SACM - United Kingdom
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9667
Browse
361 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 361
Item Restricted Green and Sustainable Logistics Strategies in the Saudi FMCG Sector: A Post-Vision 2030 Desk-Based Analysis(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alshalawi, Maha; Adaba, GodfriedAbstract This study investigates the implementation of green and sustainable logistics practices within Saudi Arabia’s Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector and evaluates their alignment with Vision 2030 sustainability priorities. Using a qualitative, desk-based research design supported by Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA), the study examined 13 corporate sustainability reports, national policy documents, and independent industry publications. The findings reveal partial but uneven adoption of sustainable logistics practices. Digital transformation is progressing but limited by capability gaps, while operational efficiency initiatives are widely reported but rarely supported by measurable performance indicators. Circular economy practices remain in early stages due to infrastructural and behavioural constraints, and transport sustainability is hindered by reliance on diesel fleets and insufficient low-carbon infrastructure. By integrating the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Circular Economy (CE), and Resource-Based View (RBV), the study highlights the interaction between external pressures, operational mechanisms, and internal capabilities. The research contributes theoretically by contextualising sustainability frameworks in the Saudi FMCG sector and offers practical recommendations for firms and policymakers to accelerate progress toward Vision 2030 objectives.15 0Item Restricted Assessing the Economic Political Drivers of Inflation in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alnoufal, Raghad; Gupta, AbhimanyuThis study examines the economic and political drivers of inflation in Saudi Arabia, with a particular focus on the period from 2016 to 2024. Inflation plays a crucial role in shaping economic stability, living standards, and policy decisions. Given Saudi Arabia’s heavy reliance on oil revenues and its ongoing structural transformation under Vision 2030, understanding the factors influencing inflation is essential for effective economic management. The research explores how government policies, oil price fluctuations, monetary and fiscal policies, and external economic conditions influence inflation dynamics in the Kingdom. The study adopts a qualitative and descriptive research approach based on secondary data, including academic literature, official reports from the Saudi Central Bank and the General Authority for Statistics, and international institutions. It also includes a comparative perspective by examining inflation drivers in another oil-dependent economy, Nigeria, in order to highlight similarities and structural differences in inflation dynamics. The findings reveal that inflation in Saudi Arabia is driven by a combination of domestic reforms, oil market volatility, and global economic shocks. Major policy measures, such as the introduction of value-added tax (VAT), subsidy reforms, and fiscal consolidation under Vision 2030, have caused temporary increases in inflation but have also contributed to long-term economic sustainability. The fixed exchange rate between the Saudi riyal and the US dollar has helped maintain price stability but limits monetary policy flexibility. The study also shows that inflation disproportionately affects low- and fixed-income households despite government support programs. Overall, the research concludes that Saudi Arabia’s inflation is relatively moderate compared to many economies, largely due to strong institutional capacity and coordinated fiscal and monetary policies. However, continued economic diversification, improved inflation monitoring, stronger social protection systems, and effective policy coordination will be essential to maintain price stability and support sustainable economic growth in the future.4 0Item Restricted Strategic Partnerships Between Saudi Arabia and International Technology Companies amid Vision 2030: Drivers and Outcomes(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) ALSHAHRANI, NIDAA SAEED G; Dan, ColeThis study examines how Saudi Arabia is using international technology partnerships to support its Vision 2030 agenda, which aims to reduce dependence on oil and build a knowledge-based economy. Partnerships with multinational enterprises (MNEs) such as Google Cloud, Oracle, and NVIDIA are especially important because they bring advanced capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and semiconductors: sectors viewed as central to digital transformation agenda of Saudi Arabia under Vision 2030. The aim of the study is to investigate how such partnerships promote Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation under Vision 2030. The literature review employed three main theories: Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), which examines governance and risks; the Resource- Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities, which focus on ownership and renewal of resources; and the Triple Helix (TH), which focuses on collaboration between government, industry and academia. The research adopted a pragmatist philosophy and abductive approach, applying a case study design with purposive sampling of secondary data, including policy documents, corporate press releases, consultancy reports, and legal analyses. Thematic analysis was used to generate codes and themes across four research questions. The findings show Saudi Arabia engages in partnerships to achieve five key goals: signalling international credibility, accelerating infrastructure growth, ensuring data sovereignty, creating economic multipliers, and using cost advantages. Governance is characterised by hybrid contracts, centralised convening bodies, jurisdictional innovation, and links between infrastructure and energy policy. Domestic benefits are visible in localised learning systems, transfer of knowledge, workforce development, and spillovers to suppliers and small firms. However, challenges include dependency on foreign hardware, high energy use, legal complexities, skills shortages, and risks of passive learning. The study concludes that although partnerships have accelerated digital transformation, their long-term success depends on strengthening domestic capabilities and embedding sustainable governance models.10 0Item Restricted Understanding Consumer Responses to Incongruent Brand Activism: Appraisal and Coping Processes in a Religious and Cultural Context(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Almuajel, Abdulrahman Abdullah; Zoe, Lee; Carmela, BosangitPrior research in brand activism (BA) has shown that consumers react positively or negatively to a brand’s stance on controversial issues based on their value alignment. However, these studies often overlook the underlying psychological and social mechanisms that drive such responses to BA, especially in cases of incongruent brand activism (IBA). This thesis addresses this gap by drawing on the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping (TTSC), conceptualising IBA as a stressor that triggers cognitive appraisal and coping processes. It examines how consumers respond to IBA that conflict with their religious and cultural values, a context largely underexplored in BA research. The research adopts an abductively framed, sequential exploratory mixed-methods design. The qualitative phase explores how Saudi consumers interpret and respond to IBA through 22 in- depth interviews. Building on these insights, the quantitative phase comprises four experimental studies with a total of 635 participants to test the proposed model systematically. Findings show that responses to IBA are not uniformly negative but vary depending on the severity and underlying appraisals. Activism that challenges religious values or is perceived as a threat to social identity often triggers rejection, whereas appreciation of self-dignity can instead foster forgiveness, even in cases of IBA. Brand origin (domestic vs. foreign) does not shield brands from their activism, as consumers hold both to similar moral standards. The thesis makes several contributions. Theoretically, it extends TTSC by illustrating how consumers navigate ideological dissonance in religious and culturally anchored contexts, introducing culturally grounded constructs and psychological pathways. Methodologically, it contributes to an underutilised application of sequential mixed methods in BA research. Managerially, brands are advised to avoid cultural and religious symbolic cues that trigger sacred value violations and to present their activism in ways that uphold dignity and align with consumers’ cultural and religious frameworks. Overall, this thesis moves beyond the dominant binary logic of alignment versus misalignment, offering a more nuanced, culturally contextualised framework for understanding how consumers in religious societies navigate ideological conflict in the marketplace.8 0Item Embargo Women's Particcipation in Sport and Physical Activity in Saudi Arabia: An Intersectional Study(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Bamuhair, Nouf; Giulianotti, Richard; Mason, CarolynneWomen’s participation in sport has been a globally debated topic. Despite the growing body of research and government initiatives aimed at increasing women’s mass participation in sport, limited empirical evidence has been provided on this issue through an intersectional lens. This gap in knowledge is especially relevant for Saudi Arabia as the nation is undergoing sociopolitical transformation, under the national Vision 2030 strategy, which seeks to promote women’s inclusion across various sectors, including sport. Thus, understanding the lived experiences of women’s sports become critical for generating knowledge which may in turn serve to enhance policies that promote the social inclusion of women. The overall aim of this research was to explore how Saudi women from different generations and social backgrounds experience sport participation; and to assess whether these experiences align with or diverge from the kingdom’s policy effort. Specifically, the study examines: (1) How does Saudi Arabia’s ‘Sport for All’ (SFA) policy enhance women’s participation in sport, and to what extent is it aligned with their lived experiences? (2) How do the sports participation experiences of different generations of Saudi women vary across different locations? (3) How can women’s participation in sport be increased in Saudi? To achieve this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 women from diverse backgrounds (i.e. across different ages, social classes, and cities) in two major Saudi cities: Jeddah and Riyadh. The study employs an intersectional framework to analyse how gender, age, socioeconomic status, and location interact to shape women’s sport experiences. Alongside this, Bacchi’s (2012a) ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ (WPR) framework was employed to critically examine SFA policy, comparing the policy’s representation of women’s sports participation with their real-life experiences. The findings highlight key themes that underpin or shape women’s experiences and involvements in sport, and these include culture factors, geographical differences, environmental barriers, financial limitations, perceptions of body image and prevailing social expectations, as well as education and political structures. A comparison between SFA policy objectives and women's experiences reveals key gaps. The policy marks a major step in acknowledging women as a distinct and targeted category, but policy needs to evolve to identify more specific targets and gender-sensitive strategies. This would cover the gap between policy aspirations and meeting the actual needs of various women. The research findings highlight this need to be move beyond viewing women as a homogeneous group, and instead to recognise the diverse perspectives, experiences and challenges in their sport participation. The findings thus lead to the recommendations that addressing structural and socio-cultural barriers through inclusive policy development, shifts in public attitude, culturally responsive practice, and investment in accessible infrastructure are all essential to bridge the gap between policy intent and practical implementation. Ultimately, this research concluded that increasing women’s participation requires moving beyond one-size-fits-all policies. It calls for a strategy that integrates intersectionality, tackles socio-cultural limitations, and reflects women’s voices and aspirations in order to facilitate real social change.9 0Item Restricted A Cross-Sectional Study of Fatigue and Burnout Predictors among Shift-Working Nurses in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alanazi, Salman Alhumaidi; Trainor, Lisa HannaA literature review on shift work's impact on nurses' health linked night shifts, rotating schedules with a high frequency of nights and long hours or overtime with fatigue, burnout, and poor mental health. The review identified significant inconsistencies in the literature regarding which specific shift patterns (e.g., 12-hour vs. 8-hour, rotating vs. fixed nights) had the most critical risk for burnout. It also highlighted a research gap concerning the role of occupational fatigue as a direct mechanism linking shift type to burnout and a scarcity of quantitative data from Saudi Arabia and the larger Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This gap provided the rationale for the accompanying journal paper, which aimed to investigate these relationships within a Saudi Arabian context. A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed. Data was collected using an online self-administered questionnaire that was designed to collect social demographic data, fatigue using the Three-Dimensional Work Fatigue Inventory (3D-WFI), and burnout using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). Of the 188 targeted nurses working at King Khalid Hospital in Saudi Arabia who were sent invitation emails, 148 of them returned a fully completed survey questionnaire. The findings showed that night shifts are significantly associated with the highest levels of fatigue, while burnout was linked to the morning and rotating shifts. Fatigue and burnout, as found in this study, are distinct phenomena driven by different mechanisms. Fatigue appears to be a primarily physiological response to circadian disruption inherent in night work. In contrast, burnout is more likely a psychosocial response to the high-demand, high-pressure organisational environment of daytime and rotating shifts. Shift-specific interventions should be tailored to meet each shift's needs, such as mitigating physiological fatigue for night staff and a separate approach to address the organisational stressors that cause burnout among day and rotating shift nurses.10 0Item Restricted A DATA ANALYTICS FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT DECISION MAKING IN RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSET MANAGEMENT(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alotaibi, Abdulaziz; Cardenas, IsidroThe process of management of the assets of the railway infrastructure is becoming increasingly dependent on the big amounts of the condition-monitoring information produced by the recent inspection technologies. Although this type of data can give a detailed picture of the track condition, it also brings issues of interpretation, prioritisation and decision making. The current asset-management methods usually are based on evaluating thresholds and disjointed analysis tools, which restrict their strengths in promoting proactive and data-driven maintenance practices. The study creates and assesses a combined visual analytics system in order to aid decision making in the management of railway infrastructure assets. The framework integrates data pre-processing, analytical intelligence, machine-learning, and interactive visual analytics to convert raw track geometry data into actionable decision-support products. The research design was a mixed-methods research design comprising of two large-scale case studies, one of them on the basis of the UK and Saudi Arabian railway networks, and the other one on the basis of expert validation. The data of track geometry measured by Network Measurement Trains and Track Geometry Inspection Vehicles was analysed to prove the relevance of the framework to the different operational and environmental conditions. The case study of the UK is a fully developed, regulation-based data environment whereas the Saudi Arabian case study is a developing network that is functioning in the harsh desert conditions. Findings indicate that the suggested framework improves the interpretability of complex condition data using integrated 2D, 3D, and GIS-based visual analytics. The unsupervised and supervised methods were combined to form machine-learning techniques which enhanced the performance of fault detection and classification and led to quantifiable reductions in false positive alerts compared with the baseline threshold-based methods. A comparative analysis shows that the framework can be adjusted to differences in data maturity, regulatory environment, and operational issues. The study brings on board a transferable and validated visual analytics model that provides the balance between advanced data analytics and feasible decision support in the management of railway infrastructure assets.8 0Item Restricted The Role of Soft Power and Mega-Events in advancing Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 – A systematic review(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Almutawa, Abdullah; Lynsey, MelhuishSaudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 represents an ambitious national transformation programme aimed at reducing dependence on oil, diversifying the economy, and strengthening the Kingdom’s global influence. In order to achieving these goals strategic use of soft power and mega-events to reshape international perceptions, attract investment, and stimulate growth in tourism, culture, entertainment, and sport is being done. This systematic review critically examines how these instruments contribute to Vision 2030 by analysing peer-reviewed studies, comparative case literature, government publications, and grey literature from 2015 to 2024. The findings show that mega-events and soft power initiatives play a significant role in expanding tourism revenues, accelerating infrastructure development, enhancing global positioning, and supporting social transformation. They also reveal ongoing challenges, including criticisms of sportswashing, questions around sustainability, and the difficulty of assessing long-term outcomes. Based on this evidence, the study offers recommendations centred on improving transparency, strengthening legacy planning, investing in local capacity, and enhancing the integration of cultural and sporting initiatives within broader development strategies. While the review provides a comprehensive synthesis, it is limited by the relatively recent nature of Vision 2030, the scarcity of long-term observed studies, and reliance on grey literature where peer reviewed sources are still emerging. These limitations highlight the need for future research that tracks long-term impacts of Saudi Arabia’s soft power and mega-events over time and examines their effectiveness through primary data.26 0Item Restricted Jeddah ‘Slum’ Demolition: An Investigation into Recent Urban Development in Saudi Arabia, 2020-2025(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Simbawa, Razan; Jackson, Iain; Alsalloum, AtaaBetween October 2021 and 2022, a state-led urban regeneration project executed the largest and most rapid urban displacement in Saudi Arabia's modern history outside of religious site expansions. Approximately 34 million square meters was demolished affecting thirty-four neighbourhoods and displacing 500,000 residents, predominantly low income Saudi citizens and migrant workers, with minimal and unconventional notice procedures. This research investigates the multi-dimensional impacts of this displacement on affected long-term communities, examining both the historical formation of these neighbourhoods from the 1950s onward and the immediate aftermath of the slum clearance. The study addresses critical gaps in existing scholarship, the dominance of policy-centric perspectives over lived experiences, static real-time documentation, the loss of community heritage, and unidimensional impact assessment over comprehensive displacement analysis.Item Embargo Art World Creation in Saudi Arabia: From the 1960s to Vision 2030(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Abualshamat, Ghadeer Ghazi; Richardson, Craig; Brown, KathrynThis thesis examines the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art scene from the 1960s to today. It emphasizes the notable cultural transformations developed in alignment with Vision 2030. This research uses Howard Becker’s theory of “art worlds” as a central framework. It also investigates how art production, distribution, and reception in the Kingdom have been shaped by institutional, governmental, and societal shifts. The study combines historical analysis, case studies, and recent publications. It also demonstrates how government-led initiatives, commercial galleries, biennials, and individual artistic practices have collaboratively shaped a uniquely Saudi art ecosystem. Special attention is paid to the role of the Ministry of Culture in professionalizing the sector and to the internationalisation of Saudi art through strategic cultural diplomacy. The thesis argues that while the Saudi art world is still in a formative stage, it has rapidly matured through new infrastructures, networks, and global engagement. It concludes that the Saudi case demonstrates how contemporary art worlds can emerge in non-Western contexts through a combination of top-down policies and independent artistic innovation. This offers a model of cultural development that is both locally grounded and internationally connected.