Journal of Development and Social Sciences

Environmental Pollution and Industrialization in Pakistani Short Fiction: An Eco-Stylistic Analysis

2025-07-02T00:03:39+05:00

The objective of this research is to analyze selected Pakistani short fiction which depicts environmental pollution and industrialization through a combined lens of ecocriticism and stylistics which is referred to as eco-stylistics. The research examines the language and narrative devices used by selected fiction writers for describing ecological and human-related issues. This research highlights the significant use of words and the employment of symbols in analyzing conflict between characters and nature. The arrangement of sentences spoken by the individuals and the character’s voice both portray the environmental conflict as well as the political side of it. A close reading of the selected stories by Tariq Rahman, Daniyal Mueenuddin, and Mohammed Hanif reveal that the environmental pollution is sometimes described in literal sense and sometimes is seen as a symbol of troubles in the society. The research shows that the novels and short stories also criticize industrial growth and the treatment of people towards nature. The research further focuses on the social and economic differences among individuals. The research is significant in adding to the growth of eco-stylistics as a theoretical and methodological strategy in South Asian literature. The study also gives fresh outlook on the ecological awareness from the perspective of Anglophone Pakistani fiction.

Impact of Corporate Governance on Firm Performance with Moderating Role of Leverage: A Study of Non-Financial Listed Firms on Pakistan Stock Exchange

2025-07-05T18:59:22+05:00

This study investigates the moderating role of leverage in the link between corporate governance variables and business performance using data from non-financial companies registered on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for the years 2018–2023. The findings show that performance is much enhanced by board size, independence, and experience, with firm size also having a substantial impact. As a moderating variable, leverage has a direct negative influence on performance, but it also mitigates the effects of governance variables like company age, board independence, and board meetings. The study emphasizes how crucial sound corporate governance is, as well as how leverage plays a complicated moderating role in influencing business performance. These results offer valuable perspectives for scholarly investigations and business operations in developing economies such as Pakistan.

Selling Authority: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Power Dynamics in Language Used in Pakistani Advertising Captions

2025-07-10T00:02:30+05:00

In today’s fast-moving consumer culture, advertising isn’t just about selling products—it’s about shaping minds. In Pakistan, the language used in advertising captions often goes unnoticed, yet it carries weight in how people see themselves, others, and the world around them. This study sets out to understand the hidden power dynamics in the language of Pakistani advertising and moreover,the choice of pronouns, emotional hooks, and cultural references that resonate with Pakistani audience. In a world where advertising shows not only what we buy but also how we think, the language in advertising captions has more than just a marketing message—related to power. This study explains how linguistic choices in contemporary Pakistani advertising captions overtly construct and reinforce power relations. For this study, we have taken a qualitative approach, using Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis model to closely examine advertising captions from Pakistani TV, print, and social media. Instead of just reading the words, we have focused on how they were used—looking at tone, pronouns, and cultural hints—to understand how power and influence quietly operate through language. Taking Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the research investigates how these brief but persuasive captions use authority, social positioning, gendered language, and cultural symbolism to influence consumer behavior and identity. By interpreting a diverse range of Urdu and English advertisements from television, social media, and billboards, this study puts light on the silent but potent strategies advertisers use to command attention and obedience. In doing so, it enlightens the ways language becomes a vehicle for power in everyday consumer culture. Moreover, the findings of this study reveal that even the simplest advertising captions carry subtle layers of power. Undoubtedly, Brands often use friendly, familiar language to sound close to the audience, but underneath, they maintain authority—shaping how people think, feel, and respond through culturally loaded and emotionally charged words.

Work Motivation and Organizational Commitment in Retail Market: Moderating Role of Personality Traits

2025-07-10T00:26:42+05:00

Retail is a thriving economic sector that boosts industry and organization development, economic stability, and success. Retail has become Pakistan's main economic asset. Pakistani industry shunned retail a few years ago. Retailers face obstacles, problems, and fierce rivalry. Any firm or industry succeeds due to its employees' motivation, involvement, loyalty, honesty, hard work, and performance. A correlational research design has been used to examine the moderating relationship among the variables. A cross-sectional survey methodology was used to obtain data from participants using questionnaires. The sample included N = 212 persons from the retail industry, including male and female employees aged 20 to 60 years. The purposive sampling method was used because it is suitable for research with specific objectives related to the population. Organizational commitment, recognized regulation, and external regulation were strongly correlated with extraversion. Agreement was strongly correlated with commitment, internal, integrated, recognizable, introjected, and external regulation. Awareness was linked to commitment, internal, integrated, recognizable, introjected, and external regulation. Neuroticism correlated strongly with regulation discovery. Openness influenced internal, integrated, acknowledged, introjected, and external regulation. Internal regulation, integrated, identified, introjected, external regulation, and amotivation were strongly correlated with commitment. Extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness strongly interact to affect job motivation. The findings revealed significant mean differences in agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, commitment, and work motivation across various age groups. Research has shown that work motivation positively correlates with organizational commitment.