This study investigates the effect of multiple directorships on firm performance, using a database of non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan stock exchange. Prior literature provides inconsistent evidence on the relationship between multiple directorships and firm performance in an emerging country context, which may be the result of overlooking both the large differences in institutional environments among emerging countries and the dynamic endogenous relationships between board variables and firm performance. We aim to contribute to this academic debate by focusing on directorship appointments to multiple boards in a weak institutional context.Corporate governance practices, such as boards with outside directors exercising their fiduciary duties, are crucial for effective governance in weak institutional environments. However, serving in multiple directorships is expected to compromise the execution of director duties. Using a dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments model, our findings show, indeed, a negative effect of multiple directorships on firm performance in a weak institutional environment. Building on the premise that corporate governance is conditional in nature, we also tested the moderating influence of firm size on this relationship, but we did not find supporting evidence in a dynamic model setting. Our results have important practical implications for policy makers as well as firms.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the reputational risk, which is elusive and difficult to measure due to the lack of its conclusive definition. Literature supports the notion that financial risks may translate into reputational risks that pose threat to bank performance. However, empirical investigations in this context are still at their nascent stage. Design/methodology/approach This study has used a panel dataset for the sample of 24 conventional and Islamic banks regarding the period 2007–2017 by using a structural equation model. Findings The results of this study show that reputational risk partially mediates the relationship between financial risks and the performance of conventional banks. However, for Islamic banks, the reputational risk remains insignificant as a mediator. This study provides significant implications to risk managers in banks, regulators and academics to understand the role of reputational risk linked to financial risks for the improvement of bank performance. Originality/value This study aims to add to the literature by measuring reputational risk through the shareholders reputational score index, which is used as a mediator to determine whether financial risks of banks affect the performance of conventional and Islamic banks in Pakistan.

The present study explores the influence of challenge stressors on identity orientation directly and via thriving at work and employee investment. Drawing on the broaden–and–build theory of positive emotions, this study proposes challenge stressors as a critical predictor of identity orientation. The purpose of this article is to explore if a particular identity is salient in different contextual factors, and this study suggests that challenge stressors stimulate personal, relational, and collective identities to respond to a situation. The relationships hypothesized in this study were tested using a sample of 225 employees from the banking sector of Pakistan. A time-lagged research design consisting of two waves of data collection was employed. A structural equation modeling technique was used to test the hypotheses regarding the relationship between challenge stressors and identity orientation, including the role of thriving at work and employee investment as intervening mechanisms of this relationship. Results showed that challenge stressors had a significant positive relationship with identity orientation. The results also confirmed the sequential mediation of thriving at work and employee investment in the relationship between challenge stressors and identity orientation. The findings suggest that the positive side of stress as a strength motivates employees for continued self-development. Importantly, challenge stressors enhance employees’ ability to thrive at work and, in turn, they invest in the work more and identify themselves strongly with their organization and work.

In this paper, we discern recruiters’ and applicants’ tendencies towards recruitment channels. By drawing on the contextual perspective of human resource management (HRM), we argue that the national institutional environment of a country greatly influences recruiters’ choices of recruitment channels and applicants’ level of attractiveness towards jobs. Using an experimental study (n = 200 graduate students) and in-depth interviews of 10 human resource managers, we find that a) although recruitment channels positively affect applicants’ perceptions of organizational attractiveness, they have no significant impact on applicants’ intentions to apply for the job and b) even though online recruitment channels are widely believed to have a greater impact on organizational attractiveness, recruiters in the south Asian context continue to prefer the paper-based recruitment channels. The study provides interesting insights for recruitment literature, by explicating that socio-cultural and economic context enormously shapes recruiters’ and applicants’ preferences of recruitment channels.

In unconventional shale plays, the production profile varies dramatically within an extremely short period of time. Wells often produce at extremely high rates when initially completed and deplete rapidly before reaching production plateaus. This rapidly changing production profile presents a significant challenge to engineers designing artificial lift systems. Because of the method's flexibility and tolerance to a variety of producing conditions, gas lift has become a popular artificial lift choice in these wells. To achieve optimal system performance, engineers often design gas lift installations to produce up the casing early in the well's life. This configuration minimizes pressure losses in the production string, enabling deep injection, improved drawdown, and higher flow rates. As the wells deplete and the production rates decline, the wells must be converted to tubing flow to ensure well stability. As the wells further deplete, they are often converted to intermittent gas lift. Unfortunately, it is not feasible to produce wells with tubing flow gas lift or intermittent gas lift with the typical downhole equipment configuration used in annulus flow wells. Therefore, transitioning to these late-life artificial lift configurations has required a workover rig. A novel downhole equipment configuration was developed to eliminate the need for a workover rig when transitioning from annulus flow to tubing flow gas lift. Side-pocket mandrels with a special pocket porting configuration were selected to enable annulus flow with enhanced gas passage early in the well's life. To transition from annulus flow to tubing flow, the slickline-retrievable valves were pulled and replaced with reverse-flow gas lift valves. A field trial was conducted to demonstrate and test this completion concept. While more investigation is required to justify full field implementation, the initial results have been promising. This project demonstrated that it is feasible to produce wells in annulus flow, tubing flow, and even intermittent gas lift with a single completion using readily available, off-the-shelf artificial lift equipment.