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The FIFA Men's World Cup Qatar 2022 has been analyzed through the frameworks of nation branding and soft power. As the world's most popular sport event, the World Cup has the possibility to enhance host nations' images internationally, but we are not aware of empirical work attempting to assess public perceptions of Qatar, despite the considerable attention it has been paid. Accordingly, we assessed the discussion in the Twittersphere to shed some light on whether Qatar's nation-branding and soft power attempts are reflected in public perceptions. We collected, geotagged, and analyzed 4,458,914 tweets with the word "Qatar." We found that, contrary to the expectations of the organizers in Qatar, host nation status has not necessarily brought better nation branding or enhanced soft power, especially in the Global North. We conclude that social media's interactive nature, which enables users to influence the discussion agenda, should have been considered by event organizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors assess the effectiveness of campaigns designed to increase the sport activities of migrant workers in Qatar, host nation of the FIFA Men's World Cup Qatar 2022TM. The authors used the integrative model of behavioral prediction (IM) as a guide and conducted ethnographic interviews with migrant workers in Qatar. The results suggest that the respondents have very low participation rates, positive attitudes towards the sports campaigns and desire to participate more but are hampered by environmental factors beyond their control including time off of work, transportation and money. Utilization of external factors is necessary for the management and assessment of sports campaigns targeted at migrant workers and by extension, other populations. The inclusion of external elements from the IM is especially important in the design of sports campaigns targeted at migrant workers. Focusing exclusively on internal perceptions, attitudes and beliefs risks missing the factors that prevent the campaigns from succeeding. Sports opportunities are not often targeted at migrant laborers nor assessed; the study fills this gap. The external factors from the IM are underutilized. The study addresses this gap and provides valuable insight that can guide the management and assessment of sports and leisure opportunities for migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the FIFA requirement that World Cup host nations make alcohol available at World Cup stadia because of its sponsorship agreement with Anheuser-Busch. This paper suggests a framework that FIFA should use in evaluating potential host nations to address the ethical implications of alcohol at the World Cup, especially considering the recent Qatar 2022 World Cup, the first to be held in an Islamic Country. Design/methodology/approach: Using historical analysis of recent World Cups and guided by the Culture-Centered Approach (Dutta, 2008) and stakeholder analysis literature, this paper examines the ethical dilemmas host nations have faced because of FIFA's insistence on alcohol sales at World Cup stadia. Findings: The analysis suggests that a three-step process of host country assessment, stakeholder mapping and negotiation would enable the discovery of potential ethical conflicts and thus their negotiation to mitigate the ethical conflicts FIFA's preexisting sponsorship agreements create for some World Cup host nations, especially Islamic countries. Research limitations/implications: While the framework is conceptual and has not been tested, the components from which the authors draw are well established. The application to mega events sports hosting negotiations is an original contribution. The interdisciplinary nature of the framework also provides a contribution to the research field. Practical implications: Application of the framework would enable FIFA and host countries to negotiate mutually agreeable conditions and avoid placing host nations in ethically compromising situations, which is especially timely as FIFA expands into Islamic countries. Its utilization would provide a Halal environment for World Cups hosted in Islamic and perhaps other, countries. Social implications: FIFA's commitment to alcohol at World Cups should be questioned. FIFA should not expand this dangerous practice of associating sports with alcohol. Female fans may feel safer, as occurred in Qatar 2022. Originality/value: This paper's framework uniquely combines communication and strategic management literature and applies it to mega sports events in an original way that would lead to more ethical and culturally contextualized World Cups rather than reifying the alcohol–sport nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many governments have embarked on ambitious programs to make information technology available to their citizens in attempts to decrease the global digital divide. For this strategy to succeed, it is not sufficient to simply make Internet connectivity available, as searchers must have some level of digital literacy to use Web resources. Measuring Web-based digital literacy is thus necessary to plan educational interventions. No such tools exist in Arabic, although Arabic speakers are the 4th largest group of Web users (Internet World Stats, 2014). Accordingly the main goal of this study was to test existing tools in English and Arabic with native Arabic speakers. We observed native Arabic speaker's Web searches, measured their Internet knowledge and their self-reported digital skill level. Regression analysis revealed that Internet knowledge is the best predictor of successful searches, although self-reported skill also predicts search success. The scale of Internet knowledge provides reliable tool for e-government planners to assess the Web-based digital literacy skills of their users and thus plan their ICT development accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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