Purpose: This study focuses on leadership transfer by academic managers in public universities. Motivation to transfer is expected to mediate the relationship between peer and supervisor support (independent variables) and the transfer of training (dependent variable). Methodology: The study sample comprises 263 academic managers who completed leadership training programs in public universities. Structural equation modeling is used to test the study model for four hypotheses. Findings: In line with previous findings from different contexts, the study shows that (a) the motivation of academic managers to transfer training mediates between the actual transfer and the two types of organizational support, from peers and supervisors; (b) peer support has a stronger impact than supervisor support on motivation to transfer; (c) training transfer in public universities has a pattern similar to that in other organizations; and (d) the country context does not seem to affect the dynamics of training transfer. Implications: To remain competitive with successful policies, universities need to foster learning environments by effectively engaging those responsible for managing university policies. Applying new leadership knowledge, skills and abilities is a sophisticated process in which academic managers are not the only stakeholders. Given the nature of the organizational phenomenon, work environments are similar across countries and sectors; therefore, emphasizing the role of national cultural norms and values over the objective needs of the workplace seems problematic. Limitations: Structural equation modeling may not capture all psychological and personal aspects of transfer; therefore, triangulation methods can be useful. The competition in higher❒ Abdulfattah Yaghi, United Arab Emirates University, UAE.

Jordanian policymakers rely on trained supervisors to lead organizational change in public administration. The impact of training, however, remains weak unless trainees apply what they have learned (training transfer). In order to assess training transfer, the present study validates a Classic Arabic version of the Learning Transfer System Inventory (CALTSI). The instrument was administered to a random sample of 500 supervisors. Exploratory factor analysis with oblique factor rotation validates 15 of the original 16 factors of the LTSI and explains about 65% of the common variance. These findings and their implications are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore the voting behavior in United Arab Emirates by asking 1,800 citizens about which criteria they used to vote for a particular candidate in the past Federal National Council elections. Using descriptive statistics, the study showed that although patron-client networks played a role in voter's preferences -as existing literature about Middle East voters' behavior has established -they were superseded by personal attributes and the impact of candidates' campaigns. Emiratis voted for candidates based on three groups of factors, namely: 1) personal characteristics of the candidate including: public speaking skills, political experience, age, gender and educational level; 2) impact of a candidate's campaign including electoral promises and content of the campaign; and 3) patron-client networks including having personal and kinship relationship with candidate. The study showed that religious, political, and personal appearance factors were insignificant.

In response to the challenge of human resource imbalance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the government enacted a nationalization policy (Emiratization) which compelled organizations to hire national job seekers. The present study aimed at assessing the quality of working life (QWL) of 450 national employees in the public and private sectors. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that employees indicated an above average level of perceived QWL. Four factors were important to adding quality to the work life, namely managerial approach, prestige, pay and benefits, and professional development opportunities. These results and their implications were discussed in detail.

PurposeThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the few countries where nationals make up less than 20 percent of the total population and less than 2 percent of the workforce. Hence organizations in the public and private sectors are highly diverse in terms of their employees' nationality, language, religion, race, and gender. The purpose of this paper is to examine how employees perceive human resource diversity and what they consider successful diversity to be.Design/methodology/approachThe main research instrument is a questionnaire which measures diversity in human resources. Exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression, and descriptive statistics were used in order to analyze 795 survey responses.FindingsThe findings reveal that perception of human resource diversity in the UAE vary by employees' gender, educational level, nationality, professional experience, job level, previous experience in diverse workplace, and second language competency. Analysis of employees' responses helped to construct a four‐factor model, which can be utilized to improve diversity practices in organizations.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the literature on the UAE is limited, the study proposes four factors needed to achieve perceived successful diversity practices: legal, personnel, bureaucratic, and political factors. Researchers are encouraged to use comparative approaches to test the proposed model.Originality/valueThe study offers important insights for researchers and practitioners of human resource management in the UAE.