Narrow Results

Purpose — The purpose of this pilot study is to understand the knowledge sharing attributes of the librarians in the Education City libraries and to identify the impending factors that affect the sharing process. This pilot study is part of a country wide study on the aspects of knowledge sharing in libraries.

Findings — The results showed that library professionals in the Education City, Qatar were involved in a lot of knowledge sharing activities among colleagues within their library and other libraries. The result also identifies the knowledge sources and with whom they share what. It was also found that cultural differences, language and library policies are important factors that have impacted significantly the flow of knowledge in the expatriate library community.

Research limitations/implications — The coverage on the universities in this paper is confined primarily to Education City, where majority of the universities are present. However, future research could include the few other universities/colleges that are out of the ambit of Education City to have a wider population in the study.

Practical implications — This paper has practical implications for those who are not fully aware of the working conditions in this region and Qatar in particular. It provides a useful overview of the knowledge sharing trends and requirements and the impediments to sharing vital knowledge that would help professionals in gaining some knowledge about the constraints and be prepared.

Originality/Value — There are no previous studies undertaken on knowledge sharing among library professionals in this region. This is the first ever study undertaken to understand the knowledge sharing attributes and trends among librarians in Qatar. So this study would be in the interest of all the library professionals that are contemplating an international career in this region and also understand the cultural and other differences when they arrive.

Purpose: This paper presents results from an empirical study in the banking sector in Qatar on the impact of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on employee’s innovative work behaviour (IWB). In particular, the study seeks to examine the impact of HPWP on employees work attitudes of job satisfaction and organisational commitment, and of the possible mediating link of employees’ attitudes (i.e., satisfaction and commitment) on HPWPs and IWB link.

Methodology: Data were collected from employees about their perception of the use of HPWPs in their banks and about their level of satisfaction at work, their perceived commitment, and their innovative work behaviour. The sample included 150 employees working in different banks at Qatar.

Findings: The findings suggest that HPWPs are positively related to job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and IWB. Also, the study provides support for the mediating effect of organisational commitment on the HPWPs and IWB link.

Practical implications: When trying to inspire employees IWB through managerial practices (like HPWPs) in Qatari banks, management needs to pay attention to employees work related attitudes such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment.

Limitations: The unique characteristics of the Qatari banks limits the generalizability of the study findings.

Originality: This is the first study that explores the mediating role of job satisfaction and organisational commitment on HPWPs-IWB link after conducting a comprehensive PLS analysis. Moreover, the study provides evidence of this possible link in what is believed to be unique study setting.

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, a small and remote island state, located in the Gulf of Guinea, has long offered little geopolitical and geo-economic interest. This situation is however gradually changing. In fact, since 2016, interest in the country has begun to grow, after the country resumed diplomatic relations with People’s Republic of China (hereafter China) and recognized the “one-China policy”. While the island state and Cabo Verde have followed different development paths in the post-colonial era, both share common features and both have the potential to perform important geopolitical regional roles in the context of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI). This paper discusses São Tomé and Príncipe’s regional engagement in the Gulf of Guinea (GG), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), and in multi-level cooperation in light of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (FM) as well as bilateral cooperation. We argue that São Tomé and Príncipe is of geopolitical value to China and that the island state will serve Chinese interests in extending the BRI in the Gulf of Guinea. The microstate of São Tomé and Príncipe has the potential to transform itself to function as the “Qatar of the Gulf of Guinea”, and contribute to regional stability by providing regional services for shipping, banking, finance, high-quality education, tourism and as an engaged partner. This paper presents a methodological theoretical-inductive and constructivist perspective, combining qualitative, quantitative and non-participant observation.

This chapter aims to illustrate the different environmental factors and their impact on entrepreneurship in Qatar. Despite its economic prosperity and governmental efforts to foster entrepreneurship Qatar still has not achieved its full potential in this regard. The analysis of the situation of entrepreneurship in Qatar shows no insurmountable difficulties at the macro-level. The problems are rather due to culture generated personality traits that are common among Qatari people. In fact, the fear of failure and the aversion towards risk and stress are negatively impacting entrepreneurial intentions among the population. The example of Qatar shows that a favourable economic situation does not necessarily promote entrepreneurship. The Qatari government is making huge efforts to optimise the legal and economic situation in order to reduce business risk and facilitate start-ups. However, it still has to invest more in human development in order to make Qatari people aware of the opportunities that their country is offering for innovative business ideas.

This last chapter overviews each country in the GCC. It provides general information about the socioeconomic development of each GCC country, emphasising the economic performance of each State. It also gives readers the opportunity to get to know future perspectives of each GCC nation. Final words of the chapter describe the GCC members as the fertile soil for FDI activities, stressing the fact that the region has a favourable cross-cultural environment.

One of the countries where tradition and modernity meet is Qatar. From a very poor country in the 20^th century to ultra-modern in the 21^st century, Qatar became a place in which visitors, workers and business people can find what they look for. The richness of the country’s diversified business outlook and culture appeals various stakeholders to stay, visit and do business in this country. In this line, the chapter portrays fundamental information on Qatar, its traditional doing of business through bazaars, the current context of business pursued in this country and the future regarding the country’s business stand up.