Research Profiles

Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030 sees environmental protection as a major pillar, and aims to achieve the goal of hosting the first ever carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup in 2022. In this context of increasing visibility and integration of environmental sustainability in the Qatari public sector, the proposed study aims to explore the attitude and understanding of the concept of environmental sustainability in Qatar. The study will include four focus group discussions among residents in Qatar on responsible consumerism as the sustainability issue. The respondents will be divided according to age (youth and adults) and residency status (locals and expats). The expected outcome is to have a better picture of where the Qatari population stand in their attitude and understanding of environmental issues. The project will equip the student researchers with the skills needed to conduct academic research, and give them the opportunity to experience an academically sound research project in the area of their interests.

The Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030 identifies five major challenges facing Qatar, and engaging in good environmental stewardship is one of them. The scope of environmental issues in Qatar as a research subject is quite vast, and thus it makes sense to focus on a specific topic in a single research project. Therefore, the present study focuses on perceptions of environmental sustainability as it relates to individual actions among Qatari residents as its research topic. The study includes four sample populations among residents in Qatar on perceptions and individual actions, and explores any differences that exist according to demographic status (e.g. Qatari citizens vs expats, youth vs mature adults). A semi-structured questionnaire survey was administered, which garnered 151 respondents across the four target groups. 66% of the study respondents stated that more actions are needed in Qatar to promote the sustainability agenda. This includes awareness building and facilities, as there seems to be a gap in the knowledge regarding sustainability issues among Qatari citizens and residents. Mature adults exhibited more awareness of environmental sustainability than youth, indicating opportunities for integrating sustainability education into the school curriculum. However, results also indicate that both youth and mature adults are willing to forego some personal comfort to serve sustainability. This is an opportunity for creating sustainability awareness programs and other social activities organized and/or sponsored by governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Although the field of leadership and its impact from culture is a well-studied field in management literature, the majority of these studies have focused around mono-cultural settings. The Qatari business environment does not fit in to a monocultural format, because of the high levels of expats who live and work in the country. This study aims to look at the interplay between organization leadership in a Qatari context with its diverse, international population. The project will study the cultural dimensions outlined by Hofstede on four different groups of leaders in Qatar, namely: a) Qatari leadership working with Qatari employees, b) Qatari leadership working with international employees, c) International leadership working with Qatari employees, and d) International leadership working with international employees. Four students would conduct structured interviews on each group. Students would be responsible for the data collection and analysis on their own segments. The findings from this study will depict the effect of cultural backgrounds on the corporate leadership in Qatar, and shed light on how they impact each other.

The field of leadership and its impact from culture is quite well studied in management literature, and the link between the two has been established beyond doubt. However, the majority of the research on this topic has centered around monocultural settings, and compare and contrast between cultures that are positioned at the opposite end of the spectrum. Applied research on special scenarios such as when the leaders and employees hail from different cultures – which is the norm in the context of Gulf countries such as Qatar – is still relatively scarce. This project addressed this research gap. The primary goal of this study was to explore the impact of home culture according to Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimensions on the organizational leadership context in Qatar. With this goal in mind, the primary research question for this study was surmised to be: What impact does the cultural background of leaders and subordinates have on leadership behaviors in Qatar? The study was conducted through a questionnaire survey among Qatari and Non-Qatari individuals who hold leadership positions in Qatar. The results show significant departures from traditional underpinnings and support the narrative that Qatari society is continually easing into modern traditionalism, where educational and individual achievement is held in high regard but are still in alignment with tribal traditions of collectivistic outlook. Amongst the expatriate leaders, no significant differences were found across the five dimensions of Hofstede with regard to gender or nationality. This study also found that power distance and individualism/collectivism have strong influence on organizational leadership in Qatar, confirming the results of previous studies. The results also show that cultural diversity is often a barrier to success in the workplace in Qatar due to different understandings and viewpoints.