The main objective of the underline study is to examine the influence of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on financial and non-financial performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the moderating role of access to finance. Because SMEs—due to fair reasons such as lack of resources and lack of managerial skill—are often unable to succeed in their mission, the managers look for much less risky and convenience factors to compete in the market. A variety of factors has been tested but the role of finance in this perspective has received minor attention. Hence, the underline study tested finance as a moderator between firm resources and their performance. To test the model, a structured questionnaire is used to collect data from 326 Pakistani SMEs. Structural equation modelling in AMOS is used to test the hypotheses. Our finding suggests that EO significantly enhances SME’s financial and non-financial performance in emerging economies. On the other hand, access to finance significantly moderates the relationship between EO and SME’s financial performance, while it is not significantly moderating between EO and non-financial performance. This research recommends policymakers and practitioners to focus on accessing adequate finance while the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Authority encourages banks and financial institutions to facilitate SMEs. Furthermore, the possible implications have been discussed.

In the present era, women are recognized as successful entrepreneurs through their strong desire, qualities, and capabilities for robust economic development. Due to such an important contribution of women in economic development, we propose to investigate the factors which affect women entrepreneur’s success in Pakistan. Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 181 registered SMEs operating in Pakistan. A conceptual model is developed, while SPSS and AMOS software’s are used for analysis. The results indicate that the internal factors including the need for achievements, risk-taking, and self-confidence and external factors including economic factors and socio-cultural factors have a positive and significant influence on the success of women-owned enterprises. This research recommends Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), policymakers, and practitioners to encourage women entrepreneurs to run their businesses for the long term by providing a variety of incentives and supports related to those internal and external factors. Numerous studies have been conducted to test the different factors’ effects on women’s entrepreneurial success, but our study investigated some psychological, cultural, and religious factors that are still almost untouched especially in Pakistan. The current study also contributes to the existing literature through empirical shreds of evidence.

Entrepreneurial intentions, considered to be the best predictor of entrepreneurial behaviour, have attracted extensive attention among academics, practitioners, and policymakers. This study examines the mediating role of the theory of planned behaviour between university students’ proactive personality, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial opportunities, and entrepreneurial intentions. The results of this study showed that both attitudes toward entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control mediated these relationships, except that perceived behavioural control did not mediate the effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intentions, and subject norm did not mediate any relationship. Lastly, this study guides universities, policymakers and practitioners to fully focus on developing attitude entrepreneurship and perceived behaviour control through education and training among graduates and employees. Suppose there is a presence of good entrepreneurial opportunities. In that case, they will form stronger intentions to start new businesses and expand their businesses to drive socio-economic growth, innovation and job creation among graduates.

This book seeks to identify and to examine factors and mechanisms underlying the growth and development of smart cities. It is commonplace to discuss smart cities through the lens of advances in ICT. The resulting overemphasis on what is technologically possible downplays what is politically, socially and economically feasible. This book, by analysing the smart city through a variety of perspectives, offers a more comprehensive insight into and understanding of the complex and the open-ended nature of the growth and development of a smart city. A solid conceptual framework is developed and employed throughout the chapters, and a selection of case studies from Europe, Asia, and the Arab Peninsula grants the readers a hands-on perspective of the matters discussed. The chapters included in this book address a set of questions, including: How do the twin-processes of digitalization and smartification unfold in the context of the smart city agenda? How do these processes relate to the concepts of smart city 1.0, 2.0., 3.0. and 4.0? In which ways have the spatial aspects of city functioning been influenced by the intrusion of ICT? In which ways do the same processes contribute to the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? What are the implications of smartification and the emergence of smart organizations (public, private, and voluntary) for the spatial development of smart cities? Do ICT and its application in the city space boost the processes of revitalization and how does ICT influence the process of gentrification? To what extent and how does the intrusion of ICT-enhanced tools and applications in the city space impact on a city’s relationship with its broader territorially defined context? Are the administrative borders and divisions inherent in the fabric of a city becoming less/more porous? How should urban sprawl be conceived in the context of the smart city debate?

Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) bear the promise of multiple benefits, including individual and entrepreneurial empowerment. The prospect of harnessing ICT as a means of creating growth and development opportunities is particularly appealing in developing countries. Still, several factors, including digital illiteracy and gender inequality, hamper the possibility of effective and universal utilization of these opportunities, in extreme cases leading to digital divide, gender-based exclusion, poverty, and precarity. Using this observation as a springboard, the objective of this paper is to conceptualize and quantify the digital divide-gender-entrepreneurial orientation nexus as it emerges in the perception of Pakistan higher education students. Using a quantitative approach, this study identifies the impact of digital skills (and thus the knowledge inequalities that can determine the potential digital gap) on entrepreneurship-related technology adoption (as measured through Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, UTAUT), whereby gender is treated as a moderator. The empirical findings, based on Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) and Multiple Group Analysis (MGA), show that digital skills and perceptions of technology capabilities have a substantial impact on the desire to use ICT in entrepreneurial activities. The influence of technology adoption intent on the development of entrepreneurial orientation is also confirmed. This paper adds to the broader debate on gender, digital divide and entrepreneurship. Importantly, by identifying some of the drivers behind students’ technology adoption in a developing nation such as Pakistan, filled with technological and economic unbalances, the conclusions of this study will have conceptual, managerial, and policymaking applications, notably in terms of technological access, digital literary, and gender-based exclusion.

The Smart Society is a model of social organization that, under a participatory approach, explores the opportunities generated by emerging technologies to establish a perspective of social progress that enables citizens to contribute in two main areas: (1) the possibility of participating in the process of development and implementation of public policies and services; (2) citizens are established as the main force to address the phenomena that affect society. The aim is to transfer the potential shown by citizens to influence the social sphere, and thereby improve the mechanisms to address the challenges that limit the process of social development. Promoting this perspective of thinking requires the transformation of traditional foundations, not only on the side of governments and political leaders, business, and other stakeholders, but also on the side of citizens themselves. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the new profile that the citizen must adopt in the context of the Smart Society.

Features research presented and discussed during the Research & Innovation Forum Offers a unique insight into emerging topics, issues, and developments pertinent to the fields of technology Gives an essential venue where diverse stakeholders can engage in a meaningful dialogue