The Impact of Qatarization on Motivation and Job Performance

Abstract

The flourishing economy of Qatar has created many jobs opportunities in the country. The severe shortage in the national workforce, made Qatar dependent on expatriate workers, that has dominated the labor force. As a response, Qatar has adopted a nationalization program, called Qatarization, which sought to nationalize the workforce. The application of the program may affect employees’ attitude and performance. This paper investigates the impact of workforce nationalism on employees’ motivation and job performance. The study depends on two data sources, secondary and primary data. The secondary data come from a literature review of Qatarization, motivation and job performance, while the primary data were collected via questionnaires. The questionnaires were distributed at the offices of the Qatar Olympic Committee targeting all the employees. Out of 500 questionnaires distributed, 134 were deemed acceptable. The results of the analysis in the study support the research hypotheses: that is, the Qatarization strategy does have an impact on employee motivation and work performance. In addition, the study shows a positive correlation between employee motivation and performance. Implications of the findings for both practitioners and researchers are also discussed in the project.