SACM - United Kingdom
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9667
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Item Restricted A blockchain-based Approach for Secure, Transparent and Accountable Distributed System Environment(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) ALSHARIDAH, Ahmad Abdulrahman; Jha, Devki NandanRecent advances in distributed systems have revolutionised numerous industries by enabling efficient resource sharing and enhanced system scalability. These systems play a critical role in domains such as cloud and edge computing by supporting various applications and services. However, despite their many benefits, distributed systems face inherent trustworthiness challenges, including security threats, limited transparency, and the presence of untrusted entities. These challenges might threaten system reliability and present significant barriers to the broader adoption of distributed technologies. This thesis addresses these challenges by investigating the role of blockchain technology in enhancing trust within distributed systems. It presents three frameworks that work together to improve security, accountability, transparency, and fairness, creating a more resilient and reliable decentralised computing environment. I would like also to take the opportunity and thank the the members of my examining committee, Professor Ali Sadiq and Dr. Vlad Gonzalez for the insightful comments and valuable inputs. The first contribution is a blockchain-based auditing mechanism for cloud resource management. This system securely records resource allocation decisions, performance data, and policy compliance on an immutable ledger. By making these records transparent and tamper-proof, the mechanism provides clear evidence of service provider behaviour. This gives cloud customers and stakeholders confidence that scaling operations are conducted fairly and adhere to agreed-upon rules. The second contribution is RewardChain, an incentive mechanism for federated learning that addresses the lack of trust in traditional FL setups. By integrating blockchain to record each participant’s actions, RewardChain offers transparent and verifiable accountability. Using approximations of the Shapley value, it accurately evaluates and rewards honest contributions while identifying and penalising malicious behaviour. This approach ensures fair compensation, promotes long-term collaboration, and ultimately enhances the quality of the jointly trained models. The third framework, SecureFed, addresses data poisoning attacks in federated learning. It combines cosine similarity metrics for anomaly detection with blockchain-based validation to thoroughly analyse suspicious model updates before incorporating them into the global model. This hybrid defence strategy significantly strengthens model robustness, reducing the risk of adversarial interference and enhancing trust in learning. Together, these three frameworks illustrate how blockchain can transform distributed systems by embedding transparency, fairness, and security into their core. By ensuring accountable cloud operations, reinforcing fair incentive structures, and safeguarding models against attacks, this research paves the way for distributed systems that are more trustworthy, equitable, and robust. Ultimately, it highlights the foundation for the continued evolution of secure and reliable decentralised computing ecosystems.15 0Item Embargo The Role of Stakeholder Salience in Shaping Accountability: The Case of Non-profit Organisations in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alharbi, Hamzah; Vicky, Lambert; Theresa, DunneThis research aims to examine the extent to which stakeholder salience and dynamics influence the discharge of accountability in non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Saudi Arabia. By adopting an interpretive stance, this research first utilised content analysis (Schreier, 2012) of annual reports from the 50 largest Saudi NPOs over three consecutive years, coded in MAXQDA and summarised using descriptive statistics, sentences counts, and a disclosure index, thereby mapping each item to the dimensions of the accountability framework. Secondly, 32 semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers, funders, regulators, beneficiaries, board members and local board representatives. Using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021, 2022), the interview data were examined to explore how dynamics of power, legitimacy, and urgency are identified, categorised, and ultimately influence accountability practices of Saudi NPOs. The findings of the content analysis revealed that NPOs’ annual reports discharge accountability in multiple directions and dimensions. In terms of direction, there was a notable emphasis on downward accountability through extensive narrative content. In contrast, the dimension of managerial accountability emerged as the least represented category. The analysis also highlighted substantial variance in reporting practices among NPOs, primarily attributed to the absence of formal guidelines on annual report content. The interview findings highlighted a temporal shift in stakeholder salience groups, mapping the complex asymmetries within them and revealing that regulators have emerged as the most salient stakeholders as a result of regulatory reforms. Further evidence shows that each salient group encompasses layered and evolving accountability claims across distinct stakeholder categories. These shifting salience dynamics are shown to influence how NPOs discharge accountability across multiple directions and dimensions, and through a diverse range of mechanisms.31 0Item Restricted The Impact of Governance Factors on Economic Growth in Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Analysis of GCC Countries and Spillover Effects on Regional Economic Development(The London School of Economics and Political Science, 2025) Alfehaid, Khaled; Parmigiani, AlbertoThis dissertation investigates the impact of governance quality on economic growth in Saudi Arabia and address the gap in understanding how governance quality shapes economic outcomes in Saudi Arabia and GCC region. It also conducts a comparative analysis of the governance environment across Gulf Cooperation Council countries, evaluating regional governance spillover and its impact on Saudi Arabia’s economic growth. Recognizing governance as a multi-dimensional concept that encompasses institutional and political factors, this study applies principal component analysis (PCA) to governance indices, employing it as a tool in a multi-regression equation. Given that most of these world governance indicators (WGI) are highly correlated, the PCA method is optimal. Data were collected between 1996 and 2023 (19 observations per country due to missing values). The findings reveal that institutional governance indicators, such as government effectiveness, regulatory quality, and rule of law significantly impact Saudi Arabia's economic performance. However, their association with growth is sometimes negative, potentially reflecting time lags, governance improvements, or the dominance of oil-based, state-led economic development. A comparative analysis of GCC nations highlights significant disparity in governance quality. For example, the UAE and Qatar lead in terms of institutional performance. However, political governance, particularly voice and accountability, remains a consistently weak dimension of governance across the region. Notably, the study identified significant negative spillover effects from improved governance in neighboring countries such as the UAE and Qatar, which could negatively impact the economic growth of Saudi Arabia. Conversely, positive spillover was observed from the countries with aligned institutional frameworks, such as Kuwait and Bahrain. These results demonstrate the complex dynamics of governance in GCC countries and underscore the need for regional policy coordination to mitigate adverse competitive spillover to promote inclusive economic development in the whole region.40 0Item Restricted Investigating the Implementation of Governance Through the Adoption of the Universities Law in Saudi Higher Education(ASTON UNIVERSITY, 2025) Alowaid, Othman; Hall, MatthewThis research investigates the implementation of the new Universities Law in Saudi Arabia and its implications for higher education governance. The primary aim is to develop a comprehensive governance framework tailored to Saudi universities' unique sociocultural, political, and economic context. This study provides a robust theoretical foundation for understanding governance dynamics within Saudi higher education by synthesising agency, stewardship, and stakeholder theories. There has previously been an in-depth exploration of adapting governance in Saudi higher education through the new Universities Law; hence, this research examines the two universities that first implemented the new law. The study explores the governance framework of Saudi higher education, the adaptation processes, and the challenges encountered. A qualitative case study approach allowed participants to describe their experiences. Data collection involved two main methods: document analysis and semi-structured interviews. The key documents analysed were the previous Higher Education and Universities Council Law and the new Universities Law. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from the two universities and the Universities Affairs Council, considered the body supervising universities. This study contributes to the theoretical discourse on higher education governance by demonstrating the novel combination of agency, stewardship, and stakeholder theories and revealing the limitations of existing governance frameworks when applied in isolation. This study addresses practical challenges universities face during the transition, providing insights crucial for successfully implementing governance reforms. By bridging the gap between theory and practice, this research supports ongoing efforts to improve governance in Saudi higher education, aligning with the broader goals of the Vision 2030 initiative. Additionally, it addresses practical challenges universities face during the transition, providing insights crucial for successfully implementing governance reforms. By bridging the gap between theory and practice, this research supports ongoing efforts to improve governance in Saudi higher education, aligning with the broader goals of the Vision 2030 initiative.26 0Item Restricted Who guards the guardian? The issue of central bank governance.(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-11-23) Alduwaish, Amjad; Powley, HollyGood governance of central banks is important, as it helps with sound and well-informed decision making in monetary and financial policy. Good governance is a multifaceted concept, and two of its main components are independence and accountability, which are considered two sides of the same coin. While good governance has recently developed, discussions of its components have been present in the academic literature for decades. While the trend of exploring the independence and accountability of central banks first appeared in the 1990s, and then in the early 2000s with the global financial crisis, there is silence on current developments, especially the economic turmoil in current political affairs. Furthermore, the operational independence of the Bank of England has existed for almost 25 years and the parliament is examining its effectiveness. That calls even more attention with regard to the importance of examining the Bank’s governance structure. This dissertation aims to provide an overview of the governance framework of the Bank of England and assess its compliance with international standards, such as the International Monetary Fund’s Central Bank Transparency Code and the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision. This dissertation uses doctrinal legal methods to assess and analyse the Bank of England’s independence and accountability, and their compliance with the principle of good governance. It will be contended the Bank of England primarily focuses on operational independence as a tool to achieve monetary policy and parliamentary accountability as a constraint of such powers to ensure its alignment with democratic legitimacy.57 0