Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations

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Exploring Legal Pathways for Sustainable Corporate Governance in the United Kingdom and Germany: A Comparative Analysis of Labour Law and Competition Law
(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alghamdi, Fawaz Hamed M; Cardesa-Salzmann, Antonio
This research analyses how UK and German labour legislation, competition law, and non-financial reporting systems affect sustainable corporate governance, focusing on environmental compliance and fair labour practices. The study evaluates legislation, case law, EU directives, and academic literature using a qualitative comparative legal research methodology, which incorporates a PRISMA-based systematic literature review. Results revealed that the UK uses soft-law procedures, which are flexible but unenforceable, whereas Germany uses hard-law tools like codetermination and statutory ESG responsibilities, which improve compliance but restrict regulatory agility. UK competition law is sceptical of sustainability cooperation, whereas Germany is pro-sustainability. Germany emphasises innovation in non-financial reporting, whereas the UK emphasises storytelling. The paper advances cross-jurisdictional governance literature and recommends integrated, enforced, and innovation-friendly ESG governance.
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Three Essays on Share Repurchases, Trade Credit and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Brand Capital in the US.
(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Aljabr, Jabr Ahmad J; Taylor, Grantley; Eulaiwi, Baban
This thesis is composed of three essays that investigate how brand capital has influenced share repurchases, trade credit and carbon emissions in US listed firms. Firms in the US have recently invested a substantial amount in advertising expenses to develop sustainable and robust brand capital. These three essays provide empirical insights into how brand capital influences corporate strategies and outcomes across operational, financial and environmental sustainability aspects. Taken together, these essays contribute to the ongoing discussion about the implications of the role of brand capital, highlighting how brand capital enhances shareholder value, strengthens stakeholder relationships and promotes environmental responsibility. This thesis provides valuable implications for corporate managers, policymakers and scholars interested in the intersection of investment planning, financing decision making and environmental sustainability strategy development. Chapter 1 introduces this thesis by providing the motivation, presenting the findings, explaining the contribution behind the research and outlining an overview of the thesis’s structure. Chapter 2 is entitled “Brand Capital and Share Repurchases”. This chapter examines the association between brand capital and share repurchases based on a large sample of publicly listed non-financial US firms over the period 1994–2023. The study found that firms exhibiting higher levels of brand capital show a statistically significant and positive relationship with the extent of share repurchases activities. The cross-sectional analyses indicate that the influence of brand capital on share repurchases is more pronounced for firms characterised by strong corporate governance and a good financial position. The results remain consistent with the base model when employing alternative measures of brand capital or share repurchases and by using an alternative depreciation rate to calculate brand capital. Endogeneity and self-selection tests indicate the results are robust. Overall, the study found that more intense brand capital plays a central role in the share repurchasing decisions of firms. This finding has important implications for investors, management, analysts and regulators. Chapter 3 is entitled “Brand Capital and Trade Credit”. This study examines the relationship between brand capital and the use of trade credit among US listed firms. Based on 37,788 firm-year observations spanning from 1994 to 2023, it found that brand capital firms relied more on trade credit provided by suppliers as a source of short-term financing. This finding is more evident among firms exhibiting greater financial constraints, with elevated corporate risk-taking. These findings remain consistent after applying alternative measures of trade credit, brand capital specifications, depreciation rates to estimate brand capital and an alternative regression model. The findings are not driven by omitted variable bias or endogeneity concerns. Overall, the findings underscore the pivotal role that brand capital plays in shaping firms’ short-term financing decisions as a reliable signal of trustworthiness, and provide valuable insights for managers, suppliers and financial stakeholders. Chapter 4 is entitled “Brand Capital and Carbon Emissions”. This study investigates the association between brand capital and carbon emissions of US publicly listed firms from 2003 to 2023. It provides robust evidence that brand capital intensity significantly and negatively affects carbon emissions. The cross-sectional analyses illustrate that this significant and negative association is more pronounced for subsamples with weak corporate governance, greater information asymmetry and higher agency costs. These results remain robust across several additional tests, including those that use alternative specifications of brand capital, varying depreciation rates applied in the measurement of brand capital, different measures of carbon emissions and applying a lagged regression approach. Overall, the findings demonstrate that intensive brand capital has a significant bearing on carbon emissions. These findings may be valuable for environmental policymakers, management, analysts, shareholders and other stakeholders who require action and reporting about climate change and the achievement of greenhouse gas emissions targets. Chapter 5 summarises the findings and suggests potential directions for future research.
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IPO Governance in Saudi Arabia's Energy Sector: Legal Structures, Compliance, and Reform under Vision 2030
(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Aljohani, Mohammed; Nigro, Casimiro
This thesis examines the legal and institutional dimensions of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Saudi Arabia’s energy sector, with a focus on how corporate governance, compliance, and ESG mechanisms are formalized within state-owned enterprises (SOEs) undergoing partial market exposure. IPOs in this context are not solely financial transactions but are also instruments of institutional transformation—tools that enable alignment with international standards while accommodating sovereign policy priorities. Employing a doctrinal legal methodology supported by a case study of Saudi Aramco, the research investigates how statutory provisions, Capital Market Authority regulations, and corporate governance codes shape the IPO process, particularly in relation to board independence, disclosure obligations, and sustainability oversight. The findings reveal that although the Saudi regulatory framework demonstrates formal convergence with global governance norms, its implementation reflects selective adaptation, shaped by the continued presence of state ownership through entities such as the Public Investment Fund. The thesis further explores how IPO governance structures are designed to advance transparency, investor confidence, and ESG integration, while retaining flexibility for national development strategies under Vision 2030. In doing so, it contributes to corporate governance literature by offering a nuanced understanding of hybrid regulatory models, where public-sector priorities and market-facing reforms coexist. Ultimately, the study argues that IPOs in Saudi Arabia’s energy sector function as calibrated mechanisms of governance modernization, balancing legal compliance, institutional credibility, and sovereign interests, rather than serving as vehicles of full privatization or market liberalization.
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A comparative analysis of corporate governance frameworks’ roles in integrating ESG into mergers and acquisitions in the UK and the US, and how they enable or hinder its integration in mergers and acquisitions.
(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Jan, Jumanah; Clare, Patton
This research examines the role of corporate governance frameworks in the UK and the US in enabling or hindering the integration of ESG in mergers and acquisitions. As ESG has become increasingly significant to transactional outcomes, yet a gap persists in comprehending whether governance integrates as an essential component or permits it to remain optional. This research examines this deficiency through a comparative legal analysis of the framework of the United Kingdom and the United States. This research implements a doctrinal and comparative methodology to examine legislation, soft-law instruments, and case law in both jurisdictions, supported by academic and empirical evidence. The analysis compares the UK’s principled approach, whilst assessing section 172 of the Companies Act 2006, and the US’s prescriptive approach embedded in Delaware’s fiduciary duties. The findings reveal that the UK framework is designed to grant flexibility but is obstructed by inadequate enforcement. In contrast, the US framework provides assurance yet is constrained by its focus on shareholder primacy. Consequently, neither framework completely embeds ESG into M&A, hence its integration is dependent on the board's commitment, investor pressure, and market conditions. This dissertation suggests that corporate governance functions as both a promoter and a hindrance to ESG in M&A, highlighting the necessity for more uniform guidelines, ESG metrics, and to reconcile the disparity between ESG’s theoretical significance and its inconsistent practical application.
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The Role of Analyst Coverage on Earnings Management, Firm Outcomes, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance
(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alanazi, Bandar; Abdul Wahab, Effiezal; Haider, Imran
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the influence of analyst coverage on member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The investigation includes earnings management, firm outcomes, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance as dependent variables for the empirical studies. In addition, this thesis examines the moderating influence of political connections on the relationship between analyst coverage and those variables among GCC stock exchanges. This thesis contributes to the literature by providing empirical insights on various aspects of earnings management, firm outcomes and ESG performance in GCC countries. The first chapter presents the background of the economy and accounting information in the GCC region. Due to their focus on a more sustainable and diversified economy by moving away from a dependence on oil and gas, GCC countries are undergoing a pivotal phase of economic and social transformation. The chapter also provides the motivation for the empirical studies and summarises the findings and contributions to the existing literature. The second chapter presents a comprehensive literature review exploring analyst coverage across global markets. It discusses the methodology and findings, explains how analysts influence firm characteristics and decision-making, and identifies the factors that determine the extent of analyst coverage. The third chapter of this thesis, entitled “Analyst Coverage and Earnings Management”, aims to investigate the effect of analyst coverage on earnings management among GCC firms. The study also explores the relationship between analyst coverage and earnings management, taking into consideration the impact of the royal family in the region. This paper’s methodology employs panel data to investigate analyst coverage and its influence on two measures of earnings management decisions – accrual and real earnings management – as well as whether the royal family moderates the relationship between analyst coverage and earnings management. The analysis covers non-financial firms listed on six emerging capital markets in the GCC over a nine-year period from 2013 to 2021. The premise is that higher levels of analyst following can mitigate agency problems between shareholders and management by providing an information intermediary and ensuring interests are aligned. Based on 991 firm-year observations for non-financial firms listed on GCC stock exchanges, this study finds a negative relationship between analyst coverage, accruals and real earnings management. A more negative relationship between analyst coverage and earnings management is found in the extended analysis focusing on royal family affiliation. The results of tests of potential endogeneity bias remain consistent with the main findings. The fourth chapter of this thesis, entitled “Analyst Coverage and Firm Outcomes”, investigates how analyst coverage affects GCC firms. The findings reveal a significant association between analyst coverage and firm outcomes in GCC firms. It also explores how royal family affiliations affect this relationship in the region by using public non-financial firms listed in the GCC from 2013 to 2021, which constitutes a sample of 992 firm-year observations. The study finds that analyst following has a significant impact on firm outcomes. A higher level of analyst coverage of the firm leads to improved firm outcomes, which mitigates the agency problem between shareholders and management. This supports the argument that the role played by analysts is crucial to reducing information asymmetry. In addition, royal families positively (negatively) moderate the association between analyst coverage and firm outcomes. Furthermore, the findings remain robust after endogeneity tests. The fifth chapter of this thesis, entitled “Analyst Coverage and ESG Performance”, examines the relationship between analyst coverage and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance in GCC firms. Using a sample of public non-financial firms listed on GCC stock exchanges from 2012 to 2023, this study finds a significantly positive association between analyst coverage and ESG performance. Further, the findings indicate that analyst affiliation affects the relationship: international analysts exhibit a more pronounced positive relationship than other analysts. The results are qualitatively similar after controlling for endogeneity. Finally, the last chapter provides the conclusion to the thesis and outlines directions for future research.
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Essays on Religiosity and Finance: Evidence from Saudi Arabia
(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alwehaibi, Abdulmajeed Abdullah; Chou, Daisy; Le, Anh
This thesis examines the relatively underexplored influences of informal institutions, particularly religiosity, on corporate outcomes. Drawing on the theory of social norms, it investigates how Islamic religiosity, as a form of religious social norms, shapes firm behaviour in Saudi Arabia. The study focuses on three key areas: corporate investment efficiency, corporate risk-taking behaviour and corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. The research employs panel data analysis to evaluate these relationships among companies listed in Saudi Arabia from 2012 to 2020. In the first essay, the primary finding is that the firm’s headquarters, located in a community with a higher Islamic religiosity level, positively influences corporate investment efficiency. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the beneficial link between religiosity and investment efficiency is more pronounced in firms that are not financially constrained and those without significant institutional ownership. In companies that do not face significant financial limitations, the principles guided by Islamic religiosity appear to facilitate more effective investment decisions and better allocations. Similarly, the absence of significant institutional ownership suggests that without strong external governance mechanisms, internal cultural norms such as religiosity can be critical in enhancing monitoring functions, guiding corporate behaviour, and improving investment efficiency. Finally, our study finds a negative correlation between Islamic religiosity and agency costs. This finding implies that the advantageous effect of Islamic religiosity may largely stem from its role in diminishing agency conflicts. Reducing these conflicts plays a key role in the beneficial outcomes associated with implementing these norms. In the second essay, empirical evidence demonstrates that firms headquartered in communities with higher Islamic religiosity tend to engage in lower levels of corporate risk-taking. This effect is more pronounced in firms with lower institutional and foreign ownership, where external monitoring is weaker. The results suggest that Islamic religiosity plays a monitoring role, helping to curb excessive risk-taking. They support the proposed mechanism that religiosity constrains corporate risk-taking, especially in settings with limited institutional oversight. Moreover, the influence of Islamic religiosity appears to be offset in firms with foreign ownership, likely due to the introduction of different cultural norms and governance practices. Conversely, firms without foreign ownership appear more aligned with local religious norms, reinforcing the inverse relationship between religiosity and risk-taking. Furthermore, the study identifies a positive relationship between Islamic religiosity and corporate performance. Firms headquartered in communities with higher levels of religiosity are more likely to experience exceptional positive performance and are less susceptible to extreme negative outcomes. This balance contributes to their superior average performance and highlights the value-enhancing effects of religiosity. Path analysis further shows that Islamic religiosity reduces risk-taking, which, in turn, contributes to higher firm performance. In the third essay, findings reveal that firms operating in communities with higher levels of Islamic religiosity tend to exhibit lower ESG activities. This effect is particularly pronounced among financially constrained firms, where the added costs and potential inefficiencies of ESG initiatives may shrink profit margins and thus weaken managerial incentives to invest in them, especially when firms align with prevailing religious norms and enjoy the confidence of market participants. Moreover, higher levels of Islamic religiosity are associated with reduced agency costs, indicating that Islamic religiosity promotes ethical behaviour and limits managerial self-interest, thereby diminishing the need for ESG as a governance mechanism. These findings suggest that Islamic social norms can serve as a substitute for corporate ESG. In highly religious environments, where ethical conduct is expected and stakeholder trust is strong, ESG activities may offer limited signalling value and appear less necessary. These results provide important implications for policymakers and investors, offering insights into decision-making processes in emerging markets. By addressing the previously unexplored relationship between Islamic religiosity and corporate outcomes, this thesis enriches the existing literature and sheds light on the unique characteristics of the Saudi financial market as an emerging economy.
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The Effect of ESG Disclosure and ESG Performance on Firm Financial Performance: The Moderating Role of Economic Conditions
(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Basahi, Ruba; Zhang, Sylvia
This study examines how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure and performance influence firm financial performance, and whether these effects differ under varying economic conditions. Drawing on stakeholder, signalling, legitimacy, and agency theories, the study differentiates between ESG disclosure as an external communication tool and ESG performance as a reflection of actual practices. Using panel data from S&P 500 firms spanning 2006-2023, fixed effects regressions with clustered standard errors are employed to control for unobserved heterogeneity and firm-level dynamics. Financial performance is measured using ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s Q. The results show that both ESG disclosure and performance are positively and significantly associated with all three financial outcomes, indicating broad financial benefits across operational and market-based metrics. However, during crisis periods (2008-2009 and 2020-2021), ESG disclosure and performance are each significantly associated only with ROA, suggesting that ESG practices primarily support internal profitability under economic stress. However, the results do not support the hypothesis that ESG performance offers stronger financial benefits than disclosure. Both variables show similar economic effects on ROA, with no significant relationship to ROE or Tobin’s Q. These findings challenge the assumption that ESG performance always offers superior financial value over disclosure. Both ESG disclosure and performance appear to support operational resilience during downturns, though their financial effects are concentrated in internal outcomes such as profitability rather than in market-based measures. Overall, the results emphasise the need to evaluate ESG’s financial implications through a context-sensitive lens, particularly under varying economic conditions.
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Sustainability and Risk Management in Saudi Arabia’s Giga Projects: A Case Study of NEOM
(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) ALSHEHRI, BADER AWADH; Hasan, Fakhrul
This study critically investigates the sustainability practices, risk governance frameworks, and financial mechanisms underpinning NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s flagship giga-project under Vision 2030. Using a qualitative case study approach, supported by semi-structured interviews with ten domain experts, the research explores how sustainability is conceptualised and operationalised, how environmental, financial, and geopolitical risks are governed, and how the Public Investment Fund (PIF) influences financing and ESG integration. Thematic analysis in NVivo identified four overarching themes: sustainability conceptualisation and strategic alignment, risk landscape and governance structures, financing mechanisms and ESG integration, and future improvements through measurement frameworks. Findings reveal that while NEOM embeds ambitious sustainability goals, such as renewable energy and hydrogen production, governance gaps remain in risk management, stakeholder inclusivity, and financial transparency. Theoretically, the study extends the application of the Triple Bottom Line, Stakeholder Theory, and Institutional Theory to giga-project governance, illustrating how sustainability functions both as substance and symbolic branding in state-led development. Practically, the research highlights the need for enforceable regulatory frameworks, transparent ESG disclosure, and robust performance metrics to transform NEOM from a reputational project into a credible global model of sustainable urbanism.
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Employee-Related Disclosures and Capital Market Reactions: Analysing Human Capital Disclosure, Wellbeing Washing, and CEO Pay Ratios
(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Almubarak, Alhanouf; Marques, Ana; Motoki, Fabio
This dissertation includes three empirical studies on the topic of employee-related disclosures. The first study investigates the association between human capital disclosures and firms’ performance (i.e., profitability and value) and examines how a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) change in mandated human capital disclosure is associated with these outcomes. I examine the disclosures of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 firms from 2012 to 2021 and have three main results. First, human capital disclosure is positively associated with firms' performance. Second, the change in the SEC's required human capital disclosure is associated with an increase in firms' human capital disclosure. Third, from the year when the SEC initiated discussions about the amendment (2016) to 2019, there was a noticeable increase in the association between disclosure and firm profitability. However, this association disappears after the implementation of the mandated changes (2020 and 2021). The second study investigates wellbeing washing, where firms claim to prioritise the wellbeing of their employees but fail to implement measures to put this into practice. I focus on wellbeing disclosures in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reports, particularly those of S&P 100 firms from 2018 to 2022. I examine the association between firms' disclosures regarding employee wellbeing and the ratings of employees on the Glassdoor website. I find that, overall, wellbeing disclosures in ESG reports are negatively associated with contemporaneous Glassdoor ratings of current employees. Additionally, I find firms that disclose a high level of wellbeing information, regardless of their actual employee satisfaction, have a significantly higher market value. The third study investigates the association between CEO-to-median employee pay ratios and firm-level risk, using a sample from the S&P 100 from 2018 to 2022. I find a positive association between the CEO pay ratio and firm-level risk. However, this association does not exist in socially responsible firms, as I find no association between CEO pay ratios and firm-level risk.
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Weather, Sustainability and Islamic Finance
(University of New Orleans, 2025) AlKatheery, Nouf; Hassan, Mohammad
The first essay examines how weather conditions affect stock market performance in the Saudi Stock Exchange (TASI). To investigate this relationship, the study employs multiple regression analysis in conjunction with the GJR-GARCH model. we analyze the effects of Air Temperature, Relative Humidity, Wind Speed, and Rainfall on TASI returns. Results indicate Air Temperature has the most significant influence. The impact of weather weakened after foreign investors entered the market, suggesting a shift in investor behavior. Sectoral analysis reveals that the Energy, Information Technology, and Utilities sectors are the most resilient to weather variations. This second essay examines the impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance factors on the profitability of conventional and Islamic banks. Using structural equation modeling, the findings reveal that the Environmental pillar positively impacts profitability in Islamic banks. The Social pillar negatively affects profitability in Islamic banks, while the Governance pillar increases profitability in conventional banks but reduces it in Islamic banks. These results highlight the need for Islamic banks to optimize social initiatives and governance frameworks while conventional banks should enhance environmental strategies.
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