Bertha Joseph Ngereja, Bassam Hussein and Carsten Wolff
This research fills a gap in digitalization project studies by exploring them through the lens of organizational learning. It investigates the impact of uncertainty on…
Abstract
Purpose
This research fills a gap in digitalization project studies by exploring them through the lens of organizational learning. It investigates the impact of uncertainty on digitalization project success and the role of absorptive capacity.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach is adopted, incorporating qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative part assesses how uncertainty affects digitalization project success, while the quantitative side explores absorptive capacity as a mediating factor between adaptability to uncertainty and project success.
Findings
The qualitative results uncover challenges facing digitalization projects under uncertainty and suggests coping strategies at individual, project, and organizational levels. Quantitative results show that both potential and realized absorptive capacities significantly mediate the link between adaptability to uncertainty in the environment and project success.
Originality/value
This research offers new insights into digitalization project studies, merging organizational learning theory with a mixed-methods approach. It highlights how uncertainty and absorptive capacity influence digitalization project success.
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Youcef J-T. Zidane, Ole Jonny Klakegg, Bjorn Andersen and Bassam Hussein
With the aim of furthering the understanding of project speed and how to manage the urgent project, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the management challenges involved…
Abstract
Purpose
With the aim of furthering the understanding of project speed and how to manage the urgent project, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the management challenges involved in delivering a telecommunications infrastructure project in a period of much shorter duration than a similar project. The authors wanted to understand the reasons behind the urgency and how the project management team succeeds in delivering in such a tight time window. Finally, the authors assessed the consequences (negative and positive, during and after the project delivery), knowing that the project was considered a success at its delivery, but not that it was successful at the post-project evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study based on qualitative research interviews with management team including the client, the main contractor and some related stakeholders, combined with case archives and internal documentation from the case project.
Findings
The urgency of a project or programme may lead to some negative consequences and impacts. The success seen in a short- and mid-term view is not enough to justify making acceleration decisions: thus holistic thinking and a long-term sustainable approach are needed to ensure continuity and profits.
Research limitations/implications
This research is based on a single case study. There are some limitations regarding how urgent and unexpected the case was managed in comparing to normal case. A second limitation is that there is no clear definition of what are normal practices such that we can say what are a normal case and an urgent case.
Practical implications
There are some lessons learned from this case study about managing the unexpected and the urgent. Practitioners can obtain insight into positive and negative consequences of fast project delivery from this case.
Originality/value
This study is unique in its content and context, since it presents the first-hand insight into a case study that seemed to be successful to some extent (short-term impact); however, negative consequences appeared within a few years of its delivery.
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LEBANON: Money transfer firms could replace banks
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-ES272724
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Abdulaziz M. Al‐Bassam and M. Tahir Hussein
Salt‐water intrusion has always been a source of contamination in coastal aquifers that hinders sustainable groundwater development. Classical techniques to detect its occurrence…
Abstract
Purpose
Salt‐water intrusion has always been a source of contamination in coastal aquifers that hinders sustainable groundwater development. Classical techniques to detect its occurrence are costly and time consuming. The application of combined geo‐electrical and hydro‐chemical methods is cheaper, executable in reasonable time, and successfully applied in mapping the interface between saline and fresh groundwater. The current study aims at detecting and delineating salt‐water intrusion in the downstream part of Wadi Gizan in southwest Saudi Arabia using geo‐electrical and hydro‐chemical methods.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study area is the downstream part of Wadi Gizan in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Geo‐electrical data were obtained from field measurements using both Shlumberger and Wenner procedures. A number of 65 groundwater samples were collected and analysed for its total dissolved solids and major ionic composition.
Findings
The results show variations in the resistivity of the water‐bearing strata in the study area. Resistivity values decrease towards the Red Sea, and, in separate pockets. The total dissolved solids (TDS) and chloride distributions show the same pattern. Overlapping the areal distributions of the resistivity, TDS, and chloride concentration yield a map showing the limits of salt‐water intrusion and up‐coning pockets of saline water.
Practical implications
Planners, decision makers and other interest groups can use these findings for a sustainable groundwater development in the study area, and, to safeguard the aquifer from further advancement of salt‐water intrusion.
Originality/value
The case study indicates the importance of applying combined geo‐electrical and hydro‐chemical methods for groundwater quality variations and especially in detecting and delineating the contact between saline and fresh groundwater in coastal aquifers.
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Potential investors need information on corporate social issues to choose less risky investments, but the IASB framework excludes corporate social disclosure from financial…
Abstract
Purpose
Potential investors need information on corporate social issues to choose less risky investments, but the IASB framework excludes corporate social disclosure from financial reporting, and this corroborates Ohlson (1995) and Myers’ (1999) view that financial statements do not provide all domain variables to predict value relevance. The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether market participants place a premium on the future prospect of the firm when making investment decisions, and if they do, then Ohlson and Myers are correct, and this would be glaring evidence to recommend a rethink on the IASB reporting framework.
Design/methodology/approach
Nigeria provides a realistic research setting to detect value relevance attributable to the IFRS because it is less affected by the 2007/2008 financial crisis. The price model was estimated for Nigerian domestic accounting standards and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The means for each predictor were plugged into each estimated equation to obtain the average value relevance of each financial reporting system. Then, the IFRS accounting policies were made to play by the rules of the domestic accounting standards. If, in fact, accounting information is the dominant factor that drives value relevance, then equalizing backgrounds should equalize value relevance, otherwise market participants place a premium on the future prospect of the firm.
Findings
The study detects, inter alia, a significant gap even after equalizing backgrounds, suggesting that market participants look beyond the financial statements in forming perceptions on the future prospect of the firm; e.g. relationship with host communities, development stages of new products in their life cycles, etc.
Practical implications
The findings ring a bell for the IASB to include metrics of future prospect of the firm in corporate financial reporting so that investors can choose less risky investment portfolios. Furthermore, the findings lend support to Ohlson and Myers’ argument that financial statements do not provide all domain variables to predict value relevance.
Originality/value
To date, no study has reported the amount of value relevance attributable to the IFRS vis-à-vis domestic accounting standards and future prospect of the firm.
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The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a “vision” of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.
Findings
There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.
Research limitations/implications
Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.
Practical implications
This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.
Originality/value
This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.
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Bassam Maali and Christopher Napier
The paper seeks to examine the cultural factors that shaped the creation of one of the earliest Islamic banks, discussing the tensions that arise between religious and economic…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to examine the cultural factors that shaped the creation of one of the earliest Islamic banks, discussing the tensions that arise between religious and economic aims.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a case study of a historically significant institution. The information on which the paper is based was obtained through interviews with participants in the process being analysed, review of archived documents, and observation. Edgar Schein's theory of organisational culture and leadership is employed to provide theoretical structure for the analysis.
Findings
The paper shows that creating a new type of organisation – an Islamic bank – in Jordan required special legislation. A study of the development of this legislation reveals that the bank's founder needed to convince both the religious and political authorities and potential investors that the bank would comply with Shari'a principles while at the same time generating profitable business. The outcome was to validate transactions that were Shari'a‐compliant in form but similar in substance to those of conventional banks.
Research limitations/implications
The paper examined one bank, and the findings are not necessarily representative of the experience of other Islamic financial institutions.
Social implications
The research highlights the problems faced in establishing businesses that seek to follow the moral and economic teachings of Islam. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate about whether it is possible to establish genuinely Islamic businesses within a conventional economy.
Originality/value
This is the first detailed academic study of the creation of an Islamic financial institution to make use of a wide range of documentary and oral evidence, including interviews with insiders.
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M.Reza Hosseini, Nicholas Chileshe, Jian Zuo and Bassam Baroudi
This study aims to present an integrated conceptual model in order to highlight the major aspects of diffusion of innovations in the architecture, engineering and construction…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present an integrated conceptual model in order to highlight the major aspects of diffusion of innovations in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) context. To this end, a critical review of literature is conducted, accompanied by synthesising the findings of previous studies. The driving force behind this study is stemmed from the fragmentation of literature on innovation diffusion, and paucity of research on diffusion of Global Virtual Engineering Teams (GVETs) as the platform for many technological innovations in relevant literature. Thus, the present study is intended to facilitate filling the gap in GVETs literature. That is, the proposed model will offer a foundation for academia for grounding studies on any innovation including GVETs in the literature on innovation diffusion in the AEC context.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws upon the qualitative meta-analysis approach encompassing a critical review of the relevant literature. To this end, the review builds upon studies found within 15 prestigious journals in AEC. The domain of this review was confined to areas described as “innovation”, “innovation diffusion” and “innovation adoption”, along with keywords used within a broad review of recently published GVETs literature. The rigour of review is augmented by incorporating 35 authoritative works from other disciplines published in 21 well-known journals in the manufacturing, business and management fields. Moreover, the study deploys the peer-debriefing approach through conducting unstructured interviews with five Australian scholars to verify a model presenting an aggregated summary of previous studies.
Findings
The key findings of the study include the following items: synthesising the fragmented studies on innovation diffusion in the AEC context. In doing so, a model capturing the major aspects affecting diffusion of an innovation in AEC projects is presented; providing a foundation to address the drawbacks of previous studies within the sphere of GVETs, based on the developed model.
Research limitations/implications
The developed model was only enhanced using a small sample size of academics, as such not empirically validated.
Originality/value
As possibly, the first literature review of innovation in the AEC context, this paper contributes to the sphere by sensitising the AEC body of knowledge on innovation diffusion as a concise conceptual model, albeit verified through the peer-debriefing approach. This study will also further establish the research field in AEC on GVETs along with other methods reliant on virtual working such as building information modelling (BIM) through providing an expanded foundation for future inquiries and creation of knowledge.
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Mankind stands at a turning point in time as empires crumble, old enemies make peace, and the old‐order based on nation‐states is threatened. But, regrettably, it seems scholars…
Abstract
Mankind stands at a turning point in time as empires crumble, old enemies make peace, and the old‐order based on nation‐states is threatened. But, regrettably, it seems scholars are increasingly playing dysfunctional roles: instead of preaching tolerance and understanding fit for a Global Village built peace and cooperation, voices of intolerance and extremism are making significant inroads into the ivory tower.
Management writings in the Middle East region are scarce and scattered. This is due to the lack of doctorate programmes offered by educational institutions, the weak links between…
Abstract
Management writings in the Middle East region are scarce and scattered. This is due to the lack of doctorate programmes offered by educational institutions, the weak links between academia and the business world, limited formal and informal networks, the lack of status given to the field of management by national bodies and the lack of a publication culture. A bibliography of management‐related writings in the Middle East is presented, which includes other functional areas such as marketing, finance and accounting. It aims to draw the students' attention to a variety of sources. In compiling the bibliography a review of the literature in Arabic, English and Turkish was undertaken, followed by a survey of the top officials of academic institutions offering management/commerce, business administration degree programmes in the region.