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The purpose of this paper is to present a research model that explore strategic outsourcing practices for sustainable competitive advantages. In this paper, a decision support system (DSS) for sustainable performance measurement of carry and forward agents (CFAs) is proposed.

The importance of seven criteria as a means of selecting the best CFA for warehouses under the aspect of sustainable environment is analyzed. The criteria are compared and ranked using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with the combined assistance of literature review and expert opinions. This study makes use of unstructured interviews of Regional Distribution Manager and senior strategic leaders of the firms.

This paper discusses how strategic outsourcing can help firm to achieve desired business outcomes. The selection of best CFA gives a direction to the company to move toward excellence and provides the key areas to work upon to achieve competitive advantage. The main contribution of this paper includes modeling the performance evaluation problem within the context of a sustainable supply chain based on triple bottom line (TBL) concept.

The identified selection criteria are bound with Indian transportation and logistics industry. Further, it is suggested to conduct a real-life application of this study to other companies from different countries, to obtain criteria based on globally acceptable norms. The results may yield the network-specific evaluation criteria and their evaluations.

The developed excel-based tool could be used to record the inspection data, compare the CFAs and determine the best CFAs on the basis of selected criteria. With the help of this tool, CFAs know their position and ranking among all the CFAs and the focus areas they need to work upon to perform well. The training module could be used to keep the CFA staff on the right track which is very essential in a typical manufacturing industry warehouse. The improved performance of CFAs will in turn help to improve the manufacturing process, thus maximizing the gains along with environmental benefits.

This paper provides a priority of sustainable issues for evaluating the performance of the best CFA. The paper presents a strategic outsourcing model, which suggest both theoretical and managerial implications showing how to implement successful outsourcing practices in the global market by analyzing the performance of outsourcing partners, i.e. CFAs.

In 2017, the Chinese Super League (CSL), the first professional football division in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), became the highest-spending league in the international players’ transfer market, with a total spending of €377m. Moreover, the government of the PRC is backing the CSL with an ambitious football plan. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the governance of the CSL by questioning the organisational viability of the league.

In addition to the relevant international literature, this study is based on 14 recent scholarly articles published in Mandarin from 2013 to 2018 to reflect the national academic debate. Moreover, website research on all CSL clubs has been conducted. The institutional analysis follows the integrative change model of Cunningham (2002) complemented by agency and bureaucracy theory.

The CSL still faces substantial governance problems caused by the divergence of goal setting, organisational inefficiencies and compliance issues. The organisational change is notably constrained by internal competitive value commitments and external power dependency.

The institutional findings on the CSL provide a starting point for empirical studies. The approach contributes to the theory of sport governance processes.

The material and insights are informative for decision makers to evaluate the competitiveness of the CSL.

This paper is the first international in-depth analysis of the governance of the CSL using the body of knowledge published in Mandarin.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate changes in the commercial real estate market dynamics as a function of and conditional to the shifts in market state-space environment that can influence agent responses.

The analytical design uses a comparative computational experiment to address the performance of property assets in the current market based on comparison with prior structural patterns. The latent variables developed across market sectors are used to test agent behavior contingent on the perspectives of capital asset pricing conditionals (CAPM) and a behavioral momentum/herd construct. The state-space momentum analysis can assist the comparative analysis of current levels and shifts in property asset performance given the issues that have arisen with the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

An analytic approach is employed framed by a situation-dependent model. This frame considers risk profiles characterizing the perspectives and preferences guiding a delineated market state. This perspective is concerned with the possibility of shifts in market momentum and representativeness conditioning investor expectations. It is observed that the current market (post-crisis) has changed significantly from the prior operations (despite the diversity observed in prior market states). The dynamics of initial findings required an additional test anchored to the performance of the general capital market and the real economy across time. This context supports the use of a modified CAPM model allowing the consideration of opportunity cost in a space-time dynamic anchored with the consideration of equity, debt, riskless asset and liquidity options as they varied for the representative agents operating per market state.

This paper integrates neoclassical and behavioral economic constructs. Combines asset pricing with prospect theory and allows the calculation of endogenous time-preferences, risk attitudes and formulation and testing of hyperbolic discounting functions.

The research shows that market structure and agent behavior since the financial crisis has changed from the investment and valuation perspectives operating as observed and measured from 1970 up to 2007. In contradiction to the long-term findings of Reinhart and Rogoff (2008), but in compliance with common perspectives and decision heuristics often employed by investors, this time things have changed! Discounting and expected rates of return are dynamic and are hyperbolic and not constant. Returns and investment for property assets are situational (market state-space specific) and offer a distinct asset class, not appropriately estimated by many of the traditional financial models.

Assist in supporting insights to measure in errors and equations that result in inefficient resource allocation and beta discounting that supports the financial crisis created by assets subject to long-term decision needs (delta function).

The paper offers a combination and comparison of neoclassic asset pricing using a modified CAPM (two-pass) approach within the structural frame of Kahneman and Tversky’s (1979) prospect theory. This technique allows the consideration of the effects of present bias, beta-delta functions and the operation of the Allais Paradox in market states that are characterized by gains and losses and thus risk aversion and risk seeking behavior. This ability for differentiation allows for the development of endogenous time-preferences and hyperbolic discounting factors characteristic of commercial property investment.

The study aims to investigate the measurement model of four constructs, namely, spirituality at the workplace (SP), Islamic spirituality (ISP), organizational commitment (OC) and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB). The study aims to contribute new knowledge to the existing literature whereby performance determinants comprising these constructs, serve to improve employee well-being which ultimately improves organizational performance.

Using disproportionate stratified random sampling, the survey data used for this empirical research were drawn from 482 employees working in takaful agencies in Malaysia. After yielding an instrument to measure SP, ISP, OCB and OC, principal component analysis (PCA) using SPSS and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS were carried out.

Good fit indices from CFA revealed that OC is explained by three variables, namely, normative, continuance and affective; SP is also explained by three variables comprising alignment with organizational values (AWOV), sense of community (SC) and meaningful work (MW); ISP is explained by three variables comprising belief, forgiveness and remembrance of Allah; and finally, OCB is explained by civic virtue, conscientiousness and altruism. The findings of this study will enable Islamic insurance companies to understand the importance of spirituality and Islamic spirituality on well-being and will further improve their function and performance by way of enhancing employees’ spirituality in the workplace. Moreover, Human Resource development professionals, organizational managers and government authorities may use the findings of this study to justify their efforts in designing appropriate learning and performance improvement interventions so that OC, OCB, IS and ISP among non-Muslim and Muslim employees can be monitored and further enhanced.

This study raises awareness on the importance of four critical constructs that can be used by corporate organizations, NGOs and other institutions, to justify their efforts in performance improvement interventions.

Within the emotional labor (EL) literature, the paper's aim is to test for additional scale distinctions in surface acting and deep acting, using a “difficult client” referent.

Working with existing definitions and operationalizations across prior EL studies, an on‐line sample of 1,975 massage therapists and bodywork practitioners (M&Bs) was used to test the hypotheses. Hinkin's recommended three steps for scale development: item development, scale development and scale evaluation were applied. The M&B sample was randomly split to carry out exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and then confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A smaller validation sample of 203 working adults was also tested using EFA.

Convergent support was found for EFA between the M&B and validation samples, as well as between EFA and CFA for the M&B sample. Two types of surface acting could be distinguished, basic surface acting (BSA) and challenged surface acting (CSA), while three types of deep acting could be distinguished, basic deep acting (BDA), perspective taking deep acting (PTDA) and positive refocus deep acting (PRDA).

This paper studies a unique sample, massage and body therapists, and the “difficult client” stimulus has not been formally tested in prior EL scale work.

The paper aims to study the outreach and performance of business correspondent (BC) models, which are implemented as a subsidiary agent of banks to accelerate the financial inclusion (FI) mission in India. In this regard, the study illustrates BC's products and services rendered to customers, forms of delivery channels and BC's view on banking services and Kiosk-based BC programs.

The current paper is an empirical study based on surveying 200 Kiosk-based BCs working in the state of Kerala. After the preliminary screening analysis of the data with outlier deletion, removal of missing values and normality test, both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were executed followed by reliability test, convergent and discriminant validity tests. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CBSEM) was performed for CFA and inferential tests were carried out by using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) and analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) and Eviews.

Chiefly, eight operational forms of BCs were found from the field survey. Hypothetical tests show the significant impact of the serviceability of banks on BC's profitability. Validity tests such as average variance extracted (AVE), composite reliability (CR), maximum shared variance (MSV) and average shared variance (ASV) were established after the removal of the cross-loaded items of the questionnaire from the rotated component matrix. BCs perform main banking services especially bank account opening facility and Akshaya E-Centers are widely used for this model as Kiosk banking in the surveyed state.

So far, no study has encompassed empirical research on performance analysis and outreach of the BC model in the state of Kerala where this BC model well functions. Since the study is a novel form of banking channelization for FI, the study can contribute to understanding the further feasibility and future dimension of the model based on experimental views of BCs.

Safety climate (SC) is considered a leading indicator of safety performance, but scholars suggest that a common SC assessment framework is yet to be developed. Following the debate between the importance of facet analysis and agent analysis, the purpose of this paper is to test a factor structure, developed by the authors in previous work and arising from their systematic literature review, highlighting the role of safety agents in a construction site setting.

Multi-level SC surveys were conducted at five construction sites in Sydney, Australia, collecting data from of 352 workers associated with a mega-construction project. While examining the factor analysis of different studies, data reliability and data validity of the survey findings were ensured and a goodness-of-fit of SC model was examined through structural equation modelling.

The systematic literature review of Newaz et al. (2018) suggested a five-factor model of: management commitment, safety system, role of the supervisor, workers’ involvement and group SC. However, empirical data indicated that the questionnaire used to measure “safety system” failed to pass scale reliability; thus, a four-factor model was proposed to develop an agent-specific SC factor structure in the construction industry.

The four-factor model indicates the role and level of influence of different safety agents to improve safety perceptions on construction sites. The findings of this study will encourage researchers in construction safety to use the simplified four-factor SC (agent-specific) model presented and test it to further develop a common factor structure for the construction industry. The fact that the model is comprised of four factors makes further implementation somewhat easier in the development of safety plans, and when considering the role of safety agents, therefore enhancing its potential value.

The present study has been carried out to study whether and how different aspects of brand management (brand identity, brand image and brand meaning) are instrumental in maintaining and enhancing attachment strength of students with higher education institutes (HEIs). Further, to understand what brand management aspect channels the impact of what branding driver on attachment strength in most effective manner.

The study analysed combined mediating effects as well as specific mediating effects to test the mediating role of brand management aspects.

The study reveals that brand image plays highest mediating role among all aspects of brand management. HEIs need to enhance service quality because brand image carries the highest influence of service quality on attachment strength. Similarly, brand identity carries the highest influence of heritage on attachment strength. Brand meaning carries the highest influence of competence and reputation on attachment strength.

The present study, based on empirical research, has built the framework and mechanism for creating attachment strength utilising the intangible resources of HEIs through brand management. The present study examines how specific intangible resources exhibit varying influences on attachment strength via distinct brand management mediation effects.

The present study provides framework for designing branding strategies to build and channelise necessary intangible resources of branding for nourishing and nurturing attachment strength.

The present study contributes to scarce branding literature in context of HEIs. The study proposes role of HEI branding in developing students' attachment strength with their HEIs.

Non-technical skills are of increasing importance for safety engineers to perform their job. In their position as expert consultants, they work closely with managers. Thus, gaining management support is oftentimes crucial for safety engineers to successfully improve occupational health and safety. Drawing on organizational support theory (OST), this study investigates how safety engineers’ non-technical skills in communication and persuasion (i.e. rational and hard influence tactics) are related with their management support, and how management support is related with their individual task proficiency (ITP). The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of safety engineers’ expert power in this context.

Using an online questionnaire, survey data were collected from 251 safety engineers working in Austria.

Rational influence tactics are positively related to ITP via management support, whereas hard influence tactics are not. Safety engineers’ expert power moderates the relationship between influence tactics and management support and, consequently ITP. High (vs low) expert status strengthens the positive relationship of rational influence tactics on ITP via management support. For hard influence tactics, high (vs low) expert power buffered the negative relationship of upward appeal and pressure on ITP via management support.

Safety engineers should rely on rational persuasion when cooperating with management to obtain support and improve their own performance.

This study connects the effect of influence tactics in the context of safety engineers’ work performance with OST. It demonstrates that safety engineers’ influence tactics are related to work role performance through management support and that these relationships are moderated by expert power.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate the Team Influence Relations Scale (TIReS), a new instrument to measure the relation of influence in a team that overcomes a predominating individual approach to influence in teams. The TIReS stems from the concepts of team subjectivity and deinfluentization that perceive influence as a collective phenomenon in a triangular influence model.

In the first study the authors subjected the data, gathered from 280 employees from Polish private sector companies, to the principal axis factoring analysis, yielding 12 best-fitting items loading on two factors (i.e. meaning reduction and space offering). In the second study the authors employed confirmatory factor analyses to test data from 784 workers from private sector organizations in Poland.

The results yielded a six-factor structure for the TIReS (root mean square error of approximation=0.077, comparative fit index=0.93, NNFI=0.91, standardized root mean square residual=0.073) with two sub-dimensions for each influence source in a team (i.e. the individual, the leader, the team as a whole). The results provide evidence for the internal consistency reliability of the TIReS (Cronbach’s α ranging from 0.87 to 0.93 for TIReS factors) and its satisfactory criterion-related validity.

The TIReS addresses a gap in currently available questionnaires to measure the relation of influence in teams considering three sources of influence in a team. The importance of team influence relations measurement is discussed.