JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEVELOPMENT

DETERMINANTS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTION: ROLE OF GOVERNANCE AND PATHWAY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

2025-05-20T08:40:45+00:00

The global shift toward renewable energy (RE) responds to environmental concerns, particularly the excessive use of fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change and energy insecurity. It argues that producing renewable energy is crucial to reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and ensuring stable energy supply. Therefore, understanding the key factors influencing renewable energy production (REP) is essential for successfully transitioning to sustainable energy system. This interpretation highlights importance of identifying and analyzing elements that promote the adoption and growth of renewable energy as the solution to environmental and energy security challenges. This study is based on the time series analysis for Pakistan, which uses data from 1980 to 2024. Economic variables such as GDP per capita and trade openness, along with the demographic factors like urban population, environmental variables like ecological footprints, and political variables like governance positively influence REP. The economic and demographic factors support growth of REP, environmental and energy-related variables exert opposing effects. Thus, listing renewable energy projects over other energy sources is vital for achieving stable and environmentally sustainable energy future.

LEADING WITH HEART, INSPIRING INNOVATION: THE MINDFULNESS BRIDGE IN SERVANT LEADERSHIP IN BPO INDUSTRY, PAKISTAN

2025-06-03T09:02:39+00:00

Employees love to work and take the labour of work, if they find cooperative & congineal work environment especially with their managers. This creates a kind of expectation and exchange of values in between employees and their managers. This study uses social exchange theory (SET) to examine the link between servant leadership and employee innovation, focusing on the mindfulness as a potential mediator. This study employed the deductive quantitative approach, using both correlational and explanatory designs to examine Pakistan rapidly growing BPO industry. This methodological style eased efficient data collection while maintaining reliability in examining key industry dynamics. The study findings emphasize servant leadership's (SL) role in driving innovative employee behavior (EIB) in Pakistan's BPO sector. SL empowers employees to explore ideas creatively while aligning personal and organizational goals. It fosters mindfulness (MF), enhancing empathy, and collaboration, while building organizational resilience. By reducing micromanagement, SL encourages risk-taking and innovation, a key to viable advantage. Integrating mindfulness into leadership supports employee growth and organizational success, creating a culture conducive to sustained innovation.

MAPPING COMMUNITY LEVEL VULNERABILITY TO EXTREME CLIMATE EVENTS IN PESHAWAR AND REVIEWING FLOOD MITIGATION EFFORTS

2025-06-21T02:25:33+00:00

Peshawar, a rapidly urbanizing city in northwestern Pakistan, has become increasingly susceptible to extreme climate events, particularly seasonal flooding due to erratic rainfall patterns, weak governance, and unchecked development along flood-prone corridors. This study maps the community-level flood vulnerability from 2010 to 2022 and critically evaluates the effectiveness of structural & non-structural mitigation strategies executed by relevant authorities. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research integrates climatological data from Pakistan Meteorological Department, Geographic Information System (GIS)-based flood mapping, and field-level insights from stakeholder interviews and community surveys. The findings reveal that 24 union councils are consistently exposed to high flood risks due to their proximity to rivers, seasonal poor drainage infrastructure, and informal settlements. Although structural measures, such as embankments and drainage rehabilitation, exist, their impact is undermined by frequent encroachments, limited maintenance, and a lack of coordination among the municipal, irrigation, and disaster management bodies. This research offers vital recommendations to support sustainable flood resilience and adaptive governance in Peshawar.

EXPLORING THE LEADING DRIVERS OF FIRM COMPETITIVENESS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

2025-07-13T00:36:18+00:00

This research examines that how economic policy efficiency, infrastructure development, and human capital affect firm competitiveness in Pakistan, with technological innovation as a mediating variable. Drawing on theories of endogenous growth and innovation diffusion, study mixes core economic constructs with innovation capability to assess firm-level performance in a transforming economy. Total 300 responses were collected from managerial -level employees across manufacturing & service industries via structured survey instrument. Using PLS-SEM, analysis confirms that all independent variables have a positive and significant effect upon firm competitiveness, both directly and indirectly through technological innovation. The findings underscore the strategic role of innovation in translating macroeconomic enablers into firm-level advantages. This study offers practical insights for policy makers and business leaders to boost competitiveness over targeted investments in innovation ecosystems. The novelty of this study lies in its integration of macroeconomic enablers with firm-level innovation adoption in context of a developing economy. It is among the first empirical studies in Pakistan to use PLS-SEM to explore mediation pathway across service and manufacturing sectors.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORKPLACE DIVERSITY & INNOVATION PERFORMANCE: PRESENT STATUS AND FUTURE AVENUES

2025-07-13T00:37:42+00:00

This study investigates the impact of workplace diversity on innovation performance within commercial banks in Pakistan’s banking industry. The research aims to explore how demographic, cognitive & functional diversity influence innovation processes and outcomes, and to identify organizational factors that facilitate or impede this relationship in the commercial banking context. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 employees working in various roles across multiple commercial banks. The participants were purposively selected to ensure the diverse perspectives. Thematic analysis was employed to interpret interview data, highlighting key themes around diversity’s role in fostering creativity, collaboration, and innovative problem-solving. The findings reveal that workplace diversity contributes towards innovation performance in complex, conditional ways. Demographic diversity boosts market-centric innovation when combined with inclusive leadership and representational influence but depends on integrative structures and shared accountability. Leadership inclusiveness & culture were identified as vital mediating factors in translating diversity into innovation outcomes. These insights underscore that diversity alone is insufficient, its impact depends on how it is embedded, and managed within institutional frameworks.

ANTECEDENTS & CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL MEDIA ADICTION AMONG STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT

2025-07-13T07:59:53+00:00

The objective of this research is to investigate how social media addiction mediates relationships between psychological distress and fear of missing out (FOMO) with subjective wellbeing and sleep quality, respectively. The present study also investigated the moderating effect of self-assertion upon association between social media addiction and both subjective wellbeing and sleep quality. This is the quantitative research. Data is collected with the help of structed questionnaire from 327 university’ students. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and test the hypothesized relationships. The research focuses on students of education sector and may not be fully generalizable to other sectors. Additionally, future research could track changes over longer period and expand the geographical scope to include diverse industry settings. This research contributes to the body of knowledge as no previous research has examined mediating role of social media addiction for relationship of psychological distress & fear of missing out (FOMO) with subjective wellbeing and with sleep quality respectively. Current study also contributes in body of knowledge as no previous research has examined the moderating effect of self-assertion on the link between the social media addiction and subjective wellbeing as well as with sleep quality respectively.

SOCIAL MEDIA'S INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING: EXPLORING FEMALE TEACHERS' CREED AND COGNITION

2025-07-20T16:02:08+00:00

This study investigates the creed and cognition of female English as Second Language (ESL) teachers' perceptions of impact of social media on students’ English vocabulary acquisition and literacy skill development in the context of the undergraduate education in Sialkot, Pakistan. A qualitative exploratory design was employed. Data were collected through structured interviews with nine female ESL teachers. Thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo software, applying Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework, and interpreted over Technology-Mediated Learning (TML) lens. Teachers reported that social media platforms, especially Facebook, WhatsApp, and TED Talks, enhanced students’ vocabulary and engagement with reading and writing. Still, concerns included overuse of informal language & lack of content curation. Female teachers served as digital gatekeepers, balancing technology integration with the cultural sensitivity. The study emphasizes need for structured digital literacy training for English as second language teachers and informed integration of social media into language curricula to maximize the educational benefits. This research fills a gap by offering localized, gender-sensitive insights from female educators in a conservative setting, highlighting their unique mediating role in technology-enhanced ESL education.

TRANSITIONAL MIGRANTS FROM HOSPITALITY TO HOSTILITY: UNDERSTANDING SETTLERS-INDIGENOUS RELATIONS IN HILLS OF MURREE

2025-07-30T13:03:11+00:00

This study explores social, cultural, environmental conflicts and underlying causes of conflicts between indigenous communities and new settlers in Murree: Darya Gali, Pakistan. With increasing in-migration & unplanned settlement, tensions have emerged over land use, cultural practices and resource sharing by using a qualitative research design. The study delves into the socio-economic, cultural and environmental dimensions and how unplanned urbanization, influx of settlers has disrupted local conditions, strained resources and altered the social and environmental condition of the region. The key areas of inquiry include dispute over land ownership, competition of natural resources, haphazard construction & clash of cultural values. To identify the causes of conflicts, data was gathered through semi structured in-depth interviews and thematic analysis was used for more clarification. Thus, the researcher reveals the finding that the unregulated settlement patterns and commercialization have not only disrupted the ecological balance of the region but also strained the social cohesion within the community. This study contributes to the broader discourse on internal migration, environmental justice and sustainable development in mountain regions of Pakistan.

PAKISTAN’S CLIMATE CRISIS: AN INTEGRATED ANALYSIS OF FLOODS, GLACIAL MELT, DROUGHTS, WATER SCARCITY AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS

2025-08-06T08:59:21+00:00

Pakistan faces an escalating and interconnected climate crisis, ranking among world's most vulnerable countries. This integrated analysis examines five core hazards: floods, glacial melt, droughts, water scarcity, as well as biodiversity loss. Using a primarily qualitative, the exploratory approach incorporating descriptive quantitative trend analysis and thematic content analysis of the secondary sources (2000-2024), the research reveals these hazards are intensifying in the frequency and severity, driven by rising temperatures besides anthropogenic pressures. Their compounding effects create vulnerability loop: catastrophic floods (e.g., 2022: 33 million affected, >$30bn damage) cause displacement and infrastructure loss; the recurrent droughts cripple agriculture and drive migration; the rapid glacial melt threatens long-term water security while triggering floods; critical water scarcity (<900 m³/capita) undermines the food systems; and biodiversity collapse degrades ecosystem services. The results provide significant and leading information in highlighting an urgent need for integrated climate governance, resilient infrastructure, nature-based solutions & significantly scaled-up adaptation finance to address this multi-faceted emergency in particular context.