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This study aims to reconstruct how smallholder farmers implement livelihood adaptation strategies to survive and escape poverty, thereby mitigating or eliminating potential livelihood risks by utilizing their available assets.

This research employed a qualitative approach. For the collection of primary data, the researcher conducted observations and in-depth interviews and engaged with the lives of smallholder farmers during the data collection period.

Among the various livelihood adaptation strategies, only migration and profit-sharing strategies enable smallholder farmers to escape poverty. However, migration is an unsustainable adaptation strategy. When farmers move to new locations, they often resort to slash-and-burn methods for clearing land, which can lead to forest degradation and deforestation. Profit sharing is a sustainable livelihood adaptation strategy that falls into a different category. This approach can lift farmers out of poverty, increase their income and have no negative environmental impact. Other adaptation strategies include adjustments to traditional agriculture, both on and off-farm diversification, involving the family in income generation, reducing farming costs, practicing frugality in post-harvest processes, converting land from coffee cultivation to other crops and borrowing money and selling owned assets. Smallholder farmers implement these strategies to survive the existing economic conditions.

The profit-sharing strategy was a novel livelihood adaptation approach that previous studies had yet to uncover at the research site. In this strategy, farmers assume the roles of both managers and laborers simultaneously during farming, while toke (the capital owners) play the role of farming funders. The generated profit is then shared between farmers and toke based on the agreement established at the outset of their collaboration.

The existing literature has examined the determinants of post-purchase behavioral intentions. However, less attention has been devoted to the factors that contribute to perceived usefulness of fast-food restaurants attributes. The current study considers the servicescapes and social servicescapes of restaurants as well as their relationship with customers' perceived usefulness, with the moderating role of customer experience. It also explores how perceived usefulness influences choice process satisfaction and subsequent behavioral responses, including revisit intention and negative word-of-mouth.

Data from 485 fast-food restaurant consumers in Pakistan were collected using purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using both structural equation modeling (SEM) through AMOS 24.0 and the PROCESS macro in IBM SPSS 27.0.

The research revealed that perceived usefulness in fast-food restaurant industry is positively influenced by servicescapes and social servicescapes. Similarly, choice process satisfaction is primarily caused by perceived usefulness and affects behavioral responses. It also found that choice process satisfaction is positively associated with revisit intentions and negative word-of-mouth. Customer experience significantly moderates the relationship between ambient condition, facility aesthetic, layout, perceived similarity and perceived usefulness. However, customer experience insignificant moderates the relationships of physical appearance and suitable behavior with perceived usefulness.

The findings provide insightful information for both academic and managerial fields, contributing to the literature on consumer psychology, consumer behavior, servicescapes and the stimulus-organism-response theory. The study also assists restauranteurs in the fast-food restaurant industry in overcoming the challenges posed by a highly competitive environment and developing strategies based on consumer perceptions.

This study, conducted in Pakistan, took a pioneer step in testing and confirming a novel perceived usefulness model that incorporates not only servicescapes but also social servicescapes in consumer behavior. It enhances the knowledge of consumer visit intentions by quantifying the significance of perceived usefulness developed by different servicescapes.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the economic repercussions of potential India–USA free trade agreement (FTA) on the trade of agricultural commodities at HS 2-digit level.

The analysis is undertaken by assuming tariff reduction in a phased manner using the World Integrated Trade Solutions (WITS)-SMART partial equilibrium model to identify the trade creation and trade diversion effects.

Overall results show that both the trading partners gain from the proposed FTA. Trade creation dominates over trade diversion in India's analysis.

An FTA between India and the USA could be an essential step toward more liberal trade regimes and provide enormous economic benefits to both countries. Government of both the countries should support deeper integration. This will create more job opportunities and generate prosperity in both economies.

There are numerous studies conducted on evaluating the impact of FTAs ratified between countries. But there are limited studies which evaluate the impact of the proposed India–USA FTA on the economies of both trading partners specifically on the agriculture sector.

This study examines the dynamics of financial institution development among economies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and how volatility in forex-adjusted price of key globally traded, commodities and macroeconomic risk influence such development.

The study is based on data collected from the period starting 2001 to 2019 for relevant variables; and the empirical test was performed using the two-step system generalized method of moments (TSS-GMM) estimation method.

Empirical estimates suggest that volatility in forex-adjusted prices of crude oil and cocoa are inimical to development of financial institutions among economies in the sub-region. On the other hand, volatility in the price of gold is found to have a significant positive effect on development of financial institutions. Additionally, political instability is found to exacerbate the adverse effect of volatility in the price of globally traded commodities on the development of financial institutions in the sub-region.

The study verifies how volatility in forex-adjusted prices of key traded commodities on the global market influence development of financial institutions in the sub-region. Additionally, the study examines the impact of macroeconomic risk, a principal component analysis (PCA) constructed index on the development trajectory of financial institutions. Finally, the authors examine the moderating role of institutional quality and political instability in the relationship in question.

The study aims to investigate the impact of workplace ostracism (WO) and fear of the COVID-19 pandemic on the family life of restaurant employees. This research is based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory and work–family interface model to understand the theoretical underpinnings of mistreatment in the food sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study utilized a survey with a structured questionnaire to collect time-lagged data from 238 restaurant employees in the central region of Punjab province in Pakistan. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS tool with modern-day techniques like bootstrapping, process macro and SmartPLS.

The study reveals that perceived stress levels of the employees increase due to ostracism, leading to work–family conflict. Furthermore, the study found that employees who fear COVID-19 are less stressed by ostracism.

The study's significant contribution lies in demonstrating that the impact of ostracism in the workplace is quite different from what was expected. The results have shown that ostracism can reduce the perceived stress levels of employees, leading to a decrease in work–family conflict, especially in the presence of fear of COVID-19.

The present study aims to examine the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMAs) on the adoption of food waste reduction behavior among Generation Z consumers within the restaurant service industry in Pakistan. The study focuses on the impact of social media advertisements and investigates the mediating influence of waste reduction intentions on actual behavior. This underscores the significance of contextual and emotional variables in comprehending consumer behaviors.

The study used a cross-sectional research methodology to examine the impact of SMMAs on the behavior of Generation Z consumers in Pakistan’s food service industry with regard to reducing food waste. A study was conducted to investigate the restaurant purchasing behaviors of a sample consisting of 449 individuals belonging to the millennial generation, often known as Generation Z.

The majority of variables related to SMMA, except for interactivity and personalization, were shown to have a positive impact on individuals’ intents to reduce food waste. The study observed a significant relationship between consumers’ intentions to decrease waste and their actual behavior in waste reduction. Furthermore, this relationship was shown to be influenced by the mediating role of waste reduction intention.

Examining how social media affects Pakistani Generation Z’s efforts to reduce food waste is what makes this study distinctive. According to the research, the majority of social media factors positively influence intentions to reduce waste. The relationship between intentions and actual behavior, which highlights the impact of social media campaigns and emotional aspects in promoting waste reduction, is one of the important conclusions.

This study aims to see the moderating effect of board diversity on the relationship between ownership structure and real earnings management.

This study uses unbalanced panel data of 75 listed energy firms (346 firm-year observations) from three South Asian emerging economies (Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan) from 2015 to 2019. The two-step system GMM estimation is used for data analysis. This study also uses fixed effect regression to obtain robust findings.

The findings show that firms with a greater ownership concentration and managerial ownership significantly reduce real earnings management. In contrast, the data refute the idea that institutional and foreign ownership affect real earnings management. We also find that board diversity interacts significantly with ownership concentration and managerial ownership, meaning that board diversity moderates the negative link of the primary relationship that reduces real earnings management. On the other hand, board diversity has no interaction with institutional and foreign ownership, implying no moderating effect exists on the primary relationship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is unique research investigating how different ownership structures affect real earnings management in the emerging nations’ energy sector, which the earlier studies overlook. More specifically, this research focuses on how board diversity moderates the relationships between ownership structure and real earnings management, which could be helpful for future investors.

This paper examines the role price fluctuations associated with internationally traded commodities play in inflationary conditions and inflation uncertainty among economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Using a panel 32 countries from the sub-region from 1996 to 2019, this study employed Two-Step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique in its analysis.

Empirical evidence demonstrates that fluctuations in forex-adjusted price of crude oil, gold and cocoa have significant positive impact on inflation while forex-adjusted changes in price of cotton tend to have significant negative influence on consumer price inflation among economies in the sub-region. Additionally, the study found that gold, cocoa and cotton price changes on the international market have significant positive impact on inflation uncertainty in the sub-region (rise in price leads to increase rate of inflation uncertainty). Furthermore, improved regulatory quality and growth in output growth (GDP per capita growth) were found to help in stabilizing inflation uncertainty (reduce inflation uncertainty) among economies in the sub-region during periods of persistent growth in general price levels.

The study present a different approach based on individual economy forex-adjusted global prices of internationally traded commodities instead of general prices often used in the literature and assessed the effects such adjusted commodity prices have on inflation and inflation uncertainty. Additionally, the moderating role of regulatory quality and output growth between surmised nexuses are also examined.

Social media have been playing a critical role in seeking and sharing health related information and consequently shaping individuals’ health behaviors. This study investigates how information seeking about Covid-19 vaccine on social media is related to vaccine receiving intentions. The study furthers explores the association of trust in social media and uncertainty about Covid-19 with information seeking and the moderating role of prior social media experience on this association.

We developed a questionnaire and collected data from 525 educated social media users through “Google Forms.” Further, we applied ordinary least squares (OLS) regress to test the study hypothesis.

We noted that trust in social media and uncertainty about Covid-19 vaccine positively influenced information seeking which further positively affected vaccine receiving intentions. However, the moderating effect of prior social media experience was not only noted as weak but also found negatively affecting the associations of trust in social media and uncertainty about Covid-19 vaccine with information seeking.

The findings provide insights into understanding of public perceptions regarding Covid-19 vaccine in the cultural contexts of a developing country. Further, it informs about the public patterns of seeking information related to health issues on social media, an understanding which may likely benefit policymakers, health care providers and researchers to understand the antecedents and behavioral outcomes of seeking information through social media during health crisis. The study also elucidates the leveraging power of social media to motivate the public to accept the Covid-19 vaccines.

The study uniquely combines the antecedents and behavioral outcomes of information seeking through social media in the particular context of Covid-19. It further extends the literature by introducing the conditional role of prior social media experience.

Manufacturing companies continue to encounter a diverse set of obstacles while embracing sustainable development goals. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to explore critical sustainable development-related barriers to flexible packaging manufacturing companies in the New Zealand context.

Drawing on a qualitative multiple case studies approach, the authors collected data from the New Zealand flexible packaging industry. Semistructured interviews were conducted with the senior corporate managers in two large flexible packaging companies. Following the thematic analysis approach, the authors analyzed the information collected from the participants and synthesized our findings under the key dimensions of internal and external barriers to sustainable development.

The findings revealed that internal barriers to sustainable flexible packaging are linked to economic, operational and technical issues. Conversely, external barriers include global crises and disruption, customer behavior and preferences and institutional and infrastructural-related aspects. Based on the analysis of empirical findings, the authors further identified the underlying reasons for sustainable flexible packaging barriers and recommended guidelines that could assist corporate managers and policymakers in addressing obstacles inhibiting the flexible packaging industry from adopting sustainable business practices.

The authors argue that this study is one of the early studies to consider inhibiting factors to incorporate sustainable development into the New Zealand flexible packaging industry context. Building on a range of theoretical perspectives, the authors extend the current body of knowledge seeking to advance the sustainable development agenda in the New Zealand flexible packaging industry and offer recommended pathways fostering sustainable development in a distinctive manufacturing context.