Search results

This paper aims to examine the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, reflecting upon the nuclear challenge between Iran and Israel and Iran's expanding activities in the region.

To prove the central argument, the study uses a conceptual framework that centers on deterrence as the main approach used by states to consolidate their influence in the Middle East region.

Iran's nuclear progress and influence in the region has strengthened Israel’s security and fostered an unprecedented open rapprochement led by USA efforts with the Gulf regimes.

The paper draws particular attention to the Iran–Israel nuclear competency, and the Israeli preferred policy options regarding Iranian activities in the region amid turbulent Middle East. In addition, the paper offers insight to the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the region while maintaining a status of Arab vulnerability and backwardness.

This paper examines comparative aspects of Arab securities regulation. It provides a general introduction, overviews the aims of securities regulation and the UK regulatory framework, and outlines the obstacles facing equity financing under Shari'a and hindrances to effective Arab securities regulation. It accounts for the major macroeconomic reasons which have enhanced interest in Arab securities markets, examines lack of Arab rules on fraud, insider dealing and possible contractual remedies. It concludes with a case study shedding light on the term ‘securities’ as understood by Article 3 of the 1997 Jordanian Securities Act.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how women academics from the Arab Middle East enact their careers with reference to double-bounded contexts: academia as an institution encoding organizational career scripts and gender as another institution encoding specific gender roles. It is hoped that this cross-cultural perspective would broaden the understanding of careers beyond the economically advanced industrialized countries and better inform the current debate on the boundaryless career model.

The study is qualitative and exploratory in nature. It draws on one-to-one interviews with 23 female academics in early, mid and late careers, working in research universities in the Arab Middle East region.

The choice of academia as a profession is mainly driven by the subjective perception of an academic career as a calling, the lack of attractiveness of other career options in the region, and the appeal of the flexibility of academic work. Furthermore, the findings highlight both organizational (lack of mentoring and university support) and cultural factors (Islam, patriarchy, and family centrality) that shape/bind women's careers choices and patterns allowing thus for a better understanding of local constraints to the boundaryless career view in the Arab Middle East context.

The paper contributes to the boundaryless career theory development by addressing one of its major shortcomings, namely the lack of attention to context. It provides fresh insights from the Arab Middle East to the ongoing debate whether careers are boundaryless and subject to individual agency or whether careers are shaped by wider institutional factors and support existing calls in the literature to conceptualize careers at the intersection of several influencing factors.

The purpose of the current study is to examine the empirical research conducted on the Arab region as reported in the top 46 business journals over the past 23 years (1990-2013). After identifying patterns over time (focal country and methodologies), the identified methodological challenges that scholars have reported in their published research are presented.

The Arab region in this study comprised all 22 member-countries in the Arab League. We also added three other countries that are very much tied to the Arab region and are usually included in the Middle East: Turkey, Israel and Iran. Following the recommendations of previous authors (DuBois and Reeb, 2000; Nicholls-Nixon et al., 2011; Martinez and Kalliny, 2012), published articles are reviewed, but not book chapters, book reviews and dissertation abstracts from our sample, as they do not meet the sample selection criteria (Inkpen and Beamish, 1994; Samiee and Athanassiou, 1998).

As Table I indicates, the Arab region has not received much attention in the top business journals as evidenced by the number of articles published from 1990 to 2013. No papers were published in many of the top management journals such as the Academy of Management Review and Strategic Management Journal. Few found publication in other top management outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, the Administrative Science Quarterly, the Journal of Management and the Journal of Management Studies. Our sample also revealed a similar result in the field of marketing where there are also no papers published in some of the top marketing journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology and Marketing Science. There was one paper published in the Journal of Marketing and one in the Journal of Retailing. Bearing in mind that this literature review covered a span of 23 years, these results indicate an under-representation of the Arab region as an empirical context. This trend has started to change after the eruption of the Arab Spring. Academic business research on the Arab region has increased significantly since then. Another significant finding is the lack of investigation of the firm and country factors in studying the region.

As the world becomes increasingly connected and the fates of countries and regions become more intertwined, it is imperative that scholars and practitioners acquire a deeper understanding of individual countries and regions, particularly those that have been relatively understudied in the extant academic research (i.e. the Arab region). While there is a substantial body of Asian management research, as well as several comprehensive literature reviews of other regions (Bruton and Lau, 2008), a systematic review of Arab and Middle Eastern business research has not been undertaken. Despite much regional attention in political science research due to the Arab – Israel conflict, management research has lagged behind.

The current study examined employment rates and predictors of employment among Syrian refugees currently living in Lebanon and Jordan. This paper argues that men and women refugees have different experiences seeking out employment after resettlement due to patriarchal structures and attitudes toward women that are present in the Arab Middle East. The goals of this paper were a) to examine employment rates among Syrian refugees, b) to examine predictors of employment among male and female refugees, and c) to examine refugee status as a moderator of the relationship between attitudes toward women and employment status.

Nationally representative data from the Arab Barometer on 600 refugees and 1400 native-born individuals living in Lebanon and Jordan from 2016–2017 were used.

Native-born individuals living in Lebanon and Jordan were 2.16 times more likely to be employed than refugees. Men living in Lebanon and Jordan were 7.83 times more likely to be employed than women. Finally, refugee status moderated the relationship between attitudes toward women's rights and roles and employment. Among native-born women, a positive attitude toward women's rights and roles predicted employment status, whereas this positive relationship was not found for women refugees. Among refugee men, a positive attitude toward women's rights and roles was linked to a lower likelihood of holding a job.

These findings suggest that agencies supporting refugees should communicate realistic expectations about employment during resettlement and should address the challenges that women refugees face when seeking employment.

This study is the first study to identify attitudes toward women's rights and roles as a predictor of employment among refugee populations and highlights the unique struggles that refugee women face.

Examines the cultural and business realities of the Arab world. Presents a framework which incorporates cultural variables and their influence on business, in two similar yet distinct Arab subcultures. Discusses business strategies with cultural dimensions within the context of the framework.

The Middle East has been overlooked by American companies as a region in which to explore market opportunities. Suggests that this is largely due to ignorance of, and bias towards, the culture and politics of the Middle East. Discusses aspects of Middle East culture and situational determinants which American companies would be wise to assimilate and suggests practices to carry out or avoid when attempting to form business relationships in the Middle East.

The purpose of this paper is to address the research gap on Lebanese women managers and to demonstrate how gender, work, and family factors influence the career advancement of women managers.

The research is qualitative in nature. A total of 32 in‐depth face‐to face interviews were conducted with 32 women managers.

Interview data reveal that Lebanese women managers do not perceive gender‐centered factors as obstacles to career advancement. The women in the study used different terms to describe the impact of gender, work, and family factors on their career progression to those found in existing literature. Their responsibilities towards their families were not perceived as barriers hindering their career progress. In addition, their personality traits, aspirations for management, levels of educational attainment and work experience, and family‐related factors were also not perceived as inhibiting their careers.

The paper provides new practical insights into the relationships and the interconnections between Arab society, women, and their managerial careers. A strong theme is the significant role of Wasta, the reliance and dependence on social connections versus personal education and achievements to achieve career progress, in enhancing career progression and how gender is less of a criterion in the presence of Wasta.

This paper contributes to the limited knowledge about women and management in Lebanon, as well as the Middle Eastern region in general.

Frequently used in fostering the career progression of individuals this paper aims to explore the concept of wasta and its significance in the career advancement of individuals in the Middle Eastern region. The paper also seeks to compare wasta with networking and mentoring.

The argument is based on relevant literature, the authors' own knowledge through conducting research in the Arab world, informal interviews and survey data conducted across the Middle Eastern Region.

The research clearly shows that on balance wasta remains traditional in its influence in the career advancement of individuals and business life and social life and is unlikely to diminish in the near future, despite the perception that it is an unfair practice. Wasta also displays similarities and differences with networking and mentoring.

Fundamental knowledge on wasta is limited precluding reliable conclusions on how wasta compares with networking and mentoring. Further research needs to be conducted with a larger sample, across a range of industries.

The paper suggests the need for human resource departments of Middle Eastern organizations to create conditions that encourage managers to develop social relationships given the lack of interactive support mechanisms.

Given the token status of systematic management studies in the Arab world, this research is important as it extends knowledge in wasta practices in the region, and also in comparing wasta with networking and mentoring. Overall, the paper argues that wasta is a lucrative area for future research.

The extant literature on leadership in the Arab world reflects the traditional bias of leadership being a male domain. Arising out of a patriarchal social structure, men assume leadership in organizations while women are often confined to work at home. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the emergence of women leaders in UAE organizations by going beyond biological sex role biases to identify leadership as masculine or feminine gendered role stereotypes in organizations.

The data collected over two periods comprised two sets of Schein Descriptive Index (SDI) together with those of leadership intention and behaviour style; correlations thereof were computed to test hypotheses constructed from the literature.

The findings indicate that within organizations in the UAE, employee feedback highlights gender‐role stereotypes as defining leadership roles, rather than individual biological sex and their traditional family and social role. The findings reveal that in the UAE, gender stereotypes influence leadership intention and behaviour rather than individual biological sex and related traditions. Accordingly, women leaders having higher proportions of “agentic” characteristics of male gender stereotype together with lower proportions of “people orientation” of female gender stereotype, which makes successful leaders in the UAE break the proverbial “glass ceiling”. This explains the emergence of an increasing number of women leaders in the UAE.

Generalizability of the findings is limited by non‐representation of countries with high gender egalitarianism, as well as the geographical limitation of the study to the UAE only. In the context of traditional male‐dominated organizations in the UAE, the findings on gender‐role stereotypes of leaders in these organizations cannot only help organizations take informed decisions in choosing leaders without the “glass ceiling” biases, but can go further to identify and nurture potential leaders, including women leaders, within organizations. These findings are of considerable significance to the Middle East and the Arab world in general, in the wake of the developments witnessed there.

The paper explains women leadership in organizations in the UAE, a part of the Arab world of the Middle East, from the perspective of gender‐role stereotypes, as opposed to traditional sex‐role biases, to bring women leaders there into the mainstream gender literature.