Representative bureaucracy in the Arab Gulf states

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply the lens of representative bureaucracy (RB) to women’s representation at management level in governments and government-owned companies in Arab Gulf states (AGS), and to consider the implications for government stability, legitimacy and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were analysed of the numbers of men and women in management positions (8,936), of government and government-owned companies (846), for the six countries of the AGS. Analyses were conducted on the presence/absence of women in management for ten industry types.

Findings

Governments and government-owned companies in the AGS were identified as hybrid (public/private) institutions. Women were found to be underrepresented at management levels in public sector bureaucracy; women clustered in a narrow range of industries; all countries returned a high result of zero female managers in these industries.

Research limitations/implications

This research is limited by data collected from a single source, “Eikon”, which is a commercial database. The implication of these results is a benchmark for future studies on women’s representation at management level in governments and government-owned companies of Arab Gulf countries.

Practical implications

The practical implication of this study is for concerted government intervention to address gender inequality in management of governments and government-owned companies across the AGS.

Originality/value

This is the first study of RB in AGS and extends the theory of RB to a new geographical and cultural context. There is value in application of RB to government and government-owned companies as a regional form of hybrid public–private organisation.

Citation

Kemp, L.J., Mathias, M. and Raji, M. (2019), "Representative bureaucracy in the Arab Gulf states", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 230-246. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-07-2017-0198