Search Results (13)

This study examines how employees perceive technology-based demands during the digital transformation process and how these perceptions affect job performance. The research utilized data obtained from 388 experts in the accounting and financial reporting profession, a knowledge-intensive field that heavily employs new technologies (e.g., ERP systems, digital audit tools). The data collected through a convenience sampling method was analyzed using SPSS 27 and SmartPLS 4 software. The findings reveal that the direct effect of technostress on job performance is not significant; however, this stress indirectly contributes to performance through techno-eustress. In this study, techno-eustress refers to the cognitive appraisal of technology-related demands as development-enhancing challenges rather than threats. This concept is theoretically grounded in the broader eustress framework, which views stressors as potentially motivating and growth-promoting when positively interpreted. The model is based on Cognitive Evaluation Theory, the Job Demands–Resources Model, and Self-Determination Theory. This study demonstrates that digital transformation can promote not only operational improvements but also organizational resilience by enhancing employees’ psychological resources and adaptive capacities. By highlighting the mediating role of techno-eustress, this research offers a nuanced perspective on how human-centered cognitive mechanisms can strategically support performance and sustainability in the face of technological disruption—an increasingly relevant area for organizations striving to thrive amid uncertainty. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant a serious risk to the economic viability of companies and the sustainability of employment in the restaurant sector, a high-impact activity for the economy and employment in Mexico and Spain. This paper analyzes the causes of the prolonged and intense damage to companies and employees via multilevel analysis techniques and a qualitative, inductive methodology drawing on multiple sources. Research propositions posit that the sectoral structure, management practices, and institutional actions during and after the pandemic are predictors of recovery or continued losses. The balanced result of these three levels of analysis, in a severe crisis situation, such as the global pandemic, reveals that the combination of low institutional protection at the macro level, a hostile industry structure at the meso level, and a focus solely on economic sustainability as the primary business objective resulted in widespread resignation and put survival at risk, particularly for smaller companies and entrepreneurs. Analysis of the firms’ and stakeholders’ actions also shed light on the inter-relations, such as the negative effect of macro general policies on a fragmented, asymmetric meso level. Inter-relations among customers and firms’ behavior gave insights that could increase resilience before general critical events. Finally, the balanced results recommend a simultaneous effort from firms and policy makers to make possible a profound change while addressing the sector’s shortcomings. Firms’ effort in managing key assets, such as human capital, to acquire the capacity for the flexibility, adaptability, and innovation essential for change and renewal, must be endorsed by institutional support and customer recognition of the contributions of this singular service and cultural industry. Full article

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of innovation capability on business sustainability in Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as consider the effects of organizational resilience, sustainable competitive advantage, and environmental dynamism as mediators in succession. A quantitative approach was adopted to collect data from 401 employees in SMEs in the Lagos Metropolitan Area of Nigeria. We conducted the analysis of the collected data using the partial least squares approach (PLS-SEM). This research establishes that innovation capabilities are beneficial for ensuring business sustainability. The findings further corroborate the importance of sustainable competitive advantage and environmental dynamism for business sustainability. Finally, the results show that environmental dynamism is important for helping small business owners sustain their businesses and increase their innovation capabilities. Similarly, the indirect paths also showed that resilience organizations, like SMEs, play a role in the paradigm. However, businesses can benefit from this study’s findings by crafting strategies that adapt more quickly to changing market dynamics and capitalize on emerging possibilities. This way, businesses may take the necessary measures to stay ahead of the competition while guaranteeing sustainability. Even though the heuristic model emphasizes originality, the current research on how to successfully link innovative capacity to sustainability and build sustainability in dynamic environments is sparse. Full article

In an era characterized by rapid changes and uncertainty, organizational resilience emerges as a critical factor for the survival and prosperity of businesses. Confronted with a progressively volatile and unpredictable organizational landscape, an organization’s capacity to swiftly and effectively address challenges and adapt to changes becomes indispensable. This paper investigates the role of strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices and organizational culture (OC) in enhancing organizational resilience (OR). The research employed a questionnaire distributed to 501 employees within public institutions, with data analysis conducted using structural equation modeling. The study assesses the direct effects of SHRM practices on organizational resilience while also investigating the mediating effects of organizational culture on the relationship between these practices and resilience. The primary findings highlight both the direct and indirect impacts of SHRM practices on organizational resilience. The study underscores the importance of adopting an integrated approach, wherein SHRM practices and organizational culture are strategically aligned to bolster organizational resilience and secure sustainable success in a dynamic and turbulent organizational landscape. Full article

This research paper delves into the multifaceted relationships between psychological resilience, organizational trust, life satisfaction, and organizational resilience within the context of tourism firms in Egypt. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and its profound effects on the tourism industry, the study aims to unravel the intricate interplay of individual and organizational factors that contribute to the adaptive capacity and well-being of employees. The research employs a quantitative methodology, engaging full-time sales and marketing employees from five-star hotels and class A travel agents (660) as key participants, employing SmartPLS-SEM vs4 to analyze the collected data. Through a nuanced examination of their experiences post-pandemic, the study investigates how psychological resilience, defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity, influences both life satisfaction and organizational resilience. Additionally, the impact of organizational trust, characterized by the confidence and faith employees place in their organization, on life satisfaction and organizational resilience is explored. Preliminary findings suggest a positive association between psychological resilience and both life satisfaction and organizational resilience. Employees exhibiting higher levels of psychological resilience tend to not only experience greater life satisfaction but also contribute significantly to their organization’s resilience. Furthermore, organizational trust emerges as a critical factor, positively influencing life satisfaction and organizational resilience. The study contributes valuable insights to the evolving landscape of tourism management and lays the foundation for future research endeavors in this domain. Full article

Government employees, municipal officials, and communities in South Africa have grappled with post-apartheid environmental challenges, such as floods, droughts, severe storms, and wildfires. These disasters are a result of both natural and human activities. The government implemented different policies and strategies after 1994 to address these issues. While acknowledging some success in managing these disasters with the current adaptive measures, the frequency and intensity of disasters have increased, causing significant damage to life and property, particularly among the vulnerable population. This paper uses qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches to explore possible systematic and structural weaknesses in addressing post-disaster situations in South Africa. Floods appear to be the most frequent natural disaster in South Africa. The paper uncovered the fact that disaster management is a multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary field. Although various institutional arrangements exist, they do not seem appropriate for assisting vulnerable groups. While officials have made some progress in implementing post-disaster projects, challenges still hinder sustainability. Furthermore, regrettably, despite the level of success in addressing disasters, most measures have failed to achieve the intended results for a variety of reasons. The consolidated long-term measures suggested by the participants yielded a proposed ‘South African Floods Post-Disaster Checklist or Model’, which was non-existent in South Africa. By implementing more effective and efficient post-disaster measures, the proposed tool can help policymakers and strategic partners standardise post-disaster resilience and adaptive capacity in various sectors’ sustainability contexts. Full article

The rapid electrification of vehicles has led to a great increase in numbers of charging stations and a growing appetite for charging power, with stochastic charging behaviours heavily loading the electricity grid. The upcoming difficulties and increasing costs associated with electricity production will require a rapid development of smart grids and city networks. Smart micro-grids established in nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB) are a promising strategy to support grid stability and resilience at a reduced cost. A significant amount of electricity storage capacity is necessary for optimal dispatch of the self-produced photovoltaic electricity. For office buildings, this capacity can be provided by the aggregate battery storage of the employees’ electric vehicles, which connect to the smart grid during working hours for charging and, if allowed, for discharging. An additional, fully controllable electricity source that is necessary to support an optimal micro-grid is the internal combustion engine-powered generator that is present in every commercial and office building as an emergency power supply. In the current study, a preliminary investigation of a smart micro-grid in a near zero-energy office building with a 218 kWp rooftop photovoltaic installation is carried out. The required electricity storage capacity is supplied by the employees’ electric vehicles, which stay connected to the building’s in-house chargers during working hours. The optimal rating of the natural gas-fuelled GenSet is determined based on a system’s operation and control study. Optimal dispatch of the different power sources to support the building’s autonomy and seasonal timing of electricity export to the grid is studied versus the electricity demand profiles of the electricity grid. Full article

Understanding how small- and medium-sized enterprises develop and foster resilience in their employees is critical to better adapt to and recover from challenges. Yet, how such a process is conducted is not well-understood in literature. Integrating the literature from the social exchange theory and the disaster resilience framework, this research examines the effects of servant leadership (SL) and transparent communication (TC) on employees’ capacity for resilience (learning from failure, hardiness, and optimism) and their adaptive performance during/post the COVID-19 crisis. A total of 880 employees in restaurants and travel agencies were surveyed. The results reveal that the effects of SL and TC on employees’ adaptive performance was fully mediated by employees’ capacity for resilience, specifically learning from failure. Full article

This systematic review aimed to explore the challenges and strategies for maintaining a work–life balance (WLB) between individual workers and their organizations during COVID-19 in the Pakistani context. Using the inductive approach in thematic synthesis, we analyzed eight qualitative studies on WLB from December 2019–April 2022. The Quality Appraisal process for selecting studies, constant comparison method, and critical discussion was frequently used to enhance the validity and reliability of findings. Eight analytical themes provided insight related to the challenges of maintaining WLB, strategies for facilitating, and recommended strategies for a sustainable workforce. Workload during COVID-19, lack of resources, training in technology, and mental pressure appeared as significant barriers, while family support, counseling provided by the organization, and self-motivation emerged as facilitators for WLB. Further, the findings highlighted the need for organizational interventions, for instance, emergency preparedness and capacity building of employees. Findings provided insight about guidelines for policymakers and government to make informed decisions and policies about maintaining WLB for mental well-being and a sustainable workforce, particularly women. The synthesis implied that investment in the well-being and productivity of employees could contribute to retaining a more resilient and skilled workforce, ensuring women’s workforce sustainability, and enabling lasting recovery from the pandemic. Full article

(1) Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced non-profit sports clubs to shut their doors. As a consequence, neither sports activities nor social gatherings could take place for an indefinite period. This situation poses potential risks to sports clubs as clubs could lose members, volunteers, and revenue. The purpose of this study is to investigate how strong clubs have been affected so far by COVID-19 and which capacities help or hinder clubs in dealing with the crisis. (2) Methods: The study is based on large-scale primary data (n = 4295) collected among German sports clubs in autumn 2020. Three fractional regression models are applied to examine which organizational capacities are related to potential threats caused by COVID-19. (3) Results: Clubs perceive the risk of losing members as most threatening, followed by the challenge of retaining volunteers. Potential financial threats are perceived as smaller by clubs without their own sports facilities and paid employees. (4) Conclusions: Overall, sports clubs with a strong solidarity culture seem to be affected less by potential threats through COVID-19. To become more resilient to unexpected external influences, capacity building in specific areas of sports clubs should be considered. Support from public institutions and sports associations is needed. Full article

As the complexity of supply chains increases, the enhancement of resilience for mitigating sustainable disruption risks in supply chains is an important issue. Quality function deployment (QFD) has been successfully applied in many domains to solve multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. However, research on developing two houses of quality to connect sustainable supply chain disruption risks, resilience capacities, and resilience-enhancing features in elevator manufacturing supply chains by using the MCDM approach is lacking. This study aims to develop a framework for exploring useful decision-making by integrating the MCDM approach and QFD. By applying the framework, supply chain resilience can be improved by identifying the major sustainable risks and the key resilience to mitigate these risks. Important managerial insights and practical implications are obtained from the framework implementation in a case study of the elevator manufacturing industry. To strengthen resilience and thus mitigate key risks, the most urgent tasks are to connect the working site and the backstage to enhance product development and design and to share real-time job information. When these features are strengthened, agility, capacity, and visibility can be improved. Finally, unexpected events lead to changes in supplier delivery dates, and factors such as typhoon and lack of critical capacities/skilled employees with the greatest impact can be alleviated. This framework will provide an effective and pragmatic approach for constructing sustainable supply chain risk resilience in the elevator manufacturing industry. Full article

An organization’s capacity to sustain a crisis, and to benefit from work-from-home (WFH) arrangements in routine times, is dependent on its employees’ ability to successfully adjust to WFH conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced vast numbers of employees worldwide to WFH, provides an unprecedented opportunity to identify factors that facilitate WFH adjustment. Leveraging this opportunity and drawing from theories on person-environment fit and work adjustment, we consider trait optimism as a possible facilitator of WFH adjustment during the pandemic. We further investigate how situational optimism and cultural (country-level) optimism contribute to the relationship between trait optimism and WFH adjustment. Using data from 388 employees in five countries, we find that trait optimism positively relates to WFH adjustment. This relationship is partly mediated by situational expectations regarding health/financial benefits of WFH amid the pandemic. Moreover, trait optimism is more strongly related to WFH adjustment in countries with high (vs. low) cultural optimism. This study addresses the call to investigate whether and how personality traits relate to WFH adjustment. Our findings can improve organizations’ ability to select and train employees who WFH, and to enhance operational resilience to future crises. Managers in global firms can draw from our results to understand how cultural differences affect the ease with which WFH is adopted, and to develop country-specific WFH practices. Full article

Conducting business nowadays has become much more challenging, and the importance of collective behavioral capacity is paramount regarding the behavior of employees along with internal information systems that form the backbone of many organizations in terms of competitiveness and survivability. This study, therefore, examined the effect of commitment, communication, competency, community, connection, consideration, and coordination on information system artifacts and the effect of information system artifacts on organizational resilience among Malaysian SMEs. To verify these statements and positioning, a sample of employees from registered organizations of the Malaysian Digital Economic Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDEC), participated in this study to examine a number of aspects. Quantitative data were collected from a total of 252 respondents through a questionnaire survey and data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. We performed the endogeniety assessment for the all the seven input variables and confirmed lack of endogeniety issues. The findings of this study constitute essential results that the commitment, communication, competency, community, connection, consideration, and coordination positively influenced the ISA. Furthermore, the mediating effect of ISA on the relationships of organizational resilience with commitment, communication, competency, community, connection, consideration, and coordination, had been revealed. The study concluded that a positive set of behavioral capital, if it exists inside organizations, enables the organizations to prosper and survive. Similarly, policymakers need to address the issue surrounding resilience in SMEs by establishing the correct benchmarking mechanism by introducing it as a formal activity to be undertaken regularly within the SMEs. Given the vast majority of employment in Malaysia and globally is provided through SMEs, if they become more resilient to change and to unforeseen events, then the employment of the vast majority of the working class can be secured across different nations. Full article