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International audience; Recently the study of the social networks and connections in the workplace that came tobe known as “Wasta” in Arab countries has become an intriguing topic of research in the field ofHRM. The ever increasing interest in understanding this phenomenon is due to its widespread inmost Arab countries, and the crucial role that it plays in various aspects of a professional career.Thus the main purpose of this article is to investigate the concept of Wasta by modeling it as aninstitution itself rather than some form of illegitimate behavior, in order to shed a light on boththe concept and the consequences of this phenomenon. Furthermore this paper aims to proposeone hypothesis regarding the potential outcome of using Wasta on the image and reputation of itsusers using the Jordanian public sector as a case study. The results obtained through 27 semi-structureinterviews indicate that government employees who get employed through Wasta areperceived by their colleagues as incompetent, they are also stigmatized with an irreversibly badimage regardless of their real qualifications and performance. Our findings also suggest thatWasta indeed has harmful effects on the performance of public organizations.

International audience; Recently the study of the social networks and connections in the workplace that came tobe known as “Wasta” in Arab countries has become an intriguing topic of research in the field ofHRM. The ever increasing interest in understanding this phenomenon is due to its widespread inmost Arab countries, and the crucial role that it plays in various aspects of a professional career.Thus the main purpose of this article is to investigate the concept of Wasta by modeling it as aninstitution itself rather than some form of illegitimate behavior, in order to shed a light on boththe concept and the consequences of this phenomenon. Furthermore this paper aims to proposeone hypothesis regarding the potential outcome of using Wasta on the image and reputation of itsusers using the Jordanian public sector as a case study. The results obtained through 27 semi-structureinterviews indicate that government employees who get employed through Wasta areperceived by their colleagues as incompetent, they are also stigmatized with an irreversibly badimage regardless of their real qualifications and performance. Our findings also suggest thatWasta indeed has harmful effects on the performance of public organizations.