Barriers to Emiratization: the role of policy design and institutional environment in determining the effectiveness of Emiratization

Organizational Learning of Absorptive Capacity and Innovation: Does Leadership Matter?

“…One explanation potentially helping to explain this finding in the context of our study is that the ratio of nationals to expatriates in the UAE is amongst the most disproportionate in the world (see, for example: Forstenlechner and Mellahi, ; Haak‐Saheem and Darwish, ). As mentioned earlier, almost 99% of the jobs in the private sector are staffed by expatriates (Al Waqfi and Forstenlechner, ). Hence, it could be argued that the characteristics of the existing workforce in the UAE context contributed in adapting a more Western‐oriented approach to people management and leadership style, which, as a result, minimizes the potential impacts of institutions and local culture.…”

“…Further, over the last few decades, the UAE has applied an economic developmental model that strongly emphasizes market liberalism and economic openness, embracing globalization while at the same time refraining from challenging the traditional neo‐patrimonial leadership structure in the country (Hvidt, ). Furthermore, expatriates form the majority of the population in the UAE; notably, recent research reveals that, 99% of the employees in the private sector are expatriates (Al Waqfi and Forstenlechner, ). Therefore, the dominance of the international workforce across a wide range of jobs constitutes a unique environment challenging existing theories and concepts on leadership, learning processes, absorptive capacity and innovation.…”

HRM and knowledge-transfer: a micro analysis in a Middle Eastern emerging market

“…Second, we aimed to understand if the nationality of the employee has an influence on the results. As stated earlier, the ratio of "nationals" to "expatriates" is amongst the most disproportionate in the world (Forstenlechner et al, 2014). Therefore, citizens may have a different perspective on knowledge sharing from that of expatriates.…”

“…Importantly, almost 99% of the jobs in the private sector are staffed by expatriates (Al Waqfi & Forstenlechner, 2014). Extrinsic motivation is a major factor in terms of attracting employees from different parts of the world.…”

The Middle East context: an introduction

“…Such policies have major implications for the management of workplace quotas (Matherly and Al Nahyan, 2015), talent management (Singh and Sharma, 2015), interpersonal communication and diversity management (Goby et al, 2015), and for making such nationalisation programmes successful (e.g., Al-Waqfi and Forstenlechner, 2014).…”