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The book chapter sheds light on specific institutional variables that have been shaping and molding corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and expressions in the developing world. It argues that CSR strategies cannot be detached from context, and that institutional constellations exert serious pressure on CSR expressions in developing countries, which continue to take a largely philanthropic form. The chapter then dwells on how to transition from CSR as philanthropy to a more strategic approach and the important agency role of founders and top managers in enacting this transition.

This book chapter highlights the context-dependence of CSR practices and provides illustrations from the Middle East context and other developing countries. It adopts a mostly secondary review of available literature on the topic. It also outlines some guidelines about how to move beyond philanthropy that is largely prevalent in the developing countries to a more strategic approach, that is aligned with strategy and core competence (inside-out strategic approach) or relevant and pressing social needs in the country (outside-in strategic approach).

Institutional variables include cultural and religious systems, the nature of political systems, the nature of socioeconomic systems and priorities, as well as the institutional pressures exerted by other institutional actors, inclusive of development and welfare agencies, trade unions, business associations, and civil society organizations. National institutional environments such as weak and contracted governments, gaps in public governance and transparency, arbitrary enforcement of rules, regulations, and policies, and low levels of safety and labor standards affect how CSR is conceived and practiced in developing countries. Hence, CSR continues to be equated with philanthropy in the developing world, and substantive engagement with CSR is the exception rather than the norm.

To take CSR to the next level in developing countries, we need to accord systematic attention to strengthening the institutional drivers of CSR, and putting more pressure on companies to move beyond philanthropy, rhetoric, legitimization, imagery, and public relations to substantive engagement in CSR and genuine attempts at change and development. Practical guidelines and implications in relation to how to transition to a more strategic approach to CSR are provided.

While the gender pay gap has received considerable attention, the evidence from developing countries remains scant. The purpose of this paper is to examine the salience of a gender pay gap in a developing country context, through an empirical study of differentials in wages/salaries across gender in the banking, nursing and higher education sectors in Lebanon.

A survey was designed and distributed to a sample of 168 employees drawn from a total of three major banks, five well‐known medical centers and two institutions of higher education. The survey questionnaires were supplemented by interviews with three women managers from each sector studied.

The findings suggest that the gender pay gap is only salient in the higher education sector, although male and female employees in all three sectors perceive that there is no gender pay gap and discrimination is considered to be a salient issue only in the educational sector. Although not entirely expected, the findings regarding those wage gap perceptions are explained in relation to the adoption of a grading compensation scheme which can go a long way according to the present research in alleviating feelings of inequity as well as prevailing cultural expectations regarding gender earnings differentials in a relatively conservative society.

The value added of this research is to present fresh insights into the gender pay gap from a peculiar Middle Eastern context and to highlight the importance of a fair and equitable compensation scheme in alleviating perceptions of inequity and discrimination at work. The paper also directs attention to the influence of cultural expectations, which invariably mold greater or lesser sensitivity to gender pay gaps.

This article aims to provide an examination of the impact of Jewish religious tradition on attitudes toward life domains among Jewish Israeli women. This is the first study of importance of life-domains among women in the ultra-Orthodox community: the fastest growing population in Israel. This population exhibits a unique occupational pattern in which women are the primary economic actors. As women are transitioning into more central occupational and economic players throughout the world, this research has both theoretical and practical implications.

In total, 567 employed Jewish Israeli women (309 secular, 138 traditional and 120 ultra-Orthodox) completed a survey about relative importance of life domains. Responses were analyzed via mean-comparison tests, ANOVA and regression analysis.

Surprisingly, religiosity was associated with higher lower work centrality. Work centrality was the highest among ultra-Orthodox women, and family centrality the lowest. Centrality of religion increased and centrality of leisure decreased with religiosity. No differences emerged regarding centrality of community.

A limitation of this study is that attitudes toward life domains are based on one-time responses to one question. With that, the psychometric characteristics of the measure and its wide-spread use indicate its acceptability and applicability for the issue studied.

The data point to changes in the attitudes of ultra-Orthodox women toward life-domains. Those changes and the increased presence of these women at the workplace challenge both organizational and community leaders to reexamine how to best react to and benefit from the above.

Ultra-orthodox society is a fundamentalist, enclave society that has, generally, been able to retain traditional internal social and familial patterns until now. However, increased exposure of community members – and particularly women – to a variety of organizations and individuals operating in them, may be contributing to changes in attitudes of those women regarding their traditional social and familial roles.

This study closes gaps in research examining the impact of religion and of gender on work attitudes. It does so among women in the fastest growing population of Israel, that exhibit a unique occupational pattern that can contribute to both theoreticians and policy planners regarding implications of the transition of women to more central economic roles.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the learnings from prior interviews with thought leaders in learning organization conceptual development. Prior interviews with Karen Watkins, Victoria Marsick, Michael Marquardt, Bob Garratt and Peter Senge are included in the summary, which is an interim step as The Learning Organization continues to explore the learning organization history and evolution.

The paper summarizes prior interviews to uncover commonalities and differences in the development and evolution of the learning organization concepts as described by thought leaders.

Both commonalities and differences exist in definition, development of theory and resilience since original publication. Common threads in concept develop appear across the authors mainly in influences by Revans, Argyris and Schön. Differences also exist in how each author developed learning organization constructs.

The synthesis reveals that although the learning organization may have differing definitions, there are commonalities that tie some concepts together. Additional interviews will be continued in the exploration of the learning organization evolution.

This study aims to identify the determinants of the expectation gap between financial statement users (investors and bankers) and auditors from a developing country perspective with Cameroon as the case study.

This study makes use of the survey instrument to identify the determinants of the expectation gap in Cameroon. The research method and research design used for this study are similar to that adopted in Schelluch, Best et al., Fadzly and Ahmed, Desira and Baldacchino and Dixon et al.

The results indicate that audits and audited financial statements and auditors’ skills are good predictors of the audit expectation gap (AEG), whereas gender, years of experience and occupation (investors and accountants) do not have any significant influence on the AEG. It follows that the expectation gap is further widened by an increase in the regulation and duties of auditors concerning the reliability and usefulness of audits and audited financial statements and auditors’ skills.

A limitation of this study is the sample size, which is limited in scope, with only 400 potential respondents. In addition, this study adopted a survey method used in countries with different economic views and cultural values from Cameroon.

This study contributes to current knowledge by identifying the determinants of the expectation gap in Cameroon, thus facilitating the adoption of measures aimed at mitigating this gap such as educating the Cameroonian public on the auditors’ duties, especially each time a new audit regulation is adopted. The paper is a critical reference point for future research on the subject in Cameroon.

This study contributes to the expectation gap discourse by uncovering the determinants of the expectation gap from a developing country perspective of Cameroon with a different economic and cultural outlook.

This chapter presents a case study of a ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOCs) structure that is offered through an agreement between a traditional university and a MOOC provider. This arrangement has been helping in reaching very large numbers of learners in the Middle East. In implementing this agreement, I categorise the concerns of three key stakeholders (administrators, faculty and students) regarding this mode of instruction. A framework (abbreviated as LOGIC – LEADS – LEARNing) is proposed that could be of use to higher education institutions when they embark on non-traditional education. A common concern among the primary stakeholders was the issue of legitimacy of such an education. I argue the MOOCs so far do not represent a substitute or a threat to traditional face-to-face education. In addition, there are no foreseen reputational risks for universities if MOOCs are included as a mode of education. The value from MOOCs needs to be seen from the perspectives of students and other stakeholders. MOOCs have the potential to lead to positive consequences for the university − as a whole − and other relevant stakeholders as well. However, MOOCs in the Middle East are not likely to operate under a workable business model, at least not in the short run. As MOOCs rise to make more sense to students, their disruptive power would become more tangible. This, however, will take some time and will only be threatening if educational institutions become complacent in response to the novel ways by which the new generation is approaching learning.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the cultural values which underpin the practice and acceptance of nepotism and cronyism in societies and organizations worldwide. We argue that there are advantages inherent in harnessing the resources of the social networks involved in nepotism and cronyism, but there are also major problems arising from the inequality and unfairness of these practices. A theoretical consideration of cultural values combined with illustrative cases is used to discuss nepotism and cronyism in different cultures. We suggest that nepotism and cronyism exist in all cultures but perception and discussion of these phenomena as well as the perceived gravity of their effects can vary according to the cultural values of egalitarianism and universalism, together with the economic development of the societies in which they occur.