Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted The Ianguage Attitudes of Saudi Arabic Speakers Towards the Speech of Other Major Vernacular Varieties of Arabic(Saudi Digital Library, 2025-03-03) Albogami, Haitham; Griffiths, MarkLanguage attitudes research in Saudi Arabia is in its early stages, and rarely goes beyond the boundaries of Saudi Arabia. There remains a gap in our knowledge of Saudis' attitudes towards non-Saudi dialects. This study examines Saudi Arabic speakers’ attitudes toward the speech of five major vernacular varieties of Arabic: Gulf, Iraqi, Levantine, Egyptian, and Maghrebi. The findings revealed a clear hierarchy of attitudes. Gulf Arabic was rated the highest across most labels, while Maghrebi Arabic was the lowest. Iraqi, Levantine and Egyptian competed in the middle spots, with an association of humour and closeness to MSA with Egyptian and Levantine Arabic respectively. Using a verbal guise technique (VGT) combined with a semantic differential scale and ranking tasks, this study collected and analysed quantitative and qualitative data from Saudi participants. The results suggested that attitudes toward these dialects are influenced by a combination of linguistic, sociopolitical, and cultural factors. Exploratory Factor Analyses were conducted on the five speakers, revealing five different dimensional models. These factor structures uncovered patterns of attitudes, offering a deeper look into stereotypes associated with the five varieties. By integrating culture-specific constructs (e.g., Sadr al-Majlis as a social status indicator), this study highlights the need for culture-appropriate instruments in language attitudes research. The findings highlight how media, cultural proximity, and stereotypes shape these attitudes.2 0Item Restricted Exploring Physiotherapists' Perceptions and Practices in the Use of Psychological Interventions in Sports Rehabilitation in Saudi Arabia: A Survey Study(Saudi Digital Library, 2025-02-24) Alharbi, Abdulelah; Knott, SianBackground: Sports injuries impact athletes both physically and psychologically, causing issues like anxiety, depression, and fear of re-injury. Incorporating psychological interventions and emotional support in rehabilitation enhances recovery outcomes. Physiotherapists, due to their close interaction with athletes, play a key role in addressing these psychological aspects and providing comprehensive care. Aim of the study: Explore the psychological interventions in sports injury rehabilitation among physiotherapists in Saudi Arabia, focusing on their practices, perceptions, and referral behaviours. Design: A quantitative descriptive survey study. Methods: This study included 160 physiotherapists in Saudi Arabia, with 53.8% (n = 86) males and 46.3% (n = 74) females. The Physiotherapist and Sport Psychology Questionnaire (PSPQ) was distributed through social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn, between 29 October 2024 and 29 November 2024. The collected data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results: A total of 18.1% of physiotherapists reported "always" observing psychological impacts on athletes following injuries, with 36.3% observing this "often." Over half (53.8%) of physiotherapists rated addressing the psychological aspects of injuries as "extremely important." Athletes who coped successfully with injuries were commonly characterized by "realistic expectations" (M = 5.04, SD = 2.260) and "patience with themselves" (M = 5.00, SD = 2.226). In contrast, poor coping was associated with traits such as "anger/aggression" (M = 5.54, SD = 2.166) and "poor concentration" (M = 5.07, SD = 2.108). Among the most frequently employed techniques were “encouraging effective communication” (M = 4.40, SD = 0.841), “enhancing self-confidence” (M = 4.29, SD = 0.908), and “setting short-term goals” (M = 4.26, SD = 0.894), all of which were described as "always used." Additionally, the techniques physiotherapists most valued for further development included “setting realistic goals” (M = 4.40, SD = 0.841) and “enhancing self-confidence” (M = 4.29, SD = 0.908). Despite this, 85.6% lacked access to sports psychologists, 80% had never referred athletes, and 89.4% reported an absence of referral guidelines. Conclusion: This study highlights the significant psychological impact of injuries on athletes, as observed by physiotherapists. Physiotherapists demonstrated a high awareness of the importance of addressing the psychological aspects of rehabilitation. Skills such as “setting realistic goals” and “enhancing self-confidence” were identified as the most valued techniques for both current use and further learning. However, the lack of access to sports psychologists and the absence of formal referral guidelines remain major barriers, with most physiotherapists reporting no referrals or collaboration with psychologists. These findings emphasize the urgent need to integrate psychological support into sports injury rehabilitation to improve outcomes for athletes.2 0Item Restricted The impact of IT flexibility and IT capability on Business-IT strategic alignment: An empirical study in Saudi Arabia(The University of Manchseter, 2025) Alharbi, Nawal Olayan; Mamman, AminuPublic and private organisations face many challenges to attain the objectives of providing services and products to their clients. Most organisations adopt many enablers customised technological tools to tackle their unique operational issues and achieve their strategic goals. Therefore, IT is considered one of the most enablers for organisations to help overcome their challenges. Higher education institutions have developed strategies and are relying more on their IT systems in delivering most of services to their stakeholders. The roles of IT strategy and business strategy in any organisation are often incorporated. However, the organisations’ objectives are likely not to be attained if the business strategy and IT strategy are not aligned in an effective manner. Business and IT strategic alignment has been considered as IT application in which match the business objectives, goals, and requirements. To improve the efficiency and performance of alignment, IT flexibility and IT capability provide a robust lens to assess their impact on organisational objectives. Although, strategic alignment has been the interest of many researchers, investigation of such issue in Saudi higher education sector is still to be undertaken. To address this issue, the aim of this study was to examine how IT is used in Saudi Arabian higher education to attain their organisational objectives. This aim was pursued by meeting the following objectives: First, to investigate the connection between flexibility and capability of IT dimensions. Second, to investigate the effect of IT flexibility and IT capability on the business strategy and IT strategic alignment. Third, to investigate how business strategy and IT strategic alignment have influenced organisational performance. The research employed the University of Hail as a case study to conduct an extensive examination of IT flexibility, IT capability, and IT strategic alignment with business strategy. A qualitative research approach was utilised to collect data through various methods, including interviews and document analysis. The study participants comprised the Deanship, Strategy department, IT department, Heads of Schools, faculty members and students. This study found a significant shift from viewing IT as merely a support function to recognising it as a strategic enabler for achieving organisational goals. It delved into the interrelated nature of IT flexibility, IT capability, business-IT strategic alignment, and organisational performance. These interconnections allowed the organisation to effectively leverage IT for performance enhancements, as evidenced by improvements in key areas such as student services, research output, administrative efficiency, and university ranking. The study made a significant contribution to addressing gaps in IT research and enhanced the understanding of educational and business organisations regarding the effective implementation of Business-IT strategic alignment.26 0Item Restricted The Impact of Privacy Awareness on Sharenting and Privacy Management Practices Among Saudi Parents(Kent State University, 2025) alnemre, Afnan; Hollenbaugh, Erin; Egbert, NicholeIn the digital age, parents frequently engage in the practice of sharenting—sharing their children's photos and information on social media—raising concerns about privacy and its implications for identity theft and other risks. This phenomenon has significant impacts on the violation of children’s privacy and their psychological and social well-being. Guided by communication privacy management (CPM) theory, this study aimed to identify the role of privacy awareness and religiosity in sharenting and privacy management practices among Saudi parents, using a quantitative approach and relying on a survey as a data collection method, N =139 were collected from Saudi parents. The findings revealed that extrinsic religiosity demonstrated positive relationship with all sharenting dimensions self-control, social behaviors and implications also with boundary linkages and boundary permeability in CPM. Also, intrinsic religiosity has a negative correlation with boundary permeability, while the study does not find a relationship between intrinsic religiosity and all sharenting dimensions. Additionally, there was a significant negative correlation between privacy awareness and boundary ownership in CPM. Moreover, the study has shown gender differences in sharenting behavior, showing that mothers post more pictures of children. This research aspires to inform initiatives promoting privacy-conscious digital practices among parents and aims to support the development of child protection policies in Saudi Arabia to safeguard children's online privacy.25 0Item Restricted Bridging the gaps in mortality data and healthcare access: A novel verbal autopsy application using subnational T2DM register in Saudi Arabia.(University of Gothenburg, 2025) Alyazidi, Faleh; Hussain-Alkhateeb, Laith; Petzold, Max; Shakely, DelérAbstract Background: Diabetes mellitus is an increasingly critical health concern in Saudi Arabia, often with other comorbidities and mortality causes, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). National sociodemographic changes entail the urgent need for reliable insights on the scale and causes of mortality in order to develop appropriate healthcare policy. Where death certification is inadequate, verbal autopsy (VA) can serve as a useful tool to fill crucial gaps in vital data. This thesis aims to explore various contextual dimensions using the validated VA method. Specifically, this thesis aims to explore the community perception of causes of death, measure the circumstantial barriers (social and health system) to accessing healthcare, assess and validate the adequacy of medical certification of cause of death at population level, and investigate the clinical and demographic factors influencing out of hospital deaths among deceased individuals with specific health conditions T2DM and CVD. Methods: Studies I-IV utilized mortality data from the T2DM register at a major hospital in Makkah City, while Study V used data from the CVD registers at two major hospitals. For the first three studies, 302 VA assessments were conducted with the deceased’s next of kin. The VA data were analyzed using the computerized InterVA-5 software, which provided probable causes of death and circumstances of mortality categories (COMCATs). Study I employed Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) to assess the concordance between verbal autopsy causes of death (VACoD) as a presumed reference standard and family-reported causes of death. Also, the study employed multiple logistic regression to identify factors influencing community perception of causes of death. Study II applied epidemiological estimations of absolute measures and Causes Specific Mortality Fractions (CSMFs), while also using numerical and graphical assessment to describe trends and patterns in the VA data. The COMCATs were ranked across the causes of death based on their derived probabilities. Study III employed Lin’s CCC to assess the concordance between physician reviewed causes of death (PRCoD) and VACoD at the population level. Study IV employed multiple logistic regression to identify factors influencing out of hospital deaths among deceased with T2DM, while Study V focused on CVD. Findings: Study I demonstrated broad community perceptions of causes of death, with notable misconceptions related to type of death and marital status. Study II found most deaths were seen as inevitable, with the COMCATs ‘recognition’ and ‘traditions’ being identified as avoidable barriers. Study III showed moderate concordance between PRCoD and VACoD, though discrepancies were apparent in the CSMFs, particularly for the most prevalent causes. Studies IV and V uncovered that cause and year of death in addition to nationality significantly influenced out of hospital deaths, with both studies illustrating decreasing trend of out of hospital mortality. Conclusion: This thesis uncovers challenges for Saudi public health policy concerning T2DM-related mortality, identifying issues in access to healthcare, community perceptions, and medical certification. Misconceptions about mortality causes of death hamper prevention strategies, while health system and sociocultural barriers heighten latent problems. The findings underscore the requirement to enhance the medical certification, as discrepancies between PRCoD and VA data suggest challenges in current practices on population level.6 0Item Restricted Analysing Existing Saudi Arabian University Admission Criteria for Accounting Programs(Victoria University, 2025) Alboty, Yazeed; Farley, Alan; Yang, HelenThis research was motivated by the significant role played by effective admission criteria in predicting academic performance, particularly in Saudi Arabian accounting programs. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the appropriateness of Saudi Arabian university admission criteria for undergraduate and postgraduate accounting programs. First, for the bachelor accounting program, this research aims to explore how well existing admission criteria—which test different dimensions of prior knowledge—predict academic performance of accounting students based in Saudi Arabia. It evaluates the validity of the High School Grade Point Average (HSGPA) and College Entrance Exam (CEE)—that is, the General Aptitude Test (GAT) and Achievement Test (AT)—to predict student performance in the Preparatory Year Program (PYP), along with first-year core courses in the accounting program and First Year Grade Point Average (FYGPA) and overall Grade Point Average (GPA) of students at the end of the degree. It also examines how the business college PYP predicts performance in the first year, and overall student GPAs at the end of the degree. The role of gender as a moderator in these relationships is considered. This investigation is based on prior knowledge theory (PKT), which is characterised as a multidimensional, hierarchical entity comprised of various types of knowledge and skills. Tied to the above, for the Master of Accounting program, this research aims to evaluate how effectively one admission criterion predicts the relative academic performance of accounting students in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, it examines the impact of English language proficiency—as measured by International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores—on the relative performance of Saudi Master of Accounting students in more versus less conceptually oriented accounting courses. This investigation is informed by cognitive load theory (CLT), which addresses the challenge of processing complex cognitive tasks with multiple interactive information elements. The findings demonstrated that when used as sole predictors, the explanatory variables (HSGPA, GA, and AT) all had statistically significant positive correlations with the dependent variables related to predicting academic performance. Multiple regression analyses indicated that HSGPA was the strongest incremental predictor of academic performance, whereas GAT was the weakest, showing no significant incremental predictive power in most cases. This study demonstrates that HSGPA is the strongest predictor of both short- and long-term college outcomes in particular accounting disciplines. Further, the results consistently imply that the individual courses and GPA of the PYP in the business college have predictive value for academic performance. Additionally, the results indicate that gender does moderate the relationship between admission criteria and PYP and academic performance, which is significant in many cases. Last, the results show that English language proficiency measured by the IELTS alone has no significant direct effect on the relative academic performance of Saudi accounting students. Several implications can be drawn from this research for stakeholders and policy makers. It raises questions about the continued use of GAT score as an entry criterion and strongly supports gender-based differential entry criteria. In addition, it provides insight into the efficacy of the PYP.6 0Item Embargo Evaluating Audit Quality through Audit Quality Disclosure: An Examination of Audit Committee Practices in Saudi Arabia(Royal Holloway, University of London, 2025-02) Almutawa, Waleed; Napier, Christopher; Stadler, ChristianThis thesis explores current practices that audit committee members and audit committee attendees (ACMs) from a developing nation, Saudi Arabia, perform when trying to evaluate the audit quality of the audit firm. It also examines current approaches and challenges encountered while utilizing Key Audit Matters (KAMs) and Transparency Reports (TRs), and the necessity for Audit Quality Indicators (AQIs) (referred to as the audit quality disclosure). I conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 29 ACMs and those who have influence over the practices of the audit committee. I used documents to triangulate different sources and add credibility and trustworthiness to the findings. Theoretically, the study draws on the institutional logics perspective to understand the logic behind the current practices and beliefs. This study found that ACMs mainly use signals and clues that are obtained through the public domain, proposals, private sources, interactions with the auditors, and audit outputs to assess audit quality. The findings clearly show the predominance of professional logic among the majority of ACMs, and naïve stakeholder logic among ACMs of small companies and ACMs who lack audit literacy in large companies. The majority of the study participants do not utilize KAMs and TRs and do not support disclosing AQIs as transparency logic tools for assessing audit quality, although some younger interviewees show some inclination towards them. This thesis aims to broaden our understanding of the crucial role that audit committees are expected to play, particularly in evaluating audit quality. This role was broadly investigated in the audit committee effectiveness literature before. Furthermore, existing research on KAMs and TRs has largely overlooked their use in evaluating audit quality. Additionally, the literature on AQIs is scant, focusing mainly on identifying suitable AQIs and assessing their impact. Thus, this study attempts to shed light on these neglected but important realms of research.22 0Item Restricted The Challenges and Opportunities in Organisational Arrangements for Disaster Preparedness during Hajj(Coventry, 2025) ALdwsari, Mater; shibani, AbdualssalmPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the challenges and opportunities in the organisational arrangements for disaster preparedness during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. This paper explores the complexities of managing disaster risks during this mass gathering event, focusing on operational frameworks, stakeholder coordination, and the integration of modern technologies. Design/methodology/approach – This research was undertaken from a secondary approach and analysed existing literature, government reports, and past incident case studies for Hajj. It evaluated inter-agency coordination, health preparedness, and technology use for the management of risks and how disasters could possibly improve response during the pilgrimage period. Findings – The major challenges that really come forth comprise but are not restricted to the following: poor inter-institutional co-operation; very little application of some digital technologies; and impeding the rich social and cultural diversity regarding the stakeholders under consideration. On the contrary, available opportunities would include the following areas: better disaster simulation, improvement in public health strategies, and efficient crowd control and emergency response operations by using technology. Practical implications – The report presented some recommendations on enhancing organizational arrangements for disaster preparedness during Hajj. It includes creating a centralized command structure, investing in integrating technology, offering cultural competency training for stakeholdersin more disaster simulation exercises to boost operational readiness. Originality/value – This working paper uniquely reflects the study of preparedness for disaster in the Hajj pilgrimage in operational management challenges as well as opportunities for improvements. Findings and recommendations are useful for other large-event management and disaster preparedness exercises across the world.43 0Item Restricted The Entrepreneurial Orientation of Females in Saudi Arabia: The Associations with Informal and Formal Institutions(University of Glasgow, 2025-05) AlMarri, Salem; Wei, Yang; Trevor, BuckWhile entrepreneurship is considered a critical factor in developing economies, it is essential to note that the focus on entrepreneurship has broadened from investigating key individual characteristics influencing entrepreneurship to exploring the influence of institutional factors such as policies, education, financial support and other informal factors. Therefore, this study examined the impact of national culture (NC) represented by Hofstede’s dimensions, namely power distance tolerance (PD), uncertainty avoidance (UA), individualism (IND), masculinity (MAS) and long-term orientation (LTO), on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) among female Saudi entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. The study also examined the moderating effect of access to finance (ATF) on the relationship between cultural dimensions and EO. The study revealed valuable results, including the fact that female entrepreneurs reported a quite different set of cultural values from those of Saudi Arabia as a whole, and that their IND and MAS positively influenced their EO respectively. In contrast, their LTO, UA and PD showed no significant association with EO. Furthermore, the hypothesised moderating effect of ATF on the relationships between NC and EO was not supported. The findings emphasise various important conclusions. For example, as ATF was not significant here, there may be a need to provide comprehensive support systems to enhance EO, such as mentorship programmes, customised entrepreneurial training, and other market access initiatives. Saudi policymakers may focus on combining financial and non-financial support, including capacity-building and support, which can be done by developing multi- faceted strategies that enhance entrepreneurial ecosystems and manage entrepreneurs' challenges. Furthermore, multi-faceted strategies developed by policymakers may wish to address gender-specific challenges by implementing tailored entrepreneurial training programmes, increasing female representation in leadership roles, and creating inclusive networking opportunities.36 0Item Restricted A framework to adopt construction 4.0 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Impact of Institutional Pressures, Ambidexterity and Organizational Resources on Intention to Adopt(University of Newcastle, 2025) Alyami, Abdullah; Thayaparan, Gajendran; Marcus, Jefferies; Tanvi, NewazConstruction 4.0 is the construction industry’s response to Industry 4.0, a technological revolution to adopt innovative methodologies and modern technologies to boost productivity and efficiency in modern workplaces. Construction 4.0 is driven partly by an accelerated pace of urbanization, the resulting heightened demand within the construction industry, and the construction industry’s reputation for lack of modernization. It marks a paradigm shift characterised by the integration of digital technologies, automation, real-time data, and artificial intelligence across all stages of the construction lifecycle. The extant literature suggests that Construction 4.0 adoption is influenced by organizational resources (technology, people, process, and education), ambidexterity (exploration and exploitation), and institutional pressures (normative pressure, memetic pressure, and coercive pressure). The predominant discourse of existing studies on the implementation of Construction 4.0 have focused on its impact on work procedures, project completion times, quality, and safety measures, despite the significant influence of organizational resources, ambidexterity, and institutional pressures on the successful adoption of Construction 4.0. Less attention has been paid to how internal organisational factors and external institutional forces interact to shape the strategic intent to adopt Construction 4.0 technologies. This study addresses this gap by investigating the influence of three critical constructs: organisational resources (technology, people, processes, education and training), organisational ambidexterity (exploration and exploitation capabilities), and institutional pressures (coercive, normative, and mimetic) on the intention to adopt Construction 4.0 within the Saudi construction industry. Hence, this study investigates the influence of organizational resources, ambidexterity, and institutional pressures on the adoption of Construction 4.0 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ultimately, the study has developed a framework for implementing Construction 4.0 in the Saudi construction industry. This research developed a theoretical model proposing eighteen (18) hypotheses, based on theories related to strategic resources (Resource-Based View), strategic flexibility (ambidexterity), and institutional pressures (institutional theory) to understand their impact on Construction 4.0 adoption. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and a conceptual model was developed to measure the influencing factors. A quantitative research methodology was adopted, underpinned by a positivist paradigm. Data was collected through a questionnaire completed by 261 professionals in construction organizations in Saudi Arabia. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was adopted to test the hypotheses, examine the relationships between variables, and validate the conceptual model. The results of the SEM confirmed 13 of the 18 hypotheses, revealing that institutional pressures significantly influence exploration orientation. This orientation, in turn, positively impacts key organizational resources—particularly human capital, education and training, and processes—needed for the adoption of Construction 4.0. The intention to adopt C4.0 was found to be most strongly influenced by the development of these organizational resources. Moreover, the study identified five dominant adoption pathways that integrate external institutional forces and internal strategic capabilities. These pathways offer a nuanced understanding of how adoption dynamics unfold in practice, especially in contexts undergoing rapid socio-economic transformation. These findings offer theoretical and practical contributions. Theoretically, it advances the discourse on digital transformation in construction by integrating three organizational theories into a single explanatory model. The integration of organizational theories provides a deeper understanding of Construction 4.0 adoption dynamics. Empirically, it provides evidence-based insights specific to the Saudi Arabian context, an emerging market undergoing rapid reform aligned with Vision 2030. Practically, the study offers an empirically validated framework tailored to the Saudi construction context, which can inform decision-makers, policy developers, and construction professionals seeking to enhance productivity through digital transformation in alignment with national strategic ambitions.14 0