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PurposeThe purpose of this empirical research was to investigate the individual effects of three dimensions of flexible human resource management (HRM) practices – skill flexibility, behavioral flexibility and human practice flexibility on firm performance and to what extent these relationships are strengthened/weakened when there was the moderation of empowering leadership in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the Kingdom of Bahrain.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from chief executive officers (CEOs) through a questionnaire survey method to test the hypothesized relationships. A final dataset of 315 valid responses was utilized for data analysis, and results were analyzed using the Smart partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.FindingsThe findings revealed positive effects of skill flexibility, behavioral flexibility and human practice flexibility on firm performance. The moderating role of empowering leadership further strengthened the effects of employee skill flexibility and employee behavioral flexibility had on firm performance. However, empowering leadership did not pose any moderating effect on human practice flexibility and firm performance relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper offers implications for theories on HRM and leadership. It also provides valuable insights for organizations and leaders seeking to boost firm performance across SMEs.Practical implicationsThis paper offers implications for theories on HRM and leadership and also contributes in the understanding of the modern managers.Originality/valueThis paper investigated the effects of flexible HRM practices on firm performance and the role of empowering leadership across SMEs in Bahrain. It also explored how the performance of SMEs can be improved using flexible HRM practices followed by the presence of empowering leadership.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of mentor expectations on nascent entrepreneur’s venture creation and how this relationship strengthens/weakens when mediated by the sense of nothing to lose and entrepreneurial resilience. Design/methodology/approach The author nested the data from mentors and protégé entrepreneurs by using a questionnaire survey. Mentors were those individuals who were established entrepreneurs and involved in training to protégé entrepreneurs. Protégé entrepreneurs were those who were part of the cohorts in incubation centers for training and startup training. Findings Data revealed that it was unlikely to create a new venture when mentors displayed low expectations in protégé entrepreneurs. However, this relationship was positively mediated by the sense of nothing to lose and entrepreneurial resilience. Practical implications The findings have important implications on how mentor expectations can hinder protégé entrepreneurs’ venture creation and how it turns around when entrepreneurs display the ability of nothing to lose and resilience. Originality/value Mentorship from other experienced individuals has become essential to entrepreneurs and their fledgling ventures. Although there is an acknowledgment that mentoring improves an entrepreneur’s likelihood of success in a new venture, yet far too little the authors know about the degree of expectations in mentor-mentee relationships and new venture creation. This research connects those pieces of the puzzle and fills the gap.

PurposeUtilizing affective event theory (AET), this paper aims to understand the affective reasoning behind choosing to speak up for or against abusive supervision. For this purpose, the authors examine the underlying mechanism of employee state paranoia in the relationship between abusive supervision and promotive and prohibitive voice of employees.Design/methodology/approachData from 307 microfinance bank employees were collected using supervisor–subordinate nested design and time-lag approach. The analysis was performed through partial least square (PLS) structural equation modeling using Smart PLS software.FindingsThe results support the direct relationship of abusive supervision with promotive and prohibitive voice. They also support the mediating relation of paranoia arousal between abusive supervision and promotive voice. However, the results do not support the mediating relationship of paranoia arousal between abusive supervision and prohibitive voice.Originality/valueIn light of the literature drawn from AET and empirical data, this study forwards robust recommendations for theory and practice and may assist future researchers interested in the role of employee paranoia arousal.

Improvement in social media (SM) platforms and their ability to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reach a large audience has led to changes in how entrepreneurial firms carry out ...

Digital literacy became an essential skill for learning, living and working. Therefore, the Internet remains a main part of modern life, constantly evolving and facilitating people’s lives. The global Covid-19 pandemic has made the issue of effective use of information and communication tools and proper possession of digital skills and its importance even more urgent. Higher education around the world has largely shifted to a distance/online-learning format. Covid-19 pandemic has affected many countries on a large scale, and Georgia's higher education system was no exception. Due to the wide-scale spread of the virus and in order to reduce the disastrous consequences, the state decided to continue education throughout Georgia remotely through online learning platforms, which posed a number of challenges for representatives of higher education institutions, as well as academic staff and students. The transition to online teaching has also created problems in the process of fully implementing student support activities. As the university mandates the creation of a student-friendly environment, to offer relevant services, to inform and support students with low social status and students with disabilities, it became a great challenge for Georgian universities to provide socially disadvantaged students with the resources needed for E-learning. The study is about Georgian case, how effective Georgian government managed learning prosses in the period of Covid-19 pandemic; What kind of challenges students had in this period and what are their vision regarding the online learning and its perspective for future development of teaching/studying process.

Recently, environmental degradation has become a global issue, and a green supply chain has been considered as the appropriate solution for it. Also, this issue gets the intentions of recent researchers. Thus, the current article aims to examine the impact of green supply chain practices such as green purchase, internal environmental management, and customer environmental cooperation on environment performance in Bahrain. The goal also includes examining the moderating role of green innovation among the nexus of green purchase, internal environmental management, customer environmental cooperation, and environmental performance in Bahrain. The primary data collection method has been executed by the study and collected data by using questionnaires. The employees of the supply chain department of the hydrocarbon industry in Bahrain are the respondents. The statistical results show that green purchase, internal environmental management and customer environmental cooperation have positive relationships with environmental performance. The outcomes also exposed that green innovation has played an influential moderating role among the nexus of green purchase, internal environmental management, customer environmental cooperation, and environmental performance in Bahrain. These findings provide guidelines to the regulators that they should develop effective policies related to the implementation of supply chain practices that improve environmental performance.

PurposeThe promising factor for success in a prevailing knowledge-based economy is the excellence in customer service. Private universities are now becoming customer- and service-oriented organizations due to the competition. Therefore, many educational institutions treat their students as customers and restructure their educational practice based on the concept of market consumption. Therefore, many educational institutions treat their students as customers and restructure their educational practice. The purpose of this study is to determine the students' preferences as customers while studying at private universities and factors that affect their intentions to study at private universities when they adopt the student-as-customer concept.Design/methodology/approachThe research model is analyzed with structural equation modeling. The analysis is done with the application of the measurement model and the structural model. The measurement model is first evaluated by examining scale reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity, whereas the assessment of the structural model is conducted for determining the predictive power and analyzing the hypothesized relationships between the proposed constructs through path analysis.FindingsIn the paper, seven path shows a significant and positive relationship. However, four relationships are positive but insignificant.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature theoretically as well as methodologically. Moreover, it is among the first research that is being conducted in Karachi. Secondly, this study developed a hybrid model by integrating one theory and a conceptual model to determine the factors affecting students' attitudes toward acceptance of the student-as-customer concept and their intentions. Therefore, this paper is useful in filling the gap in the higher education literature and also provides direction for universities to consider and prepare for the consequences of the concept's adoption associated with the number of students who intend to study at their universities.

The objective of this study was to examine the role of green Human Resources Management (HRM) in the green supply chain (SC) and firm performance. The relationships between green HRM, green SC, lockdown, and firm performance were examined. In addition to this, the mediating role of green SC and the moderating role of lockdown was examined. The population of the study was based on the food industry of Bahrain and various companies were selected for data collection. Therefore, data were collected from the food supply companies in Bahrain. A questionnaire was used for data collection in which cluster sampling was applied. The findings of the study highlighted that green HRM has major importance for food supply companies. It has a positive role in promoting the performance of food supply companies in Bahrain. Furthermore, green SC also plays a vital contribution to the performance of food supply companies. However, COVID-19 has a negative role in firm performance. The situation of lockdown due to COVID-19 has a negative effect on the performance of these companies.

Considering the crucial role of organizational citizenship behavior for organizations in the global south countries, the aim of this paper is to examine the impact of transformational leadership of supervisors on organizational citizenship behavior in academia in Pakistan through the mediating role of psychological empowerment of employees. Design/Method/Approach The paper applied a quantitative research method and PLS -Structural equation modelling to test the relationship among the latent factors based on a sample of 303 participants from seven educational institutions. Findings Findings reveal the significant impacts of transformational leadership on facets of organizational citizenship behavior. Furthermore, the paper underlines the mediating role of psychological empowerment of employees in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Research limitations To get a deeper insight of the gains and crucial role of organizational citizenship behavior, future research should include the non-teaching staff and management people in the study. Practical implications The paper offers a valuable insight and novel approach for management of educational institutions in global south countries to enhance their organization’s citizenship behavior by applying the transformational leadership practices and enhancing psychological empowerment of employees by their supervisors to enable employees to perform beyond job description for organization success. Originality/Value This study adds to bridging research gaps in the literature and develops the understandings of how transformational leadership directly and indirectly promotes organizational citizenship behavior through mediating role of psychological empowerment of employees. This study is also fulfilling the research call of Mansoor, S., & Ali, M. (2020).

The growth in social media use has given rise to concerns about the impacts it may have on users' psychological well-being. This paper's main objective is to shed light on the effect of social media use on psychological well-being. Building on contributions from various fields in the literature, it provides a more comprehensive study of the phenomenon by considering a set of mediators, including social capital types (i.e., bonding social capital and bridging social capital), social isolation, and smartphone addiction. The paper includes a quantitative study of 940 social media users from Mexico, using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings point to an overall positive indirect impact of social media usage on psychological well-being, mainly due to the positive effect of bonding and bridging social capital. The empirical model's explanatory power is 45.1%. This paper provides empirical evidence and robust statistical analysis that demonstrates both positive and negative effects coexist, helping to reconcile the inconsistencies found so far in the literature.

Purpose Research in the education domain has noted the importance of work-based passion and has repeatedly highlighted how passion influences positive work outcomes. However, far too little attention has been given to investigating whether one's passion can be transferred to others. Using two theoretical lenses - crossover theory (CT) and emotional contagion theory (ECT) - the present study intends to deepen our understanding by examining whether a teacher's work passion can be transferred to a student. Methods To address this knowledge gap, we recruited students and their subject teachers (n=226 teacher-student dyads) from the major business schools of Pakistan, based on the convenience sampling method, during the period from November to December 2018. An exploratory factor analysis was run to extract the dimension underlying each construct. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using AMOS 24.0 to assess the discriminant and convergent validity of the measurement model. The SPSS PROCESS macro was used to test the hypotheses using SPSS 24.0. Results Consistent with the hypotheses, our results show that a teacher's work passion can be transferred to a student's work passion indirectly via emotional contagion. Our data further establish that the transference of a teacher's work passion to a student's work passion via emotional contagion is more significant when the teacher is educated at PhD level than when she/he is non-PhD educated. Conclusion To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study has been one of the first attempts to thoroughly examine work passion transference from teachers to students in the area of higher education and offers several managerial and theoretical implications alongside future opportunities for practitioners and research scholars.

The increase of social media (SM) has led to continuous deviations in how day-to-day entrepreneurial activities can be carried out. Additionally, studies devoted to SM entrepreneurship and SM are relatively limited and fragmented in their focus. However there is growing interest from scholars, practitioners and academia for upcoming studies and exploration within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) context. This research explores the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on SM adoption and SME performance in developing countries. We employed the resource-based view (RBV) as the foundation for developing the conceptual framework The present study employed a closed-ended questionnaire to collect data from SMEs located in Pakistan. Partial-least-squares-structural equation-modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized for the analysis of 423 responses. The results proved a direct positive link between EO–SMEs performance, EO–SM adoption, SM adoption–SMEs performance, innovation capabilities (IC), and SME performance. Partial mediation was found between EO and SME performance, and the significant moderation effect of IC was found between SM adoption and SME performance. This paper has implications for practitioners and researchers regarding SM adoption in the SMEs. It builds an empirical, multi-dimensional hypothesized model, including mediating and moderating roles affecting the relationships.

In recent years, there has been an escalation in cases of cyber violence, which has had a chilling effect on users' behavior toward social media sites. This article explores the causes behind cyber violence and provides empirical data for developing means for effective prevention. Using elements of the stimulus–organism–response theory, we constructed a model of cyber-violence behavior. A closed-ended questionnaire was administered to collect data through an online survey, which results in 531 valid responses. A proposed model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 3.0, v (3.2.8). Research findings show that information inequality is a strong external stimulus with a significant positive impact on digital distrust and negative emotion. However, the effects of information overload on digital distrust and the adverse effects of communication overload on negative emotions should not be ignored. Both digital distrust and negative emotions have significant positive impacts on cyber violence and cumulatively represent 11.5% changes in cyber violence. Furthermore, information overload, communication overload, information inequality, and digital distrust show a 27.1% change in negative emotions. This study also presents evidence for competitive mediation of digital distrust by information overload, information inequality, and cyber violence. The results of this study have implications for individual practitioners and scholars, for organizations, and at the governmental level regarding cyber-violence behavior. To test our hypotheses, we have constructed an empirical, multidimensional model, including the role of specific mediators in creating relationships.

This study objects to explore the effect of remuneration and training and development (T&D) on organizational commitment (OC). The emphasis of the current study was to clarify a university through remuneration and T&D can accomplish to retain and to be committed with their academic staff. The current study also highlights that remuneration and T&D are best practices which can be adopted and applied even after changes in environment, practices and technology. The study used a cross-sectional and quantitative mail survey approach by getting responses from 346 by using stratified random sampling. The result revealed that remuneration has a major impact over OC. The result also showed that T&D is a vital factor for the OC in public higher education institutions (HEIs). Theoretically, the current study has contributed towards a body of knowledge concerning to organizational commitment under the domain of social exchange theory (SET). Practically, by employing the current study outcomes HR managers, particularly of the universities will be able to pay their attention to some specific factors such as remuneration and T&D to enhance employee retention. Finally, recommendations and limitation with reference to the current study and sector are presented. This study aims to be beneficial for the HR managers at HEIs and the policy makers.

In the workplace, green prospects are gaining much importance these days, although not much is known about the green intellectual capital and its contribution towards pro-environment behavior and outcomes. As the world experiences environmental concerns, it has become imperative for businesses to look into ways through which they can improve their environmental footprints. Hence, the current study examines the nexus between green intellectual capital (green human capital, green structural capital, and green relational capital) and environmental performance. The study also tested if environmental responsibility mediates the association and examined the role of environmental concern as a moderator. Data were gathered from the hotel sectors in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates and analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach via Smart PLS. The results show a significant association between green human and relational capital with environmental performance, a strong association was also found between environmental responsibility and environmental performance. The results also report a significant association between the three factors of green intellectual capital and environmental responsibility. The results found a mediating effect of environmental responsibility, whereas environmental concern only moderated the association between green human capital and environmental performance. The study presents prominent implications for theory and practice, followed by recommendations for future studies.

The main objective of the present paper is to assess the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance empirically. The study was conducted in the banking sector of Pakistan focusing on six large banks. A total number of 308 responses were collected through survey questionnaire from the bank managers. The data was then coded into SPSS for early stage analysis such as data screening. This was followed through applying SmartPLS to analyze the data and the results have been presented in its standard reporting style. The findings revealed a positive relationship between transformational leadership and job performance in banking sector of Pakistan supporting the hypothesized relationship. Finally, the paper has presented a way forward for future research.

Present study investigates the relationship between transactional leadership and job performance in the six large banks of Pakistan. The survey method was used to collect data from the middle managers of six large banks of Pakistan. The data was analyzed and reported using Smart-PLS and its standard reporting style. The findings of the study reveal that transactional leadership has significant relationship with job performance. The last part of the paper presents insights on future research.

The current study explores the impact of job clarity, compensation, supervisor support and employee empowerment on job satisfaction in the nursing staff. A cross section research was performed using a questionnaire, which was distributed among 247 nursing staff of the public hospital. The results demonstrated a positive relationship between compensation and employee empowerment on Job satisfaction, which is significant in retaining of the human capital in public hospital nurses. Whereas, job clarity and supervisor support has an insignificant impact on job satisfaction.

The paper defines and presents ‘Expatriate Job Performance’ in a manner that sheds light on the construct and sets the stage for future research. The findings from the review of the related literature suggest that additional research is needed to empirically validate the concept through systematic investigations and devise a means to measure it with the help of four hypotheses suggested. The paper is original and makes the foundational contribution for a beginning stream of expatriate research.

The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Denison’s organizational culture scale in the banking sector of Pakistan. The questionnaire was pre-tested with one hundred participants before collecting the data for main analysis. Following this, the data was collected from three hundred and thirty three banking professionals. Using Smart-PLS 3.0 software we analyzed the data. The confirmatory factor analysis results revealed that all the cultural components including involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission were of high relevance. The results also have reported satisfactory level of individual item reliability, internal consistency reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity. Referring to these results, we forward that the Denison scale of organizational culture would potentially help banking professionals and academic researchers for gauging organizational culture and its effectiveness in the banking sector of Pakistan.

This study is aimed to analyze the comparative performance management of different industrial groups at single time scale from multiple perspectives. The study investigates the relationship between the length of CCC, firm size, firm profitability and aggressive/conservative Working Capital policies of 12 industrial groups. Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc test (Least Significant Differences) have been used for empirical investigation. The data is collected from the financial statements of the 157 public limited companies listed in the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) for the year 2009. It is found that significant differences lie among the mean values of CCC across the Industries and more specifically, Oil and Gas industry is significantly different from all the other industries in term of its length of CCC. Findings of the study show that there is a significant and positive relationship between firms’ aggressive investing policies and conservative financing policies. It is concluded that length of CCC has negative relationship with sales revenue, return on equity (ROE) and financing policies of the firms and has positive relationship with total assets, return on assets (ROA) and investing policies of firms. The practical implications of this study are for the management of the firms to consider the importance of the length of CCC in formulating their policies because the length of CCC is closely related to aggressive/conservative Working Capital approaches of firms. This is the first study of its nature conducted in Pakistan so far which has taken into account all these variables simultaneously and tried to investigate their relationship with each other.