The theory of planned behavior is a great tool for understanding predictors of drug use, specifically marijuana. Although the theory has been applied in the U.S. and European context, research on the predictors of behavioral intention for marijuana use within the Arabian Gulf context is limited. This thesis provides an overview of the theory of planned behavior as used in the U.S. and European context. An argument for the need to better understand predictors of behavioral intentions to use drugs, in the Arabian Gulf Region, prior to developing interventions and preventions is presented. Data was collected from 95 participants between the ages of 18-25 who were from the six GCC countries. Participants had the option to complete the survey in English or in Arabic. Results of the study suggest attitudes are the strongest predictor for behavioral intentions to use marijuana. Knowledge and sensations seeking were not significantly related to behavioral intentions for marijuana use within the current sample.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2004. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 54). Also available on the World Wide Web.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman, has undertaken massive construction projects to develop its airports. Such development has taken place over a very short span of time and has involved particularly heavy investments. These projects were, and still are, funded by the governments. The financial return of these projects was not their prime objective, but they were implemented to satisfy the air transport demand and to gain prestige. Some of these projects were a success and some were not, due to a lack of proper and efficient planning and implementation. One could say that this is a natural situation considering the very short time frame in which they were completed after the independence of the GCC in the early 1970s coupled with the good financial situation of these countries. However, this situation will not continue forever; indeed, many of these countries have reviewed their implementation of projects, including airport development plans, positively. Nevertheless, there is a lack of strategic planning practices in many GCC airports, where an airport master plan (AMP) is used in isolation without a strategic plan. Generally, airport projects have not received adequate attention in terms of research on project implementation or strategic planning. Such projects cannot be considered as normal projects, as airports are unique, complicated and demanding due to their complexity, security and safety requirements, international regulations, operations, high cost and high versatility. Therefore, it is essential for any airport to introduce and implement a strategic plan before the enacting development plans to minimise the risk of failure. The competitive environment between the GCC members and the demand for ground and air transportation are factors that led airport management to implement new strategic policies and identify the way forward. This research explains the theory of strategic management and relates it to airports and the airport industry. It also uses Bahrain International Airport as a case study. The case study included the collection of qualitative data through interviews with airport authorities and companies. The collected data were applied to business tools. The new management, the Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), has created a plan for the implementation of a strategic plan, and the research found that strategic planning has been initiated at Bahrain International Airport (BIA) but that there are differences between its implementation and the general strategic planning theories. BIA has very special characteristics and is unique in terms of its patterns of traffic and geographical location. These should be considered to be success factors and must be used to compete with other airports and enable BIA to be one of the leading airports in the provision of effective and quality services.

This study explores the challenges perceived by senior officers in Western university branch campuses in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state and aims to provide insights into how leaders dealt with them. Thus, the study addresses four research questions. First, how campus senior officers perceive the challenges? Second, to what extent are these challenges a result of operating in a different cultural context? Third, how do senior officers deal with these challenges and maintain the quality of their home universities? Finally, how can the study findings be theorised to inform future policy and practice? As a form of transnational higher education, some of the GCC states have established branch campuses of leading Western universities to provide quality higher education to their citizens locally and build knowledge economies. Campus managers, usually from their home Western universities, face challenges related to the local cultural context. These challenges include the GCC state societal views of the campuses, the Western University approach to co-education, the GCC state development efforts to grow a Knowledge Economy through quality Western-style education, and national students’ academic preparation. This research was conducted as an exploratory qualitative multiple case study of five branch campuses. Data were collected through interviews with senior officers from the campuses and the host organization in the GCC state, and the five campuses' annual reports. Data were analysed through open and axial coding. Then thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the data. The study revealed that the major challenges for campus officers are recruiting academically strong students from the pool of citizens, and understanding the local culture and adjusting aspects of the curriculum to fit the local context especially for campuses that offer social sciences and arts programmes. Campus officers engaged in efforts to make school students more qualified for admission by the campuses, and some leaders made adjustments to the curriculum to better suit their students’ abilities.

The main aim of this research is to analyse the CSR disclosure and examine its determinants and consequences among Islamic banks in the GCC (Gulf Countries Council). In fulfilling the research aims, annual reports of GCC Islamic banks for the period 2010- 2014 are analysed using manual content analysis, which involves 195 observations of 39 Islamic banks. The CSR disclosure index is constructed based on 11 dimensions using AAOIFI standard no 7, 2010. An ordinary least square (OLS) regression is used to examine the determinants and consequences of CSR disclosure in the sample Islamic banks. The analysis shows a very low level of CSR disclosure (39.9%) among the sample Islamic banks. Using CG (corporate governance) mechanisms to measure the determinant of CSR disclosure, this current study finds a significant positive association between CSR disclosure and the size of the boards of directors of the sample Islamic banks. It provides evidence that stronger corporate governance is associated with a higher level of CSR disclosure. This current study finds a negative significant relationship of CEO. Duality and AC Size and CSR disclosure. However, the results show no significant association between CSR disclosure and other corporate governance variables. To examine the economic consequences of CSR disclosure, the study uses three different proxies of firm value (MTBV, Market Capitalization and Tobin Q). Using market capitalization proxies, this current study finds that there is a negative significant relationship between CSR disclosure and firm value. The study did not find any significant relationship between other proxies. This current study suggests that there is a need to improve the current CSR disclosure practice in GCC Islamic banks by imposing additional constraints on the board of directors’ characteristics. The results inform the global debate on the need for corporate governance reform in Islamic banks, by providing insights on the role played by corporate governance mechanisms in encouraging and enhancing CSR disclosure practice among Islamic banks.

This thesis is based on three papers examining Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) financial markets. The member countries of the GCC are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These countries have transitioned from developing to frontier markets over the past ten years, but there is considerable debate about whether GCC economies are efficient or affected by shocks in oil and other commodity markets. The first paper (chapter 2) considers GCC stock market returns and examines how they are affected by oil price shocks using a bivariate VAR-GARCH(1,1) approach. The conclusion of this essay is that GCC economies are more affected by shocks than are other countries considered for comparison purposes. The second paper (chapter 3) discusses how food prices are affected by oil price shocks, and it examines possible parameter shifts between food and oil that result from four recent events, including renewable fuel policies and the financial crisis. The third paper (chapter 4) uses an empirical approach to compare a least squares model and a non-linear Markov switching model to measure the effect of newspaper sentiment on stock market performance. The results indicate that all information is important to stock market investors and that non-linear models are better predictors of stock market performance then linear models when using data from newspaper articles. Chapter 5 offers some final conclusions and remarks.

Implementing risk management (RM) effectively in construction projects and organisations has long been recognised as key to ensuring successful project performance. Therefore, it has become increasingly vital for construction organisations to have RM as an integral part of their project management practice. Such necessity has driven significant increase in research on RM practice in the construction industry. However, little research has been conducted to systematically investigate the RM implementation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s construction industry. Therefore, this research study was aimed at thoroughly investigating RM implementation in this industry toward developing an appropriate framework for improving existing practice. Specifically, this research study has developed a RM framework for enhancing RM implementation practice in construction firms and an informed list of best practice recommendations, all of which aid as a road map for implementing an effective RM system, thereby contributing to the enhancement of practice. In addition, the research has developed a RM maturity model purposely for measuring firms’ existing RM maturity level and identifying key areas for further improvement. Mixed method approach was chosen for the purpose of addressing the research aim and objectives. The first stage of the approach involved a comprehensive review of relevant literature. Then, a pilot study and two questionnaire surveys were designed and distributed to professionals from construction organisations in the GCC countries. Moreover, six case studies from real-life projects were conducted. The RM framework was validated through a series of experts’ interviews. This research has identified and ranked 62 key risk factors affecting construction project performance, and were categorised under four levels, namely: country level, industry and market level, firm capability level, and project implementation level. Also, this research study has identified 28 RM maturity criteria and 15 critical barriers to RM implementation. These were used to develop a comprehensive RM maturity system, which can serve as a guide for determining the RM capability of construction organisations to enable them decide on the most appropriate implementation strategies. Moreover, the case studies provide rich in-depth qualitative data that explains, among others, the status of RM implementation in practice and the level of maturity displayed by GCC construction organisations on this subject. The cross–case comparison results substantiated the survey findings, and highlighted the influence of the firms’ characteristics on the RM implementation. Also, the findings serve as a case-study from GCC countries from which other countries in the Middle East and developing world can benefit immensely from the lessons learnt, since these countries share a lot in common as far as RM practices are concerned. The empirical results and outcomes of this research are arguably the first to be presented for the GCC construction industry, and therefore have a high potential of contributing significantly to the existing body of knowledge and understanding in RM. The results of this research do not only fill a major gap in the literature on the subject of RM practice in this industry, but also offer greater awareness and understanding of RM implementation in construction firms. Future studies would be conducted to assess the RM maturity in other projects or in other countries and to investigate the relationship between the RM maturity and improvement in project performance. For instance, the case studies would be performed to uncover RM implementation and the associated managerial implications which will allow practitioners to understand the real implementation issues in practice and the experience of firms that is worth learning from.

No description available.

Práce charakterizuje současnou ekonomickou situaci států GCC a jejich budoucí rozvoj v závislosti na úbytku ropy. Práce se zaměřuje na cestovní ruch, odvětví ekonomiky, které by se mohlo zásadním způsobem podílet na rozvoji těchto států. Popisuje základní předpoklady pro cestovní ruch a jaké postavení v současnoti cestovní ruch zaujímá v ekomonikách států GCC. Na příkladu Spojených arabských emirátů ukazuje jednu z možných cest, kterou by se mohly tyto státy vydat.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the development and promotion of local brands in Kuwait, to understand the cultural practices used to create their branding, and how they compete with global brands within the competitive marketplace. Specifically, the study looks into the brands of Kuwait and the need to be self-reliant and self-sufficient to generate incomes within the country and achieve national competency. The Western brands influence the local brands and sometimes squashing them by transitioning from global to local brands. The Covid-19 has also sparked the need for supporting local brands and the national economy, as evident in the way countries are gradually transitioning their business practices. Therefore, the author provides an understanding of how locals use the cultural identity theory for their owned brands and shift the perception of consumers to try, use, and support local brands. Furthermore, the author analyzes the digital marketing strategies applied by local and global brands in achieving effective communications by promoting their brand image to Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.