This paper theorizes the juxtaposition between gender justice and gender equality within Islamic feminism, through the empirical analysis of gender practices in Pakistani banks. Theoretically grounded within Islamic feminism and informed by secular feminism, the paper discusses the findings emerging from two ethnographic studies aimed at exploring the influence of 'religiously motivated' patriarchal norms on experiences of gender inequalities in financial institutions in Pakistan. The research reveals that distinct practices and expectations exist in different organizations, specifically in the context of Islamic banks when compared with western banks operating in Pakistan. Gender oppression thus assumes different meanings, as gender norms and sexualities are differently negotiated by women and men in the two banks. While the Islamic bank enforces gender segregation and isolation and limits interaction among the genders according to orthodox Islamic practices, the multinational western bank provides a more equal and integrated work environment, though we observed the exploitation of femininities to pursue business objectives. The discussion further theorizes Islamic feminism by problematizing gender justice and its relation to gender equality in Pakistani workplaces and society.

The prevailing pandemic (COVID-19) has increased socioeconomic problems and caused psychological distress due to work uncertainty, specifically in emerging economies. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies have been severely affected. Particularly, work uncertainty is becoming a hindrance towards proactive work behaviour (PWB) that can be improved by an effective entrepreneurial leadership role and proactive personality attribute. Based on fortifying self-determination theory, this research answered the question to what extent proactive personality moderates the relationship between work uncertainty and PWB and strengthens the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and PWB. To empirically examine the study’s underlying theoretical framework, respondents were selected from SMEs working in Pakistan from the high-tech industry. Multisource data were accumulated from 420 workers and their leaders utilizing a two-wave, time-lagged research design. Conclusions revealed that entrepreneurial leadership first reduced individuals’ work uncertainty, which in turn, led to enhanced proactive work behaviour of employees. Furthermore, the results revealed that work uncertainty mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and proactive work behaviour. Moreover, proactive personality moderates the link concerning work uncertainty and proactive work behaviour, such that this association is significant only when proactive personality is low. Additionally, the moderated mediation analysis indicated that less proactive people, compared with their extraordinarily proactive colleagues, trusted entrepreneurial leadership to be more proactive in the workplace. These findings have important implications to induce PWB among employees.

This study investigates the effect of inclusive leadership on innovation performance with a mediating role of employee innovation behavior and the moderating role of psychological empowerment (PE). Supervisors and employees of Saudi manufacturing firms are the participants of this study. This study used a quantitative research technique with a cross-sectional approach and a self-administrative survey questionnaire to collect the data. The data were analyzed by using the Smart PLS 3 software. The results depict that inclusive leadership has a significant positive impact on the firm’s innovation performance. Employees’ innovation behavior has a significant mediating effect on the association of inclusive leadership and innovation performance. Findings revealed that PE has an important moderating role in the association of inclusive leadership and innovation performance. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge by finding that inclusive leadership has a significant effect on the firm’s innovative performance and PE is crucial to enhance innovation performance.

The COVID-19 outbreak wreaked havoc on the hospitality business, resulting in significant layoffs, salary cuts, and unpaid leaves globally. This study uses the sensemaking theory to investigate how COVID-19 induced unfavorable human resource (HR) practices affect the link between perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee identification and commitment. We tested this model using the data collected from 392 hospitality sector employees in Pakistan. The results reveal that “cut in salaries” and “work from home” positively moderate CSR’s impact on employees’ identification and commitment. On the other hand, employee layoff and leave without pay do not impact the positive relationship between CSR and employees’ attitudes. Furthermore, the study finds that CSR during this pandemic has a significant positive impact on employees’ attitudes. However, this relationship becomes insignificant for employees who reported unfavorable HR practices in their organizations. The finding further reveals that CSR’s impact during COVID-19 on employees’ attitudes is moderated by the different levels of CSR importance in employees’ minds. This evidence is significant since HR practices implemented during this crisis need to be identified and framed to understand the effects of CSR on employee commitment and identification. CSR involvement in the pandemic can help managers keep their employees committed to organizations; only if this charity begins from their internal stakeholders first.

This study examined the effects of team identification (TI) on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and innovative work behavior (IWB) and its dimension (idea exploration, idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation). In addition, this research also studied the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation in the relationship between team identification and innovative work behavior and its dimension. Data ( n = 357) were collected from employees working in software companies of Pakistan by using a time lag research design. Results advocated that team identification was significantly associated with entrepreneurial orientation and innovative work behavior and its dimensions. Likewise, entrepreneurial orientation mediates the association of team identification and innovative work behavior and its dimensions. Thus, this study presents distinctive insight into team identification in the IT sector, how team identification impact on innovative work behavior of employees through entrepreneurial orientation.