Purpose The purpose of this research is to analyze the motivation behind the hijab behavior in a multicultural environment of Malaysia; it is a religious obligation or fashion behavior. In an analytic thinking of motivation in influencing women in wearing a hijab, learning from the social environment on religious obligation and fashion in hijab has been discussed. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative analysis has been conducted for 100 hijab-wearing female students in the University of Malaya. Findings The findings were tabulated and the outcomes proved that most of the women took the hijab as a religious obligation instead of fashion motivation. Muslim women are still taking on the religious obligation in styling up the hijab. Modification in the hijab can be accepted in Malaysia, but the substantial design to wear the hijab is an obligation. Originality/value This study exclusively discusses the hijab as fashion and religious obligation within the context of Malaysia.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of workplace cyberbullying on creativity directly and through psychological distress. Furthermore, this study proposes that psychological capital (PsyCap) buffers the harmful effects of workplace cyberbullying on psychological distress and creativity. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected in two waves from 329 nurses working in four large public hospitals located in a metropolitan city of Pakistan. The data were analyzed through PROCESS (Model 8) using SPSS. Findings The results demonstrate that cyberbullying negatively affects creativity through increased psychological distress. The findings also explicate that PsyCap moderates the effects of cyberbullying on psychological distress such that the link was weak (vs strong) for those (victims) who had high (vs low) PsyCap. Practical implications This study recommends management to develop and promote PsyCap among employees because these positive resources help them to regulate their emotions and cognition to overcome negative consequences of cyberbullying and other workplace stressors. Originality/value Psychological distress as an underlying mechanism between cyberbullying and creativity as well as buffering effect of PsyCap is the novelty of the study.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of customer equity on the brand-switching behaviour of millennial Muslim consumers in Pakistan and Malaysia using the theory of planned behaviour framework. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 706 millennial Muslim consumers from two universities in each country through a self-administered questionnaire using a multi-cluster probability sampling and were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings The findings demonstrate that the customer equity dimensions (awareness of American brands, perceived quality and image of American brands) are significantly different between the two countries, and moreover, customer equity strongly influences the brand-switching intention behaviour in both countries, and this consequently influences the actual brand-switching behaviour. Practical implications This study is important for those firms who have many prospective switchers and Muslim consumers, because it is essential to understand why brand-switching behaviour occurs, and to what extent such firms can discourage such consumers from leaving the brand. Originality/value This is the first paper of its kind to examine the brand-switching behaviour of millennial Muslim consumers in two different cultures.

In the present study, we propose a negative association between spiritual leadership and work alienation and service employee social capital as a mediator of the spiritual leadership-work alienation link. We also hypothesize political skill as a boundary condition of the direct association between spiritual leadership and social capital and the indirect association between spiritual leadership and work alienation. Time-lagged (three rounds, three weeks apart) survey data collected from 283 service sector employees supported our proposed hypotheses. Despite the prevalence of work alienation in service organizations and the recognition that it can lead to several negative outcomes, little is known about how managers can address service employees' feelings of work alienation. We address this crucial theoretical gap and offer several practical implications that can help managers in service organizations enhance employees' social capital and undermine their feelings of alienation at work.