Literature Review
The goal of this section is to provide a critical overview of the literature related to the issue of Emiratization and knowledge transfer, identify possible factors affecting these processes and relevant frameworks for studying these phenomena. The literature review will consecutively cover the concepts of Emiratization and workplace knowledge sharing in their correlation, identify possible factors influencing them and study relevant conceptual frameworks to further explore the topic within the project.
The Relationship between Emiratization and Knowledge Transfer
The concept of Emiratization essentially emerged as a governmental policy for nationalization of workplaces aimed to remedy the imbalance in employment and ensure increased participation of local citizens in the UAE economy. The antecedents of the process are the demographic surplus of the population and the increase in unemployment rates. The unemployment rate among youth and adults combined reaches 15% which one reason for concern (Albloushi, 2015).
Another core reason for the introduction of the nationalization agenda is the imbalance on the job market. Global Media Insight (2019) suggests that natives represent only 11,48% of the total UAE population as opposed to 88,52% expatriates. As the youth accounts for 12% of unemployment, it became one of the targets for Emiratization under the aegis of forging the national leadership from young and ambitious individuals.
Scholars observe that public sector managerial positions are mostly reserved for citizens consistently across the Gulf countries, which apparently is a part of a national protectionist policy that existed before the emergence of job nationalization strategies (Albloushi, 2015; Al-Qubaisi, 2012). In the UAE, however, according to the report by Gulf Labour Markets and Migration (2015), a quarter of all employed expatriates in the public sector, which is 40%, serve in executive roles.
In the private sector, UAE employs only 0.5% of Emiratis, which is due to the mismatch in the job requirements and propositions (Albloushi, 2015; Gulf Labour Markets and Migration, 2015). Despite such statistics, the implications for resident’s employment are increasingly bright as among the citizen population education levels, and expertise is sufficient to participate in virtually any projects.
The process in its nature is not unique to the UAE, and other Gulf countries have been implementing similar strategies since the 1950s (Al-Qubaisi, 2012). Yet, there is a sufficient dissimilarity in the strategies and frameworks that nationalization unfolded (Cyrill, 2015). These differences are pertaining, among other things, to the degree of governmental regulation, proportion aims, approach to broadening knowledge transfer capacities, and training.
In Oman, for instance, the process of Omanization there seems to be no managerial interventions for facilitating the knowledge transfer situation as the focus of their efforts was on adjusting its visa policy based on the job area codes (Cyrill, 2015). To a certain extent, such practice may limit the tensions between foreign and national employees in terms of sharing professional practices by decreasing the rates of labor immigration. However, the persistence of these issues with the presently employed workers seems to remain in place.
Another approach based on avoidance and impact minimization was adopted by Qatar. The country decided to invest heavily in national education and thus eliminate the need for knowledge sharing (Cyrill, 2015). In the circumstances where the national workforce is more professionally able and skilled than the foreign one, the former will be more competitive on the job market, thus achieving the goal of the policy. Under such a paradigm, the relations between workplace nationalization and knowledge sharing is driven to a minimum as the necessity for the latter is reduced due to the higher levels of knowledge and skills in locals.
The evident drawbacks of such an approach are the monetary and time expenses required for such a largescale intervention (Cyrill, 2015). In addition, education levels do not seem to completely resolve the problem of nationalization in conjunction with knowledge exchange, as the latter is concerned mostly with passing experience and techniques acquired in the process of performing. While proper education is indeed a significant factor in job performance, work experience which is received, among other channels, through on-the-job knowledge transfer is also vital (Ajmal & Koskinen, 2008). The limited results of the policy seem to indirectly back such assumptions and lead to the speculation that knowledge sharing being strongly related to nationalization is a significant issue to be studied.
Thus, it can be established that the transfer of expertise is one of the critical aspects in the process of employing new workforce regardless of the national factor. According to Haak-Saheem, Darwish, and Al-Nasser (2017), it facilitates seamless integration of employees into the context of a workplace and positively influences the productivity and engagement in new workers. Given the fact that Emiratization is revolved around the employment of its citizens and furthering the youth empowerment, the government is naturally concerned about the quality of the transition which connects it to the notion of proper knowledge sharing practices.
The manner in which a political policy could influence that which essentially is a human resource practice can be intrinsic and extrinsic. In accordance with strategic human resource practice (SHRM), commitment to knowledge sharing on the individual level may either be facilitated by personal gains or material rewards (Haak-Saheem et al., 2017). In the position of expatriates, neither pathway seems to be activated because they receive no long-term gains in either domain. Yet, additional research is a need in this sphere as there seems to be no qualitative or quantitative evaluation of expatriates’ perception of knowledge sharing was conducted in UAE (Matherly & Hodgson, 2014).
One of the major barriers towards knowledge sharing in relation to the nationalization of workplaces is the reluctance of foreign employees to share the techniques and effective work practices with native citizens (Toledo, 2011). The underlying reason for such unwillingness to convey expertise is the concern for personal employment opportunities. Indeed, the economic status of expatriates is heavily dependent on the fact of employment as the policy of Emiratization may influence their employment opportunities. The high degree of negativity that follows this nationalization process may hamper firms’ effectiveness due to the poor workplace climate (Minbaeva, 2007).
Interpersonal tensions resulting from improper knowledge transfer thus may undermine the profitability of a company. Given such findings, one may assume that there is a critical mismatch between goals of the job nationalization program and desire for knowledge sharing in expatriates. Facilitation of the process of knowledge exchange apparently requires setting a different modality to the transfer excluding the negativity from the list of possible barriers.
Presently, as the course for job nationalization is accepted at the highest levels of UAE authority and is being implemented through the range of public and private organizations, expatriates may sense specific underlying themes of advancement on their source of income (Waxin & Bateman, 2016). The presence of such psychological constructs may further the refusal of knowledge sharing due to the motivation of retaining a workplace and remaining in the state of sole possession of professional expertise. Therefore, the literature seems to underline the presence of the negative influence of Emiratization on knowledge transfer, yet further research is required.
Factors Influencing Knowledge Sharing within the Context of Emiratization
Economics may be considered one of the major domains of Emiratization influence. As implied earlier, the job nationalization may lead to a decrease in the demand for the foreign workforce as more jobs become naturally allocated to locals (Waxin & Bateman, 2016).
In light of this, the employed foreigners may associate the knowledge sharing with a subsequent loss of position which may affect their further career perspectives in UAE. Certain experts tend to agree that the prospect of unemployment may become the dominant factor in reluctance to share their professional knowledge with locals thus fostering negativity in the workplace environment (Eynon & Ryan, 2011; Waxin & Bateman, 2016; Haak-Saheem et al., 2017).
The strength of this factor’s influence may be explained through several levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (as cited in Haak-Saheem et al., 2017). In particular, the benefits of employment may be associated with means for satisfying basic needs situated at the base of the pyramid.
If the policy is associated with an attempt to undermine the success at satisfying the basic physiological needs such as the provision of food and water for oneself and one’s family, the antipathy towards knowledge sharing can be expected to be strong (as cited in Haak-Saheem et al., 2017). Unfortunately, there is a gap in the academic literature, and few studies provide a quantitative measure for the extent of the economic factor of Emiratization influence on knowledge sharing intent and perception of the concept in general.
Another domain of job nationalization influence is psychology. In accordance with the ownership or possession theory, individuals that form a strong sense of control over a certain sphere of their everyday activity may not feel inclined to share this dominance (Pierce, Kostova, & Dirks, 2003). In the context of Emiratization of employment sphere, knowledge, expertise or experience may be perceived as a factor that allows professionals to exercise control over their function in the company.
Consequently, the reluctance to share job knowledge may be associated with a sufficient degree of reluctance to cooperate with locals in this regard. The connections of that factor may be traced to the Maslow’s hierarchy as the desire for power and dominance falls into the categories of self-actualization and esteem needs (as cited in Haak-Saheem et al., 2017). Under Emiratization, an expatriate employee may feel challenged and insecure from communicating one’s skills and techniques that allow him or her to actualize themselves in the professional and personal sense. Little academic knowledge is available on the realms of such correlation in the UAE expatriates which once again demonstrates the relevance of the present research.
Social domain of Emiratization influence on the knowledge-sharing in foreign employees is also strong. Thus, the researchers seem to be convinced that there is significant connection between human resource management practices and their effectiveness due to cultural differences (Minbaeva, 2007). Role perceptions in the workplace among the representatives of different cultures may be significantly dissimilar. Given that fact, there might be a sufficient reason to believe that there exists a strong cultural stance on the knowledge sharing that allows anticipating complications in conjunction with implementing Emiratization in companies.
Intrinsic to that are the cultural policies and existing training initiatives that mediate the role of culture in the process of knowledge sharing and desire to initiate it (Minbaeva, 2007). Again, the literature does not sufficiently cover the topic, as Bjorkman and Barner-Rasmussen suggest, there is a need for further studies in this domain (as cited in Minbaeva, 2007).
Corporate culture factor could also be pertinent to the impact of the nationalization initiative on knowledge transfer. Scientists find that knowledge transfer could be significantly impacted by an organizational culture that facilitates such exchange (Ajmal & Koskinen, 2008). In the context of Emiratization, corporate values and environment might become the mediators that might decrease the negative influence of Emiratization on knowledge sharing. In companies, where experience is translated to new employees by seniors, as a rule, Emiratization and influx of local workforce may not elicit negative effect in terms of knowledge transfer. Yet, according to Haak-Saheem et al. (2017), such a phenomenon did not receive sufficient academic attention in the context of Emiratization.
It is also paramount to note that there is sufficient interrelation between factors in different domains. Thus, the psychological realm and perception are intertwined with economic and social factors as it accounts for the elicitation of response and developing antipathies for certain actions such as accumulation of wealth, sharing, altruism, and other notions (Pierce et al., 2003). The economy is deeply rooted in social sciences as inter-personal and inter-group conflicts such as knowledge sharing may frequently occur due to the different culture-inspired perception of wealth and money. Thus, there seems to be a variety of intricate connections between different factors that mediate or undermine the impact from the implementation of workforce localization policies in UAE companies on knowledge sharing.
Conceptual Framework
Having reviewed the academic achievements and conceptions in the field of Emiratization and its influence on the knowledge transfer, the study may transition to discussing the foundations of further content. As the research is set within a mixed context of political and managerial fields, there is also a need for employing a complex approach that is able to determine the weight of variables pertaining to both of them. Further work will be based on the combined use of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as an economic and psychological domain are interconnected with several levels of its pyramid.
In accord with SHRM theory, the research will undertake an assessment of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for knowledge transfer in expatriates. Most importantly, consistent with the identified research gaps, the study will undertake a mixed-method approach involving survey and interview as the knowledge management area of Emiratization impact is largely understudied. The core domains in which assessment which will be conducted will include economic, social, psychological and corporate culture as implications of Emiratization influences on experience transfer were identified in each of them. In this manner, the present research will address the inconsistency and gaps in the existing body of academic knowledge.
In the course of the present literature review, major concepts of Emiratization and knowledge sharing were connected through an array of influences. It was identified, that the major academic comments on Emiratization in regard to sharing knowledge and other HR practices are of a negative nature. While the policy itself pursues positive outcomes for UAE, there might be a need for further research into ways expatriates perceive Emiratization in the context of knowledge sharing.
The expertise of other countries in job nationalization demonstrated the wide array of approaches to the issue. The study concentrates its efforts on several identified domains of Emiratization influence using a mixed theoretical framework and attempt to bridge the gaps in the scientific literature.
References
Ajmal, M. M., & Koskinen, K. U. (2008). Knowledge transfer in project-based organizations: An organizational culture perspective. Project Management Journal, 39(1), 7-15.
Albloushi, I. A. (2015). Exploration of the Challenges of Emiratisation in UAE in the 21st century. Web.
Al-Qubaisi, O. S. (2012). ICT, human capital development and emiratisation of the labour market in the United Arab Emirates. Web.
Cyrill, M. M. (2015). The impact of workforce nationalisation on Indian expatriates in the GCC states: A case study of the U.A.E. Retrieved from the Centre for West Asian Studies School of International Studies. Web.
Eynon, J., & Ryan, K. (2011). Workforce localisation initiatives in the UAE private sector: The influence of culture and HRM practices on the successful employment of UAE national graduates. Web.
Global Media Insight. (2019). UAE population statistics in 2019. Web.
Gulf Labour Markets and Migration. (2015). Demography, migration, and the labour market in the UAE. Web.
Haak-Saheem, W., Darwish, T. K., & Al-Nasser, A. D. (2017). HRM and knowledge-transfer: a micro analysis in a Middle Eastern emerging market. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(19), 2762-2791.
Matherly, L. L., & Hodgson, S. (2014). Implementing employment quotas to develop human resource capital: A comparison of Oman and the UAE. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, 2(7), 75-90.
Minbaeva, D. B. (2007). Knowledge transfer in multinational corporations. Management International Review, 47(4), 567-593.
Pierce, J.L., Kostova, T. & Dirks, K.T. (2003). The state of psychological ownership: Integrating and extending a century of research. Review of General Psychology, 7(1), 84-107.
Toledo, H. (2011). The political economy of Emiratization in the UAE. Journal of Economic Studies, 40(1), 33-53.
Waxin, M., & Bateman, R. (2016). Labor localisation and HRM practices in the Gulf countries”, in P. Budhwar & K. Mellahi (Eds.), Handbook of human resource management in the Middle East (pp. 284-309). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.