The support for the hybrid work setting increased during the pandemic, but there are a lot of challenges to overcome. It is important to study the hybrid work setting. Based on the findings in the existing literature it is found that little research has been done on the effect of the hybrid work setting on individual employee performance. In the current research this is investigated by looking at the relationship between the balance between office and remote work and individual employee performance, as well as the influence of six employee behaviors on this relationship. In addition, the ideal balance between office and remote work in the hybrid work setting is studied. To find an answer to the objectives of the study, the following research question is studied “How is the balance between office and remote work related with individual employee performance in the manufacturing industry?”. The research question is supported by two sub questions (1) “How do employee behaviors affect the relationship between the balance of office and remote work and individual employee performance?” and (2) “What is the ideal balance between office and remote work in the hybrid work setting?”. Answers to the research questions are found by conducting a quantitative self-administered survey. The conceptual model of the survey is based on a literature review. The model consists of an independent variable – remote work percentage, mediating variables – attitudes towards remote work, work engagement, well-being, job satisfaction, communication, and trust relationship, and a dependent variable – individual employee performance. The target population of the study consists of employees, with a hybrid office job, working at companies operating in the manufacturing industry in the Netherlands. The data of the survey is analyzed with SPSS. Sub-question one is answered by looking at the findings. Based on the findings it is clear that the six employee behaviors are based on this study not significantly affecting the relationship between the balance of office and remote work and individual employee performance. For employees working for companies in the manufacturing industry in the Netherlands. Sub-question two is answered by looking at the preferred balance of the employees with regard to office and remote work. Based on the findings, the preferred balance is two days remote work in a four- or five-day work week and one day remote work in a two- or three-day work week. The main research question is answered by looking at the findings. Based on the findings it is clear that the balance between office and remote work is not affecting individual employee performance significantly direct or indirect. One possible reason for the relation not being significant is that there is still a lot unknown about the true effect of the hybrid work setting in comparison with the established work settings in the manufacturing industry. Based on the findings, companies in the manufacturing industry are recommend to start with making new work agreements based on the hybrid work setting. This, because the existing work agreements are based on office work. A good starting point for the agreements could be involving the employees in the decision-making process of the new agreements. By looking not only at their preferred balance of office and remote work, but also taking other insights of the employees with regard to hybrid work into consideration. In addition, the companies should pay attention to the role of communication in the hybrid work setting, because communication is key when employees have to work together remotely with other colleagues.

With the trend of work-from-home and flexible working arising from the Covid-19 virus pandemic becoming increasingly popular, personal branding will play a growing role in the workplace. Practitioners in a few industries, such as public relations, have been at the forefront of personal branding and will continue to attract people from other industries and even graduates to start focusing on building and managing their personal brands. In the near future, personal branding may become mandatory for graduate jobseekers and even further popularized in university and college vocational education.
Previous studies have shown that personal branding can help improve graduates’ employability, which is done through a three-stage approach: firstly, establishing their brand identities, then positioning their brands to the audiences, and finally checking how well it matches the company’s brand for which they are seeking employment. This study conducted empirical research on 80 science/engineering graduates no more than two years ago to determine the level of correlation between each of the three and their perceived employability through PLS-SEM analysis. On this basis, the study also explored whether and to what extent perceived external marketability plays a role in the impact of personal branding on perceived employability.
The PLS-SEM analysis results show that the conceptual model is a good fit. According to our research, the impact of graduates' core personal brand identity and personal brand positioning on perceived employability is not significant. This finding makes us think about whether the current personal branding guidelines, which generally focus on improving personal brand positioning, are really useful. The study also found that extended personal brand identity had a direct contribution to graduates' perceived employability. The most important finding is that the fit between personal brand and company brand makes the most difference for graduates' perceived employability, and perceived external marketability also plays a significant mediating role. This reveals that future graduates should look more into their brand fit with the preferred company when seeking employment.
This study provides valuable new insights into the impact of personal branding on the perceived employability of science/engineering graduates. Although the results are encouraging, future researchers can build on this study with longitudinal or cross-sectional follow-up studies.

Open innovation ensures that there is a mutual flow of knowledge and skills between organizations. In this regard, the focus of open innovation is on forming mutually beneficial connections that can ensure competitive advantage. The market gets optimized processes and technologies, and the organization can achieve profitability. Although open innovation can have many benefits, it also brings challenges. The most important is the support within an organization to adopt open innovation. Employees are critical to open innovation. If organizations want to achieve successful open innovation, they must embed open innovation into the organization's mission and vision. This report maps the relationships between middle management leadership behaviors and employee open innovation behaviors. Leadership behaviors focus on developing the behaviors of employees and leaders themselves in relation to open innovation. Leadership encourages the development of employees' personal and professional skills. Leadership emphasizes decisions to build and maintain relationships and to promote open innovation behavior among employees, thus stimulating open innovation within the organization. Semi-structured interviews based on an exploratory qualitative method were used for this research. Interviews were conducted with 12 participants. Six leadership experts and six employees from different areas in the Netherlands were selected for this purpose. This research conducted a multilevel analysis and found that leadership behaviors drive important organizational changes related to open innovation and improve open innovation behaviors of employees. To implement open innovation within the organization, open innovation must be integrated into the mission and mandate of the organization. This creates effective collaboration between leaders and employees. Leadership can enable the use of leadership behaviors that can develop skills and competencies critical to open innovation. In addition, leadership behaviors have been found to influence employee behaviors related to open innovation when it comes to improving knowledge acquisition and sharing. In addition, employees are motivated to enter into external relationships with other organizations. Leadership behavior influences employee knowledge and skills. Leaders can influence the way employees acquire and share knowledge outside the organization and stimulate employees' open innovation behavior. Similarly, they can develop in the area of communication to foster useful long-term relationships. 9 In addition, more transparency, less time pressure, and the provision of support are important for gathering and sharing knowledge and building partnerships. This work has demonstrated effective leadership behaviors that can improve employee skills and competencies and specified the shift in organizational goals from open innovation to open employee innovation behaviors. Development within the organization can be accomplished by improving open communication and bonds between leaders-employees. In addition, there must be open communication between leaders and employees to motivate them to participate in open innovation activities. This research suggests that leadership behaviors can improve employees' open innovation behaviors by developing these behaviors in two phases of open innovation: obtaining ideas from external sources and idea integration. Open innovation involves individual employees and leaders, which can improve the output of open innovation in the organization.

In the business world, international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often adopted. To localize technology afterward, international technology transfers (ITTs) are often carried out. Human Resource Management (HRM) practices can help the technology transfer process achieve better performance. However, human resource interactions within organizations are complex, and a generic definition of HRM can lead to inconclusive results. How human resource activities are implemented in organizations and how they function in ITT have to be emphasized and realized in detail.
Utilizing a case study of ITT between a Chinese company and an acquired Dutch medical company, this thesis analyzes the role of three HRM practices: staffing, performance-related rewards, and training in ITT. Thus, bringing clarity on how more specific features within HRM can be utilized to improve an ITT performance. The case study also defines criteria for the ITT process and establishes the difficulties in an ITT process and the implementation of HRM practices. Then it analyzes the role of HRM practices in ITT.
Based on the contingency theorists, the assessment clearly addressed the use of HRM practices aligned with the business strategies. The research agrees that it is crucial to acknowledge the situation of the business context, which requires consideration of industry, organizational structure, resources, etc. Interviews are used to collect data. The details of implementing the HRM practices within the organizations are also introduced. The criteria for the ITT are defined. The connections between HRM practices and the performance of ITT are built. Then models are proposed for the effects of training, performance-related rewards, and staffing on successful ITT. The models are disassembled into details.
In the studied case, the use of the HRM practices can benefit ITT performance by benefiting collaboration and communication between two organizations, transfer of tacit knowledge, and technology integration with local industries. The influence of training is the most recognized among the three HRM practices. Hard skills training is considerably more efficient than soft skills training with acquiring tacit knowledge. Recruiting and training can also help organizations gain abilities outside the organizations. Internal mobility helps transfer tacit knowledge and experience from the technology-giving side. The influence of rewards is relatively small. In the organizations studied, intrinsic rewards influence more the motivations of employees than extrinsic rewards. Cultural and organizational factors can significantly affect the implementation of HRM practices and the influence HRM practices had on ITT.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone has encountered remote working. During this time, employees have become accustomed to remote working habits, and a shift has been made in many lives toward a more flexible work-life balance. Nowadays, with the pandemic almost behind, it gives rise to the question, how will the ideal workplace environment look like post-pandemic? By conducting a broad and extensive literature research two frameworks were constructed and proposed, being, respectively, a productivity framework, and a well-being framework. On top of that, three categories involving the responsibility of these factors were proposed, being, respectively, the neutral, positive, and happy category, linked to the responsibility of respectively, the manager, colleagues, and the employee self. These frameworks and their corresponding factors were connected by the five needs of Maslow and linked to these categories. Resulting in a combined framework that showed promising connections between the productivity and well-being factors that are in need to be verified and validated. This was followed by a survey conducted over 56 participants, including a selection of the factors mentioned in the frameworks. Resulting in many qualitative information on how to establish the ideal workplace environment. However, due to the time constraints, the results of the survey are still open to be analyzed in a quantitative manner. The research was concluded with a part that draws the ideal workplace environment, and on top of that, some advice for managers on how to create their own ideal workplace environment, and how to better support their employees with the focus on remote work. All in all, managers should have an open communication style, be respectful, listen actively to the needs, preferences, and wishes of their employees, and keep up to date with the resources they can provide to support their employees. Resulting in an increase in the mentioned factors from the frameworks, which, in turn, could fulfill the five basic needs of Maslow, and helps employees to live up to their potential. When an employee is able to achieve this, their productivity and well-being will be improved, and they will make more and cost less, for the organization. Therefore, aiming for the ideal workplace environment will benefit all.

The extensive and growing population of remote workers has left traditional leaders with many challenges managing a team remotely, and virtual leadership has been introduced as a remote management style. The increasing use of workplace surveillance technology in organisations has resulted in considerable debate over the years. This qualitative study aimed to explore virtual leadership in practice and investigate the potential of using workplace surveillance technology to support effective virtual leadership. The results of the research will provide an answer to the following question: “How can workplace surveillance technology support virtual leadership in the new normal era?”.
Existing research suggests that there is no single theory for virtual leadership and that more research should be conducted. The use of workplace surveillance technology lacks practical evidence and does not keep pace with continual change, vast technological advancements, and expectations by followers for transparency. The methodology used for this research consists of ten in-depth interviews with leaders and followers from the same organisation within three different sectors. Interviews were conducted utilising a semi-structured interview format. They produced data based on the lived experiences of virtual leadership and participants' views on workplace surveillance technology relating to whether virtual leaders could become more effective by implementing that.
The findings of this research supported that there is not a single virtual leadership style, and continual change was recognised as an ongoing theme. Acceptance of change, adaptability, and personal attention were necessary for successful virtual leaders. The participants indicated that they saw some potential in using workplace surveillance technology for virtual leaders under certain conditions. The research has found that threats to using sensitive data information should be considered before deployment. When considering the needs and threats, participants argued that this could result in more effective virtual leadership depending on how virtual leaders act upon the information being gathered. Therefore, it is recommended to consider the threat that there is not a standard design of workplace surveillance technology and the potential of this technology is context-specific. Additional research should be conducted to evaluate virtual leadership, in general, to understand motivations and barriers to widespread adoption regardless of the use of workplace surveillance technology. Further research should be conducted on the operational and practical issues surrounding workplace surveillance technology in virtual work environments.

The management of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) might represent a challenge. There are several concepts that affect the performance of SMEs. One is ambidexterity, which refers to the balance of activities for explorative and exploitative innovation. Another concept is diversity which encompasses differences in gender, age, cultural and functional backgrounds. Ambidexterity and diversity might be related as diversity influences the activities for explorative and exploitative innovation. It has been argued that successful organizations need to be ambidextrous. The relationship between a diverse middle management team (MMT) and top management team (TMT) might affect the organizational ambidexterity. This impact has not been fully explored within SMEs. The purpose of this research is to identify how diverse management teams can impact organizational ambidexterity. An exploratory approach was used to get a deep understanding and to answer the research question. First, a literature review was conducted to explore key concepts related to organizational ambidexterity and to identify diversity characteristics that might impact the relationship between MMT and TMT, affecting the organizational ambidexterity. Thereafter, semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the management team of Feedbackly to answer the research questions. This research found that diverse management teams have a direct impact in organizational ambidexterity by providing a pool of resources, increasing the expertise, knowledge, and capabilities of the organization. Nevertheless, complexity in managing diverse teams increases, as potential barriers might appear, hindering the relationship between the two levels of the management team. Additionally, organizations might struggle to recognize diversity as way to acquire additional resources, and it is often difficult to take advantage of the benefits of diversity in turning the organization ambidextrous.

One of the greatest challenges HR professionals face today is the management of a diverse multi-generational workforce. Each generation behaves differently at the workplace and requires different sets of strategies for effective management. Generation-Z or Gen-Z are individuals born in 1995 and after. They are called the 'digital natives since they grew up in a fast-moving, highly-connected environment influenced by social media. Research indicates they are a unique generation with a different mindset compared to previous generations. Employees from previous generations are ageing and soon, Gen-Z individuals would be joining the workforce. This brings us to the question: Are HR professionals (and organisations) ready for the new generation of employees? 
This research is an attempt to question the relevance of current HR practices and then bridge the gap on how HR professionals could update their HR policy-making strategies in accordance with the preferences, priorities and characteristics of Gen-Z individuals. This could help HR professionals attract the right talent and retain them longer. 
A theoretical framework of the relationship between HRM practices and individual behaviour mediated by HRM perceptions is developed. These perceptions are influenced positively when practices are developed based on common characteristics of employees. And in this case, Gen-Z samples are chosen to investigate these characteristics to passively influence HRM perceptions which would lead to effective management of Gen-Z employees. Three HR managers, two-line managers from multinational corporations and three Gen-Z individuals with work experience, three Gen-Z individuals without work experience and one Gen-Z individual with entrepreneurship background are selected to conduct semi-structured interviews to answer the above exploitative research question qualitatively. All the Gen-Z individuals and managers are from the Netherlands and have worked/worked in multinational companies with structured HR departments in them. 
Research results firstly indicate a mismatch in understanding Gen-Z between line managers and HR managers. Then a list of work-life priorities of Gen-Z recognised are: flexibility, diversity & inclusion, human connect, transparency and environmental/sustainability involvement; common preferences are: work-life balance, technology interaction, contribute towards society, travel, flat hierarchy, instant feedback from managers, purpose/goal to work towards and finally characteristics are: tech-savvy, adaptable, open to change, highly connected and negative characteristics are: short span of focus, easily distracted, easily influenced by social media & pop-culture. This information is used to chart recommendations for HR professionals and provide a simple framework to assist them to navigate Gen-Z employee negotiations. 
In conclusion, this research explores an upcoming, vastly unexplored field of HRM combined with Generational diversity focused on Gen-Z. Decoding this unique generation could be the key to boosting organisational effectiveness both internally and externally.

Diversity as a topic is increasingly becoming important aspect of organizations and society in general. Team diversity could bring different perspectives and thus diverse teams could reap the benefits such as better performance, innovation, and problem-solving abilities. Teams face challenge of deciding between alignment activities focused on organizational goals vs adaptability activities helping organizations adapt to changing external environments. Teams that balance both types of activities are known as ambidextrous teams. Through literature review, it was found that there is knowledge gap in understanding the link between team diversity, performance, and ambidexterity. This thesis tries exploring various diversity factors and its relation to team performance and ambidexterity. Further the thesis investigates if there are any differences in the link between team diversity, performance and ambidexterity based on firm types, that is product vs service-based firms.
To find the solution to the link, semi-structured case interviews was conducted. 6 team managers from product-based firms and 4 managers from service-based firms participated in the research. Data from these 10 semi-structured case interviews was analyzed using AtlasTi software and results of qualitative research is presented in the thesis. Various ways in which one can conceptualize diversity, advantages & disadvantages of diversity and its effect on team performance & ambidexterity is presented in this thesis based on the qualitative analysis of semi-structured case interviews.
The exploratory study indicates that semi-conductor team mangers conceptualize diversity from both social and information/decision making perspectives. Common surface level diversities such as function, experience, gender etc. were reported. At the same surface level diversities such as working style, task motivation, etc. were reported. The results indicate that teams various diversity factors can lead to divergent thinking and elaboration of task-relevant information thus improving team performance. Some of the reported benefits of diversity include increased knowledge base, better service to customers, better decision making, etc. Realization of diversity benefits is not straightforward; it comes with challenges. Some of these challenges due to diversity include complex team management, increased conflicts, increased time and effort. Thus, it is important for organizations to provide necessary support and environment for reaping the benefits from diversity. Such organizational control is more in terms of structures of teams in case of product-based firms; structural decisions drive ambidexterity and division could take place based on diversity types such as functional diversity, experience diversity etc. However, decentralized structures and informalization of non-routine activities in firms can enable better exploration. And diversity types such as experience, function or skills act as deciding factors in determining extent of structural decentralization and informalization of non-routine activities. Decentralization of non-routine activities can thus enable ambidexterity. Contrary to product-based firm, all the service-based firms reported that employees need to have skills and abilities to capture customer needs and deliver them on time. Therefore, it is evident that all the employees in service-based firms could be involved in exploration. Thus, naturally the employees in service organizations are involved in both the types of activities. Diversities such as skill and working style can thus enable contextual ambidexterity in service-based firms by enabling employees to serve customers better.

Sharing mobility, the concept of shared vehicle use among multiple people, offers a solution to the spatial inefficiencies of private car ownership, where cars are typically parked for 23 out of 24 hours daily. This approach can significantly reduce the space occupied by private vehicles, potentially freeing up areas for parks and residential developments. Notably, one shared vehicle can replace up to 13 private cars. However, for this transition to be effective, private car owners must shift to shared mobility services.
This study investigates which aspects of shared mobility services should be supported by policy to effectively reduce private car ownership in the Netherlands. The research begins by forecasting private car ownership trends over the next 20 years to assess the severity of the issue. Following this, survey data from 200 car owners in the Netherlands' four largest cities is analyzed to understand why individuals prefer private cars over shared services, which features of shared mobility are most valued, and what improvements are needed. The targeted sample provides highly relevant insights as urban car owners are the primary demographic for addressing this problem.
Findings reveal an expected increase in the number of cars per household, particularly among single-person households, despite a significant rise in overall household numbers. The main reasons for retaining private cars include dependency concerns, hygiene issues, and worries about the practicality and costs of using shared vehicles for long trips or frequent use. The survey highlights that the most critical factors for shared mobility are the price per hour, a preference for electric vehicles, and the cost per kilometer. Walking time and additional transport modes have minimal impact on user decisions. Respondents identified the need for a larger and more diverse vehicle fleet, an expanded operating area, improved vehicle availability, and better vehicle conditions in terms of cleanliness and damage.
While there is willingness among respondents to adopt shared mobility in the distant future, enthusiasm is much lower for the near term, indicating the presence of an 'attitude-behaviour gap' in sustainable innovation among Dutch car owners. Key areas for policy support include addressing high costs for long-term or heavy use, establishing nationwide operating areas, and ensuring service level and vehicle variety guarantees to make shared mobility a dependable option for all transportation needs.

Open innovation is a collective bidirectional flow of knowledge and capabilities across organizations. Open innovation aims to build mutually beneficial relationships among corporate that can lead to competitive advantage. The market benefits by getting new and improved products faster, and the organization benefits financially and gains brand recognition. Although open innovation has its benefits, it comes with many challenges, the first being the organizations' readiness towards engaging in open innovation. Humans are the essential resource for open innovation in an organization. If organizations want to be successful in their open innovation objective, they need to manage human resources strategically. Open innovation has significant challenges; using strategic human resource management, organizations can navigate the challenges and benefit from open innovation. This paper has identified a relationship between collaborative human resource management practices and open innovation. HR focuses on strengthening the employees, teams and managers capability towards open innovation. HR promotes a change in leadership, culture, and engages in employee skill development. HRM has less to do with management making decisions to engage in partnerships but rather focuses on creating an open innovation mindset in the managers and promotes open innovation in the organisation. The paper has done a multi level analysis and found that HRM can promote a cultural change towards open innovation, affecting employees', teams and managers abilities and decision-making towards facilitating open innovation. To develop a culture of open innovation, open innovation must be addressed in the organization mission and vision. This will create a collective sense of purpose within employees and management. HR can further organize collaborative HRM (CHRM) practices that can develop unique skills and capabilities required for open innovation. Moreover, CHRM practices have been found to affect the management mindset towards open innovation and improving their leadership, knowledge sharing and risk-taking abilities - making them open to the idea of engaging in partnerships. CHRM practices affect the skills of the employees; together, they can affect the ways employees source and share knowledge from within and outside the organisation and help them create an open mindset. It can also help them learn how to build mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationships. There is a strong focus on teamwork based abilities and skills, which affect open innovation culture. Collaboration is a significant behavioural attribute for open innovation. These skills correspond to improved knowledge and skill sharing, sourcing and relationship building as well. The thesis has identified effective practices that can develop the skills and capabilities of employees and shift the organizations focus towards open innovation by moving towards a cultural change. Cultural change can be achieved by addressing the communication and relationships between employees and management. Open communication of the success and failures of partnerships need to be addressed. Sharing these stories will encourage employees to also engage in such activities. A framework to measure the open innovation performance of an organization has been proposed. A set of qualitative and quantitative indicators has been identified to help organizations measure their open innovation outcome. The study identifies that to CHRM practices can develop the capabilities of employees in an organisation and achieve a cultural change towards open innovation . Open innovation affects individuals and teams and can lead to elevated levels of open innovation performance which can be measured.

The study aims to add to the existing knowledge base on individual ambidexterity by adopting a trait-based approach. As this area of individual ambidexterity is still comparatively new, limited study has been undertaken on the internal factors that determine individual ambidexterity. Further the study addresses the degree to which personality traits may influence ambidexterity in individuals. I investigate the influence of three personality traits on individual ambidexterity. The personality traits understudy are: Openness, conscientiousness and extraversion. For the purpose of this thesis, a mixed method approach was adopted, with semi-structured interviews and a survey. Results from the semi-structured interviews indicated internal factors that explain the link between personality traits and individual ambidexterity. For the quantitative study, a survey was conducted with a sample of 116 employees, working in the coffee sector in the Netherlands. This research examined the mediating roles of self efficacy, team player, and affective commitment, on the relationship between personality traits and individual ambidexterity. Results of this thesis showed that openness to new experiences, conscientiousness and extraversion positively relate to individual ambidexterity, and as a result, revealed that internal factors can be used to determine individual ambidexterity. Next to these findings, self efficacy mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and individual ambidexterity, and team player mediates the relationship between extraversion and individual ambidexterity. Contrary to our expectations, affective commitment did not mediate the relationship between openness to experience and individual ambidexterity. The findings of this thesis provide recommendations for future study and add to our definition of the construct of individual ambidexterity, which is useful in both theoretical and practical aspects.

The thesis studied the employer branding process as a way to increase start-ups attractiveness for potential employees. Start-ups, unlike larger and more established corporations, face challenges when it comes to recruiting talented personnel. Employer branding concerns the different strategies that a company can employ to increase the employer’s attractiveness. Thus, to investigate how this would be possible in a start-up environment, few steps needed to be taken. First, the job attributes, later defined as employer brand attributes, which make the company attractive for the candidates, needed to be studied. Secondly, the behavioral characteristics of young and talented applicants, also called in the thesis entrepreneurial behaviors, were analyzed to identify their potential effects on employer brand attributes and employer’s attractiveness. The study involved a mixed method. First, a qualitative study was performed where 5 semi- structured interviews with start-ups managers or founders helped to understand the start-up employers’ perspective on the subject. From the content analysis of the interviews, five different employer brand attributes were found: financial package offered, responsibility functions, growth and learning opportunities, work environment, and serious games. As a next step, a quantitative study was employed where the (potential) employees’ perceptions were studied through an electronic questionnaire which collected 94 respondents among students and young professionals. Using conjoint analysis and regression analysis, the results revealed that the preference order for the attributes was: financial package offered (26,86%), growth and learning opportunities (24,12%), responsibility functions (19,20%), work environment (15,16%), and serious games (14,66%). At the same time, a positive relationship was found between responsibility functions (0.845, p<0.05) with innovative behavior. A negative correlation was instead verified between proactive behavior and responsibility functions (-0,506, p<0.05), and between risk-taking behavior and responsibility functions (-0.399, p<0.05) and growth opportunities (-0.362, p<0.05). Thus, the propositions advanced by this thesis for the academics was to continue the research on employer brand attributes and entrepreneurial behaviors enlarging the sample of the study to guarantee more generalizable results. For practitioners, especially for start-up employers, the qualitative and quantitative study revealed their weakness, mainly the financial package, which should be reinforced to improve the employer’s attractiveness. Moreover, a different strategy should be thought of for each of the employer brand attributes, such as growth opportunities, work environment, responsibility functions, and serious games, because all of them presented a positive relationship towards employers’ attractiveness.

Sustainability has, for a long time, been the ultimate target for social movements around the world. It has been deemed as a “wicked problem”, a problem which does not have a singular solution. To address this issue, the acceleration of sustainable start-ups is key. Sustainable start-ups or impact ventures are recognized as the fastest way to achieve the sustainable development goals in each country. Although the term, sustainable start-ups has gained recognition over the past years, the inherent need for corporates to gather profits by scaling up and accumulating market share, has hindered the growth of such ventures. Venture capital has always influenced the success of start-ups, from investing in new ventures to providing resources needed to enable a profitable venture. Sustainable venture capital on the other hand, is a more complex solution. Being a less researched area in the field of venture building, sustainable venture capital is new and highly innovative. But there is a lot more research that is required as to how this type of capital can influence the success of sustainable start-ups. This research aims at answering the question: How do sustainable venture capitalists influence the success of sustainable start-ups?

This study aims to explain and understand how companies, more specifically Middle Eastern (MENA) companies in the FMCG-food sector can innovate from completely brick and mortar establishments to transition into an E-commerce platform (for FMCG-food goods) that enhances the willingness or intention to purchase these products on an online platform by meeting customers needs and demands. To further address this research question, a mixed qualitative approach is used. This included a series of interview questions split into two; the first section being structured - that revolves around the impact and gravity of the variables and sub-factors and the second section - that are more open questions which gives the floor to the interviewees to further add and elaborate based on their existing knowledge and/or experiences. The entire research is carried out in the Arabian Gulf with all the candidates approached having many years spent residing in one of the Middle Eastern (MENA) countries. On further analysis of these results a business model was derived which gives an advisory framework or the establishment of E-commerce for FMCG-food goods in the Middle East (MENA). E-commerce companies can refer to this advisory framework to further understand the important customer thinking habits and their needs and requirements.