Driving Sustainable Waste Management Through CSR, Green Accounting, and Digital Zakat: The Mediating Role of Environmental Auditing Oversight in Pakistan's Commercial and Manufacturing Sector
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32350/ibfr.131.03Keywords:
corporate social responsibility, digital zakat, environmental auditing oversight, green accounting, sustainable waste management practicesAbstract
This study aimed to explore how green accounting, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and digital Zakat influenced sustainable waste management practices (SWMPs) in Pakistan's commercial and trading sector, with a specific focus on the mediating role of environmental auditing oversight A quantitative research design was employed, using a structured self-administered questionnaire distributed to 478 professionals across 70 leading commercial firms in Pakistan. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to test direct and mediated relationships within the proposed model using the PLS-SEM approach via SmartPLS 4.0. Mediation was assessed using the bootstrapping technique with 5,000 samples to generate bias-corrected confidence intervals for indirect effects. The findings revealed that all three independent variables, CSR, digital zakat, and green accounting, had significant positive effects on sustainable waste management. Environmental auditing oversight served as a critical mediating mechanism, enhancing the influence of each independent construct on SWMPs. Digital zakat demonstrated powerful direct and mediated effects, suggesting the growing relevance of Islamic social finance in corporate sustainability. CSR and green accounting showed improved outcomes when supported by robust environmental oversight structures. This study advances environmental management literature by introducing digital zakat as a novel variable and empirically establishing environmental auditing oversight as a significant mediator linking CSR, green accounting, and digital zakat to sustainable waste management practices. For practitioners, the findings advocate for embedding formal environmental governance structures within Pakistan's commercial sector, enabling firms to translate ethical and financial sustainability commitments into measurable waste reduction outcomes.
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