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Nepotism in the Arab World: An Institutional Theory Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Yusuf M. Sidani  and
Jon Thornberry
Yusuf M. Sidani
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut
Jon Thornberry
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut
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Abstract:

We examine the practice of nepotism in the Arab World and analyze how a rational-legal model of bureaucracy was never able to take hold. We draw upon ideas from institutional theory and related notions of legitimacy to provide an explanation of nepotism’s extraordinary persistence. Then we use arguments to speculate how the appearance of institutional entrepreneurs who are advocates for a new hybrid form of nepotism might begin to colonize a social space created by larger political and economic changes that are sweeping the Arab World. Those entrepreneurs must persuade other members of an extended family that the current practice of nepotism is typically destructive of a firm’s competitive performance. In addition, they will argue that nepotism as currently practiced violates teachings of Islam. This second argument is likely to be particularly effective with an audience that sees Islam as a source of universal notions of justice and fairness.

Keywords

nepotisminstitutional theorylegitimacyArab countriesIslammoral free space
Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 69 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2013

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