Search results

The study aims to discover influences on the career intentions of millennials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Qualitative data about career intentions were collected from a sample group (#50) of students at an international university in the UAE. Participant's responses were recorded in five groups, composed of undergraduates, males and females, expatriates and citizens. Transcripts were formed of these data, which were thematically analysed to identify influences on career intentions.

Four emergent themes were identified of influences on career intentions: (1) influenced by societal obligations, (2) influenced by a traditional approach to career plans; (3) influenced by own aspirations; (4) influenced by country considerations. Findings recognised career intentions for this sample group resulted from cultural orientation and millennial's characteristics.

The study was limited by the one country/one university context and a direction is to replicate for an expanded sample group and/or to extend this research scope to other countries.

These findings have implications for university career advising, and the recruitment and retention of millennials in the UAE by international companies.

This is an original study in its exploration of influences on millennial's career intentions in the UAE. Research value lies in the addition of academic knowledge about those millennials' future career intentions.

The purpose of this conceptual paper was to investigate the contribution of the “Pipeline”, as a metaphor for building theory about Women-on-Boards (WoB) in the Arab world.

Narratives about women's progress in Arab countries were collected from a range of sources and content was analysed to identify emergent themes about pipeline.

Themes were identified of the pipeline metaphor that explained phenomena and generated solutions to employ, retain and advance women to board directorships; from higher education (“bulging”/“bursting” pipeline) through employment (“leaking” pipeline) to boardroom (“blocked” pipeline).

Generalisation of these study results is limited by geographical context of this research. An implication is for further international studies on metaphor identification for women's progress.

Relevant metaphor-in-use required to generate company policy and praxis towards WoB in the Arab world.

The first academic study to investigate the value of metaphor for effect on women's progress in Arab countries. Novel metaphor identification is proposed to think and see women's experiences in cultural context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate career choices by female graduates from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to determine factors that influenced their entry, abandonment or persistence of STEM careers.

Life history narratives were collected from a sample group of employed citizens and expatriate women (all STEM graduates) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Content of interview transcripts was analyzed for emergent themes of influence on these participants career decisions.

Four significant themes of calling were found: gift of intellect, belief in a faith, shared community and meaning of work. A typology of calling was constructed to reflect these themes influences on the entry, abandonment or persistence of women in a STEM career.

The results of this study were from a small sample of women in a particular country. The implication is to extend this study to a larger number of participants and to other countries to generalize the results.

Insight into career decisions of female STEM graduates impacts on employee recruitment and retention policies within those professions.

Research originality is evident, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, as this is the first study to explore the influence of calling for careers of STEM women working in the Middle East North Africa region.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the aims, objectives and structure of a two-day Think Tank, “Gender in Organisations in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region”, held at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates on 18–19 March 2019.

The paper will explain the design decisions made to achieve the objectives of the event, which will be of interest to equality, diversity and inclusion readers who may wish to hold such events themselves. It will then explain each of the Think Tank sessions and provide an overview of the keynote speakers’ presentations and the ensuing plenary discussions.

The Think Tank was an extremely useful vehicle for facilitating discussion on the development of a research agenda to advance knowledge in respect of gender in organisations in the MENA region. The design of the Think Tank enabled collaborative discussion amongst academics drawn from across the globe, who shared their knowledge and experience to develop a coordinated research agenda, to guide action and attention on key issues identified by the group.

The Think Tank is believed to be the first of its type in the MENA region. The authors believe this collaborative and time-efficient approach advances research agendas in respect of key issues of interest to equality, diversity and inclusion scholars. The Think Tank format is a valuable addition to the processes currently utilised to achieve such outcomes, e.g. conferences and symposia.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultural orientations influence Emirati women’s career development. Drawing on the cultural theories of Hofstede (1980, 2001) and House et al. (2004), the authors investigated the cultural orientations of a sample of 19 women in the United Arab Emirates.

In-depth interviews were conducted to collect life history data about women’s early lives, education and employment.

The findings identify three themes that influenced the participant’s careers: family influence on careers, individual-level attitudes toward education for careers, and workplace career development.

Limited by the small sample of 19 female national participants that implies further international study is required to extend this research.

The business application is that social values, beliefs and norms can be leveraged for women’s career success.

Policymakers are guided on key factors that influence Emirati women’s careers from a cultural perspective.

The study makes a unique theoretical contribution in a model that shows: cultural dimensions are interrelated, cultural values and practices are interdependent, and cultural orientations vary between women and men.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the progress in the United Arab Emirates towards achievement of Millennium Development Goal (3), “gender equality”, by the target date of 2015.

Demographic, social, and labor force statistics are collected from United Arab Emirates' government reports, the World Economic Forum, and UNESCO. Analysis is conducted to investigate current trends of gender equality in education and employment.

Results for the education of women have been at a consistently high level for some years. Two themes are found for such progress: a government strategy to increase women's access to education; societal acceptance of educated women. Gender equality in employment is slow due to three themes: study choice dictates employment potential; recruitment within a narrow range of occupations; employment more likely within public sector employment. The future of gender equality in the United Arab Emirates will continue to be more positive for women in education than for employment.

A limitation is the paucity of academic study about gender equality in education and employment in the United Arab Emirates. Reliability and validity of the study is somewhat limited by unverified, non‐specific, and older data on education and employment.

Improved strategies to increase study choice are required to enlarge the scope of women's careers. Management of the talent pool of educated females can increase women's share of paid employment in the future.

A faster rate of change is required towards societal acceptance of women in employment to match female educational attainment.

The research is important for two reasons relevant for achievement of MDG (3) by 2015. Remarkable progress has been made on gender equality in education, and awareness is raised on limitations in the future for the employment of women.

The purpose of this paper is to research the state of affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the presence (or absence) of women in senior business leadership positions, and to investigate where they are located within organizations (e.g. board members, chief officers, vice presidents, top management, division or unit heads).

This is a quantitative gender analysis of 954 organizations; based on data available from the Zawya database that tracks information about public and private companies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Women are still underrepresented in senior company and top department leadership positions, however, they are found slightly (but not significantly) more in departmental leadership, pseudo services and hospitality industries, and in smaller and public companies.

The database utilized did not contain completed company data; specifically any response variable; hence, the study was descriptive in nature and lacked advanced statistical techniques for comparison and relationship analysis.

This study provides helpful insights for government leaders, as well as educators, and scholars, who work to help prepare women for leadership in this region. For business practitioners, the presence and development of female business leaders extends choice and increases value in the human resource pool.

The authors believe that it is important that UAE females take up roles in both the public and private sector so they can become more effective role models to a rising generation of female workers.

This is one of the first scholarly studies conducted on the presence of women leaders in various sectors within the UAE.

The purpose of this paper is to stress the importance of effectively gaining access to organizations for fieldwork, an essential element of work for a qualitative researcher.

The paper investigates the cold calling and networking involved when 29 prospective organizations were contacted to gain permission to undertake research involving fieldwork, including observation and interview. The approach taken is a quantitative analysis of communicative media involved; e‐mails; telephone calls; and face‐to‐face meetings.

Four organizations granted permission to research, a 7:1 prospect to success ratio. It was found that a great deal of time was spent in attempting to contact and follow up with gatekeepers. Three important barriers to gaining access were found, and ways to “lift” those barriers were attempted. Detailed record keeping of communication was vital, and specific documentation, invitation; a proposal; a protocol, created to negotiate access.

There are limitations of sample size, a suggestion for future research is to expand on this sample.

The practical implication is for qualitative research involving fieldwork. Three barriers to gaining access for fieldwork are cited, and methods to “raise” such barriers are considered. Changes to research practice are identified by following these insights into raising barriers to organizational access.

The research influences corporate social responsibility and informs industry policy through the idea of partnering with academic institutions for future research. The research findings can have practical value for the industries concerned.

Through analysis and evaluation of the access process, methods of contact can be adapted to smooth the research journey. The value of the findings and insight is to new researchers, and can be useful for existing researchers.