Purpose The purpose of this paper is to problematise the dominant conceptualisation of entrepreneurship by recognising the everyday resistance inherent in mundane entrepreneurial practices. Its principle purpose is to show how entrepreneurial activities enacted by ordinary individuals in a marginalised and oppressed context can be an important means of resisting economic adversity, social marginalisation and political (colonial) domination. Design/methodology/approach Framed within de Certeau’s conceptualisation of the practices of everyday life, this study utilises a “focussed ethnography”, relying on “participant observation” and “informal interviews”, to explore the perceptions and experiences of Palestinian women street vendors, and how they use everyday entrepreneurial practices in the open-air market of the Old City of Jerusalem to become socially and politically empowered. Findings The arguments in this paper demonstrate how marginalised Palestinian women, who are equipped with a genuine critical vision of their reality and a biophiliac attitude, use entrepreneuring to enact new possibilities for themselves and for their families. Through their entrepreneurial act of street vending, these women exemplify a struggle against economic and socio-political constraints, transforming the act of entrepreneuring from a mere economic practice to an all-encompassing human project, one with a more human face. Originality/value This paper extends the argument for the complex and dynamic nature of the phenomenon and exposes its political nature, hitherto inadequately addressed in existing literature, as well as uncovers the potential of entrepreneurialism to enhance individual empowerment and contribute to meaningful social change. In addition, it addresses the need for scholarly work that focuses on the everyday entrepreneurial activities carried out by ordinary individuals experiencing various forms of oppression in new and challenging spaces, which are seldom acknowledged within the dominant theoretical and research frameworks.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of organizational commitment among employees of Palestinian arts-and-culture organizations and to examine the combined effect and role of organizational and job characteristics in shaping employees’ commitment. Design/methodology/approach An on-site employee survey was conducted in 20 distinct local not-for-profit arts-and-culture organizations, where the respondent sampling frame constituted of 190 individuals with a response rate of 48 per cent. Confirmatory factor analysis was used in this study to confirm the original scale structure for study constructs and evaluate their distinctiveness in the Palestinian context. Findings Results from structural equation modeling analysis revealed a reasonable rather than a good fit of the model to the data. The current study recognized organizational and job characteristics as critical determinants of employees’ commitment, particularly its affective component; which was also found to be the most accurate description of organizational commitment in arts-and-culture organizations. Research limitations/implications Consistent with the social exchange theory, an emphasis should be placed on employees’ perception of organizational and job characteristics. This study advocates for combining organizational characteristics with job characteristics in light of their significant association with commitment in the context of motivational theories. Practical implications This study empirically demonstrates the positive effects of organizational and job characteristics on employees’ evaluation of their organization. Managers of arts-and-culture organizations should maintain a proper alignment of organizational values with those of the employees and create a working environment that meets employees’ psychological and career needs. Originality/value This study makes a valuable contribution to the existing body of research and adds to a very limited number of studies investigating organizational commitment in arts-and-culture organizations, validating the structure of commitment and its antecedents in a non-Western context and showing the multi-dimensionality of the concept.

PurposeThe paper examines the role of learning through social capital on the internationalisation process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based within extreme contexts. The study focuses on the Palestinian pharmaceutical industry.Design/methodology/approachThe inductive, exploratory research used in this study adopts a case study approach. Data derived from semi-structured in-depth interviews held with senior management and companies' founders were analysed using content and thematic analysis techniques.FindingsThe findings suggest that accumulated learning by SMEs seeking international expansion is enhanced with stronger social capital ties and networks through structural, relational and cognitive mechanisms. Serendipity and liability effects enabled modes of foreign entry with higher degrees of commitment than efficacy-related factors.Practical implicationsThe Palestinian pharmaceutical industry presents a benchmark for other industries in comparable developing economy contexts. This study elucidates the important interrelationship between social capital and learning for SMEs seeking to expand internationally; the findings have implications for regional policymaking in developing economy regions.Originality/valueThe case study investigation focuses on the pharmaceutical industry and SMEs operating within the extreme context of Palestine, thereby contributing insights in an area of management enquiry that is under-represented in the extant literature.

Dominant maternal ideologies impinge upon the career progression of academic mothers and non-mothers. Using 'narratology' as a theoretical lens, this article offers insights into the working lives of academic mothers and nonmothers by drawing upon narratives collected by phenomenologically interviewing Palestinian women academics working at Palestinian universities. The analysis of the emerging persistent narratives shows that, as women, both mothers and non-mothers are influenced by socially constructed notions of 'motherhood' and are accordingly put at a disadvantage within academia. In Palestine's conservative, patriarchal context, academic non-mothers are expected to shoulder the burden of care within their families and to extend their mothering capacity to their students and coworkers. Furthermore, this study contributes to the contemporary debates on the tensions that exist between the prevailing discourses of the 'altruistic mother' and the 'career woman', as well as the institutional demands that restrict women's ability to simultaneously fulfill their work expectations and domestic roles.