http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32627 Sun, 14 Jun 2026 01:35:52 GMT 2026-06-14T01:35:52Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33200 Title: Catalysing digital adoption in Malaysian SMES: An integrated TOE–RBV–SNT framework for inter-organisational collaboration (IOC) Authors: Ismail, Noor Amy Abstract: This study investigates the mediating role of the IOC in accelerating digital adoption among SMEs in emerging economies, using Malaysia as a case study. Malaysian SMEs are aligned with the broader aim of the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (2021-2025), which seeks to make the country a high-income digital nation by 2030. Although SMEs account for 96.2% of businesses, contribute 39.1% (USD128.8 billion) to GDP, and employ 7.86 million people (DOSM, 2023), digital adoption remains sluggish. Malaysia’s Digital Adoption Index score (0.69) lags behind regional leaders such as Singapore (0.87) and South Korea (0.86), with further challenges stemming from low rankings in SME digital connectivity and skills (World Bank, 2023; Portulans Institute, 2023). This thesis offers three central contributions: (1) advancing theory by integrating the TOE, RBV, and SNT frameworks into an intergrated conceptual model; (2) enhancing methodological rigour through a six-phase sequential mixed-methods design; and (3) presenting the IOC–SMEs Digital Adoption Playbook for Emerging Economies (Playbook), an empirically validated framework tailored to the Malaysian context and broader emerging economies. These contributions directly address gaps identified through a comprehensive SLR, which include (1) integrating previously fragmented technological, organisational, and network perspectives through an integrated conceptual framework that combines TOE, RBV, and SNT, thereby overcoming the methodological limitations of single-theory studies; (2) adopting a sequential mixed-methods approach that captures adoption patterns and evolutionary processes, thus mitigating the primary emphasis on quantitative studies; and (3) providing comprehensive empirical evidence from Malaysia's unique business environment, encompassing manufacturing and service industries, unlike most studies that focus on manufacturing, thereby enhancing the understanding of digital adoption in emerging economies rather than extrapolating from European contexts. The six-phase methodological design encompasses (1) a SLR of 109 peer-reviewed articles; (2) the development and validation of research instruments through four expert panels and pilot testing (n=40); (3) quantitative data collection from 396 SMEs across various sectors; (4) qualitative interviews with seven stakeholders (five CEOs and two academic experts); (5) synthesis of findings into a practical Playbook for emerging economies; and (6) validation within the Malaysian context through three industry forums involving 530 stakeholders and follow-up structured interviews (thirteen industry players and two academic experts). There are five findings from the research, which have been clearly outlined as design principles in the Playbook: (1) Technological Integration (with relative advantage and trust as drivers of adoption), (2) Organisational Transformation (focusing on leadership and internal readiness), (3) Collaborative Networks (where the IOC acts as a mediating force), (4) State-Level Integration (which addresses regional disparities), and (5) Resource Optimisation (employing blended support strategies to address capacity gaps). This thesis offers a theoretically integrated and empirically validated framework for understanding digital adoption in Malaysian SMEs, emphasising the mediating role of ICT Orientation. By employing the TOE, RBV, and SNT frameworks, it reinterprets IOC as a strategic instrument enabling SMEs in emerging economies to tackle resource, trust, and capability hurdles. The research confirms key adoption drivers through a six-phase mixed-methods approach, highlighting their different roles within emerging economy contexts. The result is a practical, context-sensitive model of SME digitalisation, executed via a national Playbook that has influenced policy initiatives such as the MVCR and UNCBF, led by the researcher.This study shifts the emphasis from firm-specific models to a broader, ecosystemic, relational, and policy-focused perspective on digital adoption in resource-constrained environments. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33200 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33199 Title: ‘You play the game that is to be played’ Conditional legitimacy in the London Insurance Market: the experiences of minority ethnic knowledge workers Authors: Pillai, Mani Abstract: This thesis provides a qualitative investigation into the careers of minority ethnic knowledge workers within the London Insurance Market, a historically exclusive and male-dominated financial sector. Despite its technical expertise and global reach, the Market remains socially opaque and reputationally stigmatised, with entrenched hierarchies that shape access to opportunity. Against this backdrop, the thesis asks how minority ethnic professionals navigate, resist, and accommodate this institutional environment in their pursuit of legitimacy and career progression. Drawing on 76 in-depth semi-structured interviews across underwriting, broking and support functions, the study offers rich empirical insights into the lived experiences of minority ethnic workers in the Market. Its theoretical analysis integrates Bourdieu’s and Goffman’s sociological concepts, justified by their shared analytical concern with power, legitimacy, and the social constraints that shape both individual and institutional actions and reproductions. Bourdieu’s field theory conceptualises the London Insurance Market as a structured space with its own institutional logic, hierarchies, and deeply embedded habitus that governs both formal and informal professional practices. Dominant groups—particularly underwriters and brokers—control access to resources and information, while minority ethnic professionals face challenges in accumulating and converting cultural capital into economic and symbolic capital. However, the changing broader socio-economic and regulatory environments can create spaces to circumvent these structures. Goffman’s dramaturgical approach complements this by foregrounding the everyday, interactional dimension of career navigation. It highlights the performative management of stigma, impression, and self-presentation as professionals negotiate frontstage and backstage behaviours to maintain credibility. The thesis also draws on Goffman’s concept of total institutions to interpret how the London Insurance Market’s assimilative and institutional culture exerts disciplinary and regulatory pressures on identity performances. This dual theoretical framework reveals that legitimacy within the London Insurance Market is conditional. It is dependent not only on the accumulation of valued forms of capital but also on skilled identity work that manages both visible and invisible dimensions of social identity in a context resistant to change. Findings reveal that career progression depends not only on technical competence or ambition but also on participants’ ability to read, negotiate, and respond to the field’s tacit rules. Participants encountered reputational stigma, symbolic misrecognition, nepotism, and exclusionary social capital structures. Yet they also exercised agency through strategies such as moral distancing, strategic concealment, performative belonging, and adapting their self-presentation to manage the aesthetics and politics of fit. Such identity work carries significant emotional and moral costs, revealing the affective dimensions of conditional legitimacy. By foregrounding the interaction between structural conditions and individual agency, this thesis critiques mainstream career theories for underestimating institutional logics, gatekeeping practices, and the affective demands placed on minority ethnic professionals. It advances a relational and contextuality grounded approach that accounts for how legitimacy is conditionally conferred and must be continually negotiated. Beyond its empirical and theoretical contributions, the thesis also offers practical implications for organisations in the London Insurance Market, recommending interventions that move beyond individual adaptation to address structural gatekeeping, increase transparency in hiring and promote meaningful cultural reform. It concludes with suggestions for future research to explore intragroup differences, longitudinal trajectories, and multi-actor perspectives that can further illuminate how careers unfold in elite, exclusionary fields. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33199 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33185 Title: Transformational leadership and employee well-being in the education sector: The mediation effect of self-efficacy and resilience Authors: Majed, Zainab Sayed Salman Jaber Taher Abstract: Work-related stress has emerged as a significant issue, developing into a globally critical concern that affects employees' well-being across various organizational contexts. The global trend of rising stress levels among employees, particularly those in educational settings such as schools, underscores the need for effective leadership to enhance the educational environment. Thus, this research primarily focuses on investigating the effect of transformational leadership on employee well-being, namely job satisfaction and job stress. It also aims to explore the mediation effect of employee psychological capital, specifically self-efficacy and resilience, on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee well-being. This has been achieved by conducting a cross-sectional survey distributed to employees working in various private schools in Bahrain. Also, one-on-one interviews were conducted with school leaders. Specifically, quantitative data were collected from a sample of 100 participants, while qualitative data were collected from 12 individuals. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Thematic Analysis Approach were employed to analyze the collected data. The findings of this mixed-method research indicated that transformational leadership has a significant impact on employee well-being, particularly in terms of job satisfaction and job stress. The results also showed that employee self-efficacy mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and both employee job satisfaction and job stress. However, resilience did not demonstrate any mediation effect. Moreover, the study found that communicating a clear vision, providing opportunities for professional growth, fostering close relationships, and offering constructive feedback in the workplace all contribute to enhancing employee well-being in private schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Although this research has made theoretical and practical contributions to the fields of leadership and employee well-being, the findings cannot be generalized due to the study's limitations, including its small sample size. However, future research can build upon this study’s methods and results to improve their research implementations. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33185 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32641 Title: Digital ventures in practice: Exploring performance factors through a netnographic immersion journal Authors: Sodha, Sapnaba R Abstract: The continuous expansion of digital platforms has transformed the entrepreneurial landscape, enabling new forms of business activity conducted entirely online. This study explores how digital ventures with no physical presence build and sustain performance through platform-based practices. The research is conducted in the United Kingdom, focusing on fifteen digital ventures within the online jewellery industry, where digital entrepreneurs adopt digital technologies for business operations. The study aims to explore how entrepreneurial and platform practices shape the online performance of digital ventures. It addresses a critical gap in existing literature, where limited qualitative attention has been given to the everyday practices, strategies, and challenges of ventures operating fully online. To fill this gap, the study applies the Entrepreneurship as Practice (EAP) framework and employs a netnographic immersion approach to capture the lived experiences and routines of digital entrepreneurs in their natural online environments. A netnographic immersion was conducted over one year (March 2023 - February 2024), observing the online activities of jewellery ventures across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, and Etsy. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial self-representation, digital skills and digital identity are essential to building authenticity and trust, directly influencing online performance. At the platform level, factors such as the degree of digitalisation, engagement, collaboration, and pricing strategy emerge as key determinants of venture success. New insights also identify caption strategy, content creation, and digital consistency as emerging practices that strengthen customer connection and algorithmic visibility. The research advances the theoretical development of practise theory in a digital context by conceptualising how entrepreneurs’ daily digital practices (habitus) interact with platform structures (field) to enhance online performance (capital). Methodologically, it demonstrates the value of netnography for studying platform-based entrepreneurship through, practice-focused observation. Practically, the findings offer guidance for entrepreneurs seeking to enhance their digital presence and engagement, and for policymakers designing initiatives that support digital-venture ecosystems. Overall, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how entrepreneurial and platform practices combine to influence online performance, offering both theoretical advancement and practical insights. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32641 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z