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Viewed in the context of liberalization, privatization and globalization, the socio-economic and legal environment facing the unions have changed, throwing them into clutches of adversity and destitution. The purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons (i.e. antecedents) behind workers’ participation in union activities (such as strikes, rallies, demonstrations) in today’s scenario, and to understand how these participation tactics influence workers’ performance (i.e. worker behavior effectiveness) at work.

A range of published sources is drawn on, including quantitative, survey based and qualitative, case-study and other evidence for building the conceptual review.

The investigation clearly indicates that contemporary challenges facing unions in the present scenario prompt industrial actions. Only specific and genuine grievances and justifiable demands motivate workers to form a strong emotional attachment to their unions and engage in union participation activities such as strike activity (Darlington, 2006; Bean and Stoney, 1986).

Contrary to the traditional view, which sights unions as detrimental to worker productivity, turnover, and attendance at work (via restrictive work rules, featherbedding and disruptive strikes or other adversarial tactics), the investigation, through extensive review of literature proposes that unions positively influence worker behavior at work. The model, however, requires empirical testing to validate the proposed relationships.

Unions and organizations interests are often seen to be in competition. However, union-voice hypothesis suggests that unions can provide a distinctive mechanism to lower organizational costs by reducing exit behavior, absence from work and conflict levels at work. This study aims to look at union participation as a form of voice which is affected by a number of antecedents and in turn has an effect upon the workers performance (i.e. worker behavior effectiveness [WBE]) in an organization.

The study draws on data from 340 permanent labors working in 19 manufacturing units across different regions of India to explore both the antecedents and outcomes of union participation. Hypotheses are tested using mediation analysis.

Results indicate statistically significant relationships between union participation, its antecedents and WBE, with union participation partially influencing the relationship between the constructs.

Uniqueness of the study lies in its findings which report positive relationship among union participation, its antecedents and behavior effectiveness. Contrary to the traditional belief that unions are detrimental to the health of any organization, the study suggests that workers decision to join and participate in unions should be viewed positively because only if a person is willing to stay with the organization, he/she seeks to resolve the issues/problems through collective mechanism of union participation and which in turn leads to enhanced performance, reduced absenteeism at the workplace.

The purpose of this study is to develop innovations in human resource (InHR) framework in the context of Indian banking industry and further develop a scale for its measurement.

A non-response bias test is conducted on a sample of 300 employees, and the assumptions of constant variance, outliers and normality are tested. Further, the InHR scale is validated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tests.

EFA confirms the existence of five empirically distinct constructs at banking industry in India, and CFA affirms the dependability of the arrived constructs. It is concluded that the InHR framework constructs possess high reliability and validity.

The authors duly recognize the limitations of survey-based research, the exploratory research design and the use of single method.

The proposed InHR scale and its constructs are an important input to guide managers and human resources (HR) policymakers to devise strategies for the Indian banking industry. Banks can also benchmark existing HR policies by applying the proposed InHR framework constructs.

The InHR constructs provide academicians and practitioners with a better approach of understanding the InHR practices.

Despite the significance of Indian banking industry for the socio-economic capital, academic research focusing on this industry’s innovative practices has been limited. This study reveals originality and value by proposing an InHR framework in the context of Indian banking industry which integrates all the major innovative practices. Further a scale has been developed for its measurement.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the antecedents of employability from the employer’s perspective to provide sustainable employment and to develop a measurement scale.

In the study, the survey-based approach has been adopted. The authors developed an instrument following extensive literature review and further pre-tested the instrument with experts drawn from the academics. The data collection was monitored following Dillman’s (2007) total design test method. Finally, 114 usable responses were collected. The data were further tested for normal assumptions. Orthogonal and parsimonious constructs were derived following exploratory factor analysis, and the construct validity was checked using confirmatory factor analysis.

The following antecedents of employability were obtained: innovative skills and innovative abilities along with the knowledge, innovative abilities, personality factors, career-building traits, emotional intelligence and efficacy beliefs.

The authors observed that the present study like other survey-based research has its own limitations. Currently, cross-sectional data were used, which inherit some serious limitations like endogeneity and common method bias. However, utmost care was taken to minimize the effects of endogeneity and common method bias using some suggested measures in the existing literature.

The findings and conclusions are expected to aid students, academicians and practitioners in developing an understanding of employability. Moreover, these antecedents can be developed in graduates along with their higher education as per the requirements of the industry.

This paper is an attempt to develop a scale for measurement of employability in the education sector.

Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is a promising technology, which seems to be the prospective substitute for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). It is a high speed, high density and low power paradigm producing efficient circuits. These days, most of the smart devices used for computing, make use of random access memory (RAM). To enhance the performance of a RAM cell, researchers are putting effort to minimize its area and access time. Multilayer structures in QCA framework are area efficient, fast and immune to the random interference. Unlike CMOS, QCA multilayer architectures can be designed using active components on different layers. Thus, using multilayer topology in the design of a RAM cell, which is not yet reported in the literature can improve the performance of RAM and hence, the computing device. This paper aims to present the modular design of RAM cell with multilayer structures in the QCA framework. The fundamental modules such as XOR gate, 2:1 multiplexer and D latch are proposed here using multilayer formations with the goal of designing a RAM cell with the provision of read, write, set and reset control.

All the modules used to design a RAM cell are designed using multilayer approach in QCA framework.

The proposed multilayer RAM cell is optimized and has shown an improvement of 20% in cell count, 30% in area, 25% in area latency product and 48.8% in cost function over the other efficient RAM designs with set/reset ability reported earlier. The proposed RAM cell is further analyzed for the fault tolerance and power dissipation.

Due to the multilayer structure, the complexity of the circuit enhances which can be eliminated using simple architectures.

The performance metrics and results obtained establish that the multilayer approach can be implemented in the QCA circuit to produce area efficient and optimized sequential circuits such as a latch, flip flop and memory cells.

The authors have attempted to understand how big data and predictive analytics (BDPA) can help retain employees in the organization.

This study is grounded in the positivism philosophy. The authors have used a resource-based view (RBV) to develop their research hypotheses. The authors tested their research hypotheses using primary data gathered using a single-informant questionnaire. The authors obtained 254 usable responses. The authors performed the assumptions test, performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the validity of the proposed theoretical model, and further tested their research hypotheses using hierarchical regression analysis.

The statistical result suggests that the various human resource management strategies play a significant role in improving retention under the mediating effect of the BDPA.

The authors have grounded their study in the positivism philosophy. Moreover, the authors tested their hypotheses using single-informant cross-sectional data. Hence, the authors cannot ignore the effects of the common method bias on their research findings. Moreover, the research findings are based on a particular setting. Thus, the authors caution the readers that their findings must be examined in the light of their study limitations.

The study provided empirical findings based on survey data. Hence, the authors provide numerous guidelines to the practitioners that how the organization can invest in creating BDPA that helps analyze complex data to extract meaningful and relevant information. This information related to employee turnaround may guide top management to reduce the dissatisfaction level among the employees working in high-stress environments resulting from a high degree of uncertainty.

The study helps understand the complex factors that affect the morale of the employee. In the high-paced environment, the employees are often exposed to various negative forces that affect their morale which further affect their productivity. Due to lack of awareness and adequate information, most of the employees and their issues are not dealt with effectively and efficiently by their line managers. Thus, the BDPA can help tackle the most complex problem of society in a significant way.

This study offers some useful contributions to the literature which attempts to unfold the complex nexus between human resource management, information management and strategy. The study contributes to the BDPA literature and how it helps in the retention of employees is one of the areas which still remains elusive to the academic community. Moreover, the managers are still skeptical about the application of BDPA in understanding human-related issues due to a lack of understanding of how and to what extent the employee-related information can be stored and processed. This study’s findings further open the new avenues of research that need to be tackled.

This paper aims to identify changes in individual investors’ preferences, prominent sentiments in the market, behavioural tendencies and biases demonstrated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the study is exploratory social research, the design is also structured as such. In total, 69 Securities and Exchange Board of India-registered investment advisors catering to investors of diverse profiles, experiences and locales are engaged through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The responses are categorised thematically using a data structure model.

Investors are guided by an inclination for safer and liquid asset classes and prefer fixed income securities. The authors observe various emotional reactions – inexperienced investors panic, experienced investors act maturely, while a few of both naïve and sophisticated investors are opportunistic contrarians. Lower valuations, ease of access to digital infrastructure for trading and social norms attract many first-time individual investors, causing a phenomenon identified as the “new investor boom”. Apart from the biases identified during the financial crisis, the authors also detect evidence of cognitive dissonance, bandwagon effect, fear-of-missing-out syndrome, disposition effect and others.

The paper also discusses some noticeable behavioural tendencies displayed by the individual investors and compiles helpful strategies to successfully navigate any such financial crisis.

An individual investor is a least aware and most affected stakeholder in any crisis, so this study contributes newer insights to ensure their financial well-being.

The study’s originality lies in adopting a qualitative methodology that uses investment advisors’ professional experience to unveil the sub-structures of investor psychology and decision-making behaviour during COVID-19.

The purpose of this study is to identify the antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions of young women in India because currently Indian Government is emphasizing heavily on women’s participation in the mainstream of economic activities in the country. This study focuses on entrepreneurial intentions as the most important stage of entrepreneurship process. Based on the theory of planned behavior, propounded by Ajzen (1991), it points out intentions as the most significant predictor of human behavior.¤

This paper uses multi-method analysis for validation of the model proposed by Linan. In Study 1, an adapted version of Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ) (Linan and Chen, 2009) was administered to a group of 248 female students studying in under-graduate science, commerce, arts or management courses, who voluntarily participated in the survey. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using partial least square (PLS) path-modeling algorithm. In Study 2, qualitative study was conducted on 110 young female students using focus group interview technique. Framework analysis was used for the data analysis of the qualitative study.

This study confirms the role of social valuation as an important antecedent of entrepreneurial intentions among women. However, it also identifies that entrepreneurship education is also an important element that affects the entrepreneurial intentions of young women in India.

The study uses multi-method analysis for identifying entrepreneurial intentions among young women in India.

The purpose of this paper is to seek to propose that spiritual traditions of India have enormous wisdom to provide a wholesome spiritual foundation to the modern day management. It can also play a significant role in facilitating the dimensions of workplace spirituality as conceptualized by the western counterparts. The paper does not intend to reinvent the wheel but to present an integrated framework for facilitating workplace spirituality that incorporates the western and the Indian views.

For this study, the authors maintained an open approach. The authors first reviewed the extant literature on workplace spirituality to explore its dimensions. Thereafter, the authors searched for Indian spiritual traditions that can be suggested to have some similarity with the dimensions of workplace spirituality and can further help in facilitating those dimensions at the workplace.

The paper presents an integrated framework that suggests that doctrine of Karma Yoga, tradition of Loksangrah, Guna theory, daivi sampat and Pancha Kosha model can help in facilitating the five dimensions of workplace spirituality specified in the study.

The study proposes five dimensions of workplace spirituality which is not an exhaustive list. These dimensions may be facilitated by a variety of Indian spiritual traditions but this study includes only five specific Indian traditions.

The authors have creatively integrated the eastern and the western knowledge to come up with a framework that enriches the concept of workplace spirituality facilitation.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the problem of “Rape” in India from multiple perspectives and recommend measures for mitigating this crime from the country. Using the much highlighted incident of gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi, India on 16 December 2012, the paper analyses the behaviour of the various parties involved in the case with the help of some sociological and psychological theories.

A structured investigation through the technique of root cause analysis was applied to the gang rape case of 16 December 2012 to identify the true cause of the problem of rape and suggest the actions necessary to eliminate such reoccurrences in future.

The analysis of the problem of rape in general and the gang rape case in particular presented numerous causes for this problem. Considering the complexity of question the authors have presented a multi-dimensional response to this problem.

Due to the sensitive nature of subject matter under study this research paper is limited by use of secondary data to conduct root cause analysis.

Despite the fact that rape is regarded heinous and criminal in nature, the number and the level of inhumanity of this crime has been on a rise. Therefore, the subject matter is very important and topical. The paper makes theoretical and practical contribution on a least researched subject of crime against women in the form of rape. Many benefits could accrue from such multi-dimensional analysis of the rape case. A better understanding of the motivation behind the rape would probably result in taking measures to prevent the problem.

Though multifarious views exist regarding rape and allied crimes, the studies are dispersed in nature and need a holistic integration to delve deeper into the causes and consequents of rape. This paper not only integrates diverse perspectives but also explores the multi-dimensional causes of the phenomenon of rape.