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This study aims to identify both intrinsic and extrinsic factors motivating rural women to participate in entrepreneurial activities in Oman. Specifically, it seeks to clarify which pull and push factors influence their decisions to engage in entrepreneurship.

Quantitative research was conducted with a sample of 183 women entrepreneurs in rural areas of Oman. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using SmartPLS software was employed to test the research hypotheses.

The results of the research highlight the positive impact of external motivations, such as financial needs and dissatisfaction with current employment, on the entrepreneurial behaviour of rural women in Oman. These external factors play a significant role in prompting women to initiate their own projects. Additionally, the study reveals that attitudes, such as self-efficacy and the perception of social support, significantly influence women entrepreneurs' adoption of self-employment.

These findings offer valuable insights into the concrete incentives driving women’s entrepreneurship in rural Oman. Policymakers can utilize these insights to develop initiatives aimed at promoting the social empowerment of rural Omani women and facilitating their active participation in economic ventures, thereby contributing to Oman’s development.

This study presents a novel framework for enhancing women’s entrepreneurship, offering insights into the motivations and barriers influencing women's participation in rural areas of Oman. By addressing gaps in existing literature, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial dynamics among rural women in Oman.

This paper examines the challenges associated with rural women entrepreneurs in Oman. The study is based on women living in rural and highland areas who aim to move beyond their traditional roles in the family seeking avenues for growth and development. It identifies several problems encountered by rural women entrepreneurs and the impact on their future business opportunities.

A mixed research approach involving quantitative and qualitative elements was adopted for the study. The research is based on 183 survey responses and personal interviews with 8 rural women entrepreneurs. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to analyse the quantitative responses and depict a model featuring the intensity of the problems affecting business opportunities. Seven short cases based upon the interviews with rural women entrepreneurs are also detailed.

Several problems experienced by rural women entrepreneurs were identified hampering their business ventures, linked to personality, family, educational, socio-cultural, facilities, legal, financial and economic, organizational and geographical, out of which household, organizational and geographical linked problems were most significant. Entrepreneurial opportunities for rural women entrepreneurs are discussed.

The research suggests that the policymakers should holistically consider how the rural women engaged in informal business for various means can be better supported and sustained by overcoming associated problems, can achieve business opportunities and contribute to regional socio-economic development.

There is a limited literature available on rural women entrepreneurship in an Arab context. The study provides an overview of the challenges and problems experienced by these women and the support areas required to overcome them for their sustainability in this region.

This study aims to investigate the adoption of mobile wallet payment services among rural Omani millennials, with a focus on social factors, perceived security, trust considerations and the moderating role of technology self-efficacy in shaping attitudes and intentions towards adoption. It also explores the role of mobile wallets in advancing financial inclusion, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 10 (Reduced inequalities).

A survey method was used with 544 randomly selected participants from rural Oman. The study used partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse relationships among the constructs, including subjective norms, perceived security, trust and self-efficacy.

The results support five hypotheses, confirming the influence of subjective norms, perceived security and technology self-efficacy on attitudes and intentions to adopt mobile wallets. Additionally, mobile wallet self-efficacy emerges as a significant moderator, enhancing the relationship between positive attitudes and behavioural intentions.

The study extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) by incorporating moderating variables such as technology self-efficacy and perceived security, offering theoretical contributions to digital payment adoption literature, especially in rural settings.

The findings underscore the need for trust-building efforts by service providers and collaborative strategies involving government incentives and promotions to foster mobile wallet adoption. Strengthening digital literacy and addressing security concerns are critical for promoting financial inclusion in rural communities.

This research contributes to promoting economic empowerment through mobile wallet adoption in rural Oman, offering valuable insights for policymakers and service providers aiming to reduce socio-economic disparities. By addressing the digital divide and supporting financial inclusion, the study supports the advancement of SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) and fosters inclusive growth in underserved communities.

Young children, often called as teenagers (13-14 years) and tweenaged (8-12 years), are the new potential game changers for the big corporate. This paper aims to analyze Arab children’s influence for various products and services and across different buying process stages. The primary survey was conducted to capture a child’s role in family decision-making by analyzing their consumer socialization, influencing strategies and their influence across various products and buying stages.

Based on the review and the research gap, a bilingual questionnaire in English and Arabic language was developed. The research study was organized in three stages. It commenced with a pilot study conducted with ten school students in the age group of 8-10 years. The second stage involved contact with the schools by telephone to brief them on the purpose of the study and to request the participation of their students. The last stage was based on the survey conducted in the time period of September-November 2016-17.

Almost 25 per cent of the children surveyed prefer to buy stationary and books after discussing with their parents. On the other hand, food/beverage is one particular item where children go ahead and buy theses item themselves even without discussing with their parents (42.50 per cent of the total respondents). As per children’s perception, they are most influential in the final decision stage (mean = 1.84 and SD = 0.499), followed by search and evaluation stage (mean = 1.80 and SD = 0.441) and start stage (mean = 1.79 and SD = 0.488).

Further research is needed in Arab countries, especially with parents of different social status, as their shopping behaviour is expected to differ. Also, as this analysis is based on child’s perception, parents’ views must also be analyzed for better results.

The is the first-of-its-kind research in the Gulf region. This empirical research highlights the need for global marketers to understand the distinct features and identity of a young Arab consumer. Despite Oman being a very traditional culture which emphasizes on conformity to group norms and social acceptance and hence confirms to collectivistic culture, where kids are supposed to be obedient, there is this new wave of super energetic, more informed young kids who take their own consumer decisions.

After going through the extensive literature review of different countries/cultures, there has been very clear understanding that despite being an important family member, almost no research has been focussed on kids in gulf nations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate various problems experienced by cottage-based women entrepreneurs to launch and develop their ventures in Oman and to focus on women going beyond their traditional family roles for various reasons to establish themselves in Omani society.

The study applies a mixed research approach using a quantitative survey of 142 cottage-based Omani women entrepreneurs and qualitative face-to-face interviews with ten women entrepreneurs, presented as six short case studies. The intensity of the business-related problems is determined through the exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis is used to confirm the model by determining the goodness of fit between hypothesized model and sample data.

Access to government for current business needs, access to specialized suppliers for staying ahead of the competition and high cost of raw materials were the problems mentioned as being important, while marketing-oriented problems were of least concern.

This study was undertaken in one region of Oman only and thus poses problems when extrapolating the findings to other areas.

The study suggests how policymakers can support women entrepreneurs to diversify and start new ventures while simultaneously contributing to the socio-economic development of Oman.

Research on cottage entrepreneurship in the context of an Arab country is scarce and the study provides an overview of the obstacles and support required for the development of women entrepreneurship in Oman.

The emergence of children as a distinct consumer class has led to a stronger influence on the parents and their participation in the family buying process. This paper aims to investigate the different socializing agents of children across different product categories leading to their enhanced pester power.

With the help of a bilingual questionnaire (English and Arabic language), a survey was conducted in Dhofar, Oman. Purposive sampling was used to collect the data from the parents of young children (8-12) years. The collected data was then tabulated in MS Excel and analyzed using SPSS and AMOS 24 Statistical software.

The study found that parents are the strongest consumer socialization agents for young Arab children, followed by friends and internet, and the weakest agent is TV. Arab children use persuasion strategy more often and use aggressive strategy least often to pester their parents.

The study has been very perspicacious in understanding child’s role in the otherwise reserved Arab families. Marketers can make use of this finding and can develop marketing communications with more appropriate content.

The growth of Gulf markets offers marketers a great opportunity to renew their marketing practices and techniques. Still not much has been found in literature to study this region. With this in mind, the current study aimed at analyzing the consumer socialization and influence strategies of the Arab children.

This paper aims to explore and analyze the various consumer socialization agents for the young Omani Arab children, who play a key role in the family purchase process.

A mixed method research approach was adopted in the form of a survey and short interviews for the study. The study was performed on the children in the age group of 7-14 years, enrolled in Omani schools. The socialization factors were grouped through the exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the impact of the factors on the purchase of various product categories. Finally, short personal interviews with the children were made to validate the results.

A model was proposed incorporating the four different socialization patterns of Omani children involving parents, friends, television and internet. The model was tested with the purchase of different product categories through multiple regression analysis. The results supported the parents, television and friends while rejected the internet as a means of socialization of Omani children. The qualitative analysis also revealed the same results, further incorporating the role of other family members in the socialization of the children.

A research gap exists in the consumer literature related to the Arab child socialization as the previous scholars had contributed mainly in the developed Western context, hence, demanding further research studies in the young Arab consumers’ perspective.

Being the first of its type in the regional context, the research is important for the researchers who wish to understand the socialization process and its agents for the Omani Arab children. The research provides insights about the psychology of Omani children towards the products, which can aid the marketers to design appropriate marketing programmes targeting the growing child segment in the Arab world.

A significant research gap exists and suggests a research study on the patterns of socialization of the Arab children as no similar research had been previously conducted related to this context on child socialization. This research will serve as a base for future research studies in the socialization and purchase behavior of the Arab children.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Female entrepreneurs in Oman face numerous challenges such as securing investment and finding training and other support. Family plays an important role in such areas and more could be done with more effective governmental support.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists, and researchers’ hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper aims to identify the perception levels of the child and parents towards the child’s influence on different product categories and stages of the family buying process in an Arab country Oman.

On the basis of the research gap identified from the literature, two separate bilingual questionnaires (parent and child) in English and local language (Arabic) were developed. The research commenced with a pilot study on 10 school students followed by contact with school authorities requesting to conduct a survey on school students 8–12 years of age and data collection through the survey on the students and their parents (either father/mother) during September-November, 2017–2018. Data analysis was made through an independent sample t-test and confirmatory factor analysis was made using AMOS 24.

A model was proposed incorporating three product categories as noisy, quiet and loud goods and perceptions of Arab parents and children were examined for the three stages of the family buying process. The findings of the study reveal that significant differences exist in child-parental perceptions on the child’s influence in the search, evaluation and final buying stages. The mean score among the three product categories was highest for noisy goods (Mean = 3.21, SD = 0.817) while in the case of buying stages, the mean of the final buying stage was highest (Mean = 2.11, SD = 0.514).

More research studies are required in the Arab context, especially bringing in the social status of parents to justify their different shopping behaviours. This analysis is based on the perceptions of the tweenager segment, adding perceptions of the teenage segment could generate better research implications.

The research will serve as a base to consumer marketers in understanding distinct features of Arab tweenagers towards different products and will aid them in designing appropriate marketing strategies targeting parents and children in the Arab region.

After an extensive review of the consumer literature, it is assumed that almost no research study has been made examining parent-child perceptions towards the different product categories and buying stages targeting traditionally oriented families in the Arab region.

This study aims to examine millennial consumers’ intentions towards purchasing eco-friendly products in the emerging Arab nation of Oman, focusing on the moderating role of eco-labelling (EL).

Environmental knowledge (EK) and environmental concern (EC) are integrated into the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) framework as independent variables, along with EL as a moderating variable. The data was collected through a self-administered survey and consisted of 705 random responses that was tabulated and analysed through the structural equation modelling technique.

ECs, subjective norms (SNs) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) significantly influence consumer attitudes towards green eco-friendly products. Consumers’ EK and attitudes positively influence the purchase intention (PI) to make green purchases. SNs and PBC substantially influence consumer attitudes towards adopting green products. However, the findings reveal a non-significant moderating influence of EL on the relationship between EC and PI for millennial Omani consumers.

The findings are limited to only one Arab country, Oman, which limits the scope of the study. This study contributes to the TPB by using additional dimensions to examine the green purchasing behaviour of millennials.

Marketers can use these insights to develop strategies that emphasise the environmental benefits of products, leverage social influences and empower consumers to make environmentally conscious choices. Incorporating EL and green packaging can enhance the visibility and attractiveness of green products.

Promoting environmental education, awareness campaigns and policy interventions that highlight the importance of eco-friendly product choices can foster more sustainable consumption patterns among Arab consumers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the green PIs of millennials in an Arab context, specifically focusing on the moderating role of EL.