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This study aims to assess the training needs of fishermen in Oman using the concept mapping technique. This study was the part of a larger research project on the training needs assessment (TNA), where a mixed method approach was used to identify the training needs.

Perspective of 12 instructors on a focus question was taken during a brainstorming session at a Fishermen Training Institute in Oman. Using the concept mapping technique involving the multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis, the data recorded was analyzed to arrive at the need clusters, which were later rated and ranked to assign relative importance.

The identification led to a ten-clustered solution, covering a range of areas, requiring technical and behavioral skills. The top five training concerns were also identified using the participants’ ratings of the identified training-need clusters. Furthermore, the merit of concept mapping technique over purely quantitative assessments was also realized.

The study not only identified and evaluated the training needs but also observed the relevance of concept mapping technique. It was observed that the concept mapping technique struck a balance between the two extremes of subjectivity and objectivity while identifying the training needs. The application of concept mapping technique can help in covering the concerns of multiple stakeholders in TNA.

It identifies some key training areas for Fishermen Training Institutions and government bodies in Oman. The research also supports the extension of the application of concept mapping technique to decision-making situations in other areas.

Training interventions based on the needs assessment will help fishermen from the Oman’s Batinah coast in gaining additional skills, expertise and income.

This study applies the concept mapping technique in assessing the training needs of fishermen. The research also shares the outcomes of a pioneering attempt to identify fishermen’s training needs in Oman.

The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.

The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a “vision” of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.

There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.

Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.

This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.

This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.

This study aims to explore supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Oman. This study analyzes the impact on selected supply chain drivers – facilities, inventory, transportation and sourcing. It further intends to explore whether the supply chain challenges faced by the SME sector in Oman impact their overall performance.

This study follows the quantitative technique of structural equation modeling to examine the proposed hypotheses. Data were collected electronically from SME managers/owners/entrepreneurs. All items were adopted and measured using a five-point Likert scale. One hundred and four complete and usable responses were received and considered.

The data was analyzed using SPSS and PLS statistical software. The model has been supported empirically, and the results showed a significant relationship between supply chain drivers and SMEs’ overall performance in Oman, except for supply chain inventory. The results have demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the SMEs’ supply chain drivers in Oman and, consequently, their overall performance.

The results of this research can drive the development and implementation of a supply chain management strategy. This research will help policymakers induce the performance of SMEs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It would further enhance strategic sourcing and supplier performance considering the developed practices associated with the resource-based view.

The originality of the current study lies in its ability to empirically test two models within the Omani SMEs context while considering the supply chain drivers as a single variable or dividing it into four separate independent variables. This study would provide a preview for scholars for such empirical investigation and serve as a reference for policymakers and practitioners to maintain a management system of crises that may protect the SME supply chain drivers.

The purpose of this paper is to document and analyze the case of a public sector organization in the Gulf region, in which Arab‐expatriate relations worked well and sustained a positive and high‐performing organizational climate.

The research employed an embedded ethnographic approach to produce a case analysis of expatriate‐local work relations.

The study found that although there may be multiple sources of difference and potential conflict between Arab locals and expatriates in the workplace, there are circumstances where the effects of such divisions are neutralized, and a positive work environment is sustained. The paper identifies the key sources of division, and social cohesion, and shows how – in this case – these factors interacted so that the negative impact of cultural difference was neutralized, and good working relations were achieved.

The paper is new in two respects. It is the first ethnographic study of Arab‐expatriate work relations in a public sector organization in Oman. It is also the first paper to identify, and distinguish between, the factors emphasizing alterity between Arab and expatriate workers, and those encouraging social cohesion.

This article explains the causal mechanism supporting sustainable longevity by analysing the last three generations of one of the oldest family firms in Latin America.

An explanatory single-case qualitative research based on critical realism explores why and how this family firm has been able to maintain its multigenerational longevity.

Los Lingues's evolutionary strategy, driven by transgenerational entrepreneurship under effectuation, has supported this family firm's sustainable longevity. Its effectual logic emerged mainly from the richness of the firm's historical resources embedded in its identity, knowledge and social capital and priority to preserve socioemotional wealth.

This study integrates socioemotional wealth and effectuation theory to explain a family firm's ability to survive through generations and sustain longevity. The study demonstrates the relevance of effectual logic in the entrepreneurial dynamics of a multigenerational family firm. Effectual logic drives the firm evolution and adaptation for sustainable longevity.

This paper aims to identify and articulate critical research issues in the emerging area of real‐time knowledge management (RT‐KM) in enterprises, in order to stimulate other researchers to further pursue them. The paper creates a framework around which it identifies and examines research issues and challenges that become salient and critical when knowledge sharing and creation need to happen in near real‐time. The framework is based on two drivers: increasing the requirements to plan for quickening the action‐learning loop in the enterprise, and increasing requirements in planning for emergence. The action‐learning loop is further articulated through the “observe, orient, decide, and act” (OODA) framework that is suited to sense‐and‐respond environments. Through the framework six sets of critical research challenges are identified around RT‐KM in enterprises: challenges around managing the quality of information in RT‐KM, challenges around improving the selective and intensive aspects of managerial attention in RT‐KM, challenges around making core business processes better suited to RT‐KM, challenges around integrating multiple distributed perspectives unpredictably in RT‐KM, challenges around developing heuristics in a way that allow real‐time emergence, and challenges around effectively capturing actions and learning for later reuse in RT‐KM. The issues and challenges identified are suggestive rather than exhaustive. Based on observations from real field case studies in industry, and driven by an industry need for better RT‐KM. This paper brings together the concepts of vigilant information systems, OODA loops, and emergence and applies them through a framework to identify research issues and challenges in this new emerging area of RT‐KM.

There is almost a consensus amongst Muslim scholars that the most crucial problem faced by the Muslim world is in the prevailing ideas (including sanctification, archaism, the common paradigm, the absence of the role of the intellectual, etc.) which formulate people’s thoughts and determine their options. There will not be a genuine renaissance of Islam without updating these ideas and emerging from the cocoon of the past. This can be done through a modern approach which would respond to the changes by looking towards the future rather than towards the past. This study aims to identify the intellectual aspects of this crisis and how this crisis has formed and influenced Islamic banking.

To analyse this crisis, the methodology called causal layered analysis (CLA) is used, which is drawn from the field of strategic foresight and designed by Inayatullah (2002). CLA is designed on the basis that the way to understand the nature of the problem will determine the proposed solutions, by diving through the surface phenomena of the problem to the depth of the “motors” of the crisis.

The author finds that Islamic banking is the offspring of its incubator ideas and reform, and the change and progress of Islamic banking can only deal with a critical approach of these ideas; Islamic banking promotes itself as an alternative to conventional banking, but this has not been achieved except on the level of form rather than substance; Islamic banking is a movement within a variable reality, and inertia in specific form and context will keep it in a state of crisis and may lead to its demise.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study showing the roots of the ideas making up the fabric of banking in the Muslim world and the repercussions of intellectual crisis on Islamic banking.

This research focuses on suggesting an optimized model for selecting best employees using advanced multi-criteria decision making method to a supply chain firm, who is planning to start a new cold chain business vertical.

Study has been conducted in a supply chain firm in North India, who wants to expand its business with the help of efficient team members. In total 38 applicants were considered for the study, as selected by the firm after initial screening from pool of talent. AHP-LP and TOPSIS-LP integrated approach were applied separately for evaluation and implementation of personnel selection model. Further, both the approaches were compared to find the best fit and optimized model.

As per the findings, both AHP and TOPSIS can be used to select the best candidate among the alternatives available. TOPSIS was found easier to implement as it involves ranking of applicants with respect to each skills required for respective job profile only once, whereas AHP involves pair-wise comparison among candidates with respect to each skills required for respective job profile and normalization of each comparison, resulting in the formation of number of comparison matrices. However, AHP is more reliable as it considers consistency check for each level of pair-wise comparison. Hence, there is a chance to avoid or revise the human judgment error. Integrated ranking and optimization approach minimizes the cost by suggesting the relevant positions to be filed to make an efficient team.

Group of interviewers are involved in the decision-making process, hence there are chances of biasness in ranking method which can influence the group decision. Research is limited to a particular geography of North India therefore needs to be tested for other regions also in order to generalize. The research will help the third party logistics (3PL) and other related firms in efficient team selection.

The researcher focuses on formalizing a method for potential candidate selection by considering the constraints of the organization. It has been observed that limited researches have been done on the application of AHP-LP or TOPSIS-LP integrated approach for selection process. Hence, this research proposes two integrated ranking-optimization method and suggests the best fit by comparing both the approaches.

The national and global digital transformation makes investments in information and communications technology (ICT) by financial institutions a necessity, not only for gaining a competitive advantage but also for expanding their knowledge and learning about their customers. This study assesses the business value of ICT investments by financial institutions using a mixed-method approach.

This study adopted a mixed-method approach. First, financial data were gathered from Omani banks' annual financial reports and through a longitudinal quantitative analysis in order to assess the value of ICT in financial institutions' profitability performances. Second, a Delphi qualitative approach was utilized in order to further assess how top managers view the impact of ICT investments in different aspects of business. We used an extended balanced scorecard (finance, customer, internal process and learning and growth) and a sector perspective to address how future ICT investments can offer value that goes beyond traditional metrics of profitability.

The results of the longitudinal study demonstrated significant evidence of the impact of ICT investment on finance performance indicators; ICT value is significantly positive. Furthermore, the results indicated that there is an acceptable consensus among business and ICT managers that ICT is linked to performance indicators beyond financial; ICT value is linked also to customer indicators, internal process indicators and learning and growth indicators in addition to sector indicators.

ICT is vital for a diversified and knowledge-based economy, especially for developing countries, because modern banking and financial institutions are relatively new in economies such as those that had previously relied on cash and informal financing institutions. Therefore, continued ICT investments face challenges and may not succeed. Most of the existing literature on ICT value has focused on tangible financial performance indicators. The financial evaluation of intangible performance indicators of ICT investments still remains a problematic area of high relevance to decision-makers. The present study provides an integrated assessment that enables financial institutions to develop their strategies and assessments in terms of ICT investments and to go beyond typical, tangible financial profitability indicators. Furthermore, it integrates assessment indicators that are beyond organizations themselves and reaches sectors and countries. This type of investigation is limited in the literature yet important for the financial sector as it is highly integrated by nature and critical to the development of a nation's economy.

Recent years have documented the growing interest in using WhatsApp in higher education. However, the determinants of students’ satisfaction and loyalty towards WhatsApp groups have received less attention. This study aims to extend the Delone and McLean information system success model by incorporating social and emotional factors to investigate the drivers of satisfaction.

Data were collected through questionnaires completed by 308 undergraduate students. The partial least squares technique was used for data analysis.

The findings reveal that information quality, trust in members and social usefulness play crucial roles in shaping students’ satisfaction and loyalty to WhatsApp groups. System quality has no significant effect on satisfaction. Furthermore, emotional connection negatively moderates the relationship between social usefulness and satisfaction.

The findings of this study will be useful for educators and practitioners seeking to integrate WhatsApp into their pedagogical repertoire. The results demonstrate the importance of considering the social and emotional needs of students in addition to the quality of the information provided.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to integrate system characteristics, particularly with social and emotional factors. Furthermore, this study extends the literature on WhatsApp use in higher education by testing the drivers of students’ satisfaction and loyalty.