Rupashree Baral

Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP integrates the data of all business areas within the organization. It is a complex technology involving different type of end users and implementing it in developing countries like India makes it even more difficult owing to the cultural and social differences. Effective usage of ERP leads to its success. However, degree of usage depends on many individual, organizational and technological factors. The post-ERP implementation is found to have impact on the user behavior and hence it is also essential to understand the impacts of the acceptance on the individual. This paper identifies the factors that affect the usage of ERP. A conceptual research framework is proposed to find the combined effect of the individual, organizational and technological factors on the ERP usage using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The model also seeks to find out the impact of usage of ERP on panoptic empowerment, job satisfaction and individual performance.

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: The purpose of this paper is to study the applicability of a crossover model of work–family conflict (WFC) in the work setting among supervisor–subordinate dyads. It examines the positive association between supervisor’s WFC and subordinate’s WFC and analyses the moderating effect of subordinate’s susceptibility to emotional contagion (SEC). Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered using a questionnaire survey method and tested in 193 matched supervisor–subordinate dyads from select organisations representing the services sector in India. Findings: The authors found a significant direct crossover path from the supervisor to his/her subordinate’s WFC. The effect of supervisor reported WFC on subordinate reported WFC was found to be strong when the subordinate displayed higher SEC with his/her supervisor. Research limitations/implications: Examining the crossover of WFC contributes to theory by broadening crossover research to include transmission of negative experiences in the work context. This study significantly adds to emotional contagion theory by substantiating the existence of WFC contagion in supervisor–subordinate dyads. Given the constraints of cross-sectional research design, future research should replicate these findings using a larger sample in other cultural contexts as well to generalise the results. Future research should consider using longitudinal data and including information from both the supervisor and the subordinates collected at different points in time. Crossover of positive work–family experiences (e.g. work–family enrichment) and the role of other individual difference variables such as the personality of the subordinates, empathy, etc., could also be considered. Practical implications: Supervisors should be advised of the potential adverse effects of their WFC and organisations should be made cognizance of the impact that the WFC of employees can have on their job outcomes. Organisations should provide the required formal and informal support to their employees to deal with their WFC efficiently. Originality/value: This study has attempted to examine the crossover of WFC in supervisor–subordinate dyads and the potential effect of one of the individual difference variables namely SEC. To the best of the authors knowledge, it has rarely been examined earlier.

Gamification of learning is the integration of game design elements into the learning context. Decade-long research has revealed evidence on the ability of gamification to increase the engagement levels of users. Research attributes this enhanced user engagement to the unique experience offered by gamification. However, the literature is still unclear about this experience, its pathways, and the underlying mechanism. Hence, the present study examines the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional pathways of learning engagement in a gamified management course through a within-subject experiment. The results indicate that both behavioral and emotional engagement is significantly higher during the gamified sessions. In contrast, no significant change was found in learners' cognitive engagement. Moreover, flow was found to mediate the relationship between gamification and engagement when examined using the multi-categorical mediation analysis. The study brings clarity to the mechanism of gamification based on the foundations of goal setting theory and stimulus organism response (SOR) theory. It also assists practitioners by providing insights into the ‘experience to target for’ while designing gamification in a learning setting.

Knowledge hiding is the deliberate concealment of knowledge when requested. This study underscores three divergent elements of the knowledge hiding process. First, it underlines both the distinct internal and external factors that trigger the knowledge hiding process. Second, it brings out the critical facilitators of knowledge hiding, which do have roots in both the internal and external factors but are inseparable and indistinguishable. Finally, this study brings out a conceptual framework that underscores the vital importance of neuroscience in establishing episodes of knowledge hiding. This final phase of the study categorically establishes the typical need for memory and the frontal lobe integrity in justifying any sequence of events or their combinations as an episode of knowledge hiding.

Employer brand strategy design and implementation are crucial for any organization, given the challenge of talent attraction and retention. Employer branding creates a sustainable relationship between an organization and its potential and existing employees by creating values for individuals, organization and the society at large. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a Business Model Canvas (BMC) template to map the employer brand strategy of an organization. The second objective was to use a survey research to map the elements of BMC such as value propositions and communication channels for the target employees who were the prospective talent pool. Other elements of BMC were explained based on the understanding of employer branding practices in Indian organizations.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employees’ job outcomes, namely, work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in select Indian manufacturing firms. This study also aims to measure the mediating effect of organizational trust in the above link. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the stakeholder theory of CSR, the proposed model was tested using data from 284 employees across eight manufacturing firms in South India extensively involved in CSR activities. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression techniques. Findings: Significant positive association between CSR activities toward only three stakeholders (employees, customers and environment) and the outcome variables (work engagement and OCB) were observed. Organizational trust partially mediated the relationship between CSR activities and job outcomes. Findings reveal that organizational trust is the underlying mechanism by which organization’s involvement in CSR activities positively influences job outcomes. The implications are discussed along the lines of the findings. Originality/value: Substantial macro-level research studies are available linking CSR activities with tangible outcomes, such as financial outcomes. Literature suggests the need for more research on CSR at the micro level i.e., how CSR practices affect the attitude, behavior, well-being and work engagement of employees. This study also addressed the important research gap by considering the stakeholder theory of CSR in a non-western context. Moreover, the mechanism through which CSR relates to employees’ job-related outcomes is relatively underexplored. Therefore, the current study captured the role of organizational trust as a mediator.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to decipher the role of culture in determining knowledge-hiding tendencies of individuals. This study attempts to understand the different strategic factors (SFs) engendering knowledge hiding, model it and finally estimate the driving and dependency potency of these factors in two different cultural contexts – occidental and oriental. Design/methodology/approach: The authors undertook content analysis of the pertinent literature to trace out the antecedents. These SFs engendering knowledge hiding were later modeled using total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) with the aid of R programming language and consequently subjected to Matriced’ Impacts Croise’s Multiplication Appliquée a un Classement (MICMAC) analysis to categorize these factors into: autonomous, depending, linkage and driving. Findings: The analysis establishes personality traits as a common driving factor engendering knowledge hiding in both the cultural contexts. Emotional intelligence is a key driving factor in an occidental cultural context whereas interpersonal distrust drives knowledge hiding in an oriental cultural setting. The task in hand, its uncertainty and complexity are the other critical factors causing knowledge hiding in the oriental cultural context. Practical implications: The study suggests organizations in the occidental setting to streamline their recruitment policy, giving due importance to the personality traits and emotional quotient of individuals. As task uncertainty and complexity are the critical driving factors in the oriental context, the organizations should undertake a delicate balancing act between reducing risk, removing uncertainty and progressing. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is probably the first-ever attempt to apply comprehensive TISM and MICMAC on knowledge hiding, which characterizes the antecedents of knowledge hiding in two opposite cultural contexts and thereby offers to provide the required impetus for further research on the influence of culture in knowledge-hiding behavior.

This study examines the role of personal and socio-cultural factors on entrepreneurial decisions and performance of women-owned small businesses in India. Using an interpretative approach, we explored the entrepreneurial journey of twenty women entrepreneurs. While the need for flexibility, family orientation, and work-family integration emerged as important personal factors shaping women’s decision to pursue entrepreneurship, family support emerged as a crucial factor for the survival and performance of the business. Gender discrimination and stereotype emerged as societal challenges, and the inadequacy of financial resources and limited institutional support posed as structural challenges. Strong motivation, risk-taking attitude, and persistence are the personal attributes that helped in nurturing the desire to pursue entrepreneurship. Apart from the evidence of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, strong gender role ideology emerged as a deep-rooted cultural dimension affecting the attitude and behavior of women entrepreneurs. The findings will aid in the development of programs and policies to promote women entrepreneurship.