Theses (Business & Law)

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A Study into the Identification and Application of Transformational Leadership Aspects in the Petrochemical Industry to Enhance Employee Productivity and Innovation
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-09) AL MANSOORI, SAEED ALI; Dr Bader Obeidat
The petrochemical industry is a major contributor to the economy and its workforce plays a vital role in driving productivity and innovation. This study investigates the application of transformational leadership in the petrochemical industry to enhance employee productivity and innovation. A sample of 539 employees working in petrochemical organisations in Abu Dhabi was surveyed, and a structural equation modelling technique was used to test the collected data. The results revealed that transformational leadership has a positive impact on emotional stability, employee productivity, and innovation, but a negative effect on job burnout. Emotional stability has a positive effect on employee productivity and innovation, whereas job burnout has a negative effect on both. Emotional stability and job burnout significantly mediated the relationship between transformational leadership, employee productivity, and innovation. The interaction between contingent rewards and transformational leadership negatively affects emotional stability and positively affects job burnout. This study highlights the importance of implementing transformational leadership practices to enhance employees’ emotional stability, productivity, and innovation while reducing the negative impact of job burnout. This study has contextual limitations. Future research could explore the effectiveness of transformational leadership in other industries and use alternative techniques to improve its generalisability.
Adaptive and Ambidextrous Differentiation: The Role of Digital Transformation and Strategic Orientations on UAE Enterprises Sustainability
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-10) AL JABRI, MADHAD ALI SAID; Dr Lahrech, Abdelmounaim
Previous research has highlighted the importance of firms building up their resources continuously to gain competitive advantage and remain viable in the fast changing and dynamic market. This is achieved by resources renewal enabling unique innovative products offerings and operational excellence resulting from all kind of strategic capabilities. However, firms’ ability to maximise opportunities realisation and balance their exploration and exploitations varies due to various contextual and organisational challenges such as digital maturity and strategic orientations which plays a crucial role in the evolving digital ecosystem. To improve our understanding on how firms can achieve sustainable competitive advantage and what strategies (outside-in or inside-out) need to be followed while uncovering whether strategy should be static, dynamic, adaptive or ambidextrous, this empirical research study examines how adaptive marketing capability influence firm's long-term survival and sustainability in the marketplace. This investigation is done considering the joint effect of market ambidexterity mediation and the moderation of both strategic orientations and digital transformation. This assessment is made using a deductive, quantitative method as the researcher philosophy is more positivism where a survey is a technique adopted and a Likert questionnaire is designed to collect data from ICT, IT and Telecom digital services enterprises in the UAE context where digital transformation is given a focus during and post the COVID-19 Pandemic and EXPO2020 event. Previous published literature was used to adopt validated scale where 224 responses were tested using IBM-SPSS 26.0, Smart PLS 4.0, and IBM- Amos 26.0. Data were analysed using variance based structural equation modelling (SEM) due to the model complexity and sample size as well as the non-uniform distribution of the sample data. The results suggest that adaptive marketing capability is statistically positively related to sustainable competitive advantage through market ambidexterity and the joint effect of digital transformation and strategic orientation is significant as mediation-moderation on this relationship. However, the impact of adaptive marketing capability found in-significant as a direct relationship and on a similar manner while digital transformation is moderating this direct relationship. Also it was found that firms with strategic orientations are more likely to leverage the ambidexterity capability leading to sustainable competitive advantage. This study contributes to literature on providing more insights on how marketing and strategic management interact to provide long-term competitive advantages in extremely volatile digital environment with global open ecosystem. It also enlightens the market ambidexterity body of knowledge during digital transformation and strategic orientations cultural shift programs. It also provides better understanding on the intersect between Resource Advantage theory, dynamic capability theory, organisational ambidexterity and adaptive marketing capability views. In addition, it proposes a converged (strategic and marketing management convergence in digital era) theoretical framework for future research. It offers executives practical insights on how to utilize the digital transformation and ambidexterity programs for building strategic ambidextrous capabilities that balancing the tensions between the exploration and exploitation activities and developing strategic orientations that is risk taking and with a culture of positive engagement to enable higher organisational success. Keywords: Adaptive Marketing Capability, Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Market Ambidexterity, Strategic Orientations, Digital Transformation, Dynamic Capability Theory, R-A Theory
Alignment of Team Integration with Successful Digital Transformation in the Higher Education Sector in UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2022-03) ANISSA BETTAYEB
This study looks into the alignment between team integration and successful digital transformation in higher education sectors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although several researchers have studied various team integration factors, particularly in construction, there is a clear research gap that is filled in this research by studying different types of team integration related to technology and processes and aligning them with successful digital transformation implementations. Furthermore, the education sector is slower to adopt such new technology than other sectors, making such adoption more difficult to achieve unless a clear framework and practices are followed. Following a thorough literature review, this research work identifies the fundamental aspects that determine team integration from several perspectives. Furthermore, the research aims to investigate the relationship between individual and team traits, technological features, process aspects, and team integration, all of which will contribute to a successful digital transformation. Several project environmental variables, such as organizational support, the team's location and presence, work pressure, and task design, influence this relationship. Data was collected using the quantitative technique by delivering an online questionnaire to various employees, including leaders, project managers, team members, academics, and administrative staff working on digital transformation projects in several educational sectors in the United Arab Emirates. Different statistical methods are used to analyze the data, including normality, regression, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Both EFA and CFA contributed to the identification of latent factors and the investigation of variable-to-variable correlations. To determine the hypothesis and moderator effects, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and structural equation modeling (AMOS) were employed. According to the findings, Team Traits (Team Trust and Cohesion, No Blame Culture, and Team Diversity), Technological Aspects (Digital Skills and Technology Adoption and Exchange), and Process Aspects (resistance, innovation, team spirit, and communication) are important factors influencing digital transformation. Furthermore, the researcher confirmed that project environment factors such as organizational support, team location and presence, work pressure, and task design moderate the relationship between team integration and successful digital transformation. The findings of this study provide a framework made up of essential team integration factors that may be used to improve the implementation of successful digital transformation in the UAE's higher education sector. The new recommended framework offers useful direction to all decision makers and project managers, as it will assist organizations in managing, developing, and maintaining team performance, as well as preventing any human risks or project failure.
Ambidexterity through Project Portfolio Management Resolving paradoxes in organizations
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-06) PETRO, YACOUB
This thesis aims to build an understanding of how ambidexterity can be achieved in Project Based Organizations (PBOs). Ambidexterity is the organizational ability to simultaneously explore market and exploit knowledge and resources to improve performance and drive through sustainability. This thesis proposes the use of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) practices to show the path to ambidexterity in dynamic, albeit project-based, environments. This study has significant implications for practitioners and scholars. In that, it proposes taking forward project portfolio management practices to establish a link with ambidexterity. This link can offer new methods for practitioners to enhance the performance of PBOs. Moreover, the theoretical outcome of this study generates the substance of a new paradigm shift in this area. This new shift in paradigm can be used as a foundation by scholars to build on for future studies.
Analysing Factors Influencing AI Implementation Effectiveness in the UAE Public Sector
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2023-10) ALAWADHI, JASSIM; Professor Stephen Wilkins
This research examines factors influencing AI implementation effectiveness in the public sector. Governments globally compete to advance public sector services and transform public services to digital to fulfil continuous citizens and business demands to reach the expectation of state-of-the-art services. Thus, governments worldwide are racing to utilise advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Hence, governments implement Artificial Intelligence systems to develop cutting-edge platforms, serving as a base for the government's journey to AI-based government transformation. Existing literature reveals that organisations' cognitive technology projects fail to meet their successful implementation. Therefore, the AI-deployed system fails to deliver the expected performance and objective outcome. Further, scholars discuss gaps in AI field literature and reveal the absence of public sector articles since most AI articles are technical. Also, there is a literature gap in empirical quantitative theory-based research and research measuring the effectiveness of AI system implementation. Moreover, scholars reveal that nations' AI strategies are inspirational and lack implementation guidance. Consequently, this research aims to fill the gap in the literature by creating a theory-based, quantitative study to examine factors that influence the implementation effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence in the public sector at the organisational level from a technology, organisation, and environment perspective. Based on the extensive literature review, the thesis formulates a theoretical framework that combines the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI), the Institutional Theory (INT), and the Technology – Organisation – Environment Framework (T.O.E) to act as the researcher's lens to view the study world. This study tested hypotheses based on literature and existing theories. Hence, the researcher adopted objectivist worldwide ontology, positivist epistemology, explanatory deductive reasoning, and a quantitative method as study philosophy to examine the relationship between the study factors. The research findings indicate a significant relationship between study factors. However, the results show a lack of significance between technology compatibility, usability, and effectiveness of AI implementation. Further, the study results reveal an insignificant relationship between culture impact and AI implementation effectiveness in the UAE public sector. The research implies that public sector top management is critical to AI system implementation; therefore, public sector top management must have cognitive technology knowledge and understand the Technology – organisation – Environment aspects for implementing AI systems. To effectively implement AI systems, top management should plan strategically to retain organisation data with quality, create a collaborative culture, strategically demonstrate the organisation's competitive advantage, cooperate with human resources to hire AI expertise to lead AI-based projects and adopt an implementation framework.
The Analysis of Project Governance and Cultural Intelligence in the Successful Delivery of Complex Construction Projects: The Case of the UAE Construction Sector
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2022-03) ALEID, ALJAZZY BINT MOHAMED
The overarching aim of this research was to examine how project governance and cultural intelligence can influence successful complex construction project delivery. The research proposed a model that comprises project governance and cultural intelligence determinants that can be used to enhance successful complex construction project delivery in the UAE. The key variables of project governance, cultural intelligence and successful complex construction project delivery are significantly explicated in the literature review with the accompanying factors and references for each. To obtain the needed results, the study entailed the use of a quantitative research method. For this study, it was crucial to ensure that only the relevant respondents took part in each stage of the research. A total sample of 404 respondents was used in the study. This number of respondents was considered sufficient in the context of this study and the realisation of the set goals aimed at understanding the complex building construction industry. The study adopted non-probability sampling and snowball sampling strategies. Data analysis comprised descriptive statistics, reliability test, correlation test and regression test. Validity and reliability were attained through the assessment of their plausibility in relation to the existing knowledge on the relationship between the aspects of project governance and cultural intelligence and their effects on successful complex construction project delivery. The verification occurred when the model had been formulated. Workshops and group discussions helped achieve this goal. The research rigour was attained by focusing on verification and validation, which include aspects of methodological coherence and data analysis. As specified below, the novelty of the research can be viewed from two perspectives:  There is a paucity of research studies that examine how project governance and cultural intelligence could influence successful complex construction project delivery, yet the topic is of significance in the construction sector. The research findings of the study are intended to add to the existing body of knowledge in the single area that explicates the relationship between complex area of cultural intelligence, project governance, and complex building construction projects.  The proposed model is intended to provide senior construction project practitioners in the UAE with approaches for managing the rising numbers of multicultural teams based on the aspects of project governance and cultural intelligence. Keywords: Project governance, Cultural intelligence, Complex building projects, Construction sector, United Arab Emirates, Project management.
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.
Big Data Governance and Innovation Performance: The Mediating Role of Big Data Analytics Capabilities, and Organisational Agility
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-02) AL KAMZARI, MARYAM ALI; Dr Farzana Asad Mir
Big data governance has become a top consideration in Information Technology and business management due to exponential data growth and its various applications. However, despite the efforts of researchers and practitioners to examine its value, it is still unclear whether and how it drives firm’s innovation performance. To fill this gap, this study draws on the resource-based view, the dynamic capabilities view, and recent literature on big data governance and big data analytics capabilities (BDACs) to examine the relationship between big data governance and innovation performance, while focusing on the mediating roles of BDACs and organisational agility in this relationship. To test the hypotheses presented in the study’s conceptual framework, a partial least squares- structural equation modelling approach was used and the questionnaire responses from 152 enterprises from various industries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries were analysed. The study’s main findings are that BDACs fully mediate the big data governance relationships with innovation performance and organisational agility. Evidence of significant serial mediation by BDACs and organisational agility between big data governance and innovation performance was also found. The study highlights the importance of BDACs and organisational agility in enacting the relationship between big data governance and innovation performance. For GCC firms, the ability of management to develop and deploy an appropriate combination of essential resources depends on their resources and capabilities (big data governance, BDACs, and organisational agility), leading towards the improvement of firm innovation performance.
Building Competence and Retention Through Employee Well-being and Lifelong Learning: Insights from the United Arab Emirates Real Estate Sector
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-09) ALNAQBI, FATIMA; Professor Bader Obeidat
Despite the economic significance of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) real estate sector, empirical research is sparse on how various aspects of employee well-being—such as work-life balance, job wellness, purpose in life, and physical wellness—affect lifelong learning, and subsequently, professional competence and retention. Therefore, there is a crucial gap in understanding the relationship between employee well-being and professional outcomes. This research bridges this gap by investigating the relationship and examining the moderating role of grit at work. Utilizing a quantitative methodology, the study collected data from 510 professionals via a structured questionnaire and analyzed them using structural equation modeling. Accordingly, employee well-being has a significant impact on lifelong learning, which in turn enhances professional competence and retention. Additionally, grit at work amplifies the positive effects of lifelong learning on professional outcomes, adding a new dimension to existing theories on employee development. This study contributes to the literature by empirically demonstrating the mediating role of lifelong learning and introducing the moderating effect of grit, thereby providing new insights into the factors that drive employee competence and retention. The practical implications highlight the importance of organizations prioritizing well-being initiatives and lifelong learning to promote professional development and reduce turnover. Therefore, this research not only addresses a significant knowledge gap but also offers actionable recommendations for improving employee outcomes in the UAE’s real estate sector.
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.
Can Ease of Doing Business Shorten the Distance and Attract Foreign Direct Investment
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-09) AL KHOORI, YOUSUF
Abstract Due to the accelerating pace of globalization, Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) have increasingly employed foreign direct investment (FDI) to enter foreign markets. FDI has played a key role in modernizing the economies of host countries and stimulating economic development. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), FDI has grown worldwide from around $200 Billion in 1990 to $1.4 Trillion in 2019. This magnificent growth has sparked the interest of researchers to explain why multinational corporations prefer to operate overseas rather than exporting with arm’s length agreements? This thesis is based on the theoretical framework of the Dunning OLI Paradigm. The objective of this thesis is to expand on existing research by conducting a more fundamental and detailed analysis of the relationship between four different dimensions of distance (economic, geographic, institutional, and cultural) and foreign direct investment inflow. The scope of the thesis was broadened to include the possible existence of a moderating role of a favorable business environment, for which Ease of Doing Business Index (EODB) was used as a proxy, on the distance determinants and FDI inflow. Four country characteristics (including common border, common language, colonial ties, and free trade agreement) were added to the model as control measures. This research deployed the Structural Gravity Model to examine FDI flows into Singapore from its 30 largest investors for the period from 2006 to 2018. The empirical findings for testing the relationship between four different dimensions of distance and FDI largely confirmed expectations. However, the results of the moderating effect of a favorable business environment are novel and lead to additional insights for the determinants of FDI. Regarding the distance variables, with the exception of geographic distance (GeoDist), all are significant and exhibit their expected signs. The unexpected positive sign for the GeoDist dimension can be attributed to the combination of large FDI inflows from non-Asian countries combined with the close proximity of the Asian countries with Singapore. With regards to its moderating role, the ease of doing business (EODB) is effective in enhancing the positive influence of economic distance on FDI inflow. The empirical result also revealed that there is a significant moderating effect of doing business on the relationship between institutional distance and FDI inflows. In contrast to our theoretical assumptions, we found that the moderating effect of the ease of doing business index on the relationship between geographical distance and FDI is negatively significant. Interestingly, the result further indicates that the ease of doing business scoring does not moderate the relationship between cultural distance and FDI inflow. This research made significant theoretical and practical contributions within the field of FDI literature. The unifying theme of this thesis is the role that a business friendly environment plays as a moderator of the risks associated with four different measures of distance. From a theoretical viewpoint, a novel way to measure the degree to which a country exhibits a favorable business climate was created in order to weight the individual components of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index (EODB) according to their relative importance. Using this measure, our results show that a favorable business climate has a significant moderating effect on the risks that a MNC faces when investing in countries with significantly different wealth levels. In addition, this moderating effect is also evident for the risks associated with operating in countries with different legal and financial systems. Of equal importance for researchers is the contribution that a favorable business climate does not appear to exhibit a moderating effect for the risks associated with the cultural distance to the target country. In order to ensure that these results are reliable, a robust research design based on a structural gravity model using panel data of FDI flows was employed. From a practical viewpoint, this study provides strong evidence to policymakers that improving the business friendliness of a country attracts FDI due to the moderating effect that it has on the risks associated with economic distance and institutional distance.
Circular Economy Business Model for Solar Projects: The Case of Dubai
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-12) AL SABAH, SULEIMAN MOHAMMAD; Professor Edward Ochieng
Solar projects are growing in the United Arab Emirates and Dubai, driven by a net-zero carbon target by 2050. The study aimed to propose a circular economy business model (CEBM) for solar projects in Dubai, considering the particular project's surrounding factors. The study identified four major determinants: circular economy business model and sustainable value, mediated by strategy, and moderated by internal and external factors. The study used mixed methods, including a quantitative survey where structural equation modelling was employed to test the study’s model, and a qualitative focus group to validate CEBM design options and components. The findings of the study showed the influence of the CEBM on sustainable value and found significant partial mediation of strategy on this relationship; while external factors had a negative moderation on this relationship, internal factors positively moderated it. Given the paucity of research on the circular economy in projects, this study extends the theory by applying circular economy business model theory to solar projects, by examining various business model theoretical constructs and their effects on the sustainable value of projects. The proposed business model offers a novel circular business model that can be implemented in Dubai’s energy sector to meet sustainability strategic goals of both the emirate and the UAE. The proposed circular economy business model provides a new approach to circularity and further details on circular practices that can be deployed in Dubai’s energy sector, such as green procurement and 3D printing. Moreover, the proposed circular economy business model can be used to engage and prioritise environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices in the solar energy sector.
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.
Constructing a successful career in the Fourth Industrial Revolution for young graduates in the UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2022-09) AHMED, AYMAN MOUSTAFA HANAFY
A lifetime career, job security, promotions, and career development in one organization are no longer guaranteed for young graduates. Today, during the fourth industrial revolution, career ambiguity and rapid changes in the nature of work have presented young graduates with many challenges in constructing their careers. For example, globalization, advances in technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trend towards more information and service-based business have required individuals to have a clear career path and to be adaptable, flexible, and proactive in their career behavior. In recent years, and particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, young graduates have found it increasingly difficult to secure full-time employment with career prospects, and many individuals have begun questioning the meaning of their jobs and careers (Baruch and Sullivan, 2022; Duffy et al., 2016; Trevor-Roberts et al., 2018). Due to technological advancements, economic changes, and global competition, individuals often have to change employer or retrain for a new career. To respond to changing labor market needs and job opportunities, individuals need to carefully plan and manage their career development, improving both their career competencies and commitment. Career competencies have become important in today’s labor markets (Kong et al., 2012), so that individuals can obtain, retain, and effectively manage their careers (Heijde and Van Der Heijden, 2006). Employees worldwide are experiencing uncontrollable job losses and career interruptions (Ng et al., 2005). Accordingly, individuals are required to pay high attention to managing and shaping their careers to address the complex and unpredictable changes in business. Akkermans et al. (2012) identified three categories of career competencies – namely reflective, communicative and behavioral – which reflect the four perspectives of boundaryless career, protean career, career self-management, and human capital. Few studies have examined the effects of boundaryless and protean career competencies components on young graduates’ subjective career success. To our knowledge, only Eby et al. (2003) have investigated the impact of boundaryless career competencies on young graduates, while other studies investigated boundaryless career competencies in general, with less emphasize on specifying which component significantly impacts career success (e.g., Akkermans and Tims, 2017; Blokker et al., 2019; Cappellen and Janssens 2008; Francis-Smythe et al., 2013; Kuijpers et al., 2006; Park, 2020). To our knowledge, no study has examined the effects of protean career competencies components on young graduates’ career success. Additionally, all the research that has investigated the impacts of career commitment (career planning, career resilience, and career identity) on career success are general and did not specify which component of career commitment has the superior impact on career success (Ballout, 2009; Carson et al., 1999; Day and Allen, 2004; Karavardar, 2014; Najam et al., 2020; Poon, 2004; Sultana et al., 2016). This research aims to assess the significant impacts of the different components of career competencies and career commitment on young graduates’ career success, and how these individuals construct their careers in the fourth industrial revolution. Thus, the study seeks to answer the following research questions: • To what extent do career competencies impact upon the career success of young graduates in the fourth industrial revolution? • To what extent does career commitment impact upon career success of young graduates in the fourth industrial revolution? • How do young graduates build successful careers during the fourth industrial revolution? The study adopted a quantitative, deductive, cross-sectional research method to explain how young graduates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) construct their successful careers in the fourth industrial revolution. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the combined impacts of career competencies and career commitment components on recent graduate career success. This research contributes to boundaryless career, protean career, and career construction theory, by improving our understanding of the role of the various components within the related constructs. In addition, it addresses a recent call for more research that investigates aspects of job crafting, whereby individuals make changes to their jobs or job roles to make better use of their skills and abilities and to ensure their career development (Tims et al., 2022). By examining the impacts of career competencies and career commitment components on subjective career success, the study also makes a useful contribution to the career success literature, which contains considerable ambiguity and contradictions. Since existing studies were mostly undertaken in Western countries, this study, which was conducted in an Arab Gulf/Middle Eastern context, allows us to account for the possible influences of economic, political and social factors, such as culture and religion, as well as the composition of labor forces in this region (there are very high proportions of expatriate labor in some Arab Gulf countries).
Deadlock Resolution in Private Companies in the UAE: A Comparative Study
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2025-03) MOMANY, OMAR HASSAN; Professor Ayman Masadeh
This doctoral research study aims to preserve the integrity, continuity, and value of deadlocked private companies for the benefit of companies, joint ventures, shareholders, employees, third-party contractors, and the wider UAE economy and its investment regime. To achieve this, the study assesses the extent to which the UAE federal mainland legal system is equipped to provide sustainable legal solutions to shareholders’ deadlock in private companies. The research objective is to identify gaps in the studied legal systems by assessing what rights, relevant to a deadlock scenario, minority and majority shareholders have in a company, and the extent to which interests of such shareholders groups, the company, other stakeholders, need to be balanced, looking at it through the lens of modern and comprehensive stakeholders’ and public interest regulation theories. This study assesses whether and how the UAE Federal Commercial Companies Law (CCL), and the UAE courts deal with such deadlocks and disputes, and the viability of any existing statutory solutions. The research compares such solutions in the UAE, to the extent that they exist, with deadlock-preventive, deadlock-breaking and termination mechanisms offered or practiced under the UK law. Specifically, the study assesses the role of legal tools, such as shareholders’ agreements and their validity and viability to exit a shareholder from a deadlocked company. In doing so, the research analyses the importance and role of shareholders' agreements and their relevant exit clauses, and the extent to which these clauses can be legitimate and enforceable under the UAE legal system, compared to that of the UK. The study explores the appropriate deadlock resolution mechanisms that can work in the UAE legal system. It also aims to provide academic and practical guidance on important problems to benefit shareholders, directors, companies, lawyers, and legislators. It further aims to advance policy and legislative recommendations that will fill the existing gaps including amendments to the UAE CCL and practice that help improve the legal framework of the research problem. The study applies a qualitative doctrinal method built on an interpretive research paradigm required to comprehend the status quo of the topic through scholarly, critical, and comparative analysis of publicly available laws, case laws, and literature. The critical comparative analysis approach is applied between the primary UAE mainland legal system and that of the UK to objectively determine what approach is taken to address the research problem in the UAE and the UK. In addition, the research benefits from qualitative non-doctrinal semi-structured interviews with carefully selected senior lawyers, shareholders, and directors of private companies. The views were gathered and analysed to validate study outcomes and recommendations.
A design thinking-based Framework for effective business excellence outcomes in the public sector
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-10) ALMOMANY, GEBREEL AHMAD
Business excellence has a proven history of making real differences in the outcomes of organizations. However, most scholarly published research is limited to the application of excellence models in the private sector, because most excellence models are only adapted to fit the context of the public sector organizations. This study adds value by focusing on investigating the relationship between the independent variable of attitude, knowledge, actions, and excellence and the business excellence implementation outcomes. Furthermore, it examines if this relationship is moderated by design thinking and its determinants of empathise, define, ideate, and prototype. This research used a questionnaire survey from the population of leaders and senior level managers listed at Dubai local Government Departments. A sample of 141 senior managers were selected through convenience sampling who completed the survey. Positive relationships were found between knowledge, actions, attitude and excellence with business excellence implementation outcomes. The impact of attitude and knowledge on excellence implementation outcomes is found to be moderated positively by design thinking and its determinants. However, actions were not moderated by design thinking and its determinants for their relationship with business excellence outcomes. This anomalous moderating influence of design thinking determinants is explained by the changes in work environment and organisational priorities during the persisting COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these results, a design thinking-based framework for business excellence implementation in the public sector is recommended by the researcher, which suggests that managers should promote factors and criteria of excellence that are suited to their organizational context. This is in addition to empirical and academic recommendations.
Determinants of Employee Resistance to Change for Optimised Organisational Performance in the UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-02) ALHUMAIRI, ALI
Employee resistance is one of the most important problems in organization restructuring management. It has a huge impact on how any proposed change initiative in the organization will succeed. Employee’s cooperation with any change initiative is essential for such initiative to be successful. Problem of employee resistance can be very difficult and complex to study and analyze due to several factors and elements affecting the severity of the problem. These factors can expand over a space with large number of dimensions where some dimensions are work-related. This research limits its investigation on factors of employee’s resistance which emerges in work environment because they can be manipulated by management in ways that reduce their negative impact. Experimentation of this research was conducted in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai Municipalities in United Arab Emirates where 192 subjects was involved. Analysis of acquired experimentation data was performed based on advanced numerical tools such as Factor Analysis, Correlation Analysis and Regression Analysis. Supportive Work Environment Variables found to have a positive influence on Resistance to Change. The research found The Influence of Employee Commitment on Resistance to Change is mainly based on Employee Satisfaction and Employee Loyalty. Only Employee Participation cluster found to have a positive influence on Resistance to Change. Further the study found Internal Training cluster have an influence on Resistance to Change. The main contribution of this research in literature is providing a highly-needed investigation on elements affecting employee attitude toward change initiatives. Based on this investigation, policies and practices can be proposed to reduce negative effects of employee resistance to change initiatives. Therefore, these valuable findings will be cornerstones in any solution proposed to handle such issue.
Determinants of Value Benefits in Adopting an Engineering Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) – ABU DHABI Oil and Gas, UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2022-02) ALZAABI, ABDULLA RASHED
The requirement for modern businesses to develop complex projects has forced businesses to consider opportunities for application of specific contracting models which would guarantee adequate distribution of responsibility in the project team among stakeholders and minimise risks for the project owner. This study aims to analyse the main characteristics of the EPC and EPCM contracting models for the Abu Dhabi oil and gas sector, and determine opportunities and risks related to the application of both contracting models. Specific results had to be associated with the definition of optimal guidelines for application of the EPCM contracting model in the target sphere of practice. The results of the prior literature review demonstrated that, though the EPCM contracting model is generally considered as more effective compared to the EPC approach, practitioners lack reliable recommendations for application of this method in practice. The methodology of the thesis included a quantitative study of a large sample of employees and managers in the target industry to gain understanding of their perception of the EPCM contracting model. The results of the study demonstrate the main features and factors of successful application of the EPCM contracting model in the target industry, together with practical guidelines for future implementation. It was found that the EPCM contracting model could be the optimal approach to large project management if properly arranged. The novelty of this research can be viewed from two perspectives:  One is from a theoretical point of view where the research will challenge existing theories of value and contracting strategies. The research proposes ways in which value and contracting strategies and theories can be enhanced within the context of the oil and gas sector.  Two, from a practical point of view, the research ascertained key practical EPCM determinants which can be used as guidelines for senior project practitioners in delivering large oil and gas programmes and mega projects in Abu Dhabi for better value through using the EPCM model.
Developing a Framework for Guiding Blockchain Implementation in UAE Public Sector Based on Structuration and Actor Network Theories: A Qualitative Case Study Examination
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2023-02) ALROB, ALLAM MOHAMMAD
Blockchain is recognised as a radical technological innovation that will influence most sectors in the coming years as it is designed to exchange tangible and intangible assets in a secure distributed ledger. Focusing on the public sector, this study aimed to explore how the public sector can incorporate Blockchain to improve the quality of public sector services while considering the organisational and institutional structure. The research outcome is developing a framework to guide decentralised public sector e-services delivery. The study adopted subjectivist and interpretive philosophical stances and is based on two in-depth case studies of Blockchain implementation in two public sector entities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Data was collected through 38 semi-structured interviews in the two public sector entities. The data was gathered with relevance to implementing Distributed Ledgers Technology (Blockchain) applications. The study relied on seven conceptual propositions informed by two supporting theoretical frameworks: Actor-Network Theory (ANT) combined with Structuration Theory (ST), which allows researchers to achieve a better understanding of the socio-technical factors and aspects that are associated with and have an impact on the adoption process for Blockchain in public sector organizations.. The analysis of captured data in the two case studies was conducted using NVivo software and was underpinned by the seven conceptual propositions. The study’s findings make several contributions to the Information Technology Management field of study. This study has a theoretical contribution that is founded on the examination of how to combine Structuration and Actor-Network Theories in analysing the adoption of new technology. The study integrated both theories to develop a framework to guide decentralised public sector e-services delivery and help decision-makers in the public sector to appropriately determining how Blockchain implementation could be achieved in both sustainable and scalable manners. A practical contribution is found in increasing our understanding of how and why the public sector can adopt Blockchain to change the service delivery approach.
Developing a Framework for Implementing Public Private Partnerships in a Research Reactor Project in the United Arab Emirates
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-04) Almarri, Khalid
Public private partnerships (PPP) procurement instruments have been very popular tools for developing projects around the world. This is largely due to their success in bringing quality, efficiency, innovation, funds, experience, and most importantly risk sharing to the projects they are involved in. The UAE is currently developing a peaceful nuclear energy program in response to the future demands. Research is required to support nuclear energy generation projects in order to maximize their performance. Research of this type will require a research reactor to be developed, which will also benefit other industries such as transportation, health services, construction, petro chemicals, in addition to technical colleges and R&D facilities. Collaborations between government and private parties through public private partnerships (PPP) can maximize the benefits expected from the adoption of a research reactor project. The aim of this research is to develop a framework for establishing a research reactor (RR) project in the UAE through the utilisation of public private partnerships (PPP). The aim of this study was arrived at in three steps. The first step was thorough literature research of detailed investigative works to identify the best practices in PPP implementation globally and customizing it for the establishment of a generic PPP framework for the UAE. Through the qualitative content analysis approach, assisted by Nvivo software, a five-stage generic framework was produced. Second, a questionnaire was used to draw data for the establishment of the PPP critical success factors for the UAE, in which data was collected from 30 participants from the UAE and 62 participants from the UK. The participants were PPP practitioners or researchers. This enabled the comparative analysis process to add a local dimension to the generic framework. Finally, semi-structured interviews conducted with 10 experts in the field of research reactors, using grounded theory method, established the success factors for research reactors. These factors would be unique in the sense that they complement the implementation of the PPP framework in the research reactor project while staying within the UAE context. The findings of the comparative analysis of the two samples between the UAE and the UK showed a significant similarity in PPP practice trends between the two in the three areas analysed; attractive factors, value for money factors, and the critical success factors. The core phenomenon that impairs the success of research reactors was identified to be underutilization. Causal conditions that stemmed from project initiation work were found to be the main sources of said underutilization. This included the reduction of government intervention to help mitigate the risk of underutilization. The contextual conditions responsible for creating these circumstances were of both local and regional contexts and viability. The practical implications of this research are mainly related to the development of the first PPP framework for the UAE, and more specifically for a research reactor project. The contributions of this research to the body of knowledge are related to the highlighted similarities and differences in the practice between the UAE and the UK, which opened areas for future consideration. In the research reactor field, the identified causal, intervening, and contextual conditions opened new areas for future research.

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