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The purpose of this study is to examine the various factors that influence the productivity (PR) of employees who worked remotely in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study adopts a quantitative approach to analyze data collected online from 110 respondents using the snowball sampling technique during the pandemic. The analysis of the data is conducted using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique of Smart PLS (Partial least squares) to evaluate the direct and moderating variables.

The results indicate that direct variables such as workload, job satisfaction, work–life balance and social support have a significant positive impact on employee PR in the UAE. However, the analysis of the moderating variable indicates that job level is not a significant moderator of the above relationships. The findings, generally, provide support for social exchange theory.

The findings of this study will help businesses of various domains in a variety of industries in understanding the core factors that should be considered to enhance the overall PR of their employees while working from home. Businesses can achieve their organizational goals by ensuring steady growth even during uncertain times.

This paper answers the question of whether remote working affects employee PR during the pandemic in an emerging market, namely the UAE. The current study contributes to the existing literature by combining the variables investigated in previous studies into a single study and by considering job level as a moderator variable.

Building on the self-determination theory (SDT), the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the influence of work meaningfulness (WM) on employees' involvement in playful work design (PWD) in the context of software development firms in Pakistan.

For the present study, a two-wave employee survey (online questionnaire) was used for data collection. The data were collected through an adopted questionnaire from employees working in software development firms in Pakistan. structural equation modeling and Hayes Process Macro of SPSS were used to analyze data collected from 305 respondents.

The findings of this study show that work meaningfulness and epistemic curiosity (EC) positively and significantly influence employee playful work design strategies. Moreover, the relationship between work meaningfulness and playful work design was partially mediated by employee epistemic curiosity. This mediating role of epistemic curiosity is strengthened by the presence of the perceived leader's autonomous support (LAS).

Employees improve their personal work experience through playful work design. Theoretically, this study contributes to the body of knowledge on the factors (work meaningfulness, epistemic curiosity and leader's autonomous support) that can influence employees' self-determination to design fun and competition into their work. This study contributes to the theory by introducing the antecedents (work meaningfulness and epistemic curiosity), of employee playful work design and explores the role of epistemic curiosity as a mediator and the leader's autonomous support as a moderator through SDT perspective.

For practitioners, this study pinpoints that software development firms can consider improving employees' perception of work meaningfulness, which can lead them to become epistemically curious to proactively design their work experience for their psychological need fulfillment, well-being and better functioning. Moreover, leader's autonomous support can support involvement in playful work design.

The current study is the first investigation in the Asian context to study the antecedents of playful work design and a critical boundary condition. This study extends the literature on the antecedents of employee playful work design and explores the role of epistemic curiosity as a mediator and the leader's autonomous support as a moderator specifically through a self-determination perspective.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain which competences are seen by employers as important for accounting students in an emerging economy, to triangulate this list with the experiences of working students and compare with those work competencies acquired during the period of study.

This study employs a novel mixed-method approach, with interviews of employers (n = 11) to identify key work competencies, and then with a quantitative study of working students (n = 184) to examine the work competency gap, using paired T-tests and mean weight discrepancy scores. The study was undertaken between September and December 2022.

The paper provides empirical insights into key work competencies in an emerging economy. There is a focus on technical skills at the university, whilst soft skills are preferred by employers. New key work competencies were uncovered relating to intuition, innovation and communicating in a foreign language. The key personal characteristics required for the job relate to change and uncertainty.

A qualitative assessment of key work competencies of employers and the use of mean weighted discrepancy scores is recommended in further studies in this field.

Practical approaches for educators, government and employers are offered to address the increasing demand for soft skills and other work competencies specific to an emerging economy.

The study is set in an emerging economy, which is underdeveloped in this field. The findings inform key stakeholders with a vested interest in reducing the work competency gap.

Prior research has extensively examined how bringing technology from work into the non-work life domain creates conflict, yet the reverse pathway has rarely been studied. The purpose of this study is to bridge this gap and examine how the non-work use of smartphones in the workplace affects work–life conflict.

Drawing from three literature streams: technostress, work–life conflict and role boundary theory, the authors theorise on how limiting employees' ability to integrate the personal life domain into work, by means of technology use policy, contributes to stress and work–life conflict. To test this model, the authors employ a natural experiment in a company that changed its policy from fully restricting to open smartphone access for non-work purposes in the workplace. The insights gained from the experiment were explored further through qualitative interviews.

Work–life conflict declines when a ban on using smartphones for non-work purposes in the workplace is revoked. This study's results show that the relationship between smartphone use in the workplace and work–life conflict is mediated by sensed stress. Additionally, a post-hoc analysis reveals that work performance was unchanged when the smartphone ban was revoked.

First, this study advances the authors' understanding of how smartphone use policies in the workplace spill over to affect non-work life. Second, this work contributes to the technostress literature by revealing how, in specific situations, engagement with ICT can reduce distress and strain.

The purpose of this paper is to assess previous research on conditions for managers’ learning and development in daily work practices and how such conditions may influence their sustainability and also to propose a concept and a heuristic model that reconceptualizes and expands on the theoretical foundations generated in previous studies of managers’ learning and development at work.

This paper is based on an integrative literature review. The literature search identified 1,403 unique studies. Nine qualitative and seven quantitative studies met the relevance and quality criteria and were included in the review.

The results of the review found associations between managers’ learning conditions, career opportunities, individual engagement and sustainability. However, the small amount of empirical data used in the reviewed studies and the cross-sectional design of the studies make it difficult to establish the nature of the relationship between different variables.

The results of this paper show that managers need to care for and take advantage of opportunities for their own development and not only function as creators of their employees’ development. Employers should keep in mind that the development environment includes managers and employees.

This paper contributes with an original concept of managers’ development environments and a conceptual model that integrates theory with results from the included studies. Based on the model, propositions that may serve as an agenda for future research are formulated.

Work-life balance (WLB) policies have become a popular topic in both academic literature and organizations. However, previous studies in this area have provided mixed results, and the impact of WLB policies on various indicators of organizational financial performance remains unclear. There has been no comprehensive review that synthesizes the current state of knowledge and indicates future research directions. This review addresses this gap and provides a systematic review of published papers investigating the relationship between WLB policies and organizational financial performance.

The review follows the PRISMA-ScR guidelines for scoping reviews. An analysis of 421 relevant records in Web of Science and Scopus databases identified 22 original empirical studies that focused on the relationship between WLB policies and financial performance at the level of the organization.

Most reviewed studies indicated a weak positive relationship between WLB policies and financial performance. There was the strongest support for the effectiveness of flexible working hours and job sharing, while there was mixed support for the policy of working from home. There were a higher proportion of positive results in studies conducted in Western countries compared to Asian countries, which indicates a potential moderating effect of culture. This review also describes the primary limitations of previous studies, namely, low test power and insufficient evidence about causality.

This review summarizes the growing body of quantitative research on the relationship between WLB policies and organizational financial performance. It presents a model that includes moderators and mediators of this relationship and indicates potentially fruitful areas for future research.

This paper investigates the effects of working during university education on labour market outcomes of university graduates.

Based on data from three successive cohorts of graduates from the Spanish region of Catalonia, the authors estimate the effect of having worked in different types of jobs before graduation, classified according to work intensity and the match with the field of study, on the probability of being employed, having a permanent contract or having a job that requires the specific degree four years after graduation. The authors employ a multinomial endogenous treatment model that enables controlling for self-selection into pre-graduation working activities.

Pre-graduation work activities that are related to the field of study are generally beneficial for employability and job stability. Work experiences unmatched with the degree's content are detrimental for graduates' job–education match.

This is the first paper that jointly considers the role of work intensity (part-time vs full-time) and the relationship with the field of study in a framework that accounts for self-selection into different types of jobs. The authors also contribute to the literature by estimating the effect of pre-graduation jobs not only on the chances of being employed four years after graduation but also on two important aspects of job quality: having a permanent contract and having a job that requires the specific degree.

Although significant research has examined the concept of transformational leadership, few studies have explored the indirect impact of transformational leadership on individual and organizational outcomes within the context of crisis. Accordingly, this study aims to advance our understanding of the indirect impact of transformational leadership on school performance and principals' work alienation within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, this study contributes to this developing stream of literature by hypothesizing the indirect effect of two relational resources, namely employee trust and relational coordination, which mediate the relationship between transformational leadership, school performance and principals' work alienation.

This study draws on a unique sample of 634 principals from Irish primary schools navigating the COVID-19 crisis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using Mplus 8.3 to test the hypothesized model.

Mixed findings emerged concerning the mediating process of relational resources and their impact on transformational leadership, school performance and principals' work-alienation. In particular, support is found for the critical role of principals whose transformational leadership style can help increase school performance. However, evidence suggests that employee trust does not mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and principals' work alienation.

This study provides several practical insights for education professionals, policymakers and HRM practitioners across each phase of the crisis management cycle. Firstly, regarding the pre-crisis stage, educational institutions should invest in targeted leadership development programs that prioritize relationship-building and effective communication among stakeholders. Second, during crises, the study emphasizes the role of relational resources in mediating the impact of leadership on school performance. Moreover, the study illustrates the importance of proactively cultivating strong connections with stakeholders, fostering timely, problem-solving-based communication. Finally, in the post-crisis phase, collaboration with government stakeholders is recommended to inform recovery policies.

This study makes several contributions to the literature on leadership and crisis management. First, this study adds new insights suggesting how principals as leaders influence school performance during crisis. Second, by adopting a relational perspective, this study suggests two types of relational resources (i.e. employee trust and relational coordination), as the mediators between transformational leadership, school performance and principals' work alienation. Third, this study moves the existing research on leadership during crisis forward by focusing on the functional effectiveness of leadership while focusing on the principals' work alienation during the pandemic.

The study aimed to assess the relationship between emotional intelligence and work engagement among employees of automobile sectors in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India, and also to find out various demographic factors of subordinates who are able to engage vigorously, meaningfully and committedly on their work through their emotional intelligence.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted, and 184 employees were recruited through random sampling to take part in the study. A Google Forms questionnaire consisting of the demographic questionnaire Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) was constructed and sent via e-mail to the employees, and the data were collected; after the data cleaning process, it was analysed through SPSS Version 20 using independent t-test, ANOVA and Pearson's correlation.

The results showed that educational qualification and income significantly influenced work engagement in all dimensions, while gender, designation and work experience partially influenced work engagement. It showed a strong correlation between work engagement and emotional intelligence.

This study assessed a small number of employees due to which the external validity reduces, and it assessed only the interplay between different dimensions of work engagement and emotional intelligence but not linked with any other mediating factors. The final sample size of the present study was relatively small due to the time constraint; hence, the study yielded less accurate results. Some linking variables, such as job security, motivation, knowledge management and transformational leadership, can be added to find out the association of emotional intelligence and work engagement and to understand how the factors influence each other.

For every output in the organisation, the work engagement or performance, there is an emotion behind each and every individual. The person cannot put his/her whole effort at work and concentrate without his/her self-awareness and management; at the same time, socialising is also very important to maintain good relationships at work; without these influences, one cannot have engagement in his/her work, which ultimately leads to  job satisfaction. It improves the strong attitude and behaviour that intend to be engaged at work.

This study would benefit in focusing more on rewards and recognition, empowering employees and building a bond between the organisation and employees in a strategic manner. The management can utilise the employee's engagement and make various financial outcomes, such as profitability and growth, increasing the share value and the turnover of the productivity. It improves the communication between business leaders and the organisation that benefits the business practices to be more effective which leads to a positive social change. Employee engagement strategies could fill the gap between employees' job involvement and the productive outcome. On the whole, employees' work engagement makes them to invest themselves wholeheartedly into cognitively, physically and emotionally on the job.

Work engagement and emotional intelligence, as well as their dimensions, illustrate a clear relationship and are also shown to be predictive of each other in the workplace.

The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges experienced by in-service English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in an open distance learning (ODL) institution of higher learning in Malaysia. Many in-service ESL teachers who do not have the necessary teaching qualifications are seeking to obtain their teaching qualifications via the ODL mode of studies as it allows them to work as teachers while obtaining their teaching qualifications at the same time. They face multiple challenges which lead to high attrition rates, a concern for ODL institutions of higher learning worldwide.

A qualitative research design using a case study approach was used in this study where in-depth interviews were conducted with four in-service ESL teachers who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) programme conducted via ODL.

The research is exploratory in nature. Findings highlighted four major challenges by these in-service ESL teachers: (1) financial difficulties, (2) work commitments, (3) family sacrifices and (4) emotional stress. However, technological use was not considered a challenge as mentioned by literature.

Findings from the study may be useful to ODL institutions to provide relevant support to ODL students to improve student retention rates in ODL institutions.

This study may be considered as a baseline analysis on the challenges experienced by in-service ESL teachers in ODL institution of higher learning in Malaysia. Further in-depth studies are needed to understand how ODL institutions can better support their education programme students to complete their teacher education programmes.