Motivation of Western Muslim educators who are self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia

Running head: Motivation of Western Muslim educators who are self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia

1

Motivation of Western Muslim educators who are self-initiatedexpatriates in Saudi Arabia

by

Salih Abdullah

[email protected]

A00436638

Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership

Program: Ph.D. in Education

Global and Comparative Education

RSCH 8300D-2 – Qualitative Reasoning & Analysis

Dr. Kathleen Lynch

[email protected]

Walden University

MOTIVATION OF WESTERN MUSLIM EDUCATORS WHO ARE SELF-INITIATED EXPATRIATES IN SAUDI ARABIA 2

8/14/2015


Opening statement

According to a recent Pew Research study, by the year 2050,

the number of Muslims worldwide will match the number of

Christians (The Future of World Religions, 2015). The study

found that this growth is mainly due to higher fertility rates,

and also due to people changing faiths. In some people, this

alarming growth has triggered some Islamophobic reactions (Pratt,

2015), and incited curiosity in some others. Both reactions

could potentially lead to a surge of research related to the

religion of Islam and the Muslim demographic. One area that is

under-researched is the subpopulation of self-initiated

expatriates in Saudi Arabia who are educators and are from the

West. Specifically, in recent years, there has been a surge of

Muslim educators from the West moving east to locations like

Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries to teach and

live. This research seeks to understand their motives for

leaving their country of origin.


Background of the study

Western, self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia are a

relatively new but increasing phenomena (Bhuian, Al‐shammari, &

Jefri, 2001). Self-initiated Expatriates (as oppose to refugees,

immigrants, or expatriate assignments) are those who voluntarily

chose to relocate internationally, with the intentions of long-

term employment and temporary stay, in addition, they possess

professional skills and qualifications (Cerdin & Selmer, 2014).

I have found no empirical evidence regarding Muslim educators who

are self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia. However, there

is evidence that suggests that spirituality plays a significant

role in the lives of Muslim educators who live in the West

(Mogra, 2010). Saudi Arabia is significant to Muslims because it

is the birthplace of Islam and home to Islam’s two holiest

cities; Mecca, the city of the annual hajj pilgrimage compulsory

on all Muslims at least once in their lives, and Medina, the city

where the Prophet Muhammad is buried. Therefore, Muslim


educators may be inclined to move to this country to better

satisfy their spiritual needs and obligations.

Intentions or motivations are something that must always

remain at the forefront of a Muslims mind. The first and most

influential hadith (narration of the Prophet Muhammad) for

Muslims found in the compilation of Al-Bukhari (1987) is “Actions

(their correctness and rewards) are judged by intentions and

every person gets but what he has intended. So whoever emigrated

for world benefits, or for a woman to marry, his emigration is

for what he emigrated for” pg. 2. Thus, the aim of the Muslim is

to earn the pleasure of Allah through worship, which can

encompass all actions if they were done with sincerity in

accordance with the way Allah commanded (Al Zeera, 2001).

Therefore, Muslims who are cognizant of this prophetic narration

will have different motivations than the typical non-Muslim,

self-initiated expatriate who seeks a personal challenge,

professional development, or some other non-related reason


(Cerdin, 2012). This study aims to discover if the self-

initiated expatriates from the West, who are Muslim, are moving

to Saudi Arabia to teach in universities for spiritual reasons.

To reference the above mentioned thesis, this information could

provide insights to Saudi Arabian institutions and assist them in

understanding the motives of some of their faculty who chose to

expatriate with the goal of teaching and living in Saudi Arabia.

This topic is of personal interest to me because I am a

self-initiated expatriated educator from the West who lives in

Saudi Arabia. My motivations to seek employment in this part of

the world was mostly due to a spiritual craving that can best be

fulfilled (as I believe) in Saudi Arabia. I began practicing

Islam at the age of 19. Although I was born and raised Muslim, I

never actually explored the teachings for myself. As a teenager I

experimented with marijuana, alcohol, and petty crime in search

of my own identity. After a brief stint in county jail, I moved

to Albany, New York to live with my grandfather and attend

college there. In a new environment, I was able to take on the


identity of my choosing and find the friends that would support

me in that identity. There, I began practicing Islam, and found

all my new friends in the local mosque. I began to learn Islam

through the local Imam. I was attracted to his humble personality

and deeply intrigued by the vast wisdom that Islam offers. When I

went to college, I did not find the same wisdom contained within

the subjects I studied. I saw the knowledge as being surface

level and the thinking of its staff and student body as being

superficial. The information I received contained no higher

purpose other than an attempt to understand the world around us

better. The ultimate goal behind the knowledge was to obtain a

“good job”. Being that I was new to practicing Islam, I had a

different craving; I desired Islamic knowledge, which clarified

the purpose of this life and the wisdom behind all that exists.

I saved up some money and decided to make the annual

pilgrimage to Mecca (a requirement of all Muslims at least once

in their lives.) After the pilgrimage my plan was to learn the

Arabic language in an Arab country so that I could better


understand the Qur’an (the Muslim’s holy book, which is meant to

be read and understood in the Arabic language). Afterwards, I

spent 10 months in Egypt learning Arabic until my savings ran

out. It was the best time of my life. I felt spiritually

fulfilled, and it felt as though understanding of the greater

realities of life were being opened up to me. I vowed to finish

my education in a field that is in high demand in the Middle

East, so that I could work and simultaneously continue to pursue

my desire to master the Arabic language and unlock more of the

mysteries within myself and the world. After I arrived in Saudi

Arabia seven years after returning to the states from Egypt, I

found that there were many other Muslim educators from the West

who had similar motivations as I. To my surprise, there was not

one research study I found that addressed this phenomenon. It is

my hope that I will not only close a gap, but I will also open

the door for a new field: Islamic spiritual motivation.

Problem statement


Saudi Arabia is a rapidly developing nation that is in need

of qualified foreign talent. The higher education sector faces

many challenges with the recruitment and retaining knowledge

workers (Habhab & Smith, 2014). Staff turnover is not only

costly, but it also impairs productivity, drains skills, and

other unfavorable factors (Jo, 2008; Noor & Maad, 2009). Habhab

and Smith (2014) argued that a better understanding of the

intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect the satisfaction

levels of academics would be a benefit to local managers. When

staff satisfaction levels are high, staff turnover is low. This

study will contribute to the body of knowledge by filling a gap

through addressing the phenomenon of the motivation of self-

initiated expatriated educators in higher education from the

West, who are teaching and living in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to determine

the past and future motivations of Western Muslim educators who


are self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia. The main

assumptions are: There will be a clear positive link between the

intrinsic motivation of spiritual fulfillment and the decision to

expatriate to Saudi Arabia to teach in higher Ed. When local

Saudi managers understand the motivations and future aspirations

of a large portion of their faculty, efforts can be made to

improve the areas of human resource management, specifically,

recruitment and selection, and training and development.

Research questions

The following questions will be used to guide this

phenomenological study:

1. What were the motivations of Western Muslim educators

who are self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia?

2: What are their motivations for their future now that they

are here?

Conceptual Framework

The phenomenological method is an attempt to investigate the

conscious lived experience as perceived by several participants


(Creswell, 2007). As the researcher, I will examine the

phenomena of the motivation of Western Muslim educators who

expatriated to Saudi Arabia. The phenomenological paradigm

allows for a broad range of flexibility because the researcher

extracts a version or versions of reality as perceived by the

participant. Motivation is an internal force that initiates

behavior (motivation, 2015). The behavior that the research will

attempt to understand is the act of Western Muslim educators

self-initiating their expatriation to Saudi Arabia.

I have not found any research that relates to the

motivations of Western Muslim educators who are self-initiated

expatriates in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the conceptual framework

for this study is extracted from many sources. The concept of

motivation, as it relates to Muslims, is derived from the

fundamental prophetic narration “Actions are judged by their

intentions…” (Al-Bukhari, 1987). Theoretically, this narration

should be applied by all Muslims. However, I have not found any


evidence for or against the concept that a significant population

of Muslims are acting in light of this narration. Intentions/

motivations is a phenomenon occurs internally. Qualitative

inquiry can attempt to capture the essence of this phenomenon via

oral interviews. These interviews will seek to determine if most

of the interviewed Muslims in my study acted in accordance to the

narration.

There is a large body of research regarding the motivations

of teachers for choosing education as a career choice (Brookhart

& Freeman, 1992; Kyriacou, Hultgren & Stephens, 1999; Richardson,

& Watt†, 2006). However, most evidence indicates that teachers’

decisions to enter the profession are either altruistically,

intrinsically, or extrinsically motivated. I have not found any

evidence showing a link between the desires of spiritual

fulfillment with choosing education as a career so it can be a

means to living in Saudi Arabia. However, it can be argued that

spiritual fulfilment is a type of intrinsic motivation, the


reviewed literature did not specifically categorize spiritual

fulfillment as a sub category of intrinsic motivation.

Nature of the study

a. Design

This qualitative phenomenological study is based on the

researcher’s attempt to grasp a comprehensive understanding of

participant motivation. The phenomenological approach is best

when considering the way the question is worded. The questions

seek to uncover the philosophical or psychological reasons behind

the motivations of the subjects who choose to expatriate to Saudi

Arabia. The act of being a self-initiated expatriate in Saudi

Arabia is a shared experience. The phenomena under study are

motivation.

Quantitative methods seek generalizations through

experimentation (Creswell, 2013). Although quantitative methods

do have the ability to describe phenomena, it is limited in the

sense that a participant's understanding or perception may not be


captured within the limited categories that the researcher has

provided him or her with. Mixed methods is an approach that

helps to provide a comprehensive analysis in a particular study

by merging quantitative and qualitative methods. However, the

questions that I have chosen do not need to extract statistical

analysis. It is possible however, that mixed methods may be used

in a future study which builds off of this research if the

questions are aligned to that approach.

Qualitative research, on the other hand, can extract close

to an infinite range of experienced realities as told by the

participant. The phenomenological paradigm is the most suitable

approach in light of the question’s emphasis on motivation.

However, I will moderately blend two different approaches within

the same paradigm. When answering the first question, I will

need to gather personal narratives from the participants. They

will need to delve into the details of their lives in order to

clarify what led to their motivation to expatriate. There must


be a series of life events that sparked their motivation. A

semi-autobiographical account is needed to extract those

details. The personal narrative will focus on and emphasis the

phenomenon of motivation to expatriate. This makes it both a

narrative and phenomenological approach. Therefore, this is a

blended approach (Laureate Education, 2010a)

b. Methodology

Participants and Sampling Procedures

This study will involve between 6-10 interviews with Muslim

educators from the West, who are currently living and teaching in

Saudi Arabia. I will choose educators who are in institutions of

higher education to narrow my search. In qualitative research,

the researcher must intensively immerse themselves in the

experience with participants (Creswell, 2013). I will convey

details regarding my personal experience with the research

questions and explain how those experiences could potentially

shape my interpretations.


All of my participants will be self-initiated expatriates

from the West (America, Britain, Australia, Canada or New

Zealand). Through interviewing them, I will have a much clearer

understanding of the experience of motivation as it relates to

moving to Saudi Arabia to teach. I will use snowball sampling

for my study. I currently have one male and one female

participant in mind for my research. They are self-initiated

expatriates from the Britain and America. I am considering

starting with them because neither of them teach at the same

university as I. Therefore, we more than likely know different

expatriated educators. I will meet my participants in an agreed

upon public location such as a coffee shop. I will write up as

much information as I can about their biographies before sitting

with them for the interview. I will do this based on what I

already know of them and whatever I can discover via online

searches. I will also prepare an interview guide to accompany

me. The guide will have general questions. However, I will be


flexible, seeking a natural, stress-free vibe. My questions will

not follow a yes-or-no interview structure. Instead, it will be

open-ended and unstructured. Some examples of questions I might

include are as follows:

1. Tell me about the early years of your life. Specifically,

I’d like to know what events took place in your life that

might have led to your motivation to expatriate to Saudi

Arabia.

2. What are your plans for the future now that you are

established here as a teacher in Saudi Arabia?

I will record the conversation so that I can capture all

information my participants will provide. In addition, I will

follow up with additional questions as the participants tell

their story. I will attempt to fully capture the essence of their

motivations. It may be something that they themselves have not

thought about deeply. Like a psychologist I will allow the true

motives to unfold naturally via open-ended questioning.


After I finish conducting my interview with these initial

participants, I will request recommendations of other individuals

that they know of that will be suitable for my study. Like a

snowball, names will then be added through referrals (Creswell,

2007; 2013). Although this segment of the population does not

have any social stigmas (such as drug useres for instance) that

cause them only to be known among people similar to them, I

believe this will be the most appropriate sampling strategy

because Western expats in Saudi Arabia usually know each other.

If this strategy is not effective, I will resort to

opportunistic or emergent sampling. This sampling strategy

consist of following new leads as they come along (Patton,

2001). Opportunistic or emergent sampling is a flexible approach

that does not require me to have a pre-planned sampling design

with a specific number of participants in mind.

Data collection procedures, Data Analysis and Interpretation


I will use NVivo 10 to help me in the process of data

collection/ storing, coding, and organizing my data. Inevitably,

I will have a large quantity of information generated from my

Literature review, additional research, and my various sources of

compiled data. NVivo will help me manage and analyze that

information. I will begin my research with my Literature review,

and I will use NVivo 10 to help me organize and analyze my

literature. NVivo will be used to help me compare and critically

evaluate the research of various authors that I will gather

during my search. I will also use it to help me analyze the

literature to find gaps, which could then be used to refine my

research question. Additionally, it will be used to support me

as I develop my argument. Finally, I will use it to help me find

patterns and contradictions within the literature.

Afterward, I will use NVivo 10 to analyze the transcribed

words from my interviews. I will transcribe the words that will

be recorded through a digital recorder using Dragon Dictate


(voice dictation software). I will then use NVivo 10 to code and

analyze the words. I will begin the coding process by importing

my source material in NVivo and creating separate folders to

distinguish my interviews from my survey results (if I have

any). I will then code my material into nodes separated by

themes. I will determine what these themes are after I go

through my analysis of what came up in my literature review and

interview process. I will be able to explore certain themes

further after I see which ones are quantifiably significant

according to the Nodes. I will be able to see all of the

different source material that has been coded at each node. I

will then follow-up on specific questions related to a certain

theme by going to coding query. I will manipulate the query

criteria to help me find options directly focused on results that

I am looking for. Finally, I will create a matrix cutting query

to do a comparative analysis of themes or authors.


NVivo will also help me organize my data into meaningful

words or pictures. When I am ready to present my findings, NVivo

can help me present the information in various ways that can be

appealing to a wide audience. I will use it to create models and

other visual depictions that can enhance the appeal of my

research. Finally, it will be used to import all of my data

which will more than likely include material from the web, pdfs,

abstracts, notes, word documents and more. All of these

techniques will help me get control over my literature, research,

and data.

c. Limitations

There are various limitations that I will inevitably face

when completing this research. The study is confined to

interviewing self-initiated expatriated educators from the West

as oppose to any other location. Also, it is limited to only

Saudi Arabia. Other Western Muslim educators may self-initiate

to other Muslim countries for similar, or completely different


reasons. That will be data I will not capture. Additionally,

some of my participants may not fully remember or desire to share

their motivations for their expatriation. Some individuals

become self-initiated expatriates to escape from a dark past that

they do not feel comfortable sharing with others. Moreover, some

participants may intentionally exclude certain facts or

perspectives due to a number psychological factors. Finally,

there is a chance for bias on my part as a researcher. I have

certain experiences that led to my motivation to teach in Saudi

Arabia. My motivation may cause me to ask questions in

particular ways that extract data that aligns with my previous

preconceived notions. It is for these reasons that none of my

results will be generalizable to the larger population. The

results can only be used to apply to the participants in my

study.

d. Ethical Concerns


I will seek approval from the Institutional Review Board

(IRB) before I proceed with my research. I will carefully adhere

to the information they provide me in the notice. I know that I

will need to inform my participants that they have a right to

participate in the research. I will emphasize that the interview

is entirely voluntary, and the interview can stop at any point of

their choosing. Even if the interview is completed, the

participants will be informed that they can refuse the inclusion

of their section. Finally, they will be informed that this

research will be published and available to a wide audience. If

they choose to remain anonymous, that is entirely up to them and

their sentiments will be honored.

Significance of the Study

There is evidence that there is a global trend of educators

who are self-initiated expatriates from the West moving to

various other countries to teach. However, not much is known

regarding Muslim educators who are self-initiated expatriates.


This may be necessary for the recruitment and selection educators

and their training and development. Additionally, it might be

helpful for educational policymakers to help them understand how

they can best utilize their academics as human resources. A

review of the recent literature suggests that this is the first

study of this type. This could be the start of a whole new area

of study depending on the results that are yielded. The

implications for positive social change include a better

understanding of the motivations of this category of educators,

and their impact on the Saudi economy and the potential to

improve institutions of higher education in Saudi Arabia.


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Motivation of Western Muslim educators who are self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia

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