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Drawing on social information processing theory (SIP), this paper examines whether and how humble leadership affects employees' service improvisation (ESI) in the hospitality industry. Further, the study investigates the mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of creative self-efficacy (CSE).

To test the proposed relationships, the study adopts a cross-sectional design, administering questionnaires to 456 frontline staff in Egypt’s hospitality industry across three main sectors: restaurants, hotels and travel agencies. SPSS 27 and AMOS 22 were used for statistical analysis.

The study reveals a positive relationship between humble leadership and ESI, partially mediated by psychological safety. Furthermore, CSE not only strengthens the relationship between psychological safety and ESI but also enhances the indirect effect of humble leadership on ESI via psychological safety.

The study offers valuable insights for practitioners in the hospitality industry. To boost ESI, organizations can incorporate humble leadership attributes into their leadership development programs. Fostering a psychologically safe workplace would facilitate the positive impact of humble leadership on ESI. Recognizing CSE as a pivotal moderator underscores the importance of strategically selecting and developing employees with high CSE. These insights aim to cultivate a more service-oriented and effective workforce in the hospitality industry.

This study significantly contributes to leadership research in the hospitality industry by uncovering a previously unexplored link between humble leadership and ESI. Exploring psychological safety as a mediator and CSE as a moderator enhances our comprehension of how and when humble leadership influences ESI.

Emotional intelligence (EI) can improve patient–doctor relationships, foster empathy, develop teamwork in the workplace, and boost communication skills. This study aims to determine whether a cohort of residents has different profiles to their demographic and EI.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2017–2018 (n = 440). The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire was used to measure EI. Cluster analysis was used to identify different profile groups.

Cluster analysis identified three clusters with different profiles. The residents in cluster A (n = 146, 33.2%) were older, more males, studying in their final year, and perceived lower EI. Cluster B (n = 184, 41.8%) were predominantly young females, more single, studying in year one, and perceived moderate EI. Cluster C (n = 110, 25.0%) were predominantly married females studying their year 1 in surgical and perceived higher EI.

Study limitations include respondent honesty, cross-sectional design, and lack of a comparison site. Including EI education can improve emotional regulation, well-being, and sociability and should be assessed as part of residents' development.

Medical residents differ in emotional profiles, with higher EI improving coping and problem-solving skills. EI training should be integrated into the medical curriculum, particularly given the high-stress levels and unique stressors of hospital practicums.

The study suggested that three groups of residents exist, and they differ in demographic, EI, and subscale levels. This study recommended that residents be taught EI-related concepts to help them develop their EI through training on emotionality, self-control, well-being, and sociability.

This study aims to determine white wine drinkers’ interest in Grüner Veltliner wine, a potential signature wine for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the USA and identify the consumer segments likely to look for and purchase this wine varietal.

A total of 676 wine consumers from the Mid-Atlantic region in the USA were compared based on familiarity with Grüner Veltliner wine, variety-seeking (VARSEEK) scores and the likelihood of looking for and purchasing Pennsylvania Grüner Veltliner wine.

Although only a third of participants had some experience with Grüner Veltliner wine, 77% were “somewhat interested” to “very interested” in being able to sample and taste the wine, and 66%–67% were “somewhat likely” to “very likely” to look for and purchase the wine from both growing regions. Generation, wine consumption behavior and familiarity with Pennsylvania wine and Grüner Veltliner wine differed between participants based on purchase intent and VARSEEK scores (i.e. low VARSEEK/likely, high VARSEEK/unlikely). Differences in factors motivating Grüner Veltliner purchasing were also identified between low VARSEEK/likely and high VARSEEK/likely participants.

The paper presents evidence of potential demand for a signature wine from an emerging wine region. This provides direction for target marketing and related promotional strategy, along with identifying wine consumers interested in tasting and purchasing the wine.

Based on sociotechnical systems theory, social (human) and technological sub-systems in an organization should be taken in account when making strategic decisions and designed to fit the demands of the environment for organizational effectiveness. Yet there is very limited information in literature on whether employees are well equipped with indispensable (human) skills to prepare them combating challenges caused by advanced technology. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate employees’ human skills that are critical for success in the Age of Robots and Artificial Intelligence from human resource development’s perspective.

A questionnaire was developed for the purpose of this exploratory study. A total of 422 US Midwest employees were surveyed on their human skills level that are critical for success in the Industry 4.0 transformation.

In general, the respondents could perform all the measured human skills (which can be categorized into social skillset and decision-making skillset) more than adequate but may vary by education level and gender. To strengthen one’s human skills, organizations may begin with facilitating employees on relationship building to create a support system and a strong sense of belonging, which will promote their social sensitivity and collaboration skill development, as well as decision-making skillset.

The findings of this study can be used for techno-structural interventions and employee development programs. This study highlights the importance of investigating human skills to cope with the changing nature of work and make upskilling more feasible and flexible for workers to be robot-proof.

Earned value management systems (EVMS), also called integrated project and program management systems, have been greatly examined in the literature, which has typically focused on their technical aspects rather than social. This study aims to hypothesize that improving both the technical maturity of EVMS and the social environment elements of EVMS applications together will significantly impact project performance outcomes. For the first time, empirical evidence supports a strong relationship between EVMS maturity and environment.

Data was collected from 35 projects through four workshops, attended by 31 industry practitioners with an average of 19 years of EVMS experience. These experts, representing 23 organizations, provided over 2,800 data points on sociotechnical integration and performance outcomes, covering projects totaling $21.8 billion. Statistical analyses were performed to derive findings on the impact of technical maturity and social environment on project success.

The results show statistically significant differences in cost growth, compliance, meeting project objectives and business drivers and customer satisfaction, between projects with high EVMS maturity and environment and projects with poor EVMS maturity and environment. Moreover, the technical and social dimensions were found to be significantly correlated.

Key contributions include a novel and tested performance-driven framework to support integrated project management using EVMS. The adoption of this detailed assessment framework by government and industry is driving a paradigm shift in project management of some of the largest and most complex projects in the U.S.; specifically transitioning from a project assessment based upon a binary approach for EVMS technical maturity (i.e. compliant/noncompliant to standards) to a wide-ranging scale (i.e. 0–1,000) across two dimensions.

There is growing recognition that effective project control systems (PCS) are critical to the success of projects. The relationship between the individual elements of PCS and successfully achieving project objectives has yet to be explored. This research investigates the enablers and barriers that influence the elements of PCS success and drive project objectives.

This study adopts a mixed approach of descriptive analysis and regression models to explore the impact of six PCS elements on project outcomes. Petroleum and chemical projects in Saudi Arabia were selected as a case study to validate the research model.

Data from a survey of 400 project managers in Saudi’s petroleum and chemical industry reveal that successful PCS are the key to achieving all project outcomes, but they are particularly critical for meeting project cost objectives. Project Governance was identified as the most important of the six PCS elements for meeting project objectives. A lack of standard processes emerged as the most significant barrier to achieving effective project governance, while having skilled and experienced project team members was the most significant enabler for implementing earned value.

The study offers a direction for implementing and developing PCS as a strategic tool and focuses on the PCS elements that can improve project outcomes.

This research contributes to project management knowledge and differs from previous attempts in two ways. Firstly, it investigates the elements of PCS that are critical to achieving project scope, schedule and cost objectives; secondly, enablers and barriers of PCS success are examined to see how they influence each element independently.

Based on the intellectual capital (IC) theory and the resource-based view (RBV), the paper seeks to elucidate the direct and indirect relationships between IC and competitive advantage in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Therewithal, besides examining the mediating role of innovation capabilities in the IC-competitiveness link, it scrutinizes the moderating effect of entrepreneurial orientation in causing IC to boost competitiveness in SMEs through flourishing innovation capabilities.

Data were collected from 206 participants working in SMEs operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the help of a structured questionnaire distributed through LinkedIn. Partial least square (PLS)-based structural equation modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS 4.0 has been performed to calibrate the auxiliary and structural models.

Based on the empirical analysis, IC significantly and directly enhances the competitive advantages of SMEs. Additionally, innovative capability has been found to be a complementary partial mediating condition in enabling IC to foster competitiveness in SMEs. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis reveals that innovation capabilities strongly mediate the association between IC and competitiveness in SMEs, characterizing higher entrepreneurial orientation.

The study provides significant insights to academicians and practitioners seeking to comprehend or configure interactions among IC, innovation capabilities, and entrepreneurial orientation in maturing competitiveness among SMEs, especially in emerging economies. Furthermore, the study provides a valuable integrative perspective on SMEs’ competitiveness by involving three voguish constituents of contemporary scholarly discourse grounded into the leading underpinning theoretical perspectives, such as IC theory, RBV, and entrepreneurship theory.

The uniqueness of this model lies in its rich theory-laden conceptualization and explanation that could extend theoretical debate and managerial action to the next levels.

This study aims to assess the extent to which Uganda university libraries have implemented digital transformation technologies and to determine the facilitators and barriers affecting the implementation of digital transformation in selected university libraries in Uganda.

This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design. It was conducted in six selected university libraries in Uganda, which were in three private and three public universities. The study sample included 103 librarians with a minimum qualification of a bachelor’s degree and six library directors.

The findings indicated that there was an average (n = 37, 48.7%) implementation of digital transformation in the selected university libraries in Uganda. Some of the barriers hindering digital transformation included inadequate funding, lack of awareness of digital technologies, inadequate ICT skills, insufficient ICT infrastructure and limited staff among others. There is a need for library management to provide support in the form of funds, policies and human resources to implement such digital transformation.

The criteria for choosing universities were those that have been around for at least 10 years. The reason for this was that it was assumed that these universities would have well-established staff development programmes and procedures as well as be likely to have incorporated technology into their services, including libraries. This study’s limitations stem from the fact that this criterion for selection might not apply to all Ugandan university libraries, particularly those that are less than 10 years old and may not have been well represented in this study.

The magnitude of the problem of digital transformation in university libraries in Uganda is unclear because of the limited research available in the Uganda library and information science field. This study presents the status of digital transformation in Uganda university libraries.

This paper conceptualises how managers psychologically experience and respond to crises via metaphor analysis.

This paper uses a discourse dynamics approach to metaphor analysis. Conceptual metaphors were analysed and developed into concept maps through 37 semi-structured interviews with senior managers from different portfolios within 16 public universities in South Africa after #FeesMustFall protests.

Five domains emerged, including (1) looming crisis, (2) crisis onset, (3) crisis triage and containment, (4) (not) taking action and (5) post-crisis reflection. These domains shape a framework for the crisis adaptation cycle.

This study suggests that organisations should pay more attention to understanding emotions in crises and can use the adaptation model to develop their managers. It shows how metaphors can help explain affective and cognitive experiences and how emotions shift and evolve during a crisis. Managers should be aware of early signs of the crisis and its potential impact on their business operation in the looming and recognition stages, analyse the situation and work collectively on possible actions to minimise losses and maximise gains.

This is a rare investigation into the emotions of senior managers in the public sector in a social movement and national crisis via unconventional research methods to advance cognitive appraisal theory in crisis management.