The Influence of Organizational Socialization and Stereotypes on Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intention: A Study on Localization in the United Arab Emirates

Localization is a longstanding and worldwide issue and strategies for localization are being implemented in a complex environment of globalization and economic reform. Even though localization is a key issue, there are relatively few scholarly studies in the literature on this subject. Furthermore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government initiative ‘Emiratization’ is yet to realize the goal of increasing the productive employment of Emiratis in the labor market. However, localization practices are mostly seen as having a negligible impact. For example, Emiratization until today has had limited success, with only about 1% of Emiratis working in the private sector. Besides the turnover rate among Emiratis is high in general. This research intends to go beyond the current research by establishing a comprehensive understanding of localization, adding to the research literature, which has emphasized recruitment, with a focus on retention as a key aspect of localization. Retention is a significant aspect of localization as retaining local employees is seen as critical to its success. This research focuses on organizational commitment and turnover intention as variables representing local employee’s retention.