Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/10
Browse
4 results
Search Results
Item Open Access Redefining Saudi Female Identity: The Role of Social Media Influencers in Shaping Cultural Norms(City, University of London, 2024-09) Hakami, Assma; Patel, SusmiThis dissertation investigates the transformation and the impact of social media on the cultural identity of young Saudi women, particularly through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and the concepts of Wishful Identification and Parasocial Relationships (PSRs). This research concentrates on how Saudi female influencers on Instagram are challenging traditional norms and cultivating a hybrid identity that balances both cultural heritage and modern values. Utilizing a triangulation of data collection approaches, including Netnography and semi-structured interviews, this study investigates the role of these microcelebrities in shaping the career aspirations, lifestyle choices, and social behaviors of their followers. The findings reveal that these influencers significantly contribute to the redefinition of Saudi female identity by promoting entrepreneurial mindsets and progressive lifestyles, while still respecting cultural traditions. By using the Social Cognitive theory, Parasocial Relations and Wishful Identification, the research examined the psychological mechanisms behind this influence, demonstrating how frequent exposure to and engagement with influencer content leads to the internalization of new cultural norms. The research concluded with three emergent themes that contextualized the cultural shifts in Saudi female identity.42 0Item Restricted The Influence of NWOM By Beauty Community Influencers in TikTok On Brand Image(Queen Mary University of London, 2024-08-15) Alharthani, Shahad; Sheng, JieBackground: The increasing influence of social media, particularly TikTok, has transformed the landscape of digital marketing, where influencers play a pivotal role in shaping consumer perceptions and brand image. While much of previous literature has focused on the positive impacts of influencer marketing, there is limited understanding of the negative word-ofmouth (NWOM) effects, particularly through the phenomenon of "deinfluencing," where influencers publicly criticize brands. Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of deinfluencing on brand image and consumer perceptions within the beauty community on TikTok. It seeks to fill the gap in existing literature by examining how negative endorsements by influencers affect consumer perception of brands. Method: Utilizing a qualitative research approach, this study employs netnography to analyze comments from TikTok videos involving an influencer's deceitful marketing campaign and a deinfluencer's response. Sentiment analysis using VADER, supported by manual review and cross-examination with other tools like TextBlob and MonkeyLearn, provides a comprehensive understanding of audience reactions. Findings: The study reveals that deinfluencing significantly impacts influencer credibility when involved in deceitful marketing campaigns. While the majority of comments expressed negative sentiments toward the influencer for their deceptive practices, only a small percentage criticized the brand. In contrast, the findings also show that deinfluencers can increase their credibility through their criticising of brands and their products.38 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.27 0Item Restricted Exploring the political digital mobilisation strategies used by Social Media Influencers on Twitter and their impact on the collective sensemaking of the public within Saudi Arabia.(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-04-15) Alsolami, Ahmad; Darren, MundySocial media platforms have gained increased attention throughout the world since their emergence early in the last decade. The platforms have been studied from different perspectives: in relation to media theories and the drive behind the appearance and entry of social media, their role, in the methods and benefits of uses, social reforms, and changes that are associated with the end of the monopoly of information and news. Moreover, researchers have looked at the impacts of social media in certain respects, such as socially, politically, scientifically, and in change. Nevertheless, existing research has often focused on the tangible impacts, while limited work has been carried out on exploring the role of influencers. Therefore, it is the aim of this research to explore the role of social media influencers in the digital mobilisation of the public in response to recent political crises in Saudi Arabia. The importance of the study is in exploring the function of influencers, the strategies they use to mobilise users and the impact on collective public sense-making. A conceptual framework built using multi-dimensional perspectives aligning Framing theory, a marketing model focused on influence, and theories linked to cultural dimensions, and collective sense-making is utilised in the study. A qualitative approach (using in-depth semi-structured interviews and the analysis of tweets) is adopted with eleven highly networked social media influencers interviewed, and 1500 tweets and replies analysed. The results of this research point to the existence of a novel influence strategy referred to as social values, as well as the determination of nine indicators of evidence of collective sense-making in the Saudi context. The novel strategy and the evidence of collective sense making are considered as key incremental contributions of this study to knowledge. These findings indicate the influence that social media influencers have in fostering mobilisation and collective sense-making in Saudi Arabia and indicate that there is more to explore regarding the impact of social media influence in non-western contexts.18 0