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This study aims to understand the main factors that contribute to the failure of implementing New Public Management (NPM) plans, as well as to investigate the potential link between informal networks, namely wasta, and this failure in organizations across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region), with Jordanian public organizations taken as an illustrative case. A qualitative approach was applied, and a total of 24 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with HR officials in Jordanian public organizations, different state‐owned enterprises (SOEs), ministries, and government agencies (GAs). The results show that wasta contributes to the failure of NPM implementation in Jordanian public organizations, indicating that public employees contribute directly to the failure of NPM strategies in Jordanian public organizations for many reasons on top of which their resistance to these reform plans. Our findings also suggest that the implementation of NPM strategies failed to diminish the use of wasta in HRM practices even though wasta was an important reason to implement NPM. This study adds knowledge to the limited informal networks literature, by exploring the interplay between informal networks on one side, and the NPM literature on the other side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary we reflect on Shaalan, Eid, and Tourky's (2022) article in which they investigated the Chinese concept and practice of guanxi in the Middle East,1 a region in which wasta represents the common way of informal networking.2 While we encourage and welcome research into informal networks, we have serious concerns about the conceptual and methodological approaches taken by Shaalan et al. (2022) in investigating informal networks in the Middle East and explain herein why we do not believe guanxi should have been used in place of wasta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between economic challenges, tribalism and the use of the wasta informal network in the workplace across Middle East and North Africa (MENA) organizations, with Jordanian public organizations taken as an illustrative case. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was applied, and a total of 28 semi-structured interviews were conducted with human resource (HR) officials working in different public organizations such as state-owned enterprises (SOEs), ministries, government agencies (GAs) the military forces and security agencies. Findings: The authors' findings show that employees who live in rural areas are more likely to use wasta in public organizations than the counterparts living in the capital Amman. This contrast is accounted for by major differences between mentalities, the strength of tribalism, norms and living standards among residents of urban and rural areas. The authors argue that these differences play a pivotal role on the use of wasta informal networks in the workplace. Originality/value: The outcomes obtained in this study have proven to be unique and important due to the authors' holistic theoretical understanding of wasta, which offers important insights into its emergence, evolution and use in the workplace. The outcomes of this study also serve as guidance for organizations in understanding the "hidden force" of wasta and the extent to which the organizations' businesses may be impacted by this, based on the type of employees the organizations already have or intend to hire and employees' tribal ties. This study accounts for the wide use of informal networks in managerial activities, based on important social and economic realities that have not been previously explored in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]