Government communication introduced important lessons during the worldwide experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to apply known efficacious principles of risk and health communication strategies. The purpose of the study is to depict and explore the United Arab Emirates government communication scenario in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic as well as look at the types of strategies, information and messages delivered via digital mediums to handle challenges that are raised based on the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication model. The study includes a qualitative analysis of two government bodies’ digital platforms: ‘The Ministry of Health and Prevention’ (mohap) and ‘Crisis and Disasters Management Authority’. Results indicated that the UAE government used different communication aims and strategies to face the pandemic according to the risk management scenario. In the quarantine phase, communication focused on giving people information about the disease, raising awareness about the disease, motivating health and behaviour change, informing people about government decisions and procedures. In the coexistence phase communication focused on emphasising the necessity of adherence the health measures, providing information on re-work in institutions and commercial centres, involving people in the health and social initiatives, confronting non-compliance with health precautions. Government communication also focused on facing rumours and false information. UAE government communication used digital platforms and social media to address more than 200 nationalities living in the state for ensuring that they adhere to the precautionary measures and coordinate with the authorities. Government communication was committed to a set of values including equality between citizens of the state and residents, societal and individual responsibility, recognising the frontline medical staff and acknowledging their sacrifices. UAE implemented an integrated, coherent and effective scenario to deal with the crisis. It developed risk communication strategies in health communication to manage the COVID-19 crisis by following international standards and also took into account its own political, economic, social and cultural features. The UAE government used many strategies to inform and convince people including clarification of measures strategy, reassurance strategy, ambiguity reduction strategy, behaviour efficacy strategy, correcting misinformation and rumours, advising strategy.

The study analyses how youth perceive social media Influencers and whether they affect their purchasing intentions and buying decisions. It also measure s influencers' attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness while communicating with consumers. In addition, the study explores the types of digital interaction with influencers, measures the impact of their online marketing activities on purchasing intentions, and finds differences between youth demographic segments. A total of 350 youth participants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) completed an online survey evaluating influencers' characteristics, promotional videos, types of youth interaction with their content, and their impacts on purchasing intentions. The findings show that youth in UAE consider that influencers have positive personal appeals, traits, and information support to attract their followers and encourage them to purchase. Furthermore, the results reveal that influencers push youth to search for more information about the products and visit marketers' websites. Influencers' social media activities also affect youth's interests, desires, and purchase intentions by helping them assess the products.

Purpose This paper aims to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices adopted among University of Sharjah (UOS) students toward sustainability efforts done by their university. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was emailed to students with the assistance of the UOS Sustainability Office. The survey consisted of four sections assessing knowledge, attitudes, practices and preferred media to obtain sustainability information. A total of 200 responses from male and female students, representing 4 levels of study in sciences and humanities colleges, were received. Research data is analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics (version 26). For assessing knowledge, eight items were developed to measure if the student knew about the university’s projects and activities in the field of sustainability. For assessing attitudes, six items were developed to indicate the level of agreement or disagreement toward main sustainability issues. For assessing practices, ten items were developed to measure the frequency of acting in a sustainable manner. Findings Survey results showed an advanced level of basic knowledge among university students regarding the programs and activities conducted by UOS, and a positive attitude toward these efforts and toward the importance of supporting sustainable practices. Most of the participating students disagreed with limiting the use of cars on campus – this may be because of a cultural aspect among young people in the Emirati society, who consider driving cars as an essential part of their daily life. Most students also indicated that they care about the behavior that supports sustainability in the university environment, such as rationalizing water consumption and using environment friendly products. Research limitations/implications The study’s limitations are that it was applied to one university – UOS. The sample of the online survey was only 200 students from undergraduate students. Different universities may have their own sets of different environmental approaches, and because of this reason, university students may exhibit different levels of knowledge, attitude and practice toward sustainability in contrast to the findings from this study. Practical implications Findings from this research can give decision-makers a good picture of the university’s performance in accomplishing sustainability. The authors recommend that UOS sustainability communication programs should be more comprehensive, and not only limited to protecting the environment that some students perceive as the primary aspect of sustainability. These efforts must address all economic and social aspects emphasized by the United Arab Emirates 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study is considered one of the first studies addressing sustainability efforts in Emirati universities and seeking to assess the level of student knowledge, attitudes and practices toward sustainability issues in the country. The study is crucial in providing better insights such as the level of knowledge, attitude and practices toward UOS sustainability performance. As found in this study, even with sufficient knowledge, students still lack the drive to convert them into actions. So, future research could investigate deeper into the barriers of converting sustainable knowledge and attitudes into practices. The results represent an added value to the research literature concerned with sustainability issues in the Arab world and the Middle East region. This paper will also contribute to the sustainability literature that will be benefited by other various organizations.

This study aims to explore how the job shadowing program offered by the Sharjah government media bureau was experienced by communication and media students and professionals, and how it develops students’ skills and experience. The study also explores the impacts of the program during the Covid-19 period and the expectations from the program after the pandemic. The study works to help in creating effective training programs for media students with collaboration between universities and media organizations. A group discussion was conducted with 12 trainers and an online questionnaire was distributed to a sample of program attendees to monitor their viewpoints. 100 students responded to the survey. Results revealed that the job shadowing program has an effective role in developing students’ skills by enabling them to interact with professionals and benefiting from their experience. Students considered the program as an integrated way with the academic courses to support their practical skills. Results assured the need to design programs concerned with new topics, skills, and perspectives in media production to meet the needs of the media profession and academic requirements. Results revealed that coexistence and integration between academic programs and media institutions will be effective methods to develop the program.

This study aims to explore the role of official government social media accounts as a source of information during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the types of information that was posted on these accounts and the tools that were used to convey the content to the users. An online survey was conducted to answer the study questions. Findings reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic changed the ways and the goals of communication from the government to the citizens to engage them in the process and enable them to interact with the content and the communicator.