This study aims to develop a deeper understanding on talent management strategies to encourage employee engagement in the tourism industry of the Middle East during and after COVID-19 and further to reveal the impacts of employee engagement on customer satisfaction. This study was conducted qualitatively, where open-ended questions were posed to 37 managers through semi-structured interviews. Managers in the human resource domain of numerous hotels across the Middle East located in countries such as Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Sultanate of Oman participated in the study. The majority of Hotels had five-star ratings, and others four-star. The study themes were qualitatively developed from the data using inductive content analysis deployed in QSR NVivo. The results showed that by implementing appropriate talent management strategies, engagement and, consequently, job satisfaction of hotel staff could be enhanced. The COVID-19 pandemic showed that realistic targets must need be set for the effective retention of talented employees. The results imply that a lack of resources and investments in talent management strategies (e.g., reward system) can lead to the loss of talented employees. The overarching impact of talented employees is increased customer satisfaction as service quality is improved and interactions between staff and clients are enhanced. The results are beneficial for scholars as well as leaders in the hotel industry of the Middle Eastern region.

Several investigations show that remittances, renewable energy, and innovation promote the socioeconomic advancement of a nation. Nevertheless, the impacts of remittances and renewable energy on ecological quality are yet to be evaluated thoroughly. Therefore, the current investigation assesses the effects of remittances and renewable energy on CO₂ emissions while taking into account the roles of technological innovation, globalization, and economic growth. Toward this end, this paper depends on yearly data between 1990 and 2019. The study employed bounds testing and its results disclosed long-term connections between CO₂ and the regressors. Moreover, unlike prior studies that employ time-domain causality, we employed frequency domain causality, which considers causality at different frequencies. Furthermore, the ARDL long- and short-run results showed that economic growth amplified CO₂ emissions, while green energy, remittances, and globalization lessened CO₂ emissions. Lastly, the frequency domain causality approach revealed that globalization, renewable energy, economic growth, technological innovation, and remittances could predict CO₂ emissions in the long-term. These findings’ sturdiness was established utilizing DOLS and FMOLS regression. Several policy recommendations are suggested in light of these ground-breaking discoveries.

The concept of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) is regarded as a major turning point in managing human capital among firms. Sustainable practices, ecofriendly initiatives, and adequate management of employees (i.e., recruitment, training, performance, rewards, and involvement) are fundamental aspects of GHRM, which enable improvements in the performance of firms and enhanced competitiveness among their rivals. In this regard, the current study takes a quantitative approach towards analyzing GHRM practices and their effects on employee retention among hotels in the UAE. Furthermore, the indirect effect of green innovation is analyzed as a potential mediating variable that can better explain the GHRM–employee retention relationship. A total of 207 employees from five 5-star hotels were selected as participants to provide information regarding the factors under examination in this research. The collected data were analyzed using Smart-PLS v.3 and a partial least squares–structural equation modeling technique, which is a fitting technique for causal models. The perspective of employees on the outcome of GHRM initiatives and their willingness to remain in their firms can greatly contribute to the current understanding of GHRM and its effectiveness on employee retention in the context of the hotel industry of the UAE, and thus, aid practitioners and scholars alike.

Toxic leadership has profound implications for employees’ psychological wellbeing, particularly in academia, as a supportive workplace is crucial for intellectual prosperity and growth. In various parts of the Middle East, toxic leadership has been a major element in suppressing academic freedom, low levels of creativity, and innovation backed with favoritism, nepotism, and lack of support. This study examines the detrimental effects of toxic leaders on academic staff’s job satisfaction among academic staff in Middle Eastern universities. Grounded in the social learning theory, leader–member exchange theory, and conservation of resources theory, this research examines the mediating effect of organizational culture and trust in leaders. A quantitative approach using partial least squares—structural equation modeling with Smart-PLS software Version 3—was deployed on survey data from 236 faculty members and academic administrators across 11 universities in the region. The results show that toxic leadership significantly reduces job satisfaction, which is better explained by key mediating elements of organizational culture and trust in leaders. The findings highlight the need for fostering a culture of trust, leadership development, and transparent strategies to enhance the academic workplace for the staff and improve the dynamic and performance of the educational environment in the region. This study provides practical recommendations for mitigating toxic leadership in the education sector of the Middle East through empirically validating its detrimental effects on the psychological wellbeing of academic staff, which is a major element that barriers significant academic achievements.

Leaders are determinants of employee behavioral and work outcomes across industries. Notably, in the higher education sector where staff are required to perform various tasks while delivering knowledge to the younger generation, thus shaping the future of society. The current research employs social exchange and social identity theories to investigate the direct effect of supportive leadership on the wellbeing of employees. The indirect effects of organizational climate as a mediator, and perceived organizational support as a moderator are examined to better understand the underlying predictors of wellbeing in academia. Surveys were collected using a purposive and convenience sampling method and analyzed using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smart-PLS software, Version 3. The results show that the wellbeing of academic staff is not only influenced by the role and behavior of leaders but also the dynamics that surround it, namely, organizational climate aligned with the leadership efforts, and perceived organizational support among the staff that provides security, sense of belonging, and identity, leading to improved wellbeing. Organizational support when perceived by staff members can significantly boost the effectiveness of leadership efforts towards enhancing employees’ wellbeing.

Turnover is a major concern for the hotel and hospitality industry on a global scale. This research focuses on several Middle Eastern five-star hotels in terms of transactional leadership and its relationship with employees’ turnover intentions. In addition, the mediating effect of organizational climate, along with the moderating influence of psychological contract fulfillment are examined. This research combines the premises of social exchange, organizational support, and psychological contract theories to support the development of hypotheses. A total of 350 employee data from five-star hotels in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain was gathered using surveys using a convenience sampling method. The research used Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the hypotheses, which were supported by the results obtained. The importance of organizational climate and fulfilling psychological contracts is highlighted, which, under transactional leadership, can reduce turnover intentions. This is critical for the labor-intensive hotel sector with high turnover rates and random and unpredictable tasks. Transactional leadership is found to be a good fit for the Middle Eastern hotel sector through routinization and a structural approach. The current findings can be beneficial for scholars and practitioners.