PurposeThe creative employees with innovative ideas tend to engage with the latest technologies and the needed organizational processes for the survival of the companies. The culture of workplace innovation (WIP) causes, strengthens, sustains and incentivizes employee performance to enhance employee innovativeness. This paper explores as to what employees perceive on and how to go about WPI; the study of the perception of knowledge professionals about nature, extent, the association and the outcomes of workplace innovation, therefore, assumes importance.Design/methodology/approachKnowledge professionals were surveyed to collect data regarding workplace innovation. And 481 collected responses were analyzed to infer the results and employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to validate the proposed research model. The results of the reliability and validity tests show that the proposed model has satisfactory psychometric properties.FindingsThe present study looked into how culture facilitates WPI and enhances employee innovativeness and performance. The level of trust between employees and organizations has to be very high, and the organization has to have a close-knit working environment to ensure that organizations remain in the market retaining their market standing. This is so particularly in the context of today's global scenario where organizations have access to technologies, and technologies have changed the way we live, consume and meet people. The success of an organization depends on the culture of the organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has certain constraints. Foremost, the sample collected comprises a good percentage of entry and middle managerial level employees while the proportion of senior managerial level employees is relatively less. In a way, it represents the actual population, as in general, the senior managers make a very less percentage in information technology (IT) organizations.Practical implicationsTo accomplish the goal of marinating high performing and innovative organizational workforce, the policymakers and the management of organizations should adopt an employee-centric approach by employing nontechnical innovation at the workplace, namely WPI. The results of this study pronounce the same. The more favorable the culture of an organization, the more likely the employee thrives and continues in it. Hence, the major step from the employer side could be to develop and maintain a supportive and constructive organizational culture.Originality/valueThe value of this original research lies in the understanding of the literature reviewed that it is the first survey of its kind done in India, and it helps the Indian IT organizations and knowledge professionals to understand that the WPI enhances employee innovativeness and job performance.

The aim of this study was to investigate what are the determinants of employee engagement in service sector of Pakistan. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection of data from respondents working in service sector on five-point Likert scale. Overall 301 filled useable questionnaires were entered. The average age is 25-29 years and 67% of total respondents are male. The average working experience of the participants is 2-5 years. The results of confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis indicate that the core self-evaluation, fairness and treatment of employees and service environment of organization are positively and significantly related with employee engagement. Different antecedents of employee engagement are investigated in this study. As a result, this research endeavors to fill the gap about the lack of academic literature on fairness and treatment of employees in Pakistani context. Findings of this research do have practical implications for service sector, mainly for their human resources department as how they can increase the engagement of employees in service sector. Low sample size is limitation in generalizing the results of this study. Sample size may be increased and this study should be tested in other regions as well.

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the effectiveness of online teaching and learning in the higher education sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and thereby design and formulate strategies to overcome the lacunas, if any, to enhance teaching effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted to analyze how far students were able to adapt to online teaching and learning, access teaching platforms and afford it. It was also studied whether they were able to grasp and apply the concepts learned. A total of 600 questionnaires were given, and 372 complete responses were received. Structural equation modeling is employed to test the hypothesis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the model fit and measurement model.FindingsThis study is first of its kind in India which aims to analyze the effectiveness of online teaching and learning environments. This research model is designed to identify the determinants of effective online learning and to overcome the lacunas existing in the prevailing online teaching methods. It can be applied not just during crises like the pandemic but also during normal times to make teaching and learning more economical, innovative and impactful. The present study examined the impact of five major determinants—adaptability, affordability, bandwidth, grasping and interaction—on online learning and its effectiveness during COVID-19. It was observed that all the determinants positively influence online learning effectiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of the study was restricted to three centrally funded Indian Universities. Other institutions were not part of the study.Originality/valueThis study is the first of its kind done in the current COVID-19 scenario, and the outcome would help overcome the lacunas in the prevailing online teaching scenario across the globe and make it more effective.

Authors' Contribution MAK conceived the idea of study. AS, MH, HN, MIK and ST helped in lab work. NA and RB wrote the manuscript. SA and AAS proof read and finalized the article.