Search results

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the underlying mechanism through which firms can achieve supply chain agility and augment business performance from the vendor’s perspective.

Drawing on dynamic capability view and contingency theory, the study conceptualizes a moderated mediation model to investigate the underlying influence of process integration (PI), supply flexibility and product-related complexity on supply chain agility and the subsequent effect of supply chain agility on firm’s business performance. Survey data from a sample of 148 firms, in the garment manufacturing industry, in Pakistan were analyzed using partial least square methods.

The results revealed that supply flexibility (i.e. volume and mix) mediates the effect of PI on supply chain agility. Supply chain agility, in turn, influences a firm’s business performance. Furthermore, the competence‒capability framework is not consistent across the varying degrees of product complexity such as product complexity hinders the effect of supply flexibility on supply chain agility, whereas it amplifies the impact of PI on supply chain agility. The conditional indirect effects suggest that the indirect effect of PI on supply chain agility through supply flexibility becomes stronger when product complexity is high.

The study is novel in the context of an emerging economy to educate fashion vendors to tune their competencies and capabilities to regain the market share in the global market place.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of data-driven capabilities on supply chain integration (SCI) and competitive performance of firms in the food and beverages (F & B) industry in Pakistan.

The authors adopt the structural equation modeling approach to test the proposed hypotheses using AMOS 23. Survey data were collected from 240 firms in the F & B industry in Pakistan.

The results revealed that SCI (i.e. internal integration (II) and external integration (EI)) significantly mediates the effect of data-driven capabilities (i.e. flexible information technology resources and data assimilation) on a firm’s competitive performance. In addition to the direct effects, II also has an indirect effect on competitive performance through EI.

The study has several implications for managers in the context of big data application in food supply chain management (FSCM) in a developing country context. The study posits that firms can achieve excellence in performance by governing data-driven supply chain operations. The study also has implications for distributors and importers in the F & B industry. The cloud-based sharing of data can improve the operational performance of channel members while reducing their overall cost of operations. In practice, food franchises largely get the advantage of shared resources of their suppliers in managing orders, payments, inventory and after-sales services.

The study is novel and deepens the understanding about the use of big data in FSCM keeping in view the industry trends and stakeholder’s priorities in a developing country context.

This study aims to investigate the hierarchical relationship between industry-specific attributes of supply chain (SC) strategies and information technology (IT) to improve the performance of firms in textile industry in Pakistan.

This study presents a mix of enablers through literature review and experts’ opinions. Next, the driving and dependence powers of enablers were identified, using the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach.

The ISM model suggests eight levels, with customer satisfaction at the top of the model. Process automation and TQM are placed at second and third level, respectively, whereas flexible sourcing and flexible capacity are positioned at fourth level. The key enablers of IT have high driving power, hence positioned at the bottom of ISM model.

This study has value for firms in garment manufacturing and exporting industry to invest into IT and sustainable SC design for competitive performance. The theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

This study aimed to develop a moderated mediation model to explain the relationship between perceived organizational justice and the counterproductive work behavior (CWB) of Chinese public servants. In this model, the authors assumed that job burnout mediates the relationship between perceived organizational justice and CWB and that moral identity moderates the relationship between job burnout and CWB.

A total of 210 public servants in China participated in this study, and their characteristics were measured by self-report tools. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to test the moderated mediation model.

Analysis of the data demonstrated that perceived organizational justice, job burnout and moral identity influenced CWB. Moral identity moderated the relationship between job burnout and CWB, such that individuals with low moral identity are more likely to engage in CWB. Moreover, job burnout mediated the effect of perceived organizational justice on CWB, and the mediating effect of job burnout was moderated by moral identity. The indirect effect of perceived organizational justice on CWB through job burnout was significant among individuals with low moral identity but not among individuals with high moral identity.

The findings highlight the self-regulatory function of moral identity in preventing CWB.

The study offers several significant suggestions to reduce CWB in Chinese public sector administration, such as by improving organizational justice perception, recruiting and selecting individuals with reference to their moral identity and monitoring employees’ job burnout regularly.

The authors developed and verified a moderated mediated model on the relationship between perceived organizational justice and CWB. The study revealed that job burnout has a mediating effect on the perceived organizational justice–CWB relation, providing important insights into the processes through which perceived organizational justice affects CWB.

Increased ethanol accumulation during ethanol fermentation generates stress in yeast cells, which finally reduces the fermentation performance and efficiency. Trehalose, a potential stress protectant, has been reported to regulate the response of yeast to diverse environmental stresses. This study aimed to explore how exogenous trehalose application affects the survival, transcriptome and antioxidant enzymes of Wickerhamomyces anomalus grown under ethanol stress conditions.

Exogenous trehalose was applied to the growth condition of W. anomalus, and optical densitometric method was used to detect contents of intracellular trehalose and MDA and activities of CAT and SOD. The survival was evaluated using spot analysis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified through transcriptomics analysis.

The results showed that ethanol stress induced the accumulation of intracellular trehalose, with further exogenous trehalose application improving the survival and alleviating oxidative stress in ethanol-stressed W. anomalus. Transcriptomic results showed that trehalose has pleiotropic regulating effects on ethanol-stressed W. anomalus since most DEGs annotated to energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, translation, folding, sorting and transport were affected post trehalose addition. Therefore, it is found that trehalose protected W. anomalus against ethanol stress, and these findings provide interesting insights into the mechanistic role of trehalose in improving ethanol stress tolerance of W. anomalus.

(1) Protective effect of exogenous trehalose addition on the survival of ethanol-stressed W. anomalus was proved. (2) Exogenous trehalose addition could partly alleviate oxidative stress induced by ethanol stress and affect transcriptome in W. anomalus.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the fermentative properties of a strain of indigenous Wickerhamomyces anomalus (W. anomalus) from Rosa roxburghii Tratt (R. roxburghii).

Morphological and molecular methods were used to determine the species of the selected strain W. anomalus C11. The physiological tolerances to glucose, ethanol, citric acid and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) were further assessed by checking the growth of cells, and the oenological performances were proved to measure the related fermentative properties of R. roxburghii wines.

The W. anomalus C11 strain could be grown faster than commercial S. cerevisiae X16 in its logarithmic growth period and had preferable tolerances to glucose, ethanol, citric acid and SO₂. Moreover, this strain of native R. roxburghii yeast W. anomalus C11 produced less sulphuretted hydrogen and had a higher β-glucosidase activity. Furthermore, W. anomalus C11 could reduce the volatile acids, reduce the sourness and enhance volatile aroma richness and complexity of R. roxburghii wines including types of aroma and content thereof. Taken together, the R. roxburghii native yeast W. anomalus C11 may have potential for use in R. roxburghii winemaking.

(1) The fermentative properties of a strain of indigenous W. anomalus (named as C11) from R. roxburghii was evaluated. (2) The strain of W. anomalus C11 had preferable tolerances to glucose, ethanol, citric acid and SO₂. (3) This strain of native R. roxburghii yeast W. anomalus C11 produced less sulphuretted hydrogen and had a higher ß-glucosidase activity. (4) W. anomalus C11 could reduce the volatile acids, reduce the sourness and enhance volatile aroma richness and complexity of R. roxburghii wines including types of aroma and content thereof.

This research unpacks the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational injustice and their counterproductive work behaviour, by detailing a mediating role of organizational identification and a moderating role of discretionary human resource (HR) practices.

The hypotheses were tested with a sample of employees in Pakistan, collected over three, time-lagged waves.

An important reason that beliefs about unfair organizational treatment lead to enhanced counterproductive work behaviour is that employees identify less strongly with their employing organization. This mediating role of organizational identification is less salient, however, to the extent that employees can draw from high-quality, discretionary HR practices that promote their professional development and growth.

For management practitioners, this study pinpoints a key mechanism – the extent to which employees personally identify with their employer – by which beliefs about organizational favouritism can escalate into purposeful efforts to inflict harm on the organization and its members. It also reveals how this risk can be subdued by discretionary practices that actively support employees' careers.

This study adds to previous research by detailing why and when employees' frustrations about favouritism-based organizational decision making may backfire and elicit deviant responses that likely compromise their own organizational standing.

With a basis in social identity and equity theories, this study investigates the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational injustice and their knowledge hiding, along with the mediating role of organizational dis-identification and the potential moderating role of benevolence.

The hypotheses were tested with three-wave survey data collected from employees in Pakistani organizations.

The experience of organizational injustice enhances knowledge hiding because employees psychologically disconnect from their organization. This mediation by organizational dis-identification is buffered by benevolence or tolerance for inequity, which reduces employees' likelihood of reacting negatively to the unfavourable experience of injustice.

For practitioners, this study identifies organizational dis-identification as a key mechanism through which employees' perceptions of organizational injustice spur their propensity to conceal knowledge, and it reveals how this process might be mitigated by a sense of obligation to contribute or “give” to organizational well-being.

This study establishes a more complete understanding of the connection between employees' perceptions of organizational injustice and their knowledge hiding, with particular attention devoted to hitherto unspecified factors that explain or influence this process.

Humility as an important factor for leaders was identified by Collins (2001) and his colleagues in an extensive research project about the leadership qualities of the leaders of companies that transitioned from “good” to “great.” This paper is an empirical study of six factors closely associated with humility and leadership and the purpose of this paper is to identify how Chinese business students and Chinese employees perceive the importance of six factors associated with humility as enlightened leadership.

This paper summarizes recent research about humility and leadership and suggests seven hypotheses about the importance of six factors associated with humility as enlightened leadership.

This study confirms that Chinese respondents affirmed the value of all six factors and identified the statistical significance of three of the factors studied.

A limitation of this study is that it is exploratory in nature and contained many factors that made conducting factor analysis indeterminable. The practical implications of this study are that it provides confirming information about understanding the value system and priorities of Chinese employees and future workers when multi-national companies interact with Chinese partners.

This study provides valuable information about the six factors associated with humility as enlightened leadership. This study is the first of its kind that empirically tests Chinese attitudes associated with humility and leadership.

Using the theoretical lens of appraisal theory, this research aims to investigate the interrelationship between employees' organizational justice perceptions and counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) through the mediation of negative emotions.

To this end, a sample comprised of 207 banking sector employees of Pakistan was utilized to test hypothesized relationships. The collected data were analyzed through the partial least structural equation modelling technique.

Results show that counterwork behaviours are influenced by distributive and procedural justice perceptions. The mediating effects of negative emotions were also statistically significant between procedural, interpersonal and informational justice perceptions and counterwork behaviours. No gender differences were found between distributive, interpersonal and informational justice perceptions and counterwork behaviours. However, the authors found that procedural justice perceptions of female employees are strongly related to CWBs as compared to male employees.

This research contributes to the existing organizational behaviour literature by empirically testing the hypothesized relationships using the theoretical lens of appraisal theory with advanced quantitative data analysis techniques.