Education Business and Society Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues

Kayhan Tajeddini

2011 Education Business and Society Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues

doi: 10.1108/17537981111111238

Purpose – Whilst researchers have explored the relationship between innovativeness and business performance in different organizations, such studies in services such as restaurants are scarce. The purpose of this paper is to examine potential influences of innovativeness on effectiveness and efficiency and their subsequent effects on restaurant business performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were collected through personal interviews from 211 Iranian restaurants to examine the interrelationships between innovativeness, effectiveness and efficiency as well as service business performance dimensions (i.e. profit goal achievement, sales goal achievement and return on investment achievement). Findings – The findings provide a fresh insight by exploring innovativeness, effectiveness and efficiency and how these determinants affect the business performance of restaurants. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to Iranian restaurants in a cross sectional manner, using self‐report measures indicating that the results might be idiosyncratic and subject to individual differences. Implications for future research in innovativeness in practice are discussed. This paper contributes to knowledge regarding the impact of innovativeness on effectiveness and efficiency and extends the findings of Chan et al. regarding the influences of effectiveness and efficiency on business performance. Practical implications – Managers should consider the important roles that operating effectiveness and cost efficiency play in the innovativeness‐performance relationship. Originality/value – The paper provides a good example of innovation, effectiveness and efficiency in the service industry.

Davood Salmani; Gholamreza Taleghani; Ali Taatian

2011 Education Business and Society Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues

doi: 10.1108/17537981111111247

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study brain drain as a social problem and elaborate a five‐dimensional social justice model as the main cause of brain drain. The paper explores the effects of distributional justice, emotional justice, procedural justice, transactional justice, and informational justice on brain drain intention. Design/methodology/approach – The method of research is survey method. This research is functional in terms of target and is descriptive. Moreover, the research is a field study from the information gathering perspective; and from the aspect of relationship between variables, it has casual type. Findings – The results of this study demonstrate that justice is a critical issue among the scientific elites of Iranian society. This study demonstrates the existence of a negative relationship between social justice and intention to emigrate (brain drain) in Iran. Research limitations/implications – Despite the lack of precise statistical information in this area, the paper seeks to critically analyze the brain drain phenomenon in Iran. The use of questionnaire meant that more in‐depth analysis was not possible to obtain. Practical implications – It is important to prevent elite emigration, particularly since elites represent vital cultural, social, and economic capital. In relation to informational justice, which is not likely to act as a single cause of brain drain but acts in concert with other factors, it should be recalled that communication plays a vital role. Originality/value – Surprisingly, no empirical research has yet been done in Iran to examine possible relationship between occurrence and/or the rate of the talent flow and social justice.

Husam Omar

2011 Education Business and Society Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues

doi: 10.1108/17537981111111256

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of some Arab American entrepreneurs and their motivation to enter self‐employment, in spite of the obvious obstacles and adversity immigrants can face in pursuing their dreams in this new society. The self‐recounted life histories of this group of entrepreneurs add to the existing literature and contribute to the body of knowledge of immigrants and entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research, which concentrates on natural settings with their intriguing complexity of social interactions rather than laboratories was selected. Qualitative research covers several forms of inquiry that help one understand and explain the meaning of social phenomena with as little destruction to the natural setting as possible. Findings – The questions regarding motivation for self‐employment were open ended, giving the participants the chance to list as many issues as deemed necessary and relevant in their decision to start their business. All of the participants were in total agreement that mentioned push factors are the reasons that they entered self‐employment. These factors included difficulties in finding a job, thus feeling at a disadvantage in the US job market. Difficulty in previous job also was mentioned as a push factor; the lack of English skills was not, however, mentioned as a motivator for self‐employment. Research limitations/implications – There were geographical and logistical constraints affecting the research and given time and resources the author would like to have conducted research that included a number of geographical areas in the Southwest USA and Northern Mexico. Practical implications – This research will have practical implications on two areas: first, immigration and its historical context, especially Arab immigration to the new world, why are these immigrants left their countries in the first place, and the problem they faced in terms of their degree of assimilation and its effect on their success in their new homes. Second, entrepreneurs, why immigrants find it easier to get into the sphere of entrepreneurship rather than holding regular careers and trying to assimilate in their new societies. Originality/value – This paper will contribute to the body of literature on Arab American entrepreneurs in particular and immigrant entrepreneurs in general, and is important to education and educators as well. The paper investigates the motivations for entry into the field of entrepreneurship and becoming an entrepreneur, offering data that could be useful for developing ideas and suggestions as well as an understanding of some of the important steps necessary for the success of new immigrant entrepreneurs.

Hayfaa Tlaiss; Saleema Kauser

2011 Education Business and Society Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues

doi: 10.1108/17537981111111265

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how women managers in Lebanon account for their career satisfaction and construct their career success. Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature along with a survey‐based quantitative approach is adopted for understanding the perception of the Lebanese Arab women to their career success. The questionnaire was administered to women participants in managerial and executive roles in different occupational sectors. Findings – The findings suggest that despite the glass ceiling that the Lebanese women managers face, they perceived themselves as successful. However, their success was mainly attributed to their satisfaction with the subjective rather than the objective aspects of their careers. Originality/value – The value of this paper is three‐fold. First, and in view of the Western focus of similar research, this study contributes to the understudied area of research of women managers and their careers in the Arab Middle East. Second, through empirical research stemming from Lebanon, this paper confirms the salience of the glass ceiling in the non‐traditional Middle Eastern research locale. Third, it challenges the widespread notion that the subjective and the objective dimensions of career success are correlated. Although the findings cannot be generalized to the entire Middle‐Eastern Arab region, they demonstrate important differences in the concept of self‐perceived subjective and objective career success.

Kay Gallagher

2011 Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues

doi: 10.1108/17537981111111274

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the macro‐factors and contextual variables surrounding the recent introduction of compulsory bilingual schooling in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, in order to generate informed discussion, and in order for stakeholders to understand the sociocultural, linguistic and pedagogical issues involved. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is an analytic one which examines language‐in‐education in Abu Dhabi through a framework of the operational, situational and outcomes factors involved in bilingual education, as identified by Spolsky et al. and Beardsmore. Insights gained from international empirical research into bilingual education are applied to the Abu Dhabi context, and key questions about the specific model of bilingual education selected are posed for future local research to answer. Findings – The paper concludes that bilingual education is likely to confer linguistic, academic and socioeconomic benefits on future generations of Emirati school leavers. However, the acquisition of biliteracy is likely to be challenging because of the diglossic features of Arabic, as well as the linguistic distance between Arabic and English. Because of the ambiguity of international research findings with regard to the appropriate age to begin second language learning, as well as uncertainty about the merits of simultaneous versus sequential teaching of biliteracy, research must be undertaken in Abu Dhabi schools into the effects of bilingual education under conditions of early Arabic/English immersion. Originality/value – This paper is timely given the recent announcement of compulsory and universal bilingual state schooling from an early age in Abu Dhabi, and necessary given the dearth of discussion and research on language‐in‐education matters in the Arab world. While the paper is contextualised within the school system of Abu Dhabi, it has resonance for adjacent Gulf States and for the many expatriates from across the Middle East who teach and study in Abu Dhabi's schools.

Mark Curcher

2011 Education Business and Society Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues

doi: 10.1108/17537981111111283

Purpose – The Monetary Theory course at Dubai Men's College used a very traditional knowledge transfer model of learning. The purpose of this paper is to describe a change to a student centered, social constructivist framework to try to increase student engagement and obtain deeper levels of learning by using Web 2.0 tools to encourage students to form a learning community and find, discuss, annotate and debate some of their own learning resources among the community. Design/methodology/approach – This was approached as a case study that examines the pedagogical arguments for introducing social and collaborative learning and then examines the success and challenges of implementing these in the course. It is a very small scale piece of action research aimed at improving student success and teaching practice. Findings – Although the research is a very limited, small scale, applied action research paper, it does show that the learners were very positive about the possibilities of social bookmarking and collaborative learning and were happy to move away from a knowledge transfer model. Originality/value – Although there is an abundance of literature on the benefits of social and collaborative learning and the formation of learning communities, there is very little literature available on the specific use of Diigo in social bookmarking or of Ning, especially with students who are learning in a second language environment. Overall, there is very limited literature about United Arab Emirates Nationals as learners and how best to help them be successful. This paper gives a small insight into the successes of one transformational class.