Purpose -This paper aims to examine the impact of religiosity and spirituality on employee performance in multi-cultural and multi-religious organisations. Design/methodology/approach -This study adopted Religiosity Personality Index (MRPI) by Azimi et al., Spirituality Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) by Hatch et al., and Performance Measures by Sarmiento et al. The performance data was collected from employees, peers, and supervisors. The study administered and received all the 435 completed sets of questionnaires (435 employees, 870 peers, and 435 supervisors). Findings -SEM analysis showed that religiosity and spirituality have a significant positive relationship with employees' performance. Better spiritual condition improves performance. Religion functions as a moderating variable in employees' job performance.Research limitations/implications -This study has extended the knowledge of spirituality in the workplace by confirming that spirituality is more significant than religiosity in influencing employees' performance. Religion, however, moderates spirituality-performance relationship. Practical implications -Based on the empirical findings of this study, organizations may formulate new policies and strategies for improving employee performance by allowing and encouraging spiritual activities in the workplace irrespective of religious and spiritual beliefs, thereby facilitating understanding and mutual respect. A culture of respect for diversity of beliefs and faiths should be cultivated in the workplace by enforcing appropriate codes of conduct as well as instilling values of tolerance, respect and compassion, which would result in more productive teamwork and improved performance. Originality/value -This is the only study that measured the impact of religiosity and spirituality on employees' performance using three different sources of data: employees, peers, and supervisors.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Islam urges all Muslims to perform their utmost best when they work. Giving the best requires full commitment. Employees' commitment is influenced by many factors, including the management styles within the organisation. This paper aims to examine the management of human resources from the Islamic perspective and its effects on organisational commitment among selected employees in Islamic organisations in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach -The study employed a self-developed questionnaire that was personally distributed to employees. In total, 121 Muslim employees who work in various positions in eight Islamic organisations participated as respondents of this study. Findings -The findings revealed that the selected organisations frequently practise the Islamic approach in all its human resource management (HRM) functions. The results of correlation and regression analysis show that the Islamic approach in HRM was highly and significantly correlated to organisational commitment. About 45 per cent of the organisational commitment variance was explained by the Islamic approach in HRM. Practical implications -An introduction to the Islamic approach in HRM practices is an initial attempt to provide managers with an effective way of managing and understanding the people they work with. This knowledge would be useful to even non-Muslim managers. For Muslim human resource managers, it is essential for them to not only know but also to apply the Islamic approach in managing employees. Non-Muslim managers will have a better understanding of the expected behaviours of their Muslim employees. Muslim employees regardless for who they work are expected to be honest, trustworthy, and determined to continuously strive for the best. Originality/value -This study is unique from other previous studies. Instead of discussing Islamic management in general, this study explores in-depth every function of HRM based on authentic Islamic sources, as well as providing empirical evidence.

Article information:To cite this document: Junaidah Hashim, (2009),"Islamic revival in human resource management practices among selected If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. AbstractPurpose -In an era where religion predominantly presents an integral influence on the way most people live and work, an Islamic approach in managing human resources in Malaysia is apt. This is due to the fact that Muslim employees represent the largest percentage of the workforce in Malaysia and the Malaysian government is implementing an Islamization process in the country. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which Muslim employees are aware of Islamic human resource management (HRM) practices and the extent to which Islamic organisations in Malaysia practice HRM based upon the Islamic approaches as outlined by the sacred Islamic texts. Design/methodology/approach -This is a survey-based research. It uses a self-developed questionnaire for data collection. A total of 121 Muslim employees who work in Islamic organisations participate as respondents in this paper. Factor analysis is used for data analysis. Findings -The results show that the selected Muslim employees in Islamic organisations in Malaysia are aware of the Islamic HRM practices which they practice frequently. Practical implications -Religious foundations of HRM strategies are important but are rarely highlighted in the literature. This paper would become an important reference for future studies pertaining to HRM practices in the Islamic context. An introduction to Islamic human resource practices is an initial attempt to provide managers with an additional way of managing people. For Muslim human resource managers who work in Islamic organisations, i.e. those Muslim-owned or dealing with Islamic teachings, it is an obligation for them to not only know but also to apply the Islamic approach in managing employees. Non-Muslim managers would have a better understanding of the expected and acceptable behaviours of their Muslim employees at the workplace. Among the behaviours expected of true Muslim employees; regardless of whom they work for, are honesty, trustworthiness, and continuous determination to work for the best. Originality/value -This paper is unique from other previous studies for instead of discussing Islamic management in general, this paper explores in depth every function of HRM based on authentic Islamic sources, as well as providing empirical evidence.

Purpose -The study aims to analyze the differences between national and expatriate academic staff perception of organizational justice in Malaysian institutions of higher learning. It also explores the role of organizational justice in shaping teaching faculties' attitude ( job satisfaction and commitment) and behavioral intention (turnover intention). Design/methodology/approach -The sample consisted of teaching staff belonging to several faculties drawn from four public universities in Malaysia. Sample was divided into two groups -Malaysian nationals with tenure appointments and expatriates with contractual appointments. Data were collected using standardized tools to measure the study variables. Findings -Except for job satisfaction, where Malaysians recorded significantly higher endorsement compared to expatriates, no significant difference was found between the two groups on perception of distributive, procedural, and interactional aspects of organizational justice, as well as organizational commitment and turnover intention. However, Malaysians demonstrated significantly higher level of job satisfaction compared to expatriates. Different facets of organizational justice predicted work outcomes in the two groups. Whereas interactional and distributive justice promoted expatriates' organizational commitment and/or intention to stay with the organization, it was mainly procedural justice that contributed to local employees' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. Distributive justice also predicted turnover intentions of locals.Practical implications -The study should add to the literature on international human resource management. Organizations that employ expatriates and knowledge workers should benefit from the findings of this study. Originality/value -Not many empirical studies have been conducted on university academic staffs' perception of organizational justice in an Asian context, as well as how employment practices might influence justice perception and resultant work outcomes of national citizens vs expatriates. This study attempts to fulfill the gap.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the work challenges of employees with disabilities and predict the organisational behaviours of employees and their involvement in employment. Design/methodology/approach – A self-developed questionnaire was used to gather relevant information from employers, employees with disabilities and their co-workers. The questionnaires were distributed and administered by a number of trained enumerators. Findings – Both employers and co-workers perceived that their organisations have provided conducive organisation climate, comfortable work environment and reasonable adjustment for their employees with disabilities. Employees with disabilities are found loyal and committed. They are satisfied with the job. Organisational loyalty and commitment are predicted by the organisations’ ability to restructure their job design to suit to the needs of employees with disabilities. Research limitations/implications – Initially, this study planned to use purposive sampling; however, due to poor database maintained by the relevant agency of employees with disability employment in the country, the paper was unable to identify which employers employ how many employees with disabilities. The sampling then was based on convenient sampling. Practical implications – Job design, organisational climate and comfortable work environment have long been recognised for motivating employees’ performance (Hackman et al., 1975; Garg and Rastogi, 2006). The paper's findings show that these factors also motivate employees with disabilities. This is added value to the existing body of knowledge as limited is known about the motivation of employees with disabilities. Originality/value – This study is unique because it gathers data from several parties: employees with disabilities, the co-workers and the employers.

PurposeThe aim of the study was to measure employees' perception of human resource development (HRD) practices, to explore whether ISO certification leads to any improvements in HRD system, and to examine the role of HRD practices on employees' development climate and quality orientation in the organization.Design/methodology/approachA total of 239 employees belonging to eight organizations (four of them ISO certified) responded to a questionnaire which measured the following variables: career system, work planning system, development system, self renewal system, and HRD system.FindingsResults indicated large inter‐organizational differences in HRD practices. In general, however, employees' ratings were moderate. ISO certified companies, compared to others, obtained higher means on some HRD variables. Organizations with better learning, training and development systems, reward and recognition, and information systems promoted human resource development climate. Quality orientation was predicted by career planning, performance guidance and development, role efficacy, and reward and recognition systems.Research limitations/implicationsComparison between ISO and non‐ISO certified companies did yield some significant differences, yet it was difficult to conclude that the differences were due to ISO certification alone as organizations in the sample were not matched.Practical implicationsThe findings can be used by HR practitioners and scholars in building management concerns and advocacy for better HRD systems and practices.Originality/valueVery little empirical knowledge is available on this subject from transitional economies like Malaysia. The study makes a modest attempt in that direction.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how Malaysian managers acquire job competencies through self‐directed learning activities at their workplace. Specifically it aims to investigate what types of job competencies are required for the managers, how they learn to acquire those competencies, and whether the managers have the self‐directed learning attributes and capability to acquire job competencies by self‐directed learning activities.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected through survey. The survey adapted the Self‐Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) developed by Guglielmino. In total 238 respondents participated in this study.FindingsThe findings show that the respondents have identified communication, managerial, and job knowledge as the main competencies required for their jobs. Most of these competencies are acquired through on‐the‐job training, working as part of a team and self‐education. The findings also reveal that the respondents do possess the attributes of self‐directed learners.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings support previous research. Given the different cultural background of the Malaysian managers, their ways of learning are similar to those of Western managers. Future research can investigate how employees in other professions learn on their jobs and what other factors may influence self‐directed learning.Practical implicationsGiven the emphasis being placed on the importance of work place learning, it is timely to advance a workplace curriculum by integrating the everyday learning experiences and guided learning strategy in the organisation, so that the employees' learning can be facilitated more effectively.Originality/valueThe paper includes the different cultural context of how Malaysian managers learn.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify learning barriers in information communication technology (ICT) adoption among working women in Malaysia. Regardless of gender, it would be advantageous for all individuals in today's society to acquire basic ICT skills. Despite significant growth in ICT professionals during the last two decades, there remains a gender imbalance, particularly in developing countries such as Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a self‐developed questionnaire to measure the learning barriers and ICT adoption. The survey instrument was developed from the constructs used in the individual innovativeness theory and theory of perceived attributes. The questionnaires were administered face‐to‐face to a total of 315 working women, who participated as respondents in this study.FindingsThe findings revealed that the working women in Malaysia possess only average level of ICT skills. They seldom use the internet and e‐mail at their workplace or at home, they do not face serious learning barriers with respect to ICT, and they have complexity as their innovation characteristics. However, they are innovators in the adopters' categories. The combined variance in the characteristics of learning barriers, ICT skills, and ICT usage amounted to 70 per cent in innovation characteristics.Practical implicationsThis study reduces the knowledge gap regarding the identification of learning barriers, ICT skills, and ICT usage as predictors of ICT adoption among working women in Malaysia. These factors have been overlooked by some previous researchers. This study also calls attention to the fact that employers and training agencies that are responsible to provide ICT training to women employees must understand and employ the proper learning approaches and methods that ought to be used in adult training and education. Malaysian women are able to adopt an innovation with a high degree of uncertainty at the time of adoption, and it is believed that with correct and suitable training schemes Malaysian working women can acquire appropriate ICT skills and become competent in using ICT at the workplace. With managerial skills and ICT‐based competencies, the working women would have a lot more knowledge seeking skills, increased access to up‐to‐date information, be effective in decision making, and establish networking and linkages. With this they will stand a better chance for promotion and advancement.Originality/valueThe sample of this study is unique. This study was conducted in a multi‐ethnic, multi‐cultural and multi‐lingual society. Malaysia presents an interesting case study on working women because it is a society undergoing rapid changes from its strong traditional religious and cultural norms to modern values about women.