The Effect of Job Characteristics on Organizational Commitment: The Role of Growth Need Strength in Nepali IT Companies

Organizational commitment is one of the critical problems faced by the organizations, today. The outcomes related to commitment i.e. turnover and absenteeism can be resolved through enriched jobs. However, there is limited knowledge availability both from practical and academic aspects regarding the effect of job characteristics on organizational commitment, and keeping this perspective in mind this study examined the effect of job characteristics on organizational commitment in Nepali IT companies along with the moderating effect of growth need strength. Altogether 167 responses were collected from employees using survey questionnaire. Regression analysis and multiple moderated regression analysis were carried out to examine the hypothesized relationship. The results indicated that job characteristics had a significant positive effect on organizational commitment and among the five dimensions of job characteristic only skill variable had a non-significant effect on organizational commitment. However, the moderating effect of growth needs strength on job characteristics and organizational commitment relationship could not be established. Research implications along with the limitations of this study are discussed.

Effects of Business Process Reengineering on Organisational Performance in the Food and Beverage Industry in Nigeria

This study examined effects of business process reengineering (BRP) on organisational performance in the food and beverage industry in Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design and multistage sampling methods. It utilised primary data generated thorugh a questionnaire for the research. Multiple regression analysis was employed to analyse the data. On the hypothesis one, the findings showed that organisational resources and process function have negative and insignificant effect on competitive advantage but innovative thinking has a positive and significant effect on competitive advantage. On the hypothesis two, all the components of business process reengineering (organizational resources, innovative thinking and process function) have positive and significant effect on operational performance. Thus, the study concluded when organizational resources, innovative thinking and process function are combined together as business process reengineering components, they enhance organizational performance in the food and beverages industry in Nigeria. The study suggested that Food and Beverages firms should continue to formulate policies that will encourage innovative ideas from all stakeholders of the organizations in order to continue to achieve competitive advantage and experience sound operational performance. The process function of the organization should continue to be designed and redesigned so that they enjoy smooth operational performance, obtain new resources and upgrade the existing ones so that the firms could achieve competitive advantage. The process function and organization resources need to be evaluated and appraised from time to time to know or detect any lapses that may hinder the firms from attaining their short and long term business goals.

Leadership Style and Business Performance in Nepali SMEs: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurship Orientation

Leadership and entrepreneurship, and their effects on business performance are major issues in contemporary academic research as they are linked with economic development of a nation. However, relatively only a few studies have been carried out on the relationship among these three variables with even less attention paid to entrepreneurship orientation (EO) serving as a mediator in leadership-performance relationship. This study firstly tested the relationship between leadership style and business performance and then analyzed the mediating role of EO between them in the Nepali SMEs. The study utilized 188 responses collected from business owners in Pokhara, Nepal. Findings suggest that transformational and transactional leadership style as well as EO exert significant positive influence over business performance. The study indicates that transformational leadership is stronger predictor of EO and business performance than transactional leadership style. It also found that EO mediates transformational leadership-performance relationship. The implications, limitations, and suggestions have been identified and discussed.

Monetary Policy and Stock Price Dynamics in Nepal

Monetary authorities are attentive towards stock price movement because of its significance in financial stability. Though stock price is one of the major channels of monetary transmission, very little is known about it in Nepali context. This study analyzed monetary variables, stock prices, and monetary policy goals using time series data. Results from Koyck approach to distributed lags, vector autoregression and mediation analysis revealed mixed evidence of causality between monetary policy and stock prices. Though results were not consistent across different econometric analysis, inter-bank interest rate, narrow money supply, broad money supply, monetary policy announcement, and monetary policy stances were found to be significant in explaining stock prices. Furthermore, causality also existed from stock prices to monetary policy, suggesting that monetary authorities also consider development in stock prices while formulating monetary policies. However, stock prices had not been found to mediate the relationship between monetary policy variables and monetary policy goals, which questioned stock prices being a channel of monetary policy transmission in Nepal.

Indicators for Measuring Performance of Financial Cooperatives in Nepal

Comprehensive institutional assessment tool helps to appraise performance of an organization and adopt appropriate strategies for enhancing performance. Different organizations demand different indicators and standards for appraising performance. Different tools such as PEARLS and CAMEL have been prescribed measure performance of financial institutions. These tools were developed in different contexts and are not adopted in Nepali cooperative sector. The objective of this paper is to identify and recommend different indicators for measuring performance of financial cooperatives in Nepal. Expert interviews and focus group discussions were applied to explore the indicators for performance assessment. The identified indicators were piloted with randomly selected 210 cooperatives. The findings showed that 32 financial ratios under eight performance measurement dimensions and 25 self-governance related indicators are needed to assess the performance of financial cooperatives in Nepal and elsewhere. Implications of the findings are discussed and limitations of the study are highlighted,

Trainee Characteristics and Transfer of Training: Effect of Supervisory Support (A Study of Public Managers in Nepal)

The significance of transfer of training to organizations has been recognized by researchers and managers alike, and the factors affecting the transfer have been the subject of many research studies in the West. Considering the recent growth in training investment and coverage in public enterprises in Nepal without corresponding impact on their performance, the issue of transfer of training has gained importance in our context. This study examines the effect of trainee characteristics, viz.: perceived content validity, learning transfer motivation, and self-efficacy on the level of training transfer and the role of supervisory support in this relationship in the context of Nepali public enterprises. Due to the non-availability of total population, the non-probability sampling method, specifically, quota sampling was used for selecting organizations, and then, managers meeting the pre-defined criteria, were selected for the study. Two hundred ninety-one officials from nine public enterprises participated in the survey. The findings suggest that level of transfer of training is moderate, and two trainee characteristics, viz.: learning transfer motivation and content validity, positively and significantly affect transfer of training whereas self-efficacy does not have such effect. Supervisory support moderates the relationship between content validity and transfer of training but not between learning transfer motivation and transfer of training. Managerial and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Components of Celebrity Endorsement Affecting Brand Loyalty of Nepali Customers

This study investigates the direct effect of components of celebrity endorsement (physical attractiveness, source creditability and celebrity brand matchup) on brand loyalty (attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty). 220 general customers of branded products participated in the study. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test hypotheses. Our result shows that physical attractiveness, source credibility expertise and celebrity brand match up has positive impact on developing attitude towards the brand. However, only physical attractiveness and celebrity brand matchup are associated with purchase intention. Practical and research implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.

Workplace Spirituality and Employee Attitudes: Moderating Role of Organizational Politics

There is growing interest in examining the influence of workplace spirituality (WPS) on employee attitudes. However, there is still lack of studies that examine the relationships between WPS and employee attitudes and moderating effect of other variables on these relationships. This study examined the relationships between WPS and two job attitude variables – job satisfaction and job involvement. It also examined the moderating effect of perceptions of organizational politics (POP) on these relationships. Survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 500 employees working in two Nepali organizations, of which 480 questionnaires were used for further analysis. Structural equation modeling and multiple moderated regression analyses were used to test the hypothesized relationships. Results indicated that WPS is significantly positively related to job satisfaction and job involvement and POP moderates the relationship between WPS and job involvement. Research implications are discussed and limitations of the study are highlighted.

Predictors and Outcomes of Employee Engagement: Empirical Study of Nepali Employees

Engaged employees are the most sought-after resources in organizations across the globe. Efforts have been made by academicians and management consultants to help organizations understand the dynamics of Employee Engagement. Little is known, though, about Employee Engagement and its predictors and outcomes in the context of Nepali organizations. This study examined the relationship between predictors and outcomes of Employee Engagement among employees of Nepali organizations and tested its mediating effects. The study was conducted among 158 employees working in various organizations. Correlation, multiple regression, and bootstrapping methods were used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results in general found support for all the hypothesized relationships between predictor variables, viz.: Person-Organization Fit (P-O), Perceived Organizational Support (POS), and Employee Engagement. Likewise, Employee Engagement and outcome variables: Job satisfaction, Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB) were related too. Employee Engagement fully mediated the relationship between P-O Fit and OCB, POS and OCB, and POS and CWB while partially mediated the relationship between P-O Fit and Job satisfaction, P-O Fit and CWB and POS and Job satisfaction. The findings are discussed and implications identified.

Barriers to Career Progression: A Study of the Perceptions of Nepali Women Employees

Recent decades have witnessed unprecedented changes in workforce composition, resulting in women’s increased involvement in the labor force. However, the proportion of women employees vary significantly within various organizational levels, with more women confined to junior level positions within organizations. This study, conducted in two phases, explored the career progression barriers as perceived by Nepali women employees to develop a set of 22-items questionnaire which was then used to examine how 114 women employees perceived those barriers in their career in management. Effort was also made to find if the perceived barriers were specific to any sub-group (position, job responsibility, and/or organization type). Findings of the study revealed that societal-related barrier was most prominent within which marriage during prime of career significantly hampered the career development of Nepali women employees. Further analysis indicated that the perceived barriers were not specific to any sub-group. These results have implications for organizations to improve policies and facilities in order to promote women’s career progression. Limitations of the study are identified and suggestions for future results are discussed.Journal of Business and Management Research, Vol. 1 (2), 2016, pp. 17-32