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Article
Publication date: 12 August 2020

Amna Abdallah and Salam Abdallah

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence the improvement of productive work behaviour (PWB) in the dynamic, ergonomic nature.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence the improvement of productive work behaviour (PWB) in the dynamic, ergonomic nature.

Design/methodology/approach

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used, in experiment 1, to select and prioritise the most relevant criteria for improvement of PWB. A multi-criteria method is used to analyse and compare the importance of four main criteria and 16 sub-criteria identified from previous studies. The structural equation modelling (SEM) is also used to validate the findings of experiment 1.

Findings

This study revealed that not all criteria are considered important for improving PWB. Flexibility and job specifications were the top-scored criteria. These criteria collectively accounted for more than 65% of the four studied criteria. The SEM emphasised the significance of flexibility and job description of the changing dynamics of organisational regulation during the contemporary economic and managerial turmoil.

Research limitations/implications

This study explored the criteria required to improve PWB. The findings recommend that future studies should be designed to identify new elements and add new criteria and test the newly introduced variables at a physical workplace after the outbreak ends.

Practical implications

Knowledge of the differential impacts of the criteria on the performance of PWB govern decision-makers in private and governmental organisation, especially at such times of economic turmoil and need for innovative strategies.

Originality/value

Few studies have explored workplace behaviour and the environment in the government sector. Therefore, the focus of this study is the comprehensive coverage of workplace behaviour and the criteria influencing its productivity before and during the coronavirus outbreak.

Details

Journal of Advances in Management Research, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0972-7981

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 November 2023

Tareq Na’el Al-Tawil and Salam Abdallah

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of cyberbullying and corresponding strategies being used under the New United Arab Emirates (UAE) Cybercrimes Law.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of cyberbullying and corresponding strategies being used under the New United Arab Emirates (UAE) Cybercrimes Law.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis begins with a review of the nature of cyberbullying, focusing primarily on key concepts, underlying risk factors, forms of cyberbullying and adverse effects. Background information about the nature of cyberbullying will then lay the foundation for the subsequent sections of the analysis, which will focus on preventive strategies and legislative measures. The second section of the analysis will entail a review of the legislative framework for cyberbullying in the UAE. The goal here is to examine how the UAE is responding to the emerging threat of cyberbullying in its jurisdiction. The next section will then shift gears to interventions and strategies being implemented at the global level. A global perspective is central to comparing practices in the UAE to international standards and regulations.

Findings

Findings from the analysis have shown that the UAE has the most robust and comprehensive cyberbullying laws internationally. Nonetheless, the New Cybercrimes Law is ambiguous, and it is not expressively specific to cyberbullying. The law does not have a clear definition of cyberbullying, as well as the scope of its application to specific cases involving students. A comparative analysis across jurisdictions has revealed that most countries neither have specific cyberbullying laws nor explicitly define the phenomenon in existing laws. Thus, cyberbullying is a gray area in the UAE national law, requiring a clear definition and scope of application. The courts will establish case law that will finally address the current definitional challenges and extend of applying the New Cybercrimes Law.

Originality/value

The analysis concludes with the application of international best standards and practices to the UAE context, focusing specifically on how to strengthen laws and procedures in the UAE.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2023

Ashraf Khalil, Salam Abdallah, Rafiq Hijazi and Kundan Sheikh

This study aims to understand the patterns of content-sharing behaviour on major social media platforms by young adult users with reference to how these sharing patterns are…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand the patterns of content-sharing behaviour on major social media platforms by young adult users with reference to how these sharing patterns are influenced by two main sociocultural factors in their lives, religiosity and social conformity.

Design/methodology/approach

Online surveys including both the ATSCI test for social conformity as well as the Hoge test for religiosity were filled out by 590 participants. In-depth interviews with six participants representative of the same population were conducted to deepen analysis of key variables explored in the surveys. The design of the interviews was semi-structured, whereby the focus was to achieve a general overview of participants' intentions and habits regarding sharing information via social media.

Findings

The findings show a significant positive impact of religiosity and social conformity on users' sharing intention which, in turn, affects their inclination towards verifying the content they share.

Social implications

The authors' findings emphasise how users bear the onus of correcting the online information space. It paves the way for future research by recognising the value of independent corroboration amongst users.

Originality/value

This study lends key support to the growing body of research on social media use in societies in which shared religious and cultural values tend to clearly impact everyday social interaction.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 July 2020

Mohsin Malik and Salam Abdallah

Past studies of lean have failed to sufficiently address the importance of social factors for successful lean implementations. This paper aims to broaden and deepen the…

Abstract

Purpose

Past studies of lean have failed to sufficiently address the importance of social factors for successful lean implementations. This paper aims to broaden and deepen the understanding of lean as a socio-technical paradigm by conceptualizing lean implementation as an organizational change process.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws on the organizational sense-making literature to conceptualize and validate lean implementation as an organizational change process that necessitates a focus on the ability of organizational actors to construct a shared meaning of lean. This study posit that this shared understanding shapes the collective behaviour and attitudes of people towards a future desired organizational state such as a successful implementation of lean. Survey data were collected from various manufacturing and services firms to test the hypothesis derived from literature using a structural equation modelling approach.

Findings

The mutual social interactions of organizational actors contribute to an enabling lean organizational attitude that has a dominant effect on the lean practices of employee involvement, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management. This study also established boundary conditions for these relationships by identifying firm size as a moderating variable.

Research limitations/implications

The findings establish a supportive organizational attitude as an antecedent for lean implementation, which goes beyond the current socio-technical characterization of lean management. This conceptualization draws the attention of researchers and practitioners towards the critical role of the cooperative behaviours of organizational actors in lean implementations.

Originality/value

The statistical results add a novel perspective to the discourse on the social dimension of lean implementation by conceptualizing and validating lean management as a combination of organizational attitude and the process facilitators comprising of employee empowerment, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 120 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2019

Mohmaed Almazrouei, Khalizani Khalid, Salam Abdallah and Ross Davidson

This paper aims to assess the ways through which the concept of health, safety and environment (HSE) is perceived by workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) oil and gas…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to assess the ways through which the concept of health, safety and environment (HSE) is perceived by workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) oil and gas industry. The study focused on different aspects of the HSE culture and how employees with and without leadership responsibilities differed in their conceptualization of HSE culture.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted for 30 staff of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the UAE. The interviewees were purposively selected which included both those in leadership and non-leadership roles.

Findings

The findings revealed that the interviewees viewed HSE culture as a descriptive term, a causal phenomenon, a systemic approach or a legal requirement/obligation. Interviewees in the production and maintenance units mentioned safety most often. Employees and managers exhibited negligible differences in their usage of the HSE culture concept. Managers predominantly featured in the narratives as important drivers of HSE culture. Physical conditions, behavior and procedures, management, competence and collaboration emerged as important components of a sound HSE culture.

Originality/value

To enable better communication and subsequent improvement of the HSE culture, an analogical HSE culture “vehicle” was developed in the study. The vehicle is a novel illustration based on the key roles of managers and employees, as well as the main components of a sound HSE culture.

Article
Publication date: 3 November 2023

Salam Abdallah and Ashraf Khalil

This study aims to understand and a lay a foundation of how analytics has been used in depression management, this study conducts a systematic literature review using two…

112

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand and a lay a foundation of how analytics has been used in depression management, this study conducts a systematic literature review using two techniques – text mining and manual review. The proposed methodology would aid researchers in identifying key concepts and research gaps, which in turn, will help them to establish the theoretical background supporting their empirical research objective.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper explores a hybrid methodology for literature review (HMLR), using text mining prior to systematic manual review.

Findings

The proposed rapid methodology is an effective tool to automate and speed up the process required to identify key and emerging concepts and research gaps in any specific research domain while conducting a systematic literature review. It assists in populating a research knowledge graph that does not reach all semantic depths of the examined domain yet provides some science-specific structure.

Originality/value

This study presents a new methodology for conducting a literature review for empirical research articles. This study has explored an “HMLR” that combines text mining and manual systematic literature review. Depending on the purpose of the research, these two techniques can be used in tandem to undertake a comprehensive literature review, by combining pieces of complex textual data together and revealing areas where research might be lacking.

Details

Information Discovery and Delivery, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-6247

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 December 2018

Mohamad Abu Ghazaleh, Salam Abdallah and Mehmood Khan

Despite the wide recognition of enterprise resource planning’s (ERP’s) multiple uses, little research has examined the internal forces that influence success after ERP…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the wide recognition of enterprise resource planning’s (ERP’s) multiple uses, little research has examined the internal forces that influence success after ERP implementation in the service industry. This study aims to identify the factors influencing post-implementation ERP capabilities (PERPC) and improving post-implementation sustainability and user satisfaction (PERPSUS). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) are used for this, with advance managed outsourced solutions (AMOS) and an entanglement view of all firm ERP users.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model is created to explain internal organizational factors impacting post-implementation ERP sustainability and user satisfaction. Data were collected from 152 executive ERP users in two organizations in the UAE. Two CFA models were created.

Findings

The results show that adoption by internal organizational forces leads to more sustainable post-implementation ERP. A 69 per cent variance in user satisfaction and post-implementation ERP sustainability was found through a PERPC model and its dimensions, which are significantly highly correlated.

Research limitations/implications

ERP professionals and stakeholders believe that identification of ERP capabilities (ERPCs) and user satisfaction must be multi-dimensional.

Practical implications

CIOs and ERP professionals could use these results to increase the success of ERP in the service industry, and they can support the inclusion of post-implementation ERP practices.

Originality/value

Using AMOS, this paper explores the role of ERPCs in system sustainability and user satisfaction in the service sector, utilizing stakeholder perspectives and an entanglement view of ERP users in the service industry.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2020

Salam Abdallah, Mohsin Malik and Uzma Chaudhry

This paper tracks the network of actors participating in the initial implementation of a “Lean management” system, in order to identify associations between human and non-human…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper tracks the network of actors participating in the initial implementation of a “Lean management” system, in order to identify associations between human and non-human participants conducive to successful adoption of the system.

Design/methodology/approach

The perspective of actor–network theory (ANT) helps reveal the complex dynamics at play in a “Lean” intervention at a manufacturing firm. It allows to identify key actors (human and non-human), as well as the possible associations between them, and helps produce network diagrams to track the changes in actors' roles and in network coherence over time.

Findings

Through a network analysis, the study charts the complexity of the process of Lean intervention, by accounting for the distinct possibility that actors' roles may shift over time, as they engage and disengage with the proposed intervention, until they fully cohere into a new system. Based on this, it derives a conceptual model to describe relevant factors for successful implementation of Lean improvement projects.

Originality/value

The ANT perspective affords new insights into Lean Management systems implementation, by highlighting associations between human and non–human actors. This novel focus suggests corresponding management guidelines and reflective practices for successful intervention.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. 32 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2019

Mohamad Abu Ghazaleh, Salam Abdallah and Abdelrahim Zabadi

Despite the importance of post-implementation activities to support the success of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, there has been a lack of research into the factors…

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite the importance of post-implementation activities to support the success of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, there has been a lack of research into the factors that influences post-implementation success. Accordingly, this paper aims to present a case study on a public service organization operating in an emerging market economy, namely, the United Arab Emirates in the ERP post-implementation phase to understand the internal forces within the organization that influences ERP system success.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative method using focus group discussions (FGDs) was conducted based upon IT data from the firm and interviews with IT staff, business users and executive management to identify system users’ perceptions in post ERP.

Findings

The authors posit that the internal organizational forces of ongoing support, system user interactions and stakeholder views significantly affect post-implementation capabilities and user satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

IT professionals and stakeholders believe that identification of the factors determining post-implementation ERP capabilities and user satisfaction should not be limited to specific practices.

Practical implications

This study provides insights that can assist CIOs and ERP professionals in the service industry to examine the extent of obstructions to post-implementation capabilities that will impact system user satisfaction.

Originality/value

Use of FGDs to explore the impact of ERP capabilities upon system user satisfaction in the service sector. The study is one of the first that utilizes Technological frames of reference (TFR) theory in studying ERP post-implementation.

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 21 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 September 2019

Ashraf Khalil, Huma Zia and Salam Abdallah

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of reciprocity in privacy settings on the compromises and losses in utility encountered by users. The authors base our study…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of reciprocity in privacy settings on the compromises and losses in utility encountered by users. The authors base our study on WhatsApp because of the inherent reciprocity in its privacy settings to understand users’ preferences and reasoning in choosing a particular setting in light of its reciprocal consequence.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors present a qualitative study whereby we conducted a series of in-depth interviews with 15 individuals, representing a range of ages, nationalities, work experience and WhatsApp usage frequency. The interviews were semi-structured and thematic analysis was employed.

Findings

The results showed that reciprocity has a strong influence on privacy choices, and users over time adjusted their settings continuously in various ways to balance the overall utility of the application and their privacy. Type of contacts, usage frequency and underlying intent in using the application significantly impact privacy choices.

Practical implications

The findings recommend improved design for Mobile Instant Messaging that enables flexible privacy configurations that can be controlled separately for different groups and for individual contacts.

Originality/value

The paper provides original insights into how reciprocity affects the utility of the application and the privacy choices of the users. The investigation is unique in that the authors know of no other study that looked into the notion of reciprocity and how it affects users’ privacy choices and preferences when built in to Mobile Instant Messaging applications. Overall, the authors believe that this paper adds significantly to a growing body of research on privacy and social media.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 43 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

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