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As a little research has been conducted to understand the factors influencing users’ intentions to adopt blockchain-based telemedicine (BBT), it is important to investigate BBT acceptance as incorporation of blockchain technology can solve telemedicine-related issues. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the factors influencing behavioral intentions (BI) to adopt BBT.

An integrated model comprising the constructs taken from technology–organization–environment framework, technology acceptance model, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and theory of planned behavior based on their relevance to the context and the objectives of the study has been used for this research. A quantitative approach has been used to test the hypotheses, for which the data was collected from 324 respondents through a self-administered questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling has been used to test the hypotheses.

The results of the study show that relative advantage, perceived usefulness, trust and perceived ease of use have a significant impact on BI to adopt BBT, whereas regulatory support, subjective norms and facilitating conditions do not have any significant impact on the same.

As the concept of BCT in Pakistan is at its nascent stage and literature regarding this technology’s adoption is also limited, researchers and scholars can apply it to several other fields in Pakistan. For example, this study can be extended to explore the factors influencing blockchain adoption in areas such as education, logistics, transportation, finances and management. This research only considers the direct effects of constructs on BI to adopt BBT and does not consider any mediation and moderations constructs. Future researchers can also study the influence of mediation and moderation constructs on BI to adopt BCT.

Although studies on the acceptance of telemedicine exist, there is a gap concerning the acceptance of BBT, which the current study helps to bridge. From a practical standpoint, the current study makes a highly valuable contribution toward understanding acceptance factors for BBT projects, leading to help policymakers devise policies to promote telemedicine.

Using conservation of resources (COR) theory as our theoretical basis, we investigate how nurses’ perceived overqualification influences their service behavior. In doing so, we highlight nurses’ silence toward patient safety and praise from patients as a mediator and moderator, respectively.

Data were collected from 201 nurses employed in a Greek public hospital. To examine the present hypotheses, we used the PROCESS macro.

We found that nurses’ perceived overqualification affects their silence toward patient safety, which in turn leads to reduced levels of service behavior. Furthermore, praise from patients attenuated the relationship of perceived overqualification with nurses’ silence toward patient safety, such that this association was significant only when praise from patients was low. Similarly, the indirect linkage of perceived overqualification with service behavior through nurses’ silence toward patient safety was significant only for nurses who had low levels of praise from patients.

This is one of the few studies that examine the phenomenon of perceived overqualification in nursing. Specifically, the potential effect of nurses’ perceived overqualification on their service behavior has been neglected. In addition, less is known about how nurse-patient interaction mitigates or boosts nurses’ experience of overqualification. By investigating the mediating and moderating mechanisms, this study extends the existing literature regarding why and how perceived overqualification affects nurses’ service behavior. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for theory and practice.

Genetically modified (GM) foods have global importance as they can significantly improve food security challenges. However, risks associated with the consumption of GM foods have affected consumers’ acceptance. This study aims to assess the student’s awareness regarding GM foods.

A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted to explore the knowledge and attitude of health sciences university students toward GM foods. Students (n = 400) from different academic disciplines were participated in the study.

The majority of the university students heard about GM organisms and GM food (67.5% and 60.8%, respectively) and have correctly defined GM foods (48.2%). The mean percentage score of knowledge and attitude toward GM foods among university students was 36.0 ± 29.4% and 29.8 ± 23.1%, respectively. No significant difference was observed in knowledge and attitude between undergraduate and postgraduate students. A significant difference was found toward the acceptability of GM food in students from different health sciences disciplines (p = 0.006).

The findings indicate that educational programs are needed to improve the knowledge of students about GM food and food safety challenges.

This study aims to examine task and relationship conflict and their linkage with defensive communication strategies, i.e. mature, neurotic and immature defensive communication. Furthermore, Study 1 also investigated the mediating impact of relationship conflict and the moderating impact of a manager’s active-empathic listening in dealing with task conflicts and the defensive communication of the employees. Study 2 intended to assess the causal direction of task conflicts and defensive communication strategies.

This research integrates the Job Demands–Resources framework, Conservation of Resources theory and Conflict Expression framework. Data from 124 professionals in India’s tertiary industry was gathered using a longitudinal approach. Study 1 analyses the dynamics between conflicts and defensive communication while considering managers’ active-empathic listening as a potential mitigating factor. Study 2 was conducted after a 10-month interim to delve into the intricate causal connections between defensive communication strategies and task conflicts. For analysing the data, SPSS was used for conducting confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, to analyse the conceptual framework and the hypothesised relationships in this study, partial least squares (PLS) modelling was performed using Smart-PLS 4.0.

Task conflicts have a significant negative association with mature and neurotic defensive communication, whereas they have a strong positive relationship with immature defensive communication. Relationship conflict significantly mediates the association between task conflict and immature defensive communication. The moderating role of the manager’s active-empathic listening was not supported. In addition, the relationship between immature defensive communication and task conflict is significantly positive, outlining their bidirectional association. In contrast, the association between mature defensive communication is significantly negative. This highlights the potential of immature defensive communication to create escalatory conflict spirals and of mature defensive communication to de-escalate them.

Defensive communication strategies, commonly explored in the psychological realm, particularly within family and romantic relationship contexts, have received limited attention in organisational behaviour. This longitudinal study offers a unique perspective on the evolution of defensive communication and its impact on task conflict over time, enhancing the understanding of how individuals adapt their communication strategies as conflicts persist or dissipate. The investigation also advances the understanding of conflict spirals, illustrating the potential of mature defensive communication to de-escalate conflicts while revealing a bidirectional connection between immature defensive communication and task conflicts.

Leaders need to prioritise addressing task conflicts, particularly those that might spiral into relationship conflicts. This would present managers with the ability to make task conflicts more functional in nature, which could help to enhance both team and organisational achievements. The bidirectional relationship between task conflict and immature defensive communication points towards the exigency for managerial and organisational initiatives to prevent the development of conflict spirals at the workplace.

This study offers crucial interdisciplinary perspectives into the body of literature with the longitudinal investigation of the connections between managers’ active-empathetic listening, task conflict, relationship conflict and the various defensive communication strategies. With the help of insights from this study, managers and leaders will be empowered to take the necessary actions to reduce employee defensive behaviours and foster a supportive culture for evoking positive and desirable performance.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employees’ experience of interpersonal conflict and their engagement in knowledge hiding, according to a mediating effect of their relatedness need frustration and a moderating effect of their narcissistic rivalry.

The tests of the hypotheses rely on three-wave, time-lagged data collected among employees in Pakistan.

A critical reason that emotion-based fights stimulate people to conceal valuable knowledge from their coworkers is that these employees believe their needs for belongingness or relatedness are not being met. This mediating role of relatedness need frustration is particularly salient among employees who are self-centered and see others as rivals, with no right to fight with or give them a hard time.

The findings indicate how organizations might mitigate the risk that negative relationship dynamics among their employees escalate into dysfunctional knowledge hiding behavior. They should work to hire and retain employees who are benevolent and encourage them to see colleagues as allies instead of rivals.

This research unpacks the link between interpersonal conflict and knowledge hiding by explicating the unexplored roles of two critical factors (relatedness need frustration and narcissistic rivalry) in this relationship.

Research indicated that dietary antioxidants could improve immune system performance. This study aims to investigate the association of COVID-19 symptoms, total antioxidant capacity and serum inflammatory markers, with dietary antioxidants intake among angina patients.

A food frequency questionnaire was used in a cross-sectional study among 135 angina patients with COVID-19, to assess dietary antioxidants consumption. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor, interleukin 1ß, malondialdehyde, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and total antioxidant capacity were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods.

Among study angina patients, 76.67% followed unhealthy food patterns and 23.33% followed anti-inflammatory dietary patterns before hospitalization. The angina patients with anti-inflammatory food pattern had less fever (p = 0.021), cough (p = 0.018), dyspnea (p = 0.024), diarrhea (p = 0.014) and pneumonia severity index (p = 0.014) compared to patients with unhealthy food pattern. The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor, interleukin 1ß, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and malondialdehyde, had a significantly negative association with dietary antioxidants intake (p < 0.05).

There are significant association between antioxidant intake with serum inflammation markers in COVID-19 patients. There is a need for more clinical trial studies for approval of these results.

Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study aims to examine the association between interpersonal conflict and task performance as well as the mediating and moderating roles of workplace deviance and emotional intelligence, respectively, in this association.

Two studies were designed to test the authors’ hypotheses using multiwave and multisource data collected from 173 (187) subordinates and their immediate supervisors from Pakistan.

An important reason that interpersonal conflict diminishes employees’ task performance is that employees are engaged in workplace deviance. This indirect effect is less salient when employees are more emotionally intelligent.

One way to improve employees’ task performance could be to reduce and manage interpersonal conflicts, especially through interventions aimed at increasing employees’ emotional intelligence levels.

This research contributes to the literature by demonstrating that employees’ emotional intelligence is a boundary condition that alters the association between interpersonal conflict and employee task performance directly and indirectly via workplace deviance.

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this paper aims to explore the effect of perceived organizational injustice (POI) on organizational performance (OPE) indirectly through knowledge hiding (KH). Moreover, this paper examines the boundary effects of perceived organizational politics (POP) and moral disengagement (MDS).

We employed a time-lag approach to collect data from 244 employees in Pakistani private hospitals. SmartPLS v. 4.4 was run to check the outer model. For testing the moderated-mediation model as an inner model, PROCESS v.4 was applied.

POI negatively and indirectly influenced OPE through KH, whereas high levels of POP and MDS may result in a stronger POI–KH linkage.

This paper adds to the literature related to COR that has been utilized to explain employee behaviors in the hospital context, where the antecedents of OPE were primarily the subject of empirical investigation.

Drawing on social exchange literature, this study explores the mediating role of affective commitment between employees' assessments of contract breaches and opportunistic silence, along with the invigorating effect of hostile attribution bias.

We tested the hypotheses using multi-wave data collected from employees working in higher education institutions in Pakistan.

Perceived contract breaches elicit intentional, selfish and retaliatory motives of silence, largely because employees lack emotional attachments to their organization. This mechanism is more prominent among employees who tend to blame others and perceive them as antagonistic even when they are not.

For human resource managers, this investigation highlights a crucial feature – affective commitment – by which employees' perceptions of psychological contract breaches facilitate opportunistic silence. Our results suggest that this process is more likely to intensify when employees have distorted thinking, motivating them to attribute the worst motives to their employer's actions.

Perceived contract breaches within universities can have far-reaching societal consequences, affecting trust, reputation, economic stability, and the overall quality and accessibility of education and research. Addressing and preventing such breaches is essential to maintaining the positive societal role of universities.

This study provides novel insights into the process that underlies the connection between perceived contract breach and opportunistic silence by revealing the hitherto overlooked role of employees' hostile attribution bias, which renders them more susceptible to experiencing unfavorable forms of social exchange.