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Job characteristics can potentially influence employees’ attitudes and behaviors. However, their impact on employees’ innovative behaviors, particularly in public sector organizations, has received little scholarly attention. Based on relational job design theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study aims to examine the effect of job contact on public sector employees’ innovative work behavior through the mediator of happiness at work. It also assesses whether prosocial motivation strengthens the influence of job contact on innovative work behavior (via happiness at work).

The model was examined on a sample of 180 employee-supervisor dyads (90 supervisors and 180 employees) recruited from various government departments in the United Arab Emirates.

The findings support the proposed moderated mediation model in which job contact positively and significantly impacts innovative work behavior. The association between job contact and innovative behavior via happiness at work is found to be stronger for employees who are highly prosocially motivated.

The findings offer prescriptive insights into public sector employee happiness and prosocial motivation by illustrating when and how job contact influences innovative work behavior. The authors also present relevant managerial recommendations for promoting public sector employees’ innovative behavior.

Based on the self-evaluation maintenance model and social comparison theory, the purpose of this study is to test a novel model to explore the influence of competitive psychological climate on knowledge withholding of employees with the mediating role of envy. This study also investigated when the effect of climate on envy is more pronounced by assessing the role of a narcissistic personality.

The authors collected time-lagged data from 376 employees working in UAE national banks to test the model.

The findings of this study showed that a competitive psychological climate indirectly affects knowledge withholding behaviour because such a climate enhances the emotional response of employee envy. In a competitive climate, upward social comparisons are likely to be heightened, resulting in employee envy and knowledge withholding because knowledge is used as leverage to gain self-control and self-worth in the organisation. This effect of such a climate on employee envy was found to be stronger when employees have a narcissistic personality.

The findings offer practical insights to managers and practitioners on the importance of managing the competitive climate cautiously to address the likelihood of knowledge withholding behaviour among employees at work.

This study empirically investigates the impact of organizational structure (specifically centralization) on the occurrence of the passive leadership. The authors also examine the mediating role of autonomy frustrations and the moderating effect of turnover intentions in these relationships.

Using structural equation modelling as well as PROCESS macro (version 3.5), the research model is analysed based on a sample of 133 employee–supervisor dyads in various public sector organizations in Dubai.

Contrary to the study hypothesis and assumption, the results demonstrate that centralization has no significant direct effect on the occurrence of passive leadership; however, this effect found to be significant only via the mediating of autonomy frustrations (fully mediator). This influence is strengthening when a supervisor has the intentions to leave his/her organizations.

These findings point on how and why centralization can lead to occurrence of passive leadership.

Although the development of public organisations and the continual enhancement of public services depend on the creative behaviour of public employees, it is uncertain from earlier studies how and when inclusive leadership (IL) affects innovative behaviours (IB). This study aims to resolve the inconsistency in the literature by applying social exchange theory to examine the effect of inclusive leadership on employees’ innovative behaviour, while also examining the mediating role of work engagement and the moderating effect of psychological safety within this relationship.

The research model’s analysis draws from a data set of 200 employee–supervisor dyads. Data was collected from employees across diverse public sector organisations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The results demonstrate that IL indirectly (via WE) and directly has a positive influence on employees’ IBs. This influence is enhanced when employees feel safe and do not have to be concerned about negative consequences.

Our study highlights a less-explored sector, unveiling the motivations behind IB among public sector employees. Moreover, this study provides valuable insights within a non-Western context, offering a unique perspective on the intricate relationship between IL, PS, employee engagement and IBs in the UAE public sector.

Although the innovative behaviour of public employees is critical for the creation of public value and meeting of public interests, the authors are uncertain about the role of the human resource (HR) system in affecting individual behaviour as past studies tended to discuss innovation at the organisational level of analysis. Based on corporate human resource management (HRM) literature, the authors draw from the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) model to examine the influence of innovation-based HR practices on work-related risk propensity and innovative behaviour and the moderating role of perceived error tolerance of public sector organisations.

Dyadic data were collected from supervisors and their subordinates in various public sector organisations in the UAE. The authors collected valid responses from 100 managers and 200 employees.

This study's findings demonstrate that the HR system in the public sector shapes employees' behaviour at the individual level of analysis, consistent with the corporate HRM literature. The authors reveal that innovation-based HR practices significantly promote employees' innovative work behaviour because they trigger their inclination and disposition to take risks. Furthermore, the authors provide evidence that such risk-taking propensity at work is heightened under the conditions of a high level of error tolerance by the organisational management.

This study's findings point out the importance of implementing innovation-based HR practices, such as recruitment, reward and training, to drive public sector employees' innovative work behaviour as they could galvanise their risk-taking propensity and, subsequently, innovative behaviour. Public sector managers also need to develop an innovation culture tolerant toward employees' mistakes to further foster employees' work innovativeness. Policy wise, this study's findings could be integrated into the national innovation strategy to drive the national growth in the UAE.

This study sheds light on the drivers behind innovative behaviour among public employees, which is a less researched area, especially in a non-Western context.

Ostracism is a common challenge in the workplace, but little is known about the behaviours of those who trigger it. The authors examined how leader favouritism can drive coworkers to ostracise one another, given that leadership is a key factor in shaping employee attitudes and behaviour. Invoking social comparison theory, the authors assessed a model of how perceived favouritism affects ostracism through jealousy, moderated by organisation-based self-esteem (OBSE).

The authors surveyed 294 non-managerial employees from several service organisations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and analysed the data with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 3 software.

Unexpectedly, leader favouritism did not directly affect ostracism but only indirectly through the mediation of jealousy. OBSE was found to moderate this relationship, suggesting that higher levels of OBSE can weaken the impact of leader favouritism on employee jealousy.

These findings explain the intricate dynamics and underlying reasons as to how leader favouritism can instigate employee-to-employee ostracism.

Prosocial job characteristics have received the least scholarly attention among the antecedents of employee innovative work behavior (IWB). Hence, antecedents' role remains largely unknown, especially in public sector organizations. Based on the relational job design theory, job characteristics theory (JCT) and public sector innovation literature, the authors examine whether job impact (JI) promotes public sector employees' IWB mediated by work meaningfulness (WM). This study also assesses whether servant leadership (SL) strengthens the influence of JI on IWB (via WM).

The model was examined on a sample of 180 employee-supervisor dyads (90 supervisors and 180 employees) recruited from various government departments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The finding supports the proposed moderated mediation model in which JI enhances IWB. The association between JI and innovative behavior via WM is found to be stronger under high SL behavior.

The authors' findings offer prescriptive insights into SL's crucial role in illustrating when and how JI promotes IWB and offer relevant managerial recommendations for encouraging public sector employees to demonstrate innovative behavior. The authors also provide empirical evidence on the significant contribution of a prosocial job characteristic, i.e. JI, to IWB. In addition to having theoretical and practical significance, the authors' study is aligned with the UAE National Innovation Strategy 2015.

This study expands on research related to the dark side of personality traits by examining how individual dark personality affects proactive work behaviours. Specifically, the authors consider paranoia as a dark personality trait and propose that it negatively relates to perceived psychological safety and indirectly affects frontline employees' (FLEs) willingness to report customer complaints as well as their extra-role customer service. The authors also posit that empathetic leadership is a focal, contextual factor that mitigates the impact of paranoia on perceived psychological safety and, consequently, the willingness to report customer complaints and engage in extra-role customer service behaviour.

The model was tested on a sample of 252 FLEs using process macro (Hayes, 2017) and AMOS. Data were collected from FLEs working in different hospitality organisations using a time-lagged design; supervisor-rated employee extra-role customer service was also measured.

The authors found that FLEs with a paranoid personality trait had a lesser sense of psychological safety at work, which reduced their willingness to engage in proactive work behaviours. However, this negative effect was mitigated by the presence of an empathetic leader.

The results are important because research has yet to determine which actions managers should take to counter the negative effects of dark personalities in the workplace.

This study aims to build on the trait activation and interactionist perspective theories to investigate the effect of frontline employees’ (FLEs) willingness to take risks on hotel guest loyalty by assessing the mediating role of their innovative behaviors. It also examines whether decentralization strengthens the positive impact of willingness to take risks on innovative behavior and, subsequently, customer loyalty.

The authors collected multilevel data from various sources – hotel FLEs (n = 183), hotel operation managers (n = 46) and hotel guests/customers (n = 266) – from five-star hotels operating in Dubai. Structural equation modeling and PROCESS macro (version 3.5) were used to analyze the data.

The findings showed that willingness to take risks indirectly (via innovative behaviors) affects guest/customer loyalty positively. This effect is strengthened when the hotel is decentralized.

This study provides insight into how hotel managers can foster customer loyalty. More specifically, they can do so by establishing employees’ innovative behaviors triggered by employees’ positive personality traits and by giving employees more autonomy.

The present study addresses recent calls to investigate the positive impact of FLEs’ personality traits, attitudes and behaviors on customer loyalty.

The literature on workplace ostracism lacks the integration of the antecedents and consequences of ostracism in a single study, hindering a holistic picture of how perceived workplace ostracism (PWO) emerges and subsequently hampering theoretical development and practical intervention. Based on this critical gap, we examine the effect of person-organization unfit and interpersonal distrust as potential antecedents of PWO, which we propose to affect employee silence. Furthermore, we highlight PWO as a mediator linking interpersonal distrust and person-organization unfit to employee silence. In addition, we further investigate the boundary condition of ethical leadership to address when the effect of PWO on employee silence can be potentially mitigated.

Survey data were collected from 242 service industry employees in the United Arab Emirates, and analyzed using PLS-SEM.

Both person-organization unfit and interpersonal distrust lead to PWO, increasing employee silence. Feeling ostracized serves as a mediator, linking interpersonal distrust and person-organization unfit to employee silence. Ethical leadership moderates this, reducing the ostracism’s impact on silence, showcasing its value in mitigating harmful workplace dynamics.

The study is useful for organizations and managers as it illustrates the causes and consequence of PWO and provides practical solutions.

This study is one of the scarce endeavors to holistically investigate workplace ostracism by testing its antecedents and consequence in a single model. Furthermore, it explores person-organization unfit as a novel antecedent of PWO.