This study examines how remote work reshapes the employment relationship in fragile socio-economic contexts, focussing on Lebanese professionals working for international organizations.
An interpretivist qualitative design was used, based on 20 semi-structured interviews analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis informed by JD–R and self-determination theory (SDT).
Fragility operates as a persistent meta-demand, transforming job demands into continuous pressures and weakening the effectiveness of resources. Workers engage in ongoing infrastructural labour while facing digital overload and visibility pressures. Psychological needs function as adaptive personal resources, supporting regulation under instability, while leadership acts as relational infrastructure. Resilience reflects the externalization of risk onto workers, and remote work also provides dignity, global belonging and future security, extending beyond existing frameworks.
The findings call for context-aware organizational practices, empathetic leadership and investment in infrastructure and labour protections to support sustainable remote work in fragile socio-economic contexts.
The study extends JD–R and SDT by conceptualizing fragility as a meta-demand and reframing psychological needs as adaptive resources, while highlighting how remote work redistributes risk within the employment relationship.
Rachelle Jerjess, Eline Ayoub, O. Kuran· Employee Relations: The Inte...· 0 citations
Abstract This study examines the resilience of women entrepreneurs in Lebanon amid compounding crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic collapse, and the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, focusing on their interactions within family, community, and society to uncover the factors driving their capacity to recover and adapt. Using 45 semi-structured interviews guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST) (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 2000), the research explores the experiences of female entrepreneurs leading small businesses in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. Thematic analysis reveals patterns across four EST levels: at the microsystem level, adaptability, proactive resourcefulness, and managed vulnerability characterize resilience; at the mesosystem level, empathy-driven customer relationships, teamwork, and family ties provide critical support; at the exosystem and macrosystem levels, community resilience initiatives, local sourcing, shifting gender norms, and ethical business practices collectively shape broader ecosystem adaptation. Crucially, the study also documents failure cases, identifying four structural vulnerability factors that distinguish discontinued businesses from survivors. By moving beyond trait-based views, this study advances a model of “embedded resilience,” demonstrating that entrepreneurial survival in poly-crisis environments is structurally dictated by localized resource substitutions across ecological layers rather than individual endurance alone.
O. Kuran, L. Khabbaz· Entrepreneurship Research Jo...· 0 citations
This paper aims to conceptualize ethical infrastructure overconfidence (EIO) as a form of moral disengagement that arises when organizations overestimate the objectivity and self-correcting capacity of digital technologies.
This conceptual theory-building article relies on logical deduction and mechanism elaboration to integrate macro-organizational scholarship with behavioral ethics. This study uses comparative illustrative vignettes drawn from archival records exclusively as secondary theoretical exemplars to clarify the plausibility of the framework. These vignettes function as deductive conceptual anchors rather than empirical casework or qualitative fieldwork.
The analysis identifies three mechanisms through which EIO functions as moral disengagement: moral justification, displacement of responsibility and ethical escalation latency, the delayed recognition of ethically relevant anomalies. EIO also suppresses perceived behavioral control, reducing individuals’ ability and willingness to escalate concerns. These effects intensify in institutionally fragile environments.
The framework highlights emerging ethical risks in AI-mediated organizations and offers actionable constructs for diagnosing failures of internal oversight and responsible technological governance.
This study advances a behavioral-ethical explanation for technology-driven ethical failures, integrating moral psychology, digital governance and institutional theory.
O. Kuran, L. Khabbaz· Society and Business Review· 0 citations
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