Abusive Supervision and its influence on Employee Silence and Organizational Productivity: Evidence from Pakistan

It is the need of every organization to maximize its profits by working with efficient and effective organizational tools and to make the best use of organizational resources. For a business to gain profit it is essential for managers and decision-makers to keep the pace of generating profits always at a certain mark. This study aims to identify potential managerial problems for businesses operating in Pakistan, specifically related to employee-supervisor relationships. The study is a novel attempt in this field as it intends to uncover the employee silence aspects in the event of abusive supervision and finds its impact on overall organizational performance. The research was carried out with a sample of 110 responses collected from public and private organizations in Pakistan. This research has identified that with the increase in abusive leadership, there will be a decrease in organizational productivity and employees’ silence will also significantly increase. Meanwhile, employee silence has a comparatively larger effect i.e., 12% on the productivity of an organization, than the direct effect of abusive supervision on productivity. The study findings accentuate that the organizational leadership team should work on maintaining fair treatment of every employee and decrease the extent of abusive supervising behaviour at work in order to maximize profits and let employees use their potential creativity to give the best output that organizations really expect them to provide.

Impact of Workplace Bullying on Psychological Wellbeing of Doctors in Health Care Sector of Karachi

Organizations today are globally facing the dilemma of inappropriate work behaviours, especially bullying, as it has long term negative effects on target employees. Workplace bullying is a major reason for work-related distress and subsequently psychological wellbeing issues for employees. The main objective of this study was to identify the effect of bullying on the psychological well-being of doctors in Karachi, Pakistan. Data from 135 doctors were collected through a structured questionnaire. Results of the study indicated that workplace bullying significantly affects the psychological well-being of employees’ and gender plays moderating effect in the relationship between workplace bullying and the psychological well-being of the doctors. The findings of the study are very important for policymakers and top management of the hospitals, to prevent the healthcare sector from the detrimental impact of this unhealthy practice and to minimize the psychological effect of bullying. This study suggests management should pay attention to designing and executing rules and policies against bullying in order to minimize the adverse results of workplace bullying. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that bullying affects create more devastating effects on female doctors than their male counterparts. Further, it was observed that skills and experience are major factors to obtain positive outcomes of employee psychological wellbeing.

Linking Entrepreneurial Orientation and Innovation Intensity: Moderating Role of Environmental Turbulence

This research aims to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial orientation dimensions on a firm’s innovation intensity along with the moderation of environmental turbulence. The dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation include autonomy, pro-activeness, risk attitude, innovation readiness and competitive aggressiveness, hence the study includes five direct hypotheses and five moderated hypotheses. The data was gathered through an online questionnaire. The sample size of the study was 386 small and medium enterprises (SME) operating in Pakistan. The questionnaire was filled out by executive managers or executive directors of organizations as company representatives. Smart PLS was used to analyze the data. The measurement model was run to ensure validity and reliability. Moreover, the outer loadings, model fit and important statistics were assured. The structural model estimated the proposed relationships of the study. The findings of the study suggested a positive impact of all the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation on innovation while the moderation effect of environmental turbulence was found to be significant for all the relationships except innovation readiness. The study finally concluded that EO had a significant impact on innovation intensity. Based on the findings, it is recommended that SMEs should enhance entrepreneurial orientation in their respective organizations in order to intensify innovation. The practical objective of this research was to gain knowledge on entrepreneurial orientation and innovation intensity that is crucial for organizations in the contemporary business world. The study has certain implications for the development of organizations’ strategic orientation. SMEs in Pakistan have great potential and in terms of intensifying innovation in enterprises, it is important to focus on entrepreneurial orientation. Thus, SMEs have to be innovative, proactive, and ready to take risks which may ultimately help them improve their performance.

Transformational or Transactional: Leadership Style Preferences During Covid-19 Outbreak

The role of leadership is crucial to measure and enhance employees' performance, and job satisfaction. Employee performance is directly proportional to the supervisor's behavior and their affiliations with the employees but the type of leadership style needs to be specifically evaluated aligning with the nature of employees. The purpose of applying leadership style is to extract realistic behavior of employees and their expected behavior concerning supervisors’ behavior. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has left an immense psychological impact on employees which directly affects their attitudes, behavior and makes them more apprehensive towards tasks that cause more job efforts and build additional trust. The concept of conducting this research is based upon the sampling approach restricted to the private sector. The sample size for the study consisted of 243 responses collected through a convenient sampling technique. To analyze the data regression was applied using the SEM-PLS method. The empirical findings underscored that transactional leadership style enhances employees’ motivation and it has more influence on employee performance as compared to transformational leadership because transactional leaders motivate followers to perform at higher levels, to exert greater effort, and to show more work commitment.

Narcissistic Leadership and Project Success in IT Industry: Moderating the role of Risk Management Technology

Narcissistic leaders supersede others opinions while dealing with different projects is an area of concern because they create the risk of various projects' success. However, risk management technology can balance this leadership to mitigate the project failure risk. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of narcissistic leadership on project success with the moderating role of risk management technology. A self-administrated questionnaire measured the narcissistic leadership constructs with two dimensions (i) admiration, (ii) rivalry as antecedents, risk management technology as moderating construct, and project success with five dimensions (i) cost (ii) schedule (iii) quality (iv) performance and (v) operating environment as an outcome from 242 IT professionals working in IT firms. Using structural equation modelling, the results reveal that narcissistic admiration has a negative significance, but the narcissistic rivalry has no significant impact on project success. Therefore it suggests that narcissistic admiration associated with positive attributes such as high esteem, envy, forgiveness, etc., with an overall motivation to focus on achievements may benefit in success of the project. The results further reveal that risk management technology has no moderating role between narcissistic admiration and rivalry with project success, which suggests risk management technology is not enough to reduce the narcissism leadership to contribute to project success. Further, the results do show the positive impact of risk management technology on project success. The study is helpful for organizational development (OD) professionals, project leaders, and IT firms. The study also provides a new avenue of investigation for academic researchers to tighten up the gap in narcissistic leadership.

Role of Employee Behaviour and Job Stress on Work-Life Balance: A Case of HEIs of Pakistan

The study aims to identify how workplace stress and employee behaviour impair the work-life balance of faculty members of Higher Education Institutes in Karachi, Pakistan. This study has included a quantitative survey research design. The study collected 386 sample responses from faculty members using the purposive sampling technique. The PLS-SEM analysis was used for data analysis through SmartPLS version 3.2.9. The results have shown that employee behaviour has a positive and significant effect on ER, IR, and WLB; workplace stress has a positive and significant effect on anxiety; workplace stress has a positive and significant effect on time stress, and workplace stress has a negative and significant effect on work-life balance. Furthermore, the study recommends using person-centered stress management techniques for possible work-life stress and employee well-being. Offering relaxation/care exercise classes, enabling wellness, and supplying facilities, such as gymnasiums, encouraging safe living, healthy eating options, and providing guidance are just a few examples. This study is significant for employee’s well-being because the findings will allow them to understand and negotiate their roles throughout the family and work-life. By understanding the importance of WLB, employees would be able to introspect themselves to cope with their job and relationship management. Similarly, management can identify career stages and help employees with the development tasks they experience at each stage. Lastly, the study implications accentuate that by formulating appropriate strategies, management can help employees and retain them as essential organizational assets.

Impact of E-Recruitment on the Effectiveness of Human Resource Department in Private HEIs in Pakistan

This study aims to expound on the concept of “E-Recruitment” and its impact on the “HR department effectiveness” in the private higher education institutions of Karachi, Pakistan. The core objectives of the research study are to determine the level of effectiveness and relationship between E-Recruitment and the HR department of private HEI’s of Karachi. A worklist can be found on industrial sectors, service sectors in the context of e-recruitment, but the research gap on educational institutions particularly Private HEI’s is still there. An in-depth literature review is discussed. The research methodology briefs that, this study was both an Explanatory and Exploratory design in nature. 2 self-developed questionnaires were utilized. Using SPSS version 25.0, the researchers performed several tests including descriptive statistics, reliability test, KMO, Bartlett’s test, Pearson Correlation, and Multiple Regression tests. The results have proved that there is a strong positive relationship between independent and dependent variables and the relationship between them is accepted at a 5% significance level. Also, it was evidenced from interviews that E-recruitment is a cost-beneficial method, has a greater geographical reach, shortened recruitment procedures, provides reliability in the recruitment procedure, and also facilitates the selection process of the HR department.

Learning Management System: An Innovation in Teaching Learning Process at University Level

The Learning Management System (LMS) has attained great significance in the innovative teaching-learning process at the university level during pandemics. The 21st century saw innovation in technology use and incorporation of LMS in the teaching-learning process. The major objective of the present study was to determine the teacher-learner perception towards the adaptation of the Learning Management System and to examine the adoption baseline for LMS by incorporating critical external factors in the technology acceptance model. A mixed-method research approach was used. Data was collected from 400 learners and 20 teachers. It was found that teacher’s perception of LMS is affected by a number of factors related to social influence, perceived ease of use and usefulness. In addition, factors such as actual use of the system and content qualities are also important to whether teachers embrace a system or not. The study provides some useful insights on LMS adoption and highlights how innovative tools can transform the conventional learning landscape.

Sustainable Growth of Nonfinancial Firms: An Empirical Examination of Emerging Economies

The classic model of sustainable growth presented by Higgins is extensively used in accounting and finance research. This research empirically examines this model which was suggested to be underestimated in the existing literature. The investigation was performed using data from 2000 to 2015 for seven emerging countries. To find out the mean difference in growth between secondary equity issuing firms and non-issuing firms, we used an independent sample t-test. To identify the factors affecting differences in sustainable growth and realized growth, regression analysis was performed and a panel of seven countries for sixteen years data was used to estimate the panel regression. The study found the Higgins’ model to be underestimated. One of the main factors of underestimation of the model was found to be the secondary equity issue. This factor was observed to be significant in the case of five countries i.e. Pakistan, India, Korea, Indonesia and Brazil while the same was found insignificant in Turkey and China. Also during the examination, firm-specific factors that are important for the underestimation of the SGR (Sustainable Growth Rate) model were detected which include leverage and size, whereas dividend policy and profitability gave mixed results. Our study suggests that firms with secondary equity issues are more likely to have sustainable growth than firms not having secondary equity issues.

Managing Customers: Analyzing the Relationship between Customer Personality, Customer Satisfaction and Willingness to Create WOM

The impact of personality traits on consumer behaviour is always an important concern for marketing researchers and practitioners. Using the theoretical lens of the OCEAN model, this paper explores the personality attributes as a set of stimuli that facilitate consumers satisfactory buying experience, resulting in a higher willingness to create word of mouth (WOM). The data was collected from consumers of different services through the convenience sampling method. The respondents were approached through different online platforms and data from 303 respondents was obtained through Google forms. 19 responses were found unsuitable for further use, so the remaining 284 appropriate questionnaires were analyzed through structural equation modelling using AMOS23. The study findings suggest that willingness to create WOM has a positive relationship with customer satisfaction, while customer satisfaction can be driven by extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness attributes of consumers’ personalities. However, neuroticism and openness to experience showed an insignificant impact on customer satisfaction. The study findings guide marketing managers to consider the customer personality aspects mentioned in the OCEAN model to enhance customer satisfaction and try to obtain positive WOM from customers. This paper investigates the in-depth knowledge on the practicality of the OCEAN model concerning customer satisfaction coupled with customer willingness to create WOM.