Impact of Leadership Incivility on Employee Leaving Intention and Job Insecurity: Mediating role of Workplace Ostracism

Purpose: Supervisors' Incivility is considered a key antecedent of workplace ostracism and it is one of the burning issues and has a direct relationship with Job Insecurity, similarly, Job Insecurity generates the intention to leave the organization among employees. Methodology: The targeted population was the employee of healthcare institutions working in Pakistan. The sample of 336 was collected using the purposive sampling technique and the quantitative approach was applied due to the explanatory nature of the study. A five-level Likert scale questionnaire was employed to collect the data from the employees of the healthcare institutions regardless of their role and designation. Data analysis was run in twos steps, first demographic & descriptive by using Statistical Package for social science (SPSS 25.0), and in the second stage we used structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used for convergent & discriminant validities the Partial least squares (PLS) approach was adopted by using the smart PLS software for the analysis of data. Findings: The results revealed that there is a direct positive relationship between leadership incivility and employee leaving intention and job security. The mediating role of workplace ostracism is not established among the dependent and independent variables however job insecurity ignites and mediates the employee leaving intentions. Conclusion: The study in Pakistan revealed that the workplace environment contributes 32% to job performance and 23% to Employee Leaving Intention. The study aims to evaluate leadership incivility and its effects on employee leaving intention and job insecurity, and also moderate the relationship between workplace ostracism with job insecurity and employee leaving intentions

Perceived barriers to utilizing maternal and neonatal health services in contracted-out versus government-managed health facilities in the rural districts of Pakistan

Background: A number of developing countries have contracted out public health facilities to the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in order to improve service utilization. However, there is a paucity of in-depth qualitative information on barriers to access services as a result of contracting from service users’ perspective. The objective of this study was to explore perceived barriers to utilizing Maternal and Neonatal Health (MNH) services, in health facilities contracted out by government to NGO for service provision versus in those which are managed by government (non-contracted). Methods: A community-based qualitative exploratory study was conducted between April to September 2012 at two contracted-out and four matched non-contracted primary healthcare facilities in Thatta and Chitral, rural districts of Pakistan. Using semi-structured guide, the data were collected through thirty-six Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) conducted with mothers and their spouses in the catchment areas of selected facilities. Thematic analysis was performed using NVivo version 10.0 in which themes and sub-themes emerged. Results: Key barriers reported in contracted sites included physical distance, user charges and familial influences. Whereas, poor functionality of health centres was the main barrier for non-contracted sites with other issues being comparatively less salient. Decision-making patterns for participants of both catchments were largely similar. Spouses and mother-in-laws particularly influenced the decision to utilize health facilities. Conclusion: Contracting out of health facility reduces supply side barriers to MNH services for the community served but distance, user charges and low awareness remain significant barriers. Contracting needs to be accompanied by measures for transportation in remote settings, oversight on user fee charges by contractor, and strong community-based behavior change strategies

The Effect of Despotic Leadership on the Employee Work Withdrawal Behavior and Acquiescent Silence

Purpose: The main aim to conduct this research is to identify whether LMX mediates the relationship between despotic leadership and acquiescence silence. In addition, the study also takes into account the role of Quality of work life as a mediator in the relationship between despotic leadership and work withdrawal behavior. Methodology: The data was collected by sharing the adopted questionnaire with the target population a total of 247 valid responses were received from the employee working in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. Smart PLS was used to measure the model. The research is conducted for the managers leading a team of professionals and the community of Human Resource Development that includes business consultants, advisors, employees, top management, scholars, specialists, and students. Findings: The study found that despotic leadership increases withdrawal behavior and acquiescence in silence among employees. Moreover, leader-member exchange mediates the relationship between despotic leadership and work withdrawal behavior and quality of work-life mediates the relationship between despotic leadership and work withdrawal behavior. Conclusion: The findings declared that despotic leadership has a destructive influence on subordinates concerning increased work withdrawal behavior and acquiescent silence

In vitro efficacy of selected medicinal plants from Cholistan desert, Pakistan, against gastrointestinal helminths of sheep and goats

Gastrointestinal helminths are a major constraint to small ruminants in extensive husbandry systems of tropical regions. Yet, unavailability, high prices, side effects, and development of parasite resistance often limit the use of synthetic anthelmintics. Traditional medicinal plants might be an effective low-cost alternative. Therefore the in vitro anthelmintic activity of leaf extracts of the ligneous plants Capparis decidua, Salsola foetida, Suaeda fruticosa, Haloxylon salicornicum, and Haloxylon recurvum from Cholistan, Pakistan, was investigated against adult worms of Haemonchus contortus, Trichuris ovis, and Paramphistomum cervi. Various concentrations (from 7.8 to 500 mg dry matter ml^(−1)) of three extracts (aqueous, methanol, and aqueous-methanol) of each plant were tested at different time intervals for their anthelmintic activity via adult motility assay.Plant species (p=0.01), extract type (p=0.001), parasite species (p=0.001), extract concentration (p=0.001), time of exposure (p=0.001) and their interactions (p=0.001) affected the number of immobile or dead helminths. The 50% lethal concentration (LC_(50)) values indicated that the methanol and aqueous-methanol extracts of C. decidua, H. recurvum, and H. salicornicum as well as the methanol extract of S. fruticosa have the potential to be developed into plant-based remedies against the studied helminths. Further studies are needed to investigate the in vivo anthelmintic activity of these extracts, in order to develop effective, cheap and locally available anthelmintics for pastoralists in Cholistan and neighbouring desert regions

Optimal pricing and seat allocation in the airline industry under the market competition

The current practice of revenue management is either quantity based or price based. A quantity based revenue management is most commonly observed in the airline industry; whereas a price based revenue management is practiced in retail enterprises. Recent improvement of information technology has not only increased the market size, but also has increased market competition. In a competitive environment customers choose among substitutable products depending on several rationalities, however a paramount factor in most selections is price. This thesis investigates pricing issue in revenue management and makes three contributions. First, price based revenue management is studied in the airline industry in a competitive market. Airlines compete for customers using their fare pricing strategies while having fixed capacity allocated in each fare class. The demand for each fare class of an airline is dependent on its fare price and the fare price offered by rival airline(s). A game theoretic approach is used to address the problem assuming both the deterministic and stochastic price sensitive customer demand for each fare class. The existence and uniqueness of Nash equilibrium for the game is shown for both deterministic and stochastic demands. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to determine fare pricing in each fare class considering various situations in the case of deterministic demand. The analysis is further extended to stochastic price sensitive demand, and a sensitivity analysis of the fare prices for each fare class is also reported. Second, an integrated approach to price and quantity based revenue management with an application to the airline industry is presented. The models proposed enable joint control of fare pricing and seat allocation in a duopoly competitive market. Both non cooperative and cooperative bargaining games are studied. Numerical experimentation is performed to study both competitive and cooperative fare pricing along with seat inventory control assuming a nested control on booking limits. In the case of a non cooperative game, Nash equilibrium for the competing airlines is determined assuming both symmetric and asymmetric market competition. A sensitivity analysis based on a statistical design of experiments is also presented to study the behavior of the game. Statistical evidence is established which shows that cooperation improves the revenue to the competing airlines. Lastly, a distribution free approach for pricing in revenue management is explored. The approach assumes the worst possible demand distribution and optimizes the lower bound estimate on revenue, while jointly controlling the price and capacity. The approach is first addressed to revenue management's most commonly observed standard newsvendor problem. Extensions to the problem are identified which can be applied to airline industry. Later the analysis is extended to consider the following cases: a shortage cost penalty; a holding and shortage cost; a recourse cost, with a second purchasing opportunity; and the case of random yields. An application of the approach is also suggested to capacity constrained industries facing restrictions such as limited budget. A numerical study reveals that the approach results in a near optimal estimate on revenue. Using a statistical comparison it is also shown that the outcomes of the standard newsvendor problem are significantly different than its extension