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Purpose: This study investigates internal/own shock in the domestic market and three external volatility spillovers from India, the UK, and the USA to the Sri Lanka stock market.

Need for the Study: The external market’s internal/own shocks and volatility spillovers influence portfolio choices in domestic stock market returns. Hence, it is required to investigate the internal shock in the domestic market and the external volatility spillovers from other countries.

Methodology: This study employs a quantitative method using ARMA(1,1)-GARCH(1,1) model. All Share Price Index (ASPI) is the proxy for the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) stock return. It uses daily time-series data from 1^st April 2010 to 21^st June 2023.

Findings: The findings revealed that internal/own and external shocks substantially impact the stock price volatility in CSE. Significant volatility clusters and persistence with extended memory in ASPI confirm internal/own shock in the market. Furthermore, CSE receives significant volatility shock from the USA, confirming external shock. This study’s findings highlight the importance of considering internal and external shocks in portfolio decision-making.

Practical Implications: Understanding the influence of internal shocks helps investors manage their portfolios and adapt to market volatility. Recognising significant volatility spillovers from external markets, especially the USA, informs diversification strategies. From a policy standpoint, the study emphasises the need for robust regulations and risk management measures to address shocks in domestic and global markets. This study adds value to the literature by assessing the sources of volatility shocks in the CSE, employing the ARMA-GARCH, a sophisticated econometrics model, to capture stock returns volatility, enhancing understanding of the CSE’s volatility dynamics.

This study aims to test the Kuznets curve between economic growth and child labor, along with the influence of exports, household size and rural population in the context of Pakistan.

To achieve the research objective, this study applied the unit root test, bound co-integration test, and autoregressive distributive lags (ARDL) method for the period of 1972–2021.

The findings show an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and child labor indicating that at the beginning stage of economic development, child labor increases due to lower per capita household and subsequently, in the long-run of economic development, child labor decreases due to the higher per capita households. Moreover, the results also show that exports, household size and rural population have a positive influence on increasing child labor.

The policymakers and government of Pakistan need to focus on long-term economic growth policies, ensure free quality education and cheap equipment which practices minimum manpower to reduce the threat of child labor.

Having long-run economic growth, the government of Pakistan need to equally benefit the households and the poor population to reduce child labor and enhance the social welfare of society.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the Kuznets curve relationship between economic growth and child labor in the context of Pakistan. Moreover, this study contributes to the reduction in child labor through long-term economic growth in the context of Pakistan.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0387

Purpose: This chapter examines the effect of COVID-19 on the stock market volatility (SMV) in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Sri Lanka.

Need for the Study: The study is necessary to understand investor behaviour, market efficiency, and risk management strategies during a global crisis.

Methodology: Utilising daily All Share Price Index (ASPI) data from 2 January 2018 to 31 August 2021, the data are divided into subsamples corresponding to the pre-pandemic period, the pandemic period, and distinct waves of the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic is investigated using the Mann–Whitney U test, the Kruskal–Wallis test, and the Exponential Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model.

Findings: The pandemic considerably affected CSE – the Mann–Whitney U test produced different market returns during the pre-COVID and COVID eras. The Kruskal–Wallis test improved performance during COVID-19 but did not continue to do so across COVID-19 waves. The EGARCH model detected increased volatility and risk during the first wave, but the second and third waves outperformed the first. COVID-19 had a minimal overall effect on CSE market results. GARCH and Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) models identified long-term variance memory and volatility clustering. The News Impact Curve (NIC) showed that negative news had a more significant impact on market return volatility than positive news, even if the asymmetric term was not statistically significant.

Practical Implications: This study offers significant insight into how Sri Lanka’s SMV is affected by COVID-19. The findings help create efficient mitigation strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of future events.

Purpose: This chapter addresses the skills shortages in Kosovo’s labour market, emphasising the service sector. The labour market economy is very dynamic, and Kosovo, with the youngest population in Europe, also has the highest unemployment level among youths. Therefore, we aim to analyse the mismatches of the skills demand in the labour market.

Methodology: The scientific methods used in this chapter are quantitative methods applying analytical and critical approaches based on economic theory. In this chapter, we analysed secondary data from Labour Force Surveys (LFS) and official reports such as the World Bank and UNDP. We have also conducted primary research with the employees of SMEs in the service sector, with specifically related questionnaires for descriptive issues.

Findings: The logit model used in this research has shown goodness of fit and yielded significant results. Based on the empirical findings, we have found a need for some main soft skills such as communication skills, language skills, ICT skills, and additional training to help gain employability skills. These findings suggest that there is a need for more skills in the service sector, significantly impacting the employees’ job performance and the job seeker’s level of employability.

Significance: Noticeably, countries that are still in the transition process face inequalities in the labour market and have a very high level of unemployment. The findings can be used in analysing demand-side management of the labour market and mismatching of skills in transition economies by policy makers.

Adsorption parameters (e.g. Langmuir constant, mass transfer coefficient and Thomas rate constant) are involved in the design of aqueous-media adsorption treatment units. However, the classic approach to estimating such parameters is perceived to be imprecise. Herein, the essential features and performances of the ant colony, bee colony and elephant herd optimisation approaches are introduced to the experimental chemist and chemical engineer engaged in adsorption research for aqueous systems. Key research and development directions, believed to harness these algorithms for real-scale water treatment (which falls within the wide-ranging coverage of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) ‘Clean Water and Sanitation for All’), are also proposed. The ant colony, bee colony and elephant herd optimisations have higher precision and accuracy, and are particularly efficient in finding the global optimum solution. It is hoped that the discussions can stimulate both the experimental chemist and chemical engineer to delineate the progress achieved so far and collaborate further to devise strategies for integrating these intelligent optimisations in the design and operation of real multicomponent multi-complexity adsorption systems for water purification.

Introduction: Sustainability and Industry 4.0 have recently influenced the global economy. With the Industrial Revolution 4.0, there has been a significant focus on digital sustainability in enterprises. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the most vulnerable sections regarding new transformations.

Purpose: Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all businesses had no option other than to adopt digitisation, MSMEs faced tremendous issues to make this shift. Despite the immense focus on digital sustainability, some deterrents exist to its adoption in MSMEs. Contemporary research focuses on determining the critical deterrents to digital sustainability in MSMEs.

Methodology: This chapter employs the interpretive structural modelling technique, and Matrice impacts Croises Multiplication Appliqué a classement (MICMAC) analysis to identify and further classify the deterrents to digital sustainability in MSMEs.

Findings: Legal barriers and firms’ economic conditions are identified as the major deterrents. Eliminating these deterrents would help minimise the minor ones too. To deliver global sustainability goals, digital sustainability must be duly adopted everywhere.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a good example of a Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) world. Higher educational institutions (HEIs) have faced a massive hit because the jobs in this industry have become unexpected. Considering the most valuable assets ‘Teachers’ crunched in the VUCA crisis, the study intends to determine if personal harmony (PH) and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) would enhance teachers’ job satisfaction (JS).

Design/methodology/approach: Data are collected from the teachers of Indian HEIs and teachers who have experienced the impact of the COVID-19 catastrophe (VUCA). Considering the pandemic restrictions, data have been collected through an online survey (N = 364).

Practical Implications: PH is an individual’s internal quality and attribute that cannot be developed on force or situational need. Even in an uncertain situation, teachers have tried their best to contribute through professional service. Hence, people who possess PH contribute their best even though unsatisfied with their jobs.

Originality/value: This study has focused on finding the relationship between two different variables, PH and OCB (which has not been explored in Asian countries, majorly in India, where it has a vast cultural diversity and structure influencing the educational policies) that hinders the factors influencing JS, where these two variables are highly influenced by hygiene factors such as values, culture, ethical standards, personal belief, leadership styles, and fair treatment showcased by the organisations/institutions.

The study explores the impact of knowledge management (KM) enablers, i.e. trust and organizational climate, on KM processes. The study further observes the indirect relationship of KM processes on organizational performance via the mediating role of knowledge workers' satisfaction in cross-cultural settings.

This research used a survey of 784 educational and administrative personnel from higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan and China. Smart Partial Least Square (PLS) 3.2.9 was employed to perform the analysis.

The result shows that trust and organizational climate influences KM processes, and these KM processes, in turn, impact organizational performance via the partial mediating effect of knowledge worker satisfaction (KWS) in Pakistan. The multi-group analysis confirmed the substantial differential effect of KM processes on KWS in culturally different HEIs. At the same time, the study's overall sample substantiated full mediation in China. Furthermore, the impact of KM processes on organizational performance did not substantiate in China.

Outcomes of this research affirm KM university practice and recommend how higher education academics and administrators prioritize trust, organizational climate, KM processes, and KWS while strengthening organizational performance in a culturally different environment.

A lack of research ascertains the inter-relationship between trust, organizational climate, KM processes, KWS, and organizational performance in culturally different environments. This is one of the initial studies that examine the relationship between trust, organizational climate, KM processes, KWS, and organizational performance in HEIs. The study empirically examines the inter-relationships among these variables and enlightens insights into the current literature by immediately investigating the mediating role of KWS in culturally different environments.

The purpose of this study is twofold. The first objective is to identify the factors that affect Gen Z tourists' M-payment behaviour. Next, this study investigates the inter-relationship between Gen Z tourist’s perception of M-payment benefits, adoption behaviour, usage risk and future usage intention.

The sample comprised Malaysian Gen Z individuals (n = 326) who had experience using M-payment methods while travelling outbound. Given the complex nature of the model and the goal to predict and explain relationships within Gen Z's M-payment usage, partial-least square-structural equation modelling was used to assess the study framework and test the proposed relationships.

This study reveals significant influences on Gen Z tourists' behavioural intentions towards M-payment usage. Perceived benefits, performance expectancy, social influence and perceived trust positively impact behavioural intentions, while effort expectancy exhibits no significant effect. Furthermore, perceived trust is strongly influenced by perceived security, which also positively influences behavioural intentions. A mediated relationship is evident as trust mediating the effect of perceived security on behavioural intentions.

This study’s findings contribute to understanding the intricate relationships influencing Gen Z's M-payment behaviour and underscore trust's pivotal role in mediating the security–behavioural intention relationship.

This study is among the first to consider Mental Accounting Theory and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology as crucial underpinning theories in comprehending the intricate relationships that influence Gen Z travellers' perceptions and behaviours concerning M-payment systems.