This study assesses the impact of peer-to-peer mentoring projects (PMPs) on medication errors in Sri Lanka's government hospitals, specifically inv estigating the mediating role of workload stress. A cross-sectional design was employed, collecting online survey data from 384 purposively selected pharmacists regarding PMP usage, workload stress, and self-reported dispensing errors. Data analysis included confirmatory factor analysis and a two-step modelling approach using SmartPLS. Findings reveal significant negative correlations between PMPs and medication errors (β = 0.42, p < 0.01) and between PMPs and workload stress (β = 0.51, p < 0.01). Additionally, workload stress was positively related to errors (β = 0.38, p < 0.01) and partially mediated the PMP-error relationship (β = 0.194, p < 0.001), suggesting that error reduction is effectively achieved by alleviating pharmacist stress. Consequently, this study offers guidance for healthcare managers and policymakers to implement PMPs, fostering supportive environments for knowledge sharing, skill development, and emotional support to empower pharmacists to cope with demanding workloads and enhance patient safety. Future research should employ longitudinal and qualitative methods to explore long-term mechanisms.
In light of the swift digital transformation, this study investigates the major variables affecting students' opinions of online shopping at Eastern University's Faculty of Commerce and Management in Sri Lanka. The study examines the effects of convenience, usefulness, ease of use, privacy and security, and saving money, time, and effort on online shopping behavior with a focus on students as active digital consumers. Convenience sampling was used to gather data via a closed-ended structured questionnaire, and SPSS 25.0 was used to analyze 320 valid responses. The hypotheses were tested using regression, correlation, and descriptive analyses. The results show that all of the chosen factors have a significant impact on students' online shopping engagement, with time, money, and effort savings being the most important determinant. Students' need for trust and data protection in online transactions is highlighted by the importance of privacy and security. In order to improve digital shopping platforms and encourage young consumers in emerging markets to adopt e-commerce, the study provides useful insights for e-commerce developers, marketers, and legislators.
Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are two important essentials of rece nt business practices that have gained major concentration in current years. The association between these two concepts has turned into more and more significant as firms face growing pressure from stakeholders to not only achieve efficiently but also to act in a communally accountable way. The purpose of this research topic is to explore this study is to examine the Corporate Governance and corporate social responsibility disclosure in listed companies in Sri Lanka. The determine factors are CEO duality, board size, gender diversity, board independent. The CSR disclosure variables are economic, social and environmental using content analysis method. Researcher looked at data from 80 companies in different industries between the period from 2019 to 2023 was selected to capture recent and relevant trends in corporate governance and CSR disclosure practices among listed companies in Sri Lanka. Importantly, it also encompasses the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recovery period, during which firms faced heightened scrutiny regarding social, environmental, and economic responsibilities. In this analysis board size and board independent are positively associated with the level of CSR disclosure, indicating that larger companies tend to disclose more information about their CSR activities. Secondly, board independent has a significant positive impact on CSR disclosure.
Multiple factors impact consumers' purchase intentions at supermarkets, including product pricing, brand trust, merchandise quality, and consumer perception. However, the supermarket retail sector currently lacks a unified theoretical framework that comprehensively explains how these elements collectively influence consumer buying decisions in this specific retail context. This study explores the impact of supermarket image on customer purchase intention within the Gampaha district of Sri Lanka, focusing on key dimensions such as Shopping Experience, Location, Friendliness, and Promotional Activities. By examining these elements, the study aims to provide insights into how supermarkets can improve their image to drive customer loyalty and increase sales. Data for this study was collected from 289 respondents, using a structured questionnaire distributed among supermarket customers in the Gampaha district. The study evaluated the relationship between the independent variables and Purchase Intention through correlation and regression analysis, focusing on how these factors influence customer decision-making processes. The final results revealed that Promotional Activities had the strongest positive impact on Purchase Intention while Shopping Experience and Friendliness, while Location had a significant influence. These findings suggest that supermarkets can boost customer satisfaction and loyalty by enhancing their promotional efforts, improving store environments, and ensuring excellent customer service.
Today businesses are operating in a highly dynamic envi ronment which is the new normal. Therefore, org anizational resilience (OR) has been gaining significant momentum among academics and practitioners to protect business from such adversity. H owever, the concept has been criti cized due its diffuse fragmentation nature questioning its validity and usefulness. This paper investigates causes and natu re of fragmentation and theories that shaped the under standing of the concept. In this view the study addresses this gap by proposing a multi-theoretical viewpoint to effec tively combined to lay a foundation to prevent such frag mentation by giving a more parsimonious explanation that pull s multiple elements into a more unified whole in two phases. This study utilizes a literature review as a research met hodology. Initially the conceptualization of the concept is expl ored based on its umbrella characteristics. Inspired by multiple theoretical studies, subsequently conducts a critical revi ew of theories in relation to conceptualization domains as an at tempt to oppose further fragmentation. Findings reveal past stud ies have been mainly conceptual; sound established theo retical foundations are limited. None of the foundation theo ries are capable to interpret the concept in isolation, but an integ rated perspective of theories captures the complexity of phenom ena, exploits the complementarity of theories, and tests conf licting explanations. Based on this outline findings reveal OR and its fundamentals domains mirrors multiple theoretical persp ectives which includes defensive capabilities, recon figuration of capabilities and creating new capabilities. Adopt ing a multi-theoretical approach on deciphering the com plexity of OR will pave the way for numerous implications for future research and practice by enhancing a more defr agmented conceptualization.
The study mainly investigates the relationship between polychronic work behavior and employee engagement. Moreover, the research study intended to analyze the moderating effect of compensation between polychronic work behavior and employee engagement in the Sri Lankan banking industry. The Sri Lankan banking industry impacts the GDP by contributing 60%, whereas out of all the industries in Sri Lanka, around 40% of employees work in the banking industry. Therefore, the researcher focuses on determining the impact of polychronic work behavior on employee engagement as well as the moderating effect of compensation between these two variables among top-level employees in Sri Lanka’s licensed commercial banks. A quantitative research framework was utilized, and purposive sampling was adopted. The pre-survey revealed the presence of 188 respondents, and Taro Yamane’s formula guided the se lection of a sample of 128. The data was collected through primary data using structured questionnaires. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were examined via the SPSS 25.0 version to present and analyze the data, and the results were obtained. The findings of the current study demonstrate that there is a strong positive relationship between polychronic work behavior and employee engagement. Moreover, it was identified that the moderator variable compensation is moderating the relationship between polychronic work behavior and employee engagement. The current study’s novelty lies in its exploration of compensation as a moderator in the relationship between polychronic work behavior and employee engagement in the Sri Lankan banking context, which is an area that has not been extensively examined in previous research. This research study contributes new insights into the role of compensation in handling multitasking behaviors and enhancing employee engagement in the workplace.
The hotel industry is always changing, presenting opportunities and challenges for management due to its labor-intensive nature. Achieving success in the field requires effective leadership, and managers' primary responsibility is to motivate and inspire staff to enhance performance and achieve predetermined objectives. Hotel managers need to be well-organized in every situation. Four key factors for leadership have been identified: Idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. A preliminary survey revealed high absenteeism and turnover among employees, caused by unhappiness and poor working conditions, leading to decreased staff performance. The study focused on executive employees in hotels in the Negombo area, specifically Goldi Sands Hotel, Camelot Beach Hotel, and Golden Star Beach Hotel, with a total of 380 employees included in the research. Data was collected from 191 respondents using proportional stratified random sampling. The analysis of the data showed a significant link between independent and dependent variables. In this study, the researcher uses a deductive approach, utilizing a quantitative research methodology to explore the research questions. A cross-sectional research design is selected to capture data at a specific point in time. The collected data undergoes rigorous statistical analysis, including demographic analysis to understand the sample's composition, descriptive analysis to summarize the data's key features, regression analysis to explore relationships between variables, and hypothesis testing to validate or refute the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that transformative leadership enhances employee performance within the Negombo hotels.
Adolescents are regarded as a particularly vulnerable consumer category, because of the influence of socialization agents. Furthermore, the literature now in publication emphasizes how demographic characteristics including age, gender, family, and social background affect adolescents' perceptions of vulnerability. The most often used method among the set of theories used to quantify adolescent consumer vulnerability is the Consumer Vulnerability model, which was first presented by Baker et al. (2005). Although, the model of Consumer Vulnerability is used to explain the vulnerability in consumption context, it does not cover the social learning process and how observers are influenced by the behavior of agents. Within this backdrop, the aim of the present study is to develop a suitable mechanism to measure the impact of Socialization Agents on Adolescent Consumer Vulnerability with particular focus on Social Structures as the moderating variable. In order to quantify the influence of socialization agents on adolescent consumer vulnerability, Social Learning Theory was connected with the Consumer Vulnerability Model through a systematic review of previous research articles published between 2005 and 2020. In the end, a conceptual framework was created with four social structural characteristics serving as the moderating variable, five socialization variables serving as the independent variable, and Adolescent consumer vulnerability serving as the dependent variable.
This study investigates the impact of capital structure on the financial performance of manufacturing firms in South Asia from 2019 to 2023. Using a quantitative approach involving panel data regression analysis over the period 2019–2023, data from 37 publicly listed manufacturing companies were examined, offering insights into the listed segment of South Asia’s manufacturing sector. The findings reveal a statistically significant negative relationship between capital structure, measured by debt-to-equity and debt-to-asset ratios, and firm performance, as captured by Return on Equity (ROE). The study suggests that excessive debt adversely affects financial performance, emphasizing the need for an optimal capital structure to enhance firm profitability and mitigate financial risk. The results offer valuable observations for managers and investors, emphasizing the significance of capital structure in strategic decision-making and investment evaluation within emerging markets. For managers, the study highlights the importance of maintaining an optimal mix of debt and equity to enhance financial performance and reduce risks associated with high debt levels. For investors, it emphasizes the need to consider a firm's capital structure when evaluating investment opportunities, as it impacts the financial stability and performance of the organizations. This research contributes to the growing literature on capital structure in emerging markets and offers a region-specific analysis that addresses a notable gap in prior empirical studies.
Leadership styles and their inspiration for employee creativity play a fundamental role in organisational success by motivating innovation in the apparel industry. However, the nuanced role of psychological capital in moderating this relationship remains under-explored. This research undertaking to reveal the impact of three leadership styles democratic, autocratic, and liberal on employee creativity and to interpret the moderating role of psychological capital within these dynamics concerning the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Adopting a deductive approach, data was obtained from a sample of 335 employees in the apparel sector using a structured questionnaire. Regression analysis was the basis of the data analysis process. Findings revealed that while all three leadership styles had a direct influence on employee creativity, psychological capital specifically moderated the effects of democratic and autocratic leadership on creativity. This research highlights the importance of recognizing the intertwined relationships between leadership, employee creativity, and psychological capital, especially for decision-makers in the apparel sector. The insights provide a foundation for nurturing an environment encouraging innovation, suggesting tailored leadership approaches considering the psychological capital of the workforce.
Sustainable consumption is increasingly recognized as a significant trend in today's society. Clothing and fashion serve as powerful tools for self-expression, enabling individuals to convey personal identity and values. Green clothing, in particular, carries symbolic meaning, reflecting one’s social status, environmental awareness, innovation, and Fashion. However, limited research has examined how these symbolic meanings influence the attitudes and buying intentions of younger consumers. Researchers used the quantitative approach and a positivist research paradigm for the study. The data was collected from the 384 respondents, and researchers used the convenient sampling approach for the study. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The multiple regression analysis technique is used to test the acceptance and rejection of the hypotheses of the study. SPSS 27 software was used to analyze the data.. The researchers discovered that the status symbol and environmental symbols do not have a significant impact on consumers' purchase intentions. The innovation symbol and fashion symbol play a significant role in influencing consumers' purchase intentions toward green products in the Sri Lankan context. Overall, the study highlights the importance of focusing on fashion and innovation when marketing green products, particularly to the younger consumer segment in Sri Lanka.
Virtual Work Teams is a team working together from different physical locations using collaborative Information and Communication Technologies. This concept is particularly associated with the IT Industry due to its nature and have become increasingly prevalent in Sri Lanka particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, with the novelty of virtual work teams in Sri Lanka and the lack of prior studies from the context of Sri Lankan IT Industry a research gap was identified. As an attempt to address this, the study aims to find the impact of virtual work teams on job performance in Sri Lanka's IT industry, considering five independent variables: communication, leadership, empowerment, cohesion, and trust. Conducted as an explanatory, cross-sectional field study with convenient sampling, data was collected via a Google Form questionnaire from a sample of 380 virtual workers out of a population of 34,500. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS, encompassing correlation and regression analyses to test hypotheses. As per the findings, communication presented the strongest positive correlation with job performance, followed by moderately positive correlations for leadership, empowerment, cohesion, and trust. All variables statistically significantly influenced job performance individually, but cohesion did not have a statistically significant impact collectively in multiple regression analysis. Results highlight the importance of making investments in communication tools within virtual teams and also suggests using probability sampling for future research.
Many studies pinpoint career counseling is worthwhile for employees’ sound career decision-making. Higher education institutions have been offering many career counseling services to careerists in their various career stages. Moreover, online career counseling has been evolving as a novel mode of career support. However, the pertaining literature in academia is much sluggish and unorganized by missing its contextual applicability. Furthermore, several studies testify that the phenomenon of online career counseling is strange and almost unknown to Sri Lankan higher educational institutions. Hence, the objective of this study is twofold; to assess students’ willingness to adopt online counseling and understanding its perceived benefits. A qualitative-exploratory study was designed to achieve so-called objectives and implemented cross-sectionally. Data were collected from 34 management undergraduates in 6 universities in Sri Lanka through semi-structured interviews. Codes and themes were extracted from the thematic analysis. It was found that employed undergraduates demonstrate a mild-level passion in online career counseling and they acknowledge that online career counseling is much viable and a timely approach in career guidance. Personalized career support, adaptability to environmental changes, raised self-awareness, career development and crafting are claimed as key benefits of online career counseling. This study stands as a pinpoint for higher educational administrators to redesign career guidance services and for undergraduates to educate themselves in its perceived benefits. Future researchers can develop relevant measurement scales on willingness of careerists to receive these services and can test the applicability of these services for non-educational sectors by further validating the findings of this study with longitudinal research designs.
The impact of personality traits on employee job performance is well-documented, with many organizations leveraging this relationship to enhance workforce efficiency. This study investigates the impact of the Big Five Personality traits on the job performance of executive employees within selected apparel firms in the Kurunegala District of Sri Lanka. Using a questionnaire comprising 40 five-point Likert scale statements, data were collected from 285 randomly selected executives. The research followed a deductive approach, testing six hypotheses trough uni-variate and bi-variate analyses.The findings confirmed that all six hypotheses were supported, indicating that each dimension of the Big Five Personality traits significantly contributes to job performance. These results emphasize the value of understanding individual personality traits for evaluating and improving employee performance in the apparel sector.This study offers practical insights for industry professionals, highlighting the importance of integrating personality assessments into performance management strategies. Including specific correlation results in the abstract could further enhance its comprehensiveness and relevance.
The labor force’s active participation is vital for boosting economic growth of a country in the precise direction. The participation of women in the labor force leads to higher living standards and increased aggregate output. Thus, the present study investigates the relationship between economic growth and female labor force participation, by considering economic growth as dependent variable and female labor force, fertility rate, population growth, and gross capital formation as independent variables, with a focus on Sri Lanka by using time series data from 1990-2020 and evaluating the long-term and short-term relationship between the variables through the Autoregressive distributed lag approach. The findings of the study confirm that women’s labor force participation have a significant negative impact on Sri Lanka's economic growth in the long run at the 10% significant level but no relationship between in the short run. Further the Error Correction Term (ECT (-1)) value of 95.56 indicates that the short-term imbalance in economic growth due to external shocks will be corrected every year at a rate of 95.56 and move towards long-term equilibrium. Higher education and potential skills and availability of suitable jobs creating avenues to females increase their participation in the labour market. Hence, policymakers must create strategies to harness the economic potential of women in the workforce.
Social Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in introducing social innovations to pressing problems. Social entrepreneurship requires high level of interaction with the stakeholders in order to create economic, social, and environmental values. Hence, social enterprises need to develop unique capabilities which are important to create shared value. However, the impact of social entrepreneurship capabilities on shared value creation needs more research where lack of empirical studies in the Sri Lankan context. Therefore, the main aim of the study is to investigate the effect of social entrepreneurial capabilities on value creation of social enterprises in Sri Lanka. Further, this study identified the social entrepreneurial capabilities under four dimensions as mission-driven management capabilities, stakeholder management capabilities, cross-sector management capabilities and environmental management capabilities and value creation under three dimensions as economic value creation, social value creation and environmental value creation. This study is quantitative in nature and data was collected from 100 social entrepreneurs in Western province through a structured questionnaire. Regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses and to achieve the research objectives. The results of this study reveal that there is a significant positive effect of social entrepreneurship capabilities on shared value creation of social enterprises. Since this this is an emerging research area, study contributes to the existing literature and the outcome of this study will provide valuable insights for policy makers in Sri Lanka. Ultimately, it opens avenues for further studies as well.
The stability and financial performance of the financial intermediaries play a pivotal role in creating the sustainable development of any modern-day economy. Lending is a fundamental income-generating activity of these financial institutions, yet there exists an element of risk in providing credit, that mainly stems from borrowers' failure in fulfilling their loan repayment obligations. Considering the profound impact of credit risk on financial performance, this study aims at examining the relationship between credit risk management indicators, namely risk identification, risk analysis, nonperforming loan (NPL) identification, capital adequacy, and financial performance of non-bank financial institutions. The data gathered through a structured questionnaire from a sample consisting of 152 employees serving the credit departments of selected branches of People's Finance and Leasing PLC in the Colombo district. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicate that risk identification and NPL identification have a positive and significant impact on financial performance. However, the impact of risk analysis and capital adequacy on financial performance were found to be insignificant, contrary to the findings of the previous studies which emphasize the importance of risk analysis and capital adequacy in ensuring financial stability. These results highlight the importance of effective risk identification and NPL management in enhancing financial performance. In conclusion, the study highlights that effective credit risk management practices, particularly in risk identification and NPL management, are crucial in enhancing the financial performance of non-bank financial institutions. Therefore, employing effective credit risk management strategies ensures achieving superior financial performance. Hence, financial institutions ought to allocate resources toward implementing sophisticated risk assessment tools that integrate both quantitative and qualitative data.
E-tax filing, which is the completion of tax returns online, has been introduced as part of Sri Lanka's e-governance strategy. However, there has been a lack of research on the extent of its adoption in Sri Lanka. This study investigates the factors influencing the adoption of individual e-tax filing in Sri Lanka. A deductive approach was employed, and a random sample of 201 individual taxpayers in Sri Lanka was selected to complete a questionnaire. The key attributes of the study were perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, personal innovativeness, self-efficacy, and facilitating conditions. The correlation analysis revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, facilitating condition, and self-efficacy have a significant impact on intention. In contrast, personal innovativeness has no significant impact on intention. The multiple linear regression analysis confirmed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, and facilitating condition have an impact on intention, while personal innovativeness and self-efficacy do not impact the e-tax filing adoption among individuals in Sri Lanka. The study concludes that the adoption of e-tax filing can be increased by improving the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and facilitating conditions of the system while reducing perceived risks associated with it. The findings of this study are beneficial for policymakers, and tax authorities in addressing and enhancing e-tax filing adoptions within the country while this creates a base for the interested researchers to address these aspects further.
The pressing economic situation that has made the Sri Lankans work remotely or work from home is highlighted as a tremendous challenge for businesses. Thus, the current study's primary purpose is to explore whether work-family conflict; both work-interference family and family-interference work affects the job performance among the selected teleworkers of Finance companies, while they were forced to work from home. In addition, the role of social support in this dynamic remains underexplored, particularly in high-stress environments like finance. Thus, the study focuses on the moderating effect of social support gained from both supervisor and family support in examining the relationship. The research utilized a mixed research approach to meet the objectives of the current study, where 125 workers of finance companies in the Colombo region who worked from home provided data through structured questionnaires and interviews. The sample was extracted using stratified random sampling. The statistical methods for analyzing the data were hierarchical regression and thematic analysis. In this study, the authors examined work-interference family and family-interference work as being negatively correlated with job performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that the social support received from supervisors and family members moderated the effect of work-family conflict on job performance, where it showcased a tactic to lessen the teleworkers' work-family friction. This study fills in gaps in the literature and assists employers in addressing issues that WFC employees experience.
Small enterprises often regarded as the backbone of economies, are currently confronted with unprecedented challenges due to the uncertain conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the study attempts to assess the impact of uncertainty in the business environment on the business performance of small enterprises in Sri Lanka during the economic crisis. The study is a deductive and explanatory approach in quantitative design. The primary data was collected for a structured questionnaire from 185 owners of small enterprises in Kalutare district, Sri Lanka. The data was analyzed by using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling. The results revealed that demand uncertainty, supply uncertainty, price uncertainty, policy uncertainty, and behavioral uncertainty have negatively affected business performance while technological uncertainty does not have a significant impact on business performance. Thus, the study empirically exposed that the business performance of small enterprises is severely blocked by business uncertainty during the economic crisis. Therefore, small enterprises should plan business activities to make rational business decisions based on reliable information to achieve better business performance by avoiding uncertainty during the economic crisis.
