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Policymakers are developing government-level pandemic response strategies (GPRS) to assist architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) enterprises. However, the effectiveness of the GPRS has not been assessed. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the interrelationships between GPRS and AEC enterprises. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are to compare GPRS effectiveness between small-medium and large AEC enterprises, develop groupings to categorize interrelated GPRS and evaluate the effectiveness of the GPRS and interrelated constructs.

A systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with 40 AEC industry professionals were carried out, generating 22 GPRS. Then, questionnaire survey data was collected among AEC professionals. In total, 114 valid survey answers were received and analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis H test, normalized mean analysis, factor analysis and fuzzy synthetic evaluation.

Small-medium enterprises have four distinct critical GPRS: “form a special task force to provide support in maneuvering COVID-19,” “provide infrastructure investment budgets to local governments,” “develop employee assistance programs that fit all types of working groups” and “diversify existing supply chain.” Large enterprises have two distinct critical GPRS: “provide help in digitalizing existing construction projects” and “mandate COVID-19 as force majeure.” Eighteen GPRS can be categorized into the following five constructs: “market stability and financial aid,” “enterprise capability management,” “supply chain improvement,” “law and policy resources” and “information and workforce management.” The former two constructs are more effective than other GPRS constructs.

This is the first paper that evaluates the effectiveness of GPRS for AEC enterprises, providing new evidence to policymakers for well-informed decision-making in developing pandemic response strategies.

This paper examines how soft skills training for owner-managers affects the financial performance of exporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the authors examine the differential influence of specific owner-manager skills, such as “team working skills”, “technical skills” and “leadership skills”, on performance.

The paper utilises the Longitudinal Small Business Survey, which is a nationally representative employer dataset of UK SMEs with up to 249 employees, including those with no employees. The dataset contains information on firms' turnover, export status of goods or services and training provision for employees or owner-managers.

The results suggest that owner-manager's training has a positive effect on turnover in non-exporting firms. Moreover, a combination of soft and hard skills is associated with higher turnover in exporting firms. Amongst the specific skills of owner-managers, training on “team working” has the most significant impact on exporting SMEs' performance.

The authors' findings imply that managerial training to develop soft skills such as leadership, decision-making and communication is a worthwhile investment. The knowledge that owner-managers acquire through soft and hard skills training enables them to develop essential internationalisation competencies. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that teamwork is a significant predictor of performance.

The authors contribute to the literature by examining the role of owner-managers' training in shaping internal systems, structure, processes and internationalisation strategies, thus affecting SMEs performance. The authors' also provide a nuanced analysis of how various types of soft and hard skills underpin the successful implementation of internationalisation initiatives.

The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between person-organization fit (P-O fit), job satisfaction (JS), workplace spirituality (WS) and turnover intentions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the moderate role of WS in these relationships.

Research data were collected by cross-sectional data collection methods. The sample contains 242 employees of SMEs in Indonesia. The analytical method used to test research hypotheses is moderate regression analysis.

The results show that P-O fit is an antecedent that can reduce turnover intention. JS has a negative effect on turnover intention and WS has a negative effect on turnover intention. WS moderates the relationship between P-O fit and turnover intention and the relationship between JS and turnover intention.

This study enhances the understanding of the importance of WS in reducing employee turnover intentions. This research also contributes to the research model based on fit theory and social exchange theory.

The practical implication of this research is to improve P-O fit in employees. Managers can manage the right people for the environment and the right environment for the individual. In other words, the organization must choose both. The most basic way to create a P-O fit for employees is to recruit employees suitable to organizational goals because, in general, SMEs rarely have a written vision and mission.

Through the of spirituality in the workplace, employees will experience a sense of meaning and purpose in their work, foster a sense of unity through positive relationships and achieve alignment between personal and organizational values. Consequently, this will diminish the inclination to seek employment elsewhere.

Although turnover intention in employees is considered necessary, there is still minimal research that discusses turnover intention and WS in SMEs. To the authors' knowledge, no one has tested WS on the relationship between PO fit and JS with turnover intention in SMEs.

The paper explores the managerial perceptions in Indian apparel manufacturing firms related to production performance, challenges faced, causes of low efficiency and the government support needed.

A structured survey of Indian apparel manufacturing firms was undertaken in person and through the online mode; the questionnaire was designed to collect data on demographic profile of a firm using categorical questions and perceptions of its top managers using a five-point Likert scale.

The survey findings reveal that most apparel manufacturing firms believe that exporting promotes efficiency and adopt output orientation to production, which may not be suitable in a competitive and uncertain environment. Machines are not used much for value-addition and labour related issues are most pressing challenges. Government support is expected for several aspects such as power supply and skill development.

The paper is limited by the nature of the sampling method and sample size; perceptions should be explored without bias and with good judgement.

The survey findings suggest that government policy should have a firm-specific approach to support improved production performance along with generic policies to build infrastructure and logistical facilities.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, there has been no such exercise to study managerial perceptions related to production performance in Indian apparel manufacturing in the past decade.

The success of the organization depends on its sustainability and growth in the competitive market. Retention and attraction of talent in the organization are strongly associated with organizational performance. Employer branding is an outcome activity that helps organizations show their strength to attract and retain talent. Talent management practices are mostly essential in the current context for retaining talent. This study aims to explore and identify the contributing factors in efficient talent management and to examine whether the factors contributing to employer branding differ concerning different demographic profiles of the employees for information technology organizations.

Data were collected from 617 adult participants using an 85-item questionnaire on talent management comprising 25 domains, developed for the present study.

Principal component analysis of the data indicated that 20 different factors make an impact in developing strong talent management practices. Three broad areas were identified, namely, personal benefits and growth, transparent organizational culture and social commitment of the organizations.

Present research has not taken care of few other factors associated with the organization where employees’ retention gets adversely effected such as evaluation of performance and compensation management, training and development, etc. So, future research can be conducted these areas. These aspects are also required to be incorporated in future research.

Several implications of the present research can be presented in the following areas. It is found in the present research that the effectiveness of the talent management system mostly depends on personal benefits and growth, organizational culture and climate and the organizational out. Apart from the academic implications of the present research, practical implications of the present study cannot be ignored. The components and elements of the talent management in the perspectives employer branding can also appropriately applied by the organizations.

The contribution of the study lies in exploring and identifying three important aspects of the organization in talent management. Findings will have implications for different organizations in understanding, developing and implementing policies related to employer branding and talent management.

This study aims to provide a detailed characterization of Argentinean exporting wineries using a new rich firm-level data set to understand how capabilities and business strategies differ among firms with different levels of involvement in the export market.

A survey was distributed among all wineries along all wine regions of Argentina; the 45-min questionnaire was answered by 230 wineries, a representative sample with a response rate of 26.3% of the total population of Argentinean wineries. The survey assessed the interaction between wineries’ dynamics and characteristics and their participation in export markets. In the comparative analysis, the results are presented by dividing the sample into four categories according to the export intensity of the wineries.

High-intensity exporting wineries in Argentina differ from other Argentinean wineries in several dimensions. In particular, the most internationalized Argentinean wineries are the most endowed with higher capabilities; they follow a specific business model emphasizing product differentiation, quality upgrading, brand building and the development of distribution channels. Exporting wineries from Argentina adopt business practices that differ from those that prevail among wineries that only target the domestic market. They have developed firm capabilities such as human capital and technology to play a critical role in quality upgrading for their participation in global wine markets.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to study the Argentinean exporting wineries using a firm-level sizeable representative sample.

This study investigates how employees' experience of resource-depleting workplace loneliness may steer them away from performance-enhancing work efforts as informed by their propensity to engage in negative work rumination. It also addresses whether and how religiosity might serve as a buffer of this harmful dynamic.

The hypotheses tests rely on three-round survey data collected among employees who work in various organizations in Pakistan – a relevant country context, considering the importance of people's religious faith for their professional functioning and its high-uncertainty avoidance and collectivism, which likely make workplace loneliness a particularly upsetting experience.

An important channel through which a sense of being abandoned at work compromises job performance is that employees cannot “switch off” and stop thinking about work, even after hours. The role of this explanatory mechanism is mitigated, however, when employees can draw from their religious beliefs.

For human resource (HR) managers, this study pinpoints a notable intrusion into the personal realm, namely, repetitive thinking about work-related issues, through which perceptions of work-related loneliness translate into a reluctance to contribute to organizational effectiveness with productive work activities. It also showcases how this translation can be subdued with personal resources that enable employees to contain the hardships they have experienced.

This study helps unpack the connection between workplace loneliness and job performance by detailing the unexplored roles of two important factors (negative work rumination and religiosity) in this connection.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between job crafting and work engagement and the potential mediating effect of organizational happiness on this relationship.

A sample of 256 full-time employees from various industries such as automobiles, retail, real estate, petrochemicals, investment, industrial and education, working at top 50 Forbes Middle East companies in UAE, were surveyed to gather data on job crafting, organizational happiness and work engagement. The study used an empirical research design, with data collected through surveys.

The results of this study, obtained through a two-step structural equation modelling approach, indicate that job crafting has a positive and direct influence on both organizational happiness and work engagement. The findings also suggest that the relationship between job crafting and work engagement is partially mediated by organizational happiness.

The findings emphasize the need for human resources (HR) professionals to develop programmes and training workshops focused on cultivating these concepts, particularly as remote and blended working arrangements become more prevalent. In addition, the study highlights the global impact of employee disengagement on financial losses and stresses the importance of revising HR policies in the UAE to mitigate potential risks. Lastly, the study suggests that enhancing happiness and reducing disengagement can be achieved through training managers and employees in task structuring techniques, emphasizing the teachability of job crafting skills through interventions that align tasks with employees’ interests.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to theoretically explore and empirically test a proposed model on the relationships between job crafting, organizational happiness and work engagement in the context of the UAE.

Taking an organizational perspective, this paper aims to understand how organizations respond to such strong and concurrent societal effects, and to answer the question, “How should researchers conceptualize the symbiotic relationship between society and business during a catastrophic societal event?”

The authors highlight through numerous examples, the impact of COVID-19 on society is well-evidenced in the research. They also draw on such evidence of the effects of catastrophic societal events like COVID-19 to support the appropriateness of this conceptualization.

The authors found that organizations that use both short- and long-term activities concurrently are better able to tackle the concurrent short- and long-term effects of catastrophic events like COVID-19.

The authors use ambidexterity theory, supported by evidence derived from organizational responses to COVID-19, to offer a new and more comprehensive conceptualization that frames the concurrent and interrelated short-term and long-term organizational response to a catastrophic societal event. Further, they highlight the importance of studying such organizational responses in the context of the organization’s referent groups.

Digital start-ups have limited resources. With the demands of rapid growth, digital start-ups need to rely on their ability to explore external knowledge and exploit it into swift innovation. Developing absorptive capacity is an alternative to overcome this difficulty. This study aims to demonstrate how the potential and realized an increase in absorptive capacity enables organizations to innovate moderated by structural ambidexterity. Empirical evidence places more emphasis on the impact of absorptive capacity on innovation but still leaves the “black-box” question of innovation and how potential absorptive capacity (PACAP) can achieve realized absorptive capacity (RACAP).

This study tests, with a structural equation model, samples collected from 143 digital start-ups in Indonesia.

The finding of this study suggests that PACAP influences the ability to innovate only if RACAP mediates it and structural ambidexterity positively moderates the relationship between these two variables.

First, this study uses digital start-up organizations as respondents. Second, this study explores the role of the structural ambidexterity that moderates the relationship between PACAP and RACAP manifested in digital start-ups organizations that are identical to temporary companies with limited resources. Third, digital start-ups have a fast-growth life cycle, unlike regular companies. Finally, the validated scale is based on data collected entirely from digital start-ups located in Indonesia, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other industry contexts.

Start-ups suffer from the ability to innovate that increases their propensity to fail. They overcome this failure by increasing the absorptive capacity of the founding team to improve their ability to innovate. Because of limited resources available at digital start-ups, the flexibility of their management style can overcome these barriers, allowing the pursuit of both knowledge exploration and exploitation in a balanced way.

Most of the studies explained that the ability to innovate comes from absorptive capacity. In fact, they do not explore PACAP and RACAP and their relationships. Moreover, the studies also indicated that the contextual ambidexterity moderated PACAP and RACAP. Meanwhile, digital start-ups in this study revealed that structural ambidexterity with two dimensions, i.e. shared value, and behavioral integration, enables and positively moderates the relationship between PACAP and RACAP.