Muhammad Irfan

Shandong Management University · Business School

Climate change issues have become significant challenges in China's sustainable growth due to the excessive use of fossil fuels. Though, the Chinese government has successfully utilized solar energy resources to overcome these issues. However, studies focusing on assessing consumers' willingness to utilize solar energy are scarce in the country. Th...

Being an energy-efficient mode of transportation, electric vehicles (EVs) adoption is a multifaceted mechanism driven by a bunch of factors. However, studies focusing on assessing the influence of personality traits on consumers’ information about EVs (CINEVs) and willingness to buy (WTB) EVs are scarce. This study investigates the relationship bet...

India strives to utilize optimum biomass potential to overcome the prevailing energy crises. However, a variety of barriers are hindering the development of the biomass industry. Some scholars have considered these barriers in previous studies; however, it has been largely unknown the extent to which these barriers obstruct the Indian biomass indus...

Inclusive and sustainable growth can only be ensured through socioeconomic and technological transformation. In this regard, this study offers a new perspective on the dynamic interrelationship between financial development (FD), economic growth (GDP), information and communication technologies (ICT), education (EDU), and CO 2 emissions (CO 2) in t...

The United States is the world's second-largest polluter, generating 4.7 billion metric tons of CO2 in 2020. To combat it, the US is targeting a precise goal of 50-52 percent decrease in net CO2 emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. Hence, it is vital to determine the critical factors contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With this mo...

In the dynamic landscape of corporate sustainability, this study sheds light on the transformative role of digital inclusive finance (DIF) in fostering sustainable practices and responsible corporate behavior. The study employs a unique dataset consisting of Chinese nonfinancial A-share listed firms for the period 2017-2020. The findings demonstrat...

Abstract: Increased risks of economic policy uncertainty and overexploitation of natural resources exist in China. At the same time, the growth rate of urban residents' consumption has generally declined. The paper analyses the role of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and natural resource exploitation on the urban residents' consumption in China....

Purpose-Service-sales ambidexterity (SSA) offers sales managers crucial information about dealing with customer service failures through an effective management control system. This study aims to scrutinize the relationships among SSA, salesforce control system, salesperson's role stressors and service recovery performance (SRP) in the business-to-...

Pakistan is trying to alleviate energy poverty by tapping into the full potential of biogas. However, the production of biogas is hampered by a variety of barriers. Although many researchers have pointed out these barriers, their impact on Pakistan's biogas market remains unclear. This study prioritizes possible barriers and identifies the most pra...

Similar to many other developing and developed countries, China grapples with the challenge of balancing economic growth and environmental preservation. This study, anchored in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7, 11, 12, and 13, investigates the impact of eco‐innovation and sustainable energy on CO 2 emissions (CE) in China from 1980 to 2020, u...

This research delves into whether access to natural resources is a blessing or a curse, a matter of contention within contemporary literature. Lacking conclusive evidence, particularly within the G‐20 countries, this study endeavors to establish the intricate linkages between economic development, natural resources, and economic complexity. A subse...

Management of organic waste addresses the issue of cleanliness and sanitation in developing nations such as Pakistan, where improper waste management usually leads to significant health problems and early mortality. The control of organic waste in rural regions of Pakistan and other developing nations needs to be undertaken using effective solution...

Achieving sustainable economic development and mitigating climate change require effective green transformation management. This study builds an evolutionary game model for industrial enterprises, local governments , and the central government, analyzing the dynamic interactions among vertical decentralization, environmental regulation, and enterpr...

As a result of air pollution and accelerated climate change, entrepreneurship is gradually becoming a deciding factor in the global conversation about saving the planet with renewable energy sources. To sustain the economy and entrepreneurial culture for future generations, researchers and entrepreneurs seek environmentally friendly methods for sup...

The global emphasis on achieving sustainable development goals necessitates the involvement of researchers and regulators worldwide. In light of this, recent research has examined the effect of human capital, renewable energy, population growth, economic growth, and environmental protection on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a developed...

Low‐carbon sustainable development is considered an essential strategy for achieving economic growth and environmental protection, requiring a fundamental transformation of the industrial structure, including developing clean technologies, promoting energy efficiency, and adopting sustainable production and consumption patterns. Simultaneously, the...

Industrial structure transformation is important for realizing Chinese modernization, and ecological civilization is necessary for building a beautiful China. How to use the construction of ecological civilization to realize industrial structure transformation is a major issue for the economic development of China and other developing countries. Th...

The global economy has accelerated the transition to a green, low-carbon economy. An enterprise's green innovation (GI) is directly related to its capacity for sustainable production as a micro-subject of economic development. This study examined the impact of managerial capacity on enterprise green innovation and changes of green innovation target...

Challenges in adopting renewable energy have become significant roadblocks to the country's sustainable progress. There is a shortage of studies examining how adopting biogas energy plants affects entrepreneurship in Pakistan's off-grid areas. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by investigating bioenergy as an entrepreneurial opp...

This study aims to explore a demoethical model for sustainable development in modern society. It proposes an approach that focuses on organizing activities to improve sustainable development. Specifically, it presents a demoethical model relevant to Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 organizations. The objective is to identify demoethical values that can...

Based on the panel data in China from 2010 to 2019, this study explores the role and mechanism of green finance in alleviating energy poverty and verifies the policy effects of green finance using the regression control method (RCM). The empirical results indicate that if the green finance index is increased by 1 unit, the regional energy poverty l...

Biogas is a promising renewable technology to alleviate energy poverty. Pakistan has a capacity of 5 million bio digesters that can be installed in different farming areas. However, this target has never been achieved because many barriers hamper the biogas industry development. In previous studies, some researchers have indicated these barriers in...

This paper aims to investigate the disparities between resource-rich and resource-scarce countries and their profound implications for sustainable development. By analyzing the distinctive resource endowments of these countries, we highlight the capacity of resource-rich countries to effectively manage and utilize resources for sustainable developm...

Sustainable and inclusive development aims to achieve long-term economic growth while ensuring environmental and social sustainability. This study investigates the significance of the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) in promoting sustainable and inclusive development in Chinese provinces along its route, considering it a quasi-natural experiment. To...

The growth of the internet has a significant impact on the development of energy-saving technology, increased energy efficiency, and decreased power intensity. This study applies the spatial econometric model and the panel threshold model to examine the relationship between Internet development, economic growth, and power intensity in Henan Provinc...

Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising solution for enhancing transparency, efficiency, and security in various industries, including construction. However, implementing blockchain in the construction industry faces several barriers that hinder its widespread adoption. To fill this gap, this study is aimed at identifying and discussing th...

It is believed that the respondents’ disadvantageous positions and the information asymmetry that exists between them are the bottlenecks that contribute to the stagnation of trades and the poor revenue that respondents receive from agro-products. Digitalization and fiscal decentralization both play an important part in helping to increase the info...

Despite worldwide commitments to reduce fossil fuel consumption in favour of alternative energies, several countries still rely on carbon-intensive sources to meet their energy demands. The previous studies show inconsistent results on the association between financial development and CO2 emissions. As a result, the impact of financial development,...

The unrelenting surge in global warming in the current era suggests the inevitable need for governments across the globe to embark on policy measures that will help flatten the curve of the surging emissions. Consequently, the concept of carbon neutrality has become a vital policy approach for countries to achieve sustainable development. The prese...

Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising solution to enhance supply chain transparency and sustainability in the construction industry. However, the widespread adoption of blockchain faces several barriers that need to be identified and understood. The construction industry faces significant challenges regarding supply chain transparency an...

Energy poverty has gained considerable attention worldwide, adversely affecting income, education, health, and the environment. However, no study has examined the linkages among these dimensions and especially during COVID-19 in the Pakistani perspective. To bridge this research gap, we scrutinized the relationship among these variables to measure...

Green technology innovation (GTI) is the main force behind green development and is crucial to developing countries' economic growth. Strengthening green technology innovation has become an inevitable choice for the development of global society. However, formal environmental regulations often require high implementation costs. Therefore, informal...

The adoption of blockchain technology in the sustainable construction industry in India is slow. Existing literature in this area has primarily focused on the potential applications of blockchain technology in construction but little attention is given to the barriers, impeding its adoption. This study fills this research gap by identifying the mos...

A major challenge for humans in the twenty-first century is devising a way to minimize environmental pollution while fostering economic growth that will not deplete the planet's resources. Despite increased awareness of climate change and efforts to combat it, the amount of pollution emissions on the Earth continues to drop significantly. This stud...

India’s demand-supply imbalance electricity market results from the country’s rapid population growth and extensive industrialization. Due to increased costs, many residential and commercial customers have difficulty paying their electric bills. Households with lower incomes are confronted with the most severe energy poverty in the entire country....

Energy is essential to a recent way of life that needs to be addressed in economic and environmentally supportable improvement negotiations. The economic output of solar energy development has become the primary concern, particularly in emerging nations like Pakistan. The present research estimates a techno-economic analysis and sustainable green r...

After COVID-19, financing for emerging nation reserves in renewable energy bases was deemed a crucial aspect of sustainable development. Investing in biogas energy plants can be highly beneficial for lowering the use of fossil fuels. Using a survey of shareholders, investors, biogas energy professionals, and active social media participants in Paki...

The increasing significance of green supply chain management in developing countries’ manufacturing sector is primarily driven by the deteriorating environment, signified by decreasing raw material resources, a surplus of waste sites, and rising pollution levels. Green supply chain management can provide competitiveness while boosting a company’s e...

The vitality contribution is a vital cause for defensible monetary improvement and collective success by eradicating poverty. Adopting the solar home lighting system (SHLS) is advantageous not only in social lifestyles but also improves the health of family members and increases home-based small businesses activities due to the inexpensive and cont...

This article explores the challenges faced by humanity in the age of globalization, specifically in the context of anthropological catastrophes. The authors argue that the rapid pace of technological advancement has created an imbalance between technical progress and cultural transformation, leading to a crisis of identity and morality. The article...

The spontaneous organizational citizenship behavior towards environment (OCBE) of employees in the workplace is crucial to businesses’ green development and low-carbon transition. However, it was not considered how such behavior could be encouraged for enhanced firm performance. From the natural resource-based view theory perspective, this study te...

Energy transition and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are fundamental to achieving sustainable development and ensuring a bright and healthy future. To contribute to the empirical literature on these objectives, this study explores the long-term influence of environment-related ICT innovations (EICT) on energy transition and greenhouse gas emissi...

Widely harming the society and economy, the problem of haze pollution needs to be solved urgently. Local governments play an important role in the effective management of haze pollution. This paper first uses an evolutionary game model to analyze the mechanisms by which local governments choose different strategies to combat haze, and then extends...

Atmosphere contamination and fast weather change have compelled scientists and entrepreneurs to seek eco-friendly solutions for saving the earth. Increasing energy consumption depletes limited natural resources and harms the climate and ecology. In this regard, biogas technology contributes in two ways: satisfying energy needs and saving plants. Pa...

The research motivates to provide some implications about the role of energy innovation (EINN) in the resource curse hypothesis. The significance of EINN is crucial for mitigating the economic and environmental damage caused by the excessive consumption of natural resources (NR). The study aims to inspect the effect of energy consumption (EC), EINN...

The rapid urbanization and industrialization of India have caused a demand-supply gap in the electrical sector, leading to higher electric bills. Lower-income households face the worst energy poverty in the country. Sustainable strategies like corporate social responsibility are the most effective way to combat the energy crisis. This study aims to...

This study aims to explore the long-term (LT) and short-term (ST) effects of meteorological factors and technological advancement on major crop production, that is, wheat, and rice, in India from 1990 to 2020. For this purpose, the authors also used other important controlled variables, that is, agriculture employment (AE), agricultural credit (AC)...

Climate change concerns have become severe challenges in developing countries’ sustainable development due to the immense usage of fossil fuels. The government has effectively employed green practices to solve these challenges in developing countries. This study explores how corporate social responsibility influences firm performance by analyzing t...

Using the natural resource-based view theory, we investigated the relationship between green supply chain management, green training, green organizational culture, and firm performance. Using a survey questionnaire, we obtained data from 650 respondents from the Chinese manufacturing sector. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the h...

A cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the impact of fluoridated water on the intelligent quotient (IQ) of primary school-going children. We used a random sampling approach for data collection purposes. A total of 376 respondents (10–16 years old) were chosen from areas with high and low levels of fluoride in drinking water (high fl...

The growing pressures from the government, buyers, consumers, suppliers, and the general public have recently compelled manufacturing firms to enhance their production methods by becoming more environmentally friendly and pursuing new innovative methods for producing green goods in developing countries. However, the relationship between green suppl...

Strengthening the mineral resource's green utilization efficiency is the key to achieving high-quality development and sustainable mining in China. Moreover, exploring the impact of renewable energy technology innovation (RETI) on mineral resources' green utilization efficiency is integral to boosting the mining industry's overall efficiency and fa...

Based on Porter’s hypothesis and Pollution Shelter’s hypothesis, this paper firstly constructs a mechanism of environmental protection tax law and corporate environmental performance. Secondly, it empirically examines the impact of green tax reform on corporate environmental performance and its internal mechanism through the difference in differenc...

Globally, nations are increasingly focusing on green innovation in their environmental protection efforts as part of sustainable development, and digital finance is playing a vital role in enhancing green innovation. Employing annual data from 220 prefecture-level cities between 2011 and 2019, we empirically analyze the connections among environmen...

Carbon emissions and ecological footprint (EF) have been criticized recently for being used in some empirical studies as a stand-in for assessing pollution. Ecological footprint ignores how nature meets ecological needs or biocapacity and solely represents environmental deterioration brought on by human demand for natural resources. As a result, th...

The energy sector is a crucial pillar of the economic development of every nation. In developing countries, renewable energy deployment is scarce; consequently, the government and private sectors are exploring efficient energy resources. This research aims to scrutinize the linkages among value orientation, utilitarian benefits, collectivism, the r...

This study aims to investigate the performance and behavior of fiat-and gold-backed cryptocurrencies to support stakeholders through the preparation of a portfolio from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2022. Moreover, while searching for a hedge or a diversifier to construct a less risky portfolio with handsome returns, the prices of fiat-backed cryptocur...

Numerous Chinese manufacturing organizations are grappling with the challenge of absorbing and using green information acquisition across the supply chain to achieve excellent firm performance. Utilizing the organizational learning theory’s indirect stream of research, we address this research gap by developing a moderated-mediation framework to in...

Solar photovoltaic (PV) is a novel and eco-friendly power source. India's vast solar resources present tremendous solar energy use prospects. The solar PV growth in India has spanned over fifty years, with a significant increase during the past decade. To meet the requirements of the rapidly expanding PV power market in India, it is essential to de...

There are scant empirical studies investigating the impact of fiscal policy and environmental policy stringency on consumption-based carbon emissions, especially within the context of the BRICS countries. To fill the voids in prior studies, the current study evaluates the effect of fiscal policy and environmental stringent policy on consumption-bas...

Beijing has experienced rapid economic development since the reforms and opening up. However, the traditional development model based on excessive energy consumption has posed great challenges to the ecological environment. To curb environmental degradation and achieve sustainable social development, Beijing has proposed to achieve carbon neutralit...

In this study, the concept of online food purchasing is explored where consumers are not required to visit markets to purchase their foods, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between perceived e-service quality and related customer service outcomes in online shopping context....

The energy needs of Pakistan have increased many folds in recent years due to improved lifestyle, ever-increasing population, and economic development. Though the government and private sectors are considering efficient energy resources to overcome energy scarcity in the country, studies focusing on assessing consumers’ sustainable consumption beha...

This study aims to improve state regulation and administration of quasi-state sector of environmental sustainability in the Republic of Kazakhstan within the social sustainability paradigm. This study is due to the need to search the balance of business interests, and efficient use of resources and their conservation on a global scale. The issues o...

This study aims to assess the performance of thermophysical materials in the construction and building industry to establish the necessary academic basis for the interpretation of trends, developments, and status in this research field. The Scopus database contains 159 papers on this topic, which were published between 1968 and 2021 and originated...

The considerable deployment of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is imminent, as its interest has attracted the whole world. However, CBDCs face several political, technological, and legal challenges. We add a few more challenges that have not received much attention and summarize them in the extant literature. We then emphasize a broad versi...

Renewable energy adoption is a complicated process that is influenced by a multitude of different factors. Previous studies seldom examine the social acceptance of renewable energy from the Chinese perspective in Shandong province. To bridge this gap, comprehensive research is crucial to find the public attitude towards renewable energy. We extende...

This study aims to identify the determinants of consumers’ intentions to buy eco-friendly appliances for their households. This research scrutinizes the linkage between environmental knowledge (EK), consumer attitude (CAT), green trust (GT), and purchase intention (PI) in an emerging economy’s context. This study analyzes survey data from 331 Pakis...

Energy is a necessary source of economic development and social prosperity, linked with primary production and consumption activities worldwide. In this regard, solar home systems (SHSs) are beneficial in two ways, i.e., saving vitality overheads and meeting the energy demand of small enterprises. The current study aims to evaluate the performance...

Due to China's massive usage of fossil fuels, climate change concerns have become serious challenges to the country's sustainable development. Despite the fact that China has effectively employed solar technology to address these problems, there is a paucity of research examining consumers' intention to adopt solar energy in the rural region of Chi...

In China, urbanization is mainly stimulated by resource flows, and industrialization is normally accompanied by an increase in the proportion of the urban population and urban land area. During the process, urbanization at a rapid pace often induces a huge consumption of energy and environmental emissions. Nevertheless, it is also worth considering...

Espousing the theoretical framework of singling theory and social exchange theory, the current study examines the less explored topic of paternalistic leadership. This study contributed by scrutinizing the relationship between paternalistic leadership, personality characteristics, alienation, and organizational climate through the mediating role of...

Climate change has a profound impact on human survival and development. Climate change is an energy and economic issue, which should be driven by technology. Total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) improvement is undoubtedly a breakthrough in solving energy problems. In this paper, the fixed effect model, impulse response function, and threshold regr...

Technological advances have ushered in the era of “e-services.” Scientists and academics are trying to determine how e-services affect citizens’ lives, satisfaction, and future service quality. As e-government emerges, this knowledge leads to improved frameworks for delivering e-services. This study examined the factors influencing Pakistanis to ad...

Carbon emission is not only harmful for environment but is also expensive. The goal of financial institutions is increasingly important now that pollution emissions is rising. We used a novel econometric model in this work to assess the effect of green financing, renewable energy, trade openness, industrial upgradation, and financial development on...

The literature on demand and supply of minerals for the global energy transition portrays a potential way to achieve environmental sustainability objectives. This study is an endeavour to this subject by probing the dynamic effects of mineral resources and financial markets on energy transition in the top 20 minerals exporting countries for the per...

Unsafe behavior of workers remains a significant cause of accidents, fatalities, and reduced productivity on construction projects. Although a variety of factors that cause such unsafe behaviors among construction workers have been identified, sleep deprivation appears predominant. Hence, the primary objective of this study is to determine the fact...

The prior empirical outcomes on the FDI-growth relationship are vastly conflicting. The key possible reason for these conflicting findings is the use of aggregate FDI, while FDI impacts largely depend on the receiving sectors of the host country. This study empirically estimated the influence of sectoral FDI on the economic growth and the role of b...

Pakistan's energy issue remains an impediment to economic sectors facing significant obstacles in eliminating the energy demand-supply gap. Macroeconomic experts are looking for more suitable and inventive ways to construct a sustainable energy framework. The study inspects ten control factors, including household consumption expenditure, other ele...

In the last two decades, the extensive literature that has measured agricultural productivity and growth rate remains controversial and provides few strategies about its main determinants. The present study aims to find out the key determinants of food grain yield (FGY) and examine the role of climate change and agricultural subsidy (SUB) in the co...

Since a variety of barriers pose challenges to the Indian wind energy sector, the extent to which these barriers hamper this sector and the alternative solutions are largely unknown. We identify several barriers using existing literature, and then using the modified Delphi approach, refine 25 barriers and classify them into five significant dimensi...

Approximately 21% of the workers in developing and developed countries are shift laborers. The laborer's work shifts can affect personal life and sleep standards, adversely impacting laborers and their manage. This study assesses the impact of various shift plans (seven evenings/7 days, fixed-night or fixed-day, and backup shifts) on shift laborers...

This research utilizes a bootstrap rolling-window (BRW) causality test to explore the causal interrelationship between nuclear energy consumption (NUC) and carbon dioxide emissions (CO 2) in 6 developed countries from 1980 to 2020. When there are structural shifts in the full-sample time series, empirical research exploring causality between two-ti...

In a developing country such as Pakistan, adopting biogas technology is a complicated process. The government has taken several steps to address energy issues by increasing biogas facilities. This research seeks to identify the major barriers to the deployment of biogas plants. Respondents were selected using the snowball sampling method. As a resu...

The existing studies have widely investigated the nexus between technological changes and environmental concerns. A large extent of literature estimates the influences of technological changes on ecological consequences using overall technologies or climate technologies. However, the moderating impacts of financial development have gained little at...

In the context of ecological environment construction, how to create a new development pattern in which environment and economy are coordinated has become an important goal of the Chinese government. From the perspective of the symbiotic development of resource-based industries and non-resource industries, this study discusses the path of green cre...

Abstract In this research, the objective is to examine how private fnancial development, urbanization and foreign direct investment and economic growth afects the environment using the ecological footprint as an indicator. Panel data was used for 100 countries from 1980 to 2019, classifed according to their income level. Several econometric steps w...

The effective use of inclusive green finance is imperative for deriving green innovation, fostering sustainable economic transformation, and addressing climate change. Therefore, this study empirically tests the influence mechanism and policy intervention effects of inclusive green finance on green innovation by applying the difference-in-differenc...