Corporate social responsibility in the oil and gas industry in Qatar perceptions and practices

•CSR activities are very limited and do not cover all areas of CSR. The activities are limited to sporting events, health, education and environment. Areas such as human rights, workers rights, anti-bribery and anti-corruption measures, accountability, transparency etc., are not covered by the oil and gas companies CSR activities.•CSR is expanding very fast in Qatar following the very fast pace of development in the country. The challenges are huge. Corporations should focus now on the kinds of activities they engage in and the quality of CSR programs they offer to society.•CSR should be enforced by law, through regulations, criteria and professional international standards in order to improve its performance and to meet local and international challenges.•Corporations should invest more in CSR by establishing units or departments dedicated to this endeavor and by having qualified and specialized professionals in the field for better performance and outputs. Because of a lack of research and systematic inquiry, strategic planning is missing in all four companies of the study.•The same CSR activities are undertaken year after year focusing on education, health and sports. Corporations should engage in more CSR activities dealing with ethical matters and governance, working environment, and human rights.

In the last few years, the state of Qatar paid a great attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) to face a score of challenges namely sustainable development, globalization, governance, corporate sector impact, communications, finance, ethics among others. Through in depth interviews and the analysis of companies’ websites and annual CSR reports, this study looked at the perceptions and practices of CSR in Qatar. Findings of the study suggest that Qatar oil and gas companies engage in corporate social responsibility activities focusing on health, sports, education and environment, while neglecting other important areas such as human rights, labor rights, work conditions, anti-bribery and anti-corruption measures. They perform no research and assessments before or after they engage in CSR activities. CSR should be enforced by law, and implemented according to international standards in order to improve its performance and to meet local and international challenges. With barely a decade of practice and experience, CSR in Qatar oil and gas industry is developing fast and has to move to the next step where the focus should be given to developing policies and strategies, and through institutionalizing it.