Theses for Business Management

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Modelling the Fragility and Resilience of Enterprises
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-11) ALAYA, AMER MUHAMMAD GOUMAA
This study attempts to expand the existing literature on modelling enterprise fragility and enterprise resilience and their impact on risk management performance. This research employed a quantitative method to collect data from risk management practitioners. It attempted to investigate the contribution of risk events on inducing enterprise fragility and the contribution of risk attributes on enhancing the enterprise resilience to the risk events that induce enterprise fragility. Severity indexes, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to rank and reduce data. Moreover, structural equation models were developed to explore the root-causal relationship that links enterprise fragility and enterprise resilience to risk related managerial performance. The research findings showed that risk events that induce the fragility of enterprise strategy are grouped into three latent variables: business models and plans, financial and strategic innovations, and globalization and politics. Risk events that induce the fragility of enterprise governance are grouped into three latent variables: risk guidelines, risk auditing and risk communication. Risk events that induce the fragility of enterprise operations are grouped into four latent variables: internal processes, people, systems, and external events. Risk events that induce the fragility of enterprise business units are grouped into two latent variables: failure of business processes and mis-utilization of assets. Risk events that induce the fragility of enterprise projects are grouped into four latent variables: risk monitoring, project scope, risk responding and risk integrating. Attributes that enhance enterprise resilience are grouped into five latent variables: risk governance, risk appetite, risk informed decision-making, risk culture, and risk policies design. Furthermore, structural equation models have been converged to show that enterprise fragility can impact risk management performance and so can enterprise resilience. The results show acceptable model fitness for the fragility of strategy, the fragility of governance and the fragility of business unit and so is the case for resilience. This study contributes to knowledge by presenting a conceptual model to assess enterprise fragility, and it incorporates different enterprise levels. This assessment tool will help practitioners to scale how fragile an enterprise is, and so they can anticipate the enterprise robustness and resilience. For future research, it is recommended to develop a resilience or anti-fragility assessment tool in order to show the other side of the coin. In addition, it is recommended to do similar studies on sector levels to consider the specific conditions of each sector.
Arab Women’s Experiences of Careers in Management
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018-03) CHAYA, SHIREEN N.
This thesis explores the experiences and decisions of young Arab women as they pursue and advance their careers in management or opt out. The main research questions on Arab women’s management careers include how they perceive their experiences in organisations, the key elements that contribute to their decision to leave their management career or stay, how they perceive upward mobility in management careers, and the way in which their experiences are qualitatively changed by the overlapping of multiple layers of identity at particular points of intersection. The thesis draws on discourses of gender, intersectionality, and sustainability situated in the paradoxical context of the region in which Arab women, while young and educated many are not working in management or unemployed. The thesis’s aim and research questions were explored through hermeneutic phenomenology via the semi-structured life world interview drawing on a sample of 56 women from 17 Arab countries, between the ages of 24-40, holding degrees in management, who are currently working or worked a minimum of 3 years before quitting. An Arab woman was defined as someone for whom both parents are Arab, has lived in an Arab country for at least ten years, obtained at least one degree in a higher education institution in an Arab country, and has previously or currently works in an Arab country for a minimum of 3 years. Several themes emerged that described women’s management career experiences specifically from the perspective of their social identities the combination of which produce private and public scripts with multiple intersections qualitatively changing their experiences. Shared among their experiences is the way in which these intersections situated them in what they perceived to be places of “empowerment” or “disempowerment” expressed in the ability to make decisions and seek alternatives as they underwent expected role-performance tensions during daily “power” episodes with multiple actors (especially managers, colleagues, spouses and other family members). Thus, the power framework of Arab women’s management careers tells of an active participant and a knowledgeable agent aware of the importance of balancing multiple arenas of power. Based on this argument and interpretation the thesis makes recommendations on how to transform various elements such that women experience more equitable and empowering decision-making options that encourage them to remain in their careers as well as move upwards facilitated by cultural and policy changes in universities, organizations, and governments.
The Influence of Management Practices on Employee Commitment and Food Safety Performance in Food Manufacturing Firms
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018-09) TAHA, SADI MOHAMMAD SADI
Traditional training, food testing, inspections, and adopting various food safety management systems are commonly used solutions to improve food manufacturing safety. Despite the implementation of these interventions, food borne illnesses, food product recalls, and food safety violations persist. With the purpose of improving food safety practices and performance, it is argued that food manufacturing firms focus on the behavioural issues of their food handlers. Previous studies have focussed on behaviour and researchers have used different theories to investigate how knowledge and training may affect food handlers’ behaviour. The theories used include social norms theory, reasoned action theory, and the theory of planned behaviour.The existing literature emphasises the need for researchers to investigate the organisational factors that could influence the behavioural intentions of food handlers. However, no studies have been conducted that have investigated the impact of different management practices on food handlers’ behaviour with regard to the implementation of safe food procedures and organisational food safety performance. Thus, this study expands the literature and uses commitment theory to assess how a range of management practices influences food handlers’ commitment and organisational food safety performance. The objectives of this research are to critically investigate the impacts of several management practices – specifically, management support, communication, training, and employee involvement – on food handlers’ commitment towards food safety performance in food manufacturing firms based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study examines the mediation effect of the food handlers’ commitment on the relationship between the management practices and the food safety performance of the firms. The sample comprised 189 food manufacturing firms operating in the Emirate of Dubai.This research adopted a positivist philosophy, and a quantitative deductive approach. Two focus groups were conducted to support the literature analysis and to gain more information from the participants to support the research aims, which validated the draft survey instrument that had been based on the literature. Data were collected by using a self-administered hard copy survey questionnaire that was completed by five food handlers in each of the 189 firms. The data analysis was accomplished using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and structural equation modelling (AMOS) by means of multiple regression, path and mediation analysis. It was found that all of the studied management practices have a direct significant positive impact on the food handlers’ commitment to implementing safe food procedures. Furthermore, the food handlers’ commitment has a significant positive impact on organisational food safety performance.The results also indicate that the food handlers’ commitment fully mediates the relationship between the training and food safety performance of food manufacturing firms. Similarly, the food handlers’ commitment fully mediates the relationship between employee involvement and the food safety performance of food manufacturing firms. The food handlers’ commitment was found to partially mediate the relationship between organisational management support and the food safety performance, and similarly the food handlers’ commitment was found to partially mediate the relationship between communication and the food safety performance. These results indicate that food handlers’ commitment is a mediator in the relationship between all of the studied management practices and the food safety performance of food manufacturing firms. Based on the mediation results, the association between employee involvement and training was examined and found significantly associated. This suggests that employee involvement can be an important factor in boosting training effectiveness, such as the food handlers’ skills levels and their work performance when they are involved in decision making, or their problem solving in daily work activities. This indicates that learning is not a product with an identifiable outcome endorsed with a completion or attendance certificate. Rather, it is a process in which learners enhance their work performance when they are involved and able to translate the knowledge obtained through training into practice during daily work activities. To the knowledge of the researcher, this is the first empirical study that uses commitment theory to investigate the antecedents of food handlers’ commitment to implement safe food procedures, and the influence of management practices and food handlers’ commitment on organisational food safety performance. Most of the previous studies have used behavioural theories focusing on explaining the behaviour itself, which considered the normative influences without accounting for the environmental or economic factors that may affect an employee’s intention to perform a particular behaviour.This study contributes to knowledge by presenting a conceptual model, which builds upon and improves the existing models of food safety management, by introducing commitment theory to the present behavioural theories. It succeeded in explaining the management practices that influence food handlers’ commitment to implementing safe food procedures, and how both these practices and the food handlers’ commitment may impact upon organisational food safety performance. It is concluded that food handlers with strong commitment are more likely to implement safe food procedures, thus contributing to the organisation’s food safety performance. The findings suggest that the managers of food manufacturing firms should analyse the impacts of their management practices and create policies that motivate and improve employee commitment and performance. Further implications of the results and future research directions are also presented.
Business Engagement and City Branding
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018-11) AL JOURANI, NAWFAL S. ABDUL GHANI
There is an abundance of literature on consumer engagement, however, little is known as to how engagement is made by organizations. This study addresses this gap by investigating how city brands specifically, (and organizations in general), can make engagement happen. In the academic literature and in business practice there is no universal understanding of how engagement is developed by organizations in a way that adds to the rich and evolved consumer-based thinking (in marketing, branding, advertising, and other relevant activities). This thesis examines the underlying mechanisms of what make organizations have brands that are successful in their attempts to be engaging. The analysis identifies components of the business engagement model and how they operate in creating and managing successful brands in general and in city branding more specifically. This study defines business engagement as the management system in which leadership creates a vision that drives the creation of a collective culture which in turn adopts innovations for the sake of achieving consistent competitive ability to the entity within which it is applied. The thesis addresses another gap in the literature which is city branding. There is an abundance of literature on what it is, but not a lot of consensus on how cities can do it. There is a need for a universal framework that can be relatively generalized in addressing how city branding can be successfully implemented. Dubai is chosen as the subject matter of this research. Informed by the literature on city branding, marketing, branding, innovation diffusion, and leadership, this thesis adopts a qualitative research approach that uses interviews and documents as the major sources of primary and secondary data. 24 Dubai Government organizations participated in the interviews, and the four main findings are: 1. Leadership, vision, collective culture, innovation, and consistent competitive ability are the ingredients of the business engagement model. 2. City branding is not a promotional activity as commonly perceived, but a business management process that precedes promotion. 3. Leadership plays a major role in the process of city branding (and any other branding context), not as a political promotional tool, but as a business management application that makes brands and not only promotes them. 4. The business engagement model is ubiquitous. Business engagement happens organically whenever there is a brand using situation wherein leadership creates a vision that drives all involved to achieve it. This study supports existing literature on engagement and city branding and expands it to provides a conceptual framework for city managers and planners, leadership entities, researchers, and marketing specialists that contributes to managing city branding and other brand making endeavors.
Conceptual Skills in Leading Change: A Competence Approach to Public Sector Leadership
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-02) JASIM, ARIF FADHEL AHMED
A substantial amount of advice is available on how top management should lead, but less is known about how leaders conceptualise their leadership of change. This study concentrates specifically on conceptual skills involved in leading change in public sector organisations. Leaders’ capacity to think about abstract and complex ideas has long been acknowledged as essential to leadership tasks such as planning and analysis; however, because conceptualisation is often ambiguous and difficult to understand, many frameworks of leadership and change lack clarity on the actual significance of leaders’ conceptual skills when leading change. The challenges of the twenty-first century require public sector leaders to be dynamic and flexible in their thinking, particularly when dealing with strategic change. In this context, the thesis examines four salient areas of public sector leadership competence which are likely to be high priority areas for leadership competence development: these are self-regulation, sensemaking, integrative leadership and innovative leadership. Self-determination Theory (SDT) asserts that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are essential to leaders’ capacity for self-regulation and enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity. Leaders’ experiences of these psychological needs will be influenced by how they conceptualise them. Consistent with humanist thought and positive psychology, leaders who are fully self-functioning and authentic are more likely to make sound choices and decisions. Authentic leaders are people who are very aware of how they think and behave, and also are considered to be so by others. They are more likely to conceptualise public sector change in ways that are sincere and that inspire thoughts that are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and of high moral character. When dealing with dynamic public sector environments, leaders have to interpret and communicate the change in ways that are meaningful for other employees and government stakeholders. Sensemaking and sensegiving are interpretive cognitive acts that emerge from contexts that possess conceptual complexity. Leaders’ sensemaking involves engaging in the retrospective understanding of events and sharing meanings and emotions to create plausible accounts of what is happening. Sensegiving is required where leaders influence others’ meaning constructions by working productively with them in establishing and verifying a map of the way forward. These interpretive cognitive acts of meaning construction by leaders and followers include significant elements of conceptual thinking and explanation. The public sector consists of numerous organisations addressing diverse communities of multiple stakeholders. Integrative leadership is an emerging approach designed to encourage collective action across many boundaries in governments. Integrative approaches argue that leadership is central to the creation and maintenance of cross-sector collaborations that advance the common good. Integrative public leaders work across sector boundaries to develop the relationships and flow of resources necessary to achieve multiple sectoral goals. The thesis argues that leaders’ conceptual skills support their capacity to act on opportunities arising from the integration of divergent practices and structures. They also assist with solving problems based on partially conflicting processes and systems of governance. Innovation in public management has been categorised into three main types: political leadership during crisis, organisational turnaround, and bottom-up leadership. Research on facilitating innovation in these contexts has found that it involves the reconciliation of conflicting interests among senior team members and achieving organisational ambidexterity through exploring new capabilities while exploiting existing ones. The author’s line of argument is that conceptual skills are likely to play a significant role in ambidexterity leadership for innovation. This thesis examines conceptual skills in leading public sector change through interviews and focus groups with a sample of 123 participants based around 18 focal leaders who were all top managers of government organisations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These qualitative research methods are supported by field observations of public leaders at work and primary and secondary documents on public sector change and organisational and individual performance, in addition to a wide range of qualitative methods, totalling 12 distinct forms of data collection. The thesis concludes on the significance of individuals’ conceptual skills in leading public sector change by presenting a framework of conceptual skills relevant to four areas of leadership: self-regulation, sensemaking, integrative leadership and innovative leadership. The results from this phenomenographical research and its qualitative methods indicate that leaders’ conceptual skills influence the quality and extent of productive, self-regulation, sensemaking, integrative leadership, and innovative leadership in the public sector. The research results suggest that these leaders employ high-level conceptual skills in leading public sector change and can be categorised into three levels of utilising conceptual skills. These skills influence the four areas of leadership competence and are ranked in descending order, from the most advanced to the least developed. The top level consists of Expert leaders adopting conceptual skills in a unique and distinct manner, and effectively using these skills in leading change. The second level is the Proficient level including leaders adopting a similar set of conceptual skills, however, they are not consistently clear about the leadership of change or their role in attaining results. In addition to making more conceptual errors than the Expert group, there is insufficient evidence for some specific and elaborated conceptual skills. Finally, the rest of the leaders are categorised as in the Developing level where they adopt some conceptual skills, but several are notably missing. In addition, due to some erroneous ways of conceptual thinking the effectiveness of these skills and their role in change management is reduced. These three levels are distinguished by three principal criteria, skill’s uniqueness, skill’s role in leading change, and conceptual errors. This study presents a model for adopting conceptual skills, which states that the highest level of leading change in the government sector requires a set of conceptual skills that are essential to achieving the desired change. Then, the middle level group of leaders have a lower set of conceptual skills, and progressively fewer skills still at the third level. The highest level of leaders makes fewer conceptual errors, and these errors increase as the levels decrease. Furthermore, just as there are essential conceptual skills to lead change, there are also misconceptions. Erroneous adoption of conceptual skill by change leaders may prevent and inhibit desired change.
Managing Sustainable Global Events: Sustainability Practices of Expo 2020
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-08) Yehia, Samih
There has been increasing international interest in the impact of hosting mega-events and the sustainability and legacy considerations during the Event Life Cycle (ELC). This research aims to understand the sustainability practices that a host city should adopt along with the legacy considerations. Hosting a sustainable mega-event requires attaching equal importance to the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social, and environmental). However, focussing on these three pillars without having an extended legacy plan will lead to high spending on a short-term event. The empirical research for this thesis focusses on assessing Dubai’s sustainability practices in different sectors, and evaluates how they contribute to the creation of a long-lasting, positive legacy in achieving the target to design and implement a sustainable mega-event. The concept of the sustainable mega-event is growing with the global development of this type of events. Many developing countries have emerged as new players in this industry, which previously was confined to developed countries. Sustainability is a challenging concept for developing countries in general, as event design and implementation have to find a balance between development and sustainability. Hosting a mega-event brings many opportunities to the host city as well as many less desirable consequences. For this thesis, the research question concerns how a developing country can host a sustainable mega-event, formulate a legacy plan as part of the sustainability plan, and still create a long-lasting legacy. The extensive literature on sports events, mega-events and specifically Expo 2020 is reviewed, with the aim of creating a sustainability framework and identifying the success factors of sustainability. Three case studies are reported for the sectors intended to contribute to the sustainable hosting of Expo 2020: ‘Construction’, ‘Utilities,’ and ‘Mobility.’ The case study data are based on semi-structured interviews, field observations, and analysis of secondary documents. A sample of twenty-eight interviewees was selected from different sectors and authority levels, based on their contribution to the overall sustainability plans of Expo 2020 and the sector in which they worked. The interview topics addressed include the understanding of sustainability pillars in the mega-event, the drivers of sustainability, the changes happening in those sectors after Expo 2020 preparations began, and other potential pillars. The analysis of the data identified two success factors that should be considered when managing sustainable mega-events: ‘design’ and ‘leadership’. Moreover, it was demonstrated that a substantive and proactive legacy plan can contribute to the overall sustainability of the event, especially in the social and economic pillars. Results related to the three pillars and the legacy plan demonstrated an example of the potential contribution that developing countries could make when hosting megaevents which are designed and implemented within the Dubai framework of sustainability and legacy. This research contributes to an understanding of sustainability and legacy when hosting a mega-event in a developing country, based on a holistic framework for managing sustainability pillars and executing the set plan for legacy. The framework is grounded on the equal prioritization of the sustainability pillars, a leadership commitment, project designs that respect those pillars, and an on-going development plan that uses the mega-event as one of multiple mega-projects. Sustainability and legacy considerations should complement each other. In conclusion, the findings of this research inform scholars and practitioners that mega-events should act as a catalyst for behavioural change, and not be used exclusively as a catalyst for development. The researcher recommends that a further study on the same case study should be conducted after the completion of Expo 2020 in order to discover the actual legacy and sustainability outcomes from the plans set in the preparation phase. In addition, the sustainability framework can be tested in other developing countries and compared with Expo 2020 in order to discover the extent to which similar plans can lead to the same outcomes.
Director Engagement with Corporate Purpose: The Contribution and Potential of Institutional Investors
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-09) Neri, Selina
This thesis develops an improved conceptual understanding of when and how directors, as key corporate governance actors, engage with corporate purpose as a company’s raison d’être, and how institutional investors contribute to their engagement. There is a gap in the corporate governance academic literature as to how corporations and investors can enable director engagement, as a condition for corporations to create value for society as well as for investors. The thesis examines how institutional investors, through the exercise of their stewardship duties via the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in investment decisions and a form of activism known as ‘engagement’, contribute to the way directors engage with purpose. I argue that director engagement is an initial, important step in enabling corporations to create value for society as well as for investors, and for directors to make a difference to their companies. Based on a unified definition of director engagement, and applying strategic cognition as an organising framework to study its dynamics, director engagement can be seen as the extent to which directors commit their affective, cognitive and behavioural resources to corporate purpose. The initial components of the director engagement with corporate purpose model are identified and presented as predicated along a continuum, rather than an engaged/ disengaged dichotomy. Engagement is understood as affected by a set of contingencies at governance, organisational and directorial level. Using a case study approach, I collected data through a combination of 38 semi‐structured interviews with directors, investors and other participants, two participant observations, and documentary sources. The main findings are: 1. Corporate purpose emerges as sustainable value creation, entailing financial, social and environmental dimensions. Purpose is neither about the social role of corporations, nor about moral obligations, but rather is strategic in nature. 2. Director engagement emerges as an affective-cognitive-behavioural mechanism predicated along a continuum where engagement moves between two ends, conformity and compliance, and corporate development. The continuum sees directors at and moving between both sides. The greatest benefit to corporations, society and investors is derived from directors moving towards the furthest end of the continuum (corporate development), however the transitory nature of engagement means that it is neither a linear progression nor is ever ‘done’, ‘complete’ or ‘achieved’, with important consequences for decision-making at directorial and board level. 3. Institutional investors shape director engagement through the exercise of their stewardship duties via behavioural integrity, in-depth knowledge of the investee companies, strategic relationships with directors (chairs in particular), and an investment time horizon aligned with corporate purpose. Investor and investment size do not appear to play a role, as small investors are also able to demand director attention if the above conditions are met. Proxy advisors support director engagement as conformity and compliance, and are not conducive to the movement towards engagement as corporate development. 4. Director engagement towards the corporate development side of the continuum is viewed as possible both in public and private ownership, as long as the chair leads strategic relationships with investors to ensure alignment about purpose and the trade-offs it entails. 5. Perspectives defining ESG factors as ‘non-financial’, the lack of globally accepted ESG standards, and the debate on integrated reporting emerge as potentially detrimental to engagement beyond conformity and compliance, as ESG factors should be viewed as strategic in nature, may impact the bottom line and ability to create value, and are financially relevant and important. I offer an original contribution to knowledge in the area of strategic cognition and corporate governance by presenting an initial model of director engagement as a strategic cognition process of knowing and understanding corporate purpose. I also offer a set of recommendations for policy-makers and governance practitioners as to how to enable director engagement, as an initial step for corporations to add value to society as well as to investors, and for directors to make a difference to their companies.
Occupational Commitment of Women in STEM Fields: The Impact of Coping Self-Efficacy and Mentoring
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-11) Blaique, Lama
Continued under-representation of women employed in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields drastically reduces the available talent pool of technical skills. There have been many initiatives to enrol more females in STEM related courses and careers, however, the leaky pipeline continues to create problems for technical labour markets. Females constitute 42% of students pursuing STEM subjects pre-university in the USA, once at university only 33% of STEM undergraduates are women, and after graduation less than 20% are employed in STEM related jobs (UKRCWSET, 2009, Munoz-Boudet 2017, Stofan 2017). Other studies report similarly low representation of women in Europe, Australasia, Canada, and the Middle East (Hill et al., 2010; Buse, 2011; Mills, 2011; Hunt, 2010). The literature still falls short on identifying and explaining the factors that could contribute to females’ persistence and commitment in STEM fields. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the factors that might affect persistence and occupational commitment (OC) in these fields. The study aims to shed light on the dynamic approaches adopted by females in STEM fields to overcome occupational career challenges. The main questions that this thesis investigates are: How do females succeed in committing to their STEM occupations? How does mentoring impact OC? How does mentoring impact coping self-efficacy (CSE)? And how does CSE influence OC? The theoretical framework for the research is the career self-management model; an updated model of the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) (Lent & Brown 2013). The study also draws on Bandura’s (2006) self-efficacy theory and Krams (1985) two-dimensional functions of mentoring. OC is investigated through the lens informed by Meyer, Allen and Smith’s (1993) three-dimensional model. This study contributes to the literature on women in STEM by providing an overview of female participation and occupational commitment worldwide and in the MENA region. It includes a detailed section on the challenges and barriers that Arab women face in STEM industries. The methodology used in the study is a partially mixed sequential dominant status design where the qualitative design is considered the core component. Semi-structured interviews were used for the first phase of data collection followed by an online survey questionnaire in the second phase. The qualitative data were analysed in Nvivo12 software applying the Gioia methodology and the results revealed four aggregate dimensions. The quantitative data were analysed using Stata and the results supported the following hypotheses: coping self-efficacy has a positive effect on occupational commitment, goal setting mediates the relationship between the two, and mentoring has a positive effect on occupational commitment Since the core component research design for this study is qualitative research, it is important to note that as a multiple case study design, this research investigated a specific number of women in STEM occupations and is not representative of the total population (Yin 2009). Findings relating to career development and advancement of females in STEM, as well as findings about contextual factors and their impact on other variables in this research, are nested in a cross-sectional design. Thus, a longitudinal study of the career stages of females who work in STEM might provide further insight on the impact of the mentoring functions. The study did not attempt to distinguish between formal or informal mentoring. Future studies might contribute to the SCCT investigating specific forms of mentoring. In seeking to understand the important ramifications of coping self-efficacy on participants’ careers, the study examined in depth the sources of participants’ self-efficacy that were considered when assessing their capabilities. The results of this research also extend SCCT by highlighting the significant role that protean attitudes play in enhancing career outcomes. The study’s findings support previous research on the importance of mentoring as a contextual support for career outcomes. Context specificity accentuates the need to adopt a more integrated stance regarding research on role models and professional identity. It also could lead to more efficacious knowledge and understanding about the reasons behind the leaky pipeline in STEM industries and occupations. The study calls for career advancement intervention strategies aimed at enhancing females’ efficacy beliefs about their interests, values and talents. Females who work in STEM should be mindful of protean attitudes that will give them autonomy and enable them to continuously assess and improve their skills and knowledge in such fast moving and demanding domains. Organizations are advised also to recognize the growth needs of female minorities in STEM by encouraging a culture of role modelling and exposure to inspiring figures, co-workers, and senior management. In order to recruit and maintain females, organizations are recommended to incorporate mentoring programmes that build on advancing learning and growth opportunities for females. Women joining and committing to their occupations in STEM fields still severely lag behind and the persisting leaky pipeline continues to be a major issue in this respect. Scholars indicate that some of the main reasons why females are not committing to their occupations in STEM industries is due to lack of confidence and support rather than lack of talent or academic aptitude (Sonner & Holton 1995, Dawson et al., 2015). In the light of these issues, this research contributes to knowledge on the role of some identified internal drivers (coping self-efficacy, protean attitude, professional identity, and personal learning development) and contextual support (mentoring and the quality of the mentoring relation) on females’ occupational commitment in STEM fields. The framework presented in this thesis can be improved and expanded upon to examine other aspects of career development that may have valuable impacts on reducing the under-representation of females in STEM.
Exploring the Influence of Expatriation on Individual Identities and Shopping Behaviours in the UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-01) Serap, Emik
With the arrival of globalization, the amount of expatriation is constantly increasing. While adjustment of expatriates to a new environment has gained great attention in literature, few studies are available on expatriate shopping behaviour. Particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the expatriate population is much higher than the local population, studies on expatriation remain limited and tend to be descriptive in nature. Furthermore, a basic tenet of existing literature state that expatriates go through certain changes in identity when moving to a new social environment. Identity is recognized as a highly important factor in an expatriate’s psychosocial adjustment and health. The thesis’s questions include how expatriation influences individual identities and shopping behaviours to change, and why individuals go through changes in their identities and shopping behaviours when moving abroad and living an expatriate life? To answer these questions, this research explores the shopping behaviour of expatriate consumers, influenced by various factors in association with their shift in identity towards a new shopping behaviour. Hence, the output of this research developed a conceptual framework which identifies the factors that cause expatriate identity and shopping behaviour changes. This research explored the aims and questions through semi-structured interviews, gathering stories and experiences of 40 expatriate workers from various nationalities, between 21 to 65 years of age, that have been residing in the UAE up to five years. While the present research was conducted in the UAE, its applications may extend to all expatriates around the world. Findings of this research aim to help businesses further understand possible changes in expatriate shopping behaviour. Based on the type of products, findings of this research can be linked to marketing communications, advertising communications, product development, and relationship management. The main form of data collection was through interviewing participants. Overall, ten themes emerged from the gathered data describing expatriates’ general shopping habits, specifically from the aspect of their identities after moving abroad. The findings of this research shed light upon the fact that expatriation has a multi-dimensional impact on individuals’ shopping behaviour and identity. These impacts include, Social Environment and Peer Pressure, Social Media Usage, Changing Identity, Hedonic Shopping Factors, The Retail Therapy- Feelings of Loneliness, Stress and Boredom, Variety Festivals and Sales, First Impressions, Use of Luxury Products, Brands and Brand Engagement, Shopping as a Means of Socialization. Thus, this research explores and conceptualizes the influences of expatriation in change of individual identity and purchasing behaviour.
International Marketing Capabilities in the Digital Age: The Role of Social Media Technologies and Firm Cultural Intelligence
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-06) Hazzam, Joe
The marketing literature suggests that marketing capabilities are essential drivers of multinational organisations’ performance in foreign markets. Yet, the literature also indicates that cultural barriers represent significant challenges for the marketing department to develop international marketing capabilities that create value for foreign stakeholders. These challenges are even augmented by the emergence of social media platforms and the fast changes in the way consumers and firms communicate. Previous studies highlighted the role of marketing capabilities in explaining firms’ performance in international markets. However, little is known about the specific drivers of international marketing capabilities in digital and social media marketing and how it differs from a domestic market. In this research, the marketing capabilities and strategic management literature were used to develop a new conceptualisation of the drivers of international marketing capabilities. The thesis investigates the impact of firm cultural intelligence and social media technologies on the development of international marketing capabilities in the context of multinational enterprises that established regional offices to manage their marketing operations in foreign markets. Results explain that firm cultural intelligence and social media technologies have unique and complementary contributions to the development of international marketing capabilities, and these capabilities play an essential role in firm performance by lessening the adverse effects of foreign market turbulence. This thesis offers a new conceptualisation to the drivers of international marketing capabilities by identifying two distinct resources that have unique and complementary contributions to the development of international marketing capabilities. The firm cultural intelligence and social media technologies significantly impact the development of international marketing capabilities and might be incorporated into future MNEs’ international marketing research. The research implies that regional marketing managers should build specific processes that embed the cultural factors of their stakeholders and their regional operating markets. These culturally intelligent processes and structures contribute to the development of marketing capabilities and complement other firm’s resources, such as social media technologies.
THE EFFECT OF PAY EQUITY and TRUST ON ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT: DOES LOVE OF MONEY MATTER?
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-08) JARRAR, MOHAMMAD KHAIR GHAZI
The robust role of organisational commitment through effecting employees’ outcomes leads managers and social scientist to pay close attention to this concept, but to gain and retain employees still represents a big challenge for both. Despite extensive studies concerning organisational commitment (OC), there is still no answer concerning the main factors influencing OC. Previous studies either focused on the antecedents or consequences and not individual differences, particularly inequity or unfairness of distributive justice. This study combines the psychology of money and the love of money (LoM) constructs together with pay equity, trust in leadership and distributive justice to find the key factors that affect OC. However, LoM as an individual difference cannot be overlooked. The need to identify the key factors that could affect OC has been confirmed by the existing literature and many studies have been conducted to find those factors but have failed to focus on individual differences. This study expands on the literature and uses commitment theory to find the major factors that influence organisational commitment A mong 505 locals and expatriate employees working in different public and private organisations with different types of businesses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study examines the moderating effect of the LoM on the relationships between pay equity, trust in leadership and OC. This study adopted a positivist philosophy and a quantitative deductive approach. Data were collected by using both an online survey and a self-administered hard copy survey questionnaire that was completed by locals and expat employees. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and structural equation modelling (AMOS) using multiple regression, path and moderation and mediation analysis. It was found that LoM moderates the relationship between pay equity and both affective and continuance commitment, and moderates the relationship between trust in leadership and affective and continuance commitment, whereas, LoM did not moderate relationships with normative commitment. Both relationships between inequity and injustice with OC are based on the level of the LoM. Therefore, LoM plays a crucial role by affecting employees’ reactions and their decisions to leave or stay in the workplace. The role of LoM influences the second path when it combines with distributive justice and how it influences trust. Based on the importance of pay equity in explaining distributive justice it could be a cornerstone of the model and control employees’ relationships in the workplace. To my knowledge, this is the first empirical study that examines the moderating effect of the LoM on the relationships between pay equity, trust in leadership and OC by using the psychology of money theory represented to investigate the major factors affecting OC. Most previous studies have used pay equity, trust and distributive justice theories separately to find these effects without accounting for the individual factors that may influence OC or affect employee decisions to stay or leave the organisation. Most LoM studies have also focused on the relationships with pay level with lack of studies in regards to employee leaving decision. This study examined whether LoM affects employees’ decisions to stay or leave, which affects OC. This study contributes to knowledge by presenting a conceptual model, which builds on and improves the existing models of pay equity, trust in leadership and OC models, by introducing LoM as a moderator. It explains the importance of the LoM on these relationships. This study proposes a simple explanation that organisational commitment has not stimulated or motivated employees to commit to their work. In other word pay equity or trust in leadership can have some effect on OC, but it can do more by combining LoM. The study recommends that combining LoM into pay equity and trust paths will ensure strong policies for pay equity to heighten OC. The trust in leadership effect cannot work as an effective factor unless the leader adopts equity with their employees, especially if they have employees with high levels of LoM. The effective role of trust will be exposed to the moderating effect of LoM and diminish the effective role of trust. Finally, the process of changing human behaviour is difficult, but adopting equity and distributive justice will retain employees and heighten OC. Therefore, management should identify employees’ LoM levels before implementing any equity systems to ensure that employees are satisfied. Thus, a decision-maker needs to pay attention to the LoM level of their employees and consider it in their future planning and strategies. Further implications of the findings and future research guidelines are also presented.
Understanding Individual’s Innovative Behaviours: Integrated Personality Traits and Social Capital Perspective
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-08) Nasaj, Mohamed
The aim of this study is to investigate the antecedents of individuals’ innovative behaviours in the service sector using integrated approach that examines the phenomena from both psychological and sociological perspective. This study has adopted three compound personality traits (Proactive, Intrapreneurial, and Self-monitoring) to be investigated as antecedents of individuals’ innovative behaviours. In addition, network building ability has been selected to be investigated as an antecedent of individuals’ innovative behaviours that represent the social capital perspective. The research will test the effect of network building ability on the relation between the selected personality traits and individuals’ innovative behaviours. Furthermore, the study examines each stage of the individuals’ innovation behaviour as a separate construct (Idea generation, Idea promotion, and Idea realisation) rather than a single construct that combine these three behaviours. A quantitative approach was adopted, and data was collected via survey, structural equation modelling was used to analyse 417 completed questionnaires from employees working in the United Arab Emirates service sector. The study found that high self-monitors were more likely to have high network building ability, which in turn helps in supporting their innovative work behaviour. Hence, the study confirmed that the self-monitoring relationship with individuals’ innovative behaviours is mediated by network building ability. Similar results have been found for the relationship between intrapreneurial personality trait and individuals’ innovative behaviours that is network building mediates the relationship between the two. In terms of proactive personality relationship with individuals’ innovative behaviours, the study found that network building also acts as a mediator of the relationship.
Smart Government Resilience & Cybersecurity Risk Management
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-09) DALI, HOOR RIADH
In smart government systems, there is a high level of local and global business interconnectedness, which increases the overall vulnerability on the cyber platform. Usually, the highest risk can be found in the smart infrastructure of smart government. Consequently, this needs to be protected and safeguarded. In order to be effectively equipped, the establishment of a sophisticated cyber resilience framework is essential. Smart governments need to be well-prepared (managerially) and well-equipped (technically); especially in times of cybersecurity crisis. For this purpose, the researcher reviewed and evaluated the existing resilience frameworks worldwide and developed a proposed framework for the smart governments in the UAE. This study determined and identified the components of the resilience framework, which addresses the above issues and results in smart government resiliency and cybersecurity risk management. This research contributed to filling the gap in the literature, particularly in Resilient Measurement in relation to cybersecurity, especially in the case of smart government systems. The suggested model matches the smart government needs/culture in the UAE according to this study survey, which measured the readiness and determined maturity level of the smart systems analysed. The researcher adopted a quantitative research methodology for this work. Responses from 432 smart services users in the UAE were collected and analysed. It was discovered that the proposed resilience structure can be adopted successfully by the smart government enterprise. It has assessed the flexibility of the electronic platform procedures to fill the gap in sustainability materials related to smart government resilience structures and cybersecurity risk management; and found the best current resiliency framework.
The Effects of New Public Management on Managers’ Work-Life Balance and Behavior
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-09) AL HEBSI, AHMED
Through delivery and coordination of citizen services and government operations, the public sector plays a crucial economic role in most emerging and developed nations. In this context, the study aims to evaluate the outcome of new public management (NPM) on managers’ work-life balance (WLB) and behaviours. NPM is a critical approach adopted by government and public service institutions in the running of public service organisations. This study is inspired by the establishment of a centralised NPM in Abu Dhabi in 2010, which aimed to ensure that all services are delivered in a timely manner and within the expectations of all citizens. To date, only limited research has evaluated the impact of NPM on managers’ work-life balance and behaviours, which provides the rationale for this research. In order to achieve the aims of the study, data were collected through two rounds of semi-structured interviews with 21 managers employed in Abu Dhabi’s public sector. These data were supplemented with secondary data sources, which included journals and industry reports. The factors identified in this study include how WLB, organisation citizenship behaviours (OCB) and loyalty are influenced by NPM. It was found that the public sector has shifted its framework towards greater customer satisfaction, which has led to an increase in the workload of the managers. In addition, the results identified that two-thirds of the participants did not suffer from poor WLB due to NPM, although the remaining one-third did. While several participants agreed that this management style has affected their work and personal life, the attitudes of several managers remained positive. One of the primary reasons for this result was identified as being the extent of the NPM implemented in the organisation. For instance, participants who did not depict poor WLB were employed in organisations that did not report an extensive use of the private sector. In addition, the participants maintained positive attitudes to the increase in job responsibility, often stating that an increased scope of work was a natural phenomenon that came with the job. Moreover, where the organisations removed a level of hierarchy, this was often viewed as being beneficial as it reduced the number of reports. Several participants believed that while this management style resulted in a greater workload, it was towards achieving greater outcomes, and it enhanced their productivity, accountability and autonomy. One of the reasons for the limited impact of NPM on the WLB of managers could be the high levels of OCB that they displayed. In addition, the majority of the participants also depicted strong loyalty to the organisation that they worked with. However, the results do indicate that some of the participants suffered from poor WLB and that this negatively influenced their loyalty, but not their OCB. Age, sex, and nationality did not appear to have an influence on any of the proposed relationships. Participants with poor WLB depicted several key differences from their counterparts who had good WLB. The main differing factors included the manner in which NPM was implemented and the negative attitude of the participants when faced with an increasing workload. The key significance of the present study lies in its difference from prior research carried out in other contexts. Prior research has outlined that NPM leads to poor WLB in other countries. However, in the context of the UAE, as the findings have depicted, the link between NPM and poor WLB does not always hold true. One of the reasons could be the level and the innovative manner in which NPM has been applied in the organisations. Furthermore, the context of the UAE can also be attributed to the difference in the results. For instance, the general cultural attitude of the workforce in the UAE is geared towards achieving career success which could lead to them viewing additional responsibilities as part of their success. In addition, contributing to the success and prosperity of the nation could also be a factor.
Modelling the relationship between “Internet of Things”, value co-creation and innovation performance in healthcare
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-09) AL JBOUR, RADWAN SALEH
This research aims to explore the influence of “Internet of Things” (IoT) capabilities on the value co-creation and the service innovation performance of healthcare organisations. ‘Internet of Things’ is a new phenomenon, and the impact of its capabilities on service innovation performance has not been examined in a similar healthcare domain. Therefore, this study investigates the IoT capabilities from a marketing perspective of value co-creation to draw out vital elements to constitute resource integration practices and co-creation towards obtaining service innovation outcomes and achieving a competitive advantage. Also, the study attempts to theoretically contribute to the value co-creation and IoT literature by affording an empirical establishment for IoT- enabled value co-creation and demonstrating how it underpins the interaction between actors within the healthcare ecosystem. The study employed resource-based view (RBV) theory and service-dominant logic framework to develop a theoretical connection and empirically examine the influence of IoT capabilities on service innovation performance through the mediating effect of value co-creation practices. It also used the Orlikowski structuration model of technology to depict the relationship between technology and value co-creation. The study adopted the deductive, quantitative method following the positivism philosophical assumption. This method involved a survey questionnaire completed by healthcare givers (e.g. doctors, nurses, therapists) in Jordan’s private and public sectors hospitals. A pilot study was conducted to ensure the validity of the research design. It included a small-scale distribution of the survey questionnaire and interviews with individuals from the target population. Data were collected (n=208) using a drop-off pick-up method and analysed using multiple techniques, including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). The study’s findings confirm the influence of IoT monitoring and collaboration capabilities on the service innovation performance and support the proposition of IoT monitoring, optimisation and collaboration impact on value co-creation practices. However, IoT control capability shows no support to innovation performance. Findings also show that monitoring is an essential capability of IoT in healthcare, suggesting that successful value co-creation heavily depends on how hospitals access, observe, contact, interact and apply their technological knowledge processes.
The effects of Organisational Ambidexterity and New Public Management on Public Sector Service Quality through Service Innovation
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-11) ALKAABI, SEEMA SAADY
Public sector organisations in the Sultanate of Oman are still perceived to lag behind the private sector and are facing intense pressure to deliver the needed quality service. This sector is inflexible and lacks the dynamism to serve at its full extent. Moreover, the bureaucratic structure of the public sector hinders any initiative to improve, meet the demand for better products and services and operate without necessarily increasing its expenditures and disbursements. Hence, the need to reduce bureaucracy may give rise to the increasing demand for service innovation to attain service quality and enhance performance. Actual research and empirical studies testing service quality through service innovation combining organisational ambidexterity and new public management (NPM) within the context of the public sector in the Middle-East remains a gap in literature. This is because the government structure in the Middle East is fundamentally stemmed from highly bureaucratic institutions where decentralisation is highly questionable and can be subjected to numerous challenges. This research examines the influence of organisational ambidexterity and NPM on service quality through service innovation. The study follows a positivistic philosophy and focused on a deductive quantitative method. The survey questionnaire is based on pre-validated scales from literature and one self-developed scale for NPM as there is no such scale that has been found in literature. Non-probability sampling was used to recruit participants. One hundred and fifty-seven questionnaires were collected from twenty-two government service organisations using a self-administered online survey questionnaire that was completed by managers. By means of structural equation modelling, it was found that exploration, exploitation and NPM relate positively and significantly to service innovation. Also, the findings illustrate that exploitation and service innovation have a positive and significant correlation on service quality. However, this relationship was not significant with exploration and NPM. Furthermore, the post hoc analysis revealed that service innovation fully mediates the relationship between exploration, NPM and service quality. However, service innovation partly mediates the relationship between exploitation and service quality. This research has three main theoretical and empirical contributions. First, it contributes to the development of a measurement scale of NPM that relates specifically to the services provided by the government organisations those might be achieved through innovation. The services offered in the public service organisations can be achieved via innovation, although limited evidence exists about the ways to measure public performance. Specifically, it provides empirical support of the NPM-service innovation and NPM-service quality relationships. Second, this research advanced the understanding of the organisational ambidexterity theory by empirically testing the influence of both exploration and exploitation on service quality through service innovation in the public sector context. Several studies state that organisational ambidexterity applies to private organisations (e.g. industry and firm-level) to create positive outcomes for service quality. The thesis extends the previous literature on the organisational ambidexterity concept as this thesis focused on organisational level mainly operational and functional service unit in public service organisation. Third, this study contributes to the innovation literature by providing theoretical insight and empirical evidence that service innovation is important for public sector organisations. This research is one of a limited number of researches that have studied service innovation in the public sector organisation. The findings contribute to previous research literature about the mediating role of service innovation in government organisations. Overall, this thesis offers a new conceptualisation about the mediation role of service innovation in the relationship between organisational ambidexterity and NPM in the public sector to improve service quality. The thesis findings provide evidence to highlight the importance of ensuring that the customer gets the quality services they demand the organisation to convert their efforts to reflect organisation performance. Previous studies state that service innovation offers a perspective that facilitates the development of new services and refinement of existing services to improve the quality of service. A comparison of previous literature and thesis findings confirm that the delivery of quality service needs customer-oriented practices to improve the service quality domain in public service organisations.
Sustaining Emirati family businesses: A Dubai business system case study
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-01) ALZAROONI, ADIL
Emirati family businesses play an important role in Dubai as do family-owned firms in many states and countries. Family businesses’ sustainability contributes to the resilience of their respective economies and therefore it is imperative to understand different contextual influences. This thesis focuses on exploring the external challenges that Emirati family businesses face in Dubai emirate. Business Systems Theory (BST) is applied to an empirical assessment of family businesses’ sustainability in a context that has been analysed in the academic literature less than have a number of other economies globally. Dubai’s Business System has not been subject to in-depth contextualized assessment especially from the perspective of Emirati family businesses. The empirical research for this thesis is purely qualitative and exploratory in nature and the unit of analysis is a city-based case study. The primary method of data collection is interviews of elite individuals working in the Dubai Business System. The sample of interviewees are principals or executives of large Emirati family businesses, government officials, and consultants. The data are coded and analysed using a qualitative, interpretive approach. The main findings are interpreted based on a BST model and the researcher recommends that researchers and practitioners develop more customised taxonomies of sustainable family businesses. This study makes a valuable contribution to understanding the external challenges encountered by Emirati family businesses in the Dubai context. It advances a new academic evaluation of Dubai’s Business System, proposing a general model for characterising contexts and developing taxonomies of family business sustainability. It is argued that this will contribute to academic and practical guidance for family businesses on their governance, sustainability, and investment strategies. It is also envisaged that such contextualized models and taxonomies can support governments in their policy making and initiatives to sustain national family businesses.
Strategy Engineering as an Emergent Phenomenon for Successful Organisations
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-03) Matar, Badih
This thesis aims to establish a new understanding of strategy and a new school of thought. The strategy engineering model consists of strategy resources and organisation development pillars wherein strategy engineering is a means to achieve effective strategic implementation and strategy success, thus satisfying and utilizing certain tools and techniques. Strategy Engineering is commonly used in practice although it is not sufficiently represented in the literature. In the context of this research, strategy engineering is defined as a way of conceiving strategy alignment, projects’ rigour and organisational desires that all contribute to the long-term sustainability of organisations. The empirical research for this thesis is qualitative and concentrates on leadership at executive and senior levels of management. It was conducted during 2018-2021 in the KSA, the UAE and Lebanon, in privateوpublic and NGO’s. The research methods and data collection included ten interviews, five focus groups and ten observation sessions, designed to maximize variation as well as to increase validity and reliability.
MODELLING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE UAE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPERATIONAL READINESS PROGRAMME
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-03) Qteit, Yousef
Network analysis was used to model the complexity of the UAE nuclear power plant operational readiness programme. The success of the Nuclear Power Plant Operational Readiness depends on how information travels throughout the programme via a network of complex interactions at different levels. In most cases, complex interactions that occur within nuclear power plant operational readiness programmes are poorly understood and unmanaged. This study aimed to demystify the complexity of nuclear operational project processes and stakeholders of the UAE nuclear sector. Secondary data obtained for this research and was followed by in-depth interviews and multiple iterations of data quality check and results validation. These data were configured in the form of adjacencies matrices, transformed into Nodes and Edges, and were analyzed using Gephi Network Analysis software. This produced 13 networks that are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive of all interactions in the UAE Nuclear Power Plant Operational Readiness Program. Also, statistical reports on interdependencies, information flow structures, and the nature of influence have been produced. Findings revealed issues with network density; interactions turned out to be low, indicating a limited number of information sharing channels established among different actors. Findings also highlighted a structural configuration of the Hub and Spoke model, distinctive clusters, and Influential nodes in each interaction, which to great extent affect the information flow and the structural integrity of interactions explored in this study. This study has demonstrated the utility of network analysis for Nuclear Power Plants Operational Readiness programs. The methodology achieved the purpose of modeling the complexity of nuclear operational project processes and stakeholders of the UAE nuclear sector and evaluating interdependencies within detailed interactions and identifying key influential components that affect the Operating License achievement. Additional research is needed to test network analysis methods on different nuclear organizational context and ecosystem setup.
A Strategy Tripod Perspective on Merger Effectiveness in the Higher Education Industry, with the Mediating Influence of Future Foresight
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-03) Sajwani, Zahraa
This study aims at testing the impact of the antecedents of the perceived mergers effectiveness in the higher education industry from the point of view of managers and administrators. In other words, the study outlines factors that measure merger effectiveness in the higher education industry and tests them from the perspective of managers against three main antecedents – government support, competitive intensity, and knowledge creation capability. The study develops a novel model that predicts the effectiveness of mergers in the higher education industry by identifying and examining these three key antecedents from the theoretical lens of the strategy tripod with the mediating influence of future foresight. The strategy tripod, which includes three theoretical perspectives, will be the underpinning tool for the conceptual framework of this study that will guide the researcher into identifying the constructs tested in this study. The study identifies one construct under each theoretical perspective that is most relevant to the context of higher education mergers. The significance of this study lies in the use and application of three dimensions of the strategy tripod alongside the future foresight competence. The researcher argues that future foresight will have a significant impact in supporting the strategy tripod’s factors in explaining the relationship between the antecedents and the higher education merger effectiveness – as a mediator. Therefore, one of the researcher’s main anticipated contribution to knowledge is to prove that future foresight can be added as a fourth leg to the strategy tripod framework, making it a Strategy Quadpod. Moreover, to the researcher’s knowledge, this holistic perspective of applying the strategy tripod and future foresight has not been applied in studies related to the higher education industry before. Thereby, this paper examines the influence of external and internal factors on higher education institutions’ mergers. To be specific, this study represents one of the first attempts – if not the very first - that examine factors from the institution-based perspective, the industry-based perspective, and the resource-based perspective of the strategy tripod that influence the effectiveness of higher education mergers in Europe and the United States of America, with the mediating influence of future foresight.

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