The present study intends to bring more insights and added value to health systems thinking using systems ideas. It inquires about the current state of health systems thinking, analyses different strengths of alternative systems approaches, and suggests what systems thinking can offer in order to improve the current understanding and the technical performance of health systems. It does not intend to develop a blue print model but rather a more critical approach to deal with some of the intractable problems encountered in current health sector reforms. The thesis is not expected to serve public health practitioners only but also systems thinking theorists, particularly those interested in social systems and pluralism in management sciences. Specifically, this thesis aims at analysing the current state of Health systems thinking; explores what other systems approaches can offer to enlighten health systems; and yields knowledge on critical health systems thinking. To achieve these aims the researcher articulated the study on the basis of the definition of health by the World Health Organisation, the interconnectedness among key health determinants and the global health challenges with particular emphasis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Critical systems thinking is the theoretical framework in which knowledge about systems is expressed and the current state of Health systems thinking is the area of concern in relation to which the researcher has aspirations. The methodology consists in two major steps conducting thought experiments in the context of three scenarios from the researcher's own experience. The first step uses Jackson's four major systems approaches and associated methodologies and yields learning about the current state of health systems thinking; and the second step, using critical systems practice in mode 2, generates a more critical approach to health systems thinking.

This study identifies empirically the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship curriculum used in Malaysian polytechnics. This includes an evaluation of the syllabus, teaching methods and lecturer training programmes. The study investigates the relationship between entrepreneurship education and polytechnic students‟ entrepreneurial tendencies. The needs of this research arise due to problems of unemployment amongstgraduates and the inadequacy of research on entrepreneurship education. It also responds to the government's intention to achieve “Developed Nation” status in 2020.The research, one of the most comprehensive ever undertaken in this area, comprises interviews and focus groups with students, lecturers, senior managers in polytechnics and officials from the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education. In addition, the General Enterprising Tendency (version 2) Test (GETv2) was used with students to explore their entrepreneurial tendencies. Six hundred Malay-version questionnaires were randomlydistributed to selected classes during a regular lecture period in 2008. After screening, a total of 506 questionnaires were deemed completed and usable: a response rate of 84.3 percent. The study identifies that the entrepreneurship syllabus in polytechnics is not effective and students are not imbued with entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and attributes during their study. Teaching approaches appear to be inappropriate and polytechnic lecturers do not appear to have relevant entrepreneurial skills, knowledge or training. There are shortcomings in the way entrepreneurship education is organized and funded in highereducation and cooperation and networking within the agencies, whether domestic or international, is low. The role of culture perceived to be of particular importance. Cultural factors such as gender, values, religion, family back ground and ethnicity are crucial issues which influence students‟ tendency towards entrepreneurship. These findings provide the basis for a new model of entrepreneurship development for higher education in Malaysia.The contribution of the study is therefore to add to the body of knowledge on entrepreneurship education by providing empirical evidence from a Malaysian perspective.

This thesis aims to explore a rather simple question in relation to the process of how knowledge is generated within the organisational group. The question posed and pursued using an inductive methodological approach is "how do groups learn?" This deceptively simple and almost child-like question has helped me to engage with a wide range of philosophical and methodological approaches to group learning and knowledge generation. By using such a straightforward notion I have been able to construct a sophisticated research project which posits a range of conclusions and responses to my original question and demonstrates the complexity of organisational learning in general. The conclusions I generated reveal a series of discrete interconnections between the individual, the group and an enmeshed series of psychological processes which both assist and prevent groups from generating knowledge and learning. Along with generating a number of new insights into how groups learn, this simple question has enabled me to construct and propose a new theoretical framework for group learning and knowledge generation. The framework itself sets out to explore some of the most basic taken-for-granted notions of our Western world-view, ideas which form the bedrock of our epistemological certainty and which are hardly ever held up to critical scrutiny.

The mere exposure effect (MEE) was first identified by Zajonc (1968:1) who observed that, “the mere repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus is a sufficient condition for the enhancement of his attitude towards it. By ‘mere exposure’ is meant a condition which just makes the given stimulus accessible to the individual's perception.” Since then, this robust experimental phenomenon has been demonstrated in over 300 studies in the psychology literature; most often in relation to changes in affective response to abstract, novel stimuli (for  reviews see Harrison, 1977; Bornstein, 1989; Bornstein and Craver-Lemley, 2004). Given that it provides a  theoretical and empirical framework within which to explore and explain the attitudinal effects of repeated,  fleeting communication that receives minimal attention and elaboration, it has been deemed to be most  important to the fields of marketing and consumer behaviour (Bornstein and Craver-Lemley, 2004). Indeed, it may be considered to be particularly relevant in the context of a contemporary consumption environment that is  largely characterised by a proliferation of brands, media and messages, the fragmentation of traditional  channels and audiences, and thus low levels of consumer attention, engagement and involvement. Under such conditions, it may be argued that the MEE constitutes a potentially important means by which to study,  understand and shape the effects of simple, repeated brand communication.However, it is important to acknowledge that the nature of marketing stimuli, consumption-based evaluation and decision-making, and the context in which this occurs is often quite different from the laboratory conditions in  which the MEE has been demonstrated in psychological research. As such, there is a need to robustly test the assumptions that may be drawn from four decades of experimental research in psychology before they can be  confidently applied in the specific domain of marketing. At the same time, however, it is important to stress that  the MEE represents just one of an array of potential influences on real-world consumer processing and  decisionmaking. Furthermore, and within the constraints of current methodological alternatives, it is arguably  impossible to isolate, identify and examine this phenomenon alone in such a complex natural environment. As  such, it is necessary to take an incremental approach to the extension of abstract psychological research in the  marketing domain; to carefully bridge the gap between pure psychological understanding and that which relates specifically to consumer behaviour. A relatively small body of experimental marketing research has endeavoured  to begin this process; although (it will be argued) current findings regarding the occurrence and   nature of the marketing-based MEE are somewhat limited, often equivocal and subject to some important   limitations.The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to underpin and extend the incremental development of first-principles mere exposure research in the marketing domain. To this end, it provides a comprehensive review of both the state of current psychological understanding and the degree to which it has been applied in the marketing literature, prior to a robust examination of the existence, size and nature of this phenomenon in a marketing context. This is achieved by marrying the highly controlled experimental methods of psychological mere exposure research with the use of typical marketing stimuli, brand-related evaluation and a relatively large sample (as is common in the broader field of marketing research but not, as yet, with regard to the MEE in particular).The results of this empirical work are somewhat surprising and challenge previous assumptions regarding the influence of recognition memory and the direction of the exposure-induced affect-bias. Taken together, they support a ‘dual-processing’ model of mere exposure, incorporating two forms of the MEE that are underpinned by the processes of implicit and explicit memory respectively. This model has potentially significant implications for theory, practice and further research in the fields of both psychology and marketing; all of which are  discussed in the final part of the thesis.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important strategic policy for organisations despite increasing pressures for its incorporation into business practices. A considerable amount of attention has been paid to the construct of CSR and yet research on the precise measurement of CSR has remained limited. Measures have been hampered by a lack of clarity in theoretical frameworks and empirical methods for the CSR construct. Given that the empirical study of CSR measurement is in an undeveloped state, this research describes efforts to justify and prove the relationship between measurement items and the construct. An instrument is developed based on a critical review of both the conceptualisation and practice of CSR. Based on a study among Malaysian stakeholders, this research conceptualises CSR as a multidimensional formative construct consisting of eight dimensions: process, policy, values, environment, personal, profit, people and political and offers a more universal framework to enhance developing country adoption and practice of CSR. Moreover the results of the study demonstrate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) multidimensional formative construct impacts on satisfaction and loyalty of stakeholders. The study�s hypothesised relationships were principally supported, i.e. CSR is positively associated with stakeholder loyalty and stakeholder satisfaction mediated the relationships. What has been expressed is a set of ideals that are possible, are likely to be manageable, and that pay due regard to the need for feasibility in regard to CSR measurement. This research should be seen as a response to a problem of the prolonged dilemma that the disciplinary boundaries of the contested concept of CSR often make it difficult to contend with. The analysis led to the development of a practitioner-based model of CSR multidimensional formative construct that in some aspects differs from the existing conceptualisation of CSR. The formative CSR construct and insights gained from stakeholders� view open up a critique that diverges from a discourse dominated by the technical question of how to perform CSR better or more efficiently. A CSR measurement model, the constraints of the process of the development of CSR measurement are acknowledged and the attempt made to reform it from within is presented in this study. In this regard, it is proposed that the agenda and scope of CSR, as well as the measures used to implement it, are a manifestation of the formative construct that corporations have to operationalise.

Education is currently in the midst of a serious crisis in terms of leadership sustainability, retention, recruitment and succession. There are those who would cite the constant barrage of educational change and reform, along with the over-emphasis on accountability for outcomes, as the major reasons for making the role of headteacher or principal a less and less attractive career option. However, even under increasingly difficult circumstances, there are still school leaders who continue to do an exceptional job and who are sustained and energized by it while others, facing the same leadership challenges and difficulties, fall by the wayside. This research study explores the role of emotional intelligence in explaining the disparity. The concept of emotional intelligence is a relatively new construct by comparison with cognitive intelligence, providing different insights from traditionally associated measures of intelligence. From the emergence of the construct in the early 1990s to current times much has been written about emotional intelligence in relation to the world of work and effective leadership per se, but far less specifically related to the role it can play in effective school leadership. The research study therefore sets out to root the construct firmly in the world of education by carrying out an extensive review of the literature, using the outcomes to develop a school-based emotional intelligence model of effective school leadership and testing out the credence of the developed model through a comparative study of a number of acknowledged outstanding secondary school and academy headteachers and principals.The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter outlines the purpose of the study that is to determine if emotional intelligence offers a different insight from those traditionally associated with effective school leadership. Further to this, it sets the scene for the exploration of the theoretical framework best suited to the purpose and nature of this research. The second chapter through an examination and review of the literature illustrates the emergence of the differing schools of thought in relation to the emotional intelligence construct and further informs the chosen theoretical framework which supports the development of a model for effective school leadership. Chapter 3 examines the possible research methodologies and approaches and considers the most appropriate forms for investigating the key elements arising from the proposed study. The fourth chapter discusses the research findings from the semi-structured interviews and the comparative outcomes from an integrated thematic analysis of the cases and further informs the developing model for effective school leadership. Chapter 5 provides an evaluation drawing conclusions and recommendations from what has been established through the research and what can be learnt from best practice. How to proceed in successfully sustaining, developing, retaining, and recruiting secondary school and academy leaders now and in the future, and the role the developed model could play in this, are proposed as opportunities for further lines of research.The thesis as a whole not only provides new information on how the challenges and complexities of leading secondary schools and academies can be successfully met and supported, but also offers a practical model for building emotionally intelligent school communities through emotionally intelligent leadership.The primary method of research is semi-structured interviews and the comparative thematic analysis of the findings supported by review of the literature.

E-business assimilation in Saudi Arabia becomes critical due to the overarching social issues that the stakeholders encounter. Grounded in Habermas‘ Critical Social Theory (CST), this study applies the theory of lifeworld and system to understand the relevance of the Islamic faith as well as the Arab culture in the conduct of businesses in Saudi Arabia, which in turn, would make e-business assimilation a success. This study seeks to contribute to the IS literature‘s lack of research in which the aim is to emphasise social factors as the main determinants of e-business assimilation. We point out that inherent to the other important factors (e.g., technological, organisational, and cultural), people‘s actions (emancipated or regulated) are most critical to realising business‘ innovation and growth through utilising e-business technology. The sample of the study was composed of 1071 SAP end-users from the three leading Saudi companies, namely, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), and Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed), an affiliate of SABIC. Also, seven consultants contributed their knowledge and expertise regarding e-business adoption, on which they have been working for many years. The necessary data were collected through two methods: (1) distributed survey questionnaire for the SAP end-users; and (2) face – to - face (semi-structured) interview for the consultants. The value of Habermas‘ theory of lifeworld and system is shown by the development of a business model that can be used to achieve e-business assimilation success in the context of Saudi Arabia because it has the ability to distinguish the actions in various social situations – whether the actions reflect emancipation or restriction of the actors‘ way of living; and consequently, whether the actors‘ way of living should remain as it is or should undergo necessary changes. The newly developed ―E-Business Assimilation Model‖ (EAM) includes as its constructs the most important factors relevant to e-business success as well as the concepts of lifeworld and system: that is, all factors are subject to be ―filtered‖ through both the lifeworld and the system constructs. Through EAM, it was found that it could be easy for the project team to execute an e-business project if they will give critical consideration II to the people‘s social and cultural beliefs, aspirations, perspectives and preferences. Understanding the people‘s social and cultural means allows the project team to customise the e-business systems to be installed, and to make sure that the new system really fits the organisational setting. For every challenging lifeworld and system situation, the top management can provide improved solutions to be applied. The findings show how SAP implementation in the selected companies was affected by social factors such as age and gender; cultural factors such as religion; organisational factors such as performance motivating, management support and consultancy; and technological factors. The companies‘ change management programmes had enabled resolution of problems by the adoption of measures suited to each company‘s holistic characteristics and needs. Evidence of system-lifeworld interactions was demonstrated in each of these cases. Saudi society was shown to be strongly lifeworld oriented, such that ‗system‘ comes into conflict with a member of lifeworld and there are some lifeworld elements (such as gender roles and constraints) that system cannot change but must work within. The findings demonstrate the value of a system – lifeworld perspective in analysing factors influencing a change such as e-business assimilation and result in development of an elaborated model for holistic analysis of pertinent factors.

The ability of an organisation to transfer knowledge is one of the key sources of competitive advantage for many of today’s organisations (Argote, 2000). New knowledge is created through interactions between explicit and tacit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). From the distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge made by Polanyi’s (1966), it is clear that the former can be transferred with relative ease, particularly using recent advances in information technology. Transfer of tacit knowledge on the other hand, requires social interactions with peers, colleagues, mentors and supervisor (Lahti et al, 2002; Cavusgil et al, 2003). Difficulties associated with this have been referred to as ‘internal stickiness’ (Szulanski, 1996) and is believed to be due to several factors. This study examines difficulties associated with the transfer of managerial tacit knowledge in the relationships involving supervisor and subordinates who work as managers in the Malaysian public sector. After examining previous literature in the field it is hypothesised that the stickiness of knowledge transfer may be associated with the quality of leader member exchange relationships, especially between leaders and their ‘in-group’ versus ‘out-group’ members. For example, in-group relationships are associated with higher levels of trust, respect and obligation compared with out-group relations. Another construct known to be associated with the quality of dyadic relationships is cognitive style (Armstrong, 1999). Cognitive style refers to individual differences in ways of perceiving, organising and processing information and differences in ways in which individuals solve problems, take decisions and relate to others. The research employed a quantitative approach using survey methods. Instruments used in the study included a measure of knowledge transfer stickiness (Szulanski, 1996), Leader Member Exchange (LMX7) (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995), Tacit Knowledge Inventory for Managers (TKIM) (Wagner and Sternberg, 1989) and the Cognitive Style Index (CSI) (Allinson and Hayes, 1996). The survey was administered to 1200 managers in the Malaysian Public Sector and 344 completed surveys were returned representing a response rate of 28.7%. Results from a final sample size of 300 managers comprising supervisors and their immediate subordinates are reported. The study successfully determined the relationship between knowledge transfer stickiness, LMX, cognitive style and managerial tacit knowledge. As expected, high-quality LMX leads to higher quality exchanges and concomitant improvements in the transfer of managerial tacit knowledge. Moreover, as hypothesised, individual differences and similarities in cognitive style also influence the transfer of tacit knowledge between supervisor and subordinate. Practical implications are given and recommendation made for future research.

Terrorism has come to be considered as one of the defining crises facing the tourism industry. In spite of its importance, the knowledge of how to manage the terrorism crisis in the tourism industry is rudimentary. The main aim of this study is to narrow this gap. In particular, it proposes a conceptual framework applying stakeholder theory to the practical methods used and strategies followed in the management of crises in the tourism industry. The point of departure of this conceptual framework is the twofold premise that stakeholders inherently influence the management of an organization and that the organization should meet their demands and balance their claims. This task, however, is complicated by the fact that stakeholders vary in their salience and that they interact with one another differently. In addition, stakeholder management does not take place in isolation; cultural factors have an influence on the ways that stakeholders interact. These factors constitute the theoretical foundation of the proposed framework. These theoretical assumptions are then applied to the practical postures or strategies that stakeholders adopt in managing terrorism crises in the tourism industry. This conceptual framework is applied in particular to the Egyptian case of the bombings in Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab and Taba. The findings of the study indicate that because of the idiosyncratic nature of terrorism, which is regarded as raising major security issues, the participation of a large number of stakeholders at most stages of crisis management does not necessarily lead to the most effective and efficient crisis management. Instead, as the thesis indicates, a crisis management model in which the crisis stage is dominated by police and security forces and where the recovery stage relies upon the participation of most stakeholders has proved to be both efficient and successful.

According to the resource based view (RBV) of the firm, quality management (QM) is one of the sources the firm can use to generate competitive advantage (CA). Although QM and CA have widely attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners, the link between these two concepts has rarely been examined in the literature, especially in service industry. Additionally, among those few studies that investigated the relationship between QM and CA, there is contradictory evidence on which QM practices generate CA. Thus, this study examines the impact of QM on CA in the hotels industry, in order to identify which QM practices generate CA. Based on an extensive review of the literature on QM and CA, valid and reliable definitions were formulated for both concepts, and then a conceptual framework was developed to illustrate the relationships between the research variables. Data obtained from a survey of 384 four and five star hotels in Egypt is used to test the impact of QM on CA. A total of 300 responses were obtained. Twelve uncompleted questionnaires were removed, leaving 288 usable questionnaires and yielding a response rate of 75 %. All questionnaires were completed by the hotel general managers. Three main data analysis techniques were employed: exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). Three models are employed in CFA to test the dimensional structure of QM. These models include a model that allows all factors to be freely correlated (oblique factor model), a model where all factors are correlated because they all measure one higher order factor (higher order factor model), and a model where all indicators are employed to test if they measure only one construct. The results of CFA provide solid statistical evidence that affirm the multidimensionality of the QM construct and contradict other studies that employed QM as a unidimensional construct. These results assist in resolving the problems that might arise from the lack of clarity in the literature concerning the dimensional structure of QM. The SEM results affirm that the soft QM practices such as top management leadership (TML), employee management (EM), customer focus (CF), and supplier management (SM) directly improve the hotel financial performance but the hard QM practices such as process management (PM) and quality data and reporting (QD&R) do not. However, two quality management practices, TML and SM, are found to distinguish those hotels that have CA from those hotels that have not. Therefore, these results can help hotel managers to reallocate the hotel resources to implement those QM practices that can improve the hotel financial performance and generate CA. Finally, this study would benefit if these models are tested with an alternative data set. This study also suffered from a limitation common to survey research and SEM. The current study survey, due to time and money constraints, is a cross sectional sample at one specific point in time. As a result, while causal relationships can be inferred, they cannot be strictly proven. Causal inferences are stronger with longitudinal studies.