This paper aims to critically examine the concept of social enterprises in Palestine. It uses the lens of institutional theory to understand how the political and economic context…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to critically examine the concept of social enterprises in Palestine. It uses the lens of institutional theory to understand how the political and economic context of the society can influence certain types of entrepreneurial behaviors and be responsible for the emergence of social enterprises. The paper uses a critical perspective to deconstruct social enterprises in Palestine to shed light on reasons for their emergence, motives and agendas.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study design was used to examine the phenomenon of social enterprises. The case study method is valuable in describing the how and why issues of a phenomenon in the present time frame. Two leading social enterprises operating within the Palestinian region were identified. The two enterprises were contacted for a series of interviews (over a period of few months) with their owners and other active members.
Findings
The empirical findings suggest that social enterprise model is still in its embryonic stages in Palestine. Their social mission of community development and sustainability is not completely sincere. The social entrepreneurs were willing to compromise social mission for economic surplus. The national structure, political framework, legal environment, social, cultural and the economic conditions of Palestine have served as suitable launching pads for social enterprises with not so authentic mission of serving the society. It has encouraged entrepreneurial philosophy and behavior, which has masked hidden economic and political agendas with exterior goals of social welfare and community development.
Research limitations/implications
This paper adopts a critical perspective and a qualitative methodology, and this raises the concern if the arguments pertaining to social enterprise raised in this paper can sustain in a developed nation with a stabilized political scenario or whether this alternative ideology is only relevant to underdeveloped countries with unstable, political conditions, such as Palestine.
Practical implications
This paper provides relevant information for students, critical academics and policymakers.
Social implications
The paper argues for a more concise definition for the model of social enterprises. It argues for clear legal guidelines which could monitor the formation of social enterprises in Palestine.
Originality/value
This paper provides an alternative perspective on social enterprises within a constrained and political unstable economy of Palestine.
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This research study looks at issues such as why does incivility occur, dynamics responsible for incivility with an emphasis on causes stimulated by the general context and its…
Abstract
Purpose
This research study looks at issues such as why does incivility occur, dynamics responsible for incivility with an emphasis on causes stimulated by the general context and its influence on the behavior of individuals, groups and organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a fresh perspective on workplace incivility by integrating institutional theory with empirical data from two case studies from academic institutions located in different continents to understand incivility in organizations. A comparative case analysis across two different geographical regions is used to validate the argument that institutional antecedents can influence micro-level organizational events such as employee incivility despite variance in geographical locations and cultural dimensions.
Findings
The findings of the study reveal that academic institutions are subject to uncivil behaviors, which could be a direct offshoot of the historical and cultural beliefs of the society. The general context of the studied cases led to workplace incivility mainly in the form of racial prejudices and sectarianism transferred to the organizational day-to-day practice. The paper suggests a pragmatic view for possible interventions to humanize workplaces where it is better not to adopt a “one size fits all” recipe to deal with such a complex phenomenon.
Originality/value
This paper provides a macro-level analysis of workplace incivility by assuming an institutional perspective to explore the relationships if any between incivility experienced by employees within an organization and the wider political and historical structuration of the society.
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Anton Robert Sabella, Mira Taysir El-Far and Niveen Labib Eid
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…
Abstract
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.
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Niveen Labib Eid and Anton Robert Sabella
The aim of this paper is to offer a new conceptualisation on partnership emergence and dynamism between the business sector and the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector from…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to offer a new conceptualisation on partnership emergence and dynamism between the business sector and the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector from a corporate social responsibility perspective. More specifically, the paper intends to examine partnering behaviour and management from a socio-political standpoint.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study approach used in the study utilised data from eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews, with managers from the business and NGO sectors engaged in a large-scale partnership between a Palestinian Cellular Corporation and an NGO. Interview transcripts were analysed using content and narrative analyses. Findings to be presented include reciprocity, corporate constitutionalism and utilitarianism.
Findings
The results found in this paper show that partnership has social, political, and ethical dimensions in support of the theoretical framework developed for this paper. More specifically, the results show that the studied partnership is an emergent process, fundamentally concerned with self-efficacy over community welfare, as well as being driven by individual organisational goals.
Originality/value
This paper sheds light on certain aspects of partnership that are often overlooked in mainstream research. It does not only highlight the multifaceted dimensions of partnering but also discusses how partnership can be envisioned and practised as inter-organisational relationships. It stimulates a pragmatic understanding of partnership nature and management showing that partnership emergence, direction and sustainability are conditioned by the stakeholders’ socio-political and ethical practices.
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Maliheh Farrokhnia and Mitra Zarei
The purpose of this paper is to offer an example of how ontology, such as CIDOC, can be turned into a format from the perspective of an object. In fact, it illustrates the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an example of how ontology, such as CIDOC, can be turned into a format from the perspective of an object. In fact, it illustrates the possible semantic analysis of an object description into a view neutral machine‐interpretable form. The aim is to show that a museum object located in a museum can be described in detail and then related to other information objects located in other memory institutions such as libraries and archives.
Design/methodology/approach
Studying different documents, all the information about Imam Reza's Zarih 4th was derivated. Then the most important were listed and represented in detail, according to CIDOC CRM entities.
Findings
The figures explicitly reveal the existing semantic correlations between the heterogeneous cultural heritage information in various memory institutions, such as Organization of Libraries, Museums and Documents Centre of Astan Quds Razavi.
Originality/value
The authors capture the knowledge from different resources and relate them in a semantic description with the aid of a semantic conceptual model like CIDOC CRM, to show more effective information integration in a cultural institution such as Organization of Libraries, Museums and Documents Centre of Astan Quds Razavi, in order to provide unified access to collection‐level information.
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Whereas the extant literature on women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively focused on developed nations, the effect of many context-specific issues of other countries on…
Abstract
Purpose
Whereas the extant literature on women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively focused on developed nations, the effect of many context-specific issues of other countries on ventures of women has been overlooked. The study aims to reveal how political unrest, a common feature of the developing nation, can significantly affect the experiences of women in small businesses of that region.
Design/methodology/approach
This feminist research is conducted on Bangladesh, which is one of the most politically unstable countries in the world. The study conducts interviews with women to explore the adverse effect of political unrest on their small firms.
Findings
The feminist research reveals some problems of women business-owners concerning political unrest in this highly patriarchal context. It also discloses how political chaos challenges the government initiative in financially supporting women business-owners.
Practical implications
Policymakers of developing nations can be benefitted by taking into account the problems of women business-owners concerning political unrest, specifically the access to debt financing issues while designing policies for women's empowerment.
Originality/value
The article contributes to the women's entrepreneurship scholarship with reference to political unrest, a contextual issue of developing nations. Whereas the existing studies mostly concentrate on holding women individually liable for the limited scale of their business operation, this research potentially challenges the view by drawing upon political unrest as an external factor that negatively affects their ventures. The study further advances the prevailing knowledge by critically unveiling some gender-specific problems of women business-owners regarding political unrest.