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Cross‐border mergers are rising in number and scope even though, on average, firms do not profi t from them. In this article, we use interviews and secondary data to assess a historic merger between two global consulting giants ‐ Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young Consulting. The two fi rms had well‐articulated strategic reasons for merging. Nevertheless, their integration strategy failed to address key differences in business models, core competencies, and organizational practices. As a result, the combined firm suffered five years of diminished financial and competitive performance. Our study highlights the organizational complexities affecting mergers between human capital‐intensive firms.

International evidence of economies of scale in mutual funds is mixed. KiwiSaver offers an interesting opportunity to examine economies of scale given its growth from a new scheme with few members and low balances, where fund costs should be high, to a much larger scheme that should be cheaper to run. As a defined contribution superannuation scheme, fees play an important role in determining the eventual retirement savings members achieve. This paper aims to examine whether the anticipated economies of scale are passed onto members.

The authors use a sample of 267 KiwiSaver funds over 2013-2018 and relate fund fees to assets under management (AUM) and the number of participants using regression analysis and a translog cost function.

The authors find evidence to suggest funds are passing on cost savings. Specifically, the authors observe that fees increase slower as the number of members grows, suggesting economies of scale are driven by the number of members, but not the size of the assets being managed. All else held constant, a 1 per cent increase in fund participants increases fees by 0.93 per cent on average. In contrast, a 1 per cent increase in AUM results in effectively 1 per cent increase in fees, all else held constant.

While KiwiSaver has been an undeniable boost to the local funds management industry, regulators are increasingly under pressure to ensure fees are appropriate. In 11 years, New Zealand-based KiwiSaver has grown to over $50b in AUM, with over $400m in total fees per year. This paper provides evidence that economies of scale are partially present in the KiwiSaver sector, although not where it arguably counts: in the size of the AUM.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice behavior. Study of employee voice behavior is important, because leaders in organizations make numerous decisions based on employees’ work-related inputs which do influence the decision quality and team performance.

Survey data were collected through structured questionnaire from Indian organizations. Data were analysed through statistical techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

The findings showed that ethical leadership did impact the employee voice in a positive and significant but moderate manner. The study also found no significant differences in ethical leadership and voice behavior across demographic variables such as gender, age, educational qualification and job level in the Indian context.

The study is conducted using single cross-sectional research design, and for better causal inferences of the relationship between various variables, future research studies may be conducted with longitudinal research design, multiple data sources and variety of industries with large sample size.

With erosion of ethical values and corporate scandals, managers need to develop and display ethical leadership as employees emulate their leaders’ ethical behavior because ethical leadership, or its perception, relates positively and significantly to employee voice behavior.

There is less study to understand ethical leadership and its influence on voice behavior in developing countries, especially in India. Ethical leadership behavior encourages employees to voice their work-related constructive opinions and concerns for improved decision-making and reduced unethical practices. Also, there is scarcity of research that explores the impact of demographic variables and this study is an effort to understand this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of perceived information and entertainment value, perceived credibility and perceived value on Generation Y consumers’ usage frequency of online consumer reviews.

The paper proposes and tests, with structural equation modelling analysis of moment structures, a research model using data from a large sample of Generation Y consumers.

The results confirm that Generation Y consumers perceive online reviews to be informative, entertaining, credible and valuable, and that they frequently consult such reviews. More specifically, the empirical analysis confirms that perceived information value, perceived entertainment value and perceived credibility significantly influenced the perceived value that Generation Y attach to online consumer reviews, which, in turn, was a significant predictor of their usage frequency of such reviews.

The results highlight the strategic importance of integrating online consumer reviews into the marketing communication mix when targeting Generation Y, together with the necessity of having filtering mechanisms to ensure that only authentic reviews are published and the need to implement tactics to ensure that such reviews are informative and entertaining and, consequently, of value.

This study contributes to marketers’ comprehension of strategically using online consumer reviews when targeting the Generation Y segment.

El objetivo de esta investigación es examinar la influencia del valor de la información, del valor del entretenimiento, la credibilidad y el valor percibido en la frecuencia de uso de las revisiones online de los consumidores por parte de los consumidores de la Generación Y.

Este documento propone y contrasta, a través de los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales (AMOS), un modelo de investigación que utiliza datos de una gran muestra de consumidores de la Generación Y.

Los resultados ponen de relieve la importancia estratégica de integrar las reseñas de consumidores en línea en la combinación de comunicaciones de comercialización al dirigirse a la Generación Y, junto con la necesidad de disponer de mecanismos de filtrado para garantizar que sólo se publiquen reseñas auténticas y la necesidad de aplicar tácticas para asegurar que dichas reseñas sean informativas y entretenidas y, por consiguiente, de valor.

Los resultados destacan la importancia estratégica de integrar las revisiones de los consumidores en línea en el mix de comunicación de marketing cuando se dirigen a la Generación Y, junto con la necesidad de contar con mecanismos de filtrado para garantizar que solo se publiquen revisiones auténticas y también se implementen tácticas para garantizar que las reseñas sean informativas y entretenidas y, en consecuencia, de gran valor.

Este trabajo ayuda a los especialistas de marketing a comprender como pueden utilizar estratégicamente las opiniones de los consumidores online para dirigirse a los consumidores de la Generación Y.

Technological advancements in games increased the popularity of online gaming. The rapid expansion of the eSports market may largely be attributed to the ever-increasing popularity amongst Generation Y amateur gamers. The primary objective of this study is to determine the factors influencing Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions.

This study used the extended unified theory of acceptance as the theoretical framework. Data analysis included exploratory principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis.

The results of the confirmatory factor analysis suggest that Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions is an eight-factor model that is reliable, valid and has acceptable model fit. The results of the path analysis indicate that habit, price-value, flow, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions have a statistically significant positive influence on amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions, whilst social influence and hedonic motivation have a negative but non-significant influence on those intentions.

The sample was formed using only amateur eSports gamers. In this regard, the opportunity exists to research professional eSports gamers. This study only focussed on Generation Y members between 18 and 36 years old. As a result, there is an opportunity for researchers to research the different generations of South African eSports gamers to determine whether there are any differences or similarities between generational segments.

The results of this study clearly indicate that flow, together with habit are salient contributors to ongoing gameplay intentions amongst amateur eSports gamers in South Africa. A reasonable assumption that can be made here is that flow is also instrumental in encouraging habitual gaming, which increases the importance of flow in overall ongoing gameplay intentions. This suggests that R&D expenditure should be directed at enhancing user engagement by building increased levels of flow into eSports games.

eSports game developers can also achieve a desired state of flow by creating daily challenges that reward players when the players achieve specific objectives, which will encourage gamers to enter a state of flow when provided with challenges to complete. However, these in-game challenges should have a variety of levels regarding difficulty, ranging from beginner, intermediate and advanced levels so as not to exceed the effort expectancy of different groups of players. Game developers should provide regularly updated challenges to gamers to ensure that eSports games remain enjoyable and does not become predictable.

Given the nascence of research on eSports behaviour, the results of this study provide a novel addition to the knowledge pool, particularly in terms of amateur eSports behavioural intentions. Interestingly, hedonic motivation and social influence were non-significant negative predictors of Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions. The recommendations provide various marketing strategies and opportunities for eSports business expansion.

Studies have so far focused on learning in organizations, factors affecting learning, learning effectiveness and so on but the concept of learning in a hybrid work arrangement is yet unexplored. The purpose of this study is to measure the perception of faculty members in higher education institutions towards learning in a hybrid work arrangement and also to measure the differences of perception towards hybrid work arrangement based on employees’ gender and organization type.

The data was collected from a sample of 390 faculty members composing of Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors, purposely chosen from two of the premier higher education institutions (one private and one public) located in Punjab, India. A self-structured questionnaire was administered to the faculty members who are working on a regular basis and have minimum of two years of work experience with the chosen university. For analysing the collected data exploratory factor analysis and other descriptive statistics have been applied.

The findings of the survey show that in terms of gender differences, it is the female employees who are more satisfied with different aspects of hybrid/remote work arrangement as compared to male employees. In regard to organizational differences in the perception towards learning in a hybrid work arrangement it is found that public university employees have a more positive attitude so far as individual factors are concerned, but in terms of organizational factors, it is the private university that is scoring better than the public university.

The study is limited to only two higher education institutions, and its findings to be applicable in all higher education institutions, further studies may be required on a larger canvas. Future studies may be undertaken using advanced statistical tools like structural equation modelling to explore various variables associated with learning in a hybrid work arrangement.

Applicability of hybrid work arrangement is very high in higher education institutions and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which adds to the literature on perception of employees towards organizational learning in a hybrid work arrangement.

This paper aims to draw upon extant theory and research to delineate the fundamental factors that impact how women evaluate disparaging humor directed at them. The conceptual framework presented outlines the most fundamental organizational-, interpersonal- and individual-level factors that influence the accuracy of such evaluation.

This is a conceptual paper that offers both a review of extant humor and gender research and theory and the presentation of a theoretical model that classifies sources of influence on evaluations of sexist humor from the perspective of the target.

Organization-, interpersonal- and individual-level factors are identified as sources of influence on women’s perception and evaluation of sexist humor leveled at them. This classification identifies factors including organizational power dynamics, egalitarian norms, interpersonal trust, target self-esteem and feminist identity.

This paper offers a conceptual framework to guide future studies in more systematically examining the sources of influence on female targets’ capacity to recognize when they are the “punchline” of sexist humor.

The conceptual model developed in this paper offers important implications for managers and leaders in organizations in assisting targets to recognize instances of sexist humor directed at them. The aim is to arm potential victims with the knowledge necessary to foster awareness of their treatment in the workplace and to improve the accuracy of evaluation of workplace attitudes that may often nurture a sense of approval or apathy regarding displays of sexist humor.

This paper presents a novel classification of sources of influence on female targets’ evaluation of sexist humor in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to look into marriage patterns and family structure and changes therein over the period of 50 years. Reasons for change in marriage patterns are also included. It also includes marriage arrangements in the village by time periods. The latter part of the paper explores changes in family structure and its relevant reasons over the decades.

Survey was conducted to attain and assess the required information. An interview schedule was developed as a tool for data collection. Systematic sampling technique was used for the selection of the respondents (aged 55+). These respondents were assumed to have observed the changes over the decades. The results were based on trend analysis from 1960s through 2008.

The results showed that material exchanges on the vital events have declined with the exception of marriage occasion over the period of time. The data shows that most of the marriages were taking place between close relatives from 1960s through 1980s. Substantial decline in these marriages was replaced by corresponding increase in inter-caste marriages after 1990 due to education and economic factors. During the same period, a shift is observed from joint family system to nuclear one.

Policy makers might consider various social trends to manage changes in a traditional society.

This paper focusses on changes in marriage patterns and family structure along with their pertinent causal factors in a rural community of the Punjab, Pakistan.

Constructed upon knowledge-based view theory, this study investigates the influence of internal marketing (IM) on knowledge management (KM) processes in higher educational institutes (HEIs) in China and Pakistan. The study investigates the direct link between KM processes and organizational performance and indirect links via knowledge workers' productivity (KWP).

Data were collected from HEIs in China and Pakistan, and 784 survey responses were reported from academic and administrative staff (HEIs).

The result revealed that IM has a significant impact on KM processes, and KM processes impact organizational performance via the partial mediating effect of KWP in China, Pakistan and the overall sample. The multi-group analysis confirmed the substantial differential effect of KM processes on KWP in culturally different HEIs.

A lack of research establishes the inter-relationship between KM enabler (IM), KM processes, KWP and organizational performance in culturally diverse environments. This is one of the initial studies that examine the relationship between IM, KM processes, KWP and organizational performance in HEIs. Furthermore, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by conducting an in-depth empirical examination of IM, KM processes, KWP and OP in culturally diverse environments (i.e. China and Pakistan).

1. This research examines the influence of internal marketing (IM) on knowledge management (KM) processes by using knowledge workers' productivity (KWP) as a mediator between knowledge management (KM) and organizational performance.

2. Through the partly mediating effect of KWP, it was discovered that IM considerably influenced knowledge management processes and organizational performance in China, Pakistan and throughout the sample.

3. The multi-group analysis indicates that KMPs have a statistically significant influence on KWP.

This research examines the influence of internal marketing (IM) on knowledge management (KM) processes by using knowledge workers' productivity (KWP) as a mediator between knowledge management (KM) and organizational performance.

Through the partly mediating effect of KWP, it was discovered that IM considerably influenced knowledge management processes and organizational performance in China, Pakistan and throughout the sample.

The multi-group analysis indicates that KMPs have a statistically significant influence on KWP.

This study aims to asses students’ sustainability consciousness (SC) in relation to their perceived teaching styles in seven public sector institutions in Pakistan.

A survey technique was used to collect data from respondents. Grasha’s (1996) Teaching Styles Inventory and Gericke et al.’s (2019) Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire were used to collect data pertinent to teachers’ teaching styles and students’ SC, respectively. This study’s population was 1,986 students studying in seven educational institutions. A sample of 993 students was selected for the study. Out of the 993 questionnaires distributed, only 753 respondents returned the questionnaire completely filled, resulting in a response rate of 75.83%. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data.

The results show that students’ mean scores on environmental and social dimensions were higher compared with the economic dimension. Similarly, students’ scores were relatively higher on the knowledge and attitude dimension while lower on the behavior dimension. Moreover, the expert and formal authority teaching styles were the most prevalent teaching styles. Furthermore, SEM results show that various teaching styles affected students’ knowledge and attitude; however, only the delegator teaching style affects all three dimensions of SC.

This research has implications for educational institutions and policymakers to ensure dedicated efforts to promote and integrate education for sustainable development into the educational system and achieve sustainability goals by 2030.

The study findings will help future teachers to effectively integrate sustainability education into their classrooms.

This research expands the discussion on the effectiveness of various teaching styles on SC in teacher education programs.