Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Women’s Legal Empowerment in Employment in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Barnawi, Rehab Abdullah O; Shaheed, Ahmed; Maranlou, SaharLegal empowerment is an approach adopted by international organisations, civil society groups, and governments interested in development to improve the lives of the disadvantaged. In KSA, women's employment status warrants attention, as the country has consistently shown low female participation in the economy for decades. The situation is currently evolving due to new legal reforms that promote women's access to employment across various sectors, a development considered culturally revolutionary. This paper advocates examining the situation from a socio-legal perspective and proposes legal empowerment strategies as alternatives to the traditional rule-of-law orthodoxy. It particularly emphasises understanding Saudi women's agency and explores how they can effectively engage with the law to advocate for the promotion of their rights and interests. It employs the CLEP’s framework, feminist and developmental approaches towards women’s legal empowerment, recognising that legal reforms alone are insufficient to encourage women's full participation in the workforce. The study proposes strategies to empower women to overcome legal, cultural, and social barriers. The research is grounded in primary data collected through a survey, which investigated Saudi women’s employment experiences, needs, challenges, and aspirations. The findings identify key legal empowerment strategies that most effectively enhance women’s economic participation. These include continued legal reforms, the promotion of women's education, increased awareness of legal rights and societal responsibilities, and improved access to legal and financial training and support. Additionally, the thesis highlights the importance of promoting personal agency and self-awareness among women to address KSA’s persistent low ranking in global indices for women’s economic participation, despite recent efforts. This study argues that a legal empowerment approach tailored to the socio-cultural context of KSA can meaningfully help overcome persistent barriers and advance gender equality in the economic sphere.5 0Item Restricted Impact of Globalization on Employment in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alawami, Maria; Christian, GhiglinoThis research examines how globalization has affected employment in Saudi Arabia by analyzing the key aspects such as labour force participation, labour market policies, female employment, economic diversification, and the related opportunities and challenges. Globalization has played a major role in transforming the structure of the Saudi labour market, encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI), shifting employment trends, and driving reforms aimed at decreasing the country's reliance on oil income. An important emphasis is placed on labour reforms, for example, the Saudi polices, for instance, the Saudization policy, which aims to increase the employment of Saudi nationals in both public and private sectors by reducing reliance on expatriate workers. Furthermore, globalization has contributed to greater female workforce participation, supported by advancements in digital technologies. Nevertheless, the complex regulatory frameworks and cultural traditions still confront some barriers. Economic diversification is highlighted as a key strategy to mitigate the risks associated with oil prices and increase the percentage of non-oil exports in the non-oil GDP, and to generate employment in sectors like healthcare. In spite of the progress the Kingdom has previously made, Saudi Arabia still cops with major challenges such as international competition. It is finalized that while globalization offers considerable potential for job creation and economic development, the extent to which Saudi Arabia can benefit from it will largely depend on the effectiveness of its implementation. The more important thing is that Saudi policies are balancing the impact of globalization.4 0Item Restricted CRITICAL CHALLENGES FOR JOB SEEKERS IN SAUDI ARABIA: THE ROLE OF SOFT AND HARD SKILLS IN RECRUITMENT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED OF COFFEE SHOPS IN SAUDI ARABIA: A QUALITATIVE STUDY.(Saudi Digital Library, 2023) Jaafari, Mohammed; Joseph-Richard, PaulThis study investigates the multifaceted challenges confronted by job seekers in Saudi Arabia, specifically focusing on the role of soft and hard skills in the recruitment process within SME coffee shops. As the Saudi labour market undergoes significant transformations, this research explores the dynamics of skill-based hiring practices, the tactics SMEs use in this industry, and practical recommendations that can augment the industry. The central research question guiding this study is: What are the critical challenges faced by job seekers in Saudi Arabia when seeking employment in small and medium-sized coffee shops, and how do soft and hard skills influence the recruitment process in this sector? This study employed a qualitative research design to capture the experiences and perceptions of job seekers and coffee shop owners/managers in Saudi Arabia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of job seekers, coffee shop managers, and owners across different regions of the country. Thematic analysis was employed to identify recurring themes and patterns in the data, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and role of soft and hard skills in recruitment.19 0Item Restricted Factors Influencing Young Employees’ Decision to Leave Employment(University of Strathclyde, 2024-02-25) Alnussian, Sulaiman; Baum, TomThis thesis examines various aspects of reasons young people give up on employment through a secondary research approach, where the relevant literature, theories, and empirical studies on the topic are analysed. In today’s competitive business environment, younger professionals are now frequently leaving their jobs. Therefore, it is important to examine the underlying causes for such a situation. The composition of the workforce is dominated by mostly the young people who are innovative and bring solutions, new ideas, and technological knowledge. On the other hand, young employees have very high turnover rates, which make the organizations spend extra on recruitment and knowledge loss and at the same time disrupt productivity. Thus, this research aims at adding to the existing knowledge by synthesizing and critically reviewing findings from various sources. The second part of the study is a broad review of the literature in various sources including, journals, industrial reports, as well as expert opinion. The analysis is organized according to major thematic areas, including workplace culture, career development prospects, work-life balance, organizational support, and compensation packages. This section seeks to uncover similarities, anomalies, and gaps about factors that lead to turnover in young workers via secondary research. This dissertation adopts the secondary research methodology, which involves a systematic review of published scholarly articles, reports, and surveys in the last ten years. To achieve this, it will be possible to discover typical features, periodicities and blank spots in the existing knowledge about youthful employee turnover. Data extraction criteria is stringent to incorporate only high-quality studies, thereby increasing the reliability and validity of synthesized findings. This dissertation primarily explores the individual-level factors that contribute to turnover of young employees in their employment. This encompasses a detailed study of job satisfaction, career advancement opportunities, work-life balance, and alignment between organizational values and personal beliefs. This study seeks to provide in-depth understanding regarding interplay between these variables and turnover intentions in young professionals by referring to the works of famous researchers in the industry. Additionally, the study focuses on the organizational-level determinants of young employee turnover and the areas of leadership, organizational culture, and communication channels. In these explorations, efforts are made to reveal the organizational elements which either facilitate or hinder a comfortable working environment for the young employees, with an effect on their commitment to the organization. The dissertation also considers wider societal influences on young employee turnover including individual and organizational factors. The study further discusses the influence of various external factors such as economics, generational trends, as well as societal expectations and their impact on the decision-making capabilities of the young professionals in the modern workplace. It becomes imperative to comprehend these macro-level influences in order to come up with comprehensive strategies for retaining talented young people. Perceived compensation, work-life balance, career development opportunities, and management will show a high level of association with young employee turnover. It is expected that higher levels of perceived compensation, work-life balance, career development possibilities and management support will be associated with lower levels of turnover intention. This hypothesis assumes that these factors are key determinants of young professionals’ turnover intentions. The study is expected to reveal a positive correlation between increased levels of perceived compensation and lower turnover intention in young employees. At the same time, the study is anticipated to reveal that a supportive work-life balance, which blends the professional and personal aspects of life, correlates with lower turnover intentions. The study also seeks to associate the career development opportunities in a firm to the reduced intention to turnover among young employees, underscoring the significance of growth prospects to retain talent. This hypothesis further proposes that high level of management support that include good leadership and communication will go hand in hand with low levels of turnover intention among the young professionals. Consequently, organizations that are promoting favorable views about these areas are likely to experience a loyal and more stabilized young workforce, thus aiding employee retention strategies and organizational success. The study aims to synthesize and critically analyse existing literature, thus, adding to the body of knowledge for academia and the business community. This study will have important implications for organizations that aim to decrease youth turnover or increase workforce retention. Knowing what determines young employee turnover decisions, organizations can devise methods of attracting, engaging and retaining the best talent. This will facilitate the development of a responsive and interactive workforce. The insights should provide direction on policy formulation in organizations, the human resource practices and making the work environment liveable for the youth professionals. The organizations would need to understand reasons and factors that make the young employee leave, and must also, create favourable conditions, for the organization to outlive in future. Thus, organizations need to investigate organizational, individual, and contextual factors in order to develop a culture that attracts, engages and retains young staff, which will provide them with a talent pipeline to foster innovation and growth.30 0Item Open Access Self-Determination and the Lived Experience of Employed Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis(2023) Alzarie, Abdelrahman; Allsopp, DavidLiterature reveals that self-determination is a critical predictor of employment at the post-secondary level for individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). However, current research concerning self-determination in the post-secondary work of individuals with ID is scarce and primarily focused on the perspectives of parents or educators or has been driven by evaluating learning models of self-determination. Furthermore, individuals with ID were not adequately represented as participants in the current research, and their voices were not given the opportunity to be heard. Therefore, this qualitative phenomenological study aimed to explore the lived experience of six Saudi employed adults with mild ID who received interventions toward self-determination during the transition planning in high school by using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. To better answer the research questions, data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed based on the principles of the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. Five significant findings emerged from the explored accounts: (a) Individuals with ID understand self-determination through their cultural contexts, (b) the applicability of self-determination is related to the implementation period and environmental factors, (c) problem-solving skill is more relevant to work settings, (d) self-determination is subject to adjustment and development through practice, and (e) directed self-determination training toward work produces better results.118 0