The Islamic work ethic among employees in Egypt Ghada A. El-Kot Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Alexandria, Egypt and Plymouth Business School, Plymouth, UK, and Ronald J. Burke Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada Abstract Purpose – This study aims to examine the relationship of the Islamic work ethic (IWE) and individualism among a large sample of supervisors working in Egypt, replicating earlier work by Ali (2005, 1987). Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 484 male and female supervisors working in manufacturing organizations using anonymously completed questionnaires, 48 per cent response rate. Findings – Measures of IWE and individualism were highly reliable and signiicantly and positively correlated (0.39, p  0.001), replicating Ali’s work. Males and females scored similarly on both measures. Younger mangers were more individualistic, again supporting Ali’s indings. The Egyptian sample also scored very high on both measures, as do samples from other countries. Factor analysis of the IWE suggested two interpretable factors and the possibility of creating a shorter version of the IWE. Research limitations/implications – An interesting question becomes why are levels of economic performance in these countries relatively low despite very high levels of commitment to the IWE? This raised the issue of potential social desirability in the measure of IWE. Future research must include indicators of both individual and work unit performance to examine this further. Practical implications – Suggestions are offered on ways that organizations can develop reliable and valid measures of the IWE and examine their relationships with actual job and work group performance. Originality/value – Supports continuing research on the usefulness of the IWE concept and measures in management research. Keywords Managers, Individualism, Egypt, Islamic work ethics Paper type Research paper The Middle East region, comprising a number of very diverse countries, is generally acknowledged to be performing economically at a relatively low level despite its potential. Several reasons have been proposed for this, including the lack of a well-established middle-class business segment, autocratic governments, lack of free market principles, inadequate educational systems, failure to develop and utilize the talents of women and a dearth of management talent in both private and public sector organizations (Ali, 2005; 1999). Very little research on human resource management and organization practices and their effects on individual and organizational performance have been undertaken in the Middle East (Budhwar and Mellahi, 2007). Again, there are several reasons for this, The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1753-8394.htm IMEFM 7,2 228 International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management Vol. 7 No. 2, 2014 pp. 228-235 © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1753-8394 DOI 10.1108/IMEFM-09-2013-0103