Purpose Based on trait activation theory, the purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between the antecedents and outcomes of informal learning with the moderating effect of supervisor feedback environment (SFE) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach Data (n = 388) were gathered from middle managers of Pakistan’s SME sector by following the purposive sampling technique. The proposed model was examined by means of structural equation modeling analysis with AMOS 24. Findings The study results delineate that middle managers with high-level self-efficacy and motivation to learn more actively participate in informal learning activities. The study also found that the SFE is a strong contextual moderator between the nexus of personal factors and informal learning. In addition, informal learning also has significant and positive effect on work engagement. Practical implications Human resource practitioners and organizational leaders of small businesses can use informal learning to improve employees’ skills and knowledge with less cost. For instance, management should use different strategies to enhance the effectiveness of informal learning by providing SFE. Originality/value There are numerous recent calls for research to ascertain the interaction of individual, contextual factors and outcomes of informal learning. The study addresses these voids by empirically examining antecedents and outcomes of informal learning simultaneously through the person–situation interaction perspective. It demonstrates that informal learning at the workplace becomes more effective in SFE.

Purpose Organizations are facing pressure to reduce costs of training and enhancing the role of self-development that is self-driven and contextual in nature as a means to supplement employee development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of individual and situational factors on self-development as well as the moderating role of situational factors. Individual factors are referred to personal characteristics, i.e. learning goal orientation and proactive personality, while situational factors are environmental conditions, including job autonomy and empowering environment. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from 280 middle managers of the banking sector. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was conducted to validate the model. Findings The study findings revealed a significant direct relationship of individual (learning goal orientation and proactive personality) and situational (empowering environment and job autonomy) factors with self-development. The study also found only a significant moderating effect of empowering environment in relation to learning goal orientation and self-development, correspondingly job autonomy moderates the relationship of proactive personality and self-development. Practical implications The study concludes with offering some implication for organization to focus on self-development activities by providing an empowering environment and job autonomy to its employees, which will result to minimize the overall cost of training. Organizations should also identify the individual factors that lead to self-development like proactive personality and learning goal orientation. Originality/value This study gives new insight on the predictors of self-development and their interaction. This study may be a pioneer to empirically validate a theoretical model about the interaction of situational factors between individual factors and self-development. Furthermore, it contributes and advances our knowledge by demonstrating how individual and situational factors are influencing middle mangers’ self-development in workplace.

PurposeThe goal of this study was to examine the mediating mechanism of informal learning between dimensions of learning climate and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). In addition, the study also aimed to investigate the learning climate, in the dimensions of learning facilitation, learning appreciation and error avoidance as antecedents of informal learning.Design/methodology/approachThe data were gathered from sports items manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Sialkot, Pakistan. Sialkot is home to manufacturing businesses that export their products worldwide. Survey data of 318 middle managers collected at 2 different times were used for testing the research model using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe results demonstrate that facilitation and appreciation learning climate have a positive relationship with informal learning and error-avoidance has a negative relationship with informal learning. The analysis also revealed that informal learning mediated the linkage between learning climate dimensions and OCB. Moreover, informal learning is significantly related to OCB.Practical implicationsHR practitioners and organizational leaders of SMEs can use, encourage and promote informal learning to improve the skills and knowledge of employees at low cost. For instance, management should strategically implement informal learning at the workplace by providing a supportive learning climate.Originality/valuePrevious studies have overlooked the impact of informal learning on OCB and its mediating effect. The present study addresses this gap by examining the mediating mechanism of informal learning between learning climate and OCB.

Purpose There are many entrepreneurial communities in the Asian subcontinent, which are known for their economic resilience and religious orientation but have received limited attention in extant literature. These communities include Memon, Delhiwala, Chinioti, Ismaili and Bohri, which have been persistent in keeping their members economically stable, as many centuries, while also retaining their religio-sociocultural identity. This paper aims to add to the body of literature by documenting the possible factors, which contribute toward advancing socio-economic justice for the members of respective communities. Design/methodology/approach This study uses Eisenhardth research strategy within a social constructivist paradigm to process data from in-depth interviews, memos and documentary sources to explore the internal dynamics of three most prominent of these communities (Memon, Delhiwala and Chinioti) in Pakistan. Findings The findings reveal that the secret to their resilience is, perhaps, rooted in their religio-sociocultural communal norms, which may not just ensure effective wealth redistribution among the deserving segments of the society but may also enable its deserving members to achieve self-reliance through community-supported–entrepreneurial–activity. This study proposes that a culture of community-based–family–entrepreneurship coupled with the spirit of cooperation, sacrifice and reciprocity may eliminate the possibility of socioeconomic injustice. Social implications The religious entrepreneurial communities may be seen as an alternate to free-market or state-driven methods to impart socioeconomic justice where needed. The voluntary inclination of entrepreneurs in such communities to facilitate those in need may, perhaps, reduce or even eliminate the need to involve state intervention to redistribute wealth through taxation, which may also eliminate the cost of the state bureaucracy, which is used for the collection and redistribution of taxes. Originality/value The findings add to the body of literature which could help similar communities to improve their socioeconomic stability in a just manner for all its members. Policymakers can also take notice of the religio-sociocultural norms at the source of socioeconomic justice within the respective communities to formulate policies conducive to sustaining such norms where necessary.

The never-ending gender discrimination in societies needs multidimensional exploration to understand its causes. Gender stereotyping has remained one of the foremost causes of gender discrimination in the workplace. This study strived to explore the stereotypical thinking and beliefs about women employees in the minds of their office leaders and discusses how these stereotypes play role in management of talent and performance of female employees. With the qualitative approach, this study has used hermeneutic phenomenology as the method of exploration. The data was collected with purposive sampling from managerial leaders, working in private companies whose followers include women employees. Nineteen in-depth interviews were conducted with a question designed from theory, expert and construct validity. The data were analyzed with multi-level coding and thematic analysis. The results revealed that managerial leaders have work-related, family-related and personal stereotypes about their female followers. They generalize that women employees are less ambitious, less professional, over occupied an emotional. They believe that they feel need to micromanage the females as they require more guidance. Those organizations that believe to maintain the diversity in employees should regularly organize training sessions to neutralize the stereotypes in the minds of their managers so that they could not hamper the progression of their female followers.   Keywords: Stereotypical Beliefs; Female Followers; Leadership; Organizational Behavior