Purpose The purpose of this paper is to clarify the confusion between flexibility and agility. The paper traces the evolution of agility and the evolution of flexibility over time, analyses their drivers and different elements, draws the boundaries between them and defines their relationship. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review of flexibility and agility was developed. Papers written between 1920 and 2017 were reviewed and analyzed using a structured review technique. The identified papers focus on flexibility and agility, relating both to manufacturing and the supply chain. Findings Agility is the natural evolution of flexibility. Until the 1990s, the term “flexibility” was used to refer to agility, but, because of market changes, competitiveness and the need for speed, the term “agility” was coined. While flexibility is considered as an operational ability, agility is a strategic ability that enables a firm to establish a strategic long-term vision. In fact, flexibility is an agility capability, among other capabilities such as responsiveness or speed. There are also several types of flexibility that are used as agility sub-capabilities, or as agility enablers, which further confirms the idea that flexibility is a part of agility. Research limitations/implications This research is a systematic review of the existing literature on the concepts of flexibility and agility. Although it is theoretical, it could provide a set of hypotheses that would enable an empirical study to be conducted into how firms from different industries perceive flexibility and agility and how they implement each of them. Originality/value Flexibility and agility are two distinct characteristics that enable a firm to gain a competitive advantage by responding quickly and effectively to changing customer demand. However, there is confusion between these two concepts in the academic and professional literature, with both terms being used to refer to the same idea. Our literature review aims to draw the boundaries between flexibility and agility by analyzing the evolution of the two concepts and detailing their respective drivers and elements, in order to bring more clarity to the nature of the relationship between flexibility and agility.

Purpose Given the growing importance of spirituality and religion-related factors in the workplace, this paper aims to analyze the effects of spirituality, intrinsic religiosity and Islamic work ethics (IWE) on employee job performance. Design/methodology/approach Building on these theoretical concepts and perspectives, the authors hypothesized that employee intrinsic motivation mediated these proposed effects. To verify these propositions, the authors examined data collected from 224 full-time employees working for various organizations in Morocco. The authors conducted structural equations modeling (SEM) analyses using the AMOS 24 platform and Bayesian analyses to investigate direct and indirect effects. Findings First, the authors found that only IWE has positive and significant direct effect on job performance. Second, the findings indicate that employee intrinsic motivation does not mediate the relationship between the independent variables of spirituality and intrinsic religiosity and the dependent variable of job performance. These results may be because of the fact that Islamic principles and values are implemented and more reinforced in the Moroccan workplace than new and modern concepts such as intrinsic religiosity and spirituality. Research limitations/implications The present paper used a cross-sectional methodology, which did not allow testing causation between the constructs under study. Practical implications Organizations and managers alike ought to resort to IWE insights with the objective to increase the performance of their Muslim members. Originality/value This paper is novel as it represents a study on spirituality in a non-Western context. It also uses a relatively sizeable sample (N = 224) of full-time employees in the workplace.

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