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The purpose of this study is to identify factors discouraging Kuwaiti nationals from participating in the private sector labour force (Kuwaitization).

A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of Kuwaiti nationals to identify the main reasons that prevent them from joining the private sector labour force.

The study revealed that low expectations of private sectors’ employers regarding Kuwaiti nationals discourage them from joining the sector. Kuwaiti nationals believe that the private sector employers look for high standards of communication and computing skills. They avoid working for the private sector because some jobs require working for two shifts and long working hours, and they cannot obtain frequent leave. Other factors that appeared to affect Kuwaiti nationals’ participation in the private sector labour force were lack of job security, fewer holidays, difficulty to obtain special pay leave or early retirement at lucrative terms, uncertainty about the prospect of promotion and job insecurity.

The current study targets Kuwaiti national employees. To formulate a clear picture about the main factors that influence the success or otherwise of the Kuwaitization policy, it is of paramount importance to explore the opinion of the private sector employers.

The outcome of this study would be used by policymakers to promote Kuwaitization and increase Kuwaiti nationals’ participation in the private sector labour force. This will increase the country’s reliance on its national labour force and ensure sustainable economic and social development.

The outcome of this study is expected to assist the Kuwaiti authorities in reformulating the current Kuwaitization policies to achieve its objectives. The study is expected to draw some lessons applicable to other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

This study aims to investigate factors that influence e-government adoption among public sector departments with the view to determine how such factors may be used to better facilitate e-government adoption across United Arab Emirates (UAE) public sectors. The use of e-government is advocated for the central government in the UAE.

Using random sampling, a total of 172 participants from ten departments and organisations in Dubai and Sharjah completed the online survey for this pilot study.

The authors found that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions have positive effects on e-government adoption. Furthermore, this study revealed the factors that encourage more e-government adoption between government organisations in the UAE. This study reveals three facilitating conditions may encourage e-government adoption in UAE public sector organisations when short- and long-term performances have positive effects on e-government usage.

This study provides middle managers clarity on factors that would influence government-to-government (G2G) uptake in more government organisations across the country. For uniformity and consistency, middle managers are now better informed as a result of this study to determine how best to use the six factors to motivate subordinates for more effective G2G.

The scope and results of this study is a contribution to e-government studies because it identifies the factors that positively influence G2G adoption. This scope exceeds the studies by Chan et al. (2021) and Habib et al. (2020) which focuses on the use of e-government for citizens or the public. This study focuses on the use of e-government within the government and between government departments.

As the popularity of Islamic banking and financial instruments continues to rise globally, a recurring empirical question is what specifically makes consumers choose Islamic banking. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of bank type selection, especially in culturally diverse settings where the Islamic banking sector is well-established. It further examines whether consumers’ gender/religion influences their choices. One intuitive prediction is that Muslim consumers opt for Islamic banking products as “ethical” because of conviction-related reasons. However, the reality is not necessarily straightforward.

This paper uses structural equation modeling to examine data collected from a survey questionnaire of 790 respondents in an emerging market setting. Further analysis is made based on gender and religion to remove related bias.

Results suggest that overall consumer awareness significantly affects the selection of Islamic banking products. The positive effect of awareness is more significant for Muslim consumers relative to non-Muslims. Interestingly, social stimuli and bank attributes have an insignificant effect on the banking choices of both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Results suggest that Islamic banks’ marketing managers should adopt differentiated strategies for men and women, focusing on the core benefits of the service or personal interactions with consumers, respectively, along with a focus on different aspects of personal service for each gender. Awareness should be enhanced by adopting informative and effective marketing strategies to attract and retain consumers in the competitive bank environment. Islamic banks (IB) should pay attention to the religious effect without considering it as the sole variable motivating potential customers. They should design segmented and customized marketing strategies based on gender-religion market segmentation to suit different groups’ needs.

The findings fill a gap in the literature and provide Islamic bankers with insights to help design and articulate their business strategies to appeal to consumers in a multicultural context. Examining an integral part of gender and religion mitigates biased estimates due to the omission of variables. The study contributes to the existing literature on customer preferences for IB with a relatively large, new data set.

Managers claim that fresh graduates are unequipped to meet market demands. The aim of this study is to investigate the perception of employers in retail Islamic banks of Bahrain on newly graduated business students. The Singaporean Model of Employability Skills was implemented, to ascertain the mean ratings of employability skills in terms of their importance and the competency of business graduates.

This deductive research approach initiated with a literature review that identifies research gap and a model that was tested via a self-administration adopted survey by collected data from 220 senior employees at retail Islamic banks of Bahrain

The systematic of convenience sampling technique was used in selecting 161 samples and the researcher received only 85 completed questionnaire forms. Findings initiate that employers appreciated the importance of teamwork, risk management and decision-making skills. Their main recommendation was that employers should establish a durable bond with universities to enhance employability skills.

Because the researcher gathered all data from employers of different Islamic banks in Bahrain, this sector in addition will get the advantage of the results that banks will formulate their strategic plans accordingly to tackle the business graduates’ weaknesses. Likewise, universities and researchers might be motivated to look into new innovative methods that assist graduates to accommodate with market conditions.

Drawing on servant leadership theory, this study aims to investigate whether the presence of royal family members on boards of directors impacts corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting.

CSR scores from a Bloomberg database are used and royal family data are collected from annual reports. The required analyses to test the hypotheses of this study have been performed.

The findings demonstrate a positive relationship between the presence of royal family directors and CSR reporting.

This study seeks to contribute to the literature on servant leadership theory and CSR by highlighting the impact of royal family directors on CSR reporting. This study may also contribute to an understanding of royal family leadership as a predictor of CSR reporting.