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Previous research into website and e-business acceptance and usage has not been completely successful in establishing how this links with factors related to culture. Furthermore, most new technologies have originated within a developed cultural context—namely the United States and Western Europe. Consequently, when new technology transfers to different cultural settings we can predict some sort of cultural gap because of their technology acceptance modes. Most studies have focused on technology transfer into the developed countries with an a priori assumption about the fit of that technology without taking into consideration cultural values that would make impact its ultimate uptake and acceptance. Few of these studies have tried to investigate how Arab cultural values could influence general acceptance and use of e-business websites. The aim of this study is to explain the influence of culture on a user's acceptance behaviour and to develop a new website acceptance model that includes cultural variables. The researcher reviewed the existing literature related to culture, technology acceptance theories, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and e-business. A Culturally- Sensitive Technology Acceptance Model (CTAM) was devised and a pilot study conducted to test the cultural variables considered relevant. Along with Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Cultural Variables and Website Quality, these variables affect user Intention to Use e-business websites. The research combines both qualitative and quantitative methods to reflect the nature of the research problem and to determine whether any relationships between variables can be identified to determine behavioural patterns. A random sample consisting of 623 respondents was drawn from Arab and UK tourists visiting Jordanian tourist sites. A survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview were employed to obtain data from the selected sample. Questions contained in the questionnaire were derived from existing literature and were piloted to enhance its reliability and validity. Statistical methods were used to analyse the data in three main phases. The first phase aimed to establish that there were differences between the Arab and UK samples in terms of e-business website acceptance. This was found to be the case. The second phase aimed to establish that these differences were directly related to culture. Again, the results confirmed that there was a significant relationship between cultural variables and ebusiness website acceptance. In the third phase, a multiple regression analysis was applied to find the relationship between the independent variables (Website Quality, Cultural Variables, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use) and the dependent variable (Intension to Use). The results show that some of the cultural variables are not significant for either sample. Within the Arab sample, Trust, Tangibility, Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance and Individualism were found to be significant but Subjective Norms and Masculinity were not. For the UK sample Trust, Power Distance and Individualism were significant but Tangibility, Subjective Norms, Masculinity and Uncertainty Avoidance were not. Hence, the results show that cultural variables have a significant impact on user acceptance of e-business websites and Davies’ 1989 original and general Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was found to be moderately applicable in an Arab milieu. However, not only do the Arab and UK groups have different preferences in website quality (such as website design, content, etc), but there are also differences in the acceptance process. For the UK, acceptance is routed through design preferences, usefulness and attitude of satisfaction. However, for the Arabs, it seems to be determined by ease of use. The results also indicate that factors such as tangibility and trust are playing an important role in determining website acceptance in Arab countries.

Este trabalho traz um exame dos guias classificados como culturais, e elaborados especificamente para a área de comércio internacional. Procura verificar a qualidade das informações neles contida a respeito da cultura em geral e da cultura árabe em particular, e também sua eficácia no processo de contato intercultural, verificando se de fato cumprem seu papel de guiar o leitor rumo ao conhecimento das características culturais do país alvo, com a intenção de possibilitar e facilitar o contato entre diferentes culturas. O exame desses guias é feito a luz da Inteligência Cultural, conceito relativamente novo que propõe o desenvolvimento de habilidades e de flexibilidade para aprender e assimilar aspectos de uma cultura. / This work brings an examination of the guides classified as cultural guides, elaborated specifically for the area of international commerce. Its aim is to verify the quality of the information contained in them about culture in general and, the Arab culture particularly; and so its efficiency in the process of intercultural contact, verifying whether in fact they fulfill the role of guiding the reader onto the path of knowledge of cultural characteristics about a particular country, with the intention of making contact possible and facilitating the contact between different cultures. The examination of these guides is made through the theory of Cultural Intelligence, a concept relatively new which is centered on the development of skills and flexibility to learn and assimilate aspects of a new culture.

A gap exists in the literature regarding the needs, concerns, and overall experiences of Arab American parents of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Al Khatib, 2017; Goforth, 2011; Haboush, 2007). This study explored the experiences of five Arab American mothers of children with ASD. A qualitative interview approach, utilizing in-depth interviews, was used in order to investigate Arab American parents’ experiences of caring for children with ASD, their cultural beliefs and understandings of their children’s ASD, and their concerns and needs regarding their children. Six themes emerged from the interview data, which offered insight into Arab American parents’ unique experiences of caring for a child with ASD, including (1) parents’ journeys toward the acceptance of the diagnosis of ASD, (2) beliefs about the cause of autism, (3) concerns, (4) needs, (5) coping techniques, and (6) unanticipated positive effects. Findings of this study and aspects related to Arab cultural beliefs with the ASD diagnostic process are discussed in detail, as well as implications of the findings for the field of special education and recommendation for future research.

Este trabalho traz um exame dos guias classificados como culturais, e elaborados especificamente para a área de comércio internacional. Procura verificar a qualidade das informações neles contida a respeito da cultura em geral e da cultura árabe em particular, e também sua eficácia no processo de contato intercultural, verificando se de fato cumprem seu papel de guiar o leitor rumo ao conhecimento das características culturais do país alvo, com a intenção de possibilitar e facilitar o contato entre diferentes culturas. O exame desses guias é feito a luz da Inteligência Cultural, conceito relativamente novo que propõe o desenvolvimento de habilidades e de flexibilidade para aprender e assimilar aspectos de uma cultura. / This work brings an examination of the guides classified as cultural guides, elaborated specifically for the area of international commerce. Its aim is to verify the quality of the information contained in them about culture in general and, the Arab culture particularly; and so its efficiency in the process of intercultural contact, verifying whether in fact they fulfill the role of guiding the reader onto the path of knowledge of cultural characteristics about a particular country, with the intention of making contact possible and facilitating the contact between different cultures. The examination of these guides is made through the theory of Cultural Intelligence, a concept relatively new which is centered on the development of skills and flexibility to learn and assimilate aspects of a new culture.

This dissertation explores a portion of the life, travels, and political activities of nineteenth century British traveler and Arabist, Lady Anne Blunt. Lady Anne held independent and, by the standards of the time, radical ideas about the need to respect Arab culture and to deal with the Arabs as equals. With an encompassing knowledge of the region, she challenged prevailing assumptions and exerted influence in high British political circles. Lady Anne's aristocratic heritage as the granddaughter of celebrated poet Lord Byron, helped her gain access to the political circles that were gaining power in the Arab world Lady Anne's journeys, through much of the Mediterranean region, North Africa, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and Persia, became the basis for her broad knowledge of the Arab world. She pursued an intimate knowledge of Bedouin life in Arabia, the town Arab culture of Syria and Mesopotamia, and the politics of nationalism in Egypt. Lady Anne developed an important worldview, egalitarian in its outlook, with a consistent, even cosmopolitan, set of social and moral parameters that knew no skin color or race. Lady Anne's well-known husband, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, developed a reputation as an anti-imperialist, political activist, and political writer. Anne was her husband's partner in marriage, politics, and travel, and her numerous journals provide a record of their journeys and political activities offering an original new look at her virtually unknown work, while bringing new perspective to his. This dissertation focuses primarily on Lady Anne's most politically active decade, 1880-1890, along with biographical details that influenced her political persona. Lady Anne Blunt and her husband made a substantial contribution to the Egyptian National Party, the defense of Egyptian revolutionaries after their defeat, and the restoration of nationalistic pride in Egypt during the British occupation. Lady Anne's influence reached beyond Egypt as well, as she partnered with indigenous inhabitants for justice and liberty in the so-called jewels in the imperial crown.

Since North Africa is considered as one of the future hot spots for tourism development, western hotel chains increasingly expand to this region. Especially in the opening phase, these hotel groups tend to fill leading positions with male and female western managers. However, we assume that since the Arab culture is very male-dominated, the employment of women managers might cause cultural conflicts. Thus, our thesis aims to identify possible barriers for women to succeed in hotels in North Africa as well as to elaborate critical success factors for future female western leaders to overcome these barriers and to manage effectively. In order to find out about underlying attitudes towards foreigners and female superiors, we conducted a survey among Arabic hotel employees at an international five star hotel in Egypt. The results of our survey were topped up with insights from the literature and the remaining knowledge gaps were filled by holding conversations with industry experts. The findings of our study indicate a trend towards a more liberal Arabic society as well as certain openness towards foreigners and women, which could be ascribed to driving forces, such as globalization and a rise in information technology. However, there are still cases of gender inequality and religious intolerance, which shows that social practices have not yet completely changed. It is thus suggested that female western leaders still face barriers, such as chauvinistic behavior as well as suggestiveness. In order to be able to deal with these barriers, we developed critical success factors for future women managers, such as being cultural intelligent, being interested in the employees, being a coach and a team player, and trusting yourself. In addition, we provided general implications for women operating in other seemingly hostile environments, such as male-dominated industries or women-aversive surroundings.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Ao trazer registros de como a cultura árabe ou o imigrante árabe foi representado pela literatura brasileira desde os escritos coloniais, pretendemos refletir sobre a ficção brasileira contemporânea, que, diferentemente dos períodos anteriores, lança um olhar profundo sobre a imigração árabe para o Brasil, o que possibilita uma releitura do processo de inserção do imigrante na sociedade brasileira, principalmente para os descendentes de primeira e segunda geração. O corpus escolhido é composto por duas narrativas: o romance Dois irmãos (2000), de Milton Assi Hatoum, escritor manaura, nascido em 1950, filho de imigrantes árabes sírio-libaneses; e a narrativa O enigma de Qaf (2004), de Alberto Mussa, carioca, nascido em 1961, neto de imigrantes árabes. Nossa pesquisa busca demonstrar que as obras ficcionais de escritores descendentes de imigrantes permitem uma reflexão densa sobre os conflitos da condição migrante, porém numa perspectiva diferente da visão estereotipada ou mesmo de uma tematização preconceituosa. Entendemos ser a literatura um espaço privilegiado para trazer à tona outras visões sobre a cultura árabe, deixando de lado, consequentemente, a única história já delineada pelo colonizador europeu, aquela contida nos livros didáticos, divulgada nos grandes meios de comunicação de massa e na história universal, segundo a qual os árabes são terroristas, fundamentalistas, desumanos, opressores da mulher, o turco da prestação, o vendedor ambulante. Trata-se, assim, de adotar um viés pós-colonial, segundo os estudos de Eloína Patri dos Santos (2005), na medida em que, sob tal viés, o colonizado pode relatar a sua experiência, de acordo com a sua própria versão, com a sua voz. A análise é elaborada por meio de três eixos: o ethos identitário, o pathos do exílio e o logos da memória. Com a abordagem desses eixos, buscamos enfatizar a construção, nos dois romances, de um espaço de enriquecimento cultural por meio de personagens despidos de exageros folclóricos, de uma ambientação sem exotismos, da tematização de ritos árabes sem estereótipos, e, principalmente, do maior legado da cultura árabe para a humanidade: a língua árabe. Buscamos, dessa forma, contribuir para uma maior compreensão da ficção brasileira contemporânea, além de colaborar com as pesquisas que tratam das representações e figurações do árabe produzidas no Brasil / Bringing forward how the Arab Culture or the Arab Immigrant was pictured by the Brazilian Literature we wish to reflect about the Brazilian contemporary fiction that, diferently from the previous periods, cast a deeper view on the matter, allowing the reinterpretation of the arab immigrants social insertion in the brazilian culture specialy for descendents of first and second generations. The chosen corpus is assembled from two narratives: the romance Dois irmãos (2000), writen by Milton Assi Hatoum(*1950-), son of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants and born in Manaus, Amazonas; and the narrative O enigma de Qaf (2004), from Alberto Moussa(*1961-), grandson of Arab immigrants. Our research tries to demonstrate that the analisys of fictional pieces of immigrants descendants writers allows a a deep view of the migration condition struggles, but in a different perspective of the stereotyped concept or even a theme intrinsically pervaded with prejudice. We see the Literature as the needed and possible space to bring forth other, new views of the arab culture and, as consequence, set aside the only history already outlined by the european colonists, the history set on school books, spread on the media and in the general history, where the arab is the terrorist fundamentalist, inhuman, woman opressors, the raghead tenant that collects the money harshly, the stingy bagman. We try, therefore, to adopt a post-colonial bias, accordingly with the studies of Eloínia Patri dos Santos (2005), seeking that, under that bias, the colonized can describe his experience following his own view, his own version, his own voice. The analisys is formulate on three axes: the identitys ethos, the exiles pathos and the memorys logos. With this triaxial aproach we intend to lay enphasis the construction, in both romances, of a cultural enrichment space by means of characters without folklore encased exaggerations, in a exoticism free atmosphere, where the thematization of the Arab rites unrestrained by stereotypes, and, mainly, the greatest legacy of the arab culture for the humankind: its language. In this fashion, let us seek to contribute for a bigger understanding of the brazilian contemporary fiction and, beyond, collaborate with the researches on representations and figuration of the arab produced in Brasil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Ao trazer registros de como a cultura árabe ou o imigrante árabe foi representado pela literatura brasileira desde os escritos coloniais, pretendemos refletir sobre a ficção brasileira contemporânea, que, diferentemente dos períodos anteriores, lança um olhar profundo sobre a imigração árabe para o Brasil, o que possibilita uma releitura do processo de inserção do imigrante na sociedade brasileira, principalmente para os descendentes de primeira e segunda geração. O corpus escolhido é composto por duas narrativas: o romance Dois irmãos (2000), de Milton Assi Hatoum, escritor manaura, nascido em 1950, filho de imigrantes árabes sírio-libaneses; e a narrativa O enigma de Qaf (2004), de Alberto Mussa, carioca, nascido em 1961, neto de imigrantes árabes. Nossa pesquisa busca demonstrar que as obras ficcionais de escritores descendentes de imigrantes permitem uma reflexão densa sobre os conflitos da condição migrante, porém numa perspectiva diferente da visão estereotipada ou mesmo de uma tematização preconceituosa. Entendemos ser a literatura um espaço privilegiado para trazer à tona outras visões sobre a cultura árabe, deixando de lado, consequentemente, a única história já delineada pelo colonizador europeu, aquela contida nos livros didáticos, divulgada nos grandes meios de comunicação de massa e na história universal, segundo a qual os árabes são terroristas, fundamentalistas, desumanos, opressores da mulher, o turco da prestação, o vendedor ambulante. Trata-se, assim, de adotar um viés pós-colonial, segundo os estudos de Eloína Patri dos Santos (2005), na medida em que, sob tal viés, o colonizado pode relatar a sua experiência, de acordo com a sua própria versão, com a sua voz. A análise é elaborada por meio de três eixos: o ethos identitário, o pathos do exílio e o logos da memória. Com a abordagem desses eixos, buscamos enfatizar a construção, nos dois romances, de um espaço de enriquecimento cultural por meio de personagens despidos de exageros folclóricos, de uma ambientação sem exotismos, da tematização de ritos árabes sem estereótipos, e, principalmente, do maior legado da cultura árabe para a humanidade: a língua árabe. Buscamos, dessa forma, contribuir para uma maior compreensão da ficção brasileira contemporânea, além de colaborar com as pesquisas que tratam das representações e figurações do árabe produzidas no Brasil / Bringing forward how the Arab Culture or the Arab Immigrant was pictured by the Brazilian Literature we wish to reflect about the Brazilian contemporary fiction that, diferently from the previous periods, cast a deeper view on the matter, allowing the reinterpretation of the arab immigrants social insertion in the brazilian culture specialy for descendents of first and second generations. The chosen corpus is assembled from two narratives: the romance Dois irmãos (2000), writen by Milton Assi Hatoum(*1950-), son of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants and born in Manaus, Amazonas; and the narrative O enigma de Qaf (2004), from Alberto Moussa(*1961-), grandson of Arab immigrants. Our research tries to demonstrate that the analisys of fictional pieces of immigrants descendants writers allows a a deep view of the migration condition struggles, but in a different perspective of the stereotyped concept or even a theme intrinsically pervaded with prejudice. We see the Literature as the needed and possible space to bring forth other, new views of the arab culture and, as consequence, set aside the only history already outlined by the european colonists, the history set on school books, spread on the media and in the general history, where the arab is the terrorist fundamentalist, inhuman, woman opressors, the raghead tenant that collects the money harshly, the stingy bagman. We try, therefore, to adopt a post-colonial bias, accordingly with the studies of Eloínia Patri dos Santos (2005), seeking that, under that bias, the colonized can describe his experience following his own view, his own version, his own voice. The analisys is formulate on three axes: the identitys ethos, the exiles pathos and the memorys logos. With this triaxial aproach we intend to lay enphasis the construction, in both romances, of a cultural enrichment space by means of characters without folklore encased exaggerations, in a exoticism free atmosphere, where the thematization of the Arab rites unrestrained by stereotypes, and, mainly, the greatest legacy of the arab culture for the humankind: its language. In this fashion, let us seek to contribute for a bigger understanding of the brazilian contemporary fiction and, beyond, collaborate with the researches on representations and figuration of the arab produced in Brasil