International Journal of Humanities, Management and Social Science (IJ-HuMaSS)

A Sociological Analysis of Hustle Culture Among Generation Z in the Philippine Gig Economy

2026-07-17T03:05:25+00:00

Hustle culture the systemic glorification of overworking and continuous multi-tasking has rapidly emerged as a dominant socio-behavioral norm among Generation Z in the Philippines. Driven by hyper-connectivity, the proliferation of digital gig platforms, and persistent macroeconomic inflation, the younger demographic has increasingly internalized productivity as a measure of self-worth. This study examines the socio-economic drivers of hustle culture among Filipino Gen Z and analyzes its subsequent ramifications on mental well-being and labor market retention. Utilizing a qualitative-descriptive approach grounded in contemporary social-exchange and structural-functionalist theories, this paper reveals that while hustle culture is framed as a vehicle for upward mobility, it fundamentally operates as a structural survival mechanism. This mechanism induces chronic burnout, psycho-emotional exhaustion, and counter-movements such as “quiet quitting.” The study concludes with institutional recommendations for human resource management and public policy to foster sustainable workforce practices.

The Evolving Landscape of Virtual Leadership Research: A Decadal Bibliometric Mapping and Future Directions (2015–2025)

2026-07-20T14:08:10+00:00

The rapid shift to remote work and digital collaboration has left the consolidation of virtual leadership theories behind, so that the concept structure, research collaboration patterns, and direction of development of this field are still fragmented in various studies that run separately. Previous bibliometric research has only mapped publication trends or theme clusters separately, no one has yet combined the collaborative network of authors, institutions, and countries with theme mapping in one complete analysis, so it is difficult to see how contributors and research themes develop along with this gap is answered by this study by analyzing 688 Scopus indexed articles for the period 2015–2025 using Bibliophagy to analyze the performance of publications and VOSviewer to map collaboration networks as well as keyword co-occurrences. As a result, the number of publications jumped sharply from 12 articles in 2015 to 252 articles in 2025, and this field is divided into four main theme clusters: communication and remote work management; digital leadership, organizational innovation, and sustainable performance; digital leadership competencies and employee welfare; and digital transformation and artificial intelligence. The chronological mapping shows a clear shift from operational issues in virtual teams to strategic issues such as digital maturity, organizational culture, and innovation capabilities, indicating that virtual leadership is now a multidimensional strategic capability rather than merely a technology-assisted leadership practice. Further research is suggested using longitudinal and multilevel designs to examine how trust, psychological safety, and digital fatigue affect the effectiveness of virtual leadership across various cultural and sectoral contexts, and to integrate these bibliometric results with systematic reviews and meta-analyses to validate the structure of the identified themes.

Environmental Impacts of Tigray War: Evidence from 2020-2026

2026-07-21T06:08:39+00:00

This paper endeavors to analyze the environmental impact caused by the Tigray War in northern Ethiopia between 2020 and 2026. The study specifically examines the effect of the war on deforestation, soil erosion, destruction of water resources, biodiversity loss, as well as the indirect impacts including biomass usage in siege environments. Besides, it also highlights some of the lacunas found in existing literature regarding this issue and the priorities for environmental recovery following the war. The method adopted is qualitative desk review of peer reviewed papers, institutional and governmental reports and NGO papers The literature review reveals that Tigray War has undone all the efforts made for the past several decades for environmental rehabilitation in the region. Deforestation, collapse of soil and water conservation works, serious land degradation, and disturbance of watersheds are among the negative impacts observed in the area. Also, through remote sensing data, significant loss of vegetation cover can be noted in the regions affected by war. Furthermore, the indirect environmental impacts like high biomass consumption in siege environments have also been observed. The study bases its findings in the global theories on war and the environment that include concepts such as ecocide and the war ecology theory. According to this study, the Tigray war created a serious socio-ecological crisis that negates all the environmental improvements that have been made over the past few decades, making a close link between environmental destruction and humanitarian/ livelihood crises. Based on the findings above, the recommendations are that ecosystem restoration be undertaken through reforestation, restoration of water and soil conservation infrastructure and environmental governance institutions. Further research is needed on the long-term effects of ecological recovery and post-conflict resilience of communities in Tigray.