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This study objective is twofold. This study aims to present an institutional analysis of the implications of job localization programs in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Further, it highlights the impacts of these programs on the accounting profession.

This study is based primarily on the desktop research method, where data is collected from the review of previous studies, published data on Internet Websites and reports released by International organizations such as the United Nations. In addition, the study benefitted from conducting six interviews with government officials from GCC countries. Theoretically, this study draws upon insights from the institutional logics theory to discern higher-order institutions deriving job localization decisions in the GCC region.

This paper explained how job localization policies in the GCC region are informed by three central logics: economic, socio-political and professional. Despite contributing to achieving some socio-political goals for policymakers, these policies could have serious consequences for the practice of the professions and, hence, the local business environment. Besides, this paper highlighted the serious localization policies' impacts on the accounting profession, especially the quality of the workforce (accountants) and their job readiness.

This study highlights the various implications of job localization policies for locals, foreigners, public and private sector entities and governments. Besides, it has recommended some actions to mitigate the negative influences of such policies on the surrounding society.

This study contributes to the literature by following an interpretative approach in explaining the localization of the accounting profession from an institutional perspective by bringing new evidence from GCC emerging markets.

Saudi Arabia (SA) is amongst the few countries with a significant foreign workforce who are employed in the higher education sector. More specifically, 39% of SA's academic staff members are foreign nationals and 63% of that proportion occupy professorial positions. Drawing from a workforce localisation perspective, the study was framed as an exploration of equity and social justice amongst Saudi nationals and foreign nationals in a university work setting. The authors employ the lens of how human resource development (HRD) opportunities are administered.

Following the choice of an exploratory qualitative study, the authors employed a multi-case study approach where each of the six universities represented a unit of analysis.

The authors found that nationality differences influenced access to HRD opportunities. These differences are reinforced by practices associated with procedural processes, managerial discretion and selective restrictions in accessing HRD opportunities.

The findings have both practical and social implications, specifically for the SA government's strategic vision of developing local human capabilities.

The workforce localisation agenda within the higher education sector has both a compounding effect on local human capital and supports SA's 2030 Vision and human capital target. Nonetheless, perceived inequity and injustice in accessing HRD opportunities by foreign nationals potentially undermine morale, academic quality standards and research performance, which impacts the development of future human capital and the ‘Saudization’ goals.

The influx of expatriates to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has led to labor imbalance inducing these countries to initiate workforce nationalization policies. However, despite the policies' emphasis on increasing the presence of nationals in all sectors, employing nationals in the private sector is still a critical challenge for policymakers. This paper explores local job seekers' and employees' perceptions of employment choices in the private and public sectors.

Adopting a qualitative approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews with 28 local job seekers, either not currently employed or employed but seeking another job.

The data revealed a contextualized understanding of positive and negative connotations pertaining to employment in the private and public sectors in Qatar.

Understanding nationals' negative preconceived notions against working in the private sector and the perceived benefits of public sector employment lays the groundwork for developing measures to help policymakers to create labor market-oriented policies that stimulate mobility between the public and private sectors.

This study contributes to the workforce nationalization literature in the GCC countries by examining local job seekers' perceptions associated with employment in the private sector and the public sector. A closer examination of why nationals are hesitant to enter the private sector can propel the pendulum towards higher success rates of workforce nationalization.

This study analyses the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on government accountability regarding the employment of both national and migrant workforces by bringing evidence from an emerging market. In doing so, this study addresses if/how the government discharged its accountability to the public during this recent global health crisis, which started in late 2019, with its effects still being felt today.

This study is based on a close reading of the relevant news media (local and international), published research and official reports, as well as ten conversations with business managers to analyse the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on government accountability in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study draws on insights from public choice theory in trying to understand why some governments take an economic perspective while exercising accountability to their population during the pandemic.

It was found that COVID-19 led the government to pursue plans for the localization of the professions and increase employment rates among nationals vs. foreigners or migrant workers. The crisis was exploited by the government to achieve macro socio-political and economic goals, demonstrating its accountability to citizens, rather than foreign workers. This shift shows that difficult and exceptional circumstances can present opportunities for policymakers in emerging markets to achieve national policy and political aims.

This study enhances the author’s understanding of accountability during crises (i.e. crises-induced accountability) in emerging markets. The analyses presented enrich the crisis management literature by highlighting the implicit actions of national leaders that affect the lives and well-being of their constituents, especially vulnerable groups.

The purpose of this study is primarily conceptual, presenting the notion of a polyphonic model as a tool for analyzing the interactions of diverse stakeholder voices in generating corporate social responsibility (CSR) narratives and practices.

The theoretical basis for this model is Bakhtin’s notions of voice, polyphony, dialogic relations and placement within dialogue.

To demonstrate possible applications of the model, this study considers CSR narratives that are emerging from some countries of the Arabian Gulf, given that this region’s historical trajectory and socio-political context differ substantially from those of more widely studied geopolitical contexts. This application reveals valuable use of the model.

The contribution of this paper is its pioneering development of a polyphonic model that serves to reveal the diverse voices that shape CSR narratives. This provides a tool particularly useful for investigating the creation of CSR narratives in less researched organizational and national contexts.

This paper aims to explore the strategic and evolving role of human resource management (HRM) directors within the context of underdeveloped institutional arrangements. The study focuses on India and conducts a comparative analysis of the roles of HRM directors in both multinational enterprises (MNEs) and domestic firms.

Survey-based data from the HRM directors of 252 enterprises were gathered for the comparative analysis, including both multinational and domestic enterprises.

HRM directors in MNEs lack the proficiency required to effectively fulfil their strategic role. In addition, there has been a notable shift in the responsibilities of HRM directors in MNEs, with increased emphasis on labour movements and trade union negotiations, as opposed to traditional human resource (HR) activities. This shift suggests that the role of HRM in MNEs operating in India has been influenced by local isomorphic forces, rather than following a “pendulum swing” between home and host country institutional pressures. The prevalence of informality in the Indian institutional arrangements may act as a strong counterforce to integrating the strategic agency of MNEs' home country HRM directors into the organizational structure. Despite facing resistance from the local institutional context, HRM directors in MNEs are responding with a pushback, prioritizing labour movements and trade union negotiations over core HRM activities.

The study highlights the broader implications for theory and practice, shedding light on the challenges faced by HRM directors in navigating incoherent institutional arrangements. It emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of local forces in shaping HRM practices within multinational settings.

We contribute to the comparative HRM literature by elaborating on power struggles that HRM directors face amid the dichotomies of formal power and authority that are encoded in the organizational structure versus culturally contingent power that can be accrued from engaging in informality. We also highlight their engagement in prolonged institutional mediation and change, which serves as a compensatory mechanism for the institutional shortfalls they encounter within the context of emerging markets.

The role of distinct institutional context in shaping employment practices is particularly evident in emerging markets where institutional measures are often evolving and not yet fully established. This presents several challenges, particularly for multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in such contexts. This research paper aims to provide a comparative analysis of HRM practices, specifically recruitment and selection, internal career opportunities and performance appraisals between domestic and multinational companies in a large emerging economy, that is India.

In this study, survey-based data was gathered from a diverse sample of 252 companies, comprising both domestic enterprises (DEs) and MNCs, to collect comprehensive data on HRM practices. The aim is to provide a nuanced understanding of the variations in HRM approaches between DEs and MNCs, taking into account the unique institutional context of the Indian market.

Contrary to initial expectations, the study’s findings do not support the hypothesis that MNCs would prioritize more rigorous and effective HRM practices compared to DEs in the Indian context. Instead, the results reveal that DEs place a greater emphasis on effective HRM practices than their MNC counterparts, despite the latter’s international reach and operational success. These findings shed light on the distinctive HRM strategies used by MNCs and DEs when navigating the complexities of the Indian market.

This study contributes to the existing IB literature by providing a comparative perspective that emphasizes DEs proclivity for institutional entrepreneurship and change. Exploring the resource dynamics for both MNCs and DEs, the study showcases them as divergent adaptive navigators within (in)formal institutional logics, adept at navigating and influencing institutional structures and shaping distinct HRM practices. The findings challenge traditional assumptions about HRM priorities of MNCs and DEs.

The aim of this study is to investigate the highly dynamic cultural landscape relating to economically active Emirati women who are supported by government policy but may be exposed to some societal disapprobation.

Narrative methodology is used to explore how women respond to the perceived discord between their economic agency and enduring traditional norms associated with women.

Results indicate that a prevailing discursive mode within participants’ narratives is that the working woman is not at all a new phenomenon in their society but has always been a feature of Emirati history.

This study’s contribution to theory building is its demonstration of how traditional Arab Islamic values and modern state policy are being combined in a way that blurs the apparent dichotomy between tradition and modernity.

The purpose of this study is to test whether equity theory (ET) – which posits that individuals compare their outcome/input ratio to the ratio of a “comparison other” and classify individuals as Benevolent, Equity Sensity, and Entitled – applies to the modern workplace of global virtual teams (GVT), where work is mostly intellectual, geographically dispersed and online, making individual effort nearly impossible to observe directly.

Using a sample of 1,343 GVTs comprised 6,347 individuals from 137 countries, this study tests three ET’s predictions in the GVT context: a negative, linear relationship between Benevolents’ perceptions of equity and job satisfaction in GVTs; an inverted U-shaped relationship between Equity Sensitives’ perceptions of equity and job satisfaction in GVTs; and a positive, linear relationship between Entitleds’ perceptions of equity and job satisfaction in GVTs.

Although the second prediction of ET is supported, the first and third have statistically significant opposite signs.

The research has important ramifications for management studies in explaining differences in organizational behavior in GVTs as opposed to traditional work settings.

The authors conclude that the main novelty with ET in GVTs is that GVTs are an environment stingy with satisfaction for “takers” (Entitleds) and generous in satisfaction for “givers” (Benevolents).

Drawing on the ability-motivation-opportunity model, this study investigates how gender-inclusive human resource management practices and overall fairness perception promote the career progression of female employees via psychological empowerment.

Partial least structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to two-waves data collected from 308 respondents from Pakistan to confirm hypotheses.

Findings suggest that gender-inclusive HRM practices substantially affect female employees' psychological empowerment and career progression. Psychological empowerment is a mediating mechanism that explains the effect of gender-inclusive HRM practices on female employees' career progression. Finally, overall fairness perception further amplifies the effect of gender-inclusive HRM practices on psychological empowerment and career progression.

The study provides evidence to policymakers that organizations may promote psychological empowerment and career progression of female employees by implementing gender-inclusive HRM practices and promoting overall fairness perception.

This study contributes to achieving the SDGs by examining the impact of gender-inclusive HRM practices and overall fairness perception on female employees' psychological empowerment and career progression. Specifically, it aligns with “Goal 5 - achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” and “Goal 8 - promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all”.