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Ashraful Hoque,1 Anindita Das Barshan,2 Forhad Uddin Hasan Chowdhury,2 Jannatul Fardous,3 Mohammad Jahid Hasan,3 Md Abdullah Saeed Khan,3 Ahmedul Kabir4 1Department of Blood Transfusion, Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 2Department of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 3Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Division, Pi Research Consultancy Center, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 4Department of Medicine, Mugda Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, BangladeshCorrespondence: Mohammad Jahid Hasan Email dr.jahid61@gmail.com; jahid@pircc.orgPurpose: The aim of the study was to assess the antibody response to the ChAdOx1-nCoV vaccine in individuals who were not previously infected by COVID-19.Patients and Methods: All people aged 18– 65 years who received their first vaccination with ChAdOx1-nCoV from March to May 2021 were approached for inclusion. Individuals with sufficient antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2 infection before vaccination were considered previously infected and were excluded from the analysis. We observed viral spike protein RBD-S1-specific IgG antibody levels at day 28 of the first dose of vaccination and day 14 of the second dose of vaccination (74 days from index vaccination). An optical density ratio (ODR) of > 1.1 was considered to have a positive antibody response, 0.8 to 1.1 borderline and < 0.8 was denoted as negative. Informed consent was ensured before enrollment, and ethical principles conformed with the current Declaration of Helsinki.Results: This observational study comprised 769 infection-naïve individuals (mean age 40.5 years, 38.9% female). Spike-specific IgG antibody responses elicited after the first and second doses of vaccine were 99.9% and 100%, respectively. The median ODR was 5.43 (interquartile range [IQR]: 4.32– 6.98) and 10.90 (IQR 9.02– 11.90) after the first and second doses. Higher age was associated with lower antibody levels after both dosages. However, no sex-specific variation was seen. People with comorbidity had a lower antibody level after the second dose. Tenderness (51.46%) and fever (19.30%) were the most common local and systemic side effects after vaccination.Conclusion: This study was one of the earlier attempts in the country to assess the antibody response to ChAdOx1-nCoV vaccine recipients. The results imply that general people should be encouraged to take the vaccine at their earliest.Keywords: ChAdOx1-nCoV, vaccine, COVID-19, Bangladesh, antibody response

Mohammad Ali Hossain,1 Md Utba Bin Rashid,2 Md Abdullah Saeed Khan,3 Sabrina Sayeed,4 Md Abdul Kader,5 Mohammad Delwer Hossain Hawlader6 1Ibn Sina Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, 1216, Bangladesh; 2Nutrition and Clinical Services Division (NCSD), International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Mohakhali, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh; 3Infectious Disease Hospital, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh; 4Eminence Associates for Social Development, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh; 5International Organization for Migration, Cox’s Bazar, 4700, Bangladesh; 6Department of Public Health, North South University, Dhaka, 1229, BangladeshCorrespondence: Md Utba Bin RashidNutrition and Clinical Service Division (NCSD), International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Mohakhali, Dhaka, 1212, BangladeshTel +8801673306380Email utba.rashid@northsouth.eduPurpose: Adequate knowledge, positive attitude, and proper practice of personal protective equipment by healthcare workers are necessary to get protection from COVID-19 infection. But this area is yet to be explored. Hence, we aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) among healthcare workers, along with a survey of the possible determinants.Subjects and Methods: For this cross-sectional study, online and offline surveys were conducted among a sample of 393 healthcare workers from five different districts of Bangladesh. A validated self-administered questionnaire comprising five sections (socio-demography, work-related information, knowledge, attitude, and practice) was used for data collection. Multivariate stepwise forward logistic regression was applied to find significant factors associated with good attitude, and practice using SPSS version 25.Results: The average age of the 393 participants was 28.9± 5.2 years with a male-female ratio of one. Of them, 99.5% (n=391) had good knowledge, 88.8% (n=349) had positive attitude and 51.7% (n=203) had good practice regarding PPE. Results revealed that being a physician and living at home were significantly associated with a positive attitude. While being a non-physician, having lower education, working in private hospitals, and using office transport were associated with good practice regarding PPE.Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that the healthcare workers had an overall good knowledge and a positive attitude but a poor practice regarding PPE. This study also highlighted the factors influencing KAP towards PPE that must be addressed in future education, awareness, and counseling programs.Keywords: knowledge, attitude, practice, personal protective equipment, health personnel

Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan,1,2 Jianguo Du,1 Farooq Anwar,2 Hira Salah ud Din Khan,1 Fakhar Shahzad,1 Sikandar Ali Qalati1 1School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Lahore Business School, University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, PakistanCorrespondence: Jianguo DuSchool of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-157-5100-8313Email dujianguoju@hotmail.comBackground: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is emerging as a relevant subject in the business world and in the field of management research. Therefore, the current study incorporates classifications often used in organizational level CSR research that distinguish social responsibility relevant to its focus (internal and external), in proposing diverse routes that link various CSR practices (ie, internal and external) to employees’ choice of emotional labor strategy (ie, via perceived organizational support and perceived external prestige).Methods: Data were collected from front-line employees of banks operating in Pakistan. Due to the study’s focus on front-line employees, other personnel were excluded for data collection. We collected data through a self-administered questionnaire. The structural equation model (SEM) was employed on 376 valid responses using Smart-PLS3 to test the study hypotheses.Results: After the analysis, we found satisfactory results for the fitness of both measurement and satisfactory models. Moreover, the results strongly support our proposed theoretical framework, and all proposed hypotheses were accepted.Discussion: This study confirms that the perception of external prestige is a strong predictor of employees’ emotions and relevant behaviors. Moreover, this study discusses under the light of social exchange theory that perceived organizational support strongly predicts employees’ emotional labor, which diminishes the myth that prestige is the only factor to influence employees’ emotions in the workplace. Moreover, this study negates the findings of Anwar et al that perceived external prestige does not have a significant negative effect on surface acting. It provides an insight not only for managers and researchers but also for society, especially in an Eastern workplace setting like Pakistan’s banking sector.Keywords: CSR, perceived external prestige, perceived organizational support, emotional labor, employees’ welfare

Cai Li, Shumaila Naz, Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan, Basil Kusi, Majid MuradSchool of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a high-performance work system (HPWS) on employee performance and the intervening role of mediators in this relationship.Methods: The study was quantitative in nature and used a questionnaire as its instrument. Two hundred and fifty respondents from the private textile sector, located in Lahore and Faisalabad, Pakistan, were selected using a stratified sampling technique. For statistical analysis and to test the proposed research model, partial least squares–structural equation modeling was applied.Results: HPWS was positively related to employee performance. Furthermore, job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and employee engagement positively and significantly mediated between HPWS and employee performance. Thus, the study provided evidence for the underpinning models of social exchange theory, and ability, motivation, and opportunity framework.Conclusion: The study emphasizes that practitioners should develop strategies that could foster positive work attitudes and increase perceived organizational support to achieve higher levels of performance. It further describes some limitations and gaps for future research.Keywords: high-performance work system, employee performance, job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, employee engagement

Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan,1 Du Jianguo,1 Ahmed Abdul Hameed,2 Tehseen UL Mushtaq,2 Muhammad Usman2 1School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore, Pakistan Purpose: The purpose of the present study is twofold. First, we examined the relationship between workplace romance and employee job performance and tested the role of affective commitment foci – namely, affective coworker commitment, affective supervisor commitment, and affective organizational commitment – as parallel mediators in the relationship between workplace romance and employee job performance. Second, we tested the moderating role of culture on the interrelationships between workplace romance, affective commitment foci, and employee job performance. Methods: A two-wave (3-month interval) survey data were collected from 312 paramedics – 162 and 150 from Pakistani and Chinese public-sector hospitals, respectively. The first and second waves of data collection took place in January and May 2017, respectively. Structural equation modeling (SEM), bootstrapping technique, and multigroup analysis were used to test the interrelationships between workplace romance, affective commitment foci, and employee job performance and to examine the cross-cultural differences in these interrelations. Results: Results obtained using SEM show that workplace romance positively influences employee performance. Importantly, the study revealed that the three foci of affective commitment – namely, coworker affective commitment, supervisor affective commitment, and organizational affective commitment – as parallel mediators fully mediate the relationship between workplace romance and employee performance. Moreover, national culture moderates the indirect relationship between workplace romance and employee job performance, where workplace romance is stronger for the Chinese data sample. Conclusion: It is concluded that workplace romance is positively related to employee job performance and that affective commitment foci fully mediate the positive relationship between workplace romance and employee job performance. Moreover, culture moderates the indirect relationship between workplace romance and employee job performance. The study contributes to theory and practice by studying an essential but largely ignored aspect of the workplace and portraying it as a constructive influence on employee job performance and their affective commitment to coworkers, supervisor, and organization. Keywords: workplace romance, job performance, affective commitment, paramedical staff, health sector, cross-cultural comparison, People’s Republic of China, Pakistan