This is a Ph.D. chapter (analysis chapter) that based on an in-depth interview.

This analysis based on two main themes: open innovation and Arabic business Culture. and the interviewees were from three different sectors ( University, Industry, and Government).

The main research question of this thesis:
RQ1:     What is innovation and open innovation? And how can we define them?
RO2:     To what extent we understand innovation and open innovation in the Arabic Business Culture? How does it work?
RQ3:     To what extent is trust effect in open innovation processes in the Arabic Business Culture?
RQ4:     Do the main components of Arabic Business culture (ehsan, et-moone, and wasta) affect open innovation processes, trust, and collaboration?

the question has been asked in the interviews was:

Open Innovation Question
1.    What is open innovation? And how can we define it?
2.    What is the importance of open innovation?
3.    How organizations build processes for innovation and open innovation?
4.    How do we succeed in open innovation?
5.    What are the tools and resources that boost open innovation in the Arabic Business Culture?

Arabic Business Culture Questions:

1.    To what extent the Arabic Business culture rely on TRUST in its operations?
2.    Which network of relationships is the most important in Arabic culture?
3.    What is the main role of innovation and open innovation in the Arabic business culture?
4.    Do the main components of Arabic culture (Ehsan, Et-moone, Wasta) affect innovation, trust, and collaboration?

What we should do exactly is to answer the first question of the first theme and support the ideas from the literature. This question will be for the three groups. so, the potential answer is “This question has been asked to understand to what extent Arabic business culture, then we should say the first group says …………………, however, one of the participants in this groups has stated that the definition of open innovation is ………….. which is different than other participants in the same group”.
Then we should move the second question from the same theme.

once we have done with all questions in the first theme (open innovation), we should do the same thing for the second part.

It’s very important to support your answers from the literature.

>>>>>>>>In the Arabic culture, there are three main characteristics that affect all relationships: “ehsan, et-moone and wasta”.  These characteristics are embedded within Arabic culture and are key to successful daily operations that can be influenced by Islam teachings.  All Muslims around the globe should perform ehsan for Muslims and non-Muslims (Farahat, 2006), as requested by God “perform ehsan as God loves Muhsans” (Quran, Al-Bakarah 2.195).  Imam Al-Ghazali has provided six behaviours of ehsan as follows: helping needy parties, helping by sacrificing your own rights, fairness, proactiveness, forgiveness, and mercifulness (Ghazali, 2005). Additionally, many studies consider religion as a dimension of social capital (Candland, 2000; Park and Bowman, 2015), especially as a cognitive dimension (Kaasa, 2013). Therefore, some scholars have argued faith communities in which people worship together [such as Muslims] are arguably the single most important repository of social capital (Putnam, 2000, p. 66).

Al-Ghazali is Et-moone suggests a second dimension that is performed with a close party.  Unlike ehsan to Muslim and non-Muslim parties, et-mone is an essential part of the Arabic culture for hundreds of years, but it starts to appear in the literature more recently (Abosag and Lee, 2013).  Abosag and Naud (2014, p. 889) have defined et-moone as higher-order cooperation, where partners give special attention to the cooperative relationship through the emphasis on the special personal relationship that exists between them. Et-moone focuses on personal relationships, and it could be applied to an organizational level such as the relationships between the buyer and supplier (Abosag, 2015). Furthermore, et-moone requires focus on relational behaviours and features such as obligations, identification, shared norms, and trust.

The third dimension is Wasta.  The literature shows Wasta in different contexts in different countries, for example jeitinho in Brazil (Duarte, 2006), guanxi in China (Chen et al., 2004), Blat in Russia (Ledeneva, 1998), and Wasta in Arabic culture (Hutchings and Weir, 2006b) as an important concept in emerging economies.  The Wasta has been defined in literature as a form of favouritism that provides individuals with advantages not because of merit or right but because of whom they know (Mohamed and Mohamad, 2011, p. 412).  However, in the literature, there is little research about Wasta and its role to success businesses (Berger et al., 2014, p. 461, in Arabic culture (Velez-Calle et al., 2015), internationalization processes (Al-Ramahi, 2008) and in the legal system (Buehler, 2016). <<<<<<<<<<<

references might help:

Abosag and Lee, 2013
Abosag and Naud (2014, p. 889)