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PurposeWhile the importance of leadership in various domains has been highlighted in the extant literature, effective leadership in the context of higher education sector has not been well addressed in the leadership scholarship. There is a need to address the challenge of leadership effectiveness in the education sector, including business schools, given the failures noticed in the sector attributed to poor-quality leadership. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore the factors that affected leadership in the context of higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approachThe research is exploratory in nature as the study critically reviewed extant literature surrounding leadership practices specifically from a public-sector context to identify factors affecting leadership effectiveness.FindingsThe findings of the study pointed out that, regardless of the nation or organisation, leadership effectiveness is a factor that is dependent on how well the followers have accepted the leader. This indicates that, amongst the different challenges explored in this study, leadership effectiveness is not only a challenge by itself but is also affected by other challenges, including leadership practice and style.Research limitations/implicationsThis research provides a better understanding of the critical factors affecting leadership practice of deans of business schools and how the styles’ influence on leadership practice, the relationship between leadership practice and leadership effectiveness and how leadership style translates into leadership effectiveness.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the growing body of knowledge surrounding leadership scholarship from a public-sector context about the challenges that affect leadership effectiveness in the context of HEIs and stimulates further investigation into those challenges.

Higher education institutions in the Arabian Gulf region today, which have mushroomed and proliferated in the past ten to fifteen years, have been constructing themselves along models of Western un...

This paper seeks to present a new dimension to the dimensions of IT governance; it proposes a model for the board interlocking and the IT governance. This conceptual model is based primarily on the Resource Dependence theory and tries to interpret the relationship between the board interlocking and the IT governance. This paper has theoretically reviewed the existing literature of the board interlocking; it has also added to the real gap in the literature of corporate governance which has not explained the importance of the board interlocking with IT governance. The researchers hope to provides a solid foundation for IT governance in order to supply companies with information about the IT environment surrounding it, the operating procedures, and the effective monitoring of the information systems, the challenges they face, the opportunities they may have, and to provide members of the board of directors with neutral opinion about these opportunities and challenges. The paper presents several contributions at both theoretical and practical levels; it paves the way for researchers to discuss the board interlocking with IT governance which contributes to the development of the theories governing the work of these concepts. It also draws the attention of the companies’ administration to one of the most important practices in forming and structuring the board, i.e. the necessity of connecting the board of directors with managers who are qualified with practical experience in information systems.

This paper presents Ahlia University research skills framework that was developed and adapted to assure integration of research as a major skill as part of teaching, learning, delivery, and assessment. The paper will provide an oversight from the extensive literature review on the basis of development of the adapted framework and demonstration of number of courses with A2 integration. As a conclusion areas for further investigation were drawn in particular in the GCC context that requires attention by HEIs and researchers.

This study considers the level of environment, social and governance (ESG) disclosures in the Islamic banks listed on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Members stock Exchange and investigates the relationship between ESG disclosures and banks' financial (ROE), operational (ROA) and market performance (TQ). We examine 59 banks for 10 years (2007-2016), ends up with 561 observations. The results of regression models found significant positive impact of ESG on operational, financial and market performance. However, the relationship between performance and these disclosures is varying if measured individually; the environmental disclosure found positively affect the ROA and TQ. Whereas, the corporate social responsibility disclosure is negatively affect the three models (ROA, ROE and TQ). Last but not the least, the corporate governance disclosure found negatively affects the financial and operational performance. However, positively affect the TQ.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the principal reasons why Emirate women are under‐represented in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) information technology (IT) sector; and the barriers and challenges that national women have encountered while working in this sector of the national economy.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on data from 20 structured in‐depth interviews conducted with Emirate women who had worked for a minimum of five years in IT.FindingsAlthough national women have made remarkable inroads into almost all professions and occupations in recent years, they are still noticeably under‐represented in IT, particularly in the private sector. In addition, very few are in senior‐level positions and there are, at the time of writing, no Emirate women technology‐entrepreneurs. The results show that cultural and familial factors still inhibit many young Emirate women from choosing careers in this profession, and negative gendered attitudinal assumptions about women are still prevalent within the local IT sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was small, so we were unable to test specific research hypotheses, or compare our results with quantitative cohort surveys conducted in other countries. Nevertheless, the findings warrant additional research, as increasing numbers of Emirate women graduate from local universities with IT/MIS degrees, and further research on this topic is described.Practical implicationsFive practical strategies are identified to encourage more young Emirate women to embrace IT careers in the future.Originality/valueThis is the first research on this issue conducted in the UAE/GCC region.