Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationships between career competency, career resilience and career success. The study further examines the mediating role of career resilience on the relationship between career competency and career success. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 284 Islamic bank employees across Pakistan through a cross-sectional, self-reporting, online questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses using Smart PLS version 3.0. Findings The study’s results indicate that career competency is a significant predictor of career resilience, and that career resilience is subsequently a significant predictor of career success. Further, the results of the structural equation model analyses supported the proposition that career resilience mediates the relationship between career competency and career success. Practical implications Human resource practitioners and managers can increase the likelihood of their employees’ career resilience by focusing on developing career-related competencies – an antecedent of career success. Originality/value The study clarifies prevailing misconceptions that assume a direct linear relationship between career competency and career success by establishing, through empirical evidence, that success is not an ultimate outcome of competence. In addition, it proposes an oversimplified model of the competence–resilience–success relationship.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the mediating role of relational mobile usage on the relationship between personal values (individualism, collectivism and academic self-efficacy) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among the faculty members of higher education/degree-awarding institutes (DAIs) in Pakistan. The paper also examines the moderating role of gender on the relationship between relational mobile usage and OCB. Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional data from 217 faculty members of higher education/DAIs in Pakistan were collected through an online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling technique using SmartPLS was used to assess the measurement and structural model. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used for data normality analysis, missing value analysis and variable calculation. Response and non-response bias were also examined. Findings The findings confirmed that individualism was not significantly related to relational mobile usage; however, collectivism and academic self-efficacy were significantly related to relational mobile usage. The relationship of relational mobile usage and OCB was also significant. The mediating role of relational mobile usage on the relationship between individualism and OCB was not significant; however, the mediating role of relational mobile usage between collectivism and OCB, and academic self-efficacy and OCB was significant. The moderating role of gender on the relationship between relational mobile usage and OCB was also significant. Practical implications DAIs’ administration should strive to encourage individuals to value group priorities over the individualistic interests. Valuing group interest over the individualistic interest would promote the usage of mobile technology for relational purpose. This relational perspective of mobile usage will ultimately develop OCB among individuals. Also, academic self-efficacy through relational mobile usage can lead to OCB; therefore, another important policy implication for the administration of DAIs is to develop academic self-efficacy among the stakeholders of the institutions. Originality/value Although OCB has become a theoretically mature concept, the framework proposed for this study has rarely been discussed in previous scholarships, particularly from the perspective of relational mobile usage. Arguably, this study is the first in testing the mediating role of relational mobile usage between the personal values and OCB within the context of academia in Pakistan.

PurposeThis study examines the relationship of positive career shocks and career optimism. The mediating role of career decision-making self-efficacy (CDSE) between positive career shocks and career optimism, and the moderating role of consideration of future consequences – immediate (CFC-I) between CDSE and career optimism is checked.Design/methodology/approachThrough cluster sampling, cross-sectional data from 192 professionals of electronic media industry were collected via an electronically administered questionnaire. For preliminary descriptive data analysis SPSS version 21 was used. SmartPLS version 3.0 was used for testing the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that positive career shocks have a relationship with career optimism via CDSE. Also, CFC-I moderated the relationship of CDSE and career optimism such that the relationship of CDSE and career optimism was stronger at higher level of CFC-I.Practical implicationsThe study provides implications for the career consultants, human resource professionals and senior management of organizations. All these stakeholders can strive to build an inventory of positive career shocks. Also, shifting to a surprised business model of announcing compensations and promotions is another area to work on. The results of this study further suggest disengaging the fresh potential employees in the initial processes of recruitment. Interdepartmental coordination of health and safety department and human resource management department is also very important implication of this study to highlight the positive aspects of being optimistic.Originality/valueThe study is among the few empirical studies which investigates the relationship between positive career shocks and career optimism via CDSE. Also, in light of the latest call of various empirical works in the domain, this study adds a moderating variable i.e. CFC-I in predicting career optimism. Furthermore, contrary to the conventional approach of applying students' data on career models, this study tests the proposed career model on data collected from professionals.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to advance the prevalent leadership–creativity perspective by examining respectful engagement as a missing link between transformational leadership and employees creativity in the tourism and hospitality industry of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 288 supervisor–subordinate dyads of hotel and tourism industry in Pakistan. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to validate the measurement model and to test the proposed hypotheses using SmartPLS 3.0.FindingsThe results suggest that transformational leadership and respectful engagement are significantly related and that respectful engagement fosters employee creativity. The study further confirmed that respectful engagement mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity.Practical implicationsBesides theoretical contribution, the study has several managerial implications for the tourism and hospitality industry. Globally, in the tourism and hospitality industry, the service selling proposition is largely based on creativity. Hence, the study suggests the managers of tourism and hospitality industry should adopt a transformational leadership style to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage of creativity. The study further recommends the managers capitalize on their transformational leadership style to observe respectful engagement in the workplace, which in turn can encourage employees to behave creatively.Originality/valueTheoretically, this paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge in a couple of ways. Firstly, while several empirical studies have discussed the impact of transformational leadership on employee creativity, and various mediating models have also been tested in this regard, little effort has been made to study the links between transformational leadership and employee creativity despite existing awareness about the importance of respectful engagement for employee creativity. Thus, the current study examines employee creativity with the lens of transformational leadership and respectful engagement. Secondly, the study integrates the theories of transformational leadership, employee engagement and employee creativity.

PurposeThis qualitative inquiry sheds light on using management accounting systems to address economic sustainability concerns in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of Pakistan. Building on the dynamic capabilities (DC) theory, this research endeavors to address the recent calls on management accounting and economic sustainability in the context of SMEs.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research design was adopted in which 13 semistructured interviews were conducted with SME owners of Pakistan. The transcribed interviews were coded and thematic analysis was performed via NVIVO-12 to generate themes.FindingsBased on the DC theory, the findings revealed that SME owners in Pakistan use management accounting systems to ensure economic sustainability. The authors found that DC are a co-created phenomenon and refer to them as collective DC. Furthermore, the authors found the theme of accounting literacy which played a critical role in the exhibition of DC in a collective manner.Originality/valueThis is one of the earliest studies on management accounting systems that examine economic sustainability in Pakistani SMEs. This research provides novel insights into the use of management accounting systems in Pakistan from the perspective of DC. In Pakistani SMEs, dynamic capacities are co-created and contingent on accounting literacy.