Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Understanding the role of branding in shaping perceptions of Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination(University of Leeds, 2024-09) Alharthi, Dalia Talal; Papadopoulou, ChristinaThis dissertation aims to understand the role of branding in shaping perceptions of Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination from the citizens’ point of view and to highlight the Vision 2030 goals and how they have affected these perceptions. Given that Saudi Arabia is the second most popular destination for tourists in the Middle East and that the leisure tourism industry is rapidly growing and expanding, it is important to examine the impact of this growing industry local culture. This study is significant as it provides valuable insights into the real perceptions of Saudi Arabian citizens and how these perceptions may shape their future. It also highlights the goals of the promising Vision 2030 and how it will impact the economy and reduce the dependence on oil as an alternative source of revenue. The study used a quantitative research approach, collecting data through a questionnaire survey of 194 Saudi Arabian citizens from different ages and backgrounds, including both the general population and experts in the tourism industry. The results were analysed using the SPSS, and it was concluded that there is significant relationship between variables studied in Saudi Arabia. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into understanding the role of branding in shaping perceptions of Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination and highlights the the potential outcomes.15 0Item Restricted Catering Project: Expanding to Thrive(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-13) Alsufayan, Norah; Cronin, Mark; De Loayza, Alonso; Zhuoran, Zhang; Wang, Xiaoxiao; Kaleka, AnnaThrive Group Wales, operates as a social enterprise supporting Thrive Women's Aid in combating domestic abuse and violence. Focused on catering services, they currently cater food to local companies in Neath, Port Talbot, and Swansea. The project's goal is to expand catering services and improve their reach. Through interactions with the client, key needs have been identified, including understanding the events' industry trends, customer preferences, financial viability, risks, and other recommendations. The primary objective is to capitalize on growth opportunities for Thrive Group's catering department. Market research reveals a strong potential for expansion, and suggests using the company's USP to stand out from the competition. Furthermore, there are significant opportunities for the business to grow in terms of branding and product positioning. The results of a survey carried through the project give major insights into consumer preferences, indicating their willingness to pay for food during events, a preference for music festivals, and Mexican street food being a top choice of purchase. Financial analysis suggests short-term promise but highlights the need for stable revenue growth strategies. Risk assessment strategies encompass a range of risks such as reputational, financial, operational, amongst others, and the best strategy to tackle each of them. By addressing these challenges, capitalizing on opportunities, and taking into consideration the recommendations of the project, the Thrive Group can expand into a successful and impactful catering business while supporting its charitable mission.37 0Item Restricted Social media usage and entrepreneurial development amongst 18- to 25-year-olds in Hail, Saudi Arabia.(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-11-14) Alyousef, Hattan; Biressi, Anita; Rixon, Paul; Kolb, AlexandraThe recent transformation endorsed by the Vision 2030 development plan in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has instigated a negotiation of modern values and norms in a youthful conservative nation. The rise of social media usage in Saudi Arabia and specifically in Hail has enabled these negotiations due to considerable technological advancement and its adoption by a youthful nation where almost 72% of the population are below the age of 35. The Saudi social media scene has not only become a recognisable career path, driven by the vast economic and socio-cultural reform, but a space where intersections of a power dynamic is visible and complex. Two main theoretical approaches have been adopted to examine and explore social media usage and entrepreneurial development. The first approach is Bourdieu’s work of field, habitus, and capital (1977, 1984, 1986) and more recent scholarly work on social, cultural, economic, and symbolic capitals. The second approach is informed by scholarship on presentational culture and communication, new media and creative industry, and social media studies. Although both theoretical approaches are from a western viewpoint, the experiences of Saudi youth provide new insight into the contextual negotiations between old values and norms and modernity in an era of development. In this qualitative study, the data will speak for themselves through the experiences and perspectives of social media users and entrepreneurs explored across an open-ended survey, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. While this work is focused on Saudi, it offers lessons and insights for other similar nations, or even for the west. The study raises questions relating to how Hail’s young men and women who maintain old values will utilise social media platforms to navigate and negotiate their online identity into an online entrepreneurial identity. Furthermore, having a diverse sample for each method – for instance, influencers and micro-celebrities from both rural and urban backgrounds – enabled me to capture different dimensions of the same entrepreneurial process. This entrepreneurial process identified different identity constructions and identity performances and crosschecking these practices with Hail’s young men and women demonstrates the complex ways in which the Saudi social media entrepreneur can participate in and contribute to the attention economy in this new Saudi era.26 0Item Restricted The Role of Aesthetics in Successful Logo Design.(Saudi Digital Library, 2022-12-24) Nasseraldin, Ahmed; Westland, Stephen; Lee, Soojin; Marsden, JamieLogos are important; they grab consumers’ attention, make a strong first impression, and are a valuable visual representation of a brand. The visual appearance of logos is therefore important in terms of how they are viewed by consumers and how they influence consumer perceptions of the brand that the logos represent. The central question that is explored in this thesis is what visual attributes of a logo contribute to the logo’s aesthetic appeal and the approach taken is one that analyses data derived from consumer responses. The work described is therefore a collection of consumer-driven studies that use interviews, focus groups and surveys; the latter may be described as psychophysical experiments. The experimental part of the thesis is structured into three experimental chapters that describe 7 studies. In Chapter III, a set of focus groups and interviews collected information from consumers about logo aesthetics and some related concepts such as familiarity. Chapter IV includes two experiments where participants were asked to scale various logos in terms of visual attributes. The data from these experiments allowed a factor analysis that derived four main visual factors: vibrancy, simplicity, sophistication and balance, in order of deceasing share of the variance. These four factors can be considered to form a 4-D aesthetic space for logos. Chapter V describes cross-cultural studies of logo preference using a Likert scale and particularly explored the role of colour and whether a logo was a simple icon or had text. It was found that logos without an icon, consisting only of text, were perceived as being less preferred than logos with an icon. It was also found logos that were coloured were more preferred than logos that were achromatic or multicoloured.14 0