Amir Ikram

The international apparel market is becoming more complex and competitive, but the multidimensional, human-centred capabilities that underpin export success in institutionally constrained markets are not well understood. This paper discusses the strategies used by export-oriented apparel companies in Pakistan. The study uses an interpretivist qualitative approach, which includes a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with senior managers from ten top apparel companies. Data from the interviews were analysed in NVivo using the Gioia methodology. The results show that sustainability-oriented innovation, digital capabilities, operational agility and institutional adaptation are not stand-alone capabilities but rather a capability system that increases the relational trust, boosts buyer confidence and consequently contributes to sustainable export competitiveness. The study introduces an industry-specific critical success factor framework based on the resource-based view (RBV) that posits that the interaction between internal capability configuration and institutional compliance alignment creates long-term competitive advantage. The results also indicate that managers should consider sustainability as a strategic issue, not a compliance issue; invest in supply-chain visibility, analytics and international quality standards; and use multidimensional performance measures to balance global standardization with local adaptation.

Background: Workplace ostracism is a negative social stressor that is associated with psychological distress, work stress, and poor employee well-being. Leadership behavior is an important determinant of social inclusion in the workplace; yet there is a lack of evidence on how and under what conditions spiritual leadership can counteract ostracism, especially in a highly regulated work context. Objective: This study examines the association between spiritual leadership and workplace ostracism, with justice orientation explored as a moderating variable in this association. Additionally, job social support, meaningful work, and harmonious passion are investigated as psychological mechanisms mediating this association. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 378 banking employees in Punjab, Pakistan. Standardized scales were used to measure all variables. Hierarchical regression analysis was employed to test direct and moderating effects, while mediation analyses were conducted using regression-based procedures to examine the proposed parallel mediating mechanisms. Results: The results indicate a negative association between spiritual leadership and workplace ostracism. Justice orientation moderates this relationship, such that a more negative relationship is found for employees with higher justice orientation. Job social support, meaningful work, and harmonious passion each partially mediate the association between spiritual leadership and workplace ostracism. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that spiritual leadership is related to reduced workplace ostracism through unique interpersonal, cognitive, and motivational mechanisms. By identifying three distinct psychological mechanisms and a critical boundary condition, this study places spiritual leadership on the organizational map as a valuable work resource for promoting social inclusion and employee well-being in a regulated work context.

Integrated Collaborative Reflection Model (ICRM) Part 1: Role and Process Based Conceptual Study of Collaborative Reflection and Collaborative Knowledge Building

Purpose: This study has proposed a socially responsible approach towards artificial intelligence (AI) deployment and tested a revised AI device use acceptance (RAIDUA)-based conceptual model involving the potential indirect moderating role of consumers’ privacy concerns (PRCO) regarding AI-enabled devices. Design/methodology/approach: The newly introduced RAIDUA model was verified with empirical data gathered from 280 respondents. A partial least square-driven methodology was used in the present study. Further, a simple slope analysis was also performed to assess the PRCO for their plausible moderating role. Findings: Results confirmed a negative moderation impact of consumers’ PRCO in the interaction between perceived usefulness expectancy and consumers’ perceived emotions. Further moderation analysis confirmed that PRCO weakens the positive interaction between emotions and consumers’ expected willingness and/or desire to practically accept the use of AI-enabled devices, whereas there is a positive moderation effect of consumers’ PRCO in the negative interaction between perceived emotions and objection to the practical use of AI-enabled devices. Social implications: This study has proposed AI usefulness expectancy as a socially responsible approach towards ethical AI deployment and tested the RAIDUA model for acceptance and integration of AI-enabled devices. Originality/value: This study uniquely integrates AI usefulness expectancy along with perceived AI PRCO as a moderating factor in the RAIDUA model for AI adoption. Both aspects had been overlooked by frequently used Farooq et al.’s (2017) UTAUT-3, Gursoy et al.’s (2019) AIDUA and Salam et al.’s (2025) unified MOOC utilization model frameworks in AI literature. Therefore, we submit that the RAIDUA model offers a novel and original theoretical contribution in technology integration literature and AI adoption-related body of knowledge.

The rising environmental challenges are capturing the attention of stakeholders of corporations due to increasing competition. The sustainable performance of firms does not merely gauge their economic performance but also their sustainable development. Since the environmental supply chain management of firms has an important part in maneuvering their sustainable performance, the present study focuses on assessing the impact of green supply chain management practices on the sustainable performance of the textile, automobile, and tobacco industries. The data were collected from 384 organizations and analyzed through SPSS and AMOS. The results reveal that the impact of green manufacturing, green purchases, eco-design, and green information system are significant and positive on the sustainable performance of the organizations, whereas the impact of cooperation with customers is insignificant. Similarly, the moderation of institutional pressures between green manufacturing, green purchases, eco-design, and sustainability performance is insignificant, whereas it significantly moderates between cooperation with customers, green information systems, and sustainable performance. The study is significant and novel for considering five different factors of green supply chain management (GSCM): green manufacturing, green purchasing, cooperation with customers, eco-design, and green information systems. Furthermore, adding institutional pressures as a moderator between GSCM and sustainable performance adds to the novelty and uniqueness of the research. The managerial implications have also been discussed.

The 2019 Pandemic has forced students to take online classes, increasing their stress levels and negatively impacting their academic performance. This issue urges the development of a mechanism to make online learning more effective in this nerve-racking time. Therefore, the present study has integrated the task technology fit (TTF) model and the DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems Success (DMISM) to address the stated issue. The data were collected from 330 and 326 students of top-ranked public and private universities of Punjab, respectively. The theoretical framework was analyzed with the help of structural equation modeling (SEM) using Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS). The findings indicate that overall quality positively predicts performance through the mediating role of user satisfaction and TTF. The overall quality also positively elevates performance through the mediating role of user satisfaction and actual usage of the system. Moreover, perceived usefulness proved to be a moderator between overall quality and user satisfaction. Finally, the expected practical and theoretical implications have also been discussed.

Although we use humor in our daily communication, there still needs to cognize its effects on the attitudes and behavior of the employees. Based on benign violation theory (BVT), the study proposes that leader's humor (LH) conveys social information about counter norms. The BVT has been amalgamated with social information processing theory (SIPT) to develop hypotheses assuming the consequences of LH on the attitude and behavior of the employees. This study hypothesizes that even though LH is linked positively with employee creativityvialeader-member exchange and psychological empowerment in sequence (blessing path), it may also send information to the employees about the acceptability of norm violation. This perception ultimately leads to power perception and, causes unethical behavior in the series (curse path). Moreover, this study also postulates that leader's self-deprecating humor (LSDH) moderates these indirect effects by enhancing the blessing and reducing the curse, which emerged from LH. Quantitative data of 630 software engineers from software houses based in Pakistan provided support to test the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that LH is a double-edge sword that enhances blessing (creativity) as well as curse (employee unethical behavior), whereas LSDH augments the blessing and throttles back the curse. Theoretical and managerial implications have also been discussed.

This study has examined how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may enhance their performance under different settings of information technology (IT) capabilities and corporate entrepreneurship (CE). Established on the dynamic capability view, the researchers have analyzed the connections between IT capabilities and CE, in addition to the performance results of SMEs. The research has explored these novel relationships by utilizing partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with a data sample of 447 SMEs of the manufacturing sector in Pakistan. The findings present that IT capabilities positively influence the market and financial performance of SMEs through the mediating role of CE dimensions. The study uniquely determines the mediating role of dimensional effects of corporate entrepreneurship between IT capabilities and performance outcomes of firms. Thus, the study would enable the management of SMEs to realize the potential of IT-related CE dimensions and their use to improve firms’ performance.

BACKGROUND: Employee’s trust influences the organizational performance and leads to the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives within a defined timeframe. Organizational Justice defines how equitably the employees of an organization are treated by their management considering both structural and cultural parameters. Trust is a manifestation of belief the employees have developed in their management in return. Many researchers came up with a verdict in favor of trust within any organization to develop good relationships between employees and top management. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research is to determine the mediating role of trust between organizational justice and employee performance. METHODS: Convenient random sampling has been used to gather data from 433 employees working in different departments of the big five commercial banks in Pakistan; Baron and Kenny’s test was used to determine the mediating effect of trust. RESULTS: The findings of the research reflected that organizational justice significantly influences the performance of the organization. It has also been determined that employees’ trust fully mediates the impact of organizational justice on employees’ performance. CONCLUSIONS: Managers need to pay particular attention to justice as an important motivating factor for employees in order to improve organizational productivity.

The textile and clothing (T&C) sector plays an important role in the growth and industrial development of emerging economies. Work stress is a real concern for organizations with no immunity for the T&C sector. It hampers individual as well as organizational work performance that ultimately places a significant hurdle in achieving competitiveness in the market. This study aims at exploring the antecedents and consequences of work stress and how different causes of stress influence perceived stress among the employees of the textile and clothing organizations in Pakistan. Data were collected from 1470 employees of 24 organizations. Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) and two researcher-developed instruments (34 items and 22 items each) were used for the data collection. Information gathered was analyzed by PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation modelling) technique. Statistically significant results were found for the antecedents, namely, work-family conflict, role clarity, work characteristics, social working environment, managers’ support at work, and training and career development, with work-family conflict as the most significant, and for the consequences, namely, psychological, emotional, physical, performance, and behavioral with psychological effect as the most significant. The findings of the study could help managers, designers, planners, and ergonomists in making more informed and proactive decisions while attempting to prevent or control the stress phenomenon in the T&C sector. Moreover, the study highlights the need for gaining more in-depth insight into the work-stress phenomenon proactively so that the effectiveness of intervention strategies might be assured.