Unveiling Qatarization: a strategic HRM perspective on the context of implementing successful workforce nationalization

Abstract

This study is motivated by the infancy of literature on strategic HRM in regard to government policies and the lack of empirical research on the HRM policy of nationalization in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). As such, it adopts a process oriented strategic HRM perspective through developing and examining an integrative framework of the antecedents and outcomes of the quality of the implementation of the Qatarized workforce in Qatar. This framework is informed by three aspects of the strategic planning process, namely, formulation, implementation, and evaluation, as determinants of the quality of implementation of the Qatarization strategy and how the latter, along with the three sets of strategic planning variables, influence the success of this strategy. In surveying 313 managers from organizations in Qatar, the study contributes to several streams of the literature: strategic HRM, nationalization, and strategic management, where the findings show that the implementation quality of Qatarization strategy is shaped by all three as aspects of the strategic planning process and that the success of this strategy cannot adequately be targeted without such an integrative perspective. However, the findings also suggest that the three aspects do not contribute equally to the success of this strategy. These findings entail several implications for managers, including the importance of paying heed to the comprehensive concept of integrative strategic planning in general, and the important role that formal planning plays when ensuring the success of publicly mandated HRM strategies.