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The purpose of this study is to evaluate how Qatar Airways’ sponsorship of FC Barcelona affects Qatar’s sports diplomacy and brand awareness. It focuses on the sponsorship’s demand strategy and takes into account the opinions and attitudes of Spanish nationals toward Qatar and Qatar Airways.

To assess this, a survey of 434 Spanish nationals from 17 different regions from four zones (North, South, Center, and East) in Spain between November 3, 2022 and November 21, 2022 was conducted using a strata sampling method.

We argue that Qatar Airways’ sponsorship of FC Barcelona serves to improve Qatar’s recognition and national reputation in Spain. We also found that there is a need for consistent sponsorship and marketing efforts in sports diplomacy to better fulfill public diplomacy aims. Overall, this paper concludes that Qatar Airways’ sponsorship of FC Barcelona positively contributes to the country’s sports diplomacy despite significant challenges.

The major contribution of this study to the literature is the discussion of the role of sports sponsorships in the recognition of the sponsor, which was assessed through conducting a quantitative analysis of public opinion in the sponsored team’s host country.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current status and extent of corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR) in the annual reports of Qatari companies listed on the Qatar Exchange. It seeks to contribute to the meagre descriptive literature on CSRR in emerging economies in general, and in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in particular.

The paper reviews the annual reports of companies from both the financial and manufacturing sectors. The paper uses content analysis and covers five areas of CSR reporting including environment, human resources, product development, community involvement and others relating to inequality and the employment of disabled people.

The paper finds that most companies disclosed information related to human resources and product development, followed by community involvement. However, no companies reported environmental issues in their annual reports.

The research is based on annual reports for the financial year 2007. Hence, the conclusions reached cannot be generalized. A longitudinal analysis is needed to highlight trends in CSRR practices in Qatar. An in‐depth case study would also facilitate our understanding of why companies are making or not making certain types of social and environmental disclosure in Qatar.

Descriptions of CSRR in different parts of the world are still welcome, and arguably CSRR research in GCC in general and Qatar in particular is very limited.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics and dynamics of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar.

The methodology of this research is based on a literature review and information collected through semistructured interviews with the different stakeholders involved in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar.

The results show that two opposite forces shape the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar. On one hand, the strong determination and intervention of the Qatari government to diversify the economy by creating a vibrant ecosystem in the ICT sector. On the other hand, entrepreneurs in this sector are still facing some barriers and difficulties, and those issues are tightly related to Qatar's economic characteristics as a rentier state whose economy is driven by hydrocarbon resources.

These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the current dynamics of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar, which would have several policy implications.

The paper aims to give an interesting insight into the rise in event bidding and delivery of sports mega‐events from Qatar and the Middle East. This paper seeks to examine the shift in government policies and citizen relationships in the Middle East and Gulf Region, focusing on the specific case of Qatar from its staging of the 15th Asian Games in 2006 to present.

The paper begins with an overview of the main literature on the importance of sport events as a vehicle for securing global profile for cities and nations. The paper draws upon the authors' participation at the 15th Asian Games and interviews conducted there and latterly, desk‐based research involving scrutiny of Qatar's recent policy pronouncements and published materials pertaining to sporting events in the intervening period since the 2006 Games.

The findings are presented in the form of a case study, using the Asian Games as a starting point and finishing with Qatar's latest bids for sporting mega‐events. The paper presents a conceptual analysis of the situation in Doha and reveals a ten‐year strategy from Qatar to set itself apart from its neighbors in bidding to host mega‐sporting events and in its progress in terms of civil rights for women. This has allowed wider participation in sport and ensured Qatar can bid for the most prestigious global sporting events.

This paper adds to the wider public policy discussion and contributes to the body of knowledge in this area. The authors have written extensively on events policy but believe issues of democracy versus ruling states, emotional bidding and awarding to such states will continue to rise over the coming years and these have significant implications for both event owners in awarding such bids but also for policy makers in legitimizing bidding for such events in this context.

The paper reveals that the currency of awarding events to countries in the Middle East, Africa and South America is politically and socially important and of major interest to both the public and academics at present.

This paper aims to identify the current challenges and opportunities faced by the facility managers (FMs) in Doha, Qatar.

Researchers queried 40 FMs about their experience working in Qatar, using interviews and workshops.

Comments gathered followed general patterns. Participants expressed appreciation for their work, but also concern about cultural challenges they faced managing facilities in the region. In general, it was agreed that the low cost of water and energy in Qatar is one of the largest obstacles to conserving resources; however, current consumption is not sustainable.

The sensitive nature of this study made strict demands on the research team to maintain participant anonymity during data collection and reporting. This sensitivity also limited the sample size; a larger sample size for future research would support greater generalizability.

Qatar is taking steps to reduce its per capita carbon footprint and energy use, which is among the highest in the world. However, there appears to be a disconnect between Qatar’s expressed intentions and its actions with respect to facility management. To ensure that Qatar manages resources more efficiently, participants recommended that reduced energy use standards be adopted and legally mandated. This action would address many of the challenges, incentivize increased qualifications and training of FM professionals working in Qatar and encourage improvement of the long-term performance of buildings which are energy drains and heavy contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

Prior to this study, little has been published about current practices of facility management in Doha, Qatar, and the challenges and opportunities that FMs face in this region.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and document the skills and knowledge needs of future library professionals in Qatar and to use the outcomes of this research to help develop or refine focused library and information studies course curricula that meet the needs of the local workforce and also guide or improve national or local professional development programmes.

A skills and knowledge needs assessment survey was sent to library professionals, LIS students and library managers in Qatar. A total of 109 respondents completed the survey, a representation of around 25 per cent of the current LIS workforce in Qatar.

Findings indicated that respondents felt that the most needed future job roles included more client focused positions such as research librarians, information services librarians and subject librarians, as well as technical roles such as Arabic cataloguers, electronic resources librarians and system librarians. The largest amount of needed positions was also felt to be in school libraries. Respondents to the survey also felt that there was a lack of opportunities for professional development in Qatar and that the most needed area of skills training was information literacy, followed by copyright training and technical skills including RDA and Arabic cataloguing. One further finding identified from the survey was the concern felt by respondents about the lack of a professional body in Qatar that represented LIS professionals.

This paper provides data on future roles, skills and knowledge needed by library professionals working in international and culturally diverse workforces. It also provides findings that can be used to develop LIS curriculum and professional development programmes in international LIS environments.

A detailed needs assessment of this kind has not previously been undertaken in Qatar. The library and information sector in Qatar is an emerging field with a largely international workforce. This situation provides a distinct perspective on the needs of an emerging library sector that is a blend of different cultures, workplace practices and differing expectations and understandings of the role and skills needed to be a LIS professional.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the knowledge-based economy in two distinctive case studies in the Arab World: Qatar and Lebanon. Based on five aspects of the knowledge-based economy namely: ICT, human capital and education; innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic and institutional regime, we provide a careful view of the obstacles and challenges that Qatar and Lebanon are facing and how this is hindering their transformation to a knowledge-based economy.

The methodology of this research is based on a literature review and information collected through semi-structured interviews with the different stakeholders of the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon.

The research reveals that numerous factors shape the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon. In Qatar, the main strength of the knowledge-based economy is the determination of the Qatari government to diversify the economy and the main weaknesses are the shortage of qualified human resources, the fear of failure and the low performance of the innovation system. In Lebanon, the knowledge-based economy is driven by the education system and the entrepreneurship culture, nevertheless the political instability of the country and the weak ICT infrastructure impede its development.

These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the current state of the knowledge-based economy in Qatar and Lebanon, which would have several policy implications.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience of Qatar with entrepreneurship education and training, and its contribution in creating a knowledge-based economy. By doing so, the paper will contribute towards raising awareness about the state of entrepreneurship education, training and the knowledge economy in Qatar.

The research design for this paper is a descriptive and interpretive case study that is analysed through qualitative methods. Secondary information is analysed through descriptive statistics.

The main finding of this paper is that although Qatar has launched many initiatives of entrepreneurship education and training to help diversify its economy by creating knowledge-based economy, the data show that there is some improvement in Qatar’s ranking in the Knowledge Economy Index.

The main limitation of this study is the unavailability of secondary data for a long period of time.

The main policy implication that can be derived from the findings of this paper is that entrepreneurship education and training alone cannot create a diversified and knowledge-based economy in a short period of time. In fact building a knowledge economy requires more than introduction of entrepreneurship education and training. In addition to entrepreneurship education it requires improvement in the national innovation system, large investment in information and communication technology and a good macroeconomic performance. Moreover, the success of entrepreneurship education and training in fulfilling its objective requires a comprehensive strategy to be implemented over a long period of time.

The paper represents an original work that links entrepreneurship education and training with the knowledge economy. This is the first paper that handles this issue in the context of Gulf countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficiency of the banking sector in Qatar. The paper utilizes 15 banks comprising Islamic, conventional and foreign banks for the duration of 2007 to 2011.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique is applied to compute technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Also, Malmquist productivity index (MPI) is used to identify the sources of productive efficiencies of the banks.

The results suggest that Qatari banks are operating below optimum performance and thus there is still room for improvement. While conventional banks are the most efficient in Qatar in terms of technical and pure technical efficiencies, Islamic banks are most efficient in terms of scale efficiency. Besides, pure technical inefficiency dominated scale inefficiency in the Qatari banking sector. Moreover, as compared to the Islamic banks, conventional and foreign banks recorded a reduction in average technical efficiency during the duration of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis. In terms of productivity progress, all the Qatari banks were experiencing a decline in productivity mainly attributed to less technological innovation in the banking sector of Qatar.

Most of the banks in Qatar do not have published data before 2007 and after 2011.

There is less technological innovation in the banking sector of Qatar. Hence, bank managers in Qatar should focus on educating customers about modern banking technologies and other innovative banking services in Qatar.

This study is a pioneering effort in the application of DEA and MPI to study about the banking sector in Qatar.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how residents in Qatar, the host country of the 2022 World Cup, interact, socialize and acculturate in order to create a more harmonic society, a critical factor for the event delivery and preparations.

Data were collected from Qatari nationals and expatriates residing in the country of Qatar using a survey. A stratified random sampling approach was applied using as sampling framework all households having a mailing address with the country’s electric company. In total, 2,398 Qataris were contacted and 1,020 completed the survey. From the expatriate population, 1,852 were contacted and 1,134 completed the survey.

The results showed Qatari nationals were favorable toward Arab and Asian expatriates but not as favorable as Arab and Asian expatriates were toward them. Both groups of residents showed high quality of life (QOL) perceptions, with the locals having slightly higher QOL. Finally, Asian expatriates were more open to socializing with the locals and Arab expatriates.

The results of the study shed light into the acculturation process in host societies of mega sport events such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

This is the first study that examined a mega event’s host country resident’s cultural interactions to identify potential issues that can arise and interfere with the event experience of the 2022 World Cup in a very diverse society.