Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

World Conference on Qualitative Research

WCQR 2023: Computer Supported Qualitative Research pp 166–179Cite as

Dubai and UAE’S Context of Happiness as a Government Policy in 2021 and 2022 Content Analysis of Government Communication

  • 138 Accesses

Part of the Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems book series (LNNS,volume 688)

Abstract

We have been studying Dubai and the UAE government’s communication focusing on the concepts of happiness, positivity and well-being as government policy for several years. Our qualitative studies have demonstrated that it is possible to implement successfully initiatives related to abstract concepts such as happiness, positivity and well-being. In 2016, Dubai and the UAE appointed a Happiness Minister. In the May 2020 government reshuffle, the ‘Quality of Life and Happiness’ portfolio was moved to the Ministry of Community Development.

This study’s main objective is to understand the impact of the extinction of the Ministry of Happiness on policies for happiness, positivity, and well-being. We also want to understand the presence of these topics in government communication.

We retrieved news published online in English from January 2021 to the end of November 2022 (in English) and information from the government website. We listed the news headlines and conducted a content analysis to the Ministry of Community Development mission statement using webQDA software. Qualitative methodology and content analysis using webQDA software were of utmost importance in validating our conclusions, thus adding scientific value to the studies.

The results show that policies for happiness, positivity, and well-being are no longer frequently mentioned in the news. However, the concepts of happiness and well-being still play an important role in that statement.

The study allowed to conclude that there are two distinct realities: in one hand a significant decline in initiatives; and the government’s commitment to continue working for a happy society on the other hand. We chose the qualitative methodology and content analysis with the webQDA software was of utmost importance for validating our conclusions and thus added scientific value to the studies.

Keywords

  • Content analysis
  • Government Communication
  • Happiness Portfolio
  • Qualitative Research

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Helliwell, J.F., et al.: World Happiness Report. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ribeiro, D., Costa, A.P., Remondes, J.: Comunicação governamental – a magna carta do Dubai. New Trends Qual. Res. 4, 406–421 (2020)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  3. Ribeiro, D., Costa, A.P., Remondes, J.: Government communication - the Dubai and United Arab Emirates Ministry of Happiness. In: Costa, A.P., Reis, L.P., Moreira, A. (eds.) WCQR 2019. AISC, vol. 1068, pp. 226–238. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31787-4_19

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  4. Ribeiro, D., Costa, A.P., Remondes, J.: Felicidade, bem-estar digital e segurança digital infantil – Comunicação do Ministério da Felicidade do Dubai e dos Emirados Árabes Unidos em 2019. REVES - Revista Relações Sociais (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ribeiro, D., Ribeiro, J.: The reshuffle of the United Arab Emirates government in 2020 and the new context of happiness as a government policy - content analysis with WebQDA. In: Costa, A.P., Moreira, A., Sánchez-Gómez, M.C., Wa-Mbaleka, S. (eds.) WCQR 2022. LNNS, vol. 466, pp. 278–291. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04680-3_18

  6. Canel, M.-J., Sanders, K.: Government communication: an emerging field in Political Communication research. In: Semetko, H., Scammell, M. (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Political Communication, pp. 85–96. SAGE, London (2012)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  7. Da Silva, R.B.L.: Boosting government reputation through CRM. Int. J. Public Sect. Manag. 20(7), 588–607 (2007)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  8. Liu, B.F., Horsley, S.J., Levenshus, A.B.: Government and corporate communication practices: do the differences matter? J. Appl. Commun. Res. 38(2), 189–213 (2010)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  9. Sanders, K., Canel, M.-J.: Mapping the field of government communication. In: Sanders, K.C.M.J. (ed.) Government Communication - Cases and Challenges, pp. 1–26. Bloomsbury Academic, London/New York (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Pasquier, M.: Government communication. In: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Public Administration, pp. 1–3 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Canel, M.-J., Sanders, K.B.: Government communication. In: The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication, pp. 450–457 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Johansson, K.M., Raunio, T.: Government communication in a comparative perspective. In: Johansson, K.M., Nygren, G. (eds.) Close and Distant: Political Executive–Media Relations in Four Countries, pp. 127–148. Nordicom, Göteborg (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Bellamy, C., Taylor, J.: Governing in the Information Age. Open University Press, Buckingham (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  14. WPP: The future of government communication. WPP Government & Public Sector Practice, Online (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ng, Y.-K.: Happiness—Concept, Measurement and Promotion. Springer, Singapore (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4972-8

  16. e. a. Bartolini

    Google Scholar 

  17. Barrington-Leigh, C.P.: Trends in conceptions of progress and well-being. In: World Happiness Report 2022. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Haybron, D.: Happiness. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Sugden, R., Teng, J.C.-Y.: Is happiness a matter for governments? A Millian perspective on Richard Layard’s “New Science.” In: Bartolini, S., Bilancini, E., Bruni, L., Porta, P.L. (eds.) Policies for Happiness, pp. 36–57. Oxford Academic, Oxford (2016)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  20. Springer: J. Happiness Stud. Springer. https://www.springer.com/journal/10902

  21. Wiking, M.: The Happiness Research Institute. The Happiness Research Institute. https://www.happinessresearchinstitute.com/

  22. Philipsen, H., Vernooij-Dassen, M.: Qualitative research: useful, indispensable and challenging. In: Qualitative Research: Practical Methods for Medical Practice, pp. 5–12 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Punch, K.F.: Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Sage, London (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Busetto, L.W.W., Gumbinger, C.: How to use and assess qualitative research methods. Neurol. Res. Pract. 2, 1–10 (2020)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  25. Holsti, O.R.: Content analysis. In: Handbook of Social Psychology, vol. 2. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Rolly, C., et al.: Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry. Colorado State University, The WAC Clearinghouse (1994–2022)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Berelson, B.: Content Analysis in Communication Research. Free Press, New York (1952)

    Google Scholar 

  28. C.P. Health: Content Analysis, 07 June 2022. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/research/population-health-methods/content-analysis

  29. Reis, K.: Content Analysis in Social Research (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Busch, C., et al.: Content Analysis (1994–2022). https://wac.colostate.edu/repository/resources/writing/guides/

  31. Delve: Ultimate Guide to CAQDAS. https://delvetool.com/caqdas

  32. webQDA: webQDA. https://www.webqda.net/o-webqda/?lang=en

  33. Bartolomé Pina, A., Souza, F., Leão, A.: Investigación Educativa a partir de la Información Latente en Internet. Revista Electrônica de Educação 7(2), 301–316 (2013)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  34. Kumar, A.: UAE ministry launches National Wellbeing Survey 2022 (2022)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Doutorado em Economia, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal

    Diamantino Ribeiro

  2. Doutorando na Universidade da Covilhã, Covilhã, Portugal

    João Ribeiro

Authors
  1. Diamantino Ribeiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. João Ribeiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diamantino Ribeiro .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    António Pedro Costa

  2. Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    António Moreira

  3. Polytechnic of Leiria, Portugal and Research Center on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF), Aveiro, Portugal

    Fábio Freitas

  4. Global Centre for Academic Research, South Valley University, Roodepoort, South Africa

    King Costa

  5. CAQDAS TM Laboratory, Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

    Grzegorz Bryda

Appendices

Appendix 1

Ministry of Community Development (United Arab Emirates).

About MOCD.

The MOCD is seeking to improve the social development in Emirates by achieving the objectives of national agenda for the Emirates Vision 2021, strengthening the society and family coherence and finding a society which participates effectively in the building and development by adopting a long term strategic plans derived from the vision of wise leadership of government aiming at bringing happiness to the society and consolidating the position of country as a place of happiness.

It is also working to reinforce the partnership and cooperation between both the public sector and private sector for the purpose of consolidating the culture of social responsibility deemed as a basic value of the consolidated values system in the Emirati society and moving from the social care to the concept of social development in accordance with fixed bases upon which the objectives of national agenda for the Emirates vision 2021 are relied. These objectives are represented in the common responsibility, determination, knowledge and prosperity. The Ministry’s programs and initiatives are focusing on all concerned categories of society in relation to the activation of children rights, enabling of the entrepreneurial family and merging the people of determination in the society. They are also focusing on the development of social security policy, enabling the weak categories to be merged in the society, strengthening the stability of Emirati families and reinforcing the relations among the members of society by the permanent innovation for the purpose of providing the services in accordance with the highest world standards of quality, efficiency and transparency.

The responsibilities of MOCD as follows:

  • Develop and implement policies, strategies and programs for the development and advancement of society.

  • Develop social benefits policy and social empowerment.

  • Prepare the policies and controls of social work in various fields and sectors and evaluating the inputs and outputs of development programs and community care.

  • Propose and prepare federal legislation related to community development.

  • Strengthen the participation of governmental and private institutions and individuals to develop and support social work and community development.

  • Establish social welfare institutions and implement development projects for the family in all its members, especially those with a stake, and enable them to integrate and participate effectively in society.

  • Draw-up the general policy for granting marriage.

  • Adopt the recommendations relating to the discharge of marriage and supervising the procedures for its disbursement.

  • Provide technical and material assistance to the Member States to enable them to implement the above-mentioned legislation.

  • Oversee the spending of the financial allocations stipulated in the budget of the Union for Social Affairs according to the urgent need of some Emirates in agreement with the authorities of the Emirate concerned.

  • Supervise the foreign and international bodies and institutions that provide material or concerned assistance and engage in social welfare and charity work or supervise them as well as supervise their registration and guidance and support their efforts in serving the community.

  • Any other functions vested in it by law or the decision of the Council of Ministers.

Appendix 2

The MOCD is keen to provide distinguished services that achieve customer satisfaction and exceed their expectations.

Our obligations towards you are as follows:

  • We will deal with you with interest, respect and display.

  • You will receive a distinct and fair service.

  • We will handle your needs professionally and do our utmost to meet them.

  • We will provide our services through a knowledgeable, knowledgeable staff who understands your needs and can answer your queries.

  • We will provide you with the requirements of each service and the dates of delivery.

  • We will respond to your requests in a timely manner and without delay.

  • We will reduce the number of procedures to provide you fast and chain service.

  • We will provide you with accurate information and proper service procedures.

  • We will provide service at times and through channels that suit you as much as possible.

  • We welcome your comments and suggestions to share with you the development of our services.

What we want you to provide a distinct service to you:

  • Appreciate the efforts of our staff at your service to deal with them with mutual respect.

  • Provide identification papers as required.

  • Processing the documents required in advance to complete the transaction.

  • Let us know as soon as possible if there is an error or modification in the data.

  • Notify us of any change in personal information or conditions relating to the completion of the service.

  • Respond to customer service team inquiries to serve you better and on time.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Ribeiro, D., Ribeiro, J. (2023). Dubai and UAE’S Context of Happiness as a Government Policy in 2021 and 2022 Content Analysis of Government Communication. In: Costa, A.P., Moreira, A., Freitas, F., Costa, K., Bryda, G. (eds) Computer Supported Qualitative Research. WCQR 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 688. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_11

Download citation

search

Navigation