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The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic examination of the importance of trust‐developing constructs and the impact of trust on long‐term orientation within the small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME) domain.

A theoretically grounded model has been developed that comprises three cognitive (reputation, skill and transaction specific investments) and three behavioural (information exchange, coercive power and flexibility) antecedents of trust, which in turn is posted to be a determinant of long‐term orientation. The model has been tested using 229 responses obtained through a postal survey carried out in the UK electrical and electronic industry.

With the exception of the skill to trust, all other hypothesised relationships have been supported. In relative terms, reputation followed by flexibility have been found to be the most important determinants of trust.

The moderating impact of company size and length of relationships have not been examined. The potential for differential behaviour of upstream and downstream business relationships also merits examination.

The results indicate that development of trust can best be affected by a balanced and coordinated set of activities designed to enhance both cognitive and behavioural aspects of trust. Advice as to how this can be achieved is offered.

Despite the extensive study of trust between large organisations there is a general lack of corresponding research with the SME domain. The results reported here provide support for the claim that related findings based on large organisations can be extended to apply to SMEs.

This study has two major objectives. First, comprehensively review the literature on transparency in supply chain management. Second, based on a critical analysis of literature, identify the attributes and sub-attributes of supply chain transparency and develop a numerical measure to quantify transparency in supply chains.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using the PRISMA approach. Utilizing SCOPUS database past eighteen-year papers search resulted in 249 papers to understand major developments in the domain of supply chain transparency. Subsequently, graph theoretic approach is applied to quantify transparency in supply chain and the proposed index is evaluated for case supply chains from pharma and dairy sectors.

It can be concluded from SLR that supply chain transparency research has evolved from merely tracking and tracing of the product towards sustainable development of the whole value chain. The research identifies four major attributes and their sub-attributes that influence transparency in supply chains, which are used to develop transparency index. The proposed index for two sectors helps to understand areas that need immediate attention to improve transparency in the case supply chains.

This paper attempts to understand the development of transparency research in supply chain using the PRISMA approach for SLR. In addition, development of mathematical model to quantify supply chain transparency is a novel attempt that would help benchmark best practices in the industry. Further, transparency index would help to understand specific areas that need attention to improve transparency in supply chains.

Effective leaders have emerged as the cornerstone of project success. The major purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to categorize and prioritize leadership competencies for project managers in megaprojects.

In the first stage, this study utilizes PMBOK 6th Edition, IPMA ICB 4.0 frameworks to develop a hierarchy-based four clusters of leadership competencies. In the second stage, a Fuzzy-AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) approach was employed to prioritize the leadership competencies for an organization dealing in megaprojects. Finally, using ordinal priority approach (OPA), the results of Fuzzy-AHP method are validated.

Based on PMBOK, IPMA and literature, the proposed framework deduced twenty-four leadership competencies and grouped them in four clusters. The Fuzzy-AHP results indicate that among clusters, people competencies cluster is ranked most important, followed by perspective, practice, and innovation competencies. Considering the sub-categories and global weights, culture/values, governance, interpersonal skills, and development and growth emerged as the most important leadership competencies. The results from OPA corroborate the findings of Fuzzy-AHP method.

Megaprojects are characterized by massive investments and extensive economic and social impact. The proposed framework would be an important aid for policymakers to develop suitable strategies and programs to inculcate leadership competencies that would lead to successful project managers and improved project performance.

The need for this research stems from the need to integrate popular project management frameworks in leadership competencies development in project based organizations. The proposed integrated framework, based on PMBOK 6th Edition and IPMA ICB 4.0 competency frameworks, is an original contribution to understand and prioritize leadership competencies for megaproject success.

The purpose of this paper is to examine customer attitudes toward purchasing counterfeit luxury products (ATPCLP) in two cities in two different countries (Saudi Arabia and Malaysia) by testing the relationships between the various reasons for purchasing those products: social status insecurity, status consumption and value consciousness.

Questionnaires were distributed conveniently to urban customers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Altogether 658 useable questionnaires were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, general linear model of univariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling.

Quality, price, popularity and status signaling represent the main motivating factors for their brand choices of counterfeit luxury products among the two country groups of customers. As expected, customers' social status insecurity influences their ATPCLP, but not their status consumption. However, status consumption does positively moderates the relationship of their social status insecurity and their ATPCLP. Furthermore, customers' value consciousness influences their ATPCLP and moderates the relationship between status consumption and ATPCLP. The impact of status consumption on ATPCLP depends on the importance one places on the value of the products. However, the authors found no differences in social status insecurity, status consumption and value consciousness, on their ATPCLP among the customers. Some implications and limitations of the results are discussed.

The use of convenience sampling and mainly college students (in Saudi Arabia) as respondents represent the main limitations of this study.

The practical implication of this study is to discourage the purchasing of counterfeit luxury products in their respective country Malaysian marketers need to stress that their genuine products are of top quality while Saudi marketers need to stress that their genuine products are of well-known brands that are sourced from well-known countries of origin. Besides, Malaysian marketers need to offer genuine products that are not overly priced or ones that indicate value-for-money while Saudi marketers need to convey the message that their genuine products could help enhance or uplift their customers' social status. In this study, the authors did not find any support for differences in ATPCLP between the two rather different Muslim-majority countries. This could be due to the fact that the majority of the respondents were females in their mid-20s and that both countries have a growing number of young customer base, which makes them particularly attractive target customers for branded/luxury products and, at the same time, easy preys to luxury products counterfeiters. This implies that there are still more opportunities for academics to study the topic or related topics in the future.

As far as the authors know, no one has undertaken a comparative study involving two very different Islamic majority countries (more conservative mono-cultural and mono-ethnicity Saudi Arabia versus less conservative multicultural and multi-ethnicity Malaysia) before.

This paper aims to provide insights into the female transformational leadership behaviours within a socially dynamic environment. Research was conducted in the State of Qatar, a country that is going through a rapid social change.

The research framework was based on the transformational leadership framework (TLF) initially proposed by Burns (1978) and further developed by Bass (1985). A respondent set, consisting of 25 Qatari female managers, was taken from the largest public university in the State of Qatar. In-depth interviews were the main source of collected data. The data were analysed using NVivo 11.

Predominantly, Qatari female leadership behaviours were reflective of transformational leadership. In their dealings, Qatari female managers displayed motherly instincts, encouraged open communication, used relationship adaptations and used trust. From time to time, Qatari female managers displayed non-transformational leadership behaviours. This occasional leadership style switch was part of behavioural flexibility that was required in a mixed age, mixed gender, mixed experience and mixed nationalities work environment. The key reason for the change in transformational leadership approach came as a reaction to subordinates’ attitude. In particular, the male-dominated work environment required behavioural adjustments (such as being more assertive and autocratic) to deal with masculine subordinates.

A range of respondent perceptions were related to defining leadership. There was some overlapping between the tested determinants. For example, idealised influence and individualised consideration shared a degree of similarity in terms of how they were perceived.

Socially dynamic environment should be seen as an opportunity for female transformational leadership development. Social dynamism may result in an evolved TLF that could be more appropriate for Qatari organisations. Hence, experience and problem sharing between Qatari female managers may help in developing a socially and culturally fitting transformational leadership model.

The study presented a perspective of a socially dynamic environment where women were practicing transformational leadership primarily through behavioural flexibility and change management. The study suggests an extended version of TLF that would be more suitable for female leadership within a socially dynamic environment.

The purpose of this research paper was the study of an affluent Islamic market, going through a rapid economic and social transformation, from an ethical consumption perspective. More specifically, impact of environmentalism, consumption ethics, fair trade attitude and materialism was investigated on the ethical consumption behaviour of Muslim consumers.

A research framework was put together after consulting relevant literature, Islamic scholars and Islamic marketers. The developed research framework was tested in the Islamic State of Qatar. As an outcome of an online questionnaire-based survey targeting Muslim (Qatari) consumers in a public university, 243 usable questionnaires were collected. After reliability and validity checks, AMOS SPSS 20 was used to conduct structural equation modelling analysis on the collected data.

The results showed consumption ethics, environmentalism and fair trade attitude as significant determinants of ethical consumption behaviour. There was an insignificant association between materialism and ethical consumption behaviour. The findings suggested that most Muslim consumers within this affluent market showed an interest in ethical consumption. However, an insignificant association between materialism and ethical consumption behaviour implied that even though Muslim consumers demonstrated ethical consumption behaviour, they were not anti-materialism. The outcome suggests that due to the high levels of affluence among Muslim consumers, it is possible that they may be practising ethical and materialistic consumption simultaneously.

This research should assist marketers in understanding the ethical consumption behaviour of Muslim consumers who are faced with ethical and materialistic consumption options within an affluent Islamic market.

The research should add to the body of consumer behaviour knowledge, as it provides an insight into the consumption behaviour of Muslims who are facing social and religious ideology conflicts which makes their ethical consumption behaviours more sophisticated.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how young female fashion consumers assessed the facial attractiveness of an advertising model. The study focused on the consumers exposed to both local and foreign fashion advertising.

The study sample consisted of 161 young female (18-30 years old) university students from the State of Qatar. A research questionnaire was designed to assess the perceptions of young Qatari females toward the facial features of a cluster of international fashion models representing a variety of looks. Due to the cultural sensitivity of the research topic, data were collected online using SurveyMonkey. Apart from the key demographics, the research questionnaire captured the respondent’s own self-assessed facial profile, an ideal facial profile, and the facial profile of the most preferred model from a set of choices. The authors analyze the similarities and differences between the three profiles collected from each respondent: self, ideal and choice.

The findings indicated that a mix of facial features (a blend of classical Arabic looks and contemporary Western looks) is preferred by most respondents. This matches the expectation of consumers exposed to local as well as international fashion advertising.

In developing markets (such as Qatar), preference for fashion models is shaped by a combination of local and foreign advertising influences. Hence, it is likely that hybrid models (i.e. representing a combination of Eastern and Western looks) appeal to young female consumers within these markets. Retailers of fashion clothing and accessories can use this information to select models who maximize the appeal of their brands.

The research sheds light on how judgments about the attractiveness of female models are made by triangulation among the self, the ideal and the selection of models available to choose from. The research provides a window into how young women make judgments of physical attractiveness based on facial features.

This paper examined the deterministic and moderating impacts of skill on the behavioural (benevolence) and cognitive (credibility) dimensions of trust within small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) upstream (i.e. supplier-to-customer) relationships. A theoretically grounded research model was developed that comprised of three cognitive and three behavioural antecedents of benevolence and credibility. Impact of time (i.e. chronological influences) on skill-driven bi-dimensional trust development was assessed as well.

All measures were borrowed from top ranking journals and adapted for use. An online questionnaire-based survey was conducted with UK SMEs executives who were involved in electrical and electronic components industry. A total of 231 useable questionnaires were received which represented a response rate of 15.4%. After validity and reliability checks, the collected data were subjected to partial least square analysis to verify the deterministic and/or moderating impact of skill on bi-dimensional trust.

The results supported a dual role (a moderator and a determinant) of skill on SMEs upstream relationship trust. However, the moderating effect of skill dominated the deterministic effect. Furthermore, the results indicated that skill tends to behave differently toward cognitive and behavioural dimensions of trust. Hence, how skill development is influenced by different dimensions of trust, and the role time plays in skill-driven trust enhancement should be carefully considered in SME upstream relationships. Therefore, it is suggested that the nature and context of each supplier–customer relational episode should be examined in terms of the outcomes it is designed to achieve in a relationship.

This study evaluated an in-depth association between skill and bi-dimensional trust development within SME upstream relationships. Specifically, deterministic and moderating impacts of skill on credibility and benevolence were investigated.

This study aims to focus on how informal value transfer networks, Hawala business in particular, used social exchanges in their business dealings. More specifically, the conducted research looked into how social exchange theory was used in Hawala business relationship initiation and management.

Twenty-one depth interviews were conducted with Hawala Network members, and Hawala customers, in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The collected qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis and NVivo 11 software.

The study outcome indicated that Social Exchange Theory was a principal relationship driver in Hawala Networks. Especially, trust had a pivotal role in evolvement and nurturing of Hawala Network business and social exchanges. Other relationship variables, namely, reciprocity, religious affiliation, reputation and information sharing had a significant part in relationship building as well. Results supported a prominent influence of time in carefully controlled and rigorously assessed transformation of Hawala relationships. This metamorphosis converted an exchange from short-term into a long-term orientation where limited amount transactions changed into large sum transactions and restricted information exchange moved to elaborate information sharing. In addition, findings revealed that monetary and non-monetary interactions between Hawala Network members took the form of a homogeneous club, with shared social, cultural, religious and ethnic values. In particular, financially constrained and illiterate social groups preferred Hawala services due to ease of servicing in the form of minimal bureaucracy, fast transfers and low service charges. These marginalized fractions of society had limited access to formal banking which made Hawala business their main (and in most cases only) source for sending and receiving financial remittances. Hawala Networks provided an effective alternative to formal banking for disadvantaged communities.

This study provided unique and useful insights into the nature of social exchanges within Hawala Networks. Especially, it provided clarification on how informal networked businesses used Social Exchange Theory to by-pass the need for legal protection and formal contracts. Furthermore, the study highlighted the role Hawala business played in providing essential banking services (e.g. transfer of money and micro-lending) to educationally and economically deprived individuals.

This study is a pioneering attempt to use the theory of social construction and foresight development to map out an Islamic venture capital (IVC) setup from the key stakeholders’ perspective. Using Prabhat Ranjan Sparker’s theory of social construction, 20 participants (including policymakers, investors, intellectuals and entrepreneurs) were involved in a foresight building workshop related to designing an IVC setup that adhered to Islamic principles and values.

Through the utilization of “future consciousness” tools (including the Polak game, futures triangle and scenario building), key components of an IVC setup were identified. This foresight building methodology not only enhanced the diversity of opinions and wide participation but also helped to examine various discourses and different stakeholder voices. Hence, a multi-stakeholder research approach, based on team presentations, group activities, collective reflections and paper-based simulations, was used. Participants were chosen using purposive sampling, where knowledge and experience about Islamic finance and entrepreneurship were the key selection criteria. A thematic approach was used for data analysis. This enabled summarization of data into organized information structures, which uncovered different perspectives and similar views related to a future IVC setup.

The main study findings revealed an outline of an IVC setup, which was based on seven main stages (i.e. submission of a business proposal for venture capital consideration, review of the proposal by experts, multi-stakeholder decision-making, agreement phase, resource allocation stage, value-sharing equation and impact realization). Another key outcome suggested that low IVC awareness needed addressing through online and offline communication with Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

The creation of an effective IVC setup, based on collective feedback from key stakeholders, should play a significant role in the socio-economic development of Islamic economies by providing financial, skills-based and emotional support to Muslim venture capital seekers.

In terms of study originality, this is an underdeveloped area limited to theories and propositions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no study that has provided a blueprint for a future IVC setup in a fast-developing Islamic economy that is based on key stakeholders’ perspective.