Contexts of organisational learning in developing countries: The role of training programmes in Egyptian public banks

Purpose: Little research into organisational learning in the public sector in developing countries’ is known. In this paper, we investigated the context of organizational learning in the public banks in Egypt. Methodology: An ethnographic field research was employed by spending a month inside each of two public banks in Egypt. The ethnographic experience was operationalised by using direct observations of learning processes, procedures and practices, semi-structured interviews with learning specialists, and focus group discussions with bankers. We used thematic analysis to determine the main themes in the previous data collection methods of ethnographic approach. Findings: The findings confirmed a lack of clear focus for the organizational learning practices employed by the banks, which highlights issues of seriousness in undertaking and/or tackling organizational learning, and increased doubts in relation to the added value of the different forms of formal trainings bankers participate in. To enhance the culture and maintain effective functioning of formal organizational learning, we suggest considering the following three categories of barriers: purpose related barriers, implementation and evaluation barriers. Originality: Despite the generalisability caveats associated with the organisations studied, we believe that this paper contributes to the existing theory of organisational learning as it provides insights and understanding on the purpose, frame, conduct and results of organisational learning in the public sector. More specifically, our study is unique and is different from previous relevant studies as it relies on ethnographical approach in exploring how organisational leaning practices are perceived in public banks in developing countries

Responsible management education in time of crisis: a conceptual framework for public business schools in Egypt and similar Middle-Eastern Context

Recent studies show that the adoption of RME scenarios is still a matter of concern for non-western countries ((Mousa et al., Journal of Management Development 38:681–696, 2019), 2021a, 2021b). In this paper, we theoretically propose the potential direction of RME scenarios that business schools in Egypt and other similar cultural context to implement through articulating the main antecedents of RME before and after Covid-19. we used the method of multilevel research by combining different theoretical approaches. As an outcome of our analysis, we developed five propositions which form the main antecedents of RME in Egypt and similar regional Middle East business schools before and after Covid-19

Organizational learning, authentic leadership and individual-level resistance to change: a study of Egyptian academics

Purpose – This paper focuses on academics in three private foreign universities located in Cairo (Egypt) to explore the effect of organizational learning on individual-level resistance to change with and without the mediation of authentic leadership.Design/ methodology/ approach – A total of 960 academics were contacted and all of them received a set of questionnaires. After four follow ups, a total of 576 responses were collected with a response rate of 60.00 percent. The author used the chi-square test to determine the association between organizational learning and authentic leadership. Multiple regressions were employed to show how much variation in individual-level resistance to change can be explained by organizational learning and authentic leadership.Findings – The findings highlight a statistical association between organizational learning and authentic leadership. Moreover, another statistical association is explored between authentic leadership and individual-level resistance to change. Furthermore, the statistical analysis proved that having an authentic leadership in the workplace fosters the effect of organizational learning in alleviating individual’s resistance to change.Research limitations/ implications – Data was collected only from academics and did not include rectors and/or heads of academic departments, the matter that may lead to an inflation of statistical relationships. Future research could use a double source method. Moreover, focusing only on private foreign universities working in Egypt diminishes the author’s potential for generalizing his results.Practical implications – The author recommends establishing a unit for knowledge management inside every university. The function of this unit includes but is not limited to examining prospective socio-political, cultural and economic changes/challenges in the surrounding environment and preparing the possible scenarios for dealing with them. This in turn should comprise involvement and learning opportunities for academics work in these universities. The suggested units should also organize monthly meetings between academics and representatives from different Egyptian sectors such as NGOs personnel, CEOs of private and public companies, environmentalists and politicians to address what change those actors seek universities to undertake to guide academics to fulfil their expectations.Originality/ value – This paper contributes by filling a gap in HR management and organization literature in the higher education sector, in which empirical studies on the relationship between organizational learning, authentic leadership and resistance to change have been limited until now

Gender, diversity management perceptions, workplace happiness and organizational citizenship behaviour

Purpose/ Aim: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether females have different perceptions of diversity management and workplace happiness compared to their male colleagues. Furthermore, the paper explores whether diversity management perceptions mediates the relationship between workplace happiness and organisational citizenship behaviour. Design/Methodology/Approach: A total of 260 questionnaire from a number of public hospitals in Egypt were analysed using both t-test and Structural Equation Modelling. Findings/ Results: We found that female physicians perceive diversity management policies/protocols more positively than their male colleagues. Moreover, gender has no or little effect on physicians’ perceptions of workplace happiness. We also found that workplace happiness positively affects physicians’ organisational citizenship behaviour, and finally, diversity management practices can mediate the relationship between workplace happiness and physicians’ organisational citizenship behaviour. Social and practical implications: We believe that managers can raise the feeling of workplace happiness among their staff if they maintain some personal relationships with physicians, care about the physicians’ work/life balance, promote after work gatherings, initiate coffee time talks, encourage open communication practices and more. Originality: The paper is based on the argument that although employees might be happy in the workplace through (engagement, job satisfaction, affective commitment), however their happiness will be unlikely reflected into a positive organizational citizenship behaviour towards their organisation, except (social exchange theory) they feel or perceive (equity theory) the overall practices of diversity management in that organization positively. Thus, studying the mediating effect of perceptions towards diversity management is mainly our contribution

Multi academy trusts in England: a scenario of cooperation with universities

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the authors’ views of university–multi academy trusts’ (MATs) opportunities for future interconnectivity that could support successful partnerships. Design/methodology/approach: The authors developed a matrix of university–MATs partnerships that could help identifying potential scenarios of collaboration between universities and MATs. Findings: Four potential scenarios of collaborations are proposed (board membership, academic supervision, recruitment support and academic support). Research limitations/implications: Scholars in the field can further investigate the four proposed scenarios in the matrix in future studies. Practical implications: The matrix will be useful for universities and MATs management for potential cooperation in the future. Originality/value: The study proposes four scenarios of cooperation between MATs and universities

Barriers of organizational inclusion: A study among academics in Egyptian public business schools

We investigate the main barriers of organizational inclusion practices of academics in Egyptian higher education institutions and propose interventions to enhance academics’ sense of organizational inclusion. A total of 245 academics was interviewed in 49 face-to-face focus groups. Upon conducting the interviews, the authors used thematic analysis to determine the main ideas in the transcripts. We could not identify any adoptable paradigm for the systematic practice of organizational inclusion experienced by academics in the chosen business schools. Moreover, we identified three types of barriers hindering the sense of organizational inclusion among academics which are cultural, functional and psychological. However, the focus of our study is on a single perspective (academics) and a single area (Upper Egypt) - a matter that neglects a variety of other views including mainly the authorities of Egyptian higher education sector. As a result, we identified three prompt managerial interventions for Egyptian public business schools. The first is economic which proposes a link between the financial remuneration of professors and the number of academic theses they supervise, the second is functional which strongly recommends that units to be created for managing foreign educational grants and scholarships, and the third is cultural which proposes that cultural tolerance units be required to manage any discriminatory and unequal opportunity claims. Our paper contributes by filling a gap in HR management in the higher education sector, in which empirical studies on the practices of organizational inclusion have been limited so far

Analysing the impact of post-pandemic factors on entrepreneurial intentions: The enduring significance of self-efficacy in student planned behaviour.

After the pandemic, there has still been an increased interest in examining university students’ entrepreneurial goals. In this study, we looked at the practicality and validity of using self-efficacy to broaden the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in assessing students’ intent to be entrepreneurs. Additionally, we looked at how students’ geographic location and gender affected their plans to start their businesses. Following the epidemic, we analyzed data obtained from a number of university students in both urban and rural regions of India using PLS-SEM and ANN methods. Our study confirmed the pivotal role that university students’ self-efficacy had in their entrepreneurial goals. The results of multi-group analysis (MGA) reported the insignificant moderating role of gender for the students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Still, they found a statistically significant difference in their said behavior control for entrepreneurial intentions regarding location. Based on their perceived behavioral control, the findings also suggest that youths in rural areas had lower entrepreneurial inclinations than urban students. The study indicated that considering the importance of student self-efficacy, universities should focus on improving students’ skill sets and problem-solving mindsets while constructing education courses

Transformational leadership, organizational justice and organizational outcomes

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of transformational leadership (TL) on organizational commitment (OC) with the mediating role of organizational justice (OJ) in the higher education (HE) sector in Syria. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from 502 employees from six HE institutions. Two measures of organizational outcomes were selected for this study, namely, job satisfaction (JS) and OC. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), the authors tested four alternative models to indicate the relationship between leadership and organizational outcomes. Findings: TL has both direct and indirect effects on OC through interactional justice (IJ). TL has an impact on JS through procedural justice (PJ) and IJ as intermediate variables, while transactional leadership (TrL) has an impact on JS through distributive justice (DJ). The three types of OJ have an impact on OC through JS. The authors found that the national culture may not influence the impact of the leader in the current globalization context, as the results were similar to the Western studies. Practical implications: The findings of the study provide managers of the HE sector with insights into the formations of employees’ fairness perceptions, and with some guidelines for managing employees by documenting OJ to draw positive attitudinal and behavioral responses from employees. Originality/value: While most previous research has focused on exploring the relationship between leadership and OJ or between OJ and JS in the business sector, the study, however, seeks in addition, to pinpoint the effect of OJ as a mediate variable between the leadership and JS and OC in HE

Should responsible management education become a priority? A qualitative study of academics in Egyptian public business schools

In this paper we investigate why responsible management education (RME) should become a necessity in Egyptian public business schools. A total of 80 academics from three universities were contacted and interviewed in six different focus groups. Three types of motives were identified from the interviews: extrinsic local, intrinsic school and extrinsic global, which inspired academics to believe in the importance of implementing RME in their business schools. Most respondents consider implementing RME is crucial to rebuilding their schools' legitimate and ethical role. Focusing only on academics rather than the executives of the selected business schools, is perceived to be a limitation. Moreover, addressing only public business schools and excluding private ones may limit the authors’ ability to generalize results. Thus, the authors of this paper invite researchers from the fields of cultural diversity, CSR, sustainability and higher education (HE) to collaborate in producing more interdisciplinary and/or trans-disciplinary papers on the same topic. Future researchers may seek to investigate the perceptions of management in the addressed business schools. Replicating this study with private business schools in Egypt may be considered another research opportunity. The educational authorities need to develop a framework for implementing and assessing RME in public business schools. This paper contributes by filling a gap in HE management, responsible leadership, and sustainability literature in which empirical studies on RME and the responsible practices of academics have been limited so far