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How Islamic Business Ethics Impact Women Entrepreneurs: Insights from Four Arab Middle Eastern Countries

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Abstract

This study explores how Islamic business ethics and values impact the way in which Muslim women entrepreneurs conduct their business in the Arab world. Guided by institutional theory as a theoretical framework and social constructionism as a philosophical stance, this study uses a qualitative, interview-based methodology. Capitalizing on in-depth, face-to-face interviews with Muslim Arab women entrepreneurs across four countries in the Arab Middle East region, the results portray how Islamic work values and ethics are embedded in the entrepreneurial activities of these Arab women. The results also illustrate how Muslim women entrepreneurs seek well-being (falah) in their life and excellence (itqan) in their work while running their businesses. The Muslim women entrepreneurs adhered to the Islamic work-related values of good and hard work (amal salih), honesty and truthfulness (sidik and amanah), fairness and justice (haqq and adl), and benevolence (ihsaan) and perceived them as instrumental to the survival and success of their enterprises. The agency of the Muslim Arab women allowed them to construct and navigate their entrepreneurial careers away from the traditional, doctrinaire interpretations of Islam. This study, therefore, contributes to theory development on the interrelationship between gender and business ethics within entrepreneurial contexts and in relation to Muslim values. It also contributes to studies on entrepreneurship and business ethics by showing how Arab women practice entrepreneurship and project their faith in their enterprises. The implications of the study for academics, multinational corporations, and globalization are numerous and important for understanding how business is conducted in Islamic countries.

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Notes

  1. (p) is an abbreviation of “peace be upon him”, an honorific formula that Muslims use when mentioning the name of the prophet (Beekun 2012).

  2. The teachings of the Prophet or the Hadeeth have been compiled in several collections by several compilers. However, for a hadeeth to be authentic or sound (sahih), versus good (hasan) or weak (da’if), the chain of narration (sanad), and the text of hadeeth (matn) need to be documented and well known. This study uses the authentic hadeeth of Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, as they are the most frequently used and authentic sources of hadeeth (Basit 2012).

  3. In this study the following translations of the Qur’an were used.

    1.Saheeh International (2004).

    2. Pickthall (1930).

    3. Ali (1938).

    The Qur’an is composed of Chapters (suras) and verses (ayat). Hence, throughout this study, the following format will be used; XXX:YYY; where XXX refers to the chapters and YYY to verses. For the purposes of clarity, some modifications have been made by the bi-lingual (Arabic-English) author.

  4. Zakat is the third pillar of Islam. It was imposed by the prophet on believers as an implicit tax system that obliges all believers to give alms to the poor. The most common zakat is 2.5 %, where Muslims pay 2.5 % of the capital that has been in their possession for a full year. In other words, it is the money taken from the surplus of one’s labor or from one’s fortune, without touching the revenues needed for subsistence (Kochuyt 2009). As for Sadakah, it is the act of benevolence where Muslims go above and beyond to help the poor (Beekun 2012).

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  1. Faculty of Business, University of New Brunswick Saint John, 100 Tucker Park Road, P.O. Box 5050, Saint John, NB, E2L 4L5, Canada

    Hayfaa A. Tlaiss

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Tlaiss, H.A. How Islamic Business Ethics Impact Women Entrepreneurs: Insights from Four Arab Middle Eastern Countries. J Bus Ethics 129, 859–877 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2138-3

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