Abstract

This research aims to examine the impacts of the Wasta (The Arabic word for Nepotism) on intrapreneurship practices in the three Jordanian telecommunication companies (Zain, Orange and Uminah).

The influence of Nepotism and its impacts on organisational intrapreneurial practice in the Jordanian telecommunication sector is under-researched. This research study looks at addressing this gap in knowledge by providing empirical evidence and evaluating mechanisms within these companies about the practice of Wasta on intrapreneurship among employees and other relevant stakeholders like business partners. A Mixed (Both Quantitative and Qualitative) research approach using survey Questionnaire and open-ended questions methods will be proposed. This survey questionnaire and open-ended instruments will be set up with employees of the three companies. Expected outcomes from the study include addressing the gap of organisational and cultural dimensions that curtail maximum utilisation of human capital assets through internal intrapreneurial suggestions and the presence of Wasta practices. Additionally, the research seeks to develop both theoretical and practical research contribution to the other sectors.

Table of Contents

Rationale for the research 4

Purpose of the study 5

Hofstede's cultural dimensions 11

Globe cultural dimensions 13

Organisational culture in MENA and Jordan 21

Research Methodology 23

Contingency plan 29

Research Limitations 30

References 35

Appendices 43

Introduction

Background

Research terminology

Intrapreneurship: Intrapreneurship is the practice of the entrepreneurial mindset where an employee under the supervision of an organisation focuses on the innovative ideas and intentions which could be economically measurable and have the sustainable plans which are associated with the potential risks (Drucker, 2014, p.43).

Nepotism: Nepotism is a practice of favouring relatives or closely related individuals in the distribution of responsibilities or jobs over the general selection (Jaskiewicz et al., 2013, p.123).

The rationale for the research

There is a limited empirical and qualitative research that has been undertaken in Jordan concerning intrapreneurship and in the telecommunication sector. Additionally, the effect of nepotistic practises and the consequences of such actions on intrapreneurship, innovation and organisational culture remain largely unexplored. Janssen et al., (2019) undertook a systematic literature evaluation of conference papers for the preceding decade on the adoption and diffusion of intrapreneurial efforts in the telecommunications sector across the world and determined that there is limited research on the subject. Their research established that the expected number of intrapreneurial projects and initiatives have not been seen in the preceding decade because of lower involvement of creative minds in the decision-making process. However, their research work has been found as limited to the context of nepotism impacts because they have indicated different variables such as budget, Halo effect, Confirmation bias along with Nepotism which has concentrated less focus on nepotism.

Farrukh et al., (2016, p.598) have shown that the lacking intrapreneurial practices in the business enterprises are creating a substantial barrier in the annual research and innovation projects. This research indicated that as intrapreneurship activities are vital to the competitive advantage of the companies, through limiting dependency on third-party research and development, they are sources of competitive advantage for technology-focused companies. Aris et al., (2019, p. 2771) pointed out the importance of training and development opportunities in the organisation to motivate the employees in the process of intrapreneurship in the public sector managerial environment. Their research found that if companies can successively manage the facility and training opportunities in the organisational environment, the employees who have an entrepreneurial mindset could be motivated to bring these talents to intrapreneurship benefitting their employers. Their research has only indicated the adverse relationship with the Training opportunities and Intrapreneurship. Among these research gaps, there is a good literature base concentrated and focused to the area of telecommunication with the effects of Nepotism (Altindag, 2014; Nadeem et al., 2015; Sutherland, 2013; Sutherland, 2012).

Purpose of the study

Problem statement

The governmental intention in Jordan has been concentrated on the introduction of the country’s own (intrapreneurial at the national level) sustainable research and development projects in the telecom sector to reach the entire country (Kenresearch, 2020). Drobyazko et al., (2019, p.5) point out that these intentions have not been achieved or been delayed as a result of the lack of creative idea generation and efficient installation of 5G networks. This nature of delays could be emerged due to the presence of Wasta culture and nepotism in the managerial selection is prioritising relatives over talents and creative minds which has been cited as ‘‘Members of staff may be locked out of promotions and pay increments in favour of the boss’s favourite and this demotivates them’’ (Ombanda, 2018, p.479).

This in turn leads to the statement of the problem underpinning this research which is an exploration of Wasta and its various dimensions on the practice of intrapreneurship in the Jordanian Telecommunications sector.

Research Questions

4. Is there any positive relationship between Wasta and Favoritism?

5. Is there any positive relationship between Wasta and Tribe/race importance?

Theoretical Framework

Theory of Nepotism

Vanhanen (2014) defined the ethnic nepotism is the preferences or favouritism practise in the selection of the employees or individuals role in the promoted role and the signs leading role of the organisation where the family or relatives are ready to practise this kinship with the expense of unkind group or general groups in the selection. The suitable research outcome of the Salter & Harpending, (2013) has found that the organisations or the individuals of the higher tendency of ethnic nepotist group observe and consider this practice as ‘‘Our People’’ by indicating the familism relationship though, the reality could not support such practice in the organisation. The concluding remark of the Dutton (2013)’ research has shown that in the practice of Ethnic Nepotism, the family members and relatives believe that they should be selective and ethnocentric rather random like the selection of the employees. Thus, this research is highly attached to the placement or consideration of talented individual in the intrapreneurship practise and how the Wasta or Nepotism is impacting on this process.

Equity Theory

Jaskiewicz et al., (2013, p.124) defined the entitlement nepotism in the context of the family business and its effect in the firm’s performance. This theory has explained how the presence of less obligation to contribute or enhance the efforts of the firm’s performance development can hamper the overall firm’s performance. the theory has explained the normal business or firm goals could be less productive because of the lacking in the constructive feedback because of business failure of the selected favoured individual (Schulze et al., 2003, p. 475). These sorts of activities or hiring the favoured individual by denying the importance of recruiting the emerging talents in the projects or firms’ goal could lower the motivations of the other eligible candidates to practise the intrapreneurship. This theory is successively relevant and could be established with this research because this research is intending to examine how nepotism creates impacts on the process of intrapreneurship in three Jordanian telecommunication companies.

Hofstede's cultural dimensions

Uncertainty avoidance dimension

According to Chudzikowski et al. (2011), power distance in a particular culture works as a presence of inequality which creates an impression to the less powerful group of the society that power has not been equally distributed in the society which lacks their participation. Rinne et al. (2012) mentioned that power distance might create a considerable barrier in the organisation culture and environment where the powerful group with the supportive relationship, nepotism and favouritism might introduce an adverse impression towards the less powerful or favourite group of employees. Humphries & Whelan (2017) agreed to this claim by saying that in long run, this type of power distance might not motivate the less powerful employees’ group to share their ideas and thoughts with the organisation. This theory could find the relationship with the research topic because the researcher has intended to find out the impacts of nepotism practice on the intrapreneurship which could be generated from the power distance in the three Jordanian telecommunication companies.

Long term orientation

Globe cultural dimensions

According to Homburg & Pflesser, (2000) humane orientation could be considered as a successive degree to measure about what extent the people of a specific culture are generous, kind and fair to the other human relations. In this research, it has been indicated that the humane orientation could be supportive to the promotion of the well-being in the society where the people are highly concerned regarding the positiveness and kindness to other people or community. Thus, Pelau & Pop (2018) argued with this statement that higher access to the humane orientation and unplanned kindness and positiveness could mislead the relationship and produce the scopes of favouritism among the people. As a result, fairness could be misguided. In the proposed research, this theoretical construct is essential because the researcher will be aimed to find out the relationship between the favouritism and Wasta (nepotism).

Performance Orientation

Figure: Forms and effects of Guanxi (Nepotism) on organisational behaviours

Source: (Zhang et al., 2020)

Intrapreneurial models

Gianiodis et al. (2016) claimed the role of the organisation where the company might not have the deliberate consent or procedure regarding the intrapreneurship practise in the organisation rather the organisational selection in the corporate practice is executed by external or internal networks. Morgan et al. (2016) proclaimed that in the middle east countries, the main decision regarding the organisational selection the strategy are emerging influenced by the internal or relationship-based networks. in this case, organisation do not present or show any deliberate procedure or there might be the absence of scopes to share the ideas into the practice. From this point, this model could be related to this research background because this research outcome could find the three Jordanian companies as in opportunist model.
Review of the Literature

Wasta and Nepotism

Wasta (In Arabic) is a widely used concept in Middle East business culture and can be summarised as a social network of interpersonal connections rooted in family and kinship ties (Jackson et al., 2019; Salter & Harpending, 2013; Altindag, 2014). Weir, (2020) mentioned that Wasta is considered as an important practice in Middle East business culture which ensures information sharing through politic-business networks, the exercise of power and creation of opportunities which is much related to Chinese business culture. This research claimed that in both business cultures that are the Middle East and Chinese, sharing of knowledge is not extended outside the trustful relationship ties. According to Jaskiewicz et al. (2013, p.123-124; Sutherland, 2012), the reciprocal nepotism might create a substantial obligation in the management practices of the organisation to place a family member or the responsible relative in the highest position where the working performances are ignored. They also added that Entitlement nepotism could form a certain business environment in the organisation where the long-lasting practice of placing or encouraging the favoured family members and relatives could create a substantial destructive scenario regarding the business sustainability (Budhwar & Mellahi, 2018; Lokaj, 2015; Jaskiewicz et al., 2013). This research has indicated that the presence of long-lasting nepotism and ignorance of talents and intrapreneurs in the organisation might fail to take the immediate strategic decision of the business. According to Vanhanen (2014), Ethnic nepotism is another type of nepotism which is commonly seen in the middle east countries where the family members and relatives certainly recognize their favoured persons and employees as their ‘‘Own people’’ over other people in the organisation (Janssen et al., 2019; Hutchings & Weir, 2006). This literacy construct could be considered in this research because the topic is indicating that familism as a good part of nepotism considers their own people in their desired position which demotivate the other employees to practise the intrapreneurship. Ombanda (2018) grounded the equity theory in the nepotism context to describe that how the employees with the favoured relation get the support which is not supported with the employees' equity or performance rather they are emphasising the relative communication and unfair relationship.

Intrapreneurship

Impacts of Wasta in intrapreneurship

According to Wolcott & Lippitz (2007), When the enabler role of the organisation in the organisation are facilitating the employees to communicate with the higher management with their ideas and opinions where the organisations are supporting the employees to make the appraisal for their ideas with successive encouragement. in this regard, the impacts of the Nepotism are hampering the overall process of presenting the organisation as an enabler of the intrapreneurship practice (Morgan et al., 2016; Zgheib, 2017; Śledzik, 2013). According to Gianiodis et al. (2016), the organisation also serves the employees as the opportunist role where the employers generally do not show the immense framework or process of deliberate intrapreneurship practise. Thus, if the employees submit their ideas to the higher management, they took the opportunity to implement the emerging ideas.

Organisational culture in MENA and Jordan

Organisational governance practices in MENA region including Jordan is different from Anglo-American countries as in MENA there are low levels of disclosure, concentrated ownership and ownership is high and minimal transparency (Piesse et al., 2012). Piesse et al., (2012) found that Family members in Middle East countries hold management and other key position in the organisation, where the traditional convention is that at a sheikh leads rather than followed business structures. Al-Dabbagh & Assaad, (2010) argued that Participative management is not new in the MENA region but it is mostly used by managers who work with western organisations. Precisely, tribal-family relation and religion truly affect other aspects management and Managers from the MENA region disregards the rules and procedure set to oversee the smooth running of the company as man-made precepts (Tung & Verbeke, 2010; Van De Voorde, 2012; Venaik et al., 2013). In this case, Stability and commitment are highly valued in Islamic culture but this often leads to a culture of blind compliance instead of questioning or challenging instructions. Megheirkouni, (2014) mentioned that family members in the Middle East countries are always paid but they do not need to work. This researcher found that tribal family tradition supports consultative management techniques and authoritarian management styles. Small family-controlled businesses in the MENA region are impersonal, less authoritarian and bureaucratic than larger firms not controlled by the family (Weir, 2020; Velez‐Calle, 2015; Mazanec et al., 2015). Thus, more theoretical supports could be enhanced by linking the various cultural dimensions of the previous literature from the context of Jordan or MENA region.

Research Methodology

Explanations of the variables

4. Friendship: The presence of friendship in the organisation could influence the other friends to recognize the close friend in the selection or approval of intrapreneur projects which is indicating the nepotism.

   Favourite groups: In the organisation, the favourite groups or favoured persons could get additional and unfair recognition which indicates the nepotism.

   Creativity: Creativity is the state or presence of the ability to innovate or introduce the new ways of thinking for existing concepts which is closely related to the intrapreneurship.

   Sharing Ideas: The supportive environment of sharing ideas in the organisation could indicate the presence of intrapreneurial motivation.

   1. Structural Equation Model (SEM)

   The researcher has chosen this following SEM

   

   1. 
      Hypothesis

H3: There is a positive relationship between Wasta and Friendship

H4: There is a positive relationship between Wasta and Favouritism

Sampling and data collection methods

Data collection process in the quantitative research methods will help the researcher to draw a relationship between the independent variables which would include Relationship, Friendship, Political connections, Tribe/race importance, Presence of Kinship, Political connections (Ombanda, 2018). Here, the researcher is intending to classify the dependent variables which might include creativity, the intention of sharing ideas and involvement in the decision-making process in the three telecommunication companies (Al-Twal & Aladwan, 2020).

The researcher will find out the relationship between the identified independent and dependent variables using the SPSS tool where the correlation and regression analysis will be executed and followed to present the relationship. The reason behind the use of correlation and regression is that the researcher has been aimed to examine the relationship between the Wasta (Nepotism) and practise of intrapreneurship which will help the researcher to examine the impacts of Wasta (Nepotism) on the Intrapreneurship in the Jordanian Telecommunication Industry Sector (Harrell & Bradley, 2009). The regression analysis will help the researcher to know the level of significance of each value compared to the other variables and how the dependent variables of the Intrapreneurship have been explained by the independent variables (Groenland & Dana, 2019). Muijs (2010) asserted that SPSS could be the supportive choice for the quantitative research where the researcher could find out the relationship of the identified variables with a successful attempt.

Contingency plan

Contingency Plan 1: The researcher would change the methodology plan into the qualitative research method which could include two companies instead of all three telecommunication companies with the case study comparison.

Contingency Plan 2: If only one company would participate in the research, the researcher could do quantitative research on the only one company which could represent the scenario of the whole telecommunication sector of Jordan on the research topic.

Research Limitations

Cost: The allocated funding and money spent by the researcher could create another limitation of spending more budget. Considering the normal research scopes, the data (especially qualitative) would be triangulated through face-to-face interviews with a small sample of respondents. This would include travel and associated costs to Jordan

Language: As the different respondents will be influenced by the different cultural segments, the language preferences might be considerable limitations of this research

Expected outcomes

The researcher is expecting that this research will draw a good understanding and implication process of Wasta and considering the importance of talents and skilled individuals to enhance the intrapreneurship in the organisation. Here, the researcher has a good direction and intention to analyse and propose how the practice of the Wasta in the organisational performance are is creating substantial impediments in the process of intrapreneurship in many business enterprises. Though, the findings of the research will be focused and concentrated on the case of three identified telecommunication companies. The researcher is expecting to find out a holistically applicable implication in the current business practice and future research implications. The researcher is expecting to suggest specific insights into Wasta and its role in Middle Eastern business practices linked to Innovation, Creativity and Sustainability of organisations. This research might create the successive potential for transfer of knowledge and organisational practices to other industry sectors and businesses across the Middle East. Further, this researcher will demonstrate and inform the telecommunication and associated companies in Jordan about how the critical reduction of the Wasta influence could help them to accelerate their organisational performance and indicators including profitability, market share and competitive advantage in the market.

Theoretical contribution

This research could generate steps in the advancement of the existing theories on the nepotism and intrapreneurship. The theory of Intrapreneurship could include the nepotism as for both facilitator actor in the Intrapreneurship practice. Besides, the theory of nepotism or this cultural nuance could make a linkage with the intrapreneurship practise and weight this theory into the business background. As a result, this cultural aspect could be researched or included for further theoretical grounding.

Practical contribution

Recommendation

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Appendices

Appendix-2

Open-ended Questions

5. Is there any possibility of sharing ideas and getting approval for the supports and funding into implementation in your organisation without any family or tribal importance?

6. Do you think that the employees who have been participated in the idea sharing and decision-making process are closely influenced by the Wasta practice?

Table 2: Proposed budget