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The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and contents of Islamic management practices and their consequent implications for human resource management (HRM) in Arab countries. In addition, it aims to examine the implications for multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Islamic countries and the impact of globalisation before proceeding to an analysis of managerial problems in Arab countries and the need for understanding Islamic management principles by Arab (national) and international managers.

The paper takes the form of a qualitative approach based on an extensive review of relevant literature and the employment of examples from selected Arab countries.

The study reveals that a gap exists between the theory of Islamic management and the practice of management in Arab countries. Management in Arab countries is informed and heavily influenced by non‐Islamic traditional and national cultural values and norms of different countries and by Western management thinking rather than Islamic principles derived from the Holy Quran (words of God) and the Hadith (words of the Prophet Mohamed).

The paper argues that one of the main reasons for the lack of progress in most Arab and Islamic countries is the mismatch between global integration and local responsiveness because of an excess forward diffusion of Western management and business practices with little understanding and, hence, the implementation of Islamic management principles by both local and international managers in Arab countries. It adopts the view that there is a gap between the knowledge possessed by national and international managers in order to manage locally and what is required from the local workforce to be managed effectively. The main limitation of this study is the lack of empirical research evidence to support the points deducted from this review of literature.

Understanding Islamic management principles could help to develop a more appropriate type of management best practice in Arab and Islamic countries while still benefiting from the transfer of relevant Western management techniques and Western technology. The paper also argues that a reverse diffusion of management knowledge and skills by managers of MNCs is very important for the effective management of human resources in host countries. National cultural contexts and different views of work values have made a major impact on the ability of firms to address HRM issues in different cultural settings.

The paper contributes to the comparatively sparse literature on Islamic management and its applications by identifying key issues for HRM implementation and in developing Western understanding of Islamic management systems.

Addresses the question of whether military expenditures in the Arab world have been at the expense of human capital development. Mainly finds that countries in the Arab world have experienced increases in human capital development associated with increased rates of military participation (armed forces per capita). This phenomenon is in sharp contrast with that found in non‐Arab countries. Also this phenomenon appears to be relatively recent, increasing in strength during the period after 1980. In part Arab governments have chosen to subsidize the education of increased numbers of civilians during periods of steppedup military expenditures with the understanding that upon completion of training those individuals will serve some time in the military.

The intellectual capital of a nation (or a region of nations) requires the articulation of a system of variables that helps to uncover and manage the invisible wealth of a country. Most importantly, an emphasis on human capital allows for a better understanding of the hidden values, individuals, enterprises, institutions, and communities that are both current and potential future sources of intellectual wealth. This paper endeavours to address the five research questions. The main outcomes of this paper are the development of a national intellectual capital measurement methodology and index. The NICI is also used within a structural equation model to test several hypotheses related to national intellectual capital development.

The purpose of this paper is to assess and evaluate the role of information and communication technologies as a proposed solution to reduce poverty in the Arab countries and therefore achieve sustainable development.

In this article, the authors have taken a somewhat extensive review of the different aspects of ICTs in DCs with particular focus on Arab countries. Given the current poor conditions and isolation of Arab countries from the rest of the world, a number of fundamental research questions are addressed.

Empowering nations with ICTs could increase productivity, promote human development, create knowledge, disseminate information and reduce poverty.

The paper highlights the importance of building ICTs capacity for both promoting human development and enhancing capabilities of people to participate in the economy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges and opportunities for the transition to a knowledge-based economy in the Arab region.

Both descriptive and comparative approaches are used, together with the framework and definition of “knowledge-based economy” often used in the international literature to examine the challenges and opportunities for a transition to a knowledge-based economy in the Arab region.

The findings support the hypothesis concerning the challenges and opportunities for transition to a knowledge-based economy in the Arab region. This transition is seriously impeded by several political, social, economic, institutional and organisational obstacles and impediments. Overcoming the major challenges hindering the transition to knowledge-based economies will involve changing the economic structure by shifting from (rent-seeking) natural resources-based (oil) economies to knowledge-based economies in the Arab region.

This paper is valuable because it fills the gap in the Arab literature by presenting a more comprehensive analysis and investigating the challenges and opportunities for the transition, which previous literature has failed to adequately discuss. Moreover, the paper supports the efforts aimed at enhancing knowledge-based economies in the Arab region. The findings imply that it is essential for the Arab region to overcome challenges by implementing sound strategies for their transition to knowledge economies and improving and enhancing appropriate investments in human capital, effective institutions, relevant technologies and innovative and competitive enterprises to facilitate such a transition.

This paper provides a thematic analysis of an IUCN Red-Listed bird, the houbara bustard, which Pakistan uses as a fungible resource to appease its wealthy Arab benefactors.

Thematic analysis of relevant media reports and government ministry and NGO websites comprise the study's data. Media reports were located using Dow Jones' Factiva database.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues wealthy Arabs special permits for hunting the houbara bustard as a “soft” foreign diplomacy strategy aimed at propping up the country's fragile economy. Although illegal under international and Pakistan's own wildlife laws, resource dependence theory helps explain how various country-specific issues (e.g. dysfunctional political and judicial systems) enable Pakistan's unlawful exchange of hunting permits for Arab oil and short-term financing. Surrogate accountability and agencement are examined as two means for arresting the bird's trajectory toward extinction.

Media reports comprise the primary data. Pakistani government officials were approached for interviews, but failed to reply. Although unfortunate, the pervasive corruption and mistrust that characterise Pakistan's culture would have likely tainted the responses. For this reason, media reports were always the primary data sought.

The present study extends prior literature by exploring how country context can subvert the transferability of social and political approaches used in developed countries to address environmental accounting issues and challenges. As this study shows, a developing country's economic vulnerability, combined with its dysfunctional political systems, impotent judiciary and feckless regulatory mechanisms, can undermine legislation meant to protect the country's natural environment, in general, and a threatened bird's existence, in particular.

The purpose of this study is to examine learning style instruments used in Arab countries to measure higher education students’ learning styles, identify the most common instruments and determine whether the reliability and validity of these instruments have been verified in Arab contexts.

A comprehensive review of the existing literature using several databases and search engines. Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages were used to present the results.

There are only a few published studies related to learning styles in Arab countries, with the majority published between 2012 and 2016 using samples drawn from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. The most common learning style instrument is the Felder–Silverman/Solomon Index of Learning Styles. The reliability and validity of this instrument require further investigation.

This study is not without limitations. First, it covers only publications in the English language. Second, the paper focuses on research involving higher education students. Third, only research that was available online was used in this study. Nonetheless, the findings have several implications for researchers, educators and human resource development managers. For researchers, this study highlights research gaps that need to be filled. It also serves as a basis for more analytical and in-depth studies. The data also helps educators become more informed about the learning style instruments commonly used in the Arab context and whether the results from these instruments are dependable. Human resource development managers can draw on these findings to choose instruments that have proven reliable and valid.

This study is the first attempt to examine learning style instruments used in Arab countries and to explore whether the reliability and validity of these instruments have been verified in Arab contexts. This paper is a useful contribution to research into learning styles and learning style instruments.

The Arab world is made up of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These countries are subjected to many social, economic, political and geographical vulnerabilities contributing to increased risks or ineffective emergency and disaster management. This paper examines these vulnerabilities, how they may impact the country's ability to face disasters, and how they can improve disasters' overall management.

The author selected Qatar, Oman to represent the Arab oil-rich countries, while Jordan, Egypt and Morocco to represent non-oil rich countries. The research was conducted in a qualitative, inductive systematic literature review based on a well-established systematic literature review methodology. Selected literature was based on its recency and the countries in question.

The review reveals population gaps that could threaten the social system in the event of a disaster in countries like Qatar and Oman. The majority of the countries lack community engagement and pre-planning for emergency preparedness due to social and cultural barriers. Other nations like Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are prone to long-lasting economic challenges due to lack of resources, mismanagement or corruption. The paper also highlights the need to raise the educational attainment among citizens to understand disaster risk reduction.

This study utilized the research method developed by Williams et al. (2017) to present a comprehensive systematic and comparative review of disaster management in the Arab world. Considering that disaster and emergency management has remained disproportionately unexplored in the Arab world, this paper reviewed several vulnerabilities and how those vulnerabilities may affect disaster and emergency management efforts in the Arab countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the knowledge-based economy in two distinctive case studies in the Arab World: Qatar and Lebanon. Based on five aspects of the knowledge-based economy namely: ICT, human capital and education; innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic and institutional regime, we provide a careful view of the obstacles and challenges that Qatar and Lebanon are facing and how this is hindering their transformation to a knowledge-based economy.

The methodology of this research is based on a literature review and information collected through semi-structured interviews with the different stakeholders of the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon.

The research reveals that numerous factors shape the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon. In Qatar, the main strength of the knowledge-based economy is the determination of the Qatari government to diversify the economy and the main weaknesses are the shortage of qualified human resources, the fear of failure and the low performance of the innovation system. In Lebanon, the knowledge-based economy is driven by the education system and the entrepreneurship culture, nevertheless the political instability of the country and the weak ICT infrastructure impede its development.

These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the current state of the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon, which would have several policy implications.

This study examines the social and human capital of successful Arab and Jewish technological entrepreneurs in Israel, and explores how human and social capital differ between technology-based industries.

A quantitative study was conducted using a sample of 1,184 technology-based ventures from two technology-based industries—life science (LS) and information technology (IT)—that were founded by Jewish and Arab entrepreneurs.

The results show that in the LS industry, successful Arab entrepreneurs possess higher human and social capital compared with Jewish entrepreneurs. However, in the IT industry, the Jewish entrepreneurs possess higher human and social capital. These findings reflect the deeper entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities regarding ethnic entrepreneurs' ability to break through technology-based industries. Future research directions are provided.

This study makes two contributions to the theoretical understanding of ethnic entrepreneurship and technology-based ventures. First, this study focuses on the impact of human and social capital on economic growth in the context of technological entrepreneurship in technology-based industries, since the ethnic entrepreneurship literature has mainly focused on traditional industries. Second, this study examines the effect of the founders' ethnicity, and explores how human and social capital factors vary across industries due to their specific contextual characteristics.