Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide an insight into how individual and work factors are related to the attitudes of functional flexibility by using the willingness and ability to be flexible as dimensions of functional flexibility. Design/methodology/approach: This study is conducted through a survey of workers and administrative staff of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. Correlation and hierarchical regression techniques were used to find out the association of the dimensions of functional flexibility with the individual and work factors. Individual factors include demographic characteristics, work perception and personality traits, whereas work factors include trust in management, task formalization and autonomy. Findings: Individual factors (i.e. general self-efficacy and initiative) and one of the work factors (i.e. trust in management) showed a positive relation, whereas task formalization was negatively related with the willingness to be flexible. General self-efficacy of workers and administrative staff was positively correlated with the ability to be flexible dimension of functional flexibility. It was concluded from the findings that the two dimensions of functional flexibility, willingness to be flexible and ability to be flexible, of employees depend on fair treatment and freedom provided by their organization. Research limitations/implications: The current study was conducted on the employees of SMEs in Pakistan. A similar study on employees of multi-national corporations (MNCs) and service sectors may be useful for comparison. Practical implications: Management should improve the attitudes of employees toward functional flexibility in SMEs in Pakistan by creating a climate of trust, using lower degree of laid down and prescribed procedures and giving them opportunities for doing new tasks. Furthermore, providing them feedback on the performance and achievement of these new tasks would also help in this regard. Originality/value: The SMEs of Pakistan are in the process of transformational change. This study highlights the key factors that would be helpful to enhance the functional flexibility of employees working in the SME sector in Pakistan.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to evaluate the key issues that how social capital augments the initiation of strategic renewal through the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation and the moderating role of organizational flexibility. In the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of developing economies, the study developed and tested the theoretical model of strategic renewal for analyzing its major outputs.Design/methodology/approach: This study utilized cross-sectional design and employ quantitative approach. The data were collected from the owner, managers and executive directors of pharmaceutical SMEs of Pakistan. The study used statistical analysis of correlation and regression for the analysis of data.Findings: The study discovered that entrepreneurial orientation mediates the positive relationship of social capital and strategic renewal. Moreover, high organizational flexibility strengthens the association between social capital and strategic renewal of SMEs.Originality/value: This research contributes to the body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence that how to thrive the mechanism of strategic renewal. The study further provides understanding of the effects of organizational social capital, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational flexibility on strategic renewal.

The main objective of the study is to determine the scope and importance of the crucial indicators that have positive impact in the provision of decent work (DW) opportunities to transgender individuals. In exploring the dynamics of DW, this study also investigates the important role of social & family support (SFS), career orientation (CO) and career initiatives (CI). Data was gathered from 341 transgender individuals residing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In this study, we used a cross-sectional design and survey method. Moreover, questionnaires were used to collect the data. Statistical techniques like regression and structural equation modelling (SEM) were applied to analyze the data by making use of SPSS and AMOS. Findings of the study support a positive predictive association of SFS, CO, and CI with DW, therefore, this emphasizes their relevance in shaping DW among transgender individuals. The findings of the study demonstrate that CI mediates the associations between SFS and DW, and CO and DW. The outcomes of this research indicate that SFS, CO, and CI have a significant role in ensuring DW role. Through focusing on the mediating mechanism in which CO, SFS and CI are important predictors, this study is first of its kind in the context of developing countries that attempts to present a solid framework that would be helpful in providing decent work opportunities to underprivileged class of the society especially transgender individuals residing in developing countries.

This chapter empirically explores ICT adoption by virtual organizations in developing countries, taking the case of small and medium enterprise clusters in Pakistan. Virtual organizations consist of internally independent parties linked by ICTs to collaborate for the accomplishment of common objectives. Effective communication is a key to develop social relationships, ultimately leading to the improvement of trust and collaboration among parties in a virtual organization. ICT is considered as a vital element for communication, collaboration and trust building in virtual organizations. However, this research explains that ICT adoption by virtual organizations in the developing countries would be different mainly due to the lack of advanced ICTs, strong inclination of organizations toward face-to-face communication, strength of social system, and the weakness of the legal system in these societies.