Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the mediating role of the extensiveness of strategic planning on the relationship between slack resources and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses empirical data gathered from 102 usable replies from private and also public hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Findings – The findings indicate the existence of a positive relationship between slack resources and organizational performance and show that the extensiveness of strategic planning plays a mediating role in this relationship. Research limitations/implications – The authors highlight the exploratory nature of the study considering its unusual setting, namely, the UAE’s health care sector. Practical implications – Several implications of the findings for managerial and policy practices in the UAE health care sector are discussed. Originality/value – This study contributes to the existing literature on management, health care, and developing countries by examining the role of the extensiveness of strategic planning in mediating the relationship between slack resources and organizational performance in the health care industry of a developing country.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between religiosity and the feeling of work stress, as represented by Muslim attitudes towards the religiosity scale. Design/methodology/approach-A sample of 212 employees from the United Arab Emirates participated in the study. Frequencies, regression, ANOVA, and ratios were applied in the paper. Findings-The major results revealed that self-evaluation of faith level is not related significantly to any dependent variable. The majority of the respondents reported a low level of faith. Muslim females were identified to experience more work stress than males. Additional studies concerned with other religions can provide more comprehensive findings related to the relationship between religion and work stress. Originality/value-Multinational corporation and other business organizations can derive great benefit from the results of this paper with regard to business in Islamic countries.

A reward and recognition (RR) system is a tool widely applied by organizations to motivate their employees. Outstanding employees expect their effort to be acknowledged by the organization. However, the variety of rewards and recognitions systems used by organizations may be perceived differently by different employees. The diverse workforce structure in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) poses various challenges for organization managers. Managers need to implement the shrewd RR system which best fits their diverse workforce. This research studied how medical sector employees in the private and public health sector view the RR systems in the UAE. Two lists, comprising 26 major approaches to RR, were prepared and its items prioritized by taking inputs from 250 employees working in more than 30 varied public and private health care organizations in the UAE. The findings of the research are expected to provide guidelines for developing appropriate RR systems for organizations in general, and UAE health care organizations in particular.