Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships of capacity/layout (CL), design (D), location, (L), hygiene (H), human resource management (HRM), food quality (FQ) and ambiance (A) in operations management strategies (OMS) and the direct and indirect effects of OMS on customer satisfaction (CS) and customer behavioral intentions (CBIs) that might affect income and, therefore, be influential regarding café-restaurants in Sulaimania in Iraq.Design/methodology/approach: Data are collected through a survey questionnaire using a simple random sampling methodology from 254 customers of 46 casual café-restaurants. Methodology includes demographic analysis, factor analysis, structural equation modeling and mediation analysis.Findings: Concerning relationships between structural and infrastructural elements of OMS, only CL and H influence HRM, D and H affect A, and H influences FQ. Regarding relationships between OMS and CS and CBIs, only L, HRM, FQ and A affect CS. Concerning the relationship between CS and CBIs, CS influences CBIs. Finally, given indirect effects of OMS on CS and CBIs, HRM mediates relationships between CL-CS and H-CS; FQ and A mediate relationships between H-CS; and CS mediates relationships between L-CBIs, FQ-CBIs and HRM-CBIs.Research limitations/implications: The study that treats seven variables in OMS is limited to Sulaimania in Iraq. Thus, the findings cannot be generalized. The study might guide future studies about the way OMS elements forge CS and CBIs in café-restaurants where owners/managers develop credible strategic plans.Originality/value: The study provides a unique insight into the hospitality industry in Iraq where studies among elements of OMS are few and far between.

Purpose: This paper investigates the effect of diversity management on employees' innovative work behavior (IWB) through human resource management (HRM) and affective commitment (AC).Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 358 employees of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The hypothesized model has been evaluated using structural equation modeling.Findings: Findings suggest that workforce diversity management directly and significantly affected HRM and AC. Furthermore, findings revealed that HRM significantly influenced both employees' IWB and AC, while AC had a significant positive influence on IWB. Moreover, concerning the indirect effects, AC and HRM significantly mediated the relationship between DM and employees' IWB.Research limitations/implications: A cross-sectional single source dataset is used to evaluate the hypothesized model.Originality/value: Grounded in the social exchange and institutional theories, this research fills the gap in the literature by addressing the “black box” of how workforce DM influences employees' IWB while examining the mediating role of employees' AC and firm HRM policies.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the links between declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and performance in the context of ISO 9001:2015 certification. It develops a model which tests the impact of training and rewarding on employees’ declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and motivation. It tests the effects of declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and motivation on employees’ contextual and task performance. The study is conducted in Turkey using data collected from 423 employees working in various firms operating in the textiles, food production, and mining sectors. Our results show that although training and rewarding are important antecedents of knowledge and motivation, ISO 9001:2015 certified firms had difficulties in converting these benefits into better employee performance.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effects of work–life balance (WLB) on the employee motivation (EM), job satisfaction (JS) and emloyee performance (EP) of academic staff at universities.Design/methodology/approach: In this regard, the authors collected 490 valid data from academic staff of major public and private universities in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. WLB was evaluated under three dimensions as work interference with personal life (WIPL), personal life interference with work (PLIW) and work personal life enhancement (WPLE).Findings: The results of the analyses showed that WIPL and PLIW negatively and significantly affected EM but did not have any significant impact on JS. WPLE affected both JS and EM significantly and positively. Lastly, JS did not have significant impact on EP while EM did.Research limitations/implications: As the research was conducted in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, it cannot be generalized to other countries and cultures.Practical implications: Besides, the study suggests theoretical and practical implication as it was a special study proposed during COVID 19 lock downs.Originality/value: There are very limited or no research works which attempt to study the pros and cons of WLB during such a catastrophic time, the study is useful for the university administrators and researchers in this field.

Purpose: The study uses VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR)-structural equation modeling (SEM) to construct benchmarks for service providers and evaluate a multimethodology practice in the Internet industry.Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected using a survey based on an email/interview with 444 Internet users participating. SEM obtained coefficient values by way of customer expectations for Internet service providers. The authors normalized coefficients and integrated them into the VIKOR method for ranking competitors in the Internet industry.Findings: VIKOR-SEM revealed that network and information quality and security/privacy significantly positively impact customer trust while network and information quality and customer trust significantly positively affect Internet users' value perceptions. Customer services do not affect customer trust, while security/privacy and customer services have no significant influence on customer value perceptions. Though customer services and Internet users' trust and value perceptions directly, significantly and positively affect their commitments, the quality of network and information and security/privacy indirectly, significantly and positively influence customer commitments.Research limitations/implications: The study was in the Internet industry of Iraq. The results cannot be accurate for the other countries and the service sectors. The researchers/managers can adopt the model in other service sectors to test the multimethodology.Originality/value: VIKOR-SEM evaluated the changes in customer expectations and service providers in the Internet industry.