Browsing by Author "Abaido, Ghada M."
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Item Bouncing Back from the Pandemic: Assessing the Implications of COVID 19 on Luxury Brands(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024) Abaido, Ghada M.; Chabani, ZakariyaIn today's world, luxury brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton symbolize social status and prestige. Even though the Covid 19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on the luxury brand market, these brands showed resilience and ability to adapt to the new normal. In this paper, we discuss the pandemic's impact on luxury brands during and post pandemic. Additionally, we focus on the online marketing efforts and the shift in consumer buying habits in countries like the United States, Germany, and China. Results were generated using a qualitative approach to analyze secondary data from reliable sources, ensuring credibility and minimizing biases. Findings indicate that the pandemic significantly affected luxury consumers’ purchasing motivations and has posed numerous obstacles mainly; disrupted supply chains, diminished demand, and a transition towards online sales. A key implication also revealed a growing trend towards sustainability in consumer behavior during and post pandemic. Luxury brands have re-evaluated the impact of these unprecedented factors on their e-commerce strategies. These insights provide valuable information for industry professionals and consumers alike. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.Item COVID-19: Virus or Viral Conspiracy Theories?(BiomedGrid LLC, 2020-03-16) Abaido, Ghada M.; Takshe, Aseel A.A novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV2 has attracted considerable attention in the past three months, unlike its sisters the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and the disease it causes has been termed “coronavirus disease 2019” (COVID-19). The mortality rate of COVID-19, however, is lesser than that of SARS and MERS. Then why does COVID-19 seem to be a scarier pandemic than any before? Is it a serious virus outbreak or a sort of violence that has perpetrated across communities? The outbreak of the virus itself feels like it’s happening in your own home. This article attempts to understand the reasons for the widespread attention received by COVID-19. To do so, it briefly presents what is known so far about the SARS-CoV2 virus. After that, it explores whether the media has played a role in the widespread and perhaps exaggerated attention directed at COVID-19. At the dawn of 2020, several pneumonia cases were reported in the city of Wuhan, China, that were caused by a novel coronavirus.Item Cyberbullying on social media platforms among university students in the United Arab Emirates(Routledge, 2020-12-31) Abaido, Ghada M.With the increased utilization of the internet and social media platforms, it is not surprising that youth are using these tools to inflict harm upon each other. Previous studies have outlined the negative impacts of cyberbullying, yet few research studies have been conducted in Arab communities examining its different forms and characteristics. Reporting incidents of cyberbullying is also a big problem, considering the social and cultural constraints of these societies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the pervasiveness of cyberbullying among university students in an Arab community, its nature and venues, and their attitudes towards reporting cyberbullying in contrast to remaining silent. Data were collected from 200 students in the UAE. 91% of the study sample confirmed the existence of acts of cyberbullying on social media with Instagram (55.5%) and Facebook (38%) in the lead. Calls for smartphone applications, stricter legal actions and proactive measures are discussed. © 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Item Establishing a nexus for effective university-industry collaborations in the MENA region: A multi-country comparative study(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2023-12) Yasin, Naveed; Gilani, Sayed Abdul Majid; Nair, Gayatri; Abaido, Ghada M.; Askri, SoumayaThis paper explores the nexus between University-Industry Collaborations (UIC) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region informed by a multiple-country-case study design. This study aims to explore the motives, opportunities and challenges, and propose effective practices in the MENA region context. Based on qualitative data retrieved through a series of 72 semi-structured interviews with university stakeholders (i.e., faculty, directors of corporate training, administrative staff, gatekeepers, company representatives and liaisons) conducted from March 2021 to September 2022. The sample was determined by a criterion sampling approach that enabled the development of cases from five countries in the MENA region (United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco) with each country sample comprising five university cases on average. This study was designed on a Multiple Case Study Research Design Approach (Yin, 2013) and this was supplemented by Template Analysis (a form of thematic analysis), and to incorporate the cross-national comparative dimension, Yasin and Hafeez (2022) approaches were adopted. The findings illustrate a wide range of motives, challenges, opportunities, and effective factors that are linked to varying objectives such as (1) the vision and ownership structures, (2) the stakeholder connections of universities (3) the brand reputation of the university provider (4) the perception and ranking of universities as well as (5) approaches undertaken by the University representative to negotiate the expectations of live projects. As a result, a contextualized framework is proposed in this study as the “five [essential] keys” for successful collaborations for the nexus between university and industry collaborations. The originality of this study is inherent in the qualitative cases and contextualized influences in non-westernized countries that are empirically under-explored, as well as the five keys framework that is useful from a theoretical and practical standpoint for academics, policymakers, and university leadership. © The Author(s) 2023.Item Exploring Youths’ Perceptions Of (In)Tolerance In The United Arab Emirates(Gyandhara International Academic Publications, 2020-05) Abaido, Ghada M.Purpose of the study: This paper aims to explore how youth perceive the meaning of social, cultural, and religious tolerance in the United Arab Emirates as a multicultural, multi-ethnic society. Methodology: Data were collected using a survey conducted with 400 participants from different nationalities living and studying in UAE universities representing over 40 different nationalities. Main Findings: The study reveals that the roots of tolerance have historically been embedded in the UAE through various societal, geographic, religious, and economic factors. Findings revealed that 70.5 % of the sample expressed the belief that the UAE is a relatively tolerant society, whereas 29.5% believe that more efforts need to be made to instill values of tolerance, inclusion and acceptance. Surprisingly, more than half the respondents (53.5%) stated that they were unaware of the existence of a Ministry of Tolerance in the UAE. Implications: The topic of tolerance and intolerance has been a research area of interest in several countries but rarely raised in the Arab region. Many misconceptions have surrounded the meaning of tolerance especially in a region that has witnessed several social and political turbulences. Originality/Novelty of the study: Limited or no studies have been conducted towards understanding and conceptualizing tolerance in the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council societies. Since 2019 was announced as the Year of Tolerance, it was significant to investigate this nationwide initiative and its impact on the 200 different nationalities living in the UAE. © Abaido.Item Guardians of humanity: how angels are portrayed in Islam(PalArch Foundation, 2021) Abaido, Ghada M.; Attaweya, Passant G.The concept of angels is pivotal and holds a very strong place in Islam. This is because faith in the unseen world that Allah created is an essential element and one of the six articles of faith. A Muslim’s faith would be deemed incomplete without a belief in the existence of angels and other articles of faith such as the belief in Allah, his holy book, all his prophets and messengers, in the day of judgement and in fate and destiny. Believing in such transcendental and metaphysical beings has been a vital characteristic of faith, not just in Islam but in various other religions as well. While angels perform crucial roles in Islam and act as the messengers between the human realm and the unseen world, their perception remains of an enigmatic and obscure nature to many. Through readings of previous literature and the Holy Quran, this research paper discusses and analyses the concept of angels in Islam. In doing so, it aims to specify several aspects of angels—creation, characteristics, duties, names—many of which have been subject to confusion. © 2021 Ghada M. Abaido, Passant G. Attaweya.