Cover
Volume 7, Special Issue 3 (2026)

Published: July 31, 2026

Pages: 26-42

Research articles

The role of strategic renewal in reducing organizational anomie: A descriptive and analytical study of Zain telecommunications company in Iraq

Muhammad I. Sulaiman 1 Ahmed M. Gharib 1 Omar A. Feza 1
1University of Falluja, Al-Anbar, Iraq
History
  • Received: January 25, 2026
  • Revised: February 23, 2026
  • Accepted: March 2, 2026
  • Available Online: July 25, 2026
DOI

https://doi.org/10.56967/ejfb2026800

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the strategic role of Strategic Renewal (across its core dimensions: content, context, and process) in mitigating Organizational Anomie and its behavioral and value-based manifestations (anomie/normlessness, organizational cynicism, and the absence of values) within the dynamic organizational environment of Zain Iraq for Telecommunications. To achieve the research objectives, a descriptive-analytical approach was adopted. Data were collected through a specially designed questionnaire distributed to a purposive sample of leaders and administrators within the company. The data were analyzed using SPSS, employing descriptive statistical methods (Arithmetic Means and Standard Deviations) and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Simple Linear Regression). The results revealed high levels of both strategic renewal practices and organizational anomie within the surveyed company. Furthermore, a statistically significant inverse correlation was identified between the two variables, indicating that higher levels of strategic renewal are associated with a decrease in organizational anomie. Regression analysis further demonstrated that the dimensions of strategic renewal collectively explain 60% of the variance in organizational anomie, with the "Process" dimension exerting the strongest impact, followed by "Context" and "Content." The research concludes that strategic renewal serves as an effective entry point for curbing value-based and behavioral disintegration (anomie) in organizations operating in rapidly changing environments; however, its effectiveness is maximized when it encompasses processes and a supportive organizational context, rather than being limited to strategic content alone. The study recommends that the company's management focus on enhancing the value-driven and cultural aspects of renewal while bridging the trust gap between management and employees to achieve more integrated and sustainable strategic renewal

Keywords

References

  1. Al-Shaykhī, H. B. A. A. (2003). Al-lāmiʿyāriyah (al-anūmiyā) wa-mafhūm al-dhāt wa-al-sulūk al-inḥirāfī ladá al-munḥarifīn wa-ghayr al-munḥarifīn fī Madīnat al-Riyāḍ (Master's thesis, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, College of Graduate Studies, Department of Social Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).
  2. Ṣabāḥ, I. Kh. (2022). Al-tahakkum al-tanzīmī wa-inʿikāsātuhu ʿalá jawdat al-khidmah al-ṣiḥḥīyah: Baḥth istiṭlāʿī fī Mustashfá al-Salām al-Taʿlīmī fī Madīnat al-Mawṣil (Master's thesis, University of Mosul, College of Administration and Economics, Department of Business Administration, Mosul, Iraq).
  3. M. H. N., Hassan, I. S., & Al Chalabi, A. S. (2023). The Impact Human Resource Agility in Strategic Renewal-A Field Research in The General Company for The Textile and Leather Industry. Social Sciences journal, 13(1), 1-13.‏
  4. Abdelgawad, S. G., & Zahra, S. A. (2020). Family firms’ religious identity and strategic renewal. Journal of Business Ethics, 163(4), 775-787.‏
  5. Abugabel, A. (2023). The Mediating Role of Organizational Anomie in the Relationship between Toxic Leadership and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: An Empirical Study. Scientific Journal for Financial and Commercial Studies and Research, https://doi.org/10.21608/cfdj.2023.289004.
  6. Abugabel, A. H. A. S. (2023). The Mediating Role of Organizational Anomie in the Relationship between Toxic Leadership and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: An Empirical Study. 4(2), 207-263.‏
  7. Akpolat, T. & Oguz, E. (2021). Örgütsel Sinizm Algılanan Örgütsel Sinerjiyi Nasıl Yordar? Eğitim Örgütlerinde Bir İnceleme. Manas Journal of Social Studies, 10(3), pp:1692-1705
  8. Alorani, O. I., Rababah, S. Y., Al-Maraziq, I. A. M., Miqdadi, Z. M., Al-Habies, F. A. M., & Rababah, M. A. I. (2025). Social media addiction and its relationship with feelings of alienation and cognitive distortions among youth in Jordan. Образование и наука, 27(6), 126-148.‏
  9. Anand, A., Singh, S., Bowen, M., & Rangarajan, D. (2024). Strategic renewal during crises - A pragmatist proposition for multinational enterprises in a globalized world. Journal of International Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2024.101134.
  10. Argandoña, A. (2003). Fostering values in organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 45(1), 15-28.‏
  11. Azeez, L. A., & Hasson, S. M. A. (2021). Reducing Organizational Anomie in Light of Entrepreneurial Behavior. Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 27(130), 25-39.‏
  12. Carter, E. M., & Carter, M. V. (2007). A social psychological analysis of anomie among national football league players. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 42(3), 243-270.‏
  13. Cicek, B.; Turkmenoglu, M. A. & Ozbilgin, M. F. (2021). Examining the Mediating Role of Organizational Support on Between Organizational Cynicism and Turnover Intention in Technology Firms in Istanbul.frontiers in psychology,12,1621, PP: 1-13
  14. Ciszewska-Mlinarič, M., & Wójcik, P. (2023). What do we talk about when we talk about strategic renewal: a systematic literature review of 40 years of research. Central European Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/cemj-01-2023-0003.
  15. Dağli, Abidin & Emel Averbek (2017) Investigating Organizational Alienation Behavior in Terms of Some Variables, Universal Journal of Educational Research, vol 5, no (2).
  16. E. Tsahuridu, E. (2006). Anomie and ethics at work. Journal of Business Ethics, 69(2), 163-174.‏
  17. Goldner, F. H., Ritti, R. R., & Ference, T. P. (1977). The production of cynical knowledge in organizations. American Sociological Review, 539-551.‏
  18. Hassan, H. (2025). The Role of Strategic Renewal in Achieving Organizational Survival. Journal of Management and Economics. https://doi.org/10.55640/jme-05-01-03.
  19. Järvi, K., & Khoreva, V. (2020). The role of talent management in strategic renewal. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 42(1), 75-89.‏
  20. Kearney, C., & Morris, M. H. (2015). Strategic renewal as a mediator of environmental effects on public sector performance. Small Business Economics, 45(2), 425-445.
  21. Khalil, H. I. (2020). Open-Book Management: An approach for Information Sharing to Reduce Organizational Anomie. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 14(3), pp:1438-1453
  22. Kirilka, V., & Stukas, T. (2012). Strategic renewal in retail companies by means of social e-commerce.‏
  23. Kusuma, G., & Sudhartio, L. (2020). The Impact of Strategic Renewal in Banking Industry Performance. Corporate Governance & Finance eJournal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3623905.
  24. Liu, X., Liu, W., & Deborah, S. (2025). Research on the Relationship Between Managerial Pro-Social Rule Breaking and Employees’ Workplace Deviant Behavior from the Broken Windows Effect Perspective. Behavioral Sciences, 15. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15030275.
  25. Lu, J., Du, H., & He, X. (2023). A hypernetwork-based urn model for explaining collective dynamics. PLOS ONE, 18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291778.
  26. Martin-Rios, C., & Parga-Dans, E. (2016). Service response to economic decline: Innovation actions for achieving strategic renewal. Journal of business research, 69(8), 2890-2900.‏
  27. Mielcarek, P. (2018). The Strategic Renewal Process – the Challenge of Creating and Capturing Value. Management Sciences. Nauki o Zarządzaniu, 23, 28 - 34. https://doi.org/10.15611/ms.2018.4.04.
  28. Nam, D. I., Parboteeah, K. P., Cullen, J. B., & Johnson, J. L. (2014). Cross-national differences in firms undertaking innovation initiatives: An application of institutional anomie theory. Journal of International Management, 20(2), 91-106.‏
  29. Nguyen, K., Peltoniemi, M., & Lamberg, J. (2021). Strategic renewal: Can it be done profitably. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2021.102179.
  30. Polgar-Matthews, M. (2011). Exploring anomie in a special life-stage: adolescent anomie and aggression (Doctoral dissertation).‏
  31. Rahimi Zarchi, M. R., Beheshtifar, M., & Kazemi, H. (2023). Meta-analysis of effective factors on the consequences of organizational anomie (Case study of Islamic Azad University). International Journal of Nonlinear Analysis and Applications, 14(1), 1359-1370.‏
  32. Schmitt, A., Raisch, S., & Volberda, H. (2018). Strategic Renewal: Past Research, Theoretical Tensions and Future Challenges. POL: Other International Strategy & Policy (Topic). https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12117.
  33. Shawabkeh, K. (2024). The impact of strategic agility on sustainable competitive advantage: The mediating role of strategic renewal at Jordanian telecommunication companies. Problems and Perspectives in Management. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.22(1).2024.36.
  34. Van Zeebroeck, N., Kretschmer, T., & Bughin, J. (2021). Digital “is” strategy: The role of digital technology adoption in strategy renewal. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 70(9), 3183-3197.‏
  35. Winch, S. (2020). DIRECT SUPERIORS AND ANOMIE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR-RESEARCH RESULTS. Organizacja i Kierowanie, 188(1), 79-91.‏, 188(1)
  36. Yarim, M. A., & Çelik, S. (2021). Organizational Anomie: A Qualitative Research on Educational Institutions. Open Journal for Educational Research, 5(2), 161-176.‏
  37. Zhang, J., Qu, Q., & Chen, X. (2024). Utilizing Potential Field Mechanisms and Distributed Learning to Discover Collective Behavior on Complex Social Systems. Symmetry, 16, 1014. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym16081014.
  38. Zhang, J., Qu, Q., & Chen, X. (2025). Understanding collective behavior in biological systems through potential field mechanisms. Scientific Reports, 15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88440-3.
  39. Azeez, L., & Hasson, S. (2021). Reducing Organizational Anomie in Light of Entrepreneurial Behavior. Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences. https://doi.org/10.33095/jeas.v27i130.2190.
  40. Yarım, M., & Çelik, S. (2021). Organizational Anomie: A Qualitative Research on Educational Institutions. Open Journal for Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojer.0502.04161a.