PurposeThis paper addresses the clustering of several Arab states on Hofstede's national culture dimensions and its implications for international firms targeting the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. It is imperative to distinguish the region's various national cultures, in order to enable enhanced segmenting strategies. The authors argue that reexamining the Arab states' national cultures can provide interested firms with a better understanding of their differences and similarities, so as to appropriately adjust their products and services to better serve their consumers.Design/methodology/approachHofstede's Values Survey Module 2013 (VSM 13) questionnaire is employed. In total, 1400 surveys were disseminated to all the Arab states, 200 for each country.Findingsfind evidence that national cultural differences do exist for Arab states and discuss implications toward international firms expanding in the region.Originality/valueEmpirical contributions include the dissemination and translation of Hofstede's national culture survey, the VSM 13, on seven Arab states: Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lebanon, Iraq, Libya and Egypt. Second, the VSM 13 survey measured the Arab states on two more dimensions which had not been previously measured before the present study's investigation. Last, the theoretical contribution of the present study offers empirical evidence that the MENA region's national culture profiles differ on all dimensions, and as such its findings are seen as an extension and validation of Hofstede's national culture theory.

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A comprehensive review of the literature indicates that there is a lack of research on the influence of all the organizational culture (OC) types on academics’ readiness and behavioral intention to implement eLearning changes in higher education institutions (HEIs). To address this gap, this study empirically investigates the impact of OC on academics’ readiness and behavioral intention to implement eLearning changes within HEIs in Kuwait during the COVID-19 pandemic. A 218 self-administered survey was distributed to public and private HEIs. The analysis of collected data reveal that the most prominent OCs are hierarchy and market types which support readiness for change. The contribution of this study lies in further understanding the impact of OC on academics’ readiness for eLearning changes and behavioral intention to support eLearning implementation. The findings further offer an original contribution by confirming the mediating role of academics’ readiness for eLearning changes in the relationship between OC and behavioral intention. This paper adds to the change management literature by collecting data during the COVID-19 pandemic within the interesting context of HEIs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is currently scarce. The implications of this study contribute to the sustainability of Kuwaiti HEIs.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to measure the Arab States? innovation and imitation levels to understand the factors affecting their diffusion processes. The authors argue that sampling Arab States provides the literature on international diffusion with the ability to contrast between developing and developed countries regarding the diffusion process and to represent a different region with different characteristics both economic and cultural. As such, the authors investigated the diffusion patterns of seven Arab States, namely, Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya and Egypt. Design/methodology/approach The present study mapped the respective Arab States’ diffusion patterns by applying the Bass model on their mobile cellular subscriptions data. Findings The paper’s contributions include estimating the Arab States diffusion patterns and distinguishing them according to their innovation and imitation coefficients. Findings indicate Kuwait and Libya as the most innovative countries, whereas Egypt and Lebanon ranked as laggards. The present study also reviewed each Arab State’s telecommunication sector which provided a theoretical interpretation for the differences found in their diffusion patterns. Originality/value The paper extends diffusion theory to encompass a region otherwise excluded from the literature’s generalizable findings. The present study’s sampling of countries from the Middle East and North African region and subsequent findings provide a stronger basis to draw empirical generalizations about international product diffusion process than previously suggested by the literature.

Due to its wide usage in vast fields of study, there is a lack of studies synthesizing the many aspects of national culture theory. The authors argue that given the proliferation of national culture theories in various disciplines, the need to integrate and provide an analytical review is fundamental for further research. As such, they have reviewed 110 empirical and conceptual studies on the concept of national culture and recounted the different national culture theories within. They have also assimilated the varied criticism towards each respective national culture theory and synthesized them under six discernable shortcomings: the ecological fallacy, the concept of nations as units, the complexity of culture, the construct’s conceptualization, the research approach, and the dangers of stereotyping.