Rupashree Baral

The purpose of the paper is to integrate human resource management with supply chain management by examining the role of inter-organisational competencies (information sharing) as a mediator between the organisational competencies (cross-functional information sharing, participative culture and learning orientation) and supply chain integration (SCI). To test the hypotheses of interest, data were collected on 80 manufacturing firms from India through a structured questionnaire and analysed using partial least squares (PLS) method. The findings revealed that participative culture and learning orientation were positively related to SCI and were fully and partially mediated by information sharing (IS) respectively. The study provides evidence for linking competencies with SCI in the literature that are otherwise scarce in the form of empirical studies in the context of supply chain. It also succeeds in examining the role of inter-organisational competency as a mediator, thus providing in-depth insights into such competencies. This study is probably one of the first in studying competencies required for SCI in the Indian context.

Purpose: This paper aims to provide relevant knowledge about entrepreneurship and women’s leadership in the Indian context. More specifically, it unleashes the veiled challenges as well as success stories of select women entrepreneurs of a developing country to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship theory and practice. It aims to provide directions to the policymakers, educationists, society and families in creating a conducive environment that is essential for the success of women entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach: With a qualitative case study approach, data were collected from Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state which has a maximum number of women entrepreneurs. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the supportive as well as challenging dimensions of their entrepreneurial journey. Findings: Content analysis of the interview transcripts indicated that successful entrepreneurs are opportunity-driven and they focus on innovation, service, generation of wealth and employment. Support from family, especially from fathers or husbands, is as important as the entrepreneurial drive, skills and abilities of an entrepreneur. Success for them is being happy, thriving work, having a happy family, having a great work-life balance and the satisfaction to have served society apart from being independent (economically/ financially). Among India’s societal and cultural realities, women have to conquer many hurdles (both implicit and explicit) in their way concerning the societal attitudes toward women stepping out of the home boundaries and traditional gender role expectations. The silver line is societal attitudes are changing, especially in urban India. There are enough support and encouragement from the family, which helps these women pursue their passion and eventually become a successful leader. Social implications: The success stories of women will bring a wave of positive developmental change in India by fostering respect for women in a male-dominated society and flashing the importance of women’s entrepreneurship. Originality/value: This paper provides a new examination of women entrepreneurs that significantly further the debate about the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles, especially in entrepreneurship in an emerging economy context like India. Apart from the deterrents, it aims to highlight the enablers and motivations to choose this unconventional profession.

This study explores how highly educated Indian women entrepreneurs prioritize and manage the work and family role boundaries. It also explores whether boundary management strategies vary based on motherhood and business stages. We explored these issues by interviewing twenty-five financially successful well-educated women entrepreneurs from five cities (Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Cochin) in India. We found that the mothers with younger children and entrepreneurs in the early stages of the business preferred to integrate the work and family roles than to set a clear boundary between the roles, using various boundary management tactics to achieve work-life balance (WLB). They attempted to minimize imbalance by creating a resource pool, flexible scheduling, working fewer hours, and preferring workplace proximity. Social support seemed to be essential to reconcile the multiple role demands. According to the business and motherhood stages, significant differences were observed in the type and level of WLB issues women face. The study provides recommendations for successful reconciliation between the work and non-work lives in the Indian context. In this culturally unique context, while access to institutional support for women entrepreneurs is meager, any effort to help them reconcile their work and family demands will be helpful.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the immediate proactive corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts undertaken by select organizations in India in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the approach they have adopted toward it. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 senior managers across top Bombay Stock Exchange indexed organizations from the manufacturing and services sector in India during the national COVID-19 pandemic lockdown between March and June 2020. Manual content analysis and the Gioia method were used to arrive at the insights. Findings: Results of the analysis showcase the spirited immediate CSR measures undertaken by the select organizations in the broader interests of the community at large. The study also highlights the need for a paradox approach toward CSR strategy. Research limitations/implications: Given that the present study adopts an exploratory qualitative research design, the scope for generalization is rather limited. Practical implications: This paper classifies COVID-19 related initiatives undertaken by selected few top organizations in India and attempts to justify the need to opt for a paradox approach toward CSR strategy. Originality/value: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first few studies to have attempted to put forth a dialog at the intersection of COVID-19 and CSR with rich insights gained from qualitative data collected during India’s intense lockdown period and offering a different perspective with the inclusion of paradox theory into the discussion.

Purpose: This study investigated the crossover of work–family conflict (WFC) from supervisors to subordinates employed in conventional work settings. The authors hypothesized that the supervisor’s WFC would impact the subordinate’s level of WFC, and the level of crossover would vary with relationship quality or LMX. Design/methodology/approach: The authors surveyed a matched set of 150 supervisors and 193 subordinates from several services organizations who were recruited using a snowballing technique. Data were analysed using hierarchical regression analyses and moderation testing. Findings: Results confirmed a significant direct crossover path. Further, the crossover was found to be lowered in the event of higher LMX quality. Research limitations/implications: The findings provide significant insights into the conditions under which transmission of WFC takes place by broadening crossover research in the work–family area. Future studies must explore the crossover of work–family enrichment and the role of leadership styles, empathy and perspective taking of subordinates in the crossover. Practical implications: Supervisors must endeavour to reduce the level of WFC of subordinates by trying to build high-quality LMX by regularly interacting with them and by providing them a supportive climate. Employees in turn must support supervisors in various means, which will help them gaining manager’s trust and support. Originality/value: Examination of the potential mitigating effect of high-quality LMX in the crossover of WFC in supervisor–subordinate dyads has rarely been investigated in the past.

Purpose: This paper aims to organize the existing empirical research on women entrepreneurs (WEs) in India, highlight the research areas that have not received attention and present opportunities for future research. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review (SLR) was performed on 74 scholarly articles focusing on WEs in India and published between 1993 and 2020. This review is structured around the 4W framework used in previous SLRs. The review is directed by the following foci: what do we know about academic research on WEs in India? How were these studies conducted? Where were these studies conducted? Why should academicians and practitioners consider WE research? Findings: The authors arrived at four main themes underlying the empirical research on WEs: success factors for WEs, challenges faced by WEs, factors that attract and motivate WEs and performance measures for WEs. While challenges and success factors have received attention from researchers, there is a distinct lack of papers on factors that attract or motivate WE and performance measures. The main gaps identified were a lack of theoretical basis in studies, reliance on interview and survey-based methodology and a lack of context-specific studies. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this review are limited to WEs operating in India. Only Scopus-indexed journals listed in the Australian Business Dean's Council Journal Quality List (ABDC JQL) were included in the final SLR list. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to use a systematic approach to provide a detailed account of the state of the literature on women's entrepreneurship research in India.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine core self-evaluations (CSEs), family support, co-worker support, supervisor support, job characteristics, work-life balance policies (WLBPs) and work-family culture as the predictors of work-to-family enrichment (WFE) and family-to-work enrichment (FWE) and explore the moderating effect of CSEs. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a questionnaire survey from 485 employees from six organizations in India representing manufacturing, telecommunications and information technology sectors and were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regressions. Findings – Supervisor support, job characteristics, WLBPs and work-family culture predicted WFE. CSEs, family support and job characteristics predicted FWE. Little moderating influence of CSEs was found. It moderated the relationship between supervisor support and WFE. Research limitations/implications – The cross-sectional design of the study constrains inferring conclusions regarding causality. Practical implications – This study indicates that from an organizational perspective, involvement in family roles should not be viewed as a hindrance, since it can also benefit employees at work. Employee assistance programs may be introduced to help employees develop the necessary skills and adaptability to increase their work-family enrichment experience. Originality/value – The construct work-family enrichment examined in this paper reflects an understanding of work-family interface from a newer lens in a novel socio-cultural context and demonstrates the moderating role of CSEs. © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the situation (presence of young children, working hours, social and organizational support) and person-based factors (core self-evaluations) that influence work-family conflict (both work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC)) and to examine the relative power of situational factors vs person-based factors in predicting work-family conflict. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 367 married working professionals from eight organizations in the manufacturing and services sector in India. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. Usefulness analysis was performed to reveal the unique contribution of the dispositional variables over the situational variables in predicting the variance in work-family conflict. Findings: Personality factors accounted for more variance in FWC than in WFC, and situational factors accounted for more variance in WFC than in FWC. Research limitations/implications: Given the limitations associated with a cross-sectional design, caution is needed concerning the inferences drawn. Only a few variables are considered to assess the characteristics of the context. Practical implications: Organizations should not view the resolution of work-family conflict as the sole responsibility of an individual because of the demonstrated influence of both dispositional and contextual factors on the presence or absence of such conflict. While individuals may strive to have better self-management skills and stay positive in adverse situations, employers may assist them in dealing with work-family demands by introducing need-based support. Originality/value: The relative importance of situation-based and person-based variables in predicting work-family conflict has rarely been examined on a managerial sample in India. Research on personality-based antecedents of work-home interference is also in its infancy. A better understanding of the factors as they relate to both directions of work-family conflict may help to identify suitable approaches to managing conflict.