Purpose Leadership has a decisive role in the success of all types of businesses and firms, including small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the ethical behavior of leaders is a key component which brings a sense of respect, fulfillment, trustworthiness and acceptance among the employees, which later become visible in their job performance (JP). This study aims to check the immediate effect of ethical leadership (EL) on employee’s JP (EJP) and also explore the indirect mediating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on this EL and EJP nexus. Design/methodology/approach Primary data was obtained from the employees of manufacturing SMEs of Northern Italy using a cross-sectional design from the end of 2019 to the start of 2020. This paper circulated 450 self-administered questionnaires using simple random sampling, and 202 (44.88%) valid questionnaires were returned. The PROCESS macro was performed using statistical package for social sciences to ensure whether or not EL affects EJP and is there any mediation effect of CSR present in this nexus. Findings The results indicate that EL has a strong positive connection with EJP and CSR. Interestingly, CSR positively influences EJP. Furthermore, the results also report the strong mediating effect of CSR in the nexus of EL and EJP. Originality/value This scholarly work seeks to contribute not only to the literature of EL and EJP but also enriches the understanding of this EL-EJP association by highlighting the indirect effect of mediating variable CSR in the SME sector.

PurposeIn the 21st century, spirituality is becoming an interesting phenomenon in the workplace and has been discussed by academicians, researchers, and practitioners alike. This growing knowledge offers important insights and calls for conceptual and empirical studies on workplace spirituality. Accordingly, the current research aims to examine how ethical leadership (EL) helps to foster workplace spirituality and job satisfaction (JS) in the information technology (IT) industry. Additionally, it investigates the mediating role of workplace spirituality and moderating role of self-efficacy (SE) in the relationship between EL and JS.Design/methodology/approachUsing a cross-sectional design, the data were collected from 268 employees in the IT industry and analyzed on SmartPLS 3.2 using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings indicated that EL promotes a sense of spirituality and increases JS. Additionally, results suggested that workplace spirituality partially mediates, and SE moderates the relationship between EL and JS.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that the top executives should work on identifying and developing ethical qualities to promote a sense of meaningfulness (workplace spirituality) and increase JS.Originality/valueThe research provides an important contribution to the academic literature by exploring the role of EL in fostering spirituality among employees and the moderation of SE on the relationship between EL and JS in the services industry.

PurposeThe paper aimed to explore the underlying work engagement role in transformational leadership and employees' job performance relationships. Moreover, this study also looked at the moderation of leaders' managerial skills in the transformational leadership and work engagement nexus.Design/methodology/approachThe time-lagged data of 360 followers — leader dyads nested in 71 teams were collected from star-rated hotels in Italy and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was executed.FindingsBased on social learning theory and idiosyncrasy credit theory, the SEM results demonstrate that transformational leadership is significantly and positively linked with job performance and work engagement mediated this relationship. The results also confirmed that leaders' managerial skills strengthen the transformational leadership and work engagement nexus.Practical implicationsHotel managers should consider hiring individuals with transformational leadership skills and provide training to Polish their managerial skills in order to enhance employee engagement at work, which may result in job performance.Originality/valueWith this study, the researchers emphasize the significance of transformational leadership and work engagement for better job performance in the Italian hospitality industry. Our analysis also provides new evidence that leaders' managerial skills strengthen the transformative leadership and work engagement nexus. The study is one of the first to investigate the boundary conditions of leaders' managerial skills in the transformational leadership and work engagement relationship. Based on the findings, the practical and theoretical contributions are also discussed.

This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the derivatives usage of non-financial listed firms of Pakistan to hedge foreign exchange exposure by using data of 51 non-financial firms listed on Pakistan stock exchange from 2010-2013. The dependent variable was derivative usage which was used as dummy since no financial information was disclosed in company annual reports but the decision of usage or not. Non-parametric tests were uses which is univariate analysis to calculate the mean difference between users and non-users of derivative usage for hedging purposes. Further, logistic regression model was used to analyze the impact of financial distress costs, tax convexity, underinvestment problem, profitability, managerial holdings of the company and foreign sales on firm's decision to whether they use FX derivatives for hedging purposes or not. The result shows that financially distressed firms, having lower managerial holdings and lower interest coverage ration with high foreign sales are using FX derivatives in Pakistan.

The possibility of accomplishing sustainable objectives is largely connected to the management and flourishing of an organizational system which keeps human capital engaged and committed. Our study investigated the association of inspirational leadership and innovative communication with employee engagement and commitment under the lens of leader member exchange theory. Specifically, we emphasized the mediating role of mutual trust in connection to social sustainability facets. A survey of data from employees in the manufacturing sector of Yunnan, China was utilized to test the hypothesized model. The study findings reported a significant association and came to the conclusion that a leader’s inspirational behavior coupled with innovative communication is a significant predictor of engagement and commitment in socially sustainable organizations. Moreover, mutual trust significantly mediated the relationship of innovative communication and inspirational leadership with employee engagement and commitment reaching the social perspective of sustainability. The current study added to the literature of sustainable organization by pointing out the social dimensions of sustainability.