Journal of Management, Informatics and Human Resources ISSN 1318-5454 Volume 56, Issue 1, February 2023 Revija za management, informatiko in kadre Organizacija (Journal of Management, Informatics and Human Resources) is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal which is open to contributions of high quality, from any perspective relevant to the organizational phenomena. The journal is designed to encourage interest in all matters relating to organizational sciences and is intended to ap­peal to both the academic and professional community. In particular, journal publishes original articles that advance the empirical, theoretical, and methodological understand­ing of the theories and concepts of management and or­ganization. The journal welcomes contributions from other scientific disciplines that encourage new conceptualiza­tions in organizational theory and management practice. We welcome different perspectives of analysis, including the organizations of various sizes and from various branch­es, units that constitute organizations, and the networks in which organizations are embedded. Topics are drawn, but not limited to the following areas: • organizational theory, management, development, and organizational behaviour; • human resources management (such as organization & employee development, leadership, value creation through HRM, workplace phenomena etc.); • managerial and entrepreneurial aspects of education; • business information systems (such as digital business, decision support systems, business analytics etc.); • enterprise engineering (e.g., organizational design, business process management, enterprise transformation paradigms etc.); • papers that analyse and seek to improve organizational performance. Organizacija (Revija za management, informatiko in cloveške vire) je interdisciplinarna recenzirana revija, ki objavlja visoko kakovostne prispevke z vseh vidikov, ki so pomembni za organizacijske procese in strukture. Revija je zasnovana tako, da spodbuja zanimanje za razlicne vidike v zvezi z organizacijskimi vedami in je namenjena tako akademski kot strokovni skupnosti. Revija objavlja izvirne clanke, ki spodbujajo empiricno, teoreticno in metodološko razumevanje teorij in konceptov managementa in organizacije. Pozdravljamo tudi prispevke iz drugih znanstvenih disciplin, ki spodbujajo nove koncepte v organizacijski teoriji in praksi. Objavljamo clanke, ki analizirajo organiziranost z razlicnih vidikov, so usmerjeni na organizacije razlicnih velikosti in iz razlicnih sektorjev, na enote, ki sestavljajo organizacije, in na mreže, v katere so organizacije vpete. Teme so pokrivajo predvsem naslednja podrocja: • organizacijska teorija, upravljanje, razvoj in organizacijsko vedenje; • management cloveških virov (kot so organizacija in razvoj zaposlenih, vodenje, ustvarjanje vrednosti s pomocjo cloveških virov, organizacijski pojavi na delovnem mestu itd.); • vodstveni in podjetniški vidiki izobraževanja; • poslovni informacijski sistemi (kot so digitalno poslovanje, sistemi za podporo odlocanju, poslovna analitika itd.); • podjetniški inženiring (npr. organizacijsko oblikovanje, upravljanje poslovnih procesov, paradigme preoblikovanja podjetij itd.); • clanki, ki analizirajo organizacijsko uspešnost in prizadevanja za izboljšanje le-te. Kenedi BINOWO, Achmad Nizar HIDAYANTO Malek Bakheet ELAYAN, Abdulmajeed Saad ALBALAWI, Haifa Mohammed SHALAN, Ali H. AL-HOORIE, Mohamed Dawood SHAMOUT Amro AL-MADADHA, Farah SHAHEEN, Lina AlMA’ANI, Natalie ALSAYYED, Ahmad AL ADWAN Murat BAS, M. Sabri SIRIN Magda LUŽAR, Annmarie GORENC ZORAN, Mirko MARKIC, Boris BUKOVEC Francesco TOMMASI, Riccardo SARTORI, Andrea CESCHI Discovering Success Factors in the Pioneering Stage of a Digital Startup Perceived Manager’s Emotional Intelligence and Happiness at Work: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Affective Organizational Commitment Corporate Social Responsibility and Creative Performance: The Effect of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior How does Workplace Ostracism Affect Employee Performance? Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience, Moderated Mediation Role of Cyberloafing Intergenerational Differences and Knowledge Transfer Among Slovenian Engineers Scoping out the Common-Sense Perspective on Meaningful Work: Theory, Data and Implications for Human Resource Management and Development RESEARCH PAPERS 3 18 32 51 66 80 EDITOR / UREDNIK Maja Meško University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciencies, Slovenia CO-EDITORS / SOUREDNIKI Petr Doucek Prague University of Economics, Faculty of Informatics and Statistics, Czech Republic Matjaž Maletic University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciencies, Slovenia Jože Zupancic University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciencies, Slovenia Wlodzimierz Sroka WSB University, Department of Management, Dabrowa Górnicza, Poland EDITORIAL BOARD / UREDNIŠKI ODBOR REVIJE Hossein Arsham, University of Baltimore, USA Franc Cuš, University of Maribor, Slovenia Sasha M. Dekleva DePaul University, School of Accountancy and MIS, Chichago, USA Vlado Dimovski, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Daniel C. Ganster, Colorado State University, USA Jože Gricar, University of Maribor, Slovenia Werner Jammernegg Viena University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria Marius Alexander Janson, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA Stefan Klein, University of Münster, Germany Aleksandar Markovic, University of Belgrade, Serbia Hermann Maurer, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria Matjaž Mulej, University of Maribor, Slovenia Valentinas Navickas, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania Ota Novotny, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Milan Pagon, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), Dhaka, Bangladesh Björn Paape, RWTH-Technical University Aachen, Germany Matjaž Perc University of Maribor, Slovenia Dušan Petrac, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA Nataša Petrovic University of Belgrade, Serbia Tetyana Pimonenko, Sumy State University, Balatsky Academic and Scientific Institute of Finance, Economics and Management, Ukraine Hans Puxbaum, Vienna University of Technology, Austria Vladislav Rajkovic, University of Maribor, Slovenia Gábor Rekettye, University of Pécs, Hungary Henk G. Sol, Faculy of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, Netherlands Eugene Semenkin Reshetnev Siberian State University of Science and Technology, Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation Velimir Srica, University of Zagreb, Croatia Paula Swatman, University of Tasmania, Australia Brian Timney, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada Maurice Yolles, Liverpool John Moores University, UK Douglas R. Vogel, City University of Hong Kong, China Gerhard Wilhelm Weber, Poznan University of Technology, Poland Anna Lucyna Wziatek-Stasko, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland Yvonne Ziegler, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST), St. Gallen, Switzerland DOI: 10.2478/orga-2023-0001 Discovering Success Factors in the Pioneering Stage of a Digital Startup Kenedi BINOWO, Achmad Nizar HIDAYANTO University of Indonesia, Faculty of Computer Science, Jakarta, Indonesia, kenedi.binowo@ui.ac.id (corresponding author), nizar@cs.ui.ac.id Background and Purpose: Successful digital startups can generate income for the country and improve people’s lives. However, for prospective founders who will launch their startups, the success factor in pioneering digital start­ups remains unknown. The purpose of this study is to identify key success factors for digital startups in pioneering stages. Methodology: Thematic analysis is a method for identifying success factors in pioneering stage digital startups. The data will be collected from the interviews of ten startup founders. Results: The findings show that fifteen critical factors are success factors in the digital startup pioneering stage, namely; problems, business ideas, teams, business models, capital or funding, products, incubators, validation, com­petitors, marketing, mastery of technology, market analysis, founders and co-founders, partners, and passion. These findings are expected to be ground-breaking for anyone interested in launching a digital startup. Conclusion: The first conclusion that we can draw is that there are fifteen important factors that can be claimed and used as success factors in the classification of the digital startup pioneering stage. The second conclusion, based on the findings of the ten founders’ analyses, is that problem factors and team factors are two of the fifteen most dom­inant and influential digital startup success factors. Problem factor is critical for detecting problems encountered by many people and can motivate digital startup founders to develop solutions to these problems. While team factor is important because with a team, all problems raised are quickly and easily resolved, and all work is handled produc­tively and collaboratively. Keywords: Digital startup, Thematic analysis, Digital startup pioneering, Digital startup success factors 1 Introduction Innovations abound in the world of digital startups and there is always unconventional ingenuity to get clients to use their goods or services (Media, 2020). According to Endrik et al. (2019) digital startups are digital-based en­terprises utilizing Information Technology (IT) as a prob­lem-solving tool. A digital startup is one that has passed the pioneering or development stage (in which it has used IT, has a team, and so on) and has been able to generate revenue for the startup. In terms of time, we can refer to Lane et al.(2017) assertion that one year at the start of a startup’s pioneering stage counts as the length of the pio­neering stage (so the duration of the pioneering stage is one year). However, if the digital startup candidate gener­ates revenue in less than a year, the candidate is classified as a digital startup. It should be noted that a digital startup cannot be said to be a digital startup unless it has generated revenue. A startup can be said to be the primary foundation for economic stability and national development because its contribution can create numerous new employment (Burton & Sorenson, 2018; Zaidi et al., 2021). In the scope of digital startups, of course, Indone­sia cannot be underestimated given its strategic location and favorable business environment. Indonesia occupies the 5th position in the world with 2,457 startups (Start­upRangking, 2023). Currently, Indonesia has 2 decacorn startups and 9 unicorn startups (Angelia, 2022). Decacorn startups have a total valuation of more than USD $ 10 bil­lion, whereas unicorn startups have a minimum valuation of USD $ 1 billion (Burhan, 2021). According to the international institution Startup Com­mons, the startup development cycle entails three stag­es: the formation stage (pioneering), the validation stage (sale), and the growth stage (scaling). The pioneering stage involves discussing problems or suitable solutions to overcome these problems. In the validation stage there is a vision from the founder or a suitable market, while in the growth stage there is a business model that is patent and a suitable market (Startup Commons, 2022; Antunes et al., 2021; Freytag, 2019; Gonzaga et al., 2020) Although the characteristics that contribute to success­ful companies have been studied up to this point, many firms still fail. For instance, there are studies by Ko & An (2019), Nalintippayawong et al. (2018), and Khong-Khai & Wu (2018). Meanwhile, to the best of the author’s knowledge, there are two studies in Indonesia, for example, research from Jaya et al. (2017), which found that the important factors that determine the success of a startup are HR factors (team), ideas, business models, and funding. Hardiansyah & Tricahyono (2019) then conduct­ed research and proposed ten factors for startup success. All of the literature reviewed by the author discusses the factors of startup success in a general classification, rather than in the classification of the pioneering stage. Many startups in the world experienced failure in their first year of operation. According to Lane et al.(2017) and Chernev (2022), 90% of startups fail at the time of the pioneering stage. In Indonesia itself, according to the Coordinator of the 1000 Digital Startup program, only about 10% of businesses actually succeed during the early (pioneering) stages (this means that 90% of startups experience failure). The pio­neering stage revealed to be where most startups fail (Bed­nár & Tarišková, 2018; Chernev, 2022), this study’s gap is that many startups have failed during the pioneering stage. As per the search results in several large databases, the au­thor did not find a single study on the classification of the pioneering stage because there has not been much investi­gation on it. Due to this gap, research questions (RQ) can be formulated as follows: RQ1: What are some of the key success factors in the digital startup pioneering stage? RQ2: What factors have the greatest influence on the success of a digital startup during its pioneering stages? To address the issue of startup failure in the pioneering stages, the purpose of this study is to identify the key suc­cess factors for digital startups in the pioneering stages, as well as to determine which factors play an important role and are most influential in supporting the success of digital startups in the pioneering stages. The method that will be used to address and discover these factors is the Thematic Analysis (TA) method. The method can identify themes and contribute to giving rise to new theories (Clarke & Braun, 2018; Esfehani & Walters, 2018). This study is limited to Indonesian digital startups (startups that already use information technology, for ex­ample social media, website and others). The sampling is based on startups that have participated in 1,000 dig­ital startup activities from the Indonesian government program, as well as those that have reached the incuba­tion stage, which means that they have been running for more than a year, have been successfully launched, and have fixed revenue. The interviews were limited to startup founders and excluded other stakeholders. The reason for this is that startup founders are more knowledgeable about the intricacies of their startup than others. This study only considers the pioneering stage classification, not the other stages. Sampling is restricted to startups that have been successfully launched and have operating business pro­cesses and revenue for more than a year. Ten digital start­ups were chosen as representative samples. Among the ten startups, some are in the education, social commerce, food and beverage, technology and service, and business to business sectors. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Understanding Digital Startups The notion of digitals startup is still the center of de­bate among business professionals. Therefore, digital startups are defined as innovative technology companies that are developing essentially (Startup Commons, 2022). A digital startup, according to Endrik et al. (2019), is a digital-based organization that uses technology informa­tion as a problem-solving tool. Meanwhile, Rahardjo & Sugiarto (2019) claims that a digital startup is a small technology business or a business that has just begun op­erations without a proper business plan. Digital startups are the driving force behind a knowledge-based economy with a reputation for performance digital confirmation via social media (Gong & Ribiere, 2021; Tajpour & Hosseini, 2021). According to Ghezzi (2019), a digital startup is a digital-based entrepreneur who launches products and services using a new set of practices in development to test and validate the business model. A digital startup is a company that was created in a digital context to create value with customers and other stakeholders through an online community, grew quickly, and quickly turned into a successful company (Mingione & Abratt, 2020). A digital startup is a small company in the digital economy with a dependable innovative component that is expected to gen­erate high profits (Simőes et al., 2020). Based on the definition above, a digital startup is de­fined in this study as a company or organization that has used information technology (including social media) or innovative digital technology to solve problems in the midst of changing (uncertain) conditions, with the goal of generating revenue (profits) through services or products offered to the public. This study refers to digital startups (small businesses) that have sold their products or servic­es using digital-based technology assistance such as web­sites, social media, artificial intelligence assistance, data science, business intelligence, chatbot, and other digital tools. The implementation of digital technologies to alter a business model and create new revenue and value-gener­ating opportunities. 2.2 Startup Development Stage According to Antunes et al. (2021), Freytag (2019), Startup Commons (2022), and Gonzaga et al.(2020), startups are classified into three types, each with a unique process and stage of production. The stages are classified as follows: Pioneering stage (finding problems, business models, etc.), sales, and growth. In the special pioneer­ing stage, the focus is on exploring root causes, finding solutions through ideas, or validating products, whereas in the sales stage, the focus is on commercializing validated products, and in the growth stage, the focus is on devel­oping startups to become even more developed. Figure 1 shows the stages of startup development. In terms of time, Lane et al.(2017) claim that one year at the start of a start­up’s pioneering stage counts as the length of the stage (so the duration of the pioneering stage is one year). However, if a candidate for a digital startup generates revenue in less than a year, the candidate is classified as a digital startup (Chernev, 2022; Freytag, 2019; Gonzaga et al., 2020; Lane et al., 2017). In Figure 1, particularly the pioneering stage, explains that at this stage any ideas for resolving the underlying causes can be expressed. There are two factor, ideation and concept. The goal of ideation is the entrepreneur’s desire to create an idea, product, or service that has the poten­tial to reach a large enough market. At this point, founder should also be discussing how to create value and looking for a well-aligned or solid team. 3 Methodology 3.1 Research Approach In this study, the Thematic Analysis (TA) method was chosen as the primary technique to analyze qualitative research. TA method is suitable for answering inquiries regarding experience, meaning, and perspective from the informant’s point of view. Therefore, in this study TA was used to discover the success factors in the startup pioneer­ing stage. 3.2 Thematic Analysis Procedure TA requires time to become familiar with and knowl­edgeable about the data that has been obtained before con­ducting the next stages (Zhou et al., 2022; Ali et al., 2021). For more detail, the following are the stages of TA suggest­ed by (Clarke & Braun, 2018), as presented in Figure 2. At the stage of deepening the data through the perspective of the participants, recorded interviews are a crucial source in the analysis process to gain insights through conversa­tions with participants. The main goal of this first stage is to understand the content of the data that has been obtained from the interview. The second stage is code compilation process. Ac­cording to Heriyanto (2018), code is considered a label. The code formulation in this stage is based on the records generated at the previous step. At this point, researchers will organize the code into groups according to a com­mon theme (Clarke & Braun, 2018). The third stage is the theme identification which is the beginning of the analysis. At this point all those codes with the same meaning will be integrated. The fourth stage is finding the theme, which is in accordance with the research objectives (Clarke & Braun, 2018; Heriyanto, 2018). The fifth stage involves an in-depth analysis of themes that can be integrated into one since they have similar meanings. Then, the theme that has been selected and utilised as a success factor at the startup pioneering stage is written in the final stage. 3.3 Data Collection In this study, data is collected through interviews, which the authors chose because interviews are the most commonly used data collection format in qualitative re­search. The interview method was chosen in this study to obtain more information as well as more accurate data (Paradis et al., 2016). To be honest, the interviews in this study were semi-structured (each informant had a different question structure because the follow-up questions were adapted to the previous answers), with open-ended and closed-ended questions mixed in. Open questions are those in which the interview begins with the words what, why, or explain (for example, why did you start a digital startup? and closed questions, such as is this factor important? is it true or false?). Ten startup founders served as resource people for this study. The interviews were conducted for three months, between December 2021 and February 2022. Each interview was carried out via video conferenc­ing software, in this case Google Meet. 4 Results According to the findings, the criteria for the startups interviewed were startups that had gone digital (used infor­mation technology as their infrastructure), were success­fully launched, and had business and revenue processes that had been running for more than a year. The positions of the 10 interviewees were limited to startup founders or CEOs, with no other stakeholders involved. Therefore, in order to facilitate further analysis, the authors provide ab­breviations for each of the 10 founders and their startups: the founder of Rumahbelajar (F1), the founder of Fresio (F2), the founder of BaCiraro (F3), the founder of Ar­course (F4), the founder of Intelligo (F5), the founder of Jagokan (F6), the founder of MudaJualan (F7), the founder of DCreative Indonesia (F8), the founder of Chickin Indo­nesia (F9), and the founder of B33OP (F10). The following are descriptions of the ten startups: 1. Rumahbelajar is a startup that operates in many fields, not just education. There are classes in fashion, en­trepreneurship, and the arts, among others. As the name implies, this startup is a learning platform where learning materials and explanations are tailored to the needs of smart friends (a reference to students who enter the learn­ing house). After being confirmed, this startup has a total of 17 employees, excluding the core team of founders and co-founders, of which there are 3 co-founders, for a total of 21 people. 2. Fresio is a social commerce platform for shopping for daily needs from traditional markets, which can pro­vide extra income for its customers, so the principle is to shop for shopping money, and the focus is on how to get extra money and attractive cashback. This startup has a to­tal of 19 employees plus a total founder of 20 people. 3. BaCiraro is a startup engaged in business manage­ment, specifically more education in the field of waste sort­ing because BaCiraro means cleaning the house before the holidays in Minahasa Indonesia. As a result, BaCiraro’s own principle is that if there are used goods that cannot be reused, they are recycled. This startup has only 7 employ­ees because it requires a large number of partners. Because they are only responsible for application management, fi­nancial management, and administration, 7 employees are deemed sufficient. 4. Intelligo is a startup that specializes in online learn­ing technology and services, as well as a software house that can design a company’s website or conduct data sci­ence. This startup’s target demographic is active workers between the ages of 23 and 35. There are 15 people work­ing for this startup. 5. Arcourse is a startup in the field of education that provides learning media via the use of augmented reality technology. The target audience consists of elementary and secondary school students. The new ARcourse employs 8 people. 6. Jagokan is an education-focused startup whose mission is to connect students and teachers. Students and teachers, particularly those over the age of 20, are the tar­get market. This startup employs 17 people, all of whom are colleagues. 7. DCreative Indonesia is a service startup that helps MSME players by delivering food, medicines, and other items (micro, small and medium enterprises). This startup also includes motorcycle taxi bases that make deliveries to their destinations. This startup has 8 core employees and dozens of workers who come from motorcycle taxi drivers who deliver orders. 8. MudaJualan is a startup that specializes in Food and Beverage (F&B) drivers. This startup employs drivers to deliver food and beverages sold in complexes by partners who have collaborated with MudaJualan. This startup em­ploys 13 full-time employees and hundreds of part-time employees who work as food and beverage delivery driv­ers. 9. Chickin Indonesia is a startup that uses internet of things technology in the business to business (B2) chicken supply sector. The goal of this startup is to deliver chick­ens directly from the farm shed to restaurants, hotels, or customer homes, a practice known as business to business (B2B). Currently, the Chickin Indonesia startup employs 108 people who are assigned to predetermined division groups based on their expertise. 10. B33BOP is a startup that aims to help micro, small, and medium-sized businesses. This startup’s primary goal is to promote MSME entrepreneurs’ products through short videos about food and beverages, among other prod­ucts. This startup already has branches in several regions and employs approximately 60 people. The ten digital startups are currently running startups that have been in operation for nearly two years when this research was conducted. Based on the results of the analysis, 483 codes can be identified. The code that we are referring to here is a sign of semantic similarity to the success factors (CSF) of digi­tal startups. The code was identified during the pioneering stage through interviews with ten founders. CSFs with the same meaning are given the same code and grouped to­gether. The collected CSF is labeled with the name or theme that best represents each of these groups. As a result, we have classified the groups into fifteen major themes, which are as follows: • Problems • Business Ideas • Teams • Business Models • Capital or Funding • Products • Incubators • Validation • Competitors • Marketing • Mastery of Technology • Market Analysis • Founder and Co-Founder • Partners • Passion. The author then provides a detailed analysis of these themes in the following stage. Theme 1: Problem The foundation of startup should be based on the problem that needs to be solved. At the startup pioneering stage, it is critical to recognize the problems experienced by many people. One of the founding members has made the following statement: “There are problems faced by the crowd so they are moved and encouraged to solve the problem. The issue is real, and solving it is crucial.” (F1) Starting a startup is pointless in the absence of a prob­lem because its purpose is to assist in and address problems that arise in the immediate environment. As the founders have stated, “This startup was founded because of the waste prob­lem in Indonesia, emerged from a lack of education on re­cycling waste. Due to the importance of this issue, a solu­tion to the waste problem is also needed.” (F3) “It’s because we want to help farmers and ranchers to get a more reasonable and feasible price than the price taken by middlemen.” (F2) The problem factor is very important in starting a start­up because it can inspire startup founders to create solu­tions that can address many people’s problems. Here are the statements from the founders: “That issue is very important because it can encourage you to find new ways to learn to overcome poor education issue.” (F4) “The problem is so crucial that we want to assist the community in solving its issue, especially MSME players who should be encouraged to adopt digital technology.” (F8) “The problem is significant because it is used as an opportunity to find a solution, which indicates that it has a significant impact for the creation of problem-solving. Without problems, it will be difficult to create a startup.” (F9) Startup pioneering should start from a problem; it is not suggested to take the courage to launch a one based merely on interest or hobby. Because, if it is simply based on hobbies, undoubtedly people will encounter stagnation. This statement can be justified by one of the founders, “That issue is very essential compared to everything else. I gained a lot of insight into my lack of progress on the issue initially. While pioneering, we were off because we were focused on working on the problem in the first place. Maybe if time could be turned around, I would de­cide to work on the problem first, because initially it was only started from hobbies.” (F5) Problems are such a significant factor when starting a startup business, and this factor has been widely recog­nized among startup founders during the pioneering stage. Here are the recognitions of some founders who represent them: “That problem is a very significant aspect in startup pioneering, why we create a startup if we don’t have a problem. If the problem is not too urgent then it is ques­tionable whether our product will sell or not.” (F6) “For me, this problem is a very important factor since it may accommodate the problems experienced by young people.” (F7) “The problem factor is important because without the problem we have no desire to keep trying to overcome it.” (F10) Theme 2: Business Ideas Experiences that can be used as inspiration for ambi­tions to address societal needs and challenges give rise to business concepts. According to one of the founders, “This idea arose as a result of both personal experience and a dream to regulate the world of fashion, modeling, and oth­er soft skills.” (F1) Business ideas often comprise crucial components that support a startups groundbreaking success. Ideas can also help many business sectors that are sought after by the public as business people, “Ideas are so significant because we can use them to help small business people such as MSMEs” (F8). Ideas are a result of problems that develop, not the other way around. According to one of the founders, “From the problem, finally, an idea emerges. There­fore, ideas are very essential because they can help and encourage individuals to solve problems experienced by people, especially young people.” (F7) Social problems in the environment can lead to the emergence of an idea to be employed as a very key aspect in starting a company, one of the founders explained, “Ide­as are important in starting a startup because the existence of social issues in the surrounding is known to be able to drive the birth of ideas that can be used as a very important factor in starting a startup.” (F3) The presence of innovation in a startup is preceded by bright ideas and its execution is what causes the crea­tion of a platform. Here is an explanation from one of the founders, “Ideas are important because startup itself means owning an innovation. So, the ideas we innovate, for ex­ample from a business model or from a platform that we made, everything comes from an idea, so the idea is very important.” (F9) Exploring idea requires a team to run it quickly and precisely, and to channel a brilliant idea in a startup, it would be nice as a founder to offer one idea to another team so that the idea can be refined together to be executed appropriately. One of the founders explained as follows, “... if I analyzed it again, the idea is very important, and channeling this idea entails running it with others. And after luring them with one notion, another one will naturally emerge.” (F5) Business ideas can evolve and develop towards perfec­tion if the idea is always sought to be developed in startup pioneering, one of the founders argued as follows, “The idea is likened to a tree that comes from its seedlings first then we strive and can experience growth.” (F10) Theme 3: Teams Team is the most crucial success element in the pio­neering stage of a startup. Without a team, startups cannot survive and are very difficult to start. Having a solid team can turn startup goals into success. One of the founders explained based on his experience as follows, “From personal experience, team is an essential as­pect, because if you don’t have a solid team, the startup cannot survive until now. The big challenge in the startup’s pioneering is the team, that’s why that team is a very im­portant factor.” (F2) Team is recognized as being able to cope with any work easily and quickly. Teams are needed to ease the work in terms of time and effort. With a team in a startup, all work can be shared so that everyone supports each oth­er, especially those who are nowledgeable about the field. Recognition of the functioning of the team in a startup can be justified by the statements of the following several founders: “This team is very important, especially people who understand aspects in the field.” (F9) “This team is very important in pioneering a start­up because we have goals ahead that are still long to go through so it is very important to have a team because they help to attain the distant goals.” (F3) “The team is very important because we can’t do the startup ourselves, we can’t master all things, therefore it takes a team to save the time and energy.” (F4) “The team can bring up work, work can be shared so that everyone helps each other.” (F8) In addition, it is considered useless if initiating an idea but never executing it together with the team. This state­ment can be justified by one of the following founders, “The most important thing in startup pioneering is the team because it is useless if we have an idea but do not have a team to execute the idea we have.” (F6) Choosing a team must be based on the similar mindset with the founder. At the beginning of startup pioneering, the team should not be too large because it was not very ef­fective during that time. The statement can be justified by one of the founders, “Team is vital to start a startup during 2 - 3 months, but it should not involve too much people be­cause will not be advantageous. So, the team is important as long as they have the same vision as ours.” (F5) To get satisfactory results in startup pioneering, it is advisable to have a team with the same vision and mis­sion, because all work in the startup will be light and it can bring success in starting a startup. It is not recommended to set up a startup alone because it can be troublesome and can cause frustration. The following is an explanation from one of the founders who shared her experience, “In my experience, team is significant because we can­not work alone in the business world. If you work alone, it must be troublesome and frustrated. But if you have a team, it is certain that the work has been as light and in line with the mission and vision, and the outcomes can be pleasing.” (F7) Talking about the team in startup pioneering is not only about the ease of completing work together, but the team can be used to focus on improving the product. Here is a statement from one of the startup founders, “To improve the product even better, we need to work with the team. That’s why the team is important for the startup pioneering stage because everything is done together.” (F10) Theme 4: Business Model Business model is a basic concept or structure that can be used as a success factor in starting a startup. Business model is also an outline in the form of a process flow, where the goal is to run a startup and earn revenue. One founder argues that, “It’s important to think about the out­line of a business model because it can lead us to get a consistent revenue match in the middle of a pioneering.” (F4). In addition, the business model is recognized as a di­rectional indicator and can be used as an analytical tool to find out whether a startup can run or not. Here is an expla­nation from two startup founders who have experienced it: “What I feel is that the business model is very impor­tant because from the business model we will know where the startup is going.” (F1) “The business model is very important because it can analyze whether our startup can run or not.” (F3) In starting a startup, besides thinking about ideas, it is inevitable to consider about business model because it can provide an overview of how startups can get income. One of the founders expressed this, “The business model must be considered alongside ideas because that’s where it will also be thought how startups make money.” (F6). Non only focusing on the inclusion of business models, it can also be used to describe the lifestyle in doing business. “The busi­ness model is very important because the business model is our passion or lifestyle.” (F7) Business models can be arbitrary and are very suitable for a company such as startups because every time they experience an incompatibility, startup founders can change it and adjust to a proper model to survive, so it is necessary to determine and choose the right business model. Here are the explanations of several founders who thought the same thing, “So, it is necessary to have a profitable business model for startups to survive. This business model is important, important to find, and suitable in the pioneering stage. It is possible to change and surely it will change depending on whether the startup is running or not.” (F2) “The business model is important since to create a business we need a model first. It would be nice for us to have a model and then we use it as a reference even though there are changes in the middle of the road, it is natural.” (F5) “The business model can be arbitrary, therefore try to find a suitable business model, and of course over time, the business model will be more perfected.” (F9) Theme 5: Capital or Funding In the realm of starting a startup, capital or funding is needed in the early stages of pioneering and is a significant element when starting a startup. It is suggested that capital should come from internal parties, in this case the founder, “Capital is important for initial operational costs, found­ers are expected to have capital at the beginning of startup pioneering.” (F9) At the beginning of startup pioneering, capital must first come from its costs, because capital or funding is one of the important factors when starting a startup. The two founders argued as follows: “Capital is categorized as important but not very im­portant. In the pioneering stage capital comes at its own expense.” (F3) “Capital is important but not very important. In my opinion, capital is one of the main things besides ideas.” (F1) In addition, at the beginning of startup pioneering, lack of funds makes starting a business pointless and a time-con­suming endeavour. One of the founders explained, “Capital or funding is important in our startups be­cause without funding it would be useless to set up a free startup, it is just a waste of time.” (F7) Therefore, for the outset of a startup’s establishment, capital or funding is required to cover the shortcomings. With the presence of capital, the startup will continue to operate. It is also strongly advised that at the beginning of startup pioneering, it must involve external parties to prevent its burden to the founder. The clarification of the statement can be justified by the following two founders: “Yes, at the first time it must be from the internal and that is very important, but for the future, after a year, it must be considered to earn funding from the external, be­cause it will be heavier. Why? Because startups require speed, so there must be external aid to accelerate.” (F2) “Capital, in general, is important for the startup pio­neering stage because capital can be used to cover short­falls when something gets in the way.” (F5) Theme 6: Products Product is a successful supporting factor that can meet customer needs instantly. However, if the product offered is not demanded by the market, the product is not included in the success factor. Therefore, product selection must be able to answer the problems that are occuring, “A prod­uct must already be in existence before starting a startup, but the product must exclusively focus on solving issues.” (F3). The right product can be a success factor in startup pi­oneering. Because of its importance as a selling point, it is considered useless if setting up startup without having a product. One of the founders explained this, “A prod­uct is a selling point, without a free product when starting a startup it means that you don’t have selling value, then what to sell? Therefore, the product is important.” (F7). Setting up a startup without a product only consumes time for nothing, this is advertised by the founder of Intelligo, “The product is so important because the product is what we will sell, because if we go public without a product then we just waste the time.” Products are used as a source of income because it is from the products itself that we can sell and introduce startups to customers. This is as stated by one of the found­ers: “The product is important because it will be used for startup income, and it is the product that will be shared with potential customers.” (F4). In addition to the source of income, the product is also functioned as a symbol of the excellence and uniqueness of a startup. The following is an explanation submitted by two founders: “The product is very important because it is a symbol of startup excellence. Over time products can emerge from new ideas needed by the market.” (F1) “The product is important because it can provide the unique value of our startup brand with competitors.” (F6) The result of a solution is a product, and the product is a solution formed from executed ideas. Products can take any form but thinking about one product only when start­ing a startup is not advisable. “There must be many alternatives, but don’t think about just one solution (product). The result of a solution is a product, the product can be in the form of a web or an application.” (F2) Theme 7: Incubators Incubators according to the informants are factors that can make the startup’s pioneering process successful. In­cubators are considered advisors or mentors because they can motivate individuals to always think out of the box, provide support, develop startups into mature company, and manage good finances. The presence of an incubator is recognized as being able to speed up the startup pioneering process. Incubators in this case refers to mentoring and training that are very influential at the startup pioneering stage because they can motivate individuals to always rise against the downturn, two founders argued this: “Incubators are important, the focus is not about fund­ing provider but on training and mentoring. As long as it is influential to the startups, its forms are not really matter. If the startup runs alone, the process will be very slow. Compared to the support of an incubator, the startup will be fast because there is a place for discussion.” (F2) “Incubators in terms of mentoring are very important for startup development. Since it is significantly impactful in providing motivation when starting a startup, it is con­sidered important.” (F3) Incubators or mentors are also recognized as mentors and helpers who can be utilized as a reference in start­up pioneering. Incubators can lead a thinking process to a broader direction and can be used as the most reliable place for help when there are questions about startup pio­neering. The founder of Rumahbelajar gave the following statement: “Mentoring is very useful in pioneering startups as it can be a mentor, bringing thoughts out of the box”. Also, one of the founders gave a statement, “Incubators are important but in terms of gaining knowledge and insight. So, when we have obstacles and we ask them, it is very essential because we can be involved in helping and can be used as a reference.” (F5) Incubators are very important for startups, “Incubators are an crucial aspect for startups.” (F9). In addition, incu­bators are very helpful in terms of funding and knowledge transfer, “Incubators or mentoring are very helpful because they can provide developments both in terms of funding and insight.” (F10). Furthermore, it also turns out that in­cubators can expand the thinking of startup founders, “The importance of incubators is because they can expand our thinking to be even more developed.” (F8) However, it is also highly advisable to continue to rely on the incubator if the prospective startup founder still has minimal capital and even insufficient knowledge. The fol­lowing is a statement from one of the founders, “Incubators are very important except for people who already have a lot of money, they don’t need an incubator, but if the founder is still lacking in budget, then use the knowledge, energy, and relationship skills of the incuba­tor.” (F7) A mentor is necessary to develop a startup because without one, doing so is pointless and will only lead to failure. It is mandatory to have a mentor because a men­tor may share his knowledge with startup pioneering and because the mentor’s knowledge has a significant impact on a company’s success. Here is a statement from one of the founders, “It’s useless for us to start a startup if we don’t have a mentor because of its role in terms of providing knowl­edge about the startup world, the knowledge they provide is very impactful for startup pioneering.” (F6) Theme 8: Validation Validation is also such an important factor at the start­up pioneering stage since validation can solve problems most effectively. With the validation process carried out, it is easy to find out the existence of people who are ready to pay for products from startup business ideas. One of the founders stated like this, “Validation is important because that’s where we will know whether our product is needed by the market or not.” (F4). Validation aims to discover the target market and preferred market by people, the follow­ing is an explanation from one of the founders, “Validation is very important to know what kind of market is, what we want to direct, who will be the target.” (F8) Before launching a startup, it would be suggessted to validate the created product in the first place, so that the product can be accepted and known by many people (potential customers). In addition, validation is crucial so that company pioneers may avoid mistakes. Additionally, through validation pioneers gather feedback and sugges­tion from potential customers for improvements of prod­ucts or services that potential customers want to purchase. Here are the statements of several founders voicing similar things: “Before soft-launching, we need to validate first to in­troduce our startup products to many people. The impor­tance of validation is because we can minimize mistakes, we can get input and suggestions from people who want to use our services atau product.” (F6) “There is a need for validation before the soft opening. Validation is material of launching preparation. Validation is a very important factor because before launching, the business product must first be validated.” (F1) “Product validation is very important because it is related to aspects of product acceptance by the market.” (F9) Validation is a crucial factor when developing a start­up business because validation aims to test solutions for customers who have problems. Starting a startup is not enough if it only depends on idea initiation and assump­tion. One of the founders explained as follows, “Validation is the same as diamonds which is a very important factor, even if you want to start a business, it must be from validation, it cannot be only based on as­sumptions because ideas without validation are just like garbage.” (F7) Validation of the market is a process to ensure that the products produced by startups are acceptable and useful in the market. One of the founders described as follows, “Validation can tell the public about something use­ful. The public receives the product through validation. And this validation is a very important factor in startup pioneering because problems in society can be detected through validation.” (F3) To reduce errors in startup pioneering, it is recom­mended to validate it in the beginning. Whether it is a vali­dation of products, problems, or markets it should never be missed. Here is the advice of the co-founder of the startup, “To reduce trial and error, validation is needed. Vali­dation is an important point at the beginning before exe­cution, and at the time of execution, it must still be validat­ed. In Fresio itself, it had run 4 validations or 4 fee terms which include: problem validation, solution validation, market validation, and product validation. So validation is a very important factor or the top factor before it starts.” (F2) Theme 9: Competitors In the pioneering stage of a startup, competitors are needed because competitors can encourage innovation and improvement of the quality of startup products and servic­es. This is as stated by one of the founders: “Competitors are very important at the stage of pioneering startups be­cause competitors become a reference to be able to analyze goals, competitors become an encouragement and when we are weak, competitors can motivate us to rise.” (F1) Through competitors, startup will be able to learn about their vulnerabilities from their competition and boost the benchmark of startups that are currently in development. Those weaknesses can be turned into an advantage or a solution that is unique for the startup. Here are the state­ments of some founders who have the same thoughts: “Competitors are important for today because from them we can find out their weaknesses and we can make these weaknesses as a unique point in the startup we are doing.” (F8) “Competition is important because that’s where we can learn from them, it can be used as a benchmark to be able to know their weaknesses and it is from those weaknesses that we can make it a uniqueness in our startup.” (F4) “Competitors are important because we can see what the disadvantages and advantages are, so that we can take the shortcomings and used it as advantages in our start­up.” (F6) Competitors are not only used as a place to see weak­nesses but they can also be used as sparring partners or rivals for encouragement in the startup pioneering period. The presence of competitors is considered as the best mo­tivation. The following is a statement from two founders who consider competitors as motivating rivals and as en­couragement: “In terms of competitors, it is very much awaited and it is very necessary to sparring partners. How can you say that you are good at it, but you never be in a competition? Therefore, it is better to have competitors during the pio­neering stage, because no matter their condition are, we have to be better. Hence, it is crucial to have competition without criticizing them. So you have to have a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) that distinguishes what you have and your competitors do not have, called a solution. It’s not encouraging if there are no competitors.” (F2) “Competitors are a challenge event, so this factor is categorized important because there must be rivals at work, there must be something we can miss and can make our innovation more developed than competitors.” (F7) Unlike the case with the BaCiraro startup, this firm considers competitors as friends because they can solve the same problem, “In pioneering startups, competitors are considered their friends. The competitor does not have any effect because it carries out a common goal. To be different from competitors, you must show your uniqueness.” (F3) In addition, competitors are used as a tool to analyze the market and validate the market. It is considered as mar­ket analysis and market validation since it is possible to discover how many people will use the products or ser­vices we make. The following is a presentation and ex­planation from two founders who consider competitors as market validation and analysis: “The competitor, in the startup world, is important be­cause it is used as market validation. Without competitors, usually investors don’t have confidence in investing in the startup.” (F9) “The competitor factor is very important for Intelligo startups because from them we can analyze the market and see how they can attract customers and we can use it as basis for analysis materials.” (F5) Theme 10: Marketing Startup pioneering can be considered running if the startup can do marketing because the purpose of marketing is to sell products to customers. Here is a statement from one of the informants, “So the factor that we get from our startup, the main factor is marketing, that is because we sell. If we can’t sell well, it’s all the same, there must be no action and the startup can’t run.” (F5) Starting a startup also requires mastering marketing; if individuals do not expertise this knowledge, the start­up will experience stagnation or unable to run. Marketing needs to be prioritized if individuals already have a prod­uct that is ready for sale, because if marketing is not a pri­ority then all products will be considered junk and cannot be distributed to customers. The clarification of the state­ment can be justified by the following explanation from the founder, “This field of marketing must be in goals and promot­ed. Whatever the product is, if it is not sold with marketing, it’s useless. There must be marketing knowledge as this is included in the category of an important part of startups.” (F7) Theme 11: Mastery of Technology When establishing a startup, mastering technology and keeping up to date with its developments is highly required even though there are a lot of aspects to learn related to technological advancement. In this modern world, if we don’t master technology, we will experience lagging. The following is an opinion expressed by one of the founders, “The important factor is also that they must be techno­logically literate (mastery of technology), humans now if they are not technologically literate will be outdated. This means that he does not know about the current develop­ment, so it will be a loss for himself.” (F7) To be able to attract more customers fast and precisely, it is required to learn more and understand relatively new technologies. The following is a suggestion made by one of the informants, “We have to learn a lot of things related to new tech­nologies so that we can reach customers faster and more precisely.” (F8) Theme 12: Market Analysis When starting a startup, it would be helpful to conduct a market analysis so that we can be certain of the target market. The market analysis’ findings can be utilized as a guide to ensure that the product created is marketable (customer). The impact of market study on startup innova­tion is equally significant, this is as stated by the founder of startup ARcourse, “Market analysis is important for the startup pioneering stage because we want to sell prod­ucts, which means we can see the market analysis from the book. Then, we must pay attention to the market from various aspects”. Likewise, as stated by the founder of Rumahbelajar, where the founder suggested that he could do a market analysis before validating, this is intended to detect as ear­ly as possible potential customers who will use products from the startup. “Before doing validation, it would be nice for us to do a market analysis so that we can already know and detect how many people will use the product we are creating.” (F1) Theme 13: Founder and Co-Founder Before establishing a startup, founders and co-found­ers must have a vision-mission, goals, and ideas that are in line, this is as stated by the founder of Intelligo: “Founders must choose a co-founder sharing the same vision because both of them must dare to fail, if these two factors are already on the same route, then the startup is safe to run, which means they have successfully executed the startup.” (F5) Not only owning the same direction and vision, but the founder and co-founder are also required to be solid with other teams. “The founder and co-founder, if they can work together with other teams then everything can be overcome properly.” (F9) Theme 14: Partners The birth of large startups is certainly inseparable from the existence of partners who work together. At the startup pioneering stage, a founder should have started looking for potential partners to cooperate with. One of the founders explained the following, “Partners are important for the startup pioneering stage because with partners we can ex­pand the market.” (F6) Theme 15: Passion Startup pioneering must also be supported by passion so that all the processes can be accomplished easily. Pri­oritizing passion during the pioneering stage refers to the condition where all difficult factors will be resolved be­cause the advantage of passion is doing something loved and loving the work itself. One founder expressed his ex­perience according to his passion, “Passion is important because when we experience a stroke we don’t give up easily. It means we get motivated and still love the business we do.” (F10) After successfully identifying the themes and being able to describe their meaning, the following can be pre­sented in quantitative form (as in Table 1). Looking at Ta­ble 1, the most dominating factor is the Problem and Team factor, which acquired 10, meaning that the ten founders agreed that the Problem and Team factors are aspects that need to be prioritized when starting a startup, because they have such a high role according to the assessment of these founders. 5 Discussion In this study, several elements need to be highlighted because these factors can trigger failures in digital startup pioneering. The first is the problem factor, considering an issue before starting a startup is highly necessary, other­wise, it can result in pioneering failure. Problems are im­portant factors that can be used as a guide to creating solu­tions (Freytag, 2019). The second factor is the team, the startup team is significant aspect that affects the success and growth of the startup. However, it must be underlined that having a team that is not solid and strong can lead to the failure of startup pioneering (Khong-Khai & Wu, 2018). The third factor is the business model, this factor acts as a success factor as a basic concept in establishing a start­up (Nalintippayawong et al., 2018). However, according to Cantamessa et al. (2018) and Bednár & Tarišková (2018) if the wrong business model is run, it will fail the startup. The fourth factor is funding, according to Cantamessa et al. (2018) and CB Insight (2021), funding has a very big influence on startup success, have no funds means failure. The fifth factor is the product, at the startup pioneering stage according to Cantamessa et al. (2018) and Bednár & Tarišková (2018) the product must be released in the right time (not too early or too late), if the product is released at the wrong time it will bring failure to the startup. The sixth factor is competitors, the strengths and advantages in the pioneering process can be known through competitors. They are considered as success factors to start a startup because they motivate startup pioneering to continue to rise, change, and develop. In contrast, according to Can­tamessa et al. (2018), competitors are factors that can lead to failures in startups. On the other hand, competitors are needed because competitors can motivate us to continue to innovate. The seventh factor is market analysis, startup pioneer­ing requires market analysis factors because through these steps startups can successfully earn income. Market analy­sis is an important factor because without market analysis, startups will be in vain to create products that do not match customer demands. Furthermore, what needs to be high­lighted are the founder and co-founder factors. The success of pioneering a startup can be generayed by founders and co-founders who have a solid relationship, and have the same vision and mission. According to Cantamessa et al. (2018) misalignment between founders and Co-Founders can lead to failures in startups. The last factor that needs to be highlighted is passion, without passion we will find it difficult to make decisions and it is difficult to rise from obstacles that hinder us in the pioneering stage of a start­up. Passion is also recognized as self-motivation because through passion we can do all the work we like. 6 Research Implications 6.1 Practical Implications This research provides knowledge and recommenda­tions to prospective startup founder entrepreneurs and oth­er stakeholders (e.g. mentors). The findings of this study have implications for startup founders to choose co-found­ers who have the same vision and mission so that all ideas about business can be implemented by common expecta­tions and goals. This research also provides advice to pro­spective startup founders that before marketing a product, it is advisable to do a market analysis and validation since the beginning, and use competitors as a motivational factor and a place to learn to turn weaknesses into advantages in the startup. The study’s findings have implications for startup founders in that they must choose co-founders who share the same vision and mission, so that all business ide­as can be implemented in accordance with shared hopes and goals. This research also advises prospective startup founders that before marketing a product, it would be nice to do market analysis and validation first, and use competi­tors as a motivator and a place for observation, and learn to imitate their startup success process, and turn their weak­nesses into strengths in startups that are being pioneered, modify these strengths, and make them unique products. 6.2 Theoretical Implications This research can contribute to providing new theories and adding new knowledge within the scope of startup pio­neering. This research has classified the themes of success factors in the startup pioneering stage through a thematic analysis approach. The research findings provide a new factor regarding success in the startup pioneering stage. These findings are problems, competitors, passion, mar­kets, partners, mastery of technology, as well as founders and co-founders. These factors are relatively new because, to the best of our knowledge, no one has conducted a sys­tematic analysis of these factors using thematic analysis. Based on case studies of ten startups, this paper identifies new knowledge and lessons for academia that can be ap­plied to digital startup learning to help increase the success rate of digital startups, and can add to academic knowledge (within the framework of the startup pioneering stage in­vestigation) about the important factors that support suc­cess in the digital startup pioneering stage. 7 Conclusion The findings of this research analysis can be used to draw two important conclusions: conclusions that can be used as vital knowledge for stakeholders or prospective founders of digital startup pioneers, and conclusions that can be used to answer the research questions raised in the introduction section. As a result of the findings and identi­fication, the first conclusion that we can draw is that there are fifteen important factors that can be claimed and used as success factors in the classification of the digital startup pioneering stage. This claim is based on thematic analy­sis, which is capable of identifying and determining suc­cess factors that are critical during the pioneering stages of a digital startup. We can identify fifteen digital startup success factors based on the following thematic analysis: Problems, business ideas, teams, business models, capital or funding, products, incubators, validation, competitors, marketing, technology mastery, market analysis, partners, and passion. The second conclusion, based on the findings of the ten founders’ analyses, is that problem factors and team factors are two of the fifteen most dominant and influential digital startup success factors in pioneering stage. These two elements have a significant impact on the pioneering stages of a digital startup. The following are the justifica­tions: First, at the pioneering stages of a digital startup, the problem factor is critical for detecting problems en­countered by many people, as this determines how much digital startup customers will use the product to be cre­ated. Furthermore, problem factors can motivate digital startup founders to develop solutions to these problems. Second, the team factor is important because with a team, all problems raised will be resolved quickly and easily, and all work will be handled productively and collaboratively. Based on the results in Table 1, the authors believe that it is true and reasonable to state that at the digital startup pioneering stage, these two factors are very important and very influential compared to the other 13 factors. The jus­tification for this conclusion is that it is indeed very appro­priate if you want to pioneer a successful digital startup, then the first and foremost factor that must be prioritized is the problem factor first. If there is a problem, it is highly likely that the digital startup will be able to earn revenue because on the basis of the problem, all kinds of solution ideas and other supporting factors will be created to solve the problem, which will eventually lead to a transaction that can generate revenue. In terms of the team factor, it is true that the team factor is one of the most influential factors during the pioneer­ing stages of a digital startup. The logic is that if we want to start a digital startup based on the problems that many people face, we cannot do so alone, we must form a team. A team will make it very easy and quick to build a digi­tal startup because it is done collaboratively and together. If you already have a problem that you want to solve, all business ideas or solutions will come together to collab­orate to create solutions in the form of digital startups to solve many people’s problems through team thinking. The presence of the team will make the startup successful be­cause it is from the team that all forms of business models that can generate revenue will emerge. The team will think of the most appropriate product as a form of solution. The team will learn from competitors to be able to imitate com­petitors’ success. The team can also be mentors (incubator) if them share scientific fields. Product validation will be easy to do through a team, the team will also make it eas­ier. Within the team, of course, there are various passions that collaboratively create solutions (both in terms of prod­ucts and business models). In terms of mastering technol­ogy with a team, everyone will learn from each other from the team that has expertise on technology trends that he or she has mastered. So, what the author wants to emphasize here is that it is true that problem factors and team factors are critical when starting a startup, but why is this so? Because when there is a problem, a pioneer will focus on the solution, how to solve the problem, rather than the floating idea factor. As a result, once the solution has been devised, the next most important factor is the team factor. Because it is certain that the solution will be simple to implement with a team, it is best to invite a team with expertise to implement these solutions. It doesn’t matter if it’s the marketing team, the programming team, the finance team, or any other team. 8 Limitation and Recommendation This research only uses the Thematic Analysis method, and the scope is only within the scope of digital startups in Indonesia. The sample taken is only ten startups that have been successfully established, and which have been running for more than 1 year. The interview process is lim­ited focusing solely on startup founders. This research is limited only to the context of the classification of the pio­neering stage. This research only examines 10 digital startups, it would be nice to conduct research in a larger scope so that other success factors that have not been identified are expected to discover soon. In order to rank and find the most influential factors in the startup pioneering stage, it is suggested to not only utilize Thematic Analysis but also using combination of AHP/ANP and TOPSIS methods, or other related methods. Acknowledgement This research was supported by the Center for Educa­tion Financial Service (Puslapdik) and Indonesia Endow­ment Fund for Education (LPDP). Literature 1Received: 10th October 2022; revised: 10th January 2023; accepted: 30th January 2023 Figure 1: Startup Development Stage. Source: Adopted from (Antunes et al., 2021; Freytag, 2019; Gonzaga et al., 2020; Startup Commons, 2022) Figure 2: Stages of Thematic Analysis. Source: Adopted from (Clarke & Braun, 2018; Walters, 2016) Table 1: Dominating Theme Calculations Theme Informants (ten founders) F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 Total Problems . . . . . . . . . . 10 Business Ideas . . . . . . . 7 Teams . . . . . . . . . . 10 Business Models . . . . . . . . 8 Capital or Funding . . . . . . 6 Products . . . . . . 6 Incubators . . . . . . . . . 9 Validation . . . . . . . . 8 Competitors . . . . . . . . . 9 Marketing . . . . 4 Mastery of Technology . . . 3 Market Analysis . . . . 4 Founder and Co-Founder . . 2 Partners . . . . 4 Passion . . . 3 Angelia, D. (2022). 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Using thematic analysis in tourism re­search. Tourism Analysis, 21(1), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.3727/108354216X14537459509017 Zaidi, R. A., Khan, M. M., Khan, R. A., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2021). Do entrepreneurship ecosystem and mana­gerial skills contribute to startup development? South Asian Journal of Business Studies. ( ahead-of-print), https://doi.org/10.1108/SAJBS-07-2020-0233 Zhou, H., Yip, W. S., Ren, J., & To, S. (2022). Themat­ic analysis of sustainable ultra-precision machin­ing by using text mining and unsupervised learning method. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 62 (No­vember 2021), 218–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2021.11.013 Kenedi Binowo is a Master of Information Technology student at the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2018, he completed his undergraduate studies at Sam Ratulangi University’s Department of Mathematics in Manado, Indonesia. He is currently a prospective lecturer through an Indonesian government program. He has over four years of experience pioneering digital startups and he is now the founder of a digital startup (startup SiPenolong) in the field of Education and Knowledge Management. Achmad Nizar Hidayanto, PhD, is a professor in Information Systems at the Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia. He is also a Vice Dean for Resources, Venture, and General Administration. He received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and PhD degrees in computer science from Universitas Indonesia in 1999, 2002, and 2008 respectively. His research interests are related to e-health, information systems/information technology management, e-commerce, e-government, information systems security, and information systems/information technology adoption. Analiza dejavnikov uspeha v zacetni fazi digitalnega zagonskega podjetja Ozadje in namen: Uspešna digitalna zagonska podjetja lahko ustvarijo dohodek za državo in izboljšajo življenja ljudi. Vendar pa za bodoce ustanovitelje, ki bodo lansirali svoja zagonska podjetja, ostajajo dejavniki uspeha pri pio­nirskih digitalnih zagonskih podjetjih neznanka. Namen te študije je identificirati kljucne dejavnike uspeha digitalnih zagonskih podjetij v pionirskih fazah. Metodologija: Tematska analiza je metoda za prepoznavanje dejavnikov uspeha v pionirskih digitalnih zagonskih podjetjih. Podatki so bili zbrani z intervjuji z desetimi ustanovitelji zagonskih podjetij. Rezultati: Ugotovitve kažejo, da je petnajst kriticnih dejavnikov in dejavnikov uspeha v pionirski fazi digitalnega zagonskega podjetja in sicer; problemi, poslovne ideje, ekipe, poslovni modeli, kapital ali financiranje, izdelki, inku­batorji, validacija, konkurenti, trženje, obvladovanje tehnologije, analiza trga, ustanovitelji in soustanovitelji, partnerji in strast. Pricakuje se, da bodo te ugotovitve prelomne za vse, ki jih zanima zagon digitalnega zagonskega podjetja. Zakljucek: Prvic: ugotavljamo petnajst pomembnih dejavnikov, ki jih je mogoce navesti in uporabiti kot dejavnike uspeha pri klasifikaciji pionirske stopnje digitalnih zagonskih podjetij. Drugi zakljucek, ki temelji na ugotovitvah analiz desetih ustanoviteljev, je, da sta dejavnika problema in dejavnika ekipe dva od petnajstih prevladujocih in najvplivnejših dejavnikov uspeha digitalnega zagonskega podjetja. Faktor problema je kljucnega pomena za odkri­vanje težav, s katerimi se srecuje veliko ljudi, in lahko motivira ustanovitelje digitalnih zagonskih podjetij, da razvijejo rešitve za te težave. Medtem ko je timski dejavnik pomemben, ker se z ekipo vse nastale težave hitro in enostavno rešijo, vse delo pa poteka produktivno in s sodelovanjem. Kljucne besede: Digitalno zagonsko podjetje, Tematska analiza, Dejavniki uspeha DOI: 10.2478/orga-2023-0002 Perceived Manager’s Emotional Intelligence and Happiness at Work: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Affective Organizational Commitment Malek Bakheet ELAYAN1, Abdulmajeed Saad ALBALAWI2, Haifa Mohammed SHALAN3, Ali H. AL-HOORIE4, Mohamed Dawood SHAMOUT5 1 Institute of Public Administration, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, elayanm@ipa.edu.sa 2 Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, abdulmajeed.balwi@ut.edu.sa 3 Shaqra University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, hshalan@su.edu.sa 4 Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Jubail, Saudi Arabia, hoorie_a@rcjy.edu.sa 5 Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emir­ates, mshamout@sharjah.ac.ae Background: Happiness at work is an important factor in employee satisfaction, productivity and retention. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived manager’s emotional intelligence and happiness at work, and whether job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment mediate this relationship. Method: A questionnaire was distributed online to a random sample of 350 schoolteachers in Saudi public schools teaching different majors. Results: Structural equation modelling results showed that satisfaction and affective organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between perceived manager’s emotional intelligence and happiness at work. Conclusion: Our results support the hypothesis that perceived manager’s emotional intelligence influences employ­ee happiness through its influence on increasing or decreasing job satisfaction and affective organizational commit­ment. These findings therefore provide insight into employee’s wellbeing and potentially how to promote it. Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Happiness at work, Job satisfaction, Affective organizational commitment, Saudi educational sector 1 Introduction Emotional intelligence (EI) has recently developed as both a social and a managerial skill. The concept is de­fined as the capacity to read and understand others in social contexts, detect their emotional response, as well as the capacity to regulate one’s own emotions (Melita Prati et al., 2003, p. 21). While the EI concept itself is not par­ticularly new, the use of the term in the workplace context has gained traction more recently, and there is ongoing research on the topic of EI and employee behavior in dif­ferent cultures and parts of the world. Managers who are the most effective are skillful in managing emotions and exhibit leadership empathy. Thus, in a given organization, EI may be a vital aspect of effective leadership, critical­ly contributing to successful team performance (Mérida-López et al., 2019). Moreover, recent work examining employees’ job sat­isfaction (JS) has shown that EI represents a core factor promoting JS (e.g., Ghahramani et al., 2019). In education, JS has become a critical issue due to the unique role that the sector plays in nurturing and guiding future genera­tions. Indeed, some decades ago, Johnson and Holdaway (1994) acknowledged the importance of researching the issue of JS in the education sector context due to the crit­ical role of teachers in society. It has also been noted that the relationship between principals and teachers influences JS, and thus the relation between managerial and teaching staff requires an in-depth investigation. Employees with an increased scope of JS and potential to achieve creativity are a critical asset to the teaching profession. Moreover, JS is a core aspect impacting the creativity and improved per­formance of teachers. Hence, the presence of JS is vital for the overall efficacy of educational institutions (Bozeman & Gaughan, 2011). Furthermore, research examining the employee–or­ganization relationship has found evidence to support the presence of what is known as affective organization­al commitment (AOC) and have demonstrated that AOC is integral to an employee’s attitudes (e.g., Scott-Ladd et al., 2006). Furthermore, Yucel and Bektas (2012) have shown that AOC has a positive correlation with JS while Nikolaou and Tsaousis (2002) have found that EI predicts AOC. Similarly, Carmeli (2003) reported the existence of a significant relationship between EI and positive work at­titudes, behavior, and outcomes. Leaders possessing high EI can be considered emotional managers, and such man­agers can increase the presence of a positive affective tone in the workplace (Pescosolido, 2002). In light of the above, this paper hypothesizes that managers who possess higher EI (hereinafter referred to as ‘EI managers’) are more like­ly to increase the level of AOC in their employees. These constructs are linked to happiness at work (HAW), which is primarily considered to be related to JS, AOC, and typ­ical mood at work (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005; Sasanpour et al., 2012). Hence, this paper aims to shed light on the mechanism through which perceived manager EI may influence HAW of employees, particularly exam­ining the extent to which this association is in.uenced by JS and AOC. 2 Literature Review and Hypothesis Development 2.1 Emotional Intelligence and Happiness at work Happiness is a domain wellbeing and life quality, and in the organizational context, it can result in employees holding a positive view toward their organization. HAW can be described as favorable mood and emotion, well-be­ing, and a good attitude, resulting in efficiency and em­bracing organizational objectives. The issue of HAW has been attracting an increasing amount of attention in psy­chology (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005), which may in part be due to the growing emphasis on ensuring mental wellbeing of individuals and the increasing pres­sures of globalization both economically and socially. Ac­cording to Mirkhan et al. (2014), happiness can be defined generally as the experience of high-frequent positivity and low frequent negativity. It has also been shown that hap­py people perform better than their unhappy counterparts. Hence, HAW is of great value to an organization (Diener, 2000; McKee, 2017) because it can help to ensure organi­zational success. In this regard, Zietsma et al. (2019) have argued that emotions should be central to organizational theory because they are essential to any organization. In­deed, emotions are considered a linchpin of the interac­tion process between management and employees (Lewa & Lewa, 2020). A core factor leading to employees’ hap­piness is solid and supportive leadership (Zietsma et al., 2019). Wang et al. (2011) have suggested that networking is essential to transmitting happiness, organizational val­ues, and moral and cultural norms. Furthermore, Naseem (2018) argued that employees who demonstrate an in­creased scope of EI experience and suffer from less stress with a higher likelihood of contentment and satisfaction. Adopting Mayer and Salovey’s (1997) definition, EI is the ability to recognize and regulate one’s emotions. This assists in thought processes, understanding them, embrac­ing emotional knowledge, and reflecting on emotional reg­ulation to promote emotional and intellectual growth. This definition arose after extensive research on and revision to EI after it was first coined by Salovey and Mayer (1990). Since then, an EI model consisting of four branches or skills has been extracted from this definition: (1) the abil­ity to accurately recognize emotions within oneself and as well as in others, (2) then using these emotions to aid one in thinking processes, (3) interpreting these emotions, and (4) manipulating them to accomplish goal(s). Each of these branches comprises different levels of the use of EI, ranging from simple to more complex uses. This model highlights the differences in the performance of each in­dividual based on each branch separately; thus, one’s be­havioral patterns depend on their mastery of the four EI skills, which can influence one’s quality of life (Salovey & Grewal, 2005). In the organizational context, EI is an embedded set of domains that work to enrich the interactions between managers and employees in positive ways. This can be through the regulation and expression of emotions and taking an empathetic approach to the expression of emo­tion (George, 2000). A manager possessing high EI can elicit positive emotions in employees because they can empathize (George, 2000). Moreover, Law et al. (2004) showed a positive relationship of EI with life satisfaction. Recognition of emotional factors and the ability to manage them effectively helps an individual to process emotions. A person possessing high EI can recognize and regulate emo­tions effectively, thus facilitating a high level of perfor­mance. This also results in such individuals generally ex­periencing greater satisfaction in life (e.g., Wong & Law, 2002). In a similar vein, an investigation by Mérida-López et al. (2019) revealed that skilled employees in terms of emotional regulation evidence higher JS and HAW levels. Generally, past research has focused on the concept of emotional regulation and capacity of staff and its impact on their happiness. In contrast, in this study, we examined the extent to which teachers’ perception of manager EI in­fluences teacher HAW. Hence, the following hypothesis was formulated: H1: Perceived manager emotional intelligence is posi­tively related to happiness at work for teachers. 2.2 Emotional Intelligence, Job Satisfaction, and Affective Organizational Commitment JS can be defined as the gratifying state of emotion ex­perienced by an employee and is brought about by pleasant work circumstances and experiences (Liu et al., 2016). It can also be interpreted as an individual’s stance on their employment, the social and physical environment, and the remuneration packages on offer (Yousef, 2017). It has been argued that JS is an important factor in at­tracting and retaining staff. Individuals with high levels of JS are healthier both physically and psychologically and are likely to be more productive and effective in their working life (Tandung, 2016). However, the JS of employees is also influenced by their managers. By its very nature, leadership in organi­zations affects the feelings, perceptions, and behaviors of staff through their social influence (Pirola-Merlo et al., 2002). It can therefore be said that an employee’s feelings about their employer and workplace are influenced by the ability of a leader to perceive, understand, and manage emotions—an ability also known as leader EI (George, 2000). Furthermore, it has been argued that the most crit­ical factor in being a good leader is the quality of leader­ship and staff interaction with an effective communication capacity, through for example listening, providing feed­back, coaching, and information-sharing—all of which are key to building positive relationships (Robbins & Digby, 2003). Similarly, the evidence available highlight the crit­ical link of the scope of EI and team JS as well as trust in others (Mishra et al., 2019). However, despite a substantial amount of research on leader EI, there is limited research evaluating the explicit impact of leader EI on employee satisfaction (Zeidner et al., 2004). Hence, the hypothesis developed was H2: Perceived manager emotional intelligence is posi­tively related to job satisfaction for teachers. With regard to the level of commitment that employees have toward their organization, research has shown that commitment to an organization is core in employees’ atti­tudinal responses (Scott-Ladd et al., 2006). Commitment to an organization is identified as a psychological phenom­enon characterizing staff relations with the organization, impacting decisions to become, and continue to be, a mem­ber of such an entity (Meyer & Allen, 1991). In a similar vein, Jang and Kandampully (2018) have argued that the intention for current employees to remain in their current positions or move on is determined by their commitment. Meyer and Allen (1991, 1997) have also claimed that commitment at the organizational level is multifaceted and comprises three different aspects. The first component is affective commitment, which involves taking an active role, identifying with, and being emotionally linked to an organization. The second aspect is known as continuance commitment (Sonker, 2019). This is when employees, through strategic calculations, weigh up the economic ben­efits of holding onto their position in the company against leaving for greener pastures. Among other factors, it is ex­pected that they will choose the former if it is more finan­cially lucrative. The third is normative commitment, which refers to the perceived obligation that employees should stay for long in their organization (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Most theorists have come to view AOC as stemming from emotional attachment to an organization and as being most closely aligned with happiness because happiness is in part dependent on a person’s emotional link to their potential employer (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Based on reviews of the AOC literature, Albalawi et al. (2019) and Rathi and Rastogi (2009) proposed that it might be possible to predict organizational outcomes (e.g., job performance, turnover, absenteeism, and workplace behavior) based on the level of AOC. In this regard, Yucel and Bektas (2012) showed that AOC has a positive cor­relation with JS, and Allen and Meyer (1993) found that, although there is a notable increase in AOC with employ­ee age, there is a closer relationship between increases in continuance commitment and organizational and position­al incumbency. Furthermore, studies that have analyzed the behav­iors of managers have shown that manager EI is a crucial attribute in AOC because it significantly affects manage­ment processes, behaviors, and outcomes (Schutte et al., 2002; Vakola et al., 2004; Buitendach & De Witte, 2005). In addition, Nikolaou and Tsaousis (2002) found that EI predicts AOC, while Carmeli (2003) found a significant relationship between EI and AOC but not continuance commitment. Similarly, an argument has been presented that leaders with higher EI can be considered emotional managers and can thus promote a positive affective tone in the workplace (Pescosolido, 2002). Both D’Innocenzo et al. (2016) and Yousef (2017) identified JS as a critical determinant for AOC among incumbent employees. A significant percent­age of available research delve into the role of employee EI in employees’ levels of engagement (Carmeli, 2003; Akhtar et al., 2017). There is a lack of research focusing on the relationship between leader or manager EI and AOC among teachers. Hence, this study hypothesizes that man­agers who possess EI are more likely to have a potential for increasing the level of AOC in employees, postulating that H3: Perceived manager emotional intelligence is pos­itively related to affective organizational commitment for teachers. 2.3 Job Satisfaction, Affective Organizational Commitment, and Happiness at Work Research on HAW suggests positive attitude and ex­perience is linked to a high level of achievement among both employees and organizations. For example, it has been shown that JS and AOC have a negative relationship with turnover intention and absenteeism and with depres­sion, anxiety and burnout, and these factors are all linked to physical health outcomes (see Griffeth et al. 2000; Mey­er et al., 2002). On the other hand, it has been argued that AOC can be viewed as the willingness of employees to make a more significant effort on behalf of their organiza­tion as well as the strong inclination to stay in their posi­tions and to embrace the goals and values of their organi­zation (Porter et al., 1974). Undoubtedly, the construct most frequently associat­ed with HAW is JS, used as either an independent or de­pendent variable in the context of organizational research (Brahmana et al., 2021). According to Clugston (2000), JS has a positive influence on normative commitment, so it follows that JS may also have a similar impact on AOC. Re­search has been conducted to investigate these constructs’ relationships, effects, or consequences on HAW, and such studies have shown that AOC is correlated with JS (Coop­er-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005; Wang et al., 2021). Other studies have highlighted the existence of a significant pos­itive relationship between AOC and favorable employee attributes, including JS and high performance (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Therefore, the following two hypotheses were formulated to consider these key constructs: H4: Job satisfaction is positively related to happiness at work for teachers. H5: Affective organizational commitment is positively related to happiness at work for teachers. 2.4 The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Affective Organizational Commitment in the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Happiness at Work Akar (2018) evaluated teachers’ perceptions of school leadership and its link to school culture and their satisfac­tion and commitment levels. Akar (2018) found that school principals can establish unique environments within their workplaces, and it is through the differentiation of such environments that teacher commitment and satisfaction is fostered or hindered. A somewhat surprising result was revealed by a study that focused on the difference between temporary and per­manent staff regarding JS and commitment. It was shown that temporary employees have higher levels of JS and commitment to their organization despite not having a per­manent position (Saridakis et al., 2020). Güleryüz et al. (2008) studied the relationships among EI, JS, and AOC and found that JS is a mediator between EI and AOC. These results were supported by Field and Buitendach (2011), who found AOC correlated positively with work engagement and HAW. Similarly, HAW and work engage­ment predict AOC among employees in tertiary education (Field & Buitendach, 2011). According to Spector (1997), JS is associated strongly with AOC because it has to do with an individual’s attitude towards their work. The find­ing reported by Spector (1997) aligns with earlier research conducted by Meyer et al. (1993), who reported similar results. More recently, Ayala (2018) also demonstrated the correlation of EI and AOC. Although many studies have been conducted on JS and AOC and their relationship with EI, very few have exam­ined the relationship between EI and HAW, especially in determining whether JS and AOC both act as mediators in the EI–HAW relationship. Therefore, this study con­tributes to enriching the literature review in this field by considering this issue. Accordingly, the following two hy­potheses were developed: H6: Job satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived manager emotional intelligence and happiness at work for teachers. H7: Affective organizational commitment mediates the relationship between perceived manager emotional intelli­gence and happiness at work for teachers. Figure 1 depicts the hypothesized research model informed by the hypothesis presented above. The mod­el underlies the anticipation of a causal link of EI (as an independent variable) and the HAW (dependent variable) where JS and AOC act as mediating variables. 3 Method 3.1 Participants A total of 350 Saudi schoolteachers completed the questionnaire. Since the teachers’ information is available in the Ministry of Education database, the teachers were contacted and requested to participate in the research. A follow-up email was also sent to the participants remind­ing them about participation in the study. 3.2 Instruments Four questionnaire scales were used in the present study. Manager Perceived Emotional Intelligence was adapted from the Others–Emotions Appraisal scale (Law et al., 2004) to reflect the extent to which the participating teachers perceived their managers to evidence emotional intelligence (e.g., “My manager is a reasonable observer of others’ emotions”). Job Satisfaction was measured with four items adapted from Spector (1997). An example item was “I am satisfied with the procedures at work.” Affective organization commitment as operationalized with four-item scale from Ziauddin et al. (2010). An example item of this scale was “I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization.” Finally, happiness at work was operation­alized with a 4-item scale adapted from Parker and Hyett (2011). An example item was “I feel happy about my job.” All items were anchored with a 5-point Likert scale with a higher score representing higher levels of the respective construct. The reliabilities of these scales are presented in the Results section. The common method bias was avoid­ed by increasing the physical separation of the items in the questionnaire to ensure that the respondents had time to synthesize the potential answers with minimal bias. All items are available in the Appendix. 3.3 Procedure The researchers distributed a questionnaire online to teachers at Saudi public schools using a random sampling method. Using this method, the researchers made sure that all the members of the sampling frame had an equal oppor­tunity to take part in this study equally. The process was a probability-based sampling technique with the capacity to provide representative results that can be generalized to the broad population of focus. A total of 500 teachers were contacted via email with an exact number of ques­tionnaires distributed. A total of 368 questionnaires were received, and 350 were valid for analysis. Data were col­lected in 2019. 3.4 Data Analysis The analysis commenced by analyzing the measure­ment model to establish the psychometric features of the four scales used in the current study. We first submitted the questionnaire items to parallel analysis to ascertain the un­idimensionality of the scales. Using Mplus 7 we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis using diagonally weighted least squares (WLSMV) estimation to account for ordinal data. We computed construct reliability, average variance extracted, and inter-construct correlation to examine con­vergent and discriminant validity. We also tested fit against standard model indices, including CFI (> .950), TLI (> .950), and RMSEA (< .08). The structural model was subsequently investigated. We tested the hypothesized model (Figure 1), and no da­ta-driven modifications were made apart from correlating the error covariances of specific items (see chapter Results for details). Mediation analysis was performed to estimate the indirect effect for each of 10,000 bootstrapped sam­ples. Support for full mediation is found when the direct effect drops to non-significance after mediators are added to the model (Baron & Kenny, 1986). 4 Results Of the 350 respondents participating in this study, 15% were younger than 30 years old, 42% between 31–40, 35% between 41–50, and 7% over 50. They had a range of educational qualifications, including diplomas (11%), BA (78%), MA (10%), and PhD (1%). The majority were teaching at elementary school (45%), while the rest were teaching at the intermediate (16%) and secondary (39%) school levels. Most had also been teaching for over 15 years (41%), while the remaining reported a teaching ex­perience of less than 5 years (17%), 6–10 years (27%), or 11–15 years (14%). As shown in Table 1, the reliability and average var­iance extracted values for each of the four scales in this study were satisfactory. All scales showed adequate reli­ability (over .70), and the average variance extracted val­ues were more than .50, indicating acceptable convergent validity. The square root of each scale’s average variance extracted value (presented in the diagonal in Table 1) was also larger than its inter-construct correlations, suggesting acceptable discriminant validity. Table 2 presents the confirmatory factor analysis re­sults. All factor loadings were statistically significant, and most were over .70. All standardized residuals were also within ± 2.0. The model fit was acceptable, .2(94) = 213.581, p < .001, CFI = .990, TLI = .987, RMSEA = .060, 90% CI [.050, .071], p = .055. The structural model was subsequently tested. Com­parison of the basic structural model, which does not in­volve the two mediators (Figure 2), and the full structural model (Figure 3) showed that the effect of Perceived Man­ager EI became non-significant (see also Table 3). This finding supports the hypothesis that JS and AOC fully me­diate the effect of Perceived Manager EI. Table 4 presents the model’s direct, indirect, and total effects. 5 Discussion The findings in this study offer empirical evidence supporting the hypothesized EI role in occupational hap­piness. A literature search on the issue of EI in leadership revealed limited research on evaluating the influence of leaders’ EI on HAW in educational settings. Therefore, the current study focused on addressing this phenome­non by assessing the implications of EI on the employee HAW and also examined whether JS and AOC mediate the EI–HAW relationship. A major contribution of the present study lies in the fact that it was an empirical examination of the mechanism of the impact of perceived manager EI on employee wellbeing in the workplace. In the following, the main findings of the data analysis are discussed and compared with the results of previous studies. This study predicted that EI would influence HAW, and this hypothesis was supported. This outcome partially affirms the prior findings of Mérida-López et al. (2019), who found that EI predicted HAW suggesting that employ­ees skilled at emotion regulation strategies report higher HAW. The current study also hypothesized that EI would influence JS and AOC, and as expected this hypothesis was also supported. These findings are tandem with previ­ous studies (e.g., Wong & Law, 2002; Mishra et al., 2019), which identified EI as a determinant of increasing employ­ee satisfaction, enthusiasm, and loyalty. The obtained find­ings are also aligned with findings reported by Meyer et al. (1993). They also support the study of Ayala (2018), estab­lishing a positive correlation between EI and AOC. Hence, these findings contribute to understanding how manager EI interacts with JS and AOC among teachers. By exam­ining hypotheses H4 and H5, we found that JS and AOC each play a positive role in HAW, which is also in line with previous results (Meyer & Allen, 1991; Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005). The current study also hypothesized that there would be a potential association of JS and AOC with EI and HAW because Güleryüz et al. (2008) studied the relation­ships among EI, JS, and AOC and found that JS is a me­diator between EI and AOC. This finding was supported by Field and Buitendach (2011), evidencing the existence of a positive relationship of AOC and HAW. The current paper proposed that JS and AOC mediate the link of EI and HAW. The results affirmed the researchers’ expecta­tion that there would be a mediation effect in the model de­veloped for the education sector in Saudi Arabia. Moreo­ver, the results supported a mediated-effects model, in that the two potential mediating variables JS and AOC, were found to in.uence the correlation between EI and HAW. The current paper showed that JS and AOC mediate the EI–HAW relationship. Overall, this finding indicates that teachers may exhibit HAW when they perceive that their managers have EI, which positively associated with teach­ers’ JS and AOC. 6 Conclusions, Implications, Limitations and Further Research 6.1 Conclusions Previous studies have investigated the relationships, effects, or consequences of HAW and have indicated that JS and AOC are correlated with EI (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005). Through exercising a high level of EI, managers can elicit positive emotions in employees by empathetically responding to and activating employees’ positive emotions and thus help them to achieve HAW (George, 2000). This paper is one of the first attempts to measure the re­lationship between EI and HAW and explore the mediating role of JS and AOC in that relationship in the educational sector. The findings highlight the importance of consid­ering potential mediating effects when seeking to assess the relationship between EI and HAW because doing so enriches knowledge about the impact of EI on HAW both generally and in the region. The results suggest that the EI of managers has a positive influence on the HAW of teach­ers in the public education sector in Saudi Arabia. In addi­tion, the results revealed that JS and AOC play a mediating role in the relationship between EI and HAW. Moreover, the .ndings emphasize the importance of managers man­aging their emotions and relationships with teachers. Spe­cifically, when teachers perceive that managers have EI, this may lead to higher JS and AOC among teachers, con­sequently leading to higher HAW among teachers. Hence, managerial leaders in educational settings should do their best to monitor their behaviors and feelings towards teach­ers to ensure HAW in the teaching profession. 6.2 Policy and Managerial Implications Although the present study is observational in nature, our results are consistent with theory. We therefore ten­tatively discuss possible implications of our results. The findings of this paper can be used to support school manag­ers because the results can help managers construct a posi­tive and happy educational environment and assist them in enhancing HAW among teachers, which would then reflect on performance improvement. Moreover, it is clear there exists limited EI research in Eastern cultures, particularly in the Arab culture (Rajendran et al., 2007). Hence, this study, conducted in Saudi Arabia, a non-Western culture, contributes to knowledge on the EI–HAW relationship in this contextual setting. Accordingly, this paper makes a threefold contribution to this area of research. First, it was conducted in an Arab culture, which could have some unique attributes because, in a sense, it is a culture in which social and traditional norms are unique and strongly enforced. Individuals gen­erally attempt to please others by avoiding what might be deemed offensive. Second, this paper could be con­sidered one of the first studies testing these relationships in the context of both Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Third, the results of this paper support school managers by suggesting ways to construct a positive and happy ed­ucational environment and consequently enhance HAW among teachers. As this would reflect favorably on teacher performance, it may as a result be of benefit to future gen­erations. 6.3 Limitations and Further Research Regarding the findings discussed above, it is important to consider that the study is characterized by some limi­tations. To start with, there is potential confounding in JS and AOC. That is, it is inadvisable to rule out the possibil­ity that contextual factors such as work experience, type of employment (temporary or permanent), and organizational structure might an effect on the results. Second, some of the limitations are related to the data itself, which was de­rived from a single source (questionnaire), and thus limit­ing the scope of interpretation. However, it is also essential to recognize that gathering the requisite data to measure EI is inherently challenging. Another feature of the current study is executing it in an Arab culture. Social and tradi­tional norms are strong, and individuals generally attempt to please others and avoid saying what might be considered offensive (Whiteoak et al., 2006). Therefore, the value of the current paper is anchored on its input on appreciating some key factors impacting HAW in non-Western working environments. Furthermore, the role of principal EI, and the result­ant impact on teacher HAW, is one area that needs more research (Schulze & Roberts, 2005). Therefore, given the limitations of the current paper, longitudinal and experi­mental research designs should be utilized in future stud­ies. Longitudinal designs allow for the direct observation of intra-individual changes over a given period, while ex­perimental designs help disentangle underlying causality. Although this will not necessarily address all limitations, it is undoubtedly shed interesting light to complement ex­isting literature. Literature 1Received: 20th September 2022; revised: 30th January 2023; accepted: 5th February 2023 Figure 1: The hypothesized model Table 1: Reliability and validity of the constructs in the measurement model and their inter-construct correlations CR AVE 1 2 3 4 1. Perceived Manager EI .86 .62 .79 2. Job Satisfaction .86 .61 .64 .78 3. Affective Organizational Commitment .88 .65 .48 .60 .81 4. Happiness at Work .91 .71 .58 .75 .75 .84 Note. Values in the diagonal are the square roots of their respective AVE. AVE = average variance extracted. CR = construct reliability. EI = Emotional Intelligence. Table 2: Standardized and unstandardized factor loadings, standard errors, and z ratios of the measurement model Path ß B SE(ß) z Perceived Manager Emotional Intelligence . EI1 .83 — 0.022 37.95 EI2 .88 1.06 0.015 57.20 EI3 .84 1.01 0.019 43.46 EI4 .92 1.11 0.013 70.18 Job Satisfaction . JS1 .85 — 0.025 33.26 JS2 .88 1.04 0.022 39.81 JS3 .67 0.79 0.036 18.78 JS4 .72 0.85 0.030 23.77 Affective Organizational Com­mitment . AOC1 .58 — 0.040 14.56 AOC2 .71 1.22 0.030 24.11 AOC3 .94 1.60 0.012 77.55 AOC4 .94 1.62 0.012 78.54 Happiness at Work . HAW1 .88 — 0.019 46.91 HAW2 .85 0.97 0.018 46.26 HAW3 .80 0.90 0.023 34.68 HAW4 .85 0.96 0.018 47.99 Note. All coefficients are significant at the .001 level. Table 3: Standardized and unstandardized coefficients, standard errors, and z ratios for the structural model Path ß B SE(ß) z p Perceived Manager EI . JS .41 0.65 0.050 8.24 < .001 HAW .10 0.10 0.054 1.77 .077 AOC .46 0.34 0.046 9.97 < .001 JS . HAW .64 0.43 0.042 15.15 < .001 AOC . HAW .48 0.69 0.042 11.62 < .001 Note. EI = Emotional Intelligence. JS = Job Satisfaction. HAW= Happiness at Work. AOC = Affective Organizational Commitment. Table 4: Standardized direct, indirect, and total effects on Happiness at Work Direct Indirect Total Perceived Manager EI .10‡ .26 (mediated by Job Satisfaction) .58 .22 (mediated by AOC) Job Satisfaction .41 — .41 AOC .46 — .46 Note. Indirect effects were computed for each of 10,000 bootstrapped samples. Significance was tested based on the 95% confidence inter­val. All coefficients significant at the .001 level unless otherwise indicated. EI = Emotional Intelligence. 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Emotional intelligence in the workplace: A critical re­view. Applied Psychology, 53(3), 371–399. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2004.00176.x   Ziauddin, Khan, M. R., Jam, F. A., & Hijazi, S. T. (2010). The impacts of employee’s job stress on organization­al commitment. European Journal of Social Sciences, 13(4), 617–622. Zietsma, C., Toubiana, M., Voronov, M., & Roberts, A. (2019). Emotions in organization theory. Cambridge University Press. Malek Elayan is an assistant professor in Human Resources Department at the Institute of Public Administration, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has published several articles and book chapters, reviewed manuscripts and textbooks, and participated in local and international conferences as both a participant and a presenter. His research interests are HRM practices, e-HRM, organizational factors analysis, and contemporary business topics. Abdulmajeed Saad Albalawi holds a PhD in Business Administration from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. His research is focuses on emotional intelligence and small and medium enterprises. Currently he is working at Tabuk University, Saudi Arabia. Haifa M. Shalan is a PhD student at the Stuart School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA. Professionally, she works as a Business Administration lecturer in the Business Department, Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia. Her job includes delivering educational courses, such as marketing, microeconomics, macroeconomics, human resource management, and management information systems. .Her research interests lie primarily in human resource management, organizational behavior, leadership, abusive supervision, and recent business topics. Ali H. Al-Hoorie is an Associate Professor of English Language at the Jubail English Language and Prepara­tory Year Institute, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. He completed his PhD in English Language at the University of Nottingham under the supervision of Professors Zoltán Dörnyei and Norbert Schmitt. He also holds an MA in Social Science Data Analysis from Essex University. His research interests include motivation theory, research methodology, and complexity. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3810-5978 Mohamed Dawood Shamout is an assistant professor at the College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah. His research focuses on Business Management and Supply Chain Management, He gained a lot of academic and practical experience while working in Dubai, designing and controlling business operations in the production of goods and services. In addition, he managed manufacturing and service operations such as product design, production planning, and inventory control. Zaznana vodstvena custvena inteligenca in sreca pri delu: posredniška vloga zadovoljstva pri delu in ucin­kovite organizacijske predanosti Ozadje: Sreca pri delu je pomemben dejavnik zadovoljstva, produktivnosti in zadrževanja zaposlenih. Namen te študije je bil raziskati razmerje med zaznano vodstveno custveno inteligenco in sreco pri delu ter ali zadovoljstvo pri delu in custvena organizacijska predanost posredujeta v tem razmerju. Metoda: Vprašalnik je bil razdeljen na spletu nakljucnemu vzorcu 350 uciteljev v javnih šolah razlicnih usmeritev v Savdski Arabiji Rezultati: Rezultati modeliranja strukturne enacbe so pokazali, da sta zadovoljstvo in ucinkovita organizacijska predanost v celoti posredovala razmerje med zaznano custveno inteligenco managerja in sreco pri delu. Zakljucek: Naši rezultati podpirajo hipotezo, da zaznana vodstvena custvena inteligenca vpliva na sreco zaposlenih prek vpliva na povecanje ali zmanjšanje zadovoljstva pri delu in afektivne organizacijske predanosti. Te ugotovitve torej zagotavljajo vpogled v dobro pocutje zaposlenih in potencialno, kako ga spodbujati. Kljucne besede: Custvena inteligenca, Sreca pri delu, Zadovoljstvo pri delu, Afektivna organizacijska predanost, Savdski izobraževalni sektor Appendix Perceived Manager Emotional Intelligence My manager always knows his/her friends’ emotions from their behavior. My manager is a good observer of others’ emotions. My manager is sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others. My manager has good understanding of the emotions of people around him/her. Job Satisfaction My work environment is positive. I am satisfied with the procedures at work. I am satisfied with the criteria of incentives and promotion at my job. I am satisfied with the opportunities for advancement and growth in my organization. Affective Organizational Commitment This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me. I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own. I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization. I feel emotionally attached to this organization. Happiness at Work I feel happy about my job. At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. I am enthusiastic about my job. I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization. DOI: 10.2478/orga-2023-0003 Corporate Social Responsibility and Creative Performance: The Effect of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior Amro AL-MADADHA1, Farah SHAHEEN1, Lina ALMA’ANI1, Natalie ALSAYYED1, Ahmad AL ADWAN2 1 Business Administration, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan, a.almadadha@psut.edu.jo (*corresponding author), far20180618@std.psut.edu.jo, lin20180727@std.psut.edu.jo, nat20180140@std.psut.edu.jo 2 Department of Business Technology, Hourani center for Applied Scientific Research, Al Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan, a.adwan@ammanu.edu.jo Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can enhance creative performance in an organization both directly and indirectly through job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior. This will allow organizations to consider the different factors influencing creative performance, and how these factors can be utilized in a beneficial manner for the organization. Methods: The data for this study was collected via a survey among three telecommunication companies. The valid responses amounted to 344 junior employees. The data was then analyzed to test the hypotheses through structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The findings of this study indicated a direct positive significant relationship between employee CSR per­ceptions and creative performance. As well as a positive correlation between employee CSR perceptions and ex­trinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction. Furthermore, supporting the indirect effects of job satisfaction and organiza­tional citizenship behavior. Moreover, a positive correlation between job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior was found. Finally, organizational citizenship behavior and creative performance showcased a positive correlation as well. Conclusion: Organizations should consider the impact of employee CSR perceptions on creative performance, indirectly through extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior to achieve higher levels of creative performance within their organizations. Keywords: Employee CSR perceptions, Job satisfaction, Creative performance, Corporate social responsibility, Creativity, Organizational citizenship behavior 1 Introduction The current business environment is turbulent and complex, although most strategic operations focus on ex­ternal happenings. The internal environment, pertaining to the employees, is a key element in determining organiza­tional performance. The extent to which an organization can enhance employee job satisfaction will be directly re­flected through an increase in productivity, among other factors. Employee behavior is shaped by several elements, specifically job satisfaction which can be both intrinsic and extrinsic. The work environment shapes an employee’s attitudes towards work, and their professional selves and abilities, this triggers an emotional reaction in the employ­ee’s mind, which can be either negative or positive, thus shaping their standards for intrinsic and extrinsic satisfac­tion, and this is reflected again through their behaviors in the workplace (Bektas, 2017). Extrinsic job satisfaction (EJS) is derived from the external opportunities that could allow the employee to benefit from job advancements. Alternatively, intrinsic job satisfaction (IJS) stems from personal motivators such as conscience, motivation, and self-fulfillment needs; this tends to be achieved within oneself, as those drivers are intangible, subjective, and personal. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) exceeds the organizational expectations and requirements that are outlined by the job description, exhibits loyalty and organ­izational commitment, and voluntarily takes on additional workload. This is a result of an accumulation of happen­ings that allow the employee to achieve extrinsic and in­trinsic job satisfaction (IJS) (Lavelle, 2010). The subjectivity and vagueness of the perceived val­ue of creativity results in organizations overlooking and undervaluing creative performance (CP), although it is a prominent aspect of organizational success. In fact, with the dynamic nature of contemporary markets and globali­zation, it is now more important than ever to lead organiza­tions with a unique perspective (Kaufman, 2016). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) channels or­ganizational efforts towards aligning profit maximization strategies with the surrounding community’s demands for social consciousness. CSR has played a crucial role in shaping today’s business practices in developed nations, it has outlined the standards for accepted business endeav­ors, this has been amplified by the increased demand for transparency by customers and employees. The considera­tion of stakeholders’ concern regarding CSR efforts is cru­cial to organizational continuity (Stobierski, 2021). The rise in the importance of the role CSR plays in society has contributed to shaping the manner in which employees perceive the value they add to society. More­over, employees exhibit higher levels of job satisfaction and commitment when taking part in socially responsible activities. A research report conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management depicts that approximately 32% of employees state that one of the determinants of job satisfaction was their company’s dedication to positively contributing to society through CSR (Kate & Vanessa, 2016). The significance of this study lies in the investigation of the variables affected by employees’ perceptions of or­ganizational CSR efforts. The research findings can then be used by the telecommunications industry in Jordan to enhance organizational CSR efforts, achieve results and compete more effectively with industry rivals. This study is based in Jordan, a developing nation located in the Middle East. The concept of CSR in Jor­dan is still in its early stages, as business CSR efforts are characterized by voluntary practices. Furthermore, corpo­rate governance and managerial efforts have overlooked the importance of CSR, leading to its absence in strategic plans. The country’s scarce economic resources have cre­ated barriers to CSR incentives, thus discouraging compa­nies that seek to take part in this. However, the situation is evolving, this is attributed to the impact of globalization on Jordanian business practices. The shift in perspective has created a business environment characterized by ac­knowledging the importance of CSR both strategically and collectively. Hence, this paper will address the gap in knowledge in Jordan regarding the contribution of CSR efforts to organizational success, facilitated by employee satisfaction, OCB, and CP. As well, in terms of existing literature, this paper is a continuance on existing literature (Khaskheli et al., 2020), which examined the effect of CSR activities on OCB, and the mediating role of affective commitment and job satis­faction. This paper extends on previous research by fulfill­ing the authors’ recommendations and examining another organizational contextual factor, the factor being CP. The examination of CP will allow the researchers to further un­derstand the potential link between CSR activities and how it influences employees’ creative engagement in the organ­ization. This is of significance as organizations can poten­tially monetize off this creativity and it can prove to be a lucrative endeavor for the organization. In addition, this paper further addresses the existing gap in literature, by drawing upon Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943), Her­zberg’s two-factor theory and the social exchange theory as relevant theoretical foundations to examine the extent to which employee CSR perceptions impact intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. As well as, to study the impact of job satisfaction on OCB, and that of OCB on creative per­formance. Finally, investigating the indirect effect of job satisfaction and OCB on creative performance. Hence, to the researcher’s best knowledge this is a leading study in Jordan, as employee CSR perceptions have not been ex­amined in this context before. To explore the connections further, this study will pri­marily shed light on the associations between employee CSR perceptions, intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, OCB, and creative performance, in the con­text of Jordan’s telecommunications industry. Even though CSR efforts have been on the rise in Jordan, published knowledge in this regard is inadequate. Hence, this study’s findings will aid in eliminating the discrepancy in the available literature. What is more, this work will contrib­ute to realizing the potential and positive impact that job satisfaction, OCB, and creative performance have on the overall profitability of an organization, while strategically serving society in a beneficial manner. This study adds to the value of existing literature by studying the correlation between employees’ CSR perceptions, extrinsic and intrin­sic job satisfaction as well as OCB, in addition to organiza­tional creative performance. Accordingly, the research paper seeks to fulfill the fol­lowing objectives: 1. Examine the correlation between employee CSR perceptions and intrinsic job satisfaction. 2. Examine the correlation between employee CSR perceptions and extrinsic job satisfaction. 3. Investigate the impact of extrinsic job satisfaction on OCB. 4. Investigate the impact of intrinsic job satisfaction on OCB. 5. Examine the impact of OCB on creative perfor­mance. 6. Investigate the impact of employee CSR perceptions on creative performance. 2 Theoretical Background 2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) The concept of social responsibility has been defined as: “the obligations of businessmen to pursue those pol­icies, to make those decisions, or to follow those line of actions which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society” (Bowen, 1953, p. 6). CSR can be strategized to achieve a wide array of or­ganizational objectives; influences of CSR can be reflected both on external and internal stakeholders. Thus, CSR can be regarded as an opportunity for growth and economic prosperity (Mirshak et al., 2007). Although some CSR campaigns succeed in increasing sales, sending a socially responsible message etc., some activities fail and receive negative backlash by the public. 2.2 CSR in the Context of the Study (Middle East and Jordan) Currently, limited research shedding light on CSR in the Middle East is available, mainly due to the inadequate reporting of such efforts; although the concept of CSR is one that is deeply embedded in the cultural traditions of the Middle East; taking many forms of philanthropic efforts such as donations known as Zakat or Sadaqa. This is attrib­uted to the fact that donations are handed discreetly, and efforts are undisclosed, hence they are labelled as “silent CSR” (Sidani et al., 2012). In the Jordanian context, social philanthropic efforts are preferred over environmental endeavors. Sectors like the banking industry cater their efforts towards legal re­quirements and ethical efforts. The telecommunications industry in Jordan’s CSR efforts is focused on various seg­ments in the country. Companies utilize their resources to­wards youth, education, sports and others (Shatara, 2021). 2.3 Extrinsic Job Satisfaction (EJS) EJS originates from factors related to the work envi­ronment and ergonomics; it is the result of certain exter­nal factors. This could refer to the basic external needs of employees such as a safe working environment, or to more advanced determinants such as the type of manage­rial control present in the organization (Mardanov, 2020). Other relevant factors that contribute to the extent of EJS could include avoiding punishment, positive reward systems, monetary incentives, remuneration packages and professional career advancement (Lin, 2007). Extrinsic motivation is based on the employee’s perceived value of an action and the constituent benefits of that action; hence such behaviors can be a useful tool to help incentivize em­ployees. 2.4 Intrinsic Job Satisfaction (IJS) IJS is related to internal feelings of employees towards their job. It could manifest as high levels of effort which would be reflected in increased productivity and improved performance. IJS stems from inner direction and the per­sonal desire to reflect competence, self-efficacy and deter­mination. Exhibiting such satisfaction could be portrayed by getting the job done, job autonomy, and involvement in the decision-making process (Bektas, 2017). 2.5 Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) OCB tends to be a discrete contributor to organization­al effectiveness, as it encompasses the voluntary behaviors that employees engage in, for the well-being of the organi­zation and its employees. The actions exceed the expected outputs, and the average level of performance (Nurjanah et al., 2020; Al-Madadha et al., 2021). In the past two decades, OCB has evolved to be application-based, rather than solely being a subject of ac­ademic research. Additional research has been conducted, leading to a more well-rounded approach that is inclusive of a wider assortment of related determinants (Ocampo et al., 2018). The determinants are job satisfaction, employee engagement and job embeddedness, organizational com­mitment, human resources practices, self-efficacy, trans­formational leadership, self-serving motives, and culture (Hamblin, 1967). 2.6 Creative Performance (CP) Creativity is the generation of novel, and beneficial ideas regarding processes, products, and services (Chen et al., 2021). Creativity is not limited to an individual per­son’s input; creativity is multifaceted and could include group-level and organizational-level creativity as it has been described as individual creativity with three constit­uents: motivation, expertise, and creative thinking skills. Moreover, it has been suggested that creativity is built on the influence of several factors present in an individual’s environment, such as personal ability, motivation, and suf­ficient knowledge (Amabile, 1988). 2.7 Hypothesis Development 2.7.1 Theoretical Foundation This study is supported by three interlinked theories: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943), the social exchange theory and Herzberg’s two-factor theory. The social exchange theory is based on reciprocation, referring to the amount of effort placed in a relationship between individuals. This, which can be reflected through OCB, which refers to the amount of effort an individual exerts in the workplace stemming from a feeling of belonging to the organization. Hence, it can be deduced that the social exchange theory can be perceived as a trigger of OCB. As well, OCB is attributed to internal drivers, which in turn, correspond to Maslow’s theory of needs at the self-actu­alization and self-esteem hierarchical levels. These levels are derived by accomplishing personal milestones and job advancement, showcasing recognition and status. Where­as, self-actualization, reflects attaining one’s full potential, and developing creative outputs which displays the highest level of self-fulfillment. These levels are also reflected in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, specifically, the motivators which are factors that directly pool into intrinsic job satis­faction; these include work tasks, on the job advancement, growth, recognition and achievement (Amin, 2020). This link is evident in a study (Sidhu & Nizam, 2020), which outlines the relation between the three theories and their significance when organizing tasks and the appropriate awards. 2.7.2 Employee CSR Perceptions and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction (EJS) Employees who view their organization as socially responsible are more likely to be extrinsically motivated and satisfied, as well as contribute creatively to the organ­ization. Pitaloka and Sofia (2014) focused their efforts to­wards investigating the effect of CSR on EJS specifically in SMEs; where they found that CSR is strongly positively related to extrinsic job motivation. Moreover, it has been suggested that organizations perceived by employees as socially responsible would experience an increase in em­ployee job satisfaction (Joana & Filipa, 2019). According­ly, this research paper hypothesizes as follows: H1: Employees’ CSR perceptions have a positive influ­ence on EJS. 2.7.3 Employee CSR Perceptions and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction (IJS) Previous research has investigated the possible corre­lation linking CSR activities to intrinsic job satisfaction. Skudiene and Auruskevicience (2012) found that the pres­ence of CSR activities in an organization had a significant positive effect on intrinsic job motivation. Another study adopting a more holistic approach explored the determi­nants of CSR and their impact on intrinsic job motivation. The work concluded that there is a positive correlation be­tween CSR and intrinsic motivation. Based on the previous findings regarding employee CSR perceptions and IJS, this study hypothesizes the fol­lowing: H2: Employees’ CSR perceptions have a positive influ­ence on IJS. 2.7.4 Extrinsic Job Satisfaction (EJS) and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) (Jehad et al., 2011) found that job satisfaction and OCB are closely and significantly related. However, some of the literature found that OCB could be predicted by job satisfaction, thus increasing its importance (Jehad et al., 2011). Accordingly, the following is hypothesized: H3: EJS is positively correlated to OCB. 2.7.5 Intrinsic Job Satisfaction (IJS) and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) Existing literature argues that OCB is strongly posi­tively correlated to IJS. Finkelstein (2011) considered job satisfaction as the main prerequisite of OCB, arguing that the presence of satisfied employees would lead to better perceptions and a greater sense of belonging to the organ­ization, thus leading to OCB, where employees would en­gage in activities that go beyond the standard job require­ments. Moreover, Finkelstein (2011) found that IJS and OCB are more strongly correlated than EJS and OCB; due to intrinsically motivated employees displaying additional drivers for engaging in OCB, whereas extrinsically fo­cused individuals were motivated by external goals which fulfill self-interests. Accordingly, this study hypothesizes as follows: H4: IJS is positively correlated to OCB. 2.7.6 Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and Creative Performance (CP) Co-workers improve each other’s work by offering creative recommendations, which is a form of OCB. Fur­thermore, citizenship behaviors can trigger creativity in organizations as they could infiltrate its social structure, modifying the direction of the employees and aligning it with spontaneous creative behaviors. Consequently, OCB and CP have been proven to be beneficial for organizations (Gilmore et al., 2013). According to the previous findings regarding OCB and CP, this study hypothesizes the following: H5: OCB is positively correlated to CP. 2.7.7 Employee CSR Perceptions and Creative Performance (CP) Employee’s creative behavior is likely to be influenced by how employees perceive an organization’s engagement in socially responsible activities (Chen et al., 2021). Previ­ous literature has stated that there is a positive correlation between employee CSR perceptions and CP (Abdullah et al., 2017). Accordingly, this study hypothesizes the following: H6: Employee CSR perceptions are positively corre­lated to CP. 2.8 Theoretical Framework The following conceptual model (figure 1) is built ac­cording to Khaskheli et al.’s study (2020). It contributes to the literature by investigating factors influenced by employee CSR perceptions, through assessing the effect of employee CSR perceptions, the indirect effect of IJS and EJS and affective commitment to OCB. This research proposes a modified conceptual model as shown below in figure 1. The proposed model shown in figure 1 examines whether: (1) employee CSR perceptions positively impact IJS, (2) CSR perceptions and EJS are positively corre­lated, (3) EJS positively impacts OCB, (4) IJS and OCB are positively correlated, (5) OCB and CP are positively correlated, (6) employee CSR perceptions have a positive impact CP. 3 Methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy This study follows the positivist paradigm, encom­passing the quantitative approach, which adheres to the principal that any research variable can have enumerated results, which can then be utilized to verify or reject priori hypotheses. This philosophy allows for the identification and generalization of causal inferences hence contributing to the existing literature. The approach employed in this research is deductive, accordingly, the literature review was utilized to develop relevant hypotheses to be tested by the study. The strate­gy utilized to collect quantitative data for the purpose of this research was surveys, since it provides generalizable results (Sukamolson, 2007). The research followed the mono-method, as it only used the quantitative approach for data collection. This study provided a cross-sectional analysis, providing data for a single timeframe, resembling the nature of the results obtained from survey. Therefore, the data was collected for analysis through a questionnaire, providing primary qualitative data. 3.2 Quantitative Method Justification This paper utilizes quantitative metrics that are based on existing literature; this method is proven to be reliable as it has been widely employed by existing research. This study’s conceptual framework is based on that of previous studies; implementing the same testing techniques, thus validating the suitability and accuracy of the methods used for model testing (Newman et al., 2018; Mehmood et al., 2020). Implementing the method of quantitative research for this paper is valid, as it can be used to build and understand the nature, as well as the strength of variable relationships through hypothesis testing, hence explaining any ensu­ing phenomena. In addition, this type of research aids in quantifying intangible elements such as behaviors, opin­ions and attitudes about an issue, and producing popula­tion-level generalizations (Sukamolson, 2007). 3.3 Survey Justification and Design Considering that the conceptual model for this research is based on a set of existing theories, the paper is classified as one that follows the deductive research method, where the outcomes are deduced from existing theories. This re­search calls for the use of the deductive research method, as the hypotheses are based on theories, and the relation­ships between the elements are tested. The data for this study has been collected using the survey technique, where a questionnaire was structured for gathering data about the selected variables. The data collection process was conducted over the course of a total of ninety days, meaning that the study is cross-sectional, as it studies several variables for a limited period. The sur­vey, which constituted of twenty-nine questions in total, all of which were close ended, was hosted on Google Forms. The survey was disseminated to the HR departments at the telecommunication companies in question and were then distributed internally to their junior employees through the companies’ corporate email systems. The five-point Likert-scale followed in this research re­flects the following stances: “1” corresponding to “strong­ly disagree” and “5” corresponding to strongly agree. The distributed survey was divided into six subsections; the first subsection constituted a summary of the purpose of this research, reinforcing the confidentiality of the identity of respondents. The subsequent five subsections were di­vided in correspondence to the variables: Employee CSR perceptions, intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satis­faction, OCB, and creative performance. Every segment included questions that reflect attitudes towards the vari­able in question. 3.4 Measurement and Scaling This section outlines the items utilized in the question­naire for measuring the research variables. The questions were obtained from secondary sources. See Appendix 1 for the twenty-nine items in the disseminated questionnaire. Employee CSR Perceptions were measured by Boban et al. (2019); the paper investigated the attitudes and per­ceptions of employees towards CSR, providing twenty-five questions for this research’s questionnaire. Participants were provided with four of the original twenty-five. items regarding the extent to which CSR activities affect organ­izational success, and the organization’s attractiveness to external stakeholders, such as shareholders and customers. Extrinsic Job Satisfaction was evaluated by two differ­ent sources, used to develop an inclusive range of ques­tions regarding extrinsic job satisfaction, the two stud­ies provided a total of twenty items. However, the items provided by the two studies were reduced to six and used to evaluate extrinsic job satisfaction. The items assessed satisfaction with working conditions and environment, the degree of autonomy, and manager-employee relations (Kenneth, 2010; Sungmin & Haemoon, 2011). Intrinsic Job Satisfaction was evaluated by Decker et al. (2009) and Kenneth (2010) who provided twenty-five questions, ensuring that all aspects related to intrinsic job satisfaction are represented. The modified scale included seven questions that evaluated intrinsic job satisfaction. The questions aim to decipher the feelings that employees get from doing their job such as feelings of accomplish­ment and the attitudes that employees have towards their tasks such as their level of difficulty. Organizational Citizenship Behavior in this study was measured by a scale developed by (Lee et al., 2002), where six out of the seven original questions were used to evalu­ate the type of voluntary actions that employees are willing to participate in for the greater good of the organization, including co-worker cooperation and teamwork. Creative Performance measured the extent to which creativity is prevalent in the performance of employees, using a scale developed by (Zhou & George, 2001), where the original questionnaire included thirteen items, that have been narrowed down to six questions that assess cre­ative idea generation, such as new technologies, and the influence of employees’ self-perspective on their creative output. Although the reference used to develop the items for the corresponding variable describes “creativity”, the term has been deemed as synonymous with creative per­formance, hence, justifying the use of the survey as a ref­erence. 3.5 Population and Sample For this study, the telecommunications industry in Jor­dan was chosen as a sample, due to the substantial efforts dedicated towards CSR activities in various segments in the country. For instance, a leading company utilizes its resources towards youth, education, sports and others. An­other telecommunications company targets people with disabilities, women, in addition to the youth, pursuing campaigns such as digital inclusion, digital education, en­trepreneurship, and green energy, which pertain to differ­ent areas of life. A third company has dedicated its efforts in CSR towards education, health, art and innovation and additional areas aiming to play a significant role in shaping Jordan’s future (Shatara, 2021). The sample population for the survey included jun­ior employees working at telecommunication companies in Jordan. The sampling technique used in this study is convenience sampling, which is a form of nonprobability sampling, as the sample population is selected based on its convenience to the researcher’s objectives. In addition, the researchers followed the ethical con­duct to ensure research integrity; participation was volun­tary, and anonymous. The survey was conducted electroni­cally using Google Forms, then sent to the HR departments in the telecommunication companies, before being distrib­uted internally to the employees. The distributed survey was divided into six subsec­tions; the first subsection constituted a summary of the purpose of this research, reinforced by the confidentiality of the research and that the collected information would only be used for the purpose of this research. The subse­quent five subsections represented the variables: Employ­ee CSR perceptions, IJS, EJS, OCB, and CP. Every seg­ment included questions that reflect attitudes towards the variable in question. The number of participants in this survey was 344 employees, with the demographics depicted in Table 1. The participating males represented 55.9%, while females were 44.1%; the number of females is relatively high and could be a possible reflection of female empowerment, and higher involvement in the workplace in Jordan. Age was divided into four ranges, with employees 30 years old or younger constituting 36% of respondents, followed by 31- to 40-year-olds being 38.7%. Followed by 41- to 50- year-olds constituting 14.2%. Finally, 51 years and older individuals represented 2.7% of the respondents. In terms of level of educational qualification, employees holding a diploma degree or lower contributed to 2% of participants, whereas bachelor’s degree holders constituted 78%. Mas­ters’ degree holders were 18.3%, while the rest were doc­torate degree holders (1.4%). In terms of years of work ex­perience, employees with less than 5 years of experience, and those with 5-9 years of experience constituted 42.4% and 48.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, employees with 10 years of experience represent the minority of respondents, making up 9%. 3.6 Measurement and Scaling The developed questions were sent to eleven aca­demic professionals to evaluate the coherence: providing recommendations for improvement. Accordingly, some items have been paraphrased for clarity and conciseness, all twenty-nine questions were translated from English to Arabic, using the translation and back translation method to ensure construct equivalence. Accordingly, the items utilized in the questionnaire were obtained as shown be­low. The list of questionnaire items is presented in the Ap­pendix. Employee CSR Perceptions: A 4-item scale developed by Boban et al. (2019) has been adopted in this present study, the items have measured the attitudes and percep­tions of employees towards CSR. The reliability for this construct was 0.873. Extrinsic Job Satisfaction: A 6-item scale has been adopted in this study to measure the level of satisfaction with working conditions and environment, the degree of autonomy, and manager-employee relations. The scale developed by Kenneth (2010) had a reliability coefficient value of 0.887. Intrinsic Job Satisfaction: A 7-item scale developed by Kenneth (2010) examines aspects related to IJS. The ques­tions aim to decipher the feelings that employees get from doing their job including feelings of accomplishment. The reliability coefficient was 0.889. Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A 6-item scale was utilized to evaluate the type of voluntary actions that employees are willing to participate in for the greater good of the organization, including co-worker cooperation and teamwork. The scale developed by Lee et al. (2002) has a reliability coefficient equating to 0.913. Creative Performance: A 6-item scale was developed by Zhou and George (2001), where the scales assessed creative idea generation and the influence of employees’ self-perspective on their creative output. The reliability co­efficient for this scale equated to 0.939. 4 Findings 4.1 Data Analysis Process Data analysis process was divided into two stages: 1) measurement model assessing the research model con­structs’ reliability and validity, and 2) structural model testing the proposed hypotheses in the research model. 4.2 Measurement Model Firstly, construct reliability and validity were eval­uated. Three tests evaluating construct reliability were employed including: Cronbach’s alpha (a), composite re­liability (CR), and Dijkstra-Henseler’s rho (rho_A coeffi­cient). As introduced in Table 2, all the constructs’ CR, a, and rho_A values were higher than the recommended val­ue of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2019), indicating that all constructs possess adequate internal consistency reliability. In terms of the evaluation of convergent validity, two metrics were employed including: factor loading, and average variance explained (AVE). Table 2 depicts that all measurement items have loaded sufficiently, with a loading value above 0.707, on their intended theoretical constructs, except IJS6 and EJS7. Accordingly, these two items were deleted. Fur­thermore, the AVE for each construct was greater than the minimum acceptable value of 0.5, demonstrating the pres­ence of convergent validity (Hair et al., 2019). Discriminant validity was assessed according to the criterion of Fornell-Larcker (1981) and the hetero­trait-monotrait ratio of correlations test (HTMT) (Hense­ler et al., 2015). Table 3 shows that the vAVE for each construct was larger than the correlations involving the construct, indicating the existence of discriminant validity. Furthermore, all HTMT values were below 0.85 (see Table 4), confirming the results obtained from the Fornell-Larck­er test. 4.3 Structural Model Having the reliability and validity of the measurement model confirmed, the proposed hypotheses in the research model were examined at this stage. However, before ex­amining the research hypotheses, it is of importance to examine the presence of multi-collinearity issues. Thus, the multi-collinearity was examined by assessing the Var­iance Inflation Factor (VIF) (Hair et al., 2019). Table 6 shows that all VIF values were less than 3, demonstrat­ing the absence of multi-collinearity issues. As presented in Table 5, CSR had positive influence on EJS (ß=0.494, p-value<0.001) and IJS (ß=0.598, p value <0.001), indi­cating that H1 and H2 are supported. Additionally, EJS (ß=0.381, p-value<0.001) had a positive significant effect on OCB, which supports H3. Similarly, IJS showed a sig­nificant positive effect on OCB (ß=0.468, p-value<0.001), demonstrating that H4 is supported. Subsequently, H5 is found supported as OCB (ß=0.765, p-value<0.001) had a positive significant effect on CP. Finally, CSR had a signif­icant positive influence on CP (ß=0.232, p-value <0.001), indicating that H6 is supported. While CSR explains a total of 24.4% (R2=0.244) of the variance in EJS, it explains a total of 35.7% (R2=0.357) of the variance in IJS. Such per­centages are considered moderate explanatory powers as suggested by Chin (1998) (see Table 6). In addition, a total of 24.4% (R2=0.244) of the variance found in EJS. Both IJS and EJS explain 55.7% (R2=0.557) of the variance in OCB, which is considered a moderate explanatory power. Finally, OCB explains 58.6% (R2=0.586) of the total var­iance in CP. As well, the results show that the research model acquired a high predictive power as all Q2 values were greater than zero, indicating that the proposed model had a predictive relevance (Hair et al., 2019). The effect size (f2) for the dependent variables were varied. The effect sizes of CSR on IJS and EJS, and IJS and EJS on OCB, were medium. The effect size of OCB on CP was large. 4.4 Indirect Effect Assessment In addition to examining the relationships between the variables directly, this study also showcased that OCB has an indirect effect on intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction and creative performance. As well, the results showed that extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction indirectly affected employee CSR perceptions and OCB. All indirect effects have been found to have significant correlations. Specifically, the strongest indirect effect was IJS on CP through OCB (ß=0.358, p-value < 0.001); this indicates that the effect of IJS on CP is carried through OCB. This means that increasing IJS would enhance CP by enhancing OCB. Similarly, the indirect effect of EJS on OCB is found significant (ß=0.0.292, p-value < 0.001). In­creased EJS would lead to an increase in OCB, and there­fore increase CP. This holds true for the indirect effect of CSR on OCB through EJS (ß=0.0.188, p-value < 0.001) and IJS (ß=0.28, p-value < 0.001) respectively. The path analysis displayed in figure 2, portrays the relationships among this study’s variables. To begin with, the correlations are depicted through the standardized co­efficient values, which all hold a positive value indicating a positive correlation among the variables. As well, the path analysis displays the R2 values which explains the variance among the relationships between the variables. 5 Discussion The research found that the independent variable em­ployee perceptions of CSR, positively impacts the four variables: extrinsic job satisfaction, intrinsic job satisfac­tion, OCB and creative performance. There was a varia­tion in the value of the standardized coefficients (ß) for each variable. Indeed, OCB and creative performance had the strongest positive correlation (ß= 0.765), followed by: CSR and intrinsic job satisfaction (ß=0.598), CSR and extrinsic job satisfaction (ß=0.494), intrinsic job satisfac­tion and OCB (ß=0.468), and extrinsic job satisfaction and OCB (ß= 0.381). Finally, the direct relationship between employee CSR perceptions and creative performance (ß= 0.232) As well, according to the data analysis, all the cor­relations proved to be significant due to the p-value being less than 0.001. In addition, all the mediating variables had an inter­vening effect among the relevant variables. The strongest mediation effect was that of OCB on intrinsic job satis­faction and creative performance, with the standardized coefficient (ß) being 0.358, followed by the mediating effect of OCB on extrinsic job satisfaction and creative performance (ß=0.292). This is followed by the mediating effect of intrinsic job satisfaction on employee CSR per­ceptions and OCB (ß=0.280). Finally, the mediating effect of extrinsic job satisfaction on employee CSR perceptions and OCB (ß=0.188). All the mediating relationships are significant since the p-value for all the variables is equal to 0.000. 5.1 Hypothesis One: Employee CSR Perceptions and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction Employee CSR perceptions are of significance to an organization as they could influence extrinsic job satisfac­tion. This positive correlation has been a topic of study and some previous research has reinforced the correlation. To begin with, (Boadi et al., 2020) found a positive corre­lation between employee perceptions of CSR and organ­izational internal outcomes (employee corporate identifi­cation and employee performance), the perceived quality of work life, alongside intrinsic and extrinsic employee work motivation patterns. As well, a paper studied the me­diating effect of intrinsic job satisfaction on the direct link between perceptions of external CSR and employee per­formance (Joana & Filipa , 2019). The findings outlined a mediating effect between external adopted CSR practices and higher extrinsic job satisfaction reflected through per­formance levels. In accordance with the above discussion, previous lit­erature examining the effect of employees’ CSR percep­tions on extrinsic job satisfaction, suggests that there is a positive correlation between the variables (Joana & Filipa , 2019; Boadi et al., 2020). Accordingly, the findings of this study align with the existing literature, suggesting a positive correlation also, that is showcased by the positive standardized coefficient (ß=0.494, p value<0.001). 5.2 Hypothesis Two: Employee CSR Perceptions and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction The positive impact of employee intrinsic job satisfac­tion on employee CSR perceptions is prevalent in existing literature. As stated previously, Tziner et al. (2011) exam­ined the effect of employees’ CSR perceptions on intrinsic job satisfaction. The study found that the strongest associ­ation, among the other variables, existed between CSR and job satisfaction. As well, Skudiene and Vilte (2012) examined the effect of dif­ferent types of CSR activities on internal employee mo­tivation, and the research further supported that external CSR activities are strongly correlated with internal em­ployee motivation. Additionally supporting this correlation is a study con­ducted by Al-Ghazali (2021), which examined the effect of the role of psychological capital and moral identity on CSR perceptions and job satisfaction. The study estab­lished that there is a positive correlation between CSR per­ceptions and intrinsic job satisfaction. Based on the discussion presented by existing litera­ture regarding the positive correlation between employ­ees’ CSR perceptions and intrinsic job satisfaction (Ahn, 2020), the findings of this study would support the existing literature, with the data revealing a standardized coeffi­cient value of (ß=0.598, p value<0.001). 5.3 Hypothesis Three: Extrinsic Job Satisfaction and OCB Individuals who are extrinsically satisfied display a propensity to engage in additional behaviors enhancing the overall organizational environment. The extent to which employees are driven by extrinsic motivators is likely to influence the type of activities which they engage in (Nur­janah et al., 2020). Previous literature has exhibited a va­riety of results when investigating the correlation between extrinsic job satisfaction and OCB. A study conducted by Williams & Anderson (1991) concluded that there is a pos­itive link between extrinsic job satisfaction and OCBO, which are OCB efforts directed towards the organization. The positive correlation between extrinsic job satisfaction and OCB was further supported by (Swaminathan & Jawa­har, 2013). Despite previous literature implying different corre­lations between extrinsic job satisfaction and OCB (Wil­liams & Anderson, 1991; Vaijayanthi et al., 2011), this study chose to hypothesize that there is a positive relation between the variables, which was confirmed through the data analysis findings of the standardized coefficient (ß= 0.381, p value<0.001). 5.4 Hypothesis Four: Intrinsic Job Satisfaction and OCB Chiboiwa (2011) states that managers must invest ef­forts towards cultivating an environment which recognizes the importance of intrinsic job satisfaction, as a means of creating OCB among employees. In addition, Margahana et al. (2018) examined the impact of job motivation and satisfaction towards OCB in the health sector. The study also supported the fact that intrinsic job satisfaction posi­tively influences OCB. Marcia (2011), further supporting the above-mentioned studies, affirms that there is a posi­tive correlation between intrinsically motivated employees and the extent to which they engage in OCB. As mentioned above, previous literature has thorough­ly examined the potential relation between intrinsic job satisfaction and OCB. This could be attributed to the in­trinsic and self- driven nature of OCB (Marcia, 2011). This aligns with the hypothesis developed in this study, that is supported by the interpretation of the data, given that the standardized coefficient amounted to (ß=0.468, p value<0.001). 5.5 Hypothesis Five: OCB and Creative Performance Creative performance is the outcome of a process of brainstorming, creativity, idea generation, evaluation and implementation. OCB relates to belongingness and a sense of community relating to the organization. The potential interrelation between the two variables has led it to be the subject of research. To begin with, Yaakobi & Weisberg (2020) examined how employees’ and managers’ collec­tive efficacy had a moderating effect on OCB and perfor­mance. The study found that the performance effects of OCB are positively correlated to performance efficiency and creativity. As well, according to the previous literature, it is sug­gested that there is a positive link between OCB and crea­tive performance (Multi et al., 2021). Hence, the hypothe­sis testing provided a standardized coefficient value of (ß= 0.765, p value<0.001), which is the strongest correlation in comparison to the other hypotheses. Finally, it is evident that the employee perceptions of CSR play a role in determining the extent to which em­ployees exhibit OCB and creative performance. As well, it is apparent that the presence of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction has a positive effect on employees’ engage­ment in OCB and performing creatively in the organiza­tion. 5.6 Hypothesis Six: Employee CSR Perceptions and Creative Performance Employee CSR perceptions and creative performance have been a topic of study by several researchers, (Ab­dullah et al., 2017). A study conducted by Hur (2018) has examined how compassion at work and intrinsic motiva­tion mediate the relationship between employee CSR per­ceptions and employee creativity. The study found there to be a positive correlation among the variables, while being mediated by work compassion and intrinsic motivation. Accordingly, and in alignment with previous research (Mohammed et al., 2021) it is proposed that there is a pos­itive correlation between employee CSR perceptions and employee creativity. This is, as well, supported by the re­sults of the data analysis of this study, since the standard­ized coefficient is (ß= 0.232, p value<0.001). It is worth mentioning as well, that the relationship between employee CSR perceptions and creative perfor­mance was weaker in a direct context, than it was in an indirect one. This implies that achieving intrinsic and ex­trinsic job satisfaction, as well as OCB would yield high­er creative performance, than employee CSR perceptions would on their own. 5.7 Theoretical Implications The findings of this research suggest that both the di­rect and indirect showcased a positive correlation. There­fore, this study answers the call for investigating variables beyond existing literature when examining the effect of employee CSR perceptions on OCB. Previous literature has examined the mediating effect of effective commit­ment alongside intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction on employee CSR perceptions and OCB (Abdullah et al., 2017). Thus, this study extends existing literature by add­ing a new organizational contextual factor and examining a mediating conceptual relationship. Moreover, upon the analysis of the data, it was found that investigating the indirect relationship between employee CSR perceptions and creative performance is preferable, which includes ex­trinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction, as well as OCB. This is due to the strong positive correlation found amongst the indirect relationships between the variables, while the di­rect relationship among the variables showcased a weaker positive correlation. According to the researchers’ best knowledge, this is a leading study in Jordan, as it is the first of its kind to spe­cifically assess the effect of employee perceptions on cre­ative performance. Furthermore, this is the first time that said variables have been investigated in the telecommuni­cations industry in Jordan. Hence, the application of this research model on a developing country, like Jordan, pro­vides considerable and valuable contribution. Additional­ly, this is of significance as there is inadequate research available on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, therefore, this study provides a foundation for fu­ture research. It has been outlined in this paper that partaking in be­havior that is deemed as socially responsible causes em­ployees to display increased levels of job satisfaction and commitment. Thus, the findings of this research can be utilized by the telecommunications industry in Jordan, to enhance organizational CSR undertakings, achieving re­sults and successfully competing with rivals within the industry. 5.8 Practical Implications The findings of this study offer additional information for organizations in terms of engaging in CSR activities and sustainable practices that are directly related to busi­ness success, and its impact on employee satisfaction with their company’s working conditions. Positive employee perceptions of socially responsible activities undertaken by an organization would reflect positively on the organi­zation, as it would result in increased motivation, such as through employee satisfaction with the work environment they work in, and employees feeling a sense of accom­plishment when from their jobs As well, this would increase the extent to which em­ployees assist each other in their duties and suggest new ways to achieve goals or objectives. This is of significance to the organization as it improves organizational perfor­mance (Jahagirdar & Bankar, 2022). Furthermore, the findings of this study provide de­cision makers with the basis for increasing the extent to which employees attend functions that are not required, but help the organizational image, as the findings deduced that extrinsically and intrinsically motivated employees both engage in activities to alleviate the potential implica­tions of the absence of others at work. . Moreover, the findings of this study suggest that em­ployee perceptions of sustainable practices positively af­fect the extent to which employees consider themselves to be risk takers. However, employees are more likely to suggest new ways to achieve goals or objectives when the levels of extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction exist along­side high levels of OCB among employees. Accordingly, measures such as recognition systems can be introduced, for instance, an organization can employ the use of re­wards, and programs i.e., employee of the month as an ef­fort to amplify employee motivation and satisfaction, em­powering employees to search out new technologies and processes and assisting employees in developing adequate plans and schedules for the implementation of new ideas 6 Limitations and Future Research This study encompasses several limitations that must be considered in future research. The method adopted in this study is cross-sectional, which is characterized by be­ing time-bound, hence possibly lacking generalizability; this hinders the ability to obtain strong causal inferences between the constructs. Adopting the longitudinal ap­proach in future studies could allow for a comprehensive examination of the inferences, thus providing more accu­rate results. In addition, the study’s findings are limited to Jordan, a non-western context; hence, future research must consider the cultural context, as it may have influenced the findings. This is in alignment with Sun et al. (2012), who suggests that the generalizability of a study’s findings is hindered by the cultural context. Other recommendations entail tar­geting a wider sample population, that includes individ­uals working in sectors other than telecommunications, such as the banking and pharmaceutical industries. Future research is also recommended to further examine other de­pendent variables relating to organizational performance i.e., financial performance. Additionally, future research is encouraged to examine variables prior to employee CSR perceptions, such as leadership styles. Also, it is recommended that organizations con­sult employees while planning CSR activities, as the pos­itive perception of employees towards the undertakings will result in higher creative performance, such as through developing a fresh approach to problem solving. 7 Conclusion The key question that this study answers is as follows: Do employee CSR perceptions influence creative perfor­mance on the job through affecting job satisfaction and OCB? The study constituted as a response to calls to exam­ine the relationship between OCB and CP as well as, ex­amining CP as a new contextual organizational factor. This study examined the direct and indirect effect of employee CSR perceptions on creative performance (CP), and the indirect effect of extrinsic job satisfaction (EJS) and in­trinsic job satisfaction (IJS) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The results showed that positive CSR perceptions activities would reflect positively on employ­ee behavior, in terms of EJS and IJS, OCB, and creativity. Upon testing, it was found that higher levels of creativity can be achieved with the presence of EJS, IJS, and OCB, rather than solely relying on positive perceptions of CSR activities. Such insights allowed for the deduction that employees in Jordan value an organization’s CSR efforts, which can be used by organizations to introduce measures such as recognition systems, as organization can employ the use of rewards to amplify employee satisfaction. As well, it calls upon future research to examine the effect of employee CSR on other organizational contextual factors. perceptions Literature 1Received: 14th July 2022; revised: 4th December 2022; accepted: 22nd January 2023 Figure 1: Conceptual Model Table 1: Demographic Distribution Frequency Percent Cumulative Gender Female 152 44.1 44.1 Male 192 55.9 100 Age 30 Years or Less 124 36 32.3 31-40 133 38.7 74.7 41-50 49 14.2 88.9 51 Years and Above 38 2.7 100 Highest Qualification Diploma or lower 7 2 5.3 Bachelor’s Degree 271 78 80 Masters’ Degree 62 18.3 98.3 Doctorate Degree 4 1.4 100 Years of Experience Less than 5 Years 145 42.5 35.4 5-9 Years 166 48.4 90.9 10 Years and Above 33 9 100.0 Table 2: Construct Reliability and Validity Construct Code Loading a rho_A CR AVE Creative Performance (CP) CP1 0.839 0.939 0.939 0.940 0.72 CP2 0.861 CP3 0.853 CP4 0.822 CP5 0.857 CP6 0.859 Employee CSR perceptions (CSR) CSR1 0.907 0.873 0.879 0.877 0.632 CSR2 0.740 CSR3 0.784 CSR4 0.736 Intrinsic Job Satisfaction (IJS) IJS1 0.770 0.889 0.89 0.891 0.571 IJS2 0.753 IJS3 0.749 IJS4 0.722 IJS5 0.898 IJS6 deleted Extrinsic Job Satisfaction (EJS) EJS1 0.722 0.887 0.891 0.888 0.61 EJS2 0.710 EJS3 0.748 EJS4 0.729 EJS5 0.835 EJS6 0.783 EJS7 deleted Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) OCB1 0.786 0.913 0.915 0.914 0.636 OCB2 0.743 OCB3 0.877 OCB4 0.843 OCB5 0.748 OCB6 0.778 Table 3: Discriminant Validity Construct CP CSR IJS EJS OCB CP 0.849* CSR 0.633** 0.795 IJS 0.652 0.598 0.756 EJS 0.586 0.494 0.539 0.781 OCB 0.765 0.624 0.674 0.634 0.797 *Numbers (in bold) on the leading diagonal are the vAVE for each construct, ** correlation among the constructs CSR: corporate social responsibility, EJS: extrinsic job satisfaction, IJS: intrinsic job satisfaction, OCB: organizational citizenship behav­ior, CP: creative performance Table 4: HTMT Test   CP CSR IJS EJS OCB CP - CSR 0.629 - IJS 0.650 0.596 - EJS 0.583 0.491 0.536 - OCB 0.764 0.620 0.671 0.633 - CSR: corporate social responsibility, EJS: extrinsic job satisfaction, IJS: intrinsic job satisfaction, OCB: organizational citizenship behav­ior, CP: creative performance Table 5: Hypotheses Testing Hypothesis Path ß Mean STDEV T Statistics Assumption H1 CSR -> EJS 0.494* 0.496 0.044 11.164 Supported H2 CSR -> IJS 0.598* 0.600 0.045 13.304 Supported H3 EJS -> OCB 0.381* 0.380 0.057 6.684 Supported H4 IJS -> OCB 0.468* 0.470 0.056 8.419 Supported H5 OCB -> CP 0.765* 0.765 0.033 23.540 Supported H6 CSR -> CP 0.232* 0.432 0.036 5.851 Supported STDE: Standard deviation; * P-value < 0.001 CSR: Employee corporate social responsibility perceptions, EJS: extrinsic job satisfaction, IJS: intrinsic job satisfaction, OCB: organiza­tional citizenship behavior, CP: creative performance Table 6: Predictive relevancy and multi-collinearity evaluation Construct   VIF R2 f2 Q2 CP (CP) - 0.586  - 0.383 Employee CSR perceptions (CSR) -  - 0.557, 0.323 -  IJS (IJS) 1.440 0.357  0.351 0.176 EJS (EJS) 1.410 0.244 0.233  0.129 OCB (OCB) - 0.557 1.420 0.325 VIF: Variance inflation factor; f2: effect size; Q2: prediction relevancy Table 7: Indirect Effect Assessmenton Indirect effect path ß Mean STDEV T Statistics P Values IJS -> OCB -> CP 0.358 0.360 0.047 7.567 0.000 CSR -> EJS -> OCB 0.188 0.189 0.035 5.373 0.000 CSR -> IJS -> OCB 0.280 0.284 0.047 5.926 0.000 EJS -> OCB -> CP 0.292 0.291 0.046 6.330 0.000 STDEV= Standard Deviation CSR: Employee corporate social responsibility perceptions, EJS: extrinsic job satisfaction, IJS: intrinsic job satisfaction, OCB: organiza­tional citizenship behavior, CP: creative performance Figure 2: Structural Model (Path Analysis) Abdullah, M., Ashraf, S., & Sarfraz, M. 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When Job Dissatisfac­tion Leads to Creativity: Encouraging the Expression of Voice. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4), 682–696. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069410 Amro Al-Madadha is an Associate professor in Business Administration department at Princess Sumaya University for Technology, he holds a PhD in Management /Human Resource Management from Cardiff Metropolitan University – United Kingdom. Amro’s research focuses on Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Empowerment, Creativity, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management. His research has been published at several international journals. Farah Shaheen is a recent graduate from Princess Sumaya University of Technology, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Her re­search is driven by interest in organizational behavior, human resource development, strategic management, as well as the commitment to continuous learning. Lina Almi’ani is a business administration graduate from Princess Sumaya University for Technology Amman, Jordan. She’s been working in the entertainment industry for over 5 years. Helping to build bridges between cultures through entertainment and creating unforgettable experiences for everyone. Natalie Alsayyed works in project/grants coordination and development in the humanitarian sector - fulfilling her pursuit of positively contributing to the global community. Holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Natalie’s research interests cover a variety of topics ultimately influencing societal well-being; including employee morale, livelihoods and protection. Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan is a full Professor of Business Technology at the Business School of Al-Ahliyya Amman University in Jordan. He holds a PhD in Management Information Systems Studies/E-business and an MSc in Information Technology Management from the University of Wales, UK. Dr. Al-Adwan is a member of several international affiliations and has authored and published numerous research articles in various reputable international journals. Družbena odgovornost podjetij in ustvarjalna uspešnost: vpliv zadovoljstva pri delu in organizacijskega državljanskega vedenja Namen: V študiji nameravamo preuciti, kako lahko dojemanje družbene odgovornosti podjetij (CSR) poveca ustvar­jalno uspešnost zaposlenih v organizaciji, tako neposredno kot posredno prek zadovoljstva pri delu in organizacij­skega državljanskega vedenja. To bo organizacijam omogocilo, da razmislijo o razlicnih dejavnikih, ki vplivajo na ustvarjalno uspešnost, in o tem, kako je mogoce te vplive na koristen nacin uporabiti v organizacijah. Metode: Podatki za to študijo so bili zbrani z anketo med tremi telekomunikacijskimi podjetji. Pridobili smo 344 ve­ljavnih odgovorov sodelavcev. Analizo podatkov in testiranje hipotez smo izvedli z modeliranjem strukturnih enacb (SEM). Rezultati: Ugotovitve naše študije so pokazale neposredno pozitivno pomembno povezavo med zaznavanjem druž­bene odgovornosti zaposlenih in ustvarjalno uspešnostjo. Pokazala se je tudi pozitivna korelacija med zaznavanjem družbene odgovornosti zaposlenih ter zunanjim in notranjim zadovoljstvom pri delu, in posredne ucinke zadovoljstva pri delu in organizacijskega državljanskega vedenja. Poleg tega je bila ugotovljena pozitivna korelacija med zado­voljstvom pri delu in organizacijskim državljanskim vedenjem. Tudi med organizacijskim državljanskim vedenjem in ustvarjalna uspešnost se je pokazala pozitivna korelacija. Zakljucek: Organizacije naj upoštevajo vpliv dojemanja družbene odgovornosti zaposlenih na ustvarjalno uspeš­nost, posredno prek zunanjega in notranjega zadovoljstva pri delu in vedenja organizacijskega državljanstva, da bi dosegle višje ravni ustvarjalne uspešnosti v svojih organizacijah. Kljucne besede: Zaznavanje družbene odgovornosti zaposlenih, Zadovoljstvo pri delu, Ustvarjalna uspešnost, Druž­bena odgovornost podjetij, Ustvarjalnost, Organizacijsko državljansko vedenje Appendix Construct Measures Employees CSR Percep­tions (Boban et al., 2019) 1. CSR activities and sustainable practices are directly related to business success 2. Customers/users are willing to pay more for the product/service of a socially respon­sible company/organization 3. Socially responsible companies that are oriented on sustainable practices, are consi­dered to be more attractive to the investors compared to their competitors 4. Companies that develop and implement CSR and sustainable practices have more chances for success Extrinsic Job Satisfac­tion (Kenneth, 2010; Sung­min & Haemoon, 2011) 1. I am satisfied with the way my boss handles his/her workers 2. My job provides steady employment 3. I am satisfied with my company’s working conditions 4. My co-workers get along with each other 5. I get a chance to tell people what to do 6. I am satisfied with the physical work environment I work in Intrinsic Job Satisfac­tion (Decker et al., 2009; Kenneth, 2010) 1. I can decide on my own how to go about doing my work 2. I am involved in challenging work 3. I have a chance to gain new skills and knowledge on my job 4. I am trusted to make suitable decisions when needed 5. I have chances for on-the-job advancement 6. I get praised for doing a good job 7. I get a feeling of accomplishment from the job OCB (Lee et al., 2002) 1. I help others who have been absent 2. I willingly give my time to help others who have work-related problems 3. I go out of my way to make new employees feel welcomed in the work group 4. I assist supervisor with his/her work (when not asked) 5. I assist others with their duties 6. I attend functions that are not required, but that help the organizational image Creative Performance (Zhou & George, 2001) 1. I suggest new ways to achieve goals or objectives 2. I search out new technologies, processes, and/ or product ideas 3. I consider myself to be a good source of creative ideas 4. I consider myself to be a risk-taker 5. I develop adequate plans and schedules for the implementation of new ideas 6. I often have a fresh approach to problem-solving DOI: 10.2478/orga-2023-0004 How does Workplace Ostracism Affect Employee Performance? Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience, Moderated Mediation Role of Cyberloafing Murat BAS, M.Sabri SIRIN Erzincan Binali Yildirim Üniversitesi, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Turkey, murat.bas@erzincan.edu.tr, sabri.sirin@erzincan.edu.tr Background and Purpose: Workplace ostracism is the situation in which the employee is rejected and ignored by the employees in the same workplace. Since this is a situation that prevents the success of the employees, it affects the performance of the employee. In this respect we assume that it is an important mediator in terms of experiencing psychological resilience in this relationship. In our research model, we also suggested that cyberloafing will affect the severity of the relationship between workplace ostracism and resilience. Therefore, we suggested that psy­chological resilience would have a mediator role and cyberloafing would have a moderating role in the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance, based on the opinions of employees. Design/Methodology/Approach: Data were obtained from 482 employees of Erzincan Municipality by utilizing the survey method. The obtained data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Results: It was found that there is a significant and positive correlation between workplace ostracism and psycho­logical resilience, a significant and positive correlation between psychological resilience and employee performance, and a significant and negative correlation between workplace ostracism and employee performance. In addition, it was determined that workplace ostracism has an indirect effect on employee performance through psychological resilience, and cyberloafing has a moderating role in this indirect relationship. Conclusion: Our results showed the importance of the mediator role of psychological resilience and the moderator role of cyberloafing in the relationship between perceived workplace ostracism and employee performance. Keywords: Workplace ostracism, Psychological resilience, Employee performance, Cyberloafing, Mediating role 1 Introduction Prohibition is regularly experienced in everyday life; it can occur across a wide variety of cultures and even in oth­er social species, as seen among coworkers, spouses, and children (Ferris et al., 2008: 1348; Hitlan et al., 2006: 56). Although ostracism is frequently examined in the social sciences literature, the ostracism experienced within the organization did not attract much attention of researchers at the beginning (Ferris et al., 2008:1348). However, later studies have shown that workplace ostracism has signifi­cant effects on both employees and organizations (O’Reil­ly, 2015; Huei Wu, 2016). However, although workplace ostracism mostly comes to the fore with its negative effects on the psychological health and well-being of the individ­ual (Ferris et al., 2008; Scott et al., 2014), it is evaluated that employees who are exposed to workplace ostracism will develop resistance against this and their psychological resilience will increase in the long run. In support of this claim, Waldeck et al. (2015: 1666) have previously found that some people appear to develop psychological resil­ience to ostracism. More about the effect of workplace ostracism on both the employee and the organization is the decrease in per­formance caused by the employee, because the employee, who is exposed to ostracism, spends his time and energy solving his interpersonal problems in the workplace and cannot focus on his work. In addition, since important in­formation about the job is usually shared in social envi­ronments, the ostracised employee, whose social ties with other members are cut off, cannot access this informa­tion, which causes him to perform lower in the workplace (Wu et al., 2011: 29). Workplace ostracism is one of the variables that most negatively affect the performance of employees in situations such as disappointment and dis­satisfaction of employees, inability to reach professional standards, and weak social relations with managers and colleagues (Hasnawi and Abbas, 2020: 176) Cyberloafing is a term used to describe the actions of employees who use their Internet access at work for per­sonal use while pretending to do legitimate work (Lim et al., 2002: 67). Today, with the ease of access to the in­ternet, cyberloafing has become one of the issues that or­ganizations attach importance to. Whether cyberloafing is beneficial or harmful for organizations is a controversial issue in the literature. Some studies argue that cyberloaf­ing has some costs to the organization, such as a decrease in productivity, a decrease in the competitiveness of the organization, a decrease in the reliability and reputation of the organization, and an increase in the costs of violation of personal and organizational confidentiality (Weather­bee, 2010: 35; Liberman et al., 2011: 2192). Other stud­ies claim that insignificant cyberloafing activities such as browsing websites increase the job satisfaction and crea­tivity of the employee, reduce job stress, provide flexibility in the workplace and improve the desire to learn in the em­ployee (Stanton, 2002:59; Anandarajan et al.; 2011:578). In this study, it was evaluated that if the employee exposed to workplace ostracism engages in cyberloafing behavior, the performance loss caused by ostracised in employees will increase even more. In the study, first of all, the relationship between work­place ostracism and employee performance variables and the mediating role of psychological resilience in this re­lationship was evaluated in the light of previous studies. Then, within the context of the moderated mediation mod­el developed by Hayes (2013), it was investigated whether cyberloafing has a moderating role in the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on employee performance through psychological resilience. In this framework, it has been evaluated that workplace ostracism will cause a decrease in employee performance through psychological resil­ience, and the cyberloafing behavior of the employee will regulate this effect of workplace ostracism. It is thought that this study will shed light on future studies, since we found no study in the literature that examines these vari­ables together, and the mediation model is included in a small number of studies in the local literature. 2 Conceptual Framework 2.1 Workplace Ostracism It has been seen that there are different definitions in the literature about workplace ostracism. Ferris et al. (2008) defined organizational ostracism in the workplace as “the individual’s perception of being ignored or ostracised by others”, based on Williams’s (2001) definition of ostracism (Ferris et al., 2008: 1348). Robinson et al. (2013), on the other hand, expanded the scope of workplace ostracism and defined this concept as “the neglect of an individual or group to take actions related to another organizational member in socially appropriate situations”. Accordingly, ostracism; social rejection, social ostra­cism, ignorance, and deception, as well as the violation of social actions such as not accepting, choosing, or inviting another person or group (Robinson et al., 2013: 206). It is possible to define workplace ostracism as the individual’s feeling that he is not cared about or ostracised by other em­ployees in the workplace due to their attitudes or actions. Ostracism at the workplace can be in the form of hiding necessary information, keeping quiet, avoiding speaking, or making eye contact, and acting coldly (Wu et al., 2011: 25). As can be seen from the examples, workplace ostra­cism differs from other interpersonal psychological mal­treatments such as abusive management, maltreatment, and workplace bullying due to its passive-aggressive na­ture (Liu and Xia, 2016: 198). Since it is a painful and unpleasant situation for the individual, workplace ostracism, which is accepted as a type of “social pain” (Riva et al., 2011: 682), has devastat­ing consequences both at the individual and organizational level (Ferris et al., 2008: 1361). Studies have shown that workplace ostracism affects the individual’s psychologi­cal and physical well-being (Ferris et al., 2008; O’Reilly, 2015), job satisfaction (Fatima, 2016), job performance (Ferris et al., 2008), organizational commitment (Hitlan et al., 2006) and organizational citizenship behavior (Hitlan et al., 2006; Huei Wu et al., 2016), the individual who ex­periences ostracism shows more deviant behaviors (Ferris et al., 2008) and thinks about quitting more (Ferris et al., 2008; O’Reilly, 2015). 2.2 Employee Performance Employee performance is related to the timely, effec­tive, and efficient completion of the tasks determined by the employer and mutually agreed upon with the employee (Tinofirei, 2011: 12). According to another definition, em­ployee performance is the production of a product or ser­vice of a certain quality and in a certain amount in a certain time, by providing work input in the form of knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes and applying them with ef­fort and other related work behaviors (Shields et al., 2015: 4; Chrisanty et al., 2021: 64). Employee performance is divided in the literature as into task performance and con­textual performance. Accordingly, task performance is briefly evaluated as the contribution of the employee to the technical structure of the organization through his actions. Contextual perfor­mance is defined as enabling the employee to complete or­ganizational tasks by engaging in tasks that are not directly part of his job (e.g. helping others at work, volunteering for tasks, and defending the organization). Managers make performance evaluations of their employees by consider­ing these two performance types (Borman and Motowidlo, 1997: 99). In other words, task performance reflects the effort made by the employees in the tasks directly assigned by the organization and is included in the official job de­scription. Contextual performance, on the other hand, is the extra effort of employees in tasks that are outside of the official job description. Contextual performance is related to pro-social organizational behavior, extra-role behavior, and organizational citizenship behavior (Griffin & Neale, 2000: 518). This study examined the effect of research var­iables on the performance of employees only within their job descriptions, namely task performance. 2.3 Psychological Resilience In general, resilience is a phenomenon that helps to understand how some people achieve better results in life compared to other people who experience the same prob­lems despite the serious stress and distress they experience (Rutter, 2013: 474). In the literature review, it was seen that different definitions of psychological resilience were made. Accordingly, resilience is defined as the process of effectively coping with sources of stress or trauma and adapting and managing these sources (Windle, 2011: 163). According to another definition, resilience is the relatively stable and healthy psychological state of individuals af­ter being exposed to devastating or traumatic events (e.g., loss of a loved one, natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, sexual or physical assault, diagnosis of a life-threat­ening illness) and the ability to maintain physical function­ality levels (Bonanno, 2004: 20). Psychological resilience, which is evaluated within the scope of the individual’s psychological capital, can change and develop over time with education (Luthans et al., 2010: 9). Bonanno (2004: 25) revealed that features such as courage, self-enhancement, focusing on positive emotions and laughing increase psychological resilience in individuals. In addition to these characteristics, personality traits such as calmness, innovation, determination, perse­verance, honesty, optimism, self-control, and a positive outlook on life are also considered among the characteris­tics of psychologically resilient individuals (Everly et al., 2012: 142). On the other hand, Bonanno (2004: 20) distinguished psychological resilience in some respects from the concept of recovery. Accordingly, recovery refers to the gradual re­covery of the body’s normal function after being disrupted for a few months, while endurance is based on providing a stable balance to the normal function of the body. Resistant individuals may experience temporary disruptions in the normal functioning of the body (for example, preoccupa­tion with the subject for a few weeks or restless sleep), but over time they return to healthy functioning and may even improve and progress beyond their previous state (Luthans et al., 2005: 7). 2.4 Cyberloafing The concept of “cyberloafing” (Demir and Seferoglu, 2016) in the local literature was first introduced by Lim et al. (2002: 67) and is defined as employees’ deliberate use of their company’s internet for their interests by browsing non-work-related websites or accessing non-work-related e-mails during working hours. It is possible to count cy­berloafing among deviant behaviors in the workplace since these activities (such as browsing websites or checking personal e-mail) prevent the employee from fulfilling and completing their duties at work (Robinson and Bennett, 1995: 555; Lim, 2002: 677). Blanchard and Henle (2008: 1068) examined cyberloafing behaviors in two groups as important and unimportant behaviors. Accordingly, actions that do not take much time, such as sending and receiving personal e-mails, or browsing news headlines, are considered insignificant (harmless) cyberloafing, while actions that take time to reduce ineffi­ciency are considered inappropriate (e.g., online shopping, gambling), and actions that expose organizations to legal obligations (eg., downloading music from the Internet) are considered significant (harmful) cyberloafing. Cyberloafing imposes both material and moral costs on organizations. These costs include disciplinary actions, loss of employee (through termination), loss of credibility and reputation of the organization, violation of personal and organizational confidentiality, and related legal costs (Weatherbee, 2010: 35). In addition, cyberloafing also reduces the competitiveness of the organization due to decreased productivity and inefficient use of network re­sources (Liberman et al., 2011: 2192). However, cyberloafing can also be beneficial for or­ganizations from another aspect (Stanton, 2002; Ananda­rajan et al., 2011). Provided that the employee does not spend too much time, insignificant cyberloafing for recess between work increases the job satisfaction and creativity of the employee, reduces work stress, provides flexibility in the workplace, and improves the desire to learn in the employee (Stanton, 2002: 59; Blanchard and Henle, 2008: 1069; Anandarajan et al., 2011: 578). 3 Hypothesis Development 3.1 The relationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance Employees exposed to workplace ostracism may spend more time and energy solving their interpersonal problems rather than focusing on their work (Hobfoll, 1989). In ad­dition, workplace ostracism cuts the social ties of employ­ees with other organizational members (Williams, 2001: 49). Since work-related critical information and resources are often shared in social settings, employees with little social ties have less chance of accessing this important in­formation and resources, which leads to lower job perfor­mance (Seibert et al., 2001: 224; Wu et al., 2011: 29). In the literature, Ferris et al. (2008) found a significant negative relationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance in their study of 822 employees from different organizations and professions (Ferris et al., 2008: 1360). Lustenberger and Jagacinsky (2010) found that ostracised participants performed lower in two sepa­rate studies conducted on 71 and 156 psychology students (Lustenberger and Jagacinsky, 2010: 283). Haq (2014) conducted a study on 229 people from different jobs and professions in Pakistan and revealed that workplace os­tracism has a significant negative effect on employee per­formance (Haq, 2014: 1309). Based on these studies, the following hypothesis was formed: H1: There is a negative relationship between work­place ostracism and employee performance. 3.2 The relationship between workplace ostracism and psychological resilience For the development of psychological resilience, one must be faced with a stress factor (Çam and Büyükbay­ram, 2017: 118). Employees who are constantly exposed to stressful events will learn to cope with stress or trau­ma sources effectively over time and to adapt and manage these resources (Windle, 2011: 163). Workplace ostracism is also an interpersonal stress factor that causes stress in the employee (Chung, 2018: 305). In this context, it is thought that workplace ostracism will increase the psycho­logical resilience of the person in the long run. On the other hand, previous studies mostly empha­sized the negative effects of workplace ostracism on the psychological health and well-being of individuals (Scott et al., 2014). However, some recent studies have revealed that psychologically strong and resilient employees can eliminate the negative effects of workplace ostracism. It is also found that they were more able to cope with the negative effects of events. Similarly, Hsu et al. (2013: 1) in their study on 18 people noted that individuals with high psychological resilience were able to reduce the negative effects of ostracism since the pain-reducing parts of their brains had high activity. Waldeck et al. (2015: 1663) found that individuals with psychological flexibility were successful in reducing the negative effects of ostracism in their research on 21 people from different professions. While these studies generally focus on the mitigating effect of resilience on workplace ostracism, considering that resilience can change and de­velop over time (Luthans et al., 2010: 9), it is considered that workplace ostracism may increase resilience in em­ployees in the long run. In this framework, the following hypothesis has been established: H2: There is a positive relationship between workplace ostracism and psychological resilience. 3.3 The relationship between psychological resilience and employee performance Employees who are psychologically resilient are ex­pected to have high job performance. Because employ­ees with high resilience can produce creative ideas in the workplace, adapt to changes more quickly and be more persistent in dealing with problems. This ensures that the performance of these employees increases in workplaces where new situations and transformations are constantly experienced (Luthans et al, 2005: 7). Luthans et al. (2005: 14) found a significant and positive relationship between psychological resilience and job performance in their study on 422 Chinese employees. Siu et al. (2006: 209) in their study on 317 employees in Hong Kong, found that employees with high psychological resilience had low per­ceived job pressure and physical/psychological symptoms, however, they showed a high level of job performance and job satisfaction. Kasparkova et al. (2018: 43), found a pos­itive relationship between psychological resilience and job performance in their study of 360 Czech employees. Based on these studies, the following hypothesis was formed: H3: There is a positive relationship between psycho­logical resilience and employee performance. 3.4 The mediating role of psychological resilience in the effect of workplace ostracism on employee performance According to the authors’ knowledge, there is no previ­ous study investigating the mediating role of psychological resilience in the effect of workplace ostracism on employ­ee performance. However, based on the above-mentioned explanations and research, it is evaluated that the perfor­mance of the employee will be affected by the increase in the psychological resilience of the employee experiencing workplace ostracism. In this context, the following hy­pothesis was formed: H4: Psychological resilience has a mediating role in the effect of workplace ostracism on employee perfor­mance. 3.5 The moderated mediation role of cyberloafing in the mediating role of psychological resilience in the effect of workplace ostracism on employee performance Workplace ostracism is a stress factor that causes stress in employees. Studies have revealed that workplace ostra­cism causes emotional fatigue in the employee and thus more cyberloafing in the workplace (e.g., Koay, 2018; Hu et al., 2021). However, when it is assumed that cyberloaf­ing behavior is an escape route from the workplace ostra­cism of the employee and that the person tries to cover himself up in this way instead of coping with the source of stress, it is evaluated that cyberloafing behavior will increase psychological wear. In other words, even if the employee experiencing workplace ostracism fills the so­cial communication gap, he experiences by cyberloafing, this escape method will further reduce his resilience over time, as he will not be able to learn to cope with the source of stress effectively and to adapt and manage this source. In this framework, it is estimated that cyberloafing has a moderating effect on the relationship between workplace ostracism and resilience. On the other hand, studies have revealed that cyber­loafing behaviors reduce the performance of employ­ees (Askew, 2012; Andreassen et al., 2014). Because cyberloafing activities take a lot of time of employees (Blanchard and Henle, 2008: 1068) and employees are en­gaged in many non-work activities that slow down the pro­cess of completing their tasks (Sharma and Gupta, 2004: 76). In this case, performance degradation is inevitable. In this context, it is estimated that the negative effect of work­place ostracism on employee performance will increase with cyberloafing. Finally, based on the research and explanations re­corded above, it is thought that cyberloafing has a mod­erator role in the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on employee performance through psychological resilience within the context of a moderated mediation model. In other words, it is evaluated that the negative indirect ef­fect of workplace ostracism on performance will be higher when the employee engages in more cyberloafing, on the contrary, the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on his performance will be greater in the case of less cyberloaf­ing. In this context, the following hypotheses were formed: Within the framework of these evaluations, the following hypotheses were formed: H5: Cyberloafing has a moderating effect on the rela­tionship between workplace ostracism and resilience. H6: Cyberloafing has a moderating effect on the rela­tionship between workplace ostracism and employee per­formance. H7: Cyberloafing has a moderating effect on the neg­ative and indirect relationship (transmitted through psy­chological resilience) between workplace ostracism and employee performance. 4 Research Methodology 4.1 Population and Sample Procedure The universe of this research consists of civil servants, contracted civil servants, workers, and compa­ny employees working in the Erzincan Municipality or­ganization. According to the Erzincan Municipality 2021 Performance Program report, there are 1249 employees in total in Erzincan Municipality (Erzincan Municipali­ty, 2021). The convenience sampling method, one of the non-random sampling methods, was preferred in the study. In this context, the population was determined as 1300 and 297 at the 95% confidence interval (Ural and Kiliç, 2005:43). 500 questionnaires were distributed to Erzin­can Municipality employees between February 2021 and March 2021. However, after the erroneous and incomplete questionnaires were eliminated in the questionnaire ap­plication, 482 questionnaires were analyzed. The demo­graphic characteristics of the employees participating in the survey are given in Table 1. 4.2 Measurements Workplace ostracism Scale, Ferris et al. (2008), a scale consisting of 12 statements was used. The Employee Performance Scale was developed by Sigler and Pearson (2000) and the Turkish version of the scale consisting of 4 statements was used. The psychological Resilience Scale was adapted into Turkish by Dogan (2015), and a scale consisting of 6 expressions was used. The cyberloafing Scale, developed by Blanchard and Henle (2008), consist­ing of 7 statements was used. The answers were taken on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Strongly disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Undecided, 4=Agree, 5=Strongly agree). 4.3 Results Table 2 shows the Cronbach Alpha, mean, and stand­ard deviation results of the variables used in the study. In addition, Table 2 shows the results of the correlation analy­sis of the variables used in the study with each other. Pearson correlation analysis was used because the scales used in the study showed normal distribution. When Table 2 is examined, the reliability, mean, standard devi­ation, and correlation coefficients of the scales are given. In Table 2, it is seen that Cronbach Alpha values of WO, EP, PR, and CL scales are above the reference value of 0.70. According to the results in the table, it was deter­mined that there was a negative and significant relation­ship (r = -0.335; p <0.01) between WO and EP at 99% sig­nificance level. In other words, this result means that the performance levels of employees who have a perception of workplace ostracism may decrease. In the table, there is a positive and significant relationship (r = 0.278; p <0.01) between WO and PR at 99% significance level. This find­ing can mean that when employees are exposed to work­place ostracism, they can exhibit effective psychological resilience despite the stress and trauma they experience. In the table, it was revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship (r = 0.384; p <0.01) between WO and CL at 99% significance level. This result may increase the cyber-loafing behaviors of the employees whose perception of workplace ostra­cism increases. Another finding in the table is that there is a positive and significant relationship (r = 0.438; p <0.01) between CL and EP at 99% significance level. According to this result, cyber-loafing behaviors of employees work­ing under stress and pressure can positively affect their job performance levels and increase job performance. Finally, in Table 2, it was revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship (r = 0.223; p <0.01) between CL and PR at a significance level of 99%. According to this result, when the cyberloafing behaviors of the employees increase, their psychological resilience also increases. In other words, the cyberloafing behavior exhibited by em­ployees who are exposed to intense stress and pressure can also increase the psychological resilience of the employ­ees. The goodness of fit values of the scales in Table 3 shows that the referenced goodness of fit values is met (Hooper et al., 2008) and are compatible with the Model, and the model is accepted. 4.4 Hypothesis testing 4.4.1 The Results of Mediating Effect It has been questioned whether psychological resilience has a mediating role in the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance. The bootstrap meth­od was applied to analyze the mediation role. It has been determined that the Bootstrap method gives more reliable results than the method used by Baron and Kenny (1986) and the Sobel test (Hayes, 2018; Gürbüz, 2019). Mediator analysis was performed using the SPSS PROCESS macro (Model 4; 5000 bootstrap samples) developed by Hayes (2018) to analyze the scales in Table 4. In the mediation effect analysis made with the bootstrap method, the CI (confidence interval) values at the 95% confidence inter­val should not be zero to support the hypotheses. (Gürbüz, 2019; Koçak, 2020). In the research, it was questioned that there is a signif­icant and negative relationship between workplace ostra­cism and job performance in the H1 hypothesis. When the analysis results in Table 4 are examined, it has been deter­mined that workplace ostracism has a significant and neg­ative relationship with employee performance (b= -0.269; p= 0.001). According to this result, the H1 hypothesis was accepted. In the H2 hypothesis of the study, it was ques­tioned whether there was a positive relationship between workplace ostracism and resilience. As a result of the anal­ysis, it was revealed that there is a significant and positive relationship between workplace ostracism and resilience (b= 0.209; p= 0.000). Accordingly, the H2 hypothesis was accepted. In another H3 hypothesis in the research, it was analyzed whether there is a positive relationship between psychological resilience and employee performance. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that there was a positive and significant relationship between psychological resilience and employee performance (b= 0.200; p= 0.001). Accordingly, it is seen that psychological resilience explains 20% of job performance. As a result of the analysis, the significant relations between the variables made it possible to question the existence of the mediating effect. In this context, the mediation role was questioned by adding psychological resilience to the relationship be­tween workplace ostracism and employee performance. When added to the research model as a resilience tool, it is shown in Table 4 that resilience has a mediating effect on the relationship between workplace ostracism and job per­formance (b = .042, 95% BCA CI [.006, .092]). According to this result, the H4 hypothesis was accepted. The regulatory variable analyzes in which situations the relationship between two variables will increase or decrease in which situations, or the severity and direc­tion of the relationship in this relationship (Gürbüz, 2019; Koçak, 2020). To test Hypothesis 5 in the study, it was tested whether cyberloafing behavior has a moderator ef­fect on the relationship between workplace ostracism and resilience. To determine whether cyberloafing behavior is meaningful, attention should be paid to the interaction be­tween workplace ostracism and resilience. According to the analysis result in Table 5, it is seen that the interaction (WO x CL) regulatory effect is neg­ative and significant (b=-0.163; p=0.000). The positive effect of workplace ostracism on resilience is weak when cyberloafing is high (b=-0.188; p=0.037), and high when cyberloafing is low (b= 0.420; p=0.037). According to this result, it can be said that cyberloafing has a moderating role in the relationship between workplace ostracism and resilience by supporting the H5 hypothesis. In this context, the relationship between workplace ostracism and resil­ience may be weaker in employees with high cyberloafing behavior and higher in employees with low cyberloafing behavior. Another hypothesis of the research, H6, is to test whether cyberloafing behavior has a moderator effect on the relationship between workplace ostracism and job per­formance. When Table 5 is examined, it should be noted whether the moderating effect of cyberloafing is signifi­cant in the relationship between workplace ostracism and job performance. It shows that the interaction moderator effect is significant (b=-0.558; p=0.005). According to this result, the H6 hypothesis was accepted. Table 5 of the research represents moderation and moderation mediated regression coefficient, it is seen that cyberloafing is used as a moderator variable between workplace ostracism and employee performance and sig­nificant results are obtained (B = -0.558, p =0.005). When cyberloafing decreases and increases with its regulatory effect, the relationship changes. As cyberloafing increases, the relationship between workplace ostracism and employ­ee performance gets stronger (B = 0.285), otherwise, as it decreases, the relationship weakens (B = 0.104). From this point of view, it was understood that cyberloafing has a regulatory effect between workplace ostracism and em­ployee performance, and Hypothesis 6 was accepted. The moderator effect graph of cyberloafing is presented below (Figure 2). On the other hand, by examining the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on employee performance through psychological resilience, the moderated mediation role of cyberloafing was determined. When cyberloafing is high, the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on em­ployee performance increases (B = 0.12, 95% CI [0.081, 0.165]), when cyberloafing is low, the indirect effect of workplace ostracism decreases (B = 0.02, 95% CI [0.012, 0.028]). In other words, as cyberloafing increases, the in­direct relationship increases. From this point of view, hy­pothesis 7 was accepted. The graphic of moderated media­tion is presented in Figure 3. Figure 2 shows the moderator effect of cyberloafing. When cyberloafing is high, the relationship weakens, and when cyberloafing is low, the relationship is strengthened. Figure 3 shows the plot of the moderated mediation effect between the variables. As the moderated mediation of cy­berloafing increases, the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance increases. 5 Discussion In this study, the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on employee performance through resilience and wheth­er cyberloafing has a moderating role in this indirect re­lationship within the context of the moderated mediation model were examined. In this context, data were obtained from 482 employees of Erzincan Municipality by survey method and the following results were obtained within the framework of the analyzes made. In the research, firstly, a significant and negative re­lationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance was determined and the H1 hypothesis was proven. Accordingly, employees who experience work­place ostracism cannot show the expected performance in their jobs because they spend their energy and time solv­ing their interpersonal problems and cannot reach critical information about the job. This finding is consistent with previous research (Lustenberger and Jagacinsky, 2010; Haq, 2014) that empirically revealed that workplace ostra­cism reduces the job performance of employees. In this study, a significant and positive relationship was found between workplace ostracism and resilience, and the H2 hypothesis was proven to be correct. In this context, it has been evaluated those employees who are exposed to workplace ostracism will develop resistance to this situa­tion and will become psychologically stronger in the long run. In addition, a significant and positive relationship was found between resilience and employee performance, and the H3 hypothesis was proven to be correct. Accordingly, employees with high psychological resilience can be more successful in their jobs because they are more creative, adapt to changes more quickly, and have the power to cope with difficulties. This result confirmed the findings of pre­vious studies (Siu et al., 2006; Kasparkova et al., 2018). In the study, it was also determined that the psycho­logical resilience variable had a mediating role in the rela­tionship between workplace ostracism and employee per­formance, and the H4 hypothesis was proven to be correct. In other words, the performance of the employee may be affected by the increase in the psychological resilience of the employee experiencing workplace ostracism. On the other hand, in the study, it was noted that cyber­loafing has a moderator role in the relations between work­place ostracism and resilience, and workplace ostracism and employee performance, and H5 and H6 hypotheses were proven to be correct. Accordingly, the relationship between workplace ostracism and resilience is weaker in employees with high cyberloafing behavior and stronger in employees with low cyberloafing behavior. In addition, as cyberloafing increases, the relationship between work­place ostracism and employee performance gets stronger, otherwise, the relationship weakens. Finally, the moderated mediation model developed by Hayes was tested, in this context, it was noted that cy­berloafing has a moderator role in the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on employee performance through resilience, and the H7 hypothesis was proven to be correct. In this framework, the relationship between workplace os­tracism and resilience is weaker in employees with high cyberloafing behavior and higher in employees with low cyberloafing behavior. 6 Conclusion According to the research findings, although work­place ostracism increases the long-term psychological resilience of employees, it is an undesirable situation for organizations as it triggers low performance and cyber­loafing behaviors in employees. Therefore, organizations should take the necessary measures to prevent workplace ostracism. In this framework, in addition to providing training and seminars on workplace ostracism to manag­ers and employees, seminars should be organized to im­prove personal development and communication skills to reduce the negative effects of workplace ostracism. In addition, to increase interpersonal interaction, formal or informal meetings and group activities should be organ­ized, a psychologist should be present in the organization and an environment should be created where employees can freely express their ideas. Despite all these socializing practices, if there are employees who continue to engage in ostracism, deterrent measures can be implemented by penalizing these employees. In addition, if possible, the person exposed to ostracise can be transferred to another department in the organization, allowing him to work with other colleagues and supervisors. On the other hand, with the development of smart­phones, it is almost impossible to completely prevent employees from cyberloafing in the workplace. For this reason, instead of preventing actions such as sending and receiving personal e-mails and browsing news headlines within the organization, an internet usage policy that can be implemented by all employees should be established. In addition, training and seminars should be given to man­agers and employees about the consequences of cyberloaf­ing, which is especially important, and access to certain internet sites (online gambling, music downloading, game sites, etc.) should be blocked, if possible, to prevent some cyberloafing activities. Unlike previous ones (e.g., Haq, 2018; Jiang & Chen, 2020; Singh & Srivastava, 2021), this study examined the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance. It has been observed that previous studies generally examined the moderating role of resilience in the effect of ostracism on different variables (emotional exhaustion, turnover in­tention, job performance, etc). Additionally, cyberloafing was included in the research model as part of the mod­erated mediation, allowing for the investigation of multi­ple interactions between the variables. Since there has not been any prior research examining these variables together within the context of mediation and moderated mediation models, it is believed that this research will serve as a val­uable resource for future research. As in any research, this study also has some limita­tions. First of all, the research covers only one province. In future studies, the relationships between the variables can be analyzed better with the data to be obtained from other provinces. In addition, only municipal employees consti­tute the participants of this study. Necessary evaluations can be made by including employees from different sectors in future studies. Literature 1Received: 17th July 2022; revised: 18th January 2023; accepted: 22nd January 2023 Figure 1: Conceptual Model Note: Based on the moderated-mediation analysis, PROCESS MODEL 8 (Andrew F. Hayes, 2013) Table 1: Demographic Findings Demographic Categories Frequency (n) Percent (%) Age 18-26 years old 123 21,5 27-35 years old 169 34,7 36-44 years old 138 23,4 45 years and older 52 20,3 Gender Female 179 37,3 Male 303 62,7 Marital Status Married 287 59,5 Single 195 40,5 Education Primary school 119 24,5 High school 185 38,4 Undergraduate and post­graduate 178 37,1 Work Year 0-10 years 305 63,4 11-21 years 159 33,1 22 years and above 16 3,4 Source: Author’s own conception. Table 2: Means, Cronbach’s Alphas, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Coefficients Between Variables a Mean Standard D. WO EP PR CL WO 0,880 1,50 0,718 - EP 0,829 2,75 1,064 -0,335** - PR 0,761 2,47 0,845 0,278** 0,412** - CL 0,790 3,58 1,208 0,384* 0,438** 0,223* - ** = p<0,01 *= p<0,05 WO: Workplace Ostracism, EP: Employee Performance, PR: Psychological Resilience, CL: Cyberloafing Source: Author’s own conception. Table 3: Fit Indexes of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis .2/df =5 RMSEA =.08 CFI =.90 GFI=.85 NFI =.90 TLI =.90 WO 1.74 0.075 0.90 0.90 0.92 0.94 EP 1.45 0.049 0.90 0.90 0.91 0.92 PR 2.07 0.080 0.95 0.96 0.96 0.95 CL 1.99 0.047 0.97 0.98 0.95 0.98 Model 2.47 0.068 0.90 0.92 0.91 0.90 Note: WO: Workplace Ostracism, EP: Employee Performance, PR: Psychological Resilience, CL: Cyberloafing Source: Author’s own conception. Table 4. Mediation Model Regression Coefficients Model Summary R R-sq F P df1 df2 0,343 0,156 35,45 0,000 2,00 384,00 Psychological Resilience Variables B SE t P LLCI ULCI Constant 2,152 0,098 21,96 0,000 1,959 2,345 Workplace Ostracism 0,209 0,059 3,553 0,000 0,093 0,325 Employee Performance Variables B SE t P LLCI ULCI Constant 3,484 0,209 16,59 0,000 3,071 3,897 Psychological Resilience 0,200 0,072 2,76 0,006 0,057 0,343 Workplace Ostracism (Direct Effect) -0,269 0,085 -3,15 0,001 -0,438 -0,101 Workplace Ostracism (Total Effect) -0,227 0,084 -2,681 0,007 -0,394 -0,061 Mediator Effect (Psychological Resilience) Effect SE LLCI ULCI 0,042 0,022 0,006 0,092 Note 1. N = 482 Note 2. Standardized regression coefficients are shown. Note 3. Sample number of Bootstrap: 5,000 Source: Author’s own conception. Table 5: Moderation and Moderated-Mediation Models Regression Coefficients PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCE Model Summary R R-sq F P df1 df2 0,214 0,046 6,13 0,004 3,000 381,00 Variables B SE T P Workplace Ostracism (WO) 0,155 0,073 2,125 0,003 Cyberloafing (CL) 0,184 0,127 1,894 0,004 Interaction of (WO x CL) -0,163 0,154 -1,065 0,000 Moderator effect of Cyberloafing Effect SE P %95 Confidence Interval -1 SS (-.92) 0,420 0,122 0,007 0,178-0,661 +1 S (+.92) -0,188 0,126 0,037 -0,438-0,060 EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE Model Summary R R-sq F P df1 df2 0,255 0,065 6,65 0,000 4,00 380,00 Variables B SE T P Workplace Ostracism (WO) -0,240 0,085 -2,805 0,005 Psychological Resilience (PR) 0,158 0,745 2,125 0,034 Cyberloafing (CL) 0,272 0,178 1,531 0,012 Interaction of (PR x CL) -0,558 0,200 -2,791 0,005 Moderator effect of Cyberloafing B SE P %95 Confidence Interval -1 SS (-.97) 0,104 0,084 0,002 0,054-0,159 +1 SS (+.97) 0,285 0,051 0,004 0,215-0,354 Moderated Mediation effect of Cyberloafing B SE P %95 Confidence Interval -1 SS (-.97) 0,02 0,012 0,000 0,012-0,028 +1 SS (+.97) 0,12 0,095 0,000 0,081-0,165 Index of Moderated Mediation Cyberloafing Indirect Effect -0,116 0,056 Index SE Boot LLCI Boot ULCI -0,263 -0,033 Note 1. 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Creating an Empow­ering Culture: Examining the Relationship between Organizational Culture and Perceptions of Empow­erment, Journal of Quality Management, 5, 27-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1084-8568(00)00011-0 Singh, L. B., & Srivastava, S. (2021). Linking workplace ostracism to turnover intention: A moderated media­tion approach. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 46, 244-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.12.012 Siu, O.-l., Chow, S. L., Phillips, D. R., & Lin, L. (2006). An exploratory study of resilience among Hong Kong employees: Ways to happiness. In Y.-K. Ng & L. S. Ho (Eds.), Happiness and public policy: Theory, case studies and implications, 209-220. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230288027_10 Stanton, J. M. (2002). Company profile of the frequent In­ternet user. Communications of the ACM, 45, 55–59. https://doi.org/10.1145/502269.502297 Tinofirei, C. (2011). The unique factors affecting employee performance in non-profit organisations, Master The­sis, University of South Africa. Waldeck, D., Tyndall, I., & Chmiel, N. (2015). Re­silience to Ostracism: A Qualitative Inquiry. The Qualitative Report, 20(10), 1646-1670. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2346 Weatherbee, T. G. (2010). Counterproductive use of technology at work: Information & communica­tions technologies and cyberdeviancy. Human Re­source Management Review, 20(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2009.03.012 Williams, K. D. (2001). Ostracism: The power of silence. New York: Guilford Press. Wu, L., Wei, L., & Hui, C. (2011). Dispositional anteced­ents and consequences of workplace ostracism: An empirical examination. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 5(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11782-011-0119-2 Murat Bas is an assistant professor at Erzincan Binali Yildirim University in Health Management, Turkey. His research focuses on cyberloafing, work engagement, perceived organizational support, turnover intention, and emotional commitment. Dr. Bas published 31 articles on leadership, management, and behavior subjects. M. Sabri Sirin is a research assistant at Erzincan Binali Yildirim University in Business Administration, Turkey. His research focuses on work overload, work-family conflict, organizational support, organizational identification, organizational citizenship behavior, and emotional labor. Dr. Sirin published 11 articles on management and organizational behavior subjects. Kako izobcevanje na delovnem mestu vpliva na uspešnost zaposlenih? Mediacijska vloga psihološke od­pornosti, moderirana mediacijska vloga spletnega postopanja Ozadje in namen: Izobcenje na delovnem mestu (ostracizem) je situacija, v kateri sodelavci mestu zavracajo in ignorirajo zaposlenega. Ker gre za situacijo, ki ovira uspešno delo zaposlenih, le-ta tudi vpliva na uspešnost po­sameznika. V zvezi s tem v naši študiji predpostavljamo, da je psihološka odpornost pomemben mediator v tem odnosu. V našem raziskovalnem modelu smo tudi predlagali, da bo spletno postopanje vplivalo na razmerje med izobcevanjem na delovnem mestu in odpornostjo. Zato smo v tej študiji na podlagi mnenj zaposlenih predlagali, da bi imela psihološka odpornost posredniško vlogo, kibernetsko postopanje pa posreden vpliv v razmerju med izobce­nostjo na delovnem mestu in uspešnostjo zaposlenih. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: V tem kontekstu so bili podatki pridobljeni od 482 zaposlenih v mestu Erzincan z uporabo anketne metode. Pridobljene podatke smo analizirali z uporabo modeliranja strukturnih enacb, ki smo jih uporabili za testiranje hipotez. Rezultati: Ugotovljeno je bilo, da obstaja pomembna in pozitivna korelacija med ostracizmom na delovnem mestu in psihološko odpornostjo, pomembna in pozitivna korelacija med psihološko odpornostjo in uspešnostjo zaposlenih ter pomembna in negativna korelacija med ostracizmom na delovnem mestu in uspešnostjo zaposlenih. Poleg tega je bilo ugotovljeno, da ima ostracizem na delovnem mestu posreden ucinek na uspešnost zaposlenih prek psiholo­ške odpornosti, spletno postopanje pa ima v tem posrednem razmerju posreden vpliv. Zakljucek: Naši rezultati so pokazali pomen posredniške vloge psihološke odpornosti in moderatorske vloge sple­tnega postopanja v razmerju med zaznano izobcenostjo na delovnem mestu in uspešnostjo zaposlenih. Kljucne besede: Ostracizem na delovnem mestu, Psihološka odpornost, Uspešnost zaposlenih, Spletno postopa­nje, Posredniška vloga DOI: 10.2478/orga-2023-0005 Intergenerational Differences and Knowledge Transfer Among Slovenian Engineers Magda LUŽAR1, Annmarie GORENC ZORAN1, Mirko MARKIC1,2, Boris BUKOVEC1 1 Faculty of Organisation Studies in Novo mesto, Ulica talcev 3, 8000 Novo mesto, Slovenia 2 University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Izolska vrata 2, 6000 Koper, Slovenia, mirko.markic@guest.arnes.si (corresponding author) Background and Purpose: The study investigated the impact of intergenerational differences on knowledge trans­fer among engineers in large Slovenian production organizations. Method: Using the Delphi method, experts answered open-ended questions. The process concluded with a consen­sus reached in the third round. The resulting questionnaire was then administered to engineers of all ages working in large production organizations. Results: The experts’ responses indicated that intergenerational differences are most prominent in the workplace in terms of computer literacy and the use of information and communications technology. Effective employee engage­ment, including exemplary leadership, a system of mentoring and reverse mentoring, and a supportive organizational culture, was found to enhance the flow of knowledge transfer. Statistical analysis revealed that there are statistically significance intergenerational differences in knowledge transfer among engineers in large production organizations (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The study’s findings suggest that recognizing intergenerational differences and fostering the abilities of employees can contribute to organizational success. However, the study is limited to engineers in large production organizations in Slovenia. Future research should explore organizations in a wider geographical area and across different sectors. Keywords: Knowledge, Knowledge transfer, Generations, Intergenerational differences, Organization, Engineers, Manufacturing/production organizations 1 Introduction An aging population is one of the key challenges facing our society and is considered one of the macro challenges of today’s society (Goldin & Kutama, 2017). According to the European Commission (2022: 10), healthy life­styles and advances in medicine have led to more people living longer and in better health. As a result, the number of retirements is expected to increase, but older workers may choose to stay in the workforce longer. Meanwhile, younger generations are entering the workplace with dis­tinct characteristics compared to other generations. Gener­ational differences exist among individuals of the same age group as they are shaped by their unique historical and life­style experiences. Today, there are four or five generations working in the workplace. Brecková (2021: 103-125) ar­gues that knowledge of these differences helps to promote intergenerational dialogue and intergenerational learning in the workplace. Slovenia has untapped potential as half of its workforce is between 55 and 64 years old, compared to 60% in other European member states (European Com­mission, 2022: 6). Keeping pace with the development of digitalization requires both employers and employees to adapt to changing work processes, while managing com­munication and teamwork becomes more challenging. In any industry, competitiveness is dependent on factors such as learning, creativity, and knowledge. Juricevic Brciceva and Mihelic emphasize the value of retaining and sharing knowledge within an organization (2015: 853–867). Due to the presence of multiple generations in the workplace, significant intergenerational differences can impact knowledge transfer (Davis et al., 2012: 1-14). In a larger study of engineers in manufacturing companies in Slovenia, we investigated the effect of factors such as intergenerational differences, reciprocal relationships, re­wards, trust, and commitment on knowledge transfer. En­gineering knowledge, as defined by Davenport and Prusak (1998: 1-5) is information with intrinsic value that includes connections to people, places, things, and technology. Our literature defined knowledge, knowledge transfer, and the factors that influence it. Effective knowledge transfer helps improve work processes and enables organizations to quickly adapt to change and competition. In this paper, we present the findings of our research on intergeneration­al differences and knowledge transfer among engineers in large production organizations. To the best of our knowl­edge, no previous research has explored this topic of engi­neers within large production organizations. The results of our research will assist owners, managers, and other key stakeholders to run their organizations in an agile manner. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Knowledge The literature provides various definitions of knowl­edge and its types. Polanyi (1983: 20-23) theorized that human knowledge includes both theoretical and practical knowledge, referred to as ‘knowing what’ and ‘knowing how,’, and that there exists a tacit dimension to knowledge that cannot be fully expressed in words. According to Yang (2019: 217-224) this tacit or implicit knowledge creates more value for the organization because it is difficult to replicate, encode, and put into words, and serves as a foun­dation and source for shaping organizational competitive­ness. Wong et al. (2004: 173) defined knowledge transfer as “a process of systematically organized exchange of in­formation and skills between entities”. Cai et al. (2019: 421- 438) posit that investing in organization’s intellec­tual capital, its people, leads to improved competencies and a quicker response to technical, technological, and ecosystem changes). Gorenc Zoran (2022: 59-62) point­ed out the value of integrating psychological capital into organizations as it contributes to increased levels of sat­isfaction and a positive working environment. Pereira et al. (2019: 1708-1728) argue that organizational flexibility manifests as intellectual agility, which involves the acqui­sition, transfer, and integration of knowledge from vari­ous perspectives. In the 20th century, knowledge sharing became necessary for organizations to increase their effi­ciency, effectiveness, and responsiveness (Prusak, 2001: 1002-1007; Serenko & Bontis, 2013: 137-155; Wiig, 1997: 6-14;). Rapid technological developments have in­creased the need for continuous professional development and upskilling. Soeiro et al. (2017: 66-77) noted that it is important to document and evaluate the learning outcomes of formal, non-formal, and informal training and the com­petencies of engineers in the organization. Davenport and Prusak (1998: 1-15) define engineering knowledge as in­formation with intrinsic value that is constantly growing and built upon past acquired knowledge and knowledge transfer among members of different generations. Dalkir (2017: 50-52) emphasized that knowledge management enabling factors must be designed to promote collective knowledge sharing, individual knowledge development, and the maintenance of knowledge-based content within the organization. 2.2 Definition of Generations and Intergenerational Knowledge Transfer Individuals belong to a certain generation and are de­fined as a group of people born within a span of roughly thirty years, who share similar experiences or attitudes (Collins English Dictionary, 2022). Although the names and definitions of generations may vary, common defi­nitions include Veterans (born between 1928 and 1945), Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), Generation Y (born be­tween 1981 and 1996), and Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) (Dimock, 2019: 1-7; Fryrm, 2018: 1). Gen­eration Alpha, yet to be fully defined is expected to emerge in 2025. The exact temporal boundaries of a new COV­ID-19 generation are currently being tracked since 2020, but remain unclear. It should be noted that individuals born within three years of the beginning or end of a generation may exhibit characteristics of either the preceding or sub­sequent generation, based on factors such as upbringing, wealth, age of parents, education, and others. (CGK, 2020, n.d.). Identifying individuals by their age group can aid in understanding common characteristics, attitudes, and per­sonalities that emerge in different circumstances (Rudolph & Zacher, 2020: 139-145). In the knowledge management literature, the terms knowledge sharing, knowledge exchange, and knowledge transfer are frequently used. However, for the purposes of this article, the term knowledge transfer will be used as it is considered a more comprehensive term that includes knowledge sharing (Tangaraja et al., 2016). The terms knowledge exchange and knowledge transfer are only used when the cited authors use them explicitly. The rapid pace of economic, automation, and techno­logical changes in the 21st-century is transforming work processes and creating new forms of knowledge. This has made the transfer of knowledge between employees in an organization increasingly important (Balle et al., 2020: 1943-1964). Nguyen et al. (2019: 998–1016) have empha­sized the significance of knowledge sharing for achieving organizational competitiveness and boosting employee en­gagement in the workplace. The aging of the workforce and the increasing diversity of ages in organizations raise the question of how knowledge can be effectively re­tained and how employees engage in knowledge transfer throughout their careers. According to Dietz et al. (2022: 259-276), younger employees are able and motivated to receive knowledge, while older employees are able and motivated to share knowledge, hence, work processes must be organized and incentivized to facilitate these ac­tivities. It is crucial to eliminate employers’ biases against younger and older workers and to promote the value of intergenerational cooperation in the workplace, creating appropriate working conditions in the process (Rožman, & Tominc, 2014: 3-11). Knowledge hiding and accumulation can occur unintentionally due to individuals’ ignorance of the knowledge needs of others. However, individuals may choose to accumulate and hide knowledge due to factors such as job dissatisfaction, low motivation, negative rela­tionships, and job insecurity (Anand et al., 2020: 379-399). 2.3 Hypothesis Formation According to Joshi et al. (2011: 177-205), individuals who were born in a similar historical period and cultural context and share similar experiences in their upbringing tend to exhibit common values, behaviors, and attitudes. In today’s rapidly changing organizational environment, it is crucial to have an understanding of the diversity of employees in the workplace. This can help to mitigate conflicts, improve communication, and reduce tensions and misunderstandings that can negatively impact factors such as absenteeism, work engagement, organizational be­havior, and productivity (Zopiatis et al., 2012: 101-121). Generational diversity, particularly among Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y, plays a signif­icant role in this aspects, with the younger Generation Z entering the workforce (Sakdiyakorn & Wattanacharoen­sli, 2017: 135-159). The process of knowledge transfer takes place be­tween individuals who are willing to share and those who are willing to receive knowledge (Fasbender et al., 2021: 2420–2443). Research by Schmidt and Muehlfeld (2017: 375-411) has shown that intergenerational knowledge transfer is hindered in organizations with a mix of ages due to a likely increase in conflict. According to Davis et al. (2012: 1-14), generational differences are perceived as barriers to knowledge transfer in engineering. Kim (2008: 81) noted that generational characteristics have an impact on knowledge transfer. As a result, when working with a diverse range of generations in an organization, it is nec­essary to consider their similarities and differences, and expectations. Evans (2013: 1-17) emphasized the role of a shared vision and trust in knowledge sharing and its pos­itive effect on the willingness to share, receive, and per­ceive knowledge. Based on the findings, we developed the following hy­pothesis H1: Intergenerational differences have a statisti­cally significant effect on knowledge transfer. 3 Methods This section outlines the entire research process and a visual format was developed (Figure 1) for clarity. Our study was initiated with a comprehensive review of both domestic and international literature to create a conceptual framework. We organized our literature using the free tool Mendeley, which allowed us to organize our references and citations and capture relevant information such as summaries, codes, categorizations, and book­marked data. The first stage of the study employed the Del­phi method, chosen for its ability to gather and coordinate the opinions of experts who are familiar with production organizations. The respondents received questions several times in a row, building upon their responses from previ­ous rounds. The Delphi method was deemed appropriate for our study due to its utility in drawing upon the subjec­tive judgment and collective intelligence of experts to ad­dress problems, as well as leveraging their experience and knowledge to describe the problem (Linstone & Turoff, 2002: 3-12). The participants in our study were experts from large production organizations in Slovenia includ­ing general managers, HR managers, and quality manag­ers. The availability of the experts was the key factor in determining the sample size, with the understanding that the results obtained are not generalizable. The aim of this qualitative study was to gather the opinions, suggestions, and perspectives of these experts on the research topic. A mixed-methods study was conducted in large pro­duction organizations in Slovenia, with participation from at least one organization from each region. The data on large organizations was obtained from the Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Public Legal Records and Relat­ed Services (AJPES), in compliance with the criteria for company size classification set forth in the Companies Act (ZGD-1). The sample was limited to production organi­zations, as determined by the professional guidelines and the standard classification of activities (SKD) available at AJPES. It should be noted that we had a planned time frame for the survey, from November 2021 to the end of March 2022, but changed due to COVID-19 as it was challeng­ing to encourage experts to participate. During that time, organizations complained about absenteeism and related substitutions, which caused staff to be overworked and pressed for time. However, we managed to recruit experts from all 12 Slovenian regions. In total there were three rounds. At the beginning of the study, a welcome letter was emailed to all 161 organizations inviting them to partic­ipate and explaining the purpose and process of the re­search. The questionnaire was then sent to 21 participants who agreed to participate and formed the designated Del­phi expert group. The first round of the Delphi method consisted of open-ended questions and was completed after receiving responses from all 21 experts. The second and third rounds were designed for consensus building and involved grouping categories and statements into sets for scoring using a four-point numerical Likert-ranking scale. The responses from the second round were processed us­ing the program Atlas.ti.22 and were evaluated by three research experts. The updated questionnaire for the third round was prepared based on the results of the second round, and the experts re-rated and ordered the topics in the third round. In each round, participants had the oppor­tunity to discuss the topic more broadly, change or confirm their opinions, and compare their answers with the opin­ions of other experts. The responses obtained from the Delphi expert group served as a basis for the design of the questionnaire for the subsequent quantitative study. The questionnaire was distributed to all 358 engineers working in the 21 partici­pating large production organizations. The responses (n = 171) were analyzed using MS Excel and IBM SPSS 22.0 statistical software and are presented in tables and figures. The aim of this research was to examine intergen­erational knowledge transfer among engineers in large production organizations from multiple perspectives. To achieve this, we employed a mixed research methodology that combined qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative component, using the Delphi method, provided expert opinions on open-ended questions according to a planned protocol. The quantitative methods, based on the statements developed by the experts, offered a comprehen­sive understanding of the topic. Prior to administering the questionnaire for the quanti­tative study, we conducted a pilot test to assess the clarity and comprehensibility of the questions. The qualitative data obtained from the Delphi method was analyzed using the program, Atlas.ti 22. According to Silverman (2005: 223), the criterion of reliability is also defined by the con­sistency of data analysis, which means that computerized analysis is more accurate than manual analysis. The analy­sis process also was reviewed by three experts (i.e., mem­ber-check) to ensure reliability and credibility (Creswell, 1994). Inter-rater reliability was calculated at 97% (Miles & Huberman, 1994), and any discrepancies were resolved through discussion among the coders. The questionnaire for the quantitative study was developed based on the Del­phi method. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was checked using the calculation of covariances or cor­relations between variables expressed as Cronbach’s al­pha coefficient. The reliability level ranges from 0.738 to 0.980, indicating good to excellent reliability. 4 Results 4.1 Results of the Delphi Method In Slovenia, during 2021, production organizations generated a net profit of €1,974,460,000, which accounted for 34.62% of all activities and all company sizes (AJPES, June 2022). Among the large manufacturing production organizations that participated in the survey, a net profit of €505,717,763 was generated, corresponding to 25.62% of all large companies in the sector (AJPES, 2022). In the first part of the survey, 21 experts participated, with at least one expert responding from each region of Slovenia, and in some cases more than one, with the highest response rate in the southeastern region (n = 7). Of the participants, 66.7% identified as male and 33.3% as female. More than 90% of respondents were experts who had achieved at least a bachelor’s or master’s degree, according to the Slo­venian Qualifications Framework (SQF, n.d.) scale. The following is a condensed version of the analyzed responses of the experts on the topic of intergenerational differences among employees in the organization. One re­spondent reported that there were no differences between generations in their company; however, they noted differ­ences in computer skills and language proficiency, work quantity and quality, communication style, organizational commitment, and interpersonal relationships. One expert added: “Differences between generations are a natural phenomenon, but they are exacerbated by the boom in digitalization, which is widening the gap between older generations, to whom digitalization is rather alien, and younger generations, who take it for granted. There are also contradictory differences between the generations in the way they acquire knowledge and the knowledge they actually acquire in educational institutions.” The digital divide between older and younger generations is widening, with the latter group having greater access to technology and more technologically literate. Experts noted differenc­es in the way each generation acquires knowledge, with older generations relying on their experience and younger generations relying on available resources. Respondents also noted differences of greater individualism and em­powerment of rights of younger generations. Respondents perceived differences in values and work practices, while younger generations being more individualistic and valu­ing freedom and flexibility, whereas older generations are more concerned with job security and adapting to change. ‘/.../ Baby boomers are very concerned about job security and find it harder to adapt to change, especially techno­logical change, because they are concerned about their jobs. Whereas Generation Y employees value freedom and flexibility and are not interested in a job or project that might take up so much of their time that their freedom and flexibility are compromised /..../” Older, more experienced colleagues need more time and encouragement to recog­nize the added value that younger colleagues bring, such as fresh ideas and greater computer literacy. On the other hand, younger generations are more responsive to mas­tering new technologies and software. The organization should also acknowledge the wealth of knowledge that older colleagues bring in terms of hands-on experience and knowledge of policies, procedures, and planning rules. From the experts’ responses, it appears that the older generations bring distinct skills and view knowledge trans­fer with the younger generation as a positive experience. However, they also caution that conflicts may arise when each generation is confident in their right. One expert notes that intergenerational diversity effects knowledge transfer “excellently and leads to accelerated personal develop­ment and excellent individual and team performance, all given the right placement in the workplace, in a work en­vironment with a good team and the right leader and man­agement.” Another expert states that “the older genera­tions learn from the younger generations, and we can speak of a mutual transfer of knowledge. The older generations have in-depth expertise based on years of experience in building or managing relationships. Younger generations are very advanced in their knowledge and experience in terms of innovation or IT technologies. Older generations embody stability and consistency and are more focused on leveraging resources, while younger generations are more focused on constant and rapid change and sustainable re­source management. Diversity between generations in the workplace has a positive impact on knowledge transfer, as each generation can do something well and successfully, and knowledge complements each other.” Most wrote that there is a two-way transfer of knowledge across age groups in the workplace, regardless of intergenerational diversity. In the Delphi method, a decline in the number of ex­perts participating was observed in the second and third rounds, with 20 and 19 participants respectively. The re­sults presented in Table 1 were derived from the first round and the consensus reached in the second and third rounds. The results indicate a high level of agreement among the experts, with the lowest value being 2.9 (SD = 0.718) and the highest being 3.5 (SD = 0.607) in the second round. The third round had a range from 3.21 (SD = 0.535) to 3.79 (SD = 0.419). The statement that received the highest consensus score was “Computer literacy and use of new technologies”. In the examination of statements regarding intergenera­tional diversity, the statement “Every generation is good at something, diversity can bring about accelerated personal development and outstanding individual and team perfor­mance if there is exemplary leadership and an established organizational culture in the organization,” demonstrated the highest level of agreement in both rounds. Agreement was high for all statements, as shown in Table 2. Following a consensus reached in the third-round state­ments, we prepared the final questionnaire that we distrib­uted to engineers in large production organization for the quantitative part of the study. Following are the results. 4.2 Quantitative Research Results The study sample consisted of 171 engineers, with 82% identifying as male and 18% as female. The highest response rate was from Generation Y, at 45.61%, followed by Generation X with 37.43%. The response rate for Baby Boomers was 11.11%, and the lowest response rate was from Generation Z, at 5.85%. The participants were drawn from all twelve regions in Slovenia. Engineers evaluated the statements on a 4-point scale, and the results showed (see Figure 2) that the highest mean score of 3.22 (SD = 0.7) was given to the statement “Computer literacy and use of new technologies.” The mean scores of the other statements comparatively ranged from 3.04 to 3.22, with little difference between them. The statement with the lowest score was: “Priorities, work-life balance”. Intergenerational diversity is a factor we hypothesized that impacts knowledge transfer. The results, as shown in Figure 3, demonstrate that the mean scores for the state­ments ranged from 2.8 to 3.34. The statement with the highest score of 3.34 (SD = 0.60) was given to the state­ment that each generation is good at something and is suc­cessful, and that diversity can lead to accelerated personal development and outstanding individual and team perfor­mance, with exemplary leadership and an established or­ganizational culture. The results of the linear regression analysis, presented in Tables 3 and 4, suggest a linear relationship between intergenerational differences and knowledge transfer. The results indicated that a unit increase in intergenerational differences leads to an increase in knowledge transfer by 0.286. The correlation is statistically significant as shown by the p-value (p < 0.001), which is below the significance level of 0.05. The adjusted coefficient of determination (R2) suggests that the model explains 9.5% of the variance in knowledge transfer through intergenerational differenc­es. The quality of the regression model is determined by the F-test and the p - value (p < 0.001) suggests that the model is of good quality. Furthermore, the results of the Durbin-Watson test (DW = 2.142) indicate the absence of autocorrelation errors in the regression model as the test results falls within the acceptable interval between 1.5 and 2.5. 5 Discussion In this study, we focused on intergenerational differ­ences in the workplace and intergenerational diversity af­fecting knowledge transfer. We examined four generations (Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z). The reader is reminded that we did not explicitly men­tion generations in the first part, but relied on the experts’ answers. In the first part of the study, we used the Delphi method to conduct interviews with experts on the factors affecting intergenerational knowledge transfer. The experts shared their views and comments, and a consensus was reaching on the statements analyzed. They perceived that older gen­erations rely on their experience in their work and express it through their work processes, but may be resistant to innovation. On occasions, experienced colleagues may act superior to younger colleagues, requiring time and encour­agement to appreciate the value they younger colleagues can bring. Our results showed that language and com­puter skills, in particular, may pose challenges for older colleagues, while younger colleagues are skilled in digital literacy and are more willing to embrace innovation. The younger generation is also advanced in the use of new in­formation and communication technologies and is more focused on sustainable resource management. These dif­ferences between generations are reflected in values, work practices, solidarity, flexibility, and work-life balance. The experts also noted a gap in knowledge transfer between generations, with a stereotypical perception that older peo­ple think and act in an outdated way, while younger people lack knowledge and experience. This is in line with the findings of Constanca et al. (2020: 20-41) who attribute such differences to biases and stereotypes. However, the experts emphasized that each generation has strengths and that diversity can lead to improved work outcomes and personal development, given the presence of exemplary leadership and an established organizational culture, as demonstrated by Wang and Noe’s (2010) study on the im­portance of organizational culture and trust. They also not­ed that knowledge transfer is not one-sided, and that older generations can learn from younger generations, through mechanisms such as traditional mentoring, reverse men­toring, and regular recording of all possible processes and knowledge. This study is part of a broader research that explored the impact of four other factors (reciprocity, commitment, trust, reward) on knowledge transfer. The variable inter­generational differences in this study explained 9.5% of the total variance in knowledge transfer and was found to be of good quality, with no evidence of autocorrelation errors. Our analysis of data showed that intergenerational differ­ences have a statistically significant impact on knowledge transfer, as evidenced by the results of the linear regression analysis (p < 0.001). The importance of knowledge trans­fer in promoting competitive advantage within a multigen­erational workforce has sparked interest in managing and mitigating the impact of intergenerational differences in knowledge transfer. However, we found no research on the effect of differences between four generations on knowl­edge transfer within large production organizations. Table 4 presents the strength of the effect of the independent var­iable on the dependent variable using the unstandardized coefficient. the results indicate that intergenerational dif­ferences have a positive effect on knowledge transfer. Ad­ditionally, we conducted structural modeling to determine if there were any additional latent relationships between the variables; the results are illustrated in Figure 4. The results of the structural model show that inter­generational differences have a statistically significant effect on knowledge transfer (B = 0.244). Additionally, intergenerational differences successfully account for trust (B = 0.493), reciprocity (B = 0.454), commitment (B = 0.465), and rewards (B = 0.495). However, intergenera­tional differences are only a latent variable, serving as a proxy for measures of organizational culture (B = 0.176), exemplary leadership (B = 0.269), safe work environment (B = 0.295), mutual collaboration (B = 0.025), mentoring/reverse mentoring (B = 0.269), and teamwork (B = 0.196). 6 Conclusion The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influence knowledge transfer in the workplace and determine the significance of intergenerational differenc­es on knowledge transfer. The results showed that inter­generational differences were reflected in computer lit­eracy and usage of new information and communication technologies. Despite these differences, the experts in the study believed that each generation has unique strengths that can lead to personal development and successful work outcomes. For intergenerational knowledge transfer to flow, the organization must create a supportive work envi­ronment, friendly working conditions, provide exemplary leadership, and foster a culture that prioritizes employees’ values and goals. The quantitative part of the study sur­veyed engineers of various generations about intergener­ational differences in the workplace and their impact on knowledge transfer. Our findings support the hypothesis that intergenerational differences have a statistically sig­nificant effect on knowledge transfer in large production organizations. The results of our research have theoretical, empirical, and practical implications. However, it is important to note that the results are limited to engineers from Slovenian production organizations and cannot be generalized. The phenomenon of aging is becoming increasingly prevalent, as the population is living longer on average (Deller & Walwei, 2022: 25). This trend has led to an extension of workers’ careers into old age, which raises issues related to economic development, retention of knowledge and skills within organizations, intergenerational differences in performance, collaboration, and knowledge transfer pro­cesses (Deller & Walwei, 2022: 25). Older workers cplay an important role in economic activities, facilitate knowl­edge transfer, and provide valuable skills (Deller & Wal­wei, 2022: 25). With the rapid changes in automation and technology, knowledge transfer is becoming increasingly crucial (Balle et al., 2020: 1943-1964). In the workplace, employees of different ages are often categorized as gener­ations (Constanza et al., 2012: 1), which is generally seen as a group of people of similar ages who experience the same events at key developmental stages of life. Salvi et al. (2022: 98-100) disagree with this definition and conclude that generations are stereotypical social constructs and that attention should be paid to the effects of age and signifi­cant historical and cultural events, regardless of when they are experienced. However, when examining generational differences, the authors of this study believe it is more ap­propriate to focus on different conceptualizations of age and relevant factors that influence work-related outcomes, rather than solely on the concept of generations. We did this in the present study taking into account factors that impact the possibility of knowledge transfer between engi­neers in large production organizations in Slovenia. The results in our study indicated that effective em­ployee management includes a safe work environment with exemplary leadership, and a system of mentoring and reverse mentoring. We believe that management must keep pace with change and to modify policies and practices to meet the needs of each employee. Our research made an empirical contribution by finding a statistically significant difference in knowledge transfer among engineers in se­lected production organizations in Slovenia. This informa­tion can be of practical use to owners, managers, leaders, and other professionals in Slovenian organizations, in­cluding HR or HRM organizational units, in formulating knowledge transfer activities and strategies that are suit­able for different generations of engineering employees. In our research we encountered some limitations and assumptions. One limitation was the geographical scope of the study. Another limitation was the sample size, which consisted of only large production organizations based on the ZGD criteria, and had a lower response rate, possibly due to the epidemiological situation at the time of the sur­vey. Despite this, the sample size was adequate to conduct the study. For future research, we suggest exploring the impact of intergenerational differences in micro, small, and medium-sized for-profit and not-for-profit organizations or other institutions in a wider geographical area. Addition­ally, the current study focused on engineers as the target population, and we propose to expand the study to other occupational groups, such as those in the social sciences or humanities, and to all employees in similar organizations. Acknowledgment This research was supported by the European Com­mission, Erasmus+ Program of the European Union [grant number 2019-1-SI01-KA202-060391] and Management of education and employability in knowledge society P5-0049 (A). Literature 1Received: 3rd December 2022; revised: 7th February 2022; accepted: 14th February 2022 Figure 1: Research Design Table 1: Intergenerational Differences in the Workplace Statements developed from the first round 2nd round 3rd round M SD M SD Computer literacy and the use of new technologies 2.90 .718 3.79 .419 Work methods, work process, learnability, goal orientation 3.50 .607 3.26 .562 Acceptance of and attitude towards change and innovation, and adapt­ability in various aspects 3.25 .639 3.63 .496 Work experience and decision making 3.50 .607 3.47 .513 Work values and solidarity, openness to knowledge transfer 3.20 .768 3.21 .535 Communication style 3.40 .681 3.63 .496 Priorities, work-life balance. 3.35 .587 3.37 .597 Individuals’ ambitions to be promoted (additionally based on respon­dents’ open-ended answers) 3.37 .496 Statements with lower average agreement: interpersonal relationships; loyalty; individualism; leadership; work-life balance; solidarity; motivation. Table 2: Occurrence of Intergenerational Diversity in the Workplace Statements developed from the first round 2nd round 3rd round M SD M SD Younger and older employees work well together as a team, with older employees using their experience and foresight to temper the fast pace of problem solving 3.05 .605 3.00 .471 Experienced employees are more comfortable with emerging problems that are solved in the usual way, while younger employees take a different approach to problem solving and can find a long-term solution 3.50 .513 3.53 .697 The different generations complement each other’s work, with older generations acting as mentors with their experience and specific skills, and younger generations teaching older generations the gaps in computer and language skills 3.60 .503 3.68 .478 The gap in knowledge transfer across generations occurs when the older generation is reserved and cautious because they fear for their position, while the younger genera­tion is willing to share and accept knowledge, but sometimes their mindset is such that the knowledge of the older generation is no longer useful 2.95 .826 3.11 .567 Appropriate job placement with a good team and proper management will help ensure that both younger and older people are willing to learn from each other, which means knowledge transfer on both sides 3.45 .510 3.53 .513 Older people have in-depth expertise with many years of experience, embody stability, continuity and are resource-oriented 3.15 .745 3.26 .653 Younger people have a high level of knowledge and experience with new technologies and computer skills, are focused on sustainable resource management, and are ready for rapid and continuous change 3.20 .616 3.32 .582 Each generation is good and successful and something, and diversity can bring accel­erated personal development and outstanding individual and team performance with exemplary leadership and established organizational culture. 3.65 .489 3.84 .375 Leading by example. (Additionally based on ‘ open-ended responses from Round 2 re­spondents)     3.58 .607 Figure 2: Generational differences Figure 3: Occurrence of intergenerational diversity Table 3: Summary of Regression Model 1 for the Variable: Intergenerational Differences Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the estimate Change Statistics Durbin-Watson R Square change F change df1 df2 p-value 1 .319a .101 .095 .35246 .101 15.250 1 135 <0,001 2.142 a. Predictors: (Constant): Intergenerational differences b. Dependent variable: Knowledge Transfer Table 4: Knowledge Transfer Prediction Coefficients Using Intergenerational Differences Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t p-value B Std. Error Beta 1 (Constant) 2.437 0.229 10.621 <0.001 Intergenerational dif­ferences 0.286 0.073 0.319 3.905 <0.001 a. Dependent Variable: Knowledge Transfer Figure 4: Intergenerational Differences and Knowledge Transfer AJPES (2022, June). 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Y-ers, X-ers and Boomers: Investigating the multigenerational (mis)perceptions in the hospitality workplace. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 12(2), 101–121. http://doi.org/10.1177/1467358412466668 Magda Lužar holds and MSc in Quality Management, has extensive experience in financial management in both the public and private sectors. She shares her professional experience and theoretical knowledge with college students. She is currently conducting research in the field of knowledge and knowledge transfer among employees in organizations. Annmarie Gorenc Zoran PhD, is a Professor at the Faculty of Organisation Studies in Novo mesto. She has over 27 years of teaching experience, having taught in both the United States and Slovenia. Her research focuses on the interdisciplinary approach of individuals and people in the fields of educational and organizational sciences. She is a published author, having contributed book chapters, and numerous articles, and also presented her work at international, national, and regional conferences. Mirko Markic obtained his PhD in the field of Organisational Science in the subject of Innovation at the University of Maribor. After 12 years in the automotive industry, he joined the Faculty of Management, University of Primorska. He is a Professor of Management, Scientific Counsellor, and Leader/member of 17 research projects and initiatives in the economy. His bibliography includes over 650 publications in the field of management and organisational sciences. Boris Bukovec received his doctorate from the Faculty of Organizational Sciences of the University of Maribor in the field of quality management. After twenty years in the automotive industry, he joined the Faculty of Organization Studies in Novo mesto. He is a full professor in the field of management and a scientific advisor. As a researcher and consultant, he focuses on the challenges of organizational paradigms, change management, total quality management, business excellence and leadership excellence. He has published book chapters, numerous articles, and presented at international, national, and regional conferences. Medgeneracijske razlike in prenos znanja med slovenskimi inženirji Ozadje in namen: Namen raziskave je bil prouciti vpliv medgeneracijskih razlik na izmenjavo znanja med inženirji v velikih slovenskih izdelovalnih gospodarskih družbah. Metoda: V delfski tehniki strokovnjaki odgovorijo na odprta vprašanja. Proces se zakljuci v doseženem konsenzu tretjega kroga. Nastali vprašalnik se razdeli med inženirje vseh starostnih skupin, delujocih v velikih izdelovalnih organizacijah. Rezultati: Strokovnjaki navedejo, da so medgeneracijske razlike vidne na delovnem mestu in se najbolj odražajo v racunalniški pismenosti ter uporabi informacijsko-komunikacijske tehnologije. Uspešnost generacije in raznolikost prinese pospešen osebnostni razvoj ter napredek organizaciji, izmenjava znanja stece, ce je poskrbljeno za zaposle­ne, zgledno vodenje in vzpostavljeno organizacijsko kulturo. Obstaja statisticna znacilnost medgeneracijskih razlik na izmenjavo znanja med inženirji v velikih izdelovalnih organizacijah (p <0,001). Zakljucek: Izsledki raziskave menedžmentu pokažejo, da je poznavanje medgeneracijskih razlik in skrb za cloveš­ke zmožnosti del doprinosa k uspešnosti organizacije. Raziskava je omejena na inženirje, ki posedujejo inženirsko znanje in delujejo v izdelovalnih organizacijah v slovenskem prostoru. Predlagamo raziskovanje organizacij v geo­grafsko širšem prostoru Kljucne besede: Znanje, Izmenjava znanja, Generacije, Medgeneracijske razlike, Organizacija, Inženirji, Izdelovalne organizacije DOI: 10.2478/orga-2023-0006 Scoping out the Common-Sense Perspective on Meaningful Work: Theory, Data and Implications for Human Resource Management and Development Francesco TOMMASI*, Riccardo SARTORI, Andrea CESCHI Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Italy, francesco.tommasi@univr.it (*corresponding author), riccardo.sartori@univr.it, andrea.ceschi@univr.it Background/Purpose: Meaningful work is a topic of relevant interest to management and organizational scholars. The study of meaningful work has been heavily characterized by theories from different disciplines, yet the com­mon-sense perspective is often overlooked, i.e., a non-academic perspective of meaningful work. The paper pres­ents a qualitative study on how non-academics define meaningful work. Methods: Adopting the lens of Aristotelian logic, the paper presents a methodological-theoretical approach to explore how non-academics define human resource management concepts. We asked 194 workers to propose ultimate definitions of the concept of meaningful work. The questions were submitted via a short survey collecting demographics. Results: The analysis of the collected definitions led to the proposition of an intensive definition of meaningful work according to which meaningful work is a positive experience associated with a sense of competence, the presence of positive relation with others, significance and purpose of work. Yet, there must be good reasons to experience work as meaningful as the environment may contain barriers to the presence of meaningfulness. Conclusion: Methodologically, the paper advances a novel approach to the study of human resource management and development concepts. Theoretically, the study proposes a novel perspective of meaningful work prioritizing concerns on the common-sense. Keywords: Meaningful work, Common-sense, Employee wellbeing, Human resource management and development 1 Introduction The phenomenon of meaningful work, the experience and perception of work as holding significance, is a topic of importance at present for the human resource manage­ment field and in a variety of domains of research (e.g., employee’s wellbeing, job design and corporate social responsibility). To date, scholars have been witnessing heightened attention on this topic with a burgeoning in­terest in understanding the contextual factors, relational dynamics, and individual processes fostering meaning­ful work (Yeoman et al. 2019). Unsurprisingly, there are as many definitions and theories of meaningful work as scholars have studied it: thus, the only thing about which authors can agree on meaningful work is that no one can agree on what meaningful work really is (Bailey & Mad­den, 2020; Martikainen et al. 2021). In human resource management, organization stud­ies, and particularly traditional organizational psycholo­gy, there are many definitions and a lack of clarity about what is related to them (Martikainen et al. 2021). Recent reviews of the literature (Bailey et al., 2018) have grouped the existing definitions into five main categories of studies, namely: (a) those that draw on the Job Characteristics Model with meaningful work defined as a positive psychological state part of one’s job (Hackman & Oldham, 1975); (b) those within the work spirituality approach with meaningful work interpreted as resulting from the balance between inner life and occupation (Milliman et al., 2017); (c) those within the humanistic tradition who view meaningful work as related to the meaning of life (Lips-Wiersma & Wright, 2012); (d) those who conceptualize meaningful work as a multifaceted eudemonic psychological state (Ryff, 2018); (e) those who define meaningful work as a specific state of occupation according to (Bunderson & Thompson, 2009). In turn, authors interested in approaching meaning­ful work tend to view different and separate categories of meaning of meaningful work as non-exclusive. Such a condition makes it difficult to approach meaningful work in the organizational context (Michaelson et al., 2014). The challenges around meaningful work remain questioning if meaningful work represents a greedy ideal that sets up to fail, or if individuals really experience and perceive such a phenomenon of meaningfulness in contemporary society (Carton 2018; Martikainen et al. 2021; Muirhead, 2004). This is to say that current academic debates embrac­ing the definition of meaningful work have never benefited from the way non-academic individuals define it. Constel­lations around the meaning of meaningful work have been heavily influenced by perspectives belonging to empirical and factual studies. These rely on multiple theories and tend to infer the presence of meaningful work through ei­ther deductive or inductive methods. Quantitative inves­tigations assess the presence of meaningful work (Bailey et al., 2018; Bailey & Madden 2017; Martikainen et al., 2021), while qualitative inquiries are usually limited to descriptions of specific experiences and shared affective states (Carton 2018). As recently stated by Lips-Wiersma and her colleagues (2022), it is difficult for people to talk about meaningful work and to explain what meaning­ful work means to them. In turn, the examination of the characteristics and discourses of meaningful work from a common-sense perspective has never been present in the literature. Studying how individuals are capable to define – or articulate definitions of – meaningful work can be particularly relevant for scholars striving to find concrete definitions of such an abstract concept. Perhaps, concep­tual ambiguity around the notion of meaningful work due to the lack of agreement among academic authors may also suggest conceptual ambiguity among (working) in­dividuals. Considering the common-sense perspectives as a source of unique and concrete knowledge, speculation about the meaning of meaningful work may not meet the subjective instances. In this paper, we report our attempt to address this gap by reaching a definition of the phenomenon of meaning­ful work via a common-sense perspective. Notably, the overarching aim of this study is to address the question, “What is the perspective on meaningful work based on a common-sense definition, and how can this perspective in­form theory and practice in human resource management and development?”. Studying common-sense perspective allows us to examine how non-academics define mean­ingfulness when related to work, while simultaneously presenting the elements which foster meaningful work. Based on the Aristotelian logic of definition, we conducted a qualitative study to explore the common-sense perspec­tive of meaningful work. This can contribute to scientific knowledge by envisioning guidance on the subjective, so­cial, and institutional elements associated with defining, providing, and protecting meaningful work. Although common-sense perspective is not historically present in the literature, examining how individuals propose shared definitions of such a phenomenon can reveal insights for contemporary discourse and practice on meaningful work. We proceed as follows. First, we briefly discuss the use of common-sense perspective to explore notions and con­cepts of human resource management and development literature, e.g., meaningful work. We propose the radical revocation of the subject of work using common-sense perspective by referring to the Aristotelian logic of defi­nition. Second, we present the methodology used to col­lect definitions of meaningful work from non-academics to reconstruct the meaning of meaningful work. Lastly, we discuss our findings by exchanging current definitions of meaningful work with interdisciplinary references to lit­erature in management, human resource development and organizational psychology in order to complement and ex­pand the perspective on meaningful work. Our discussion serves to offer resources for understanding, evaluating, and fostering meaningful work within the context of hu­man resource management. 2 Common-sense perspective and management studies Revoking the primacy of the subject on defining their experience is historically not a new way of doing research in the field of human resource management and develop­ment. Indeed, it would be a mistake to take the idea of common-sense perspective as being opposed to factual, intellectual, or theoretical knowledge. Central argument on the continuity is that non-academics have always questioned and proposed their definition of phenomena beyond narrow and strict epistemological and methodo­logical reasoning. According to Heider’s (1958) definition of common-sense perspective “[it] has a great and deep understanding of himself [sic] and other people which [is] unformulated or only vaguely conceived” (p. 2). Com­mon-sense perspective includes ordinary people’s ideas about their behavior and the behavior of others and the backgrounds and effects of that behavior. This common­sense is expressed in language that we, as ordinary people, use to refer to people and stories we tell each other about one person, people, and types of people (Heider, 1958; Kelley, 1992; Smedslund, 2013). Common-sense and studies in human resource man­agement and development are not separate. Conversely, there is a close relationship between academic knowledge and common-sense. First, studies within and human re­source management and development necessarily stems from common-sense questions (Sartori et al., 2022). It is therefore erroneous to assume that such studies should not question how common-sense answers are similar to research questions. In this sense, common-sense can con­tribute to the cognitive development of organizational phe­nomena. Simultaneously, organizational studies influence common-sense by suggesting abstract ideas and perspec­tives (Heider, 1958; Kelley, 1992). Hence, there are many reasons to think of continuity between academic studies and common-sense perspectives, although few studies have questioned how common-sense can define concepts and theories specific to the field (Smedslund, 2013). In the study of meaningful work, useful and interesting data and perspectives emerge from the different definitions proposed and the various theories referred to. However, these data and perspectives are unable to directly answer the question of whether ordinary people can define the concept of meaningful work. This is because present stud­ies within the literature indirectly analyses such an individ­ual ability of proposing definitions on meaningful work. Most of the theories around meaningful work in human resource management are generally deduced without ref­erence to common-sense. For example, qualitative studies about meaningful work generally consist of collecting and analysing accounts of meaningful experiences. Others, however, tend to look at examples of meaningful experi­ences at work. Consequently, naive definitions, i.e., com­mon-sense, are deduced as a posteriori. From an epistemological point of view, such proposi­tions and data on the topic of meaningful work thus tend to provide definitions based on the way knowledge is rep­resented by non-academic subjects. However, the knowl­edge representation of a concept, e.g., meaningful work, is not the definition of the concept itself. First, the knowledge representation of a concept concerns the body of knowl­edge related to that concept derived from experience and learning. Second, concept definition itself concerns the precise act of verbalizing the salient features of a given concept. Following classical Aristotelian logic, the pur­pose of the process of definition is to reduce uncertainty around a term of discourse (B, definiendum) by resolving its meaning into that of other terms (A, definiens) whose intelligibility has already been given. According to this as­sumption, two types of definitions can be proposed: classi­cal definitions and intensive or attribute definitions. In the first case, these are definitions in which the attributes are clear (definiens) and sufficiently explanatory. However, such definitions are rather rare to obtain and mainly con­cern the second case, i.e., intensive definitions. These are based on the absence of sufficiently explanatory attributes and mainly reflect what constitutes the concept beyond its representativeness. Ultimately, the definitions of a concept may be for specific extensible attributes (classical defini­tions), which can however be enriched and clarified by ex­amples (intensive definitions) (Agassi & Wettersten, 1987; Parry & Hacker, 1991). From a pragmatic point of view, studying the com­mon-sense perspective requires a formal research ap­proach aimed at collecting classical and per-attribute defi­nitions of a given concept. Non-academics are generally not inclined to formulate definitions concerning academic phenomena and therefore these must be questioned and so­licited explicitly. This implies that there are different types of questions that can be asked characterized by varying degrees of precision, structuring and abstraction. Again, there may be different degrees of knowledge on the part of the participants. For this reason, the questions must be structured according to three levels of formalization of the definition, namely 1) analogy, 2) generalization, and 3) ex­planation. Following classical logic, we first have formula­tion by analogy, asking questions that prompt participants to indicate whether A (definiens) resembles B (definien­dum) through associations of ideas. Second, formulation by generalizations whereby the question prompts partici­pants to indicate the set of attributes that make A similar to B. Lastly, the question by explanation asks to indicate the set of attributes of A that are necessary and sufficient to identify B through causal explanatory reasoning. In the case of the study of the concept of meaningful work, the question for analogy can be rendered in a request such as “Can you define the concept of meaningful work for me through some examples?”. In the second case, the question is asked “Can you define the concept of meaningful work for me by thinking about its characteristics?”. In the third case, the question is asked by considering several aspects at the same time: “Can you define the concept of mean­ingful work for me by indicating what considerations are necessary and essential for having this experience?”. 3 Methods 3.1 Procedure and Participants Considering the assumptions of the classic logic for collecting the common-sense perspective, we encouraged individuals through explicit requests to revoke their sub­jective perspectives on the meaning of meaningful work. The requests referred to one out of the three open questions previously described, i.e., definition based on 1) analogy, 2) generalization or 3) explanation. That is, one group of respondents had to respond to an open question about pro­posing a definition of meaningful work based via analogy (i.e., Could you define the concept of meaningful work through some examples? Group 1). The second group had to respond to the open question for a general defini­tion (Could you define the concept of meaningful work by thinking about its characteristics? Group 2), while the third group had a question asking for an explanation (Could you define the concept of meaningful work by indicating what considerations are necessary and essential for having this experience? Group 3). Participants were invited via emails to voluntary fill in the online questionnaire. In the email text, we informed the participants about the study and asked them to contribute. A link to access the online survey was reported allowing participation at a time convenient to them. After reading the description of the study, and privacy rules, they were asked to sign the informed consent in order to use the data for the purpose of the study. Completion of the question­naire took about five minutes. We sent the questionnaire to N = 197 Italian employees among which only n = 194 par­ticipants (56.1%, N = 109 females, average age 41 years, SD = 14) voluntarily completed the questionnaire. Partici­pants were randomly assigned to one of the three research groups mentioned above (i.e., 40.7%, N = 79, Group 1, 17.5%, N = 34, Group 2, and 41.8%, N = 81, Group 3). All data were anonymized right after collection and a unique numerical ID was assigned to each completed question­naire. The study has been approved by the ethical committee of the University of the first Author, according to the dec­laration of Helsinki. 3.2 Analytical Strategy The analytic strategy of the definitions collected con­sisted into three main phases using the content analysis approach. These were conducted by Author 1 and Author 2 who developed the study in collaboration with Author 3 who was not aware about the aim of the study. During phase 1, the three researchers worked individually and identified the sub-categories of meaning within all the definitions collected. Then, the three researchers compared their analysis and agreed about the ultimate sub-catego­ries. Simultaneously, descriptive statistics with frequen­cies tables indicated whether certain sub-categories of meaningful work were prevalent and/or specific for each group. Second, the three researchers worked together to identify the specific meso-categories covering the different units identified. Then, they identified the salient themes, namely the macro-categories grouping all the meso-cat­egories of meaning. This coding phase involved a more abstract analysis of the data through macro categories that could lead to definitions of meaningful work phenomenon through the participants’ perspectives. In the last phase, each of the researchers derived a definition of meaningful work in addition to the identification of the factors under­pinning the phenomenon. 4 Results Results cover definitions of meaningful, the descrip­tions of work and the diverse reflexive or critical stand­points leading to the experience and perception of mean­ingful work. In particular, the resulting analysis led to one broad definition of meaningful work and two framings of the factors related to meaningful work. First, following the data analytic strategy, the initial step of Phase 1 led to the identification of sub-categories of meaning covering aspects related to meaningful work. By comparing our individual results, we agreed on the final set of N = 29 sub-categories. These covered both aspects related to the meaning of meaningful work itself and the conditions under which work is experienced and perceived as meaningful. Of the 29 categories, one category called “Problem with questions” was used to categorize all those answers where the participants reported that they were not able to understand the question about meaningful work (11.9%, n = 23). Another category, referred to those who reported that meaningful work does not exist arguing that work cannot be experienced as something meaningful due to specific job conditions (e.g., exploitation) and/or soci­etal problems (7.3%, n = 14). The rest of the categories spanned from 1) intra/inter-individual dimensions such as calling, work passion, and sense of competence, 2) rela­tional aspects as the connection between others and sense of contribution, and 3) societal-organizational aspects such as organizational conditions, and participation in business and society. Second, during phase 2, we proceeded with the iden­tification of meso-categories by analysing the sub-catego­ries. After that, we identified meso-categories grouping the sub-categories into the following 9 meso-categories: 1) sense of competence, 2) calling, 3) purposeful task, 4) sense of relatedness, 5-6) salary & career barriers, 7) or­ganizational policies, 8) organizational conditions partici­pation in society, and 9) work as not-a-source of meaning. Lastly, during phase 3, we grouped these 9 meso-cate­gories into macro-categories relating to meaningful work. Accordingly, we identified the following four macro-cat­egories: 1) meaningful work as an individual-based phe­nomenon, 2) meaningful work as work-based phenome­non, 3) meaningful work as an environmental-dependent phenomenon and 4) meaningful work compromised by impeding conditions of the workplace. 4.1 Common-sense & meaningful work Following the analysis of the identified macro-catego­ries, we advanced a definition of meaningful work and its conditions. According to the common-sense perspective, we define the concept of meaningful work as the experi­ence and perception of meaning in work which is closely related to the task performed (Allan et al., 2017) and mas­tering skills at work (Martela & Reikki, 2018), but it is also dependent on the presence of positive conditions at the or­ganizational and societal levels (Lysova et al., 2019; Tom­masi et al., 2020) which may decrease the meaning-mak­ing of individuals. Firstly, independently of the type of question, partic­ipants reported that tasks at work play a crucial role for them to experience and perceive their work as meaningful. Work is not meaningful per se and there are no occupa­tion-based differences. Conversely, the meaning attrib­uted by individuals depends on the possibility to express the individuals’ know-how via significant and purposeful tasks allowing for self-actualization and self-expression. Moreover, participants discussed meaningful work to be both a permanent mindset and an episodic experience which appear on the continuum temporal axis of working experience and are strongly determined by intraindividu­al, relational, organizational, and institutional conditions (Tommasi et al., 2020). Secondly, most of the responses of the participants contained a marked reference to the self and factors in­extricably linked to personal characteristics. Specifically, participants used concepts such as pride, sense of impor­tance in fulfilling their role, passion, commitment, and se­renity derived from work, to explain the role of work in giving meaning and completeness to daily life. Most of the participants identified the sense of importance derived from work as the most relevant personal characteristic in defining this experience. However, above all the categories used, at the individual level, participants reported defini­tions of meaningful work by referring to their know-how (i.e., sense of competence) while echoing the crucial role of significance of the task. Lastly, participation in organi­zational life and society was reported as one of the sources of meaningfulness suggesting the relational and environ­mental dependence of such a phenomenon. Lastly, participants argued about the absence of mean­ing when these aspects were decreased by the presence of certain work-barriers, societal and labour market con­ditions. Factors such as company policies, organizational change and training, the match between fatigue and work, work tasks as a tool for achieving a goal, work tasks per­formed for others, and serenity resulting from work were reported to be as the main sources of both meaningful work and the absence of meaning. 5 Discussion Meaningful work is at the core of the most relevant do­mains of research in human resource management and de­velopment (Lips-Wiersma et al., 2018). Moreover, mean­ingfulness represents a moral and pragmatic concern for workers, organizations, and systems (Yeoman et al., 2019) beyond the multiple positive outcomes at the individual and organizational levels (Allan et al., 2019). Given such endeavours in human resource management and develop­ment studies and the relevance of such a phenomenon, there is an imperative for conducting investigations on meaning­ful work. Particularly, investigations on the meaning and the conditions of meaningful work are welcomed. In the present article, we aimed to contribute to such reflections by revoking the primacy of the subject in defining their experience. Using Aristotelian logic, the purpose of this study was to understand whether non-academics are able to define, and how they define meaningful work. Results of our qualitative study based on open questions on how to define meaningful work led to initial pieces of knowledge. These results can be taken into account against evidence and critical reflections on meaningful work present in con­temporary literature. Ultimately, our results can serve to propose indications for future research and practice. First, echoing the recent work by Bailey and col­leagues (2022), we found that people have limited words to talk about meaningful work and that they may have dif­ficulties in finding answers to the question “what is mean­ingful work”? We noted this by reading answers such as “I don’t understand the question” and “I don’t know what meaningful work is or should be” but also in the words used to present the linguistic meaning of meaningful work as well as for the examples of what meaningful work is. Nevertheless, the analysis of the participants’ answers to the three types of questions showed that subjects have the capacity to provide meaningful definitions containing el­ements that are known, understandable, and common to the three required definitions. As mentioned, most of the answers were focused on intra/inter- individual aspects re­lated to 1) personal characteristics and 2) aspects of the job. Another substantial portion of the answers focused on the environmental aspects related to 3) working and organizational conditions, and 4) socio-political context. This resonates with the methodological framework of the present paper: namely, even non-academic individuals are able to provide intensive definitions of work and organi­zational phenomena. Although the degrees of complexity of the responses differ among the three types of responses, individuals responded to the explicit request to define the concept of meaningful work by producing answers (i.e., definitions) according to denotative aspects. That is, inde­pendently of the way a quest for definition is presented (i.e., classical or intensive), individuals propose a verbal description characterized by a diachronic and explanatory structure rather than a prototypical type. This is in contrast with what happens in the world of academic definitions where proposals for definitions tend to be structured via a prototypical type. In contrast, common-sense definitions are more dynamic and structural with the aim of propos­ing generic definitions which capture personal experiences of meaningful work. Moreover, these results inform also how ordinary, non-academic people are somewhat inter­ested in providing explanations and definitions of their life and work experiences. Even more, non-academics appear to be interested in formulating tentative theories about the causes and consequences of certain experiences. The re­sulting common-sense formulations tended to explain the phenomenon of meaningful work on the basis of different and separate factors. Notably, non-academics formulate theories and reasoning that invoke various perspectives and studies of meaningful work in the areas of manage­ment, human resource development and organizational psychology. Second, an interesting (common-sense) perspective emerged by considering the findings as opposed to what exists in the literature. This also can help to find an ini­tial definition of meaningful work. First, such a perspec­tive resonates with the definitions which are used in the literature according to which meaningful work represents a positive experience at work (Lysova et al., 2019; Rosso et al., 2010; Tommasi et al., 2020) given by the possibil­ity of self-actualization and self-development via work (Yeoman et al., 2020). In this regard, central aspects for the discovery, experience and perception of meaningful­ness in work are the presence of purpose (Martela & Pes­si, 2018), the relationship with others (Martela & Reikki, 2018), the presence of significant tasks (Allan, 2017) and a sense of competence (Lips-Wierisma & Morris, 2009). According to the common-sense perspective, meaningful work would be determined by organizational dimensions such as a sense of belonging (Schnell et al., 2013; Sch­nell & Hoffmann, 2020; Tommasi et al., 2021; Tommasi et al., 2022). Indeed, such a definition covers aspects of meaningful work as an environmental dependent phenom­enon. The environment presents conditions such as the possibilities for development and growth which have been described by the participants as possible impediments to meaningful work if they are lacking at an organizational level. Further impediments are given at the socio-political level. Recalling various perspectives from the literature, the dimension of meaningful work is strongly linked to institutions (Lysova, et al., 2019; Michaelson, 2021) and to the socio-political context (Tommasi et al., 2020). Our participants indicated that changes in the world of work, the lack of job protection and the frequency of the risk of labour exploitation represent impediments to the discovery of meaningful work. In this spirit, the results of the present study echo scholars who have recently highlighted the pos­sibility that work can be meaningful only if there are good reasons for experiencing it as such (Tyssedal, 2022). The perspective of our participants suggests that the dimension of meaningful work should be understood on a subjective level in contrast to an ideal of meaningful work as imbued by contemporary society. The phenomenon of meaningful work, therefore, seems to have a character of subjective uniqueness. However, this uniqueness must be sought in the whole of the different and seperate elements that com­pose meaningful work itself. Besides theoretical implications, to our knowledge this is the primary direct investigation on the common-sense perspective of academic concepts in the area of human resource management and development. Moreover, this is a primary direct investigation on how non-academic are able to define meaningful work. As such, this study offers a number of methodological and research implications for future directions in the study of meaningful work. Meth­odologically, our approach based on the Aristotelian log­ic of definition can be used for additional investigations on constructs and concepts in the area of human resource management, organization studies and organizational psy­chology. It is interesting to note the presence or absence of associations, as well as different perspectives between academic and non-academic. Considering individual, re­lational and organizational dimensions and how these are treated in organizational settings, revoking the subject per­spective can help to ensure that both academic knowledge and practices reflect the individual experience. Moreover, it is also interesting to note that our pieces of empirical knowledge suggest that non-academics have the capacity to advance intensive definitions as well as unique perspec­tives. This result strengths the potential of our approach of revoking the subject into academic perspectives. With respect to the study of meaningful work, our re­sults point to consider the possibility that participants of empirical studies might not understand or reflect questions and items used to investigate meaningful work. For further studies, it would be interesting to replicate the study by including measures of meaningful work to see how quali­tative definitions reflect quantitative results and vice versa. In addition, further studies might replicate this study by taking into account a larger sample of participants includ­ing different cultural aspects as well as various occupa­tions. As a preliminary investigation, the collected sample did not include such differences. However, cultural differ­ences might reflect specific aspects of meaningful work. Likewise, different dimensions of meaningful work might have a relevance for various kinds of occupations. 5.1 Practical implications Our findings can be of value to human resource man­agement scholars who are interested in proposing organ­izational interventions. First, the research design of the present study echoes recent calls for engaging employees in talking about meaningful work (Lips-Wiersma et al., 2022). The semantic and linguistic issues revealed in our study show how people are rarely engaged with questions around meaning and meaningfulness. Despite this, our study shows that they are actually able to propose inten­sive definitions by presenting the situation in which they are capable to experience and discover meaningfulness at work. Following this result, employers and managers could ask their employees about the meaning they attach to their work and whether they have or have not good reasons to experience their work as meaningful. Such an organ­izational survey may inform possible effective ways for fostering meaningfulness at work (Tommasi et al., 2020). Second, our results show how individuals can experience and perceive their work as meaningful by referring to their task significance (Allan, 2017), sense of competence (Martela & Riekki, 2018), and relations with others (Mar­tela & Riekki, 2018). In turn, job design intervention could be implemented to address the way work is organized and its characteristics (Bailey & Madden, 2020). For example, training interventions could foster skills and competencies among employees in order to improve their sense of com­petence. Simultaneously, interventions at the team level could foster positive relations associated with meaningful work. Lastly, our results suggest that there are certain organ­izational and institutional barriers which may decrease the presence of positive experiences at work, such as meaningful work. Managers could consider possible or­ganizational barriers and support human resource devel­opment in order to foster meaningfulness. First, echoing the recent work by Baily and colleagues (2022), we found that people have limited words to talk about meaningful work and that they may have difficulties in finding an­swers to the question “what is meaningful work”? We noted this by reading answers such as “I don’t understand the question” and “I don’t know what meaningful work is or should be” but also in the words used to present the linguistic meaning of meaningful work as well as for the examples of what meaningful work is. Nevertheless, the content analysis of the participants’ answers to the three types of questions showed that subjects have the capaci­ty to provide meaningful definitions containing elements that are known, understandable, and common to the three required definitions. As mentioned, most of the answers were focused on intra/inter- individual aspects related to 1) personal characteristics and 2) aspects of the job. An­other substantial portion of the answers focused on the environmental aspects related to 3) working and organiza­tional conditions, and 4) socio-political context. This res­onates with the methodological framework of the present paper: namely, even non-academic individuals are able to provide intensive definitions of work and organizational phenomena. Although the degrees of complexity of the responses differ among the three types of responses, in­dividuals responded to the explicit request to define the concept of meaningful work by producing answers (i.e., definitions) according to denotative aspects. That is, inde­pendently of the way a quest for definition is presented (i.e., classical or intensive), individuals propose a verbal description characterized by a diachronic and explanatory structure rather than a prototypical type. This is in contrast with what happens in the world of academic definitions where proposals for definitions tend to be structured via a prototypical type. In contrast, common-sense definitions are more dynamic and structural with the aim of propos­ing generic definitions which capture personal experiences of meaningful work. Moreover, these results inform how ordinary, non-academic people are somewhat interested in providing explanations and definitions of their life and work experiences. Even more, non-academics appear to be interested in formulating tentative theories about the causes and consequences of certain experiences. The re­sulting common-sense formulations tended to explain the phenomenon of meaningful work on the basis of various and different factors. In particular, non-academics formu­late theories and reasoning that invoke various perspec­tives and studies of meaningful work in the areas of man­agement, human resource development and organizational psychology. 5.2 Limitations Lastly, we must acknowledge some limitations of the current study, with findings having to be interpreted with some caution. Indeed, we limited our data collection to those who decided to voluntarily participate in the study. Also, our sample was limited to only 194 participants, and we did not have participants from specific job classes. Further studies may address this limit by carrying out a more extensive survey of different workers from multiple disciplines. Although this aspect does not affect the impli­cations of our results per se, it may limit the extensiveness of our interpretation which could be enriched by further studies on the common-sense perspective. 6 Conclusion The present study provides indications for theory, re­search and practice in the field of studies on meaningful work. Firstly, this study provides an initial basis for under­standing the potential of inquiring non-academics about the meaning of meaningful work and how non-academics are capable of offering novel perspectives on it. Second­ly, we present a conceptual background for theorizing and testing possible interventions aimed at fostering meaning­ful work. Thirdly, we offer an initial frame of orientation for scoping out the common-sense perspective by which further critical investigation can be advanced in the em­pirical investigations in human resource management and development. In closing, we invite scholars to address current debates around notions and concepts in the liter­ature to look at how non-academics may engage, subvert, criticize, and renovate the meaning and relevance of this phenomenon. Literature 1Received: 20th August 2022; revised: 9th February 2023; accepted: 24th February 2023 Agassi, J., & Wettersten, J. (1987). The philosophy of common sense. Philosophia, 17(4), 421-438. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381063 Allan, B. A. (2017). Task significance and meaningful work: a longitudinal study. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 102, 174–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.07.011 Allan, B. A., Batz-Barbarich, C., Sterling, H. M., & Tay, L. (2019). Outcomes of meaningful work: a meta-anal­ysis. Journal of Management Studies, 56, 500–528. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12406 Bailey, C., & Madden, A. (2017). Time reclaimed: tempo­rality and the experience of meaningful work. 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International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 17, 301-321. https://doi.org/10.28945/5011 Tyssedal, J. J. (2022). Work is meaningful if there are good reasons to do it: A revisionary conceptual analysis of ‘ meaningful work’. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05205-y Yeoman, R., Bailey, C., Madden, A., & Thompson, M. (Eds.). (2019). The Oxford handbook of meaningful work. Oxford University Press Francesco Tommasi is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Ve­rona, Department of Human Sciences, Italy, and Visit­ing Fellow in Critical Social, Work and Organizational Psychology at Europa-Universität Flensburg. He works on different topics within social, work and organizational psychology, and educational science issues. Riccardo Sartori is an Associate Professor of work and organizational phycology at the Human Sciences Department of Verona University. He is a psychologist and psychotherapist, who graduated in Work and Organizational Psychology, Ph.D. in Perception and Psychophysics. His interests focus on 1) Assessment of candidates and personnel (individual, group, and organizational assessment); 2) Training and Development of Human resources; 3) Business consulting dealing with organizational dynamics (organizational co-habitation, cooperation, conflict, etc.). He is the Director of the research center APRESO (Applied Research in Society and Organizations). Andrea Ceschi is an Associate Professor in Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) at the Human Sciences Department of Verona University. Co-Founder and Scientific Director of the research center APRESO (Applied Research in Society and Organizations), my expertise lies in organizational behavior, individual differences, and decision-making at work, and social dynamics in the applied psychology field. Razkrivanje zdravorazumskega pogleda na smiselno delo: teorija, podatki in posledice za upravljanje in razvoj cloveških virov Ozadje/namen: Smiselno delo je tema, ki je pomembna za strokovnjake s podrocja managementa in organizacij. Preucevanje smiselnega dela je bilo mocno zaznamovano s teorijami iz razlicnih disciplin, vendar je zdravorazum­ska perspektiva pogosto spregledana, tj. neakademska perspektiva smiselnega dela. Clanek predstavlja kvalitativ­no študijo o tem, kako ne-akademiki opredeljujejo smiselno delo. Metode: Prispevek s pomocjo aristotelovske logike predstavlja metodološko-teoreticni pristop k raziskovanju, kako ne-akademiki opredeljujejo koncepte upravljanja cloveških virov. 194 zaposlenih smo prosili, da predlagajo koncne definicije pojma smiselnega dela. Vprašanja so bila poslana prek kratke ankete, ki je zbirala tudi demografske po­datke. Rezultati: Analiza zbranih definicij je privedla do predloga intenzivne definicije smiselnega dela, po kateri je smisel­no delo pozitivna izkušnja, povezana z obcutkom kompetentnosti, prisotnostjo pozitivnega odnosa z drugimi, pome­nom in namenom dela. Vendar pa morajo obstajati dobri razlogi, da delo doživljamo kot smiselno, saj lahko okolje vsebuje ovire za prisotnost smiselnosti. Zakljucek: Metodološko prispevek uveljavlja nov pristop k preucevanju konceptov upravljanja s cloveškimi viri in razvoja. Teoreticno študija predlaga novo perspektivo smiselnega dela, ki daje prednost zdravemu razumu. Kljucne besede: Smiselno delo, Zdrava pamet, Dobro pocutje zaposlenih, Upravljanje in razvoj cloveških virov AUTHOR GUIDELINES / NAVODILA AVTORJEM Manuscripts considered for publication in Organ­izacija (organizacija.fov@um.si) are those which: • Contain original work – which is not published elsewhere in any medium by the authors or anyone else and is not under consideration for publication in any other medium. The author(s) is/are also responsible for any violations of the copyright regulations. • Are focused on the core aims and scope of the journal: Organizacija is an interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal that seeks both theoretically and practically oriented research papers from the area of organizational science, business information systems and human resources management. • Are clearly and correctly written – should contain all essential features of a complete scientific paper, should be written in a clear, easy to understand manner and be readable for a wide audience. • Are written in English – should be clearly and grammatically written, in an easily readable style. 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Organizacija is covered by the following services: Cabell’s Directory, CEJSH (The Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities), Celdes, Clarivate Analytics - Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), CNPIEC, Die Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek, DOAJ, EBSCO - TOC Premier, EBSCO Discovery Service, ECONIS, Ergonomics Abstracts, ERIH PLUS, Google Scholar, Inspec, International Abstracts in Operations Research, J-Gate, Microsoft Academic Search, Naviga (Softweco), Primo Central (ExLibris), ProQuest - Advanced Polymers Abstracts, ProQuest - Aluminium Industry Abstracts, ProQuest - Ceramic Abstracts/World Ceramics Abstracts, ProQuest - Composites Industry Abstracts, ProQuest - Computer and Information Systems Abstracts, ProQuest - Corrosion Abstracts, ProQuest - Electronics and Communications Abstracts, ProQuest - Engineered Materials Abstracts, ProQuest - Mechanical & Transportation Engineering Abstracts, ProQuest - METADEX (Metals Abstracts), ProQuest - Sociological Abstracts, ProQuest - Solid State and Superconductivity Abstracts, Research Papers in Economics (RePEc), SCOPUS, Summon (Serials Solutions/ProQuest), TDOne (TDNet), TEMA Technik und Management, WorldCat (OCLC) CONTENTS - 1/2023 3 18 32 51 66 80 Kenedi BINOWO, Achmad Nizar HIDAYANTO Discovering Success Factors in the Pioneering Stage of a Digital Startup Malek Bakheet ELAYAN, Abdulmajeed Saad ALBALAWI, Haifa Mohammed SHALAN, Ali H. AL-HOORIE, Mohamed Dawood SHAMOUT Perceived Manager’s Emotional Intelligence and Happiness at Work: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Affective Organizational Commitment Amro AL-MADADHA, Farah SHAHEEN, Lina AlMA’ANI, Natalie ALSAYYED, Ahmad AL ADWAN Corporate Social Responsibility and Creative Performance: The Effect of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior Murat BAS, M. Sabri SIRIN How does Workplace Ostracism Affect Employee Performance? Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience, Moderated Mediation Role of Cyberloafing Magda LUŽAR, Annmarie GORENC ZORAN, Mirko MARKIC, Boris BUKOVEC Intergenerational Differences and Knowledge Transfer Among Slovenian Engineers Francesco TOMMASI, Riccardo SARTORI, Andrea CESCHI Scoping out the Common-Sense Perspective on Meaningful Work: Theory, Data and Implications for Human Resource Management and Development