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This paper aims to argue for the importance of considering religious and cultural background as informing participant's access and attitudes towards digital media.

The paper takes a socio-cultural theoretical approach. In terms of methodology, it refers to case studies based on discourse analysis of online content.

The paper argues that the online discourse in the case studies presented discourages women from using digital media for their own empowerment.

Some limitation include that this research focuses only on a case study from Judaism. Future research should examine how other religious traditions impact internet access and uses.

The paper's contribution is in its novel inclusion of religion as an element of the digital divide.

The unity of Divine Law is reflected in monotheistic faiths having their origin with Prophet Abraham (pbuh), but later divided into three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There is a unity of Divine practice in a variety of areas among these monotheistic faiths. One such area is Zakah, in Islamic tradition, and often characterized as “the poor due” in Christianity and Judaism. By whatever name, Zakah or “the poor due,” is an important Divine institution in all three monotheistic faiths. The purpose of this paper is to trace and examine the development of the Zakah institution and Zakah type coverage in those faiths.

First, the paper provides a brief description of the meaning and objectives of Zakah (the poor due) and the group of people who have been described as worthy to receive Zakah. Additional sections trace the development of Zakat (the poor due) in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Finally, some conclusions are presented for the consideration of the reader.

The administration and process for distribution of Zakah in contemporary Muslim states varies depending on the school of Islamic thought most prevalent in that society and the level of theocratic involvement of the government in those societies.

This paper usefully examines the development of the Zakah institution and Zakah type coverage in the three monotheistic faiths.

The compilation of a core collection for Jewish reference sources raises a number of questions which must be confronted and answered. Should a Jewish reference collection be a listing of sources for the study of Judaism primarily as a religion, or primarily as a cultural group? Should the sources be leaning toward Biblical and Rabbinic studies or towards history, art, and music? For the purposes of this bibliography, I have chosen to concentrate on the cultural aspects of Judaism and Jews as a group to be studied. As such I have elected, somewhat arbitrarily, to exclude the primary sources of the study of Judaism as a religion, these sources being a Jewish version of an English translation of the Bible, an English copy of the Talmud, liturgies, and all of the supplementary primary sources which would be necessary. It is hoped, instead, that those items would be found in the religion section of the reference collection. Nevertheless, this core collection will provide the tools for any interested person seeking to include such sources in their Judaic reference collection.

The subject of Jihad has been a fiercly debated topic in the past few decades. Contradictory translations have been adopted by differing religious groups and political camps. In some quarters Jihad has been associated with violence and war. Other quarters perceive the Jihad to mean a striving within oneself and the struggle for self‐improvement. In this paper, the historical and contemporary perspectives of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam regarding Jihad are outlined. The evolution of the meaning of Jihad in each religion is clarified and similarities and dissimilarities among the three religions are highlighted. Various forms of Jihad are presented. The paper, however, argues that true Jihad means an active participation in social improvement and economic development. In addition, the paper provides implications of Jihad for business and organizations.

Proposes to highlight the centrality of human resources in the Ten Commandments (TCs), providing a perspective regarding their application for business organizations. Focuses on the TCs in the Abrahamic religions (Jews, Christians, Muslims) and explains how loyalty, networking and minimizing conflict aims to ensure survival and continuity. Concludes TCs are general moral principles that reflect the general orientations and directions of their respective religions and that companies should give attention to universal aspects of TCs and their qualities.

Recognizing the significant impact of guanxi (the Chinese network of reciprocal business relations) and its influence on everyday dealings in China is important for Western firms. Researchers argue that social capital has limits and is not a commodity that has a place in China aspiring to be a global business hub. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to deal with the question of whether guanxi still matters in the Chinese business arena, and if so, to what extent.

To illustrate the evolutional direction of the Chinese institutional system, the authors compare it to a similar system that went through the evolutionary cycle from a social to a rational institutional base of exchange and discuss what one can learn from the institutional evolution process of the global diamond industry and its implications for the current evolution of Chinese institutions. The authors compare two similar cultures/religions, Judaism and Confucianism.

This study found parallels between the evolution of the Israeli diamond industry, dominated by Orthodox Jews, from a social exchange mechanism to a transactional mechanism and the present ongoing rationalization of the Chinese economy, dominated by the Confucianism culture from a social to a transactional business mechanism.

Despite the vast efforts of researchers in the area of guanxi, there is very little published knowledge about its limitations and its usefulness in today's changing business environment. This paper contributes to the existing literature on the future aspects of guanxi from a unique perspective – the evolution of the Israeli diamond industry.

Debates over ritual slaughter, sacred food, fasts, and forbidden foods, perpetuated by religion and tradition, are nothing new. Dietary obligations and prohibitions, in all their diversity, have always been the object of comment, critique, or even concern from one human group towards another. The consumption of meat (or its prohibition) has always been about more than its nutritional function. Reducing religious dietary obligations to hygienic or gustatory practices would be an unrealistic attempt to erase the diversity of the procedures which people undertake to give meaning to life, death, and the world, and to locate themselves in relation to “others”. These rites, ­legitimated by myths, inevitably provoke phenomena of influence, reciprocated within and outside groups. The selection of food – of meat in particular – plays a primordial role as a social marker, the rules of which contribute to the organisation of groups by tracing ­differences between individuals, between men and women, and between communities. Formerly attached to a totemic group and its territory, then to a religion and its society, dietary practices are globalising and encountering one-another. Questions are now raised about the management, in shared spaces, of a diversity of dietary prohibitions and obligations. These questions are at the core of this chapter, notably, what place should be reserved for dietary particularities in collective catering in human organisations? And what limits should be given to the expectations of each regarding dietary purity or fasting?

Despite the existence of a variety of approaches to the understanding of behavioral and managerial ethics in organizations and business relationships generally, knowledge of organizing systems for fidelity remains in its infancy. We use halakha, or Jewish law, as a model, together with the literature in sociology, economic anthropology, and economics on what it termed “middleman minorities,” and on what we have termed the Landa Problem, the problem of identifying a trustworthy economic exchange partner, to explore this issue.

The article contrasts the differing explanations for trustworthy behavior in these literatures, focusing on the widely referenced work of Avner Greif on the Jewish Maghribi merchants of the eleventh century. We challenge Greif’s argument that cheating among the Magribi was managed chiefly via a rational, self-interested reputational sanctioning system in the closed group of traders. Greif largely ignores a more compelling if potentially complementary argument, which we believe also finds support among the documentary evidence of the Cairo Geniza as reported by Goitein: that the behavior of the Maghribi reflected their deep beliefs and commitment to Jewish law, halakha.

Applying insights from this analysis, we present an explicit theory of heroic marginality, the production of extreme precautionary behaviors to ensure service to the principal.

Generalizing from the case of halakha, the article proposes the construct of a deep code, identifying five defining characteristics of such a code, and suggests that deep codes may act as facilitators of compliance. We also offer speculation on design features employing deep codes that may increase the likelihood of production of behaviors consistent with terminal values of the community.