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Financial management, strategic management.

The study can be used by business schools, companies/organizations, individuals, students of business management, in the area of financial and strategic management to study and analyse management strategies by a Government organization that has to balance social objectives and commercial viability.

Indian Railways (IR) is one of the world's largest employers and there was a significant improvement in its financial performance during the period 2004-2008 without any reductions in its workforce. The main reasons for the poor performance of IR prior to this period were attributed to severe competition from other modes of transport, rigid pricing, investment in un-remunerative projects and other such practices. Various recommendations, including restructuring/corporatizing, reorganization, increasing passenger fares, unbundling of non-core activities, downsizing, and outsourcing, had been suggested by various management experts and it was declared that only major reform could rescue IR. However, IR met the challenges and attained unprecedented growth in traffic and earnings through certain strategic decisions. The study analyzes the strategies adopted by IR to improve its poor financial performance.

These include: understanding the challenge of sustaining the current market growth and capturing additional traffic by IR with its peculiar product-mix (transport mix) and limited resources; understanding the main reason for the downtrend of IR finances; acquiring an understanding of the advantage of adopting a volume-focused strategy by IR instead of the existing tariff-focused policy of revenue generation; and understanding the turnaround phase of IR and innovative strategies to get back to the path of growth.

Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access.

Financial management, strategic management.

The study can be used by business schools, companies/organizations, individuals, students of business management, in the area of financial and strategic management to study and analyse management strategies by a Government organization that has to balance social objectives and commercial viability.

Indian Railways (IR) has mixed operations – passenger and freight – that generate resources for its development expenditure, as well as fully covering its operational costs. This is in sharp contrast to most world railways that depend on a subsidy for operations and development expenditure. While IR would strive to increase earnings through higher throughput levels and generate more funds through its own resources, the constraints of fixed expenditure, largely comprising staff related expenses and fuel costs make it difficult to achieve the target. Operational and safety considerations dictate the need to ensure adequate provision for working expenses. Global developments significantly influenced the Indian economy after 2008-2009 and resulted in moderation in growth compared with the robust growth in preceding years. IR is presently passing through a difficult phase which began with the slowdown in the economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations. While earnings continue to grow both in the passenger and goods segments, the expenditure on account of increases in salaries, allowances and pensions has been much higher than after previous Pay Commissions. This case explores this difficult period for IR when there was a major increase in operating expenditure largely due to the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission and because of the global economic slowdown.

These include: being able to analyse whether the turnaround phase of IR is over; and discussing the strategies to return IR to the path of growth.

Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access.

This article initially aims to explore the factors of every quality construct of the 5Qs model of service quality and, second, identify the significant factors affecting the total quality of e-healthcare services and its association with consumer satisfaction using a multidimensional hierarchical 5Qs model of e-healthcare service quality.

Questionnaire-oriented research was performed at three public hospitals of Punjab and Chandigarh. In total, 53 variables were covered in all quality constructs for data collection from the designated public hospitals. The respondents who agreed to have knowledge regarding e-Healthcare services and were availing these services were included in the study. The analysis comprised structural equation modeling technique using AMOS 21.

The outcomes suggest that the 5Qs model is more comprehensive and can be used to evaluate service quality perceptions using e-Healthcare services. The research identified 11 sub-dimensions for the five quality constructs of the 5Qs model, representing total quality, which is primary to consumer satisfaction. “Overall objectivity” and “technical objectivity” defined the quality of object. The quality of process of e-Healthcare services was characterized by “functionality,” “timeliness” and “responsiveness.” Quality of infrastructure was defined by “technical infrastructure,” “physical infrastructure,” “manpower skills” and “organizational infrastructure.” “Manner of interaction” and “timely interaction” defined the quality of interaction. The atmosphere was represented by only one factor. The results also suggest that quality of infrastructure, quality of interaction and quality of atmosphere play the most significant role in total quality leading to consumer satisfaction.

Theoretical implications: The multidimensional hierarchical model will help the researchers study the e-Healthcare service quality in a more organized manner, and the outcomes of this study can be linked with that of future studies for more generalized application in other public hospitals. The sub-dimensions of each quality construct of the 5Qs model can be applied in private hospitals, and the hierarchical model can be tested in different industries to measure service quality perceptions of the consumer

The outcomes of the study can be applied in various public sector hospitals to redesign the e-Healthcare services based on consumers' perception for better consumer satisfaction and quality services. This paper identifies the role of each quality construct in e-Healthcare services for improvement in the total quality, which in turn will lead to higher satisfaction for the consumers.

In this study, the original 5Qs model has been used for the first time in a new instrument to understand better and design quality e-Healthcare services. The paper explores the sub-factors of each quality construct and its significance in measuring the total quality.

This study aims to examine how career commitment (CC) affects hospitality employees perceived subjective career success (SCS) using a serial mediation system that uses career resilience (CR) behaviour and self-efficacy (SE) as serial mediators.

To examine the proposed relationships, a comprehensive theoretical serial mediation model was constructed. The proposed hypotheses were tested on a sample of 316 hospitality employees from India using regression analysis (Process Macro Model 6) with 5,000 bootstrapping at 95% confidence interval.

The regression analysis confirmed a strong, positive relationship between CC and SCS. It also highlighted a significant indirect effect, involving a serial mediation through CR and SE, demonstrating how CC influences SCS.

Drawing from three prominent theories – career self-determination theory (CSDT), career construction theory (CCT) and the contextual action theory of career development (CATCD), this research underscores the importance of fostering career-committed behaviour among employees and advocating for strategic career development initiatives. Understanding CC elements may help firms retain and encourage individuals, which can boost job satisfaction and performance. Importantly, the results advocate for the implementation of targeted career development strategies and the promotion of career-committed behaviour within hospitality organisations. This, in turn, fosters resilience and competence, ultimately contributing to individual career success and organisational excellence.

A serial mediation model with CR and SE introduces a fresh perspective that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has not been extensively explored in previous research examining the relationship between CC and SCS.

This study intends to investigate how an employee's proactive personality and a supervisor's idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) relate to their subordinates' affective commitment (AC) and occupational well-being (OWB), in light of the mediating role of subordinates' i-deals, using proactive motivation theory and the job demand–resource (JD-R) model as theoretical foundations.

The study consisted of 342 employees working in the hospitality industry. To examine the proposed model, the researchers used the structural equation modelling approach and bootstrapping method in AMOS.

The results affirmed the influence of subordinates' proactiveness on AC and OWB, but no direct influence of supervisors' prior i-deals on subordinates' AC and OWB was established. When investigating the mediational role of subordinates' i-deals, a partial mediation effect was found between subordinates' proactive personality with AC and OWB, whereas full mediation was established between supervisors' i-deals and subordinates' AC and OWB.

These findings shed light on how i-deals improve AC and OWB for both groups of supervisors and subordinates. In an era of increasing competition amongst organizations operating within the hospitality industry, i-deals serve as a human resource strategy to recruit, develop and retain talented individuals.

The novelty of this research lies in its specific investigation of the combined influence of proactive personality as an individual factor and supervisors' i-deals as an organizational factor on subordinates' i-deals within the context of the hospitality industry. Furthermore, it aims to analyse the potential impact of these factors on AC and OWB.

Use of technology for quality healthcare services has developed into a new field known as “e-Healthcare services.” Healthcare providers often judge their quality of services with consumer satisfaction. With e-Healthcare services, consumer satisfaction is influenced by the quality of healthcare services provided and the demographic characteristics. The purpose of the present case study is to recognize the important predictors of quality, which are significant for consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services by using Zineldin's 5Qs model. It also aims to find the strength of association among the predictors of consumer satisfaction and the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

A questionnaire-based study was conducted at a public (PGIMER, Chandigarh) and a private hospital (Fortis Hospital, Mohali) of Punjab, India, from February 2018 to March 2019. The structured, closed-ended questionnaire, to be marked on a 1–5 point Likert scale, was adapted from Zineldin's 5Qs model and was distributed to the respondents sitting in the waiting halls of the selected hospitals. The respondents comprised of both the patients and their attendants who were aware of e-Healthcare services and were using them.

The analysis identified quality of interaction, quality of hospital atmosphere and quality of object to be the key predictors of consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services. The results reveal a strong association between different demographic characteristics and overall consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services.

The results suggest that improvements in the quality of interaction, quality of hospital atmosphere and quality of object may result in higher consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services. Working on the identified dimensions of quality will help the e-Healthcare providers in identifying functional problems of e-Healthcare services and developing improvement strategies, which will also result in better health and quality outcomes. The results of this study will help the e-Healthcare providers in better segmentation of e-Healthcare consumers based on their demographic characteristics and in developing better marketing strategies.

This paper focuses on the quality of e-Healthcare services only and attempts to identify the quality dimensions, which leads to the satisfaction of e-Healthcare consumers. The identified quality dimensions will help in designing better e-Healthcare services and framing policies. It also highlights the association of demographic characteristics with important quality dimensions.

Taking an evidence from social exchange theory, this research examines the mediating role of affective commitment in the correlation between internal branding, employee engagement and job satisfaction. The moderating role of work environment on the link between internal branding and affective commitment is also studied in this research.

The data were collected by using well-structured research measures from 215 employees working in the BPO sector of India (Punjab and Chandigarh). The hypotheses were developed, and the conceptual model was validated by applying structural equation modeling. The data were analyzed by using two statistical packages, namely SPSS and AMOS.

The findings suggest that internal branding has a significant positive relationship with employee engagement, job satisfaction and affective commitment. The mediating effect of affective commitment on the relationship between internal branding and employee engagement was full, whereas on the relationship between internal branding and job satisfaction, it was partial. Work environment also moderated the relationship of internal branding with affective commitment.

The current study offers significant lessons to management thinkers, human resource (HR), organizational branding and marketing manager. However, BPO sector should be aware about the critical role played by internal branding to enhance affective commitment, employee engagement and job satisfaction of the employees. The role of affective commitment is also taken into account to study the effect of internal branding on employee engagement and employee's job satisfaction. For itself, internal branding cannot be considered as in isolation and is doubtful to be efficacious if the work environment is not encouraging to an employee as well as to the brand values.

This study offers significant lessons to management thinkers, HR, organizational branding and marketing manager. However, BPO sector should be aware about the critical role played by internal branding to enhance employee engagement, job satisfaction and affective commitment of the employees. An important role of affective commitment is also taken into account to study the effect of internal branding on employee engagement and employee's job satisfaction. For itself, internal branding cannot be considered as in isolation and is doubtful to be efficacious if employees are not provided an encouraging work environment.

Existing researches on internal branding are theoretical in nature and overlook the empirical impact of internal branding on employee engagement, job satisfaction and affective commitment from the BPO employees' perspective. The study also offers an empirical examination of potential mediator and moderator for internal branding.

This study aims to explore the different dimensions of e-healthcare ethics and their relationships, influencing the ethical concerns of the consumer in making ethical e-healthcare choices.

A study was conducted at two identified major hospitals of Punjab (a private hospital) and Chandigarh (a public hospital), India providing e-healthcare services with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. The respondents were identified from the waiting areas of the selected hospitals, and only those respondents were selected for the study, who agreed to be aware of e-health services and were using them for some time. The statistical analysis was done using the structural equation modeling technique and included both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS 20 and AMOS 21.

Exploratory factor analysis extracted five dimensions of ethical concerns of the consumer, which include service promotion, content quality, candor, professionalism and confidentiality. The results signify that content quality plays a significant role in ethics, followed by candor, service promotion and confidentiality. However, the relationship with professionalism did not prove to be significant for the ethical concerns of the e-health consumer.

This research delivers a practical significance in identifying the critical dimensions of the ethical concerns of the consumer while selecting e-health services. It gives an insight into the various dimensions, which should be considered by the e-health providers while crafting e-health services to make it more ethically acceptable by the consumers.

By using e-health services, consumers play an active role in their health-care decisions. The consumers need to consider ethics while choosing health-care services as an ethical judgment will also be the correct judgment. This study helps in the identification of the significant dimensions for the ethical concerns of the consumers.

Safety analysis has been done for thermal non-homogeneous thick-walled circular cylinder under internal and external pressure. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Transition theory based on the concept of generalized principal Lebesgue strain measure has been used which simplifies the constitutive equations by prescribing a priory the order of the measure of deformation and helps to achieve better agreement between the theoretical and experimental results.

From the analysis, the paper can conclude that by introducing a suitably chosen temperature gradient, non-homogeneous compressible circular cylinder with internal and external pressure for non-linear measure is on the safer side of the design as compared to the cylinder without temperature because circumferential stresses are less for cylinder with temperature as compared to cylinder without temperature.

Introduction of temperature gradient leads to the idea of “Stress Saving” and minimizing the possibility of fracture of cylinder.

The paper shows that circumferential stresses are less for cylinder with temperature gradient as compared to cylinder at constant temperature, which leads to the idea of “Stress Saving” and minimizing the possibility of fracture of cylinder.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between perceived organizational politics and three levels of antecedents (i.e. organizational, work environment and individual levels) and its consequents. It further aims to examine the relative importance of the three levels of antecedents in influencing employees’ POP. The study has been conducted at a central university in India.

A conceptual framework and a set of hypotheses were first developed on the basis of a review of previous studies of organizational politics (OP). A questionnaire was then developed, carrying 55 items related to eight constructs and the demographic characteristics of its respondents. Judgmental sampling was used to choose the university. The respondents were selected on the basis of convenience. Primary data were collected via a structured questionnaire from 45 faculty members at the university. The sample was made up of professors, associate professors and assistant professors from its various departments. To test the hypotheses, data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equations modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results have indicated that all the three levels of antecedents have significant impacts on POP. The antecedents of workforce diversity (the organizational level), relationship conflict (the work environment level) and a need for power (the individual level) have a significant positive impact on POP. No relationship was found between role conflict and POP. Of the three levels of antecedents, it was observed that the organizational level contributed most significantly to POP. Of the three consequences, the intention to turnover and job anxiety were found to be positively related to POP, while organizational commitment was negatively related to it.

The study provides managerial insights for both organizations and managers. Workforce diversity is a primary driver of POP and it is under the purview of organizations. Thus, to control the unfavorable consequences of POP, organizations must design effective policies to manage workforce diversity. Specifically, human resource processes must be formalized. Since human managers often make decisions in favor of those who are relatively homogeneous to them (homosocial reproduction), the distribution of resources and benefits is restricted to a few people only. Those who do not get their share of organizational resources perceive such acts of homosocial reproduction to be political. If policies are formalized, people have to take decisions within the boundaries of well-defined sets of rules and procedures. Those who are not homogeneous with decision-makers (the outgroup) should get a fair share of organizational resources in such a formalized environment. They neither need to play political games to gain power, nor will they perceive the organizational processes and environment to be political. It is also suggested that managers design effective development programs for enhancing the political skills of “outgroups” and minorities. This would help them to understand how to deal with political situations. Thus, the detrimental effects of employees’ political perceptions on work-related outcomes would be reduced.

Although a large number of studies on the antecedents and consequents of POP have been reported, the antecedents and consequences mentioned herein have never been examined previously by a single study. Four antecedents are introduced at three levels. Furthermore, in previous research, the relationships examined have treated OP either as a dependent variable or an independent variable. However, for this paper, the authors have provided a PLS-SEM-based model, which allows for simultaneous treatment of organizational politics as an independent variable in some relationships, and as a dependent variable in other relationships.