Abstract:

High unemployment among UAE nationals prompted the introduction of Emiratisation, a quota-based, state-mandated inclusion policy that focuses on workforce nationalisation and is widely regarded as a form of positive discrimination. The policy has generated significant public debate, particularly as organisations seek to develop industry-specific best practices. This study examines how Emiratisation is implemented in two financial organisations in the UAE. Existing research on positive discrimination policies is limited and largely individualistic, quantitative, and experimental. Even where organisational perspectives are adopted, studies often focus on stereotyping or similarity-attraction paradigms and treat policy as fixed, privileging measurable outcomes over the processes through which policy is interpreted, negotiated, and enacted over time. To address this gap, this study adopts a practice-based perspective to examine the situated activities and tacit knowledge that underpin implementation. It explores how shared practical (mis)understandings of Emiratisation develop among organisational members and public actors, shaping the “mediated array of human activity centrally organised around [them]” (Schatzki, 2001: 2). The research offers a replicable methodological template for studying contested policy implementation in diverse organisational settings. It does so by zooming-in and zooming- out while studying such complex social policy and draws on a three-year longitudinal qualitative study, including 54 interviews, over 30 hours of observations, conference participation, organisational reports, and policy documents. Dialogical, narrative and thematic analyses reveal how public narratives, framing Emiratisation as both opportunity and expatriate replacement, interact with intersubjective (mis)understandings between national and non-national employees. These tensions inform distinct organisational practices. The study highlights the emergent and negotiated character of policy implementation and provides an in-situ account of how Emiratisation comes to “become” a practice. It further bridges macro-structural narratives with micro-level enactments, offering a grounded account of how workforce nationalisation policy is lived in organisations. This has practical implications for policy designers, HR practitioners, and organisational leaders seeking to move beyond compliance toward genuine workforce integration.

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Practice Theory

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Dr. Satkeen Azizzadeh