Although there is consensus that national Human Resource Development policy is important, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) the ways in which strategic human resources development (SHRD) is undertaken by employing organisations remains under-researched. The study investigated the value attached to learning in multinational private and also public organisations in Saudi Arabia. The three research objectives were to: examine the strategic value of learning from CEO managers‟ and HRD practitioners‟ perceptions in multinational private and public organisations in Saudi Arabia; establish the extent to which the value attached to learning in the public sector is different from that in the multinational private sector in Saudi Arabia and, to examine any differences in the value attached to learning by HRD specialists and senior managers of organisations in KSA. Making use of a constructionist ontology the thesis explores how these senior staff value and evaluate strategic learning and its contribution to their organisations. An inductive approach is taken with elements of both comparative and cross sectional design. This thesis builds on O‟Driscoll et al. (2005) in the USA and Anderson (2007) in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken in twenty organisations, with thirty-seven senior participants. Findings were analysed through thematic analysis. The data suggest that respondents in many KSA organisations evaluate learning through individual performance measured by trainees‟ satisfaction and changes in employee capability, focusing more on short term operational issues rather than organisation strategy. Although the context for HRD in Saudi Arabia is different to that of Western developed economies there are similarities between the finding from this thesis and O‟Driscoll et al, (2005) and Anderson (2007) which suggest that there is a range of challenges associated with putting strategic HRD into practice in employing organisation.

This thesis addresses an existing gap in the academic and practitioner knowledge of the repatriation process of international assignees. The study highlights the disparity between intended HR policy and implemented HR practices within the banking sector across Europe, USA and Asia. Repatriates are defined as an employee who has returned home after spending more than six months abroad (Linehan & Scullion, 2002: 650). The major contribution of this research is developing existing theory; previous research has focused upon readjustment and knowledge transfer of repatriates (Black et al, 1991; Bossard & Peterson, 2005; Brewster & Suutari, 2003; Sanchez Vidal et al, 2007). This study contributes to academic knowledge through an enhanced understanding and identification of how the repatriation process works and is perceived by the various stakeholders including repatriates, Human Resource Business Partners, International Human Resources and line managers. The methods utilised generated data via in-depth semi-structured interviews in order to gain insights into how the repatriates perceived the process as well as interviews with HRBPs, IHR function and line managers. The data was then analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The findings highlight that the objectives for an assignment are not evaluated. Thus currently there is no provision to define success from the organisation‟s point of view. Additionally, the research indicates that there are numerous lost opportunities to gather information about the newly acquired skills and knowledge of the repatriate. The poor repatriation process and implementation of policy clearly impact upon the perception from each of the stakeholders‟ view of whether an assignment has been successful. Consequently the research strives to present a more inclusive look at the effect of the company‟s HR policy and practices and how this impacts upon the repatriation process. The results of the study highlight the opportunity for HR to add transformational practices to facilitate an improved repatriation experience for not only the repatriates but also in identifying the additional stakeholders‟ experience. The contribution to existing knowledge provides additional opportunities for further research to investigate variables beyond the traditional organisation and repatriate perspective highlighting further areas for future research into multiple stakeholders.

This thesis is about interactivity. It is about the dimensions of interactive communication which have become a major element of contemporary marketing practice. The concept of interactivity has been explored in the fields of advertising research, and communication and media studies. However, there is an overall absence of any published work concerning research into the dimensions of interactivity, in the marketing domain. This thesis seeks to correct this situation and investigates the relative effectiveness of the dimensions of interactivity, set in the context of travel weblogs. The aim is to determine how three principal dimensions of interactivity namely, active control, two-way communication, and real-time communication, affects users‟ attitudes and usage intentions. This thesis also examines the effect of motive factors, such as social interaction, information of travel weblogs, and enjoyment, upon a user‟s attitudes and usage intentions. The relationships among these variables are examined within a research framework provided by this study. Data was collected through an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings verify that the dimensions of interactivity and motivation factors can have positive influence upon users‟ attitudes and usage intentions.

Few can surely doubt that Korean industry and the Korean economy is now competing on the world stage and winning. Whether its Samsung Electronics or Kia automobiles, in terms of technology intensive industries, the Korean rise to the top of the class has been impressive. While the large conglomerates or chaebol have been successful the Korean SME sector has not. The Korean government is aware of this situation and has introduced a range of measures to address this entrepreneurship and small firm weakness. One of these schemes is the Inno-biz certification programme. This paper examines entrepreneurship within the SME sector in South Korea and investigates the strategic orientation of innovative small firms. It presents the findings from a survey of 426 firms in Korea that have been registered with the Inno-biz certification programme. This Ph.D research project investigates the characteristics of Korean technology intensive small companies. In particular it investigates the relationships among technology orientation, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and business performance in the South Korean context. The empirical findings of this research suggest that the appropriate interrelationship actively provide an organisation with the ability to achieve and maintain competitive advantage. Market and technology orientations do not directly affect business performances. However, it turns out that market and technology orientations can positively affect business performances but only through entrepreneurial orientation. The implication here is that for Korean technology intensive small firms, market and technology orientations can improve business performance only when it is combined with entrepreneurial orientation. The research contributes to our understanding of how SMEs can improve their business performance (Hakala, 2010). It shows that to achieve and maintain a positive business performance, it is vital that a firm is able to possess an organizational structure that integrates and incorporates all three of these areas into a coordinated framework that allows innovative activities to take advantage of the benefits that all three of these orientations allow. It is hoped that this research and the findings stemming from it can aid future research into the area of improving managerial practices, and to open the door to further research that looks further into these three constructs and the respective interrelationships that exist between them.

Globalisation has significantly added to diversity in the workplace, requiring leaders to acquire new skills to negotiate and operate in international environments; this is especially true in the case of multinational corporations where relationships can be complex and mono-cultural management styles can fuel conflict. The proximity of individuals from different cultures raises consciousness of difference; therefore, leaders must be able to deal with the reactions of those with different backgrounds to themselves. Awareness of cultural diversity informs the way leaders define their roles and responsibilities and requires them to carefully apply themselves to team management. This study proposes a theoretical model to address team-level concerns and examines how social identity strengthens the relationship between leadership behaviour and effective leadership. Accordingly, this study evaluates two styles of leadership: charismatic (Conger and Kanungo, 1998) and ethical leadership (Masuda, 2005); it relates them to two aspects of social identity (team identity and leader prototypicality). Propositions are developed concerning how these styles of leadership would be expected to influence leader effectiveness. It is also hypothesised that team identification and leader prototypicality moderate these relationships. This means that social identity and leadership behaviour can interact to create a more effective leader, which may reduce conflict, increasing group cohesion and affective commitment to the organisation. This research utilises a quantitative approach to achieve its objectives. The research participants were selected purposively from the study population, Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) due to its successful implementation of cultural diversity. Paper questionnaires were distributed to 500 employees and 100 team leaders; 351 employee questionnaires were collected and these employees were taken from different groups covering 90 separate leaders. A multilevel modelling analysis was used to test the study‟s hypotheses regarding the relationships and interactions between specific variables. This study contributes to the existing literature on leadership and social identity by providing empirical data regarding the significance of two leadership styles (charismatic and ethical) for increasing leader effectiveness; this effectiveness is strengthened when team identity and leader prototypicality moderate these relationships in private organisations in a culturally diverse context. The study findings have meaningful implications for leadership training and development.

Theory development in the field of sales is relatively limited compared to other disciplines, particularly since sales managers have lower rates of participation in academic studies than other professions. By exploring in depth the perceptions of sales managers about their resourcing choices, this study brings rich linguistic data to bear on the “make-or-buy” question in sales, which could be further tested by quantitative means. It is the first comprehensive approach to the topic in the sales function, exploring constructs across three theoretical schools – transaction cost economics, the resource-based view and real options theory. This study explores how UK sales managers perceive that they make their sales resourcing decisions, focusing particularly on the resourcing option of using third parties such as “contract sales organisations” rather than recruiting employees. Given the lack of research about the sales function to date, and in particular the lack of research on outsourcing in the sales function, the resulting model of the make or buy decision in the sales function is a significant contribution to an emerging body of literature, discerning antecedents from two levels of moderating factors, and accommodating exceptions as well as probable scenarios. This study posits that, depending on context, cost, access to skills or speed to respond to the market are important antecedents of resource changes and resourcing decisions in the sales function; desire to control on the basis of reputational risk is a primary moderating factor, and ability to manage third parties together with availability of suitable suppliers are secondary moderating factors. The primary research in this study involved in-depth telephone interviews with an under-researched managerial elite - senior sales managers and sales directors. It adds to the recent evidence that telephone interviewing can be successful in gathering large quantities of data from respondents without loss of rapport or emotional emphasis.

Thailand’s automotive industry has grown steadily since the 1960s making Thailand one of the world’s largest vehicle producers. Indeed, when it comes to Pick-up trucks, Thailand is the main manufacturing base for the following firms: Mitsubishi, Ford, Isuzu, Toyota and Nissan. While this may seem impressive, what remains unclear is whether these improvements have been matched with similar levels of technological capability development within Thailand. This study examines the growth of the Thai automotive industry and the influence of government policy from 1960-2009 on this industry. For the past 49 years the Thai government has encouraged and helped to develop an automobile industry within its borders and it has deployed a range of industrial policies to enhance the technological capabilities of local auto part firms. It is against this background that this study examines the level and extent of technological capability development within the Thai automobile industry. To this end, the study initially identifies the key concepts, ‘organisation & organisational learning’, ‘international strategic alliance’, ‘technology transfer’, and ‘innovation strategies’, as well as their related factors, and uses them to create the study’s conceptual framework. The important role of government policies is later added as a key concept in the conceptual framework. Evidence is presented from a survey of over 300 Thai automotive firms and in-depth elite interviews through three phases of research. The key findings of this study are that while the production figures in Thailand’s automotive industry have grown, these improvements have not been equally matched by similar levels of technological capability development. The other key finding is that the ten factors related to the key concepts mentioned above have an effect on the development of technological capability in the Thai automotive industry. The study contributes to the existing literature by developing an innovative conceptual framework called the Model of Technological Capability Development for the Automotive Parts Industry in Thailand. In addition, the research provides suggestions on how the Thai automotive industry can develop a technological capability strategy based on data obtained from the executives of automotive firms. The key findings of this study provide policy implications for the automotive industry and government bodies. It was also found that this study can be generalised to other ASEAN countries.

Successful adaptation to organisational changes may start with individuals’ successful adaptation to change at the task level. This study suggests that the success of employees’ adaptation to task change may depend on the quality of the relationships between them and their managers. Within the broad area of organisational leadership, leader-member exchange (LMX) theory has evolved into one of the more interesting and useful approaches for studying hypothesised linkages between the exchange relationships between employees and their managers, and employee outcomes. The current research adopts an integrative model which is based on a review of the body of literature relevant to LMX, leadership behaviour, and employees’ work-related behaviour and attitudes. The literature review revealed a dearth of rigorous academic research using the leader-member exchange (LMX) approach in the Saudi organisational context, and the need to validate a model of the exchange relationships based on this approach in this context, specifically during times of organisational change. The research contributes to the current body of knowledge by bridging this gap in the previous literature, conducting the research in King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) using the LMX approach. The research design was largely derived from the Methodological Fit Concept for Mature Theory (Edmondson & McManus, 2007). For the purpose of testing the mediation hypotheses, the employees’ data was analysed at descriptive and explanatory levels using the macro introduced by Preacher and Hayes (2008a) for Multiple Mediation Analysis. The most exciting results of the current research are regarding the employees’ evaluation of LMX overall, and that the values for LMX dimensions were high. Interestingly this has been supported by the employees’ views about the significant effect of multidimensional LMX, firstly as mediator and then regarding the independent influence of its dimensions in predicting task change-supportive behaviours and attitudes in the Saudi organisational change context. Based on these results, the research suggests areas and tools for development related to the criteria and mediator variables that need more attention from KAU management.

The thesis examines the enactment of workplace equality through an analysis of HR generalist talk. The primary data is contextualised by a review of the literature on HR, equality and diversity, and the regulatory terrain. The study is based on interviews with HR practitioners from 40 UK organisations of different sizes/sectors in 2014. The methodology underpinning the analysis is informed by a form of critical discourse analysis which considers lived experiences in their broader contexts (Edley, 2001). The findings indicate that operational HR practice in respect of equality and diversity is constituted mainly of compliance to the equality legislation. HR practitioners enact a ‘legal guardian’ (Wright & Snell, 2005) role, seeking first and foremost to protect their organisations from the threat of litigation. Legal guardianship is delegitimised by the dominant discourses of strategic HRM and diversity management. Nonetheless, the legal guardian role is orientated to mainstream HRM expectations of ‘contribution’ whilst also incorporating a more covert employee advocacy role, which is accomplished through various proxies. The level of complexity and breadth of HR practices associated with the achievement of equality compliance challenges perspectives of equality law as providing a low threshold of rights in the employment relationship. The findings and discussion further challenge the neat demarcation of HR from personnel management in the literature, presenting a perspective of HR practice that is both nuanced and relatively consistent across sectors. The thesis considers the means by which a regulatory role for HR is unintentionally ensured by the dominant HRM discourse. Talk of the HR/line manager relationship in the enactment of equality highlights that roles are relatively stable and that the HR function retains considerable control of processes and outcomes whilst demonstrating a commitment in talk to the principle of devolution. The thesis thereby problematizes the ongoing predication of ‘successful’ HRM on the devolution of operational people management to line managers, and the perspective that continuing devolution is the trajectory of practice. HR practitioner talk indicates the processes by which the equality legislation is given meaning and highlights the significance of the (thus far under-acknowledged) employment lawyer/HR practitioner relationship to understandings of HR and the enactment of equality.

This whole research project evolved to ultimately understand how and why human resource practitioners across several industries discover, adopt or implement certain human resource management trends into their industries and organisations. Since the explosion of information technology and the effects of globalisation it was interesting to explore and discover intimate knowledge from various human resource management experts. Through exploratory research, a series of in-depth interviews were set up with several human resource (HR) directors and managers across various global companies and industries in South Africa. This research investigated the views of these human resource experts and how various human resource trends impact and influence the human resource practitioner in this ever evolving global economy. The outcome of this research can facilitate human resource practitioners in enhancing their knowledge and understanding in the human resource field with regards to making them more competitive in attracting, maintaining and retaining talent for their organisations, by certain human resource management trends. Furthermore, the research may provide an insightful understanding of how and why certain human resource management trends become disseminated into various organisations for the human resource manager. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted