Emiratisation: drawing UAE nationals into their surging economy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine Emiratisation and its antecedents from the perspective of national policy impacting private sector organisations' cultures, working conditions and job specifications. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative and quantitative survey covers a sample of 20 executives or their peers in human resource management of large enterprises and relevant authorities in the public sector. Findings Barriers to Emiratisation were found to include low standards of education and skills of potential employees, inadequate English, and a lack of trust by employers in the work‐readiness of United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals. From individuals' perspectives, it was reported that the nationals considered that the private sector offered little career opportunity and low wages in comparison to the public sector. Research limitations/implications This analysis may be viewed as a preliminary step to identify and prioritise the issues affecting Emiratisation. The paper's findings should be assessed from two perspectives. First, the key informants were from one region only, the Emirate of Dubai; and second, that this regionalism reflected on the breadth of companies approached to join the study. Thus, the findings of the present paper may be seen as preliminary in nature, and are intended to stimulate further research interest in factors impeding Emiratisation: government policy, organisational effectiveness and applicant preparedness. Originality/value To place Emiratisation in context, the literature on social capital predictors was examined to identify dimensions in the social fabric of the UAE and draw out parallel phenomena as themes for this study. With a paucity of Gulf literature on this theme, this paper augments social capital literature by analysis of opinion of business and public sector executives, illustrated by data drawn from the fields of banking and insurance in the private sector.