Volume 8, Issue 3 e70164
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Transforming Capitalism for Sustainable Development: Achieving the Vision of Three Zeros

Muhammad Khalilur Rahman

Corresponding Author

Muhammad Khalilur Rahman

Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kota Bharu, Malaysia

Correspondence:

Muhammad Khalilur Rahman ([email protected])

Search for more papers by this author
Md Arafat Hossain

Md Arafat Hossain

Southeast Business School, Southeast University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Search for more papers by this author
Miraj Ahmed Bhuiyan

Miraj Ahmed Bhuiyan

School of Economics, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Guangzhou, China

Search for more papers by this author
Md Karim Rabiul

Md Karim Rabiul

College of Business, Al Yamamah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Search for more papers by this author
Moniya Sultana

Moniya Sultana

Department of Global Business, Kyungsung University, Busan, South Korea

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 07 July 2025

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

ABSTRACT

Capitalism is an integral factor of global economic growth and development; however, it has contributed to social and environmental issues like poverty, unemployment, and ecological degradation. Despite widespread recognition of these issues, existing economic models often fall short in addressing them comprehensively. This research aims to address this gap by proposing a reformed capitalism framework that aligns economic growth with social and environmental considerations. The main focus is understanding the effect of reforming capitalism on social business and green technology, and how they impact the realization of Three Zeros on poverty, unemployment, and carbon emissions. The data was collected using a structured survey, which yielded 474 valid responses. These responses were analyzed using SPSS 29.0 and SmartPLS 4.0, with a focus on the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The findings revealed that capitalism reform has a significant effect on social business and green technology. Social business has a significant influence on zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero carbon emissions. Green technology also has a significant positive impact on zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero carbon emissions. This study contributes a novel perspective to the existing debate over economic reform by introducing a procedural and implementation-oriented model that promotes economic growth, equity, and ecological sustainability. This model focuses on addressing inequitable distribution and environmental protection. The implications extend to policymakers, business leaders, and civil society actors working collaboratively toward a sustainable economic future.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.