Business continuity management in Jordanian banks: Some cultural considerations

This article investigates the extent to which the Jordanian banking
sector uses Business Continuity Management (BCM) as a way to manage organizational
risk, disasters and crises, as well as business interruptions. The population
in this study consists of the 17 Jordanian banks registered with the Amman Stock
Exchange. Data were collected via an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Eleven
completed questionnaires were obtained, representing a response rate of 64.7 per
cent. Questionnaires were followed by three semi-structured interviews conducted
with BCM managers from three Jordanian banks from different cultural backgrounds;
local, Islamic and foreign. All the respondents have BCM programmes in place. There
are no statistically significant differences in the practice of BCM between Jordanian
banks in terms of organizational characteristics, such as size and age. However, the
cultural backgrounds of the banks and culturally determined differences in their
operations more generally have influenced the practice of BCM in significant ways.