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PurposeExisting public–private partnership (PPP) literature that explicitly adopts neo-institutional theory, tends to elucidate the impact of isomorphic pressures and organizational fields and structuration on PPP projects. This paper advances this literature by presenting the institutional work and micro-level dynamics through which actors initiate and implement a new form of project delivery. The authors show how actors enact responses to institutional structuration in the expansion and transformation of an airport from a public entity into a PPP in Saudi Arabia.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a single case study design that offers an empirically rich and thick description of events such as the dynamic processes, practices and types of institutional work carried out by actors and organizations to deliver the project under investigation.FindingsReligious symbolic work as social integration triggered system integration work, which expanded the power capabilities of individual actors leading the project. Repair work then followed to alleviate the negative effects of disempowering the agency of actors negatively affected by the PPP model and to streamline the project implementation process.Practical implicationsThis research offers several practical implications. For PPPs to operate successfully in contexts similar to the Gulf region, policymakers should provide strong political support and be willing to bear a considerable risk of losses or minimal outcomes during the early phases of experimentation with PPPs. Also, policymakers should not only focus their attention on technical requirements of PPPs but also associate new meanings with the normative and cultural-cognitive elements that are integral to the success of PPP implementation. In order to design strategies for change that are designed to fit the unique cultural and sociopolitical settings of each country, policymakers should empower capable individual actors and provide them with resources and access to power, which will enable them to enforce changes that diverge from institutionalized practices.Social implicationsThis research connected the PPP literature with theoretical frameworks drawn from neo-institutional theory and power. It would be valuable for further research, however, to connect ideas from the PPP literature with other disciplines such as psychology and social entrepreneurship. PPP research examines a recent phenomenon that can potentially be combined with non-traditional streams of research in analyzing projects. Expanding the realm of PPP research beyond traditional theoretical boundaries could potentially yield exciting insights into how the overall institutional and psychological environments surrounding projects affect their initiation and implementation.Originality/valueThe paper contributes new insights regarding the roles of religious symbolic work, allied with social and system integration of power relations in implementing PPP projects. It suggests a theoretical shift from structures and organizational fields – macro- and meso-levels of analysis – to individuals – micro-level – as triggers of new forms of project delivery that break with the status quo.

This comparative study of human capital development policy and organizational and HR practices examines employees' perceptions of competence utilization (and underutilization) and its possible causes. More specifically, the study addresses the following specific questions: Are human capital resources underutilized in work organizations? If this is the case, what is the extent of underutilization? What are the factors that affect utilization? Using data set drawn from a survey of managers and subordinates in public organizations in Saudi Arabia and Oman (N=540), findings expose a significant, and largely ignored, problem in the development and management of contemporary organizations: "human capital resource underutilization", indicating that skills and abilities of public administrators, although relatively and increasingly abundant, are invariably underutilized. The results show that competence utilization is closely related to certain organizational practices, namely power-influence sharing in decision making, area of expertise-job content matching, qualification-job requirements matching, and the use of work-teams, and use of competence, not only seniority as a basis for advancement and involvement opportunities. Without addressing the utilization and empowerment deficit, additional skill development might prove ineffective and largely irrelevant to performance improvements and overall effectiveness of governance system.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it highlights the strategic challange and importance of managing knowledge resources in the Gulf. Second, it presents the factors that influence the GCC countries' ability to better transfer, manage and utilize knowledge within the peculiar context of large expatriate workforce. A set of recommendations are addressed to both policy makers and the heads of KM departments in the region. There are numerous lessons to be drawn from this study, which may be taken as guidelines for future initiatives or programs targeted to the development and employment of national human capital. The study confirms that it is pivotal to focus on not only knowledge development but also knowledge management.