Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors. The authors further investigate how abusive supervision is linked with knowledge hiding behaviors, and why some subordinates, unlike others, tend to engage in more knowledge hiding behaviors in response to abusive supervision. The authors propose that interpersonal justice mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors, and that Islamic work ethics (IWE) weaken the hypothesized relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors.Design/methodology/approach: The data were gathered in three time lags from 224 respondents working in the hospitality industry of Pakistan.Findings: The results reveal that the abusive supervision is positively associated with a knowledge hiding behaviors. This relationship is mediated by perceptions of interpersonal justice, but the IWE moderated this relationship such that in the presence of high levels of IWE, the impact of abusive supervision on knowledge hiding behaviors is weak.Practical implications: Employees’ values and beliefs can serve as a safeguard against reactions to abusive supervision. The impact of abusive supervision on employees’ behaviors may be minimized by building their ethical values around Islamic principles.Originality/value: To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors. The authors integrate displaced aggression and social exchange theory with the IWE literature to offer new insights in-to the mechanisms and boundary conditions associated with the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors.

This study examined the extent to which project managers’ personality determines project success through the mediating mechanism of transformational leadership. The context of the study was nongovernmental projects that focused on education and health. Data were collected from 170 project managers who were engaged in 10 different programs in various areas of Pakistan. Based on the post-positivism approach and a specific deductive design, the results of the study indicated that Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience were direct positive predictors of project success, whereas transformational leadership acted as a mediator of these relations. One of the personality dimensions (i.e., Conscientiousness) had only an indirect effect on project success through transformational leadership. No relation was found between Neuroticism and project success. The theoretical and practical implications for project management are also discussed.

Supervisor phubbing occurs when supervisors use their mobile phone during an interaction with a subordinate. This study explores the effects of supervisor phubbing on employees’ organization-based self-esteem with a specific focus on subordinates’ experience of social exclusion. Drawing on data from a sample of 407 respondents, the study findings show no direct relationship between perceived supervisor phubbing and organization-based self-esteem. However, employees who perceive their supervisor as using a phone more frequently during interpersonal interactions with them reported higher feelings of social exclusion during these interactions, which, in turn, predicted lower organization-based self-esteem. The study also examined the facilitating effect of power distance between supervisors and employees, which was partially supported. The implications of these findings for organizational policy are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the contributory factors that affect the whistle-blowing process in public sector organizations of Pakistan. Previous studies reveal that a perception of apathy and likely retaliation by the management, peers, and employees at large creates a culture within organizations that negatively affects whistle-blowing. Data were collected from 1,762 employees working in various public sector organizations of Pakistan through a questionnaire. Frequency tables were used to analyze the data. Results suggest that in Pakistan a number of factors, such as culture and organizational retaliation, affect the whistle-blowing process. It also highlights that some unique culturally induced factors contribute toward the employees’ perception and practice of whistle-blowing in their organizations. Results are explained in light of Hofstede’s cultural indices, which indicate that whistle-blowing is culture bound.

This study examines the relatively new phenomenon of organizational cronyism as a determinant of deviant workplace behavior in public sector organizations in Pakistan. It also examines the mediating role of psychological contract breach. Data were collected from 180 employees working in various public sector organizations in Pakistan. The results indicate that organizational cronyism is positively related with psychological contract breach, which in turn results in deviant workplace behavior in public sector organizations.