The current coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led the world toward severe socio-economic crisis and psychological distress. It has severely hit the economy; but the service sector, particularly the hospitality industry, is hard hit by it. It increases the sense of insecurity among the employees and their perception of being unemployed, adversely affecting their mental health. This research aims to contribute to the emerging debate by investigating the effect of economic crisis and non-employability on employees’ mental health through perceived job insecurity under the pandemic situation. It empirically examines the underlying framework by surveying 372 employees of the hospitality industry during COVID-19. Results indicate that perceived job insecurity mediates the relationship of fear of economic crisis, non-employability, and mental health. Furthermore, the contingency of fear of COVID-19 strengthens the indirect relationship of fear of economic crisis on mental health through perceived job insecurity. The findings will provide a new dimension to the managers to deal with the psychological factors associated with the employees’ mental health and add to the emerging literature of behavioral sciences. The study also highlights the increasing need for investment in the digital infrastructure and smart technologies for the hospitality industry.

This study aims to measure the impact of workplace bullying on work engagement in terms of employee silence and knowledge sharing. It also helps to explain how psychological contract breach moderates the bullying-silence relationship. For this study, data is collected from 384 early-career employees having experience up to three years from seven banks of Lahore, Pakistan. Findings of this study reveals that workplace bullying has a positive relationship with employee silence and negative relationship with work engagement. Results of all moderation and mediated variables are significantly related to each other. However, the results explain that a psychological contract breach slightly moderates the bullying-silence relationship. Survey-based questionnaire, cross-sectional research design, and convenience-based sampling technique are some of the limitations of this study. This is the first study that tried to investigate the bullying-engagement relationship among early-career employees in the banking sector of Lahore, Pakistan. This study may help practitioners and policymakers to develop anti-bullying laws that can support the management in overcoming the negative workplace environment. This study aims to promote an equal opportunity for all employees where they can raise their voices about misconduct. This is the first study that investigated the victimization of bullying behavior among early-career employees in a Pakistani cultural context.

Career planning has become more important than standalone job decisions in the current environment, where individuals have a wider range of choices of occupations and jobs than ever before. This paper reviews the theoretical developments in career guidance theory and recommends a holistic approach towards ‘Career Path Guidance’, incorporating psychological, sociological and developmental perspectives. An approach that considers several future steps in a career cannot be without challenges. The contextual and environmental situations along with individual characteristics are subject to change along a career path. Additionally, different stages in a career path are another variable that needs consideration to achieve a sustainable future. It has, therefore, been proposed that the career course be mapped by considering external factors, internal improvements and path-related dynamism. A multidimensional understanding of career guidance and the amount, complexity and sensitivity of the data involved mean that this approach may be better executed using computer-assisted systems that can source and logically analyze a large amount of information from several sources to produce coherent, sustainable and practical career path decisions.

Despite the increasing realization of the significance of work ethics and moral awareness (MA) in businesses after mega scandals, such as those of Enron and Tyco, few studies have investigated the relationship between MA and employees’ performance and the intermediate mechanisms that explain this relationship. This study proposes that as employees’ work ethics are calibrated through ethical training, their MA increases, in turn affecting employees’ job performance. This experimental study is aimed at investigating the impact of MA, increased through ethical training, on employees’ job performance. Based on institutional theory, the multidimensional work ethic profile (MWEP) and strategic human resource management literature, it is hypothesized that MA of employees’ is positively correlated with employees’ performance and that this relationship is moderated by the age, gender and education level of the employees. In particular, the moral awareness component of ethical decision-making (EDM) models is considered as coextensive with work ethics in experimental design, and work ethics is depicted by a multidimensional work ethic profile (MWEP). The study used a sample of 100 employees of a golf club, divided into an experiment group and a control group with 50 employees each. The experiment group was subjected to an ethical training program focused on increasing MA. Employees’ performance for both groups was evaluated based on eight sub-variables. The study concluded that increasing MA increases employees’ performance, with no significant moderation effect of age, gender and education level on this relationship. The results of this study will go a long way in helping managers to increase the productivity of their employees through increased MA.

The behavioural integrity of leaders is not only an individual trait that can earn them respect in their personal capacity, but it also may positively affect their followers and ultimately improve the organization’s effectiveness in a variety of ways. The relationship between behavioural integrity and employees using their voice has been studied by researchers through multiple aspects. This study brings a new perspective in this discussion by investigating the effect of leaders’ behavioural integrity on employees’ voice both directly and through the mediating roles of psychological safety and trust in the leader. The cross-sectional data of 384 employees collected from the banking sector in Pakistan is used to shed light on this new perspective in the relationship between the behavioural integrity of a leader and employees’ comportment in using their voice. The results of the empirical analyses support the direct effect of the behavioural integrity of leaders on employees’ voice. A significant mediating role of psychological safety and trust is also supported in the empirical analyses. The findings of the study bear important implications for leaders and business managers working in companies by providing insight on the importance of behavioural integrity of leaders in encouraging employees to have a voice in organizations.

Background: Services provided by the health care sector is imperative for the society. Therefore, deviant behaviors among doctors is crucial to address for ensuring high-quality patient care, maintaining healthcare standards, and enhancing overall organizational efficiency in public sector hospitals. This study aims to predict deviant behavior resulting from psychological contract violations among doctors employed in public sector hospitals in Pakistan. It also examines the moderating effects of individual cultural differences, particularly mastery orientation and gender. The objective of the study is to emphasize on the factors contributing in negative behavioral outcomes in healthcare sector resultantly providing compromised services to the patients. Method: A cross-sectional, two-way research design was employed, targeting doctors working in public hospitals. Structured questionnaires were employed for data collection. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS and Smart-PLS 4.0, employing partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results: The findings reveal a significant positive relationship between psychological contract violation and job neglect. Furthermore, mastery orientation was found to moderate this relationship: doctors with high mastery orientation were less likely to exhibit deviant behavior in response to psychological contract violations compared to those with low mastery orientation. Gender was also examined as a moderating variable with significant impact. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of managing counterproductive behaviors among doctors by implementing appropriate pre- and post-intervention strategies. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.