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The unprecedented occurrence of COVID-19 highlights the susceptibility of the tourism industry to external threats. From flight cancellations to the closure of hospitality establishments, COVID-19 has greatly transformed the industry. Whilst a crisis such as a pandemic is not new in tourism and hospitality, the unique characteristics of COVID-19 have altered the risk perceptions associated with destinations. To date, the tourism risk literature has predominantly focused on typology of risks, at the expense of examining the process of how risk perceptions are formed. Following a social constructivist epistemological position, this conceptual paper proposes an integrative model that unpacks the underlying psychological process of risk perceptions and demonstrates how the framing process influences the safety perceptions and moulds the travel image of a destination in the COVID-19 context. The paper proposes several suggestions for future studies to consider when testing the conceptual model. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Islam emphasizes the importance of environmental care, as prescribed in its primary sources of Shariah, the Quran and the authenticated actions and words (Sunnah and Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). While there is a vast amount of literature on environmental issues, the role of Islam especially in the context of corporate environmental sustainability has not garnered much attention. This study seeks to understand how the managers of public listed firms perceive environmental issues and how their perceptions contribute to environmental sustainability. As prior studies have shown that the industrial sector is a major contributor to environmental problems, it is important to examine the issue from the perspective of individuals that have the ability to direct firms in this sector. The findings of this research show that firms respond to secular coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphic pressures from various stakeholders in matters pertaining to the environment. However, Shariah does not influence managers’ environmental beliefs and the way they drive corporate environmentalism. The ineffectiveness of existing secular institutions in being able to modify firm behaviour, from the mere meeting of minimum standards to the achievement of global best practices, shows an urgent need for an alternative approach to addressing environmental problems in Malaysia. Given that Shariah is a strong influence on important aspects of life in Malaysia, we propose a new Shariah-based framework for corporate environmental sustainability. The findings of this study provide support to governments and other relevant bodies involved in developing policies regarding environmental sustainability.

Purpose Target markets of new product brands (niche customers) differ from those of existing product brands (mainstream customers) using conventional new product brand development strategy. The purpose of this paper is to contend that acculturation in the form of cultural pluralism exists in the marketplace and substantiates that contention through an investigation of consumer behavior outcomes resulting from the development of new product brands that target both mainstream and niche consumers through product brand crossover, an alternative product brand development strategy that leverages on cultural pluralism. Design/methodology/approach A between-subjects experiment was conducted to test whether consumers differ in their behavioral intentions toward existing and new product brands developed through product brand crossover. The experiments include marketing situations of matching and mismatching product brands and marketing communications in the form of marketing messages and advertising images. Findings The results show that consumers – in general and in segmented groups – do not differ in behavioral intentions toward existing and new product brands as a result of product brand crossover. Matching and mismatching product brands and marketing communications in the form of marketing messages and advertising images do not produce significant effects on behavioral intentions. Originality/value This paper offers fresh evidence showing that acculturation in the form of cultural pluralism exists in the marketplace and introduces a new concept in the form of product brand crossover that acknowledges and leverages on cultural pluralism as an alternative approach for new product brand development.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the work-life (WL) experiences of live-in women migrant domestic workers (MDWs), who represent a significant proportion of migrant workers globally. MDWs play a key role in enabling the work-life balance (WLB) of others, namely the middle-class households that employ them. Yet, their experiences have largely been invisible in mainstream WL literature. The authors draw on an intersectional approach to frame the WL experiences of this marginalized group of women at the intersection of being secondary labour segment workers, with significant legal and employment restrictions as migrant workers, who work and live in the same place as their employers. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 women MDWs from Indonesia and the Philippines working in Malaysia. The women talked about the meaning of work as MDWs, how they maintain familial connections whilst working abroad, and how they negotiate their WLB as live-in workers. Thematic analysis of the interviews focused on the intersection of the women’s multiple dimensions of disadvantage, including gender, class and temporary migrant-foreigner status, in shaping their accounts of the WL interface. Findings Three thematic narratives highlight that any semblance of WLB in the MDWs’ lived experience has given way to the needs of their employers and to the imperative to earn an income for their families back home. The themes are: working as MDWs enables the women and their families back home to have a life; the co-existence of WL boundary segmentation and integration in relation to “real” and “temporary” families; and the notion of WLB being centred around the women’s ability to fulfil their multiple duties as MDWs and absent mothers/sisters/daughters. Research limitations/implications The study is based on a small sample of live-in women MDWs in Malaysia, intended to promote typically excluded voices and not to provide generalizable findings. Accessing potential participants was a considerable challenge, given the vulnerable positions of women MDWs and the invisible nature of their work. Practical implications Future research should adopt a multi-stakeholder approach to studying the WL experiences of women MDWs. In particular, links with non-governmental organizations who work directly with women MDWs should be established as a way of improving future participant access. Social implications The study underscores the existence of policies and regulations that tolerate and uphold social inequalities that benefit primary labour segment workers to the detriment of secondary labour segment workers, including women MDWs. Originality/value Extant WL literature is dominated by the experiences of “the ideal work-life balancers”, who tend to be white middle-class women, engaged in professional work. This study offers original contribution by giving voice to a taken-for-granted group of women migrant workers who make other people’s WLB possible. Moreover, the study challenges WL research by underscoring the power inequities that shape the participants’ marginal and disadvantaged lived experience of work, life, family and WLB.

Timely responsiveness (TR) enables firms to outperform their competitors by responding rapidly to market changes and seizing opportunities promptly. However, how firms can achieve TR remains poorly understood. This study investigates the ways in which firms can improve TR and draws out the implications of these in managing supply chains. Specifically, this study examines the relationships between dynamic capabilities (DCs), namely, sensing and reconfiguring capabilities, different types of innovations, and TR. The findings show that the development of product, process, and management innovations improves TR. Sensing and reconfiguring capabilities are identified as core DCs that drive the development of different types of innovations.

This chapter describes the appropriate methodology and method for the research in this book and provides the justification for such a choice. The first section begins with an overview of established research methods in the studies of trust, cooperation, reward, locus of control, and psychological contract in the disciplines of psychology, organizational behavior, and human resources management. Existing literature is reviewed to determine various commonly used qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methods. The next section rationalizes the research design to answer the research questions and elaborates the procedure of the research.

This technical chapter provides empirical evidence for the first laboratory scenario-based experiment (Study 1) that addresses how individual differences in personality interact with excessive extrinsic rewards, leading to employee cooperation. As such, this chapter sets out to (i) dispel the conflict on the efficacy of excessive extrinsic rewards, (ii) decompose individual differences among employees in their interaction with excessive extrinsic rewards, and (iii) examine the theoretical basis of cooperation. Furthermore, we examine the moderating effects of locus of control and general trust that underscore employee expectations in the relationship between excessive extrinsic reward and cooperation.

A context-specific trust such as organizational trust could underlie employee intention to cooperate more, regardless of individual differences in personality. This chapter sets out to investigate how employers could develop trust to augment employee cooperation via the provision of excessive extrinsic rewards. A two-stage laboratory scenario-based experiment (Study 2) is performed to explore whether employees who receive excessive extrinsic rewards will trust their organization more and as a result will be more willing to cooperate.

We live and work in exciting times. The future workplace is bound to change rapidly with the fundamental transformation in the philosophy of work, i.e., the way work is viewed. The traditional view of life-long employment, central authority, and a fixed work schedule has been replaced by short-term contracts, decentralized management, and a flexible working schedule. Employees’ work views also change with the increasing diversity of the workforce, owing to higher mobility and globalization. This chapter explores three factors—cross-cultural differences, organizational diversity and inclusion, and individual self-reinforcing dynamics—that influence work views to improve cooperation and trust within the organization.

Excessive rewards are viewed as a means of eliciting the maximum potential trust and cooperation from employees by stimulating their motivation. By taking the management perspective, this chapter addresses the scant but conflicting behavioral studies of psychologists and economists and the existing presumptions in psychological contract theory about the provision of excessive extrinsic rewards to employees. To help readers contextualize the key concepts used throughout the chapter, we define the following terms: Trust in the context of business and organization, is defined as trusting behavior (Korsgaard et al., 2015) with the expectation of cooperation. Employee cooperation is defined as a cooperative behavior in terms of work outcomes or affective decisions, with employees being motivated and obligated to perform (Shore & Barksdale, 1998), committed to the organization (Gambetta, 1988) and willing to reciprocate (Falk & Fischbacher, 2006). Finally, excessive extrinsic rewards are defined as monetary rewards provided by the employer and perceived by the employee to exceed their own expectations or to exceed the employer’s initial promise.

This chapter explores how the decomposition of individual differences in personality provides theoretical and practical implications for employers. The key issues and findings of the causal relationship between excessive extrinsic rewards and cooperation are further examined.

This chapter reviews the psychological contract literature, covering three main aspects. The first section introduces the psychological contract theory. The theory introduction is followed by a discussion on the effects of reward on cooperation, trust, and the psychological contract. The chapter follows a contemporary view of psychological contract research, first by narrating the growth of interest in the psychological contract, followed by an understanding of its concept and theory. The violation and fulfillment of the psychological contract are observed in the context of job outcomes such as performance, motivation, commitment, and satisfaction, from employee perspectives. Finally, the chapter discusses the salience of promise to rewards in the psychological contract. The effects are evaluated in relation to the moderating effects of locus of control as a personality trait.

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to subjective career success (SCS) literature using sequential mediation modeling to interrogate the inter-relationships between dimensions of SCS, including interpersonal success, financial success, job success and hierarchical success. In doing so, the research provides a nuanced understanding of career behavior among young adults using the perspective of a non-western developing context.Design/methodology/approachThe study is operationalized using 342 survey questionnaires from Malaysian young working adults (18-34 years). Partial least square structural equation modeling is used as the main analytic tool.FindingsThe results of the study revealed that dimensions of SCS were related in a sequential mediating manner. Specifically, an individual’s interpersonal success is the foundation for one to accomplish job tasks (job success), which then leads to increased prospects for promotion (hierarchical success) and subsequently financial success.Practical implicationsThese findings highlight the importance of interpersonal success as a foundation of career success and provide evidence for the study recommendation to support young working adults in building interpersonal relationships, which will help realize other forms of career success. However, the establishment of a sequential mediation pathway suggests that developing relationships alone are not sufficient. Study roles and tasks must also be designed to align with individuals’ personal goals for advancement and success.Originality/valueThe research contributes to knowledge on understanding career behavior specifically relating to the dynamics and complexities of SCS. The study sheds light on the potential limitation of operationalizing SCS as a multi-dimensional aggregate construct and provides empirical support for the proposed sequential mediation model of SCS.

Service providers are increasingly searching for new and innovative ways of providing customers with a seamless experience in the service environment. This paper used an engineering approach to service systems development and a model of technology acceptance as a conceptual lens through which to examine hotel guests’ acceptance of a unified hotel access control system (UHACS) for seamless hotel check-in and room access. This system is the first of its kind, and this study is the first evaluation of it using two samples consisting of 100 hands-on and 120 online survey hotel guest participants. Before completing the questionnaire, hands-on survey participants were briefed and allowed to practice using the UHACS, whereas online survey participants received a flowchart that explained the concept and process of the UHACS. The data from both samples were analyzed quantitatively through partial least squares structural equation modeling and test of difference. The results showed that the ease of using and usefulness of the UHACS significantly facilitated seamless experiences in hotel check-in and room access, which in turn, significantly and positively shaped attitudes toward the UHACS, and together with its improved security features, encouraged greater intention to use the UHACS. No significant differences in evaluations were found when gender, age, and familiarity with and risk disposition to technology were considered across the two samples. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for theory and practice, the limitations of the study, and directions for future research.

Most research studies in health information searching behaviour are conducted in developed countries. Little is known with strong governmental support in healthcare initiatives it is interesting to take note of the general information searching practices of citizens in the Middle East and North African region. In this article, a questionnaire was distributed in a university setting in the United Arab Emirates. Sixty participants consisting of citizens from MENA countries participated in this study. The results indicate citizens from the Middle East and North African region do perform online health searches. However, an equal number of citizens use books and mass media to obtain health information. When online methods are utilised, working adults who have more years of experience searching for health information tend to use more medical type search engines. Undergraduate students were generally new to the process of online health information searching. Online health searching in the MENA region is more of a social and educational activity rather than a private activity.