Purpose: This paper reports the findings of a study examining the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement through the mediating role of meaning in work.Design/methodology/approach: Transformational leadership, work engagement and perceptions of meaning in work were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of 530 full‐time employees working in Australia.Findings: The results from structural equation modelling reveal that the transformational leadership style influences followers’ attributes of work engagement. The direct relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement was found to be partially mediated by employees’ perceptions of meaning in work.Practical implications: Industry reports show that globally, the number of unengaged employees have increased, costing nations billions in productivity losses. We present a model that could help reduce these losses by providing human resource managers with new insights into developing training programmes that could improve transformational leadership behaviours in the workplace. These programmes could help re‐design the context of work to make work more meaningful.Originality/value: The relationship between transformational leadership style, perceptions of meaning in work and work engagement were explored theoretically and tested empirically in an Australian context.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine a hypothesized model investigating the influence of workplace spirituality on turnover intentions through the academics loneliness in universities in Jordan.Design/methodology/approach: A translated pre-determined survey on a sample of Jordanian academics from universities was used. A total of 381 usable returns were collected for the analysis (i.e. response rate of 84.6 percent). Structural equation model (SEM) and tow-step modeling approach using AMOS were implemented to obtain the best fit model and to determine the role of loneliness in work as a mediator between workplace spirituality and voluntary turnover intentions.Findings: As predicted, the hypothesized model best fits the data. The results of simple mediation analysis and SEM also contribute to the clarification of the causal relations between workplace spirituality and turnover intentions in one hand and workplace spirituality and loneliness in work on the other hand. Moreover, the results revealed that the influence of workplace spirituality on voluntary turnover intention was partially mediated by loneliness in work. The results support a partial mediation relationship as the total effect of workplace spirituality on voluntary turnover intentions attenuated slightly but remained significant upon the introduction of loneliness in work.Research limitations/implications: The results of this study might only be generalized to universities and similar contexts. Moreover, although the sample of the study was yielded from sample in Jordanian universities, the common methods bias might be a problem in generalizing the results.Practical implications: The findings could provide decisions makers with valuable insight to focus on building training programs in order to understand the benefits of enriching spiritual environment and be more supportive of spirituality movement. Furthermore, organizations can design some of activities that make work environment more meaningful.Originality/value: This study is unique as it is the first that examined theoretically and empirically the influence of workplace spirituality on turnover intentions through loneliness in work on a sample of Jordanian academics.

The study assesses a model designed to investigate the mediating impact of psychological empowerment, job crafting, and proactive personality, and to examine the moderating influence of person–organization fit on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee innovative behavior. A sample of 782 full-time employees from various industries in Jordan were surveyed to gather data on ethical leadership, innovative work behaviors, psychological empowerment, job crafting, proactive personality, and person–organization fit. The study employed an empirical research design, with data collected through surveys. The results reveal a positive correlation between ethical leadership and innovative work behavior, with psychological empowerment, job crafting, and proactive personality as the mediators in this relationship. The link between ethical leadership and innovation work behaviors is also moderated by person–organization fit. The study’s model suggests that ethical leadership practices enhance innovation. Prioritizing ethical principles, transparency, fairness, trust, and accountability cultivates a culture valuing ethics and encouraging innovation. The results provide insights to boost empowerment and proactive behaviors and highlight the importance of a person–organization fit that aligns values for an innovation-friendly workplace. Fit considerations should also be incorporated in recruitment and retention processes. The study makes significant theoretical contributions by synthesizing insights from ethical leadership theory and developing a comprehensive framework to understand how ethical leadership influences innovative work behavior. The research also extends prior work by examining the moderating role of person–organization fit by emphasizing the importance of aligning individual and organizational values in fostering innovation.

Purpose: This paper aims to report the findings of a study examining the role of workplace envy as a mediator between set of antecedents and consequences. A theoretical model proposed to be tested empirically by Mishra (2009).Design/methodology/approach: A pre-determined questionnaire was completed by 169 employees working in several jobs at four organizations in Jordan. Only 142 were usable for the present study, resulting in a response rate of 84 per cent. The data collection period took only one month from March 2017 to April 2017.Findings: Six hypotheses were developed in this study. The results from multiple-regression analysis indicate that the three proposed antecedents (i.e. neuroticism, conscientiousness and perceived competitiveness) significantly predict workplace envy. In addition, workplace envy significantly predicts counterproductive behaviours and organizational citizenship behaviour.Research limitations/implications: Organizations must set a range of methods that help in reducing the envy at work. A starting point to do that is to measure both; the levels of envy and its main determinants among all employees in the organization. After this assessment, the aim is to build intervention methods aimed at striving to reduce workplace envy. Furthermore, the proposed model of this study may provide managers with new insights into reducing envy at work. These might be, but not specific to: stress management programmes, teaching employees ethical solutions for conflicts at work and conducting informal activities between employees.Originality/value: This is one of the studies, to author knowledge, that tested variety of antecedents and consequences of workplace envy in a Jordanian context. As a result, testing the proposed model addresses previous research concerns that envy has not thoroughly investigated and requires empirical consideration.

Purpose: – Providing employees with meaning in their work has inspired numerous researchers to study the role of personal meaningful work and its related outcomes. Despite this high level of interest, the theoretical views and methodological approaches used to explore this concept still require refinement and development. Without a comprehensive review of these views and approaches, the concept of meaningful work will remain an ill defined notion. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap with a review of the theoretical and empirical research on meaningful work.Design/methodology/approach: – The paper includes a discussion on the concepts of “meaning” and “work”, and its importance and the sources for conceptual confusion, and a synthesis of the common features that form the idea of meaningful work in numerous empirical and theoretical studies.Findings: – The paper found meaningful work is derived when the employee has a perfect understanding of the nature and expectations of the task environment (i.e. the work has a clear goal, purpose and value that is connected to the employee), the employee feels a sense of fit or congruence between their own core values and the job requirements and organizational mission and goals, and when perfect understanding exists of how employees’ roles contribute to the purpose of the organization.Practical implications: – As part of an effective HRM strategy, organizations should actively encourage and develop managers’ abilities to redesign jobs and the climate to build enhanced feelings of meaning in work. Furthermore, organizations can promote greater experiences of meaningful work among employees by implementing the “job crafting” concept. Also, the role of top management is to focus on job elements that would possibly change personal needs of employees and hence perceive their jobs to be more meaningful.Originality/value: – Given the limited amount of recent literature focused on defining meaningful work, this paper provides valuable resources to help organizations succeed in their understanding of how to engage in creating meaningful work environment. It also examines the underlying features that constitute the meaningful work concept and offers guidance for future research by presenting the current state of knowledge about meaningful work.

Purpose: This article maps the scholarly conversation on two important topics in the field of economic development: human capital and special economic zones. While these have been studied separately, little work is available on their intersection. Design/methodology/approach: The article is a systematic literature review. It followed the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) criteria. Findings: While human capital development has been largely discussed from the perspective of developed countries, it hasn’t been examined specifically in connection to SEZs. Moreover, there is solid evidence of the positive impact of industrial clusters, suggesting that SEZs that pursue the formation of industrial clusters might have the strongest effect on human capital development. The piece argues the intersection of human development and SEZ establishment is currently a gap in the literature calling for further empirical investigation Originality: The literature review is brought to bear on the experience of the Emirate of Dubai, in order to highlight features of its development history that make it an ideal case study for empirical investigation.