediating role of financial risk taking. Sample size consists of 500 students of business and management of different universities of Pakistan, out of which 466 useable questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The results (...) of the study are consistent with conventional wisdom as explored by past studies. In line with past studies and proposed hypothesis, we found that both extraversion and openness to experience have a positive association with FRT, whereas neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness have negative association with FRT. The results also revealed that there is positive association between FRT and EI; however, FRT did not mediate the relationship between agreeableness and EI. (shrink)

Entrepreneurship and its influence on the development of the economy are significant in competitive global advancement. Entrepreneurs need entrepreneurial intentions to improve the commercial environment of the country. Therefore, studying entrepreneurial intentions’ influencing predictors is vital for business development. We collected data from small and medium-sized enterprises employees of the developing country and used partial least square structured equation modeling to analyze the proposed relationships. The results assist the literature extension and practically contribute to developing entrepreneurs’ intentions through education and (...) opportunity recognition. The findings aid the institutions in improving course planning and establishing practical business setups. This study facilitates the government’s ideas of commencing entrepreneurial businesses through proper resource provisions for the entrepreneurs. (shrink)

Although the role of leadership in fostering employee creativity has been extensively studied, it is still unclear whether and how leader humor affects employee creativity. Drawing upon cultural representation theory, we examined creative self-efficacy as a mediator and traditionality as a situational factor in the relationship between leader humor and employee creativity by analyzing a sample of 306 employees and 88 leaders collected through survey questionnaire from firms based in Hubei Province, China, covering the industries of automobile, IT, and medicine. (...) Following the multi-level examination, leader humor was positively related to employee creativity, and creative self-efficacy was found to mediate the impact of leader humor on employee creativity. Furthermore, traditionality moderated the effect of leader humor on creative self-efficacy, as well as the indirect effect of leader humor on employee creativity through creative self-efficacy. This study provides a social psychological explanation for the association between humor and employee creativity, deepens the current understanding of the influence process of leader humor. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed at the end alongside limitations and recommendations for future research. (shrink)

A compelling argument of how human health is adversely affected by our poor treatment of non-human animals. The author contents that in order to successfully confront the 21st Century's health challenges, we need to broaden the definition of the word 'public' in public health to include non-human animals.

In this book the author seeks to explain the distinct character of Islamic art as a manifestation of the spiritual realities of the Quranic revelation in the world of forms. The book undertakes to study certain important facets of Islamic art ranging from calligraphy, painting and architecture to music, literature and plastic art, and underlines the sacred and spiritual nature of each. While the author has dealt with Islamic art, as produced in various countries of the Islamic world, his universe (...) of discourse is primarily Persian art. For Nasr, Islamic art is essentially an outcome of the inner dimension of Islam which is inextricably related to Islamic spirituality. This esoteric aspect has all along molded the soul of the Muslim artist by imbuing in them certain transcendental attitudes and virtues derived from the Quran and the prophetic traditions. In support of his esoteric thesis Nasr argues that many of the greatest masterpieces of Islamic art were created much before the sciences of the Quran and the Hadith were fully codified and accepted in the world of Islam as the ultimate authoritative works produced in those fields. If Islamic art leads to the inner chamber of the Islamic tradition it is because this art is a message from the noumenal world sent to those qualified to harken to its liberating message. It also provides a climate of peace and equilibrium for society as a whole in conformity with the nature of Islam. (shrink)

This book is an expanded version of the reports of two seminars on sociology taught by Professor Wagner at the University of Alberta. Wagner, in this book, attempts to apply the phenomenological approach to the development of his own sociological theory. In his endeavor he has leaned largely on the writings of his celebrated teacher Alfred Schutz—“a major figure in the development of sociology on a phenomenological basis.” Wagner writes enthusiastically about Schutz and the present volume is, to some extent, (...) a working out of Schutz’s basic ideas. (shrink)

If states have the moral authority to decide their memberships by denying citizenship, I argue that they may also strip citizenship, from law-abiding members, for the same reasons. The only real difference is that when states revoke citizenship they may need to compensate people for their prior contributions, but that is not unlike what frequently occurs in divorce. Once just termination rules are established, stripping citizenship could become, like divorce, an everyday event. Partly because of this implication, we should reject (...) the membership authority of states. (shrink)