The role of technology-based services in establishing brand equity within the private hospitals sector in Kuwait

This study aims to explore the role of technology-based services in establishing brand equity within the private hospitals sector in Kuwait. A survey is designed based on dimensions that include ease of use, e-responsiveness, e-scape, security, and customization. E-responsiveness and security had strong and direct influence on brand equity; whereas, ease of use, e-escape, and customization had no significant positive impact on the brand equity. The proposed model of relationship between e-service quality and brand equity has the potential to help hospital managers to establish their brand equity through managing the level of their online services.     

Negotiating the Politics of Exclusion: Georges Candilis,Housing and the Kuwaiti Welfare State

In the early stages of welfare planning, the Kuwaiti state restricted equal access to its housing programs in neighborhoods outside the city. The subsequent demographic shift, caused by a Kuwaiti exodus to the ‘suburbs' and non‐Kuwaiti urban labor migration, prompted calls for housing schemes to encourage city living for citizens. Georges Candilis's proposal for a residential neighborhood in Kuwait City emerged from this context. This article examining Candilis's unrealized project also offers a critical perspective on Kuwait's unbalanced housing policies. From this analysis, it draws observations on the role of architects and their limited impact on policies established by decision‐making networks within the welfare state. Seen from this perspective, the Candilis project bears witness to broader socio‐economic agendas that privileged some groups while marginalizing or excluding others.     

The Direct and Mediating Effects of Transactional and Transformational Leadership: A Comparative Approach

SUMMARY

The purpose of this study is to test a comprehensive model of relationships between transactional and transformational leadership trust in organizations, organizational justice, intention to leave and organizational citizenship behavior. The data were collected from 179 middle and direct levels managers in 17 private Egyptian organizations. The data were analyzed using regression analysis and structural equations analysis. The latter analysis provides the potential of examining the complex model as a whole. The focus of the analysis was on the direct and mediating effects of the leadership variables. The study results showed that transformational leadership has an influence over the outcome variables above and beyond the influence of the contextual variables. The implications, limitations and the future research directions were discussed.     

浅析科威特工程总承包项目实施难点

随着科威特工程面向国际招标,给中国建筑企业进入科威特市场带来了机遇。笔者参与该国两个大型公用设施的投标和建设过程,对科威特EPC工程总承包实施的难点进行浅析。     

Capabilities and (Missed) Opportunity for Women’s Entrepreneurship in Kuwait

Abstract

Kuwait offers a powerful context for investigating the entrepreneurial cultures developing in Gulf countries in response to the concurrent trends of pursuing economic diversification and efficiency, and the constraints posed by cultural narratives that maintain inequality between the sexes. Bringing a capabilities lens to the analysis of entrepreneurship promotion programs means shifting from a focus on meeting basic human needs to ensuring capabilities development. To begin, we discuss the capabilities approach to entrepreneurship with a focus on the necessity/opportunity classification. Next, we review the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Kuwait, including its focus on opportunity entrepreneurs and the legal, economic, and sociocultural framework in which they operate. After considering the impact of Kuwait’s gender-blind approach on women’s entrepreneurship, we conclude with some suggestions for strengthening Kuwait’s potential for capability expansion through entrepreneurship.     

Education,job satisfaction and gender in Kuwait

This study explores the relationship between education (level and field) and job satisfaction among Kuwaiti women employees in the Kuwaiti private banking sector. The analysis is focused on the responses of the female employees to their own jobs as indicated by their level of job satisfaction. Specifically, the research involved a stratified sample of the Kuwaiti women employees in the whole private banking sector in Kuwait. This study differs from previous investigations of job satisfaction in two principal ways: in dealing with the private sector (rather than the more common public sector in studies of the Middle East) and in taking into account education (level and field) in the privatesector work setting. The major findings of this research indicate that a much broader approach towards increasing satisfaction than focusing on the job itself is required. The study shows that the respondents' education background is of substantial importance in affecting job satisfaction.     

Hydrochemical Processes and Environmental Isotopic Study of Groundwater in Kuwait

Abstract

The present paper studies the hydrochemical processes and the isotopic characteristics of the main aquifers, the Kuwait Group and Dammam aquifers in the State of Kuwait. The water chemical types are dominantly NaCl and Na₂SO₄ in the Kuwait Group aquifer and Na₂SO₄, CaSO₄, and NaCl in the Dammam Limestone aquifer. The groundwater of the Kuwait Group aquifer is supersaturated with respect to quartz and calcite, and near saturation with respect to aragonite, but under-saturated with respect to anhydrite, dolomite, gypsum, and halite. While the groundwater of the Dammam aquifer is strongly under-saturated with respect to anhydrite, halite, and gypsum and is supersaturated with respect to quartz, dolomite, aragonite, and calcite. The saturation indices of the calcite and dolomite are increased in the direction of flow from southwest toward north-northeast. Al-Rawdhatain and Umm Al-Aish groundwater samples lie near the meteoric water line. They represent the effect of recharge by rainfall during pluvial period. The brackish palaeo-groundwater of the Dammam aquifer has low values of δ¹⁸O (?4.5 per mil) and δD (?35 per mil), which reveal that these waters are related to the palaeo-water from the cool wet period in the eastern Arabia 11,000 to 60,000 years B.P. The investigated brackish groundwater samples showed that the deuterium excess values are much lower than that of the Mediterranean areas. This may suggest that the evaporation was a prevailing process before the infiltration to the aquifers.     

Purchasing environmentally sustainable apparel: The attitudes and intentions of female Kuwaiti consumers

The purpose of this study is to examine relationships among knowledge, environmental concern, attitudes about environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) and ESA purchasing behaviours of Kuwaiti women. This was accomplished by surveying 236 participants using four preexisting scales, measuring knowledge about the impact of manufacturing apparel and textile products on the environment, levels of concern about environmental degradation, feelings about clothing that is environmentally sustainable and ESA purchase intentions. Data analysis determined several findings. First, female Kuwaiti nationals showed a low level of knowledge about the environmental impacts of the apparel and textile industry. The participants also held neutral attitudes of environmental concern and neutral attitudes towards ESA. Finally, despite their knowledge and attitudes, the participants did have positive intentions to purchase ESA in the future. To produce, market and sell ESA effectively in Kuwait, the conclusions from this study are important for manufacturers and retailers of ESA products. Kuwait provides a large market for apparel goods and this study is a contribution to a better understanding of consumers and ESA in that market.     

The influence of Islamic Work Ethic on employees’ responses to change in Kuwaiti Islamic banks

Significant attention has been paid recently to Islamic Work Ethic (IWE) particularly in organizational change literature. However, the nature of the relationship remains ambiguous. Research studies attempting to uncover IWE’s influence on characteristics of employees’ responses are still in its infancy. To tackle this gap, this study contributes to knowledge by developing a possible conceptual model identifying IWE’s influence on employees’ responses towards change in the shape of their commitment to change and organizational deviance. The testing of these relationships took place in the ever-developing Kuwaiti Islamic banking sector. Data was collected from 398 employees by distributing self-administered questionnaires. Outcomes revealed that the extent of IWE’s influence on employee commitment to change varied across different components. This result offers a unique understanding into IWE’s affiliation with employee attitudes to change, especially in the Islamic banking sector. Moreover, IWE was found to negatively influence employee engagement in organizational deviance. As such, this finding has not been established within the context of change previously. Due to such findings, several implications and future research directions emerge.     

科威特大学城专业/劳务分包或供应商结算流程

专业/劳务分包或供应商结算流程,是分包企业得以发展的资金保障。工程款及时足额回收是资金时间效益的体现,关系到分包单位的生死存亡。