Recent studies have revealed that nursing staff turnover remains a major problem in emerging economies. In particular, nursing staff turnover in Malaysia remains high due to a lack of job satisfaction. Despite a shortage of healthcare staff, the Malaysian government plans to create 181 000 new healthcare jobs by 2020 through the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). This study investigated the causal relationships among perceived transformational leadership, empowerment, and job satisfaction among nurses and medical assistants in two selected large private and public hospitals in Malaysia. This study also explored the mediating effect of empowerment between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. This study used a survey to collect data from 200 nursing staff, i.e., nurses and medical assistants, employed by a large private hospital and a public hospital in Malaysia. Respondents were asked to answer 5-point Likert scale questions regarding transformational leadership, employee empowerment, and job satisfaction. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the measurement models and to estimate parameters in a path model. Statistical analysis was performed to examine whether empowerment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. This analysis showed that empowerment mediated the effect of transformational leadership on the job satisfaction in nursing staff. Employee empowerment not only is indispensable for enhancing job satisfaction but also mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction among nursing staff. The results of this research contribute to the literature on job satisfaction in healthcare industries by enhancing the understanding of the influences of empowerment and transformational leadership on job satisfaction among nursing staff. This study offers important policy insight for healthcare managers who seek to increase job satisfaction among their nursing staff.

Purpose: The poor leadership style is a key obstacle to the effective implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies. To successfully apply the Industry 4.0 technologies, which can enhance the sustainability of firms, senior management needs to be inspiring and transformational. On the other hand, numerous factors can hinder the Industry 4.0 transition and “Circular Supply Chain (CSC)” transformation. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to evaluate the related barriers of CSCs in the era of Industry 4.0 transition.Design/methodology/approach: The current study developed an innovative decision-making approach with the help of the “Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo)” method and “Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC)” method on the “q-Rung Orthopair Fuzzy Sets (q-ROFSs).” CRITIC in this combined method was used to predict the importance or weighting degrees of the CSCs barriers in the age of Industry 4.0 transition.Findings: The results of this study found that the absence of knowledge about the Industry 4.0 technologies and circular approaches was the first barrier followed by the problems associated with data security in relationship management in circular flows, the deficiency of knowledge regarding the data management among stakeholders and the lack of awareness about the potential benefits of autonomous systems in labor-oriented “End-of-Life (EOL)” activities for CSCs in the era of Industry 4.0 transition.Research limitations/implications: A limitation may be that despite the generalizability of the proposed framework, the results may differ when it is implemented in different sectors. By emphasizing the obstacles to sustainable operations of supply chains (SCs) in the context of circular economy (CE) and Industry 4.0, researchers working in the same domain may be encouraged to find ways to remove such obstacles in different settings. As suggested in this study, the priority of various barriers helps researchers suggest effective strategies for the sustainable development of companies within the current dynamic business atmosphere.Practical implications: The findings of this paper can aid industry practitioners in fixing their attention on the digitization or automation of their systems in the context of sustainability or resource circularity. Note that within the current context of CE, one of the crucial issues is how to conserve the existing resources; the answer to this question can save the environment.Originality/value: The current paper proposed a new multi-criteria decision-making method using q-ROFSs to analyze, rank and evaluate the CSC barriers in the age of Industry 4.0 transition. To this end, a new decision-making approach with the help of CRITIC and CoCoSo methods on q-ROFSs called q-ROF-CRITIC-CoCoSo was introduced to evaluate the CSCs barriers in the era of Industry 4.0 transition.

Manufacturing companies are facing rapid and unanticipated changes in their business environment. Most of these companies need to find new strategies to remain competitive in the market. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to integrate the Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (ANP) and VIKOR methods to evaluate the green agile factors and sub-factors in the dairy companies in Iran. To find the green agile factors and sub-factors, this study used the expert’s opinions and literature review. Data is collected from four dairy companies. The results of this study showed that the most important green agility factors are: trust-based relationship with suppliers, flexible production capacity, versatile workers, compliance with quality standards for a new product, and workers’ willingness to learn. In addition, the results indicated that the green agility organization is one of the strategies that help companies to stay in the market. To validate the results, this study used four methods, including TOPSIS, ARAS, EDAS, and MABAC. The necessity of a reaction to the increasing customer choices, environmental concerns, and competitiveness among manufacturers across the globe has engaged the industry to embrace innovative manufacturing strategies.