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Purpose In recent times, progression of technology and growing demands of customers have substantially influenced the services sector to introduce fast real-time mechanisms for providing up-to-mark services. To meet these requirements, organizations are going to change their end-user operating systems but success rate of change is very low. The purpose of this paper is to address one of the practitioners’ complaint “no one tells us how to do it” and uncovers the indirect effects of knowledge management (KM) strategies: personalization and codification, toward organizational change via organizational learning and change readiness. The current study also highlights how organizational learning and change readiness are helpful to reduce the detrimental effects of organizational change cynicism toward success of a change process. Design/methodology/approach Temporal research design is used to get the appropriate responses from the targeted population in two stages such as pre-change (Time-1) and post-change (Time-2). In cumulative, 206 responses have been obtained from the banking sector of Pakistan. Findings The results of the current study are very promising as it has been stated that KM strategies have an indirect effect on successful organizational change through organizational learning and change readiness. Moreover, change cynicism has a weakening effect on a change process and can be managed through effective learning orientation of employees and developing readiness for change in organizations. Research limitations/implications Change agents have to use an optimal mix of personalization and codification strategies to develop learning environment and readiness for change in organizations that are beneficial for implementing a change successfully. Moreover, change readiness and organizational learning in the context of change are equally beneficial to reduce organizational change cynicism as well. Originality/value This study is introducing a unique model to initiate a change with the help of KM strategies, organizational learning and readiness for change.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationships between career competency, career resilience and career success. The study further examines the mediating role of career resilience on the relationship between career competency and career success. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 284 Islamic bank employees across Pakistan through a cross-sectional, self-reporting, online questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses using Smart PLS version 3.0. Findings The study’s results indicate that career competency is a significant predictor of career resilience, and that career resilience is subsequently a significant predictor of career success. Further, the results of the structural equation model analyses supported the proposition that career resilience mediates the relationship between career competency and career success. Practical implications Human resource practitioners and managers can increase the likelihood of their employees’ career resilience by focusing on developing career-related competencies – an antecedent of career success. Originality/value The study clarifies prevailing misconceptions that assume a direct linear relationship between career competency and career success by establishing, through empirical evidence, that success is not an ultimate outcome of competence. In addition, it proposes an oversimplified model of the competence–resilience–success relationship.

Purpose This paper aims to identify the barriers that are linked to the institutional, external and social environmental factors in the emerging economies of South-East Asia (SEA). Through a comparative analysis of China, India and Pakistan, this study attempts to understand the constraints that might inhibit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in this region from becoming more successful. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes an empirical research framework to identify the constraints to determinants of SMEs’ growth (the CDSG model) in an important geographic and industrial cluster of SEA countries including China, India and Pakistan. Six propositions are tested, using data from 1,443 SMEs obtained from Enterprise Survey Data Repository database from the World Bank. Ordinary least-squares estimation is applied for statistical analyses and testing of the research propositions. Findings The results show the differential effects of the proposed CDSG model in China, India and Pakistan. Access to external finance is found to be irrelevant to the growth of SMEs in China, while it has a positive influence in India and Pakistan. Furthermore, in terms of the innovation process, partial mediation is traced. Using the tax rate factor, negative mediation is found between CDSG variables and SMEs’ growth. Both mediators play different roles in firm growth activities, while the level of significance of some variables is found to be more relevant to a specific region rather than to all. Practical implications The prudent management of the proposed CDSG variables could revolutionize the constraints facing SME growth, making them into success factors. This could invigorate the growth of SMEs’ in SEA countries. The paper concludes with practical implications for policymakers and investors. Originality/value This SMEs’ theoretical framework is the first to use innovation and tax rate mediators to highlight the determinants of business growth in three SEA regional economies (China, India and Pakistan).

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how the exclusionary work environment characterized by ostracism impacts full-time faculty experiences and responses in higher educational institutions working in eastern and collectivist culture of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, the data were gathered form 25 ostracized full-time faculty working in the public and private universities in Lahore, Pakistan via in-depth semi-structured interviews. The interviews are subsequently recorded, transcribed and analyzed by thematic analysis using NVivo 11 Plus software. Findings Prosocial work outcomes coupled with high intensity of negative psychological impacts were traced based on the re-inclusion expectations, long-term relational contract, the socially interdependent, collaborative and collectivist culture of academic settings. However, the faculty indicated, in case of chronic exposure to ostracism they will engage in negative outcomes such as withdrawal, decrease in performance and resignation. Research limitations/implications The results of this study can be used by the university administration to develop an inclusive and non-discriminatory culture. This can be done by devising policies for information sharing, better formal and informal relationships in full-time teaching faculty along with grievance mechanism to minimize the occurrence of workplace ostracism. Originality/value The study promotes the understating of exclusionary work environments in academic settings. It has shown that the full-time faculty from all levels, specifically lecturers, experience workplace ostracism. This study has highlighted the specific contextual factors and temporal trends that shape the unique nature and responses (i.e. more social exclusion, prosocial responses and higher psychological distress) to ostracism in scantly researched academic settings in Pakistan.

Purpose This study has advanced the role of individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) as a precedent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) performance in the emerging economies. This study aims to use the action regulation theory (ART) to show that active social networking of SME owners acts as a conduit in the above-mentioned relationship and how the social skills of SME owners improve their ability to leverage on entrepreneurial orientation and strengthen their social networking. Design/methodology/approach A three-wave time-lagged survey approach was deployed to collect data from SME owners in the service and manufacturing sector of Pakistan through cluster sampling. The analysis of results was carried out by Models 1 and 4 of Hayes (2017) PROCESS macro. Findings The findings revealed a positive association in the IEO of SME owners and their performance through a partial mediating role of active social networking. Furthermore, SME owners’ social skills played a moderating role in linking IEO of SME owners and active development of social networks. Originality/value Based on ART, this study has targeted a scantly examined psychological perspective in SME performance research and it has shown that by having entrepreneurial orientation and social skills, SME owners can develop active social networks that are an important yet neglected performance precursor in the emerging economy of Pakistan.

The economic and environmental aspects of energy production have become important due to the increasing complexity energy sector and envoirnmental pollution, warranting to test the connection between financial imbalances, energy prices and carbon emission. The study aims to test the impact of vertical fiscal imbalances (VFI) on energy prices and carbon emission trends by considering the dual-perspectives of environmental regulation and industrial structure. The empirical outcomes indicated that vertical fiscal imbalances limited the environmental quality of Pakistan. Furthermore, VFI also caused environmental degradation by affecting industrial structure. VFI inhibits the intensity of environmental regulation, promotes the upgrade of industrial structures, both of which cause additional carbon emissions. The study suggest to energy ministries and energy regulation offices to revisit the machinism of energy prices determination and revised machanisim should provide a user-friendly assessment to understand the actual costs associated with the rising concern of environmental pollution. By this, envoirnmental protection maximization and optimal energy conservation is expacted to increase. Based on empirical findings, the study extends the suggestion that vertical fiscal imbalances should be considered an active indicator by the key policy makers and other stakeholders for energy prices determination and environmental quality upgradation.

Very little research has examined how career constructs are related to career plateaus. Given the dysfunctional consequences of plateauing, it is important to understand how career constructs, such as career adaptability, influence plateauing. Drawing on career construction theory and the theory of work adjustment, we propose that fit perceptions will mediate the career adaptability and plateauing relationship. Using data collected from 294 banking employees from the Punjab Province of Pakistan, we used the PROCESS macro to test for mediation. Results indicate that career adaptability reduces the likelihood of experiencing job content and hierarchical plateaus. Perceptions of fit related negatively to perceptions of plateauing, with one exception—demands–ability fit perceptions were unrelated to hierarchical plateaus. Mediation analysis indicated that needs–supply fit perceptions mediate the influence of career adaptability on both job content and hierarchical plateaus, whereas demands–ability fit perceptions mediate the influence of career adaptability on job content plateau but not hierarchical plateau. Implications of results for theory and practice are discussed.