Guest editorial

Citation

Aladwani, A.M. (2003), "Guest editorial", Information Technology & People, Vol. 16 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/itp.2003.16116aaa.001

Guest editorial

About the Guest EditorAdel M. Aladwani is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Kuwait University. He received his doctoral degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1996. His publications have appeared in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Management Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Information & Management, The DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, Information Technology & People and several other journals. He is presently serving as a member of the editorial review board or a referee for a number of information systems journals. His current research interests focus on the performance of information systems projects; management of Internet technologies; and individual, organizational, and societal impacts of information systems.

The proliferation of information technology (IT) in the Arabic Middle Eastern nations is expected to have many serious implications for the region inasmuch as it is IT that can set the stage for many economic, social, and even political reforms essential for the development of these countries. The success of decision makers in public and private organizations operating in this part of the world to understand how to exploit IT in accordance with their particular work environments and national values will facilitate the accomplishment of these aspired developments. Furthermore, with the increased globalization of the world economy, many organizations interested in entering the promising marketplace of the Middle East may need to get a sense of the particulars of IT diffusion in this region. Unfortunately, so far, little is known about the state of IT management in Arabic Middle Eastern nations.

This special issue of Information Technology & People came as a timely response to fill this void in the current IT literature. It will try to provide a forum for topics addressing IT management issues in the Arabic Middle East. The manuscripts appearing in this inaugural special issue cover a wide array of research approaches including quantitative and qualitative studies focusing on individual, organizational, and societal implications of IT in the Middle East.

The first article in this special issue is written by Adel M. Aladwani, who reviews key Internet characteristics and e-commerce issues in the Arab world. The author argues that that most Arab countries are still at an early stage of Internet development, hence, should give more attention to relevant national Internet policies and regulations. The author suggests practical guidelines to Arab policy makers as to how they can set the stage to exploit the Internet and its applications properly to achieve economical and social benefits for their societies.

In their article, Norhayati Zakaria and Jeffrey M. Stanton of Syracuse University and Shreya T. M. Sarkar-Barney of Illinois Institute of Technology propose an interesting hybrid framework that can help understand and predict Mideasterns’ reactions to various communication-related IT applications. The study should encourage interested researchers to empirically test the theoretical propositions of the paper using data gathered from one or more Arab countries.

Saheer Al-Jaghoub and Chris Westrup of the University of Manchester describe Jordan’s efforts to develop a strong IT sector that will be internationally competitive. The authors found that Jordan exhibits many of the characteristics of a competition state conducive to creating a strong IT sector. They conclude with an account of the issues critical for Jordan’s continued IT success.

Majed Al-Mashari and Abdullah Al-Mudimigh of King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia describe a case study of a failed implementation of SAP R/3 to re-engineer the business processes of a major manufacturer operating in the Middle East. The authors evaluate this re-engineering initiative by highlighting the factors that led to failure and contrasting the management approach of the company with that of several best-practice companies in the world.

The paper by Alexander Pons, Hassan Aljifri, and Khalid Fourati of Miami University addresses the disparity that exists between Arab and non-Arab trading blocs and the potential that e-commerce offers in narrowing this gap. The article concludes with several practical suggestions that would help decision makers in the region deal with this important aspect of economic cooperation.

Last, but not least, the article by Heba El Sayed and Chris Westrup of the University of Manchester moves beyond globalization as a concept and explores processes of globalization that are linked to IT, using Egypt as an example. The authors argue that IT-facilitated development has led to the formation of new, and more complex, networks of relations where IT acts as a common point of interest and where the roles of these diverse actors are redefined in this process.

The guest editor of the special issue on “Information technology management in the Arabic Middle East” is thankful for the support he received from the co-editors of Information Technology & People, Eleanor Wynn and Edgar Whitley, and for the assistance of the colleagues who reviewed the submissions to this special issue.

Adel M. Aladwani