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Expanding on the research of the antecedents of abusive supervision, this study aims to explore supervisor role overload as a supervisor-level predictor of abusive supervision. Based on transactional stress theory, the authors investigate role overload that is appraised as a challenge or a hindrance stressor by supervisors, leading to pleasant or unpleasant feelings, respectively. The authors propose that, based on their appraisal, these feelings of supervisors act as a mediating mechanism that can facilitate or inhibit their abusive behaviour at work. Additionally, the authors posit emotional intelligence (EI) as a key moderator in helping supervisors manage the negative feelings arising from perceiving role overload as a hindrance and preventing them from demonstrating abusive supervision.

To test the proposed moderated mediation model, the authors collected two-wave data from middle-level supervisors or managers from several organisations located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (N = 990).

The results largely support the hypothesised relationships and show that depending on supervisor appraisal, role overload can generate pleasant or unpleasant feelings in supervisors and, consequently, impede or facilitate abusive supervision. They also shed light on the moderating effect of EI, in that supervisors scoring high on EI are better equipped to deal with unpleasant feelings arising from role overload and effectively manage their workplace behaviour, that is, to avoid abusive behaviours.

Role overload can have different impacts on employees: on the one hand, there is a potential for growth, which entails drive and enthusiasm; on the other hand, it could feel like an unsurmountable mountain for employees, leading to different forms of anxiety. Because what we feel is what we project onto others, supervisors experiencing unpleasant feelings cannot be the best leader they can be; even worse, they can become a source of negativity by displaying destructive behaviours such as abusive supervision. The corollary of something as minor as an interaction with a leader experiencing unpleasant feelings could have a ripple effect and lead to adverse outcomes for organisations and their employees. This study explores the different perceptions of role overload and the subsequent feelings coming from those perceptions as supervisor-level predictors of abusive supervision. While it is not possible to objectively put a different lens inside the minds of supervisors when they face stressors at work, to feel pleasant or unpleasant, they can be trained to manage their negative feelings and keep their behaviours in check. Particularly, training managers to be more emotionally intelligent can help them not only achieve growth by overcoming challenges at work but also acknowledge and adapt their feelings to keep their behaviours in the workplace positive. In practical terms, this research can provide organisations with the knowledge required to nip the problem of abusive supervision in the bud, as prevention is always better than cure.

The purpose of this study is to find out the role of positive personality traits such as honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience (HEXACO) in the development of empowering leadership, and also determine the impact that mastery goal orientation and work engagement play in linking the effects of an empowering leader on the creative performance of their followers.

The quantitative research design is used along with a deductive approach to achieve the objectives of the study. Data from 337 employees in the telecom sector was collected through self-administered questionnaires using the purposive sampling method. SEM-AMOS methods were used to conduct the analysis, and regression analysis was used to test the formulated hypotheses.

The study’s findings indicated that each component of HEXACO (honesty-humility beta values = 0.086, p < 0.05, emotionality values as β = 0.275, p < 0.001, extroverts β = 0.217, p < 0.001, consciousness β = 0.277, p < 0.001 and agreeableness β = 0.063) played a significant role in fostering empowered leadership. The results also suggested that there is a sequential mediation of mastery goal orientation and work engagement in the relationship between empowering leadership and creative performance.

This study is unique since it covers the antecedents and outcomes of empowering leadership. For antecedents, the study used the HEXACO personality model with all its elements to identify its role in the development of empowering leadership. Moreover, the study also used mastery goal orientation and work engagement as sequential mediators to check the impact of empowering leadership on the creative performance of employees.

This study examines the influence of contextual factors (e.g. age and ownership type) on HRM formality (including the underlying functions of recruitment, selection, training and development, performance appraisal and compensation) in SMEs.

Data were collected through a quantitative survey of 300 owners/managers of services, manufacturing and trade SMEs in Pakistan.

Firm age, association with a larger parent entity, existence of a strategic business plan and the presence of a human resource information system (HRIS) are positively related with higher HRM formality. Firm size, family ownership and exporting characteristics had no association with formality.

This study suggests a highly influential role for contextual factors in shaping HRM practices in Pakistani SMEs. Since the lack of a strategic approach towards human resource development is directly linked to the inferior performance of SMEs in Pakistan, this study provides an understanding of the contextual institutional setting that shapes the nature of HRM practices. The findings inform both SME owners/managers and policy makers.

Institutional influences on HRM systems have attracted attention but organisational factors are less often studied. Studies mostly relate to Western contexts and lack perspectives from SMEs. The findings of this empirical investigation highlight the importance of context specific research given the different nature of institutional settings.

The pervasive issue of employee exploitation has surfaced as a salient ethical quandary within the context of modern-day workplaces, thereby demanding expeditious and imperative deliberation and redressal. This research endeavor aims to meticulously investigate the ramifications of employee exploitation on the proclivity to partake in the act of cutting corners within the workplace. This analysis encompasses the sequential mediating variables of negative emotions, namely resentment, anger, and frustration, as well as moral disengagement.

A purposive sampling technique and self-administered questionnaires were utilized in this study of 132 SME sector personnel. The current study is time-lagged in nature and uses the Amos software, the data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as structural equation modeling.

According to the results, employee exploitation has a strong positive impact on cutting corners. This effect is mediated progressively by negative emotions (resentment, anguish, frustration), as well as moral disengagement. According to the findings, organizations should prioritize addressing employee exploitation to build a healthy work environment that promotes employee well-being and encourages employee voice.

This study’s novelty comes from its analysis of the sequential mediation of negative emotions, as well as moral disengagement, in the relationship between employee exploitation and cutting corners. The study’s findings add to the body of literature concerning management development, conflict handling, and employees’ attitudes and behaviors by offering a thorough grasp of the detrimental effects of employee exploitation on cutting corners as well as useful recommendations for businesses looking to promote productive workplaces.

Empowering leadership has a wide range of positive individual employee-related outcomes. However, a limited number of research studies are available emphasizing the overall organization-related outcomes. The major aim of this study is to delve into the function of organizational identification and intellectual capital (structural, relational and human) in mediating the relationship between empowering leadership and organizational innovativeness. Depending upon the resource-based view theory, this study comprehensively investigates the sequential effects of empowered leadership on the mediating roles of organizational identification and intellectual capital in organizational innovativeness.

Data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire, which got 337 responses from telecom employees. To evaluate the hypotheses, the data were analyzed in SEM-M-Plus using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.

The findings demonstrate that empowering leadership impacts organizational innovativeness with the sequential mediation of organizational identification and intellectual capital (structural, human and social).

Organizations can identify and encourage leaders who exhibit empowering behaviors such as delegating responsibilities, providing autonomy and fostering a sense of ownership among employees. Also, organizations can foster intellectual capital by providing opportunities for learning, training and development. Additionally, knowledge sharing and collaboration can help to enhance the intellectual capital of employees.

While much research has been conducted on empowering leadership, the continued development of knowledge and the emergence of new perspectives related to identification and intellectual capital highlights the importance of exploring alternative paths that have been overlooked. Therefore, there is a pressing need to conduct research that takes into account these additional factors.

The purpose of this study is to introduce the concept of workplace camaraderie and to investigate the mechanism through which workplace camaraderie influences incivility at the workplace. The study is explained by taking the sequential mediation of personal biases leading to cronyism and favoritism. Social identity theory is used as the underpinning theory to explain the framework adopted.

Positivism research philosophy followed by the deductive approach is followed to meet the objectives of the current study. In total, 171 employees working in public sector organizations were taken as the respondents to the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data through self-administrated questionnaires. Path model is used through Mplus to generate the results and test hypotheses.

The results suggested that workplace camaraderie significantly affects incivility at a workplace with the sequential mediation of personal biases leading to cronyism and favoritism.

Although several researchers have studied the link between camaraderie and other employees’ related attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, few have explored the roles of personal biases, cronyism and favoritism in the relationship to incivility. This study thus posits a novel sequential mediation mechanism, based on the social identity theory, through which camaraderie is translated into civil behavior. Moreover, this study adds value by investigating this model in the public sector, where camaraderie can come up with important consequences.

The present study aims to elucidate the mediating role of relational energy between empowering leadership and its attitudinal (employee engagement), behavioral (knowledge sharing) and performance (task) related outcomes, respectively, and the moderating role of autonomy between empowering leadership and relational energy, using the social cognitive theory.

The study used surveys in the small and medium-sized enterprises sector and collected time-lagged data to address common method variance and reveal causal relationships. AMOS was used to conduct hypothesis testing.

The results suggest that empowering leaders have a positive impact on outcomes such as employee engagement, knowledge sharing and task performance, and this impact is mediated by relational energy. Autonomy moderates the empowering leaders and relational energy relationship, strengthening it when autonomy is high.

Organizations should focus on leadership development programs depending on the need. Empowering leadership should be promoted to get positive attitudinal and behavioral outcomes in terms of employees. Empowering the employee in terms of decision-making helps motivate employees to perform better.

The study contributes to the empowering leadership literature by associating social cognitive theory. Empowering leaders has the potential to increase employee engagement, knowledge sharing and task performance.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the factors that influence the decision of a firm in a cluster to patent its inventions.

This study adopts a stratified random sampling technique to choose 101 sample firms from the identified population of firms in a cluster. Further, it uses the primary data collection method to collect data from sample firms through semi-structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews with the top level management of the sample firms. Furthermore, it carries out binary logistic regression analysis to primarily examine the influence of capability and willingness factors of a firm on the propensity of a firm to patent its inventions.

The paper corroborates from the results of the binary logit model that invention capacity has a significant positive impact on a firm’s propensity to obtain patents. In addition, the absorptive capacity of a firm above a certain threshold is likely to have a significant positive influence on the decision of a firm to patent its inventions. On the one hand, between the two motivator factors conventional motivators and strategy related motivators, conventional motivator factor has a significant positive influence on a firm’s propensity to obtain patents. On the other hand, both the de-motivator factors (time, market and cost constraints and procedural issues) have a significant negative influence on a firm’s propensity to patent its inventions.

This paper makes a key contribution to the existing literature by empirically validating the influence of capability of a firm in terms of its invention and absorptive capacities, and willingness of a firm constituting motivator and de-motivator factors, on the decision of a firm to obtain patents, in the context of a firm in a high-tech manufacturing cluster in a developing economy.

During the COVID-19 crisis, diversified attitudes and behaviors of structural equation modeling (SME) retailers were observed in using social media marketing that could have helped mitigate the adverse effects of this crisis on businesses. This paper aims to present a thorough investigation of these perceptions and limited acceptance of social media marketing among SME retailers in a developing country during a crisis.

The investigation was designed using a mixed-method design. A qualitative investigation, as the first part, explored SME retailers’ perceptions of the use of social media marketing when they were faced with mandatory lockdown that stifled their business activity. The insights from qualitative study and literature helped devise the second part of the study, a quantitative study using the technology acceptance model (TAM). Analysis of responses from a sample of SME retailers (n = 149) was done using SEM in this study.

In the qualitative study, SME retailers were found to have a varying outlook toward social media marketing. Some ventured into social media marketing while others were impeded by their limited understanding. The second (quantitative) study showed the general applicability of TAM such that perceived ease of use through perceived usefulness influenced SME retailers’ attitudes toward the usage of social media marketing during the COVID-19 crisis. An important finding in both studies was that business owners’ education level influenced their perceptions of social media marketing.

The investigation, albeit a comprehensive one, was conducted in a particular market and for SME retailers. This opens avenues for conducting similar studies in other segments of entrepreneurs to generate insights based on comparative analysis across segments and scenarios.

Limited or no marketing in the physical marketplace amid lockdown meant almost an existential crisis for entrepreneurs, especially SME retailers, in developing countries during the COVID-19 crisis. While technology acceptance by SME retailers has been discussed in the literature, there are limited discourses on technology acceptance among entrepreneurs and SME retailers during a crisis. These findings from the COVID-19 crisis explicate the possibilities and limitations of technology usage as a means to mitigate challenges faced by entrepreneurs during a crisis.

This study aims to investigate the impact of organizational mistreatments, such as workplace bullying and ostracism, on task performance. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of cyber loafing and the moderating role of negative reciprocity beliefs.

Adopting a positivism research philosophy and a deductive approach, this study focuses on the petroleum sector-related organizations where enterprise resource planning requires active Internet use, potentially leading to cyber loafing. Data were collected from employees using purposive sampling techniques, resulting in a sample size of 248. The data analysis was conducted using AMOS and SPSS software.

The results indicate that cyber loafing fully mediates the relationship between workplace bullying and ostracism on task performance. Additionally, negative reciprocity beliefs significantly moderate the relationship between workplace bullying, ostracism and cyber loafing.

This study presents a moderated-mediation model of organizational mistreatments and task performance, elucidating the mechanisms through the mediating role of cyber loafing and the moderating role of negative reciprocity beliefs.