The effect of Islamic culture’s constituents on decision-making

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to enumerate the factors influencing the process of decision-making, those which are mostly related to personality affected by cultures and sub-cultures dominating the individual’s life, such as possessing internal and external control agents, tolerating or avoiding ambiguities and its comparison with a belief in fatalism or free will and the effect of these beliefs and traits on the personality. Design/methodology/approach This paper demonstrates that these beliefs would result in the formation of different personal characteristics; for instance, active and passive individuals and those who are keen to discover problems to solve them and change the existing state of affairs to the desired ones. Some individuals can make decisions and some cannot. Findings The researcher has tried to make a comparative study and address the genuine Islamic culture as manifested in the Quran, Prophet’s Tradition and Shiite way of life. In this relation, the case studies are the Battle of Uhud and the Quranic verses related to the research to demonstrate that a Muslim manager, by dismissing fatalism while trusting in God’s blessing, could be distinguished from others. Originality/value This study adds to our knowledge that managers can make sound decisions by relying on their Shiite culture, self-confidence, rational thinking, consulting the wise people and above all trusting in God.