Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted An Analysis of the Impact of Remote Work on the Work-Life Balance of Female Employees in Saudi Arabia(Newcastle University, 2024-09) Alajeel, Osama Mohammed; Procter, StephenBackground: The worldwide transition to remote work, expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, has profoundly impacted female employees, especially in Saudi Arabia, where socio-cultural norms and institutional factors significantly shape professional experiences. Women in Saudi Arabia encounter unique obstacles in reconciling professional and familial duties within a conservative societal context, rendering the effects of remote work on their work-life balance a significant subject of investigation. Purpose: An online survey was given to a diverse cohort of Saudi female employees from various sectors for quantitative analysis. A representative sample was obtained using stratified random sampling. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, work-life balance theory, and feminist theory were used to study remote work, gender roles, and socio-cultural dynamics. Methods: A quantitative analysis was conducted using an online survey, which was administered to a diverse sample of female employees from various sectors in Saudi Arabia. A stratified random sampling approach was employed to ensure a representative sample. The study was guided by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, work-life balance theory, and feminist theory to explore the complex relationship between remote work, gender roles, and socio-cultural dynamics. Results: Remote work increases flexibility but reinforces gender roles, especially in conservative regions. Insufficient organisational support for balancing work and home life increased stress for many women. The research delineates critical policy and practice deficiencies that obstruct women's capacity to attain a sustainable work-life equilibrium in remote work settings. Conclusions: The findings underscore the necessity for culturally attuned strategies to assist female employees in remote work environments. Recommendations encompass the implementation of flexible work policies, mental health resources, and targeted organisational support, which are crucial for realising the objectives of Vision 2030 regarding gender equality and enhanced work-life balance in Saudi Arabia.14 0Item Restricted FACTORS INFLUENCING INFORMATION ADOPTION FROM SOCIAL MEDIA: THE CASE OF HEALTH INFORMATION IN SAUDI ARABIA.(Aston University, 2024) Almalki, Saad; Uren, Victoria; Hull, MatthewThe current study aimed to further understand attitudes toward source credibility by studying it in the context of social media use as a health information source among social media users in Saudi Arabia. During COVID-19 outbreak, the social isolation that people experienced led to social media being widely used as a medium for disseminating health information, and this has now become increasingly prevalent. Specifically, this study set out to identify which factors influenced the positive adoption of health information from social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopted a mixed methods design through using an online questionnaire, incorporating a novel vignette design, to gather quantitative data, and follow- up interviews for collecting qualitative data. The designed vignettes were a set of verified and unverified profiles on social media belonging to medical and non-medical experts. Based on collecting data from 397 participants to the questionnaire and 23 interviews, interesting findings were revealed. The study provides empirical support for the influence of source characteristics as heuristics to guide information adoption. Characteristics including sources’ knowledge, qualifications, verification mark and similarity between receiver and sender influence people’s attitudes towards source credibility. Furthermore, the findings confirmed that characteristics of information/content have a significant influence on participants' use of social media platforms as a health information sources. Timeliness, completeness, relevance and accuracy, are confirmed to influence people's attitudes toward adopting health information from social media platforms. It is believed that the current study is one of the few empirical studies to have examined the factors influencing the adoption of social media information by implementing a novel vignette design within a questionnaire. Hence, this study might make a methodological contribution with regard to using vignette design within quantitative methods. Furthermore, there also practical contributions can be made to policy makers with regard to employing social media to convey health and other types of information to the Saudi population..28 0Item Restricted The Influences of Educational Technology on Comprehension among Elementary School Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic Period in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-01) Al jawad, Fatimah; Hambrock, HelgaThe current study addressed concerns surrounding the impact of educational technology on students’ comprehension during the COVID-19 pandemic. While researchers have shed light on issues like overreliance on technology and potential hindrances to comprehension, a significant gap remains in fully understanding the implications for elementary school students, especially within the unique pandemic context. To bridge this gap, this study explored the effects of various technological tools used in remote learning settings on students’ comprehension, providing valuable insights for educators, parents, and policymakers to promote responsible and effective use of educational technology. A basic qualitative design was employed for this study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, which provided a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind the effects of technology on students’ comprehension. The findings demonstrated positive outcomes associated with technology integration: students reported improved comprehension, higher engagement with learning materials innovatively, and a deeper grasp of subjects. Parents and teachers also acknowledged the benefits and cited easy access to information and enjoyable learning experiences. Nevertheless, challenges such as limited device availability and health issues from technology overuse impacted comprehension in some cases. Proposed strategies to address these challenges include better education and training for teachers and educational initiatives to enhance students’ familiarity with technology.15 0Item Restricted Sentiment Analysis of New Zealand Adults’ and Children’s Tweets Regarding the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-02) Aldahmash, Lamyaa; Mpofu, CharlesThe SARS-CoV-2 virus, which caused the global COVID-19 pandemic, necessitated a significant worldwide response, with vaccination being a primary strategy. This dissertation explores the public sentiment towards New Zealand’s national vaccination campaign, through a machine learning analysis of large-scale text data gathered from the social media platform Twitter. Focusing on responses from both adults and children, this research aimed to assess the efficacy of health communication strategies and the wider acceptance of the vaccine within the community. The findings underscore a considerable disparity between policy decisions and public sentiment on Twitter, with a significant portion of the New Zealand population expressing negative views on vaccinations. Overall, this research reveals the need for enhanced public engagement, better communication, and more effective use of social media data by policymakers and healthcare professionals in order to address public concerns, mitigate fears, dispel misinformation, and ultimately increase vaccine uptake.5 0Item Restricted The sustainbale Impact of COVID19 pandemic on the design of the hospital fa cility, a qualitative study comparing two healthcare systems in UK and Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-01) Altuwaijri, Naif; Chrysikou, EvangeliaThis paper examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitals in the United Kingdom and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in terms of design. The COVID-19 based pandemic is known to have created many challenges for health care facilities in the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as many other health care facilities around the world due to an increase in patients needing care and hospital limitations. Incorporating evidence from both academic publications, mainstream publications and interviews with health care professionals from both the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, this study finds that hospitals faced challenges in many areas of hospital design that impacted the ability to care for patients, including but not limited to the number of beds available, limited spaces available for patients within the hospital, and limited rooms available to offer COVID-19 specific treatment. The research finds that despite these challenges, many practices were used to help address the shortcomings and limitations that became evident for health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper argues for the use of best practices for hospitals to adopt to better prepare for future pandemics.44 0Item Restricted Exploring the impact of social media platforms in enhancing community public health during the Covid-19 pandemic.(Saudi Digital Library., 2023-10-25) Almubark, Majd; Nyashanu, MathewIn December 2019, the pandemic covid-19 spread worldwide and negatively and widely impacted healthcare, social, and economic systems. Lack of awareness, understanding, and readiness during this crisis could endanger individuals and healthcare workers. How to inform the public about the pandemic and its prevention is difficult. Misinformation that can harm people's health spreads faster than the disease. Most of these false rumours are spread on social media. In a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and health authorities must be able to quickly and accurately distribute information. Social media platforms can be used to communicate and share knowledge during epidemics, but little research investigates their impact on community public health during COVID-19 pandemic protection.18 0Item Restricted Three Essays in Behavioral Economics and Macroeconomics: Unraveling Celebrity Influence on Philanthropy, Racial Disparities in Donation Decisions During the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-09-27) Alothaim, Rawan; Zak, PaulThis dissertation encompasses three chapters. Two delve into behavioral aspects of charitable donations during the COVID-19 pandemic, investigating celebrity influence and racial disparities, as well as risk preferences. The third chapter shifts to macroeconomics, examining the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic growth in Saudi Arabia over a long-term horizon. The first chapter investigates the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements on charitable giving during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants' donation decisions were compared after exposure to celebrity and non-profit expert endorsements. Logistic regression and Ordinary Least Squares regression were used to analyze the impact of independent variables on the likelihood and total amount of donations. Findings suggest that celebrities did not significantly affect overall donation behavior, consistent with previous research. The study found no significant difference between celebrity and expert endorsements in terms of donation decisions, underscoring that the primary challenge for non-profit organizations is outreach, as the choice of messenger appears to have minimal impact on donation decisions. The second chapter investigates donation decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically examining racial disparities in charitable giving and the relationship between risk preferences and donations. The analysis is based on the financial contributions made by the average US citizen to food banks in the fourth quarter of 2020. The study finds that a substantial portion of the population (57%) was willing to support charitable causes during this challenging period. Additionally, it reveals that Black participants were more likely to donate and, on average, donate more than individuals from other racial groups. This finding aligns with previous evidence highlighting the generosity of Black individuals in charitable giving. Contrary to some prior results, the study uncovers that risk-averse individuals, as indicated by their frequent use of masks during the pandemic, were more likely to donate. These insights shed light on the role of empathy and donation motivations, offering valuable implications for fundraising campaigns targeting diverse racial groups and individuals with different risk preferences. The third chapter explores the implications of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on Saudi Arabia's economic growth, a topic of critical importance amidst the country's ongoing economic diversification under Vision 2030. We employ Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models to scrutinize the effects of FDI intensity on the Kingdom's economic performance, utilizing annual data. Results reveal no significant short-term impact of FDI on economic growth. However, there is a notable long-run equilibrium relationship among FDI, inflation, interest rates, and GDP per capita growth. Historical crises and real interest rates also significantly influence economic growth. These findings echo the existing literature on the non-significant short-term effect of FDI on Saudi Arabia's economic growth while pointing to potential long-term relationships.17 0Item Restricted Modelling and Forecasting Saudi Arabia’s Inbound Tourism Demand(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-05-01) Alanzi, Eman; Alazni, EmanThe tourism sector in Saudi Arabia has been identified as one of the priority sectors in Saudi’s Vision 2030. This vision is focused on diversifying the economy, contributing to economic growth (of more than 10 per cent), and creating one million jobs by 2030. The Saudi tourism industry has recently witnessed a spectacular expansion in recent years due to the introduction of clear and specific policies and institutional structures. However, for effective tourism management strategy and planning, appropriate policy decisions and infrastructure development, there needs to be a greater understanding of what factors influence international tourism demand. Motivated by this need, this study has three main objectives: to identify the impact of the main determinants (both economic and selected non-economic factors) of inbound tourism demand; to forecast inbound tourism demand; and to assess and project the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international tourist arrivals to Saudi Arabia. To address gaps in the body of knowledge, this study introduces country-specific factors into tourism demand models, including human rights issues, destination prosperity, students studying abroad, and expatriate workers. This study also fills gaps in existing knowledge by developing holistic models focused on an analysis of specific tourism market segments: religious, business, and visiting friends and relatives (VFR). To obtain robust results, this study used both static and dynamic panel estimators to measure the effects of both economic factors and selected non-economic factors on tourist flows to Saudi Arabia, from 2000 to 2019. The latest econometric models, time-series models, and two combined forecasting methods were employed to generate within-sample forecasts. To test whether a combined forecast model could outperform the individual model forecasts, root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) approaches were used to measure forecast accuracy. Finally, scenario analysis, impulse response functions (IRF), and quantile regression (QR) were conducted to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic health shock on tourism demand in Saudi Arabia during 2020 and 2021. The results indicate that the income of the tourist origin countries, the income of the destination country (Saudi Arabia), travel costs, the cost of living at the destination (tourism price), investment in the tourism sector, political risks, and destination prosperity impacted all tourist market segments. In addition, word-of-mouth, visa restrictions, and relative temperature had a significant impact on religious tourism demand. Increased government respect for human rights had a positive and significant effect only on religious and business tourism. Trade openness had a positive and significant effect on business tourism, and Saudi students studying abroad had a positive and significant impact on VFR tourism. The number of expatriate workers had a positive and significant impact on business and religious tourism demand but a negative effect on VFR tourism. The results suggest that business tourists were more sensitive to health risks than religious and VFR tourists between 2000 and 2019. When comparing econometric and time series model forecasting, time series models provided more accurate forecasts for religious and business tourism demand, whereas the econometric model provided more accurate forecasts for VFR tourism. The combined forecast method produced more accurate predictions only for business and VFR tourism. Scenario analysis was useful for assessing the short-term impact of COVID-19, whereas the IRF may be useful for understanding the long-term impact. This study indicates that the COVID-19 outbreak significantly and negatively influenced Saudi Arabia's tourism industry, as travel restrictions and bans were imposed by governments across the globe. The study also shows that religious tourism was the most affected by the pandemic and needed the longest time to recover, whereas business tourism recovered relatively rapidly. The QR model indicated that the negative impact of confirmed COVID-19 cases was more at the lower quantiles of tourism demand, while there was less negative impact at the higher quantiles. The findings of this study may assist in developing Saudi Arabia's tourism sector and economy by providing knowledge to policymakers, investors, and tourism promoters. This will enhance the development of tourism policies and increase the number of international tourists, a central goal of Vision 2030 to diversify the Saudi economy.40 0