Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations

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    Exploring Online Learning and the Digital Divide: Perceptions and Challenges Among Students at Saudi Universities Post-Covid-19
    (The university of Sheffield, 2024) Altuwaijri, Njoud; Wagg, Sharon
    Background: The digital divide limits opportunities for individuals with limited internet access and digital literacy. The COVID-19 pandemic's increased reliance on digital technologies meant that the pre-existing disparities in digital access and utilisation were exacerbated, especially for disadvantaged populations. Aims: This study aimed to establish the nature, extent, and impact of the digital divide on e- learning experiences among Saudi university students based on students’ perspectives. Methods: Through a mixed study approach, utilising a questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended questions data was collected via WhatsApp. Results: Findings reveal that, although most university students have access to digital devices, the quality of these devices varied, and the quality of access varied. Additionally, most students had a high digital literacy rate. However, despite the convenience of online learning, the respondents revealed that online learning was not as effective. Conclusion: To improve learning effectiveness, digital equality needs to focus not only on technology access but also on the quality of access. Overall, this study echoes concerns about the effectiveness of online education due to rapid digitisation during the pandemic, as successful online education depends on access, quality of access, and digital literacy.
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    The Role of e-leadership on Remote Decision Making: Key Learnings from the COVID-19 Pandemic
    (Cork University Business School, 2024) Alsqeah, Latifah; Adam, Frederic; Treacy, Stephen
    This thesis investigates the role of e-leadership competencies in decision-making processes within private businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced a rapid transition to remote work, necessitating a deeper understanding of how leaders adjust to virtual environments and employ e-leadership practices. Despite the growing relevance of remote work, empirical studies on e-leadership remain scarce, particularly in the context of decision-making—a core leadership responsibility. This research addresses this gap by exploring the importance and impact of e-leadership competencies on remote decision-making and the value propositions these competencies present. The primary objective of this study was to investigate how e-leadership competencies influenced decision-making among private-sector leaders in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 crisis. A qualitative field study was conducted through interviews with 19 leaders from various private sectors, including software development, logistics, oil mining, and training services. These interviews provided in-depth insights into how leaders faced the challenges of remote decision-making during the pandemic. The findings indicated that leaders recognised two key e-leadership competencies, e-communication and e-technology, as crucial for facilitating remote decision-making. These skills enabled managers to maintain clear and consistent communication with their staff, utilising advanced technology to manage remote work successfully. Critical competencies such as e-trust, e-team, and e-change were also recognised as essential, highlighting their significance in building trust, managing teams, and supporting change in a remote environment. Interestingly, 70% of participants considered e-social competency crucial, yet not all leaders agreed, indicating differing viewpoints on the role of social skills in e-leadership. Through this analysis, two theoretical models emerged from the findings: i.A preliminary model of e-leadership competencies’ impact on remote decision-making processes. ii.A preliminary model of the value propositions of remote decision-making. These models identified seven key impacts influencing decision-making in a remote work environment, alongside five primary value propositions related to remote decision-making. This research makes several significant contributions to the IS field and practice. Firstly, it empirically validates and extends Roman et al.'s (2019) e-competency framework by applying it to the context of remote decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. This application resulted in the development of two preliminary models that explain the impact of e-leadership competencies on decision-making processes in remote work environments. Secondly, the study fills a significant gap in the literature by identifying new value propositions associated with remote decision-making. Lastly, the research broadens the understanding of e-leadership in the context of private businesses, offering practical implications for managing remote work during disruptions and contributing valuable insights to the literature on business continuity and e-leadership. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of how e-leadership competencies influence remote decision-making in a disrupted remote work environment. The findings highlight the essential role of e-competencies in navigating the challenges of remote work, offering both theoretical advancements and practical guidance for leaders facing similar situations in the future. As organisations continue to adapt to the evolving landscape of remote working, the insights from this study will prove valuable in understanding and enhancing the effectiveness of remote decision-making.
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    The Public's Perceptions of Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates in Saudi Arabia: trust, responsibility and the state Protection.
    (king's Collage London, 2024-08-29) Baamour, Shikah; Rothstein, Henry
    The imposition of COVID-19 vaccination mandates is commonly advocated as a measure to enhance vaccination coverage. However, the effectiveness of such mandates is contingent not only upon navigating potential legal, ethical, and psychological obstacles but also on the degree of public support and acceptance. This study employs a naturalist approach within the social sciences, utilizing self-administered online surveys as the primary data collection method. It examines public perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Saudi Arabia, with a particular emphasis on how variables such as trust in government, cultural attitudes towards collective responsibility, and the perceived protective role of the state shape public attitudes towards these mandates. Data was collected from 22 July 2024 to 4 August 2024 through Outlook Forums survey platform utilizing nonprobability convince sampling to assess the sample level of agreement to statements related to attitudes toward vaccine mandate, trust, the state protective role, autonomy, and collective reasonability. The study results highlight that, in collectivist societies like Saudi Arabia, many view vaccination as a social obligation, aligning with Islamic teachings that prioritize communal welfare over individual autonomy. Additionally, trust in the government plays a crucial role in public acceptance of vaccine mandates, with higher levels of trust correlating with greater acceptance. This correlation is stronger than the influence of the perception of the state's protective role in supporting vaccine mandates.
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    Impact of the COVID-19 on the digital health transformation in Saudi Arabia
    (University of Strathclyde, 2024-08-13) Shafi, Lina; Smith, Marisa
    Saudi Arabia has implemented on an ambitious transformation of its healthcare system under Vision 2030 national development goals. This research investigated how the unexpected COVID-19 health crisis impacted and accelerated the adoption of digital health tools across Saudi healthcare facilities. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was adopted to assess this emerging phenomenon. Secondary quantitative datasets from Saudi government reports provided objective adoption metrics indicating technology uptake before, during and after the pandemic, secondary qualitative analysis of academic literature and news articles offered contextual insights into user experiences, outcomes, and strategic responses. After collecting the data, findings revealed that while Saudi Arabia had made early investments in isolated digital health projects prior to 2016, efforts varied, and adoption rates were gradual. The Vision 2030 agenda recognised healthcare's centrality and made its digitisation a national priority. However, the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak became an unexpected inflection point that urgently catalysed innovation. New mobile health applications were rapidly developed and deployed for infection monitoring, sustaining virtual care access during lockdowns, and managing mass vaccination campaigns. Official statistics indicated over 20 million Saudi citizens registered on platforms like “Sehhaty” and “Tawakkalna” during the crisis. However, findings also highlighted persisting fragmentation between applications, interoperability issues impeding data exchange, physician readiness gaps limiting advanced analytics adoption, and ethical risks from swift digitisation without corresponding cybersecurity and privacy safeguards. As it enters post-pandemic recovery, progress is focusing on addressing these challenges by recommending unified governance frameworks, workforce upskilling programmes and localised regulations adapted from global best practices. In conclusion, COVID-19 accelerated Saudi Arabia's digital health transformation while revealing adoption challenges requiring concerted action. This research offers data-driven assessments of achievements, user outcomes, persisting limitations and forward-looking recommendations to inform ongoing strategic efforts to establish itself as a leading model of patient-centric, technology-enabled healthcare by 2030 in fulfilment of Vision 2030 goals.
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    LIKE PARENTS, LIKE CHILDREN? Investigating the Influence of Parental Vaccination Status on Children's Vaccination Uptake
    (New York Medical College, 2024) Abduljawad, Sahar; Knapp, Kenneth
    Background: Enormous efforts have been made to manage the spread and consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) through the creation of vaccines. Despite the availability of vaccines, the vaccination rate against COVID-19 for children remains low. Since parents play a major role in deciding whether to vaccinate their children, focusing on parental factors, such as the parents’ vaccination status, this study addresses a critical gap in comprehending the dynamics of children’s vaccination uptake. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 2021-2021 were analyzed. The sample had 5,433 respondents from the United States. Bivariate analysis and logistic regression were used to examine whether parental factors including parents' vaccination status influence their children's vaccination uptake. Results: The final logistic regression model showed that the odds of a child being vaccinated against Covid were 25 times greater if a parent was vaccinated as well as the odds were lower by 20% if a parent had previously tested positive for Covid; both were statistically significant (p-value < 0.001). Findings also revealed that children who received the Covid vaccine had statistically significant greater odds of having older ( ≥ 40), college-educated, high-income, and married parents. Hispanic or other non-Hispanic parents were more inclined to vaccinate their children compared to White non-Hispanic parents. Parents’ availability of health coverage and the presence of chronic health conditions were found to be not statistically significant.
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    EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL CAPITAL AND VOLUNTEERING ACROSS CONTEXTS
    (The Pennsylvania State University, 2024-05) Nassif, Majda; Mallinson, Daniel
    With the decline in social capital and volunteering rates in the United States, there is a cause for concern, especially since the decline is evident in college-aged individuals. With limited government spending on social programs and recurring crises like natural disasters and novel disease outbreaks, the need for volunteers will continue to increase. This dissertation investigates how social capital can be utilized to promote volunteering. It studies the relationship between social capital and volunteering at both the institutional and community levels of analysis. The study begins with a comprehensive scoping review of the literature. Chapter 2 examines the relationship between social capital and volunteering. Substantial research examines the causal linkages between social capital and volunteering, but it is scattered across multiple academic disciplines and types of volunteering. Further, researchers consider social capital either as a cause of volunteering, or volunteering as a cause of the growth in social capital. This makes directionality a point of significant debate, which is captured in the review. It also examines the volunteering fields that have been studied, the methods and theories used for these studies, and the specific indicators for measuring social capital. The study finds that most studies confirm social capital is developed through volunteering. It concludes with future research directions addressing the gaps identified in the volunteer sector, theory, methods, and measures. Chapter 3 starts with a broad view of declining government spending and the associated increase in the overall need for volunteers over time. However, this contrasts with the fact that volunteering rates have been declining in recent years, especially among college-aged individuals. This study fills a gap in the literature by examining how social capital and various institutional factors influence volunteering rates among college students. The study utilizes multiple linear regression analysis using data from the Social Capital Atlas and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The results show a positive association between two of the indicators used to measure social capital and volunteering rates. The results of the study shed light on the critical importance of social capital and other institutional factors on college student volunteering. These insights can guide interventions designed to promote volunteerism. Finally, Chapter 4 examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the relationship between social capital and volunteering. Most studies discuss community resilience, whereas others consider COVID-19 policies as a disruptor of social relations with the implemented measures such as masking and social distancing shutdowns. This chapter presents statistical analyses using Census data of US counties to test the relationship between social capital and volunteering before (2018-19) and during (2020-21) the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show the change in the dynamics of the relationship as pre-COVID-19, where higher social capital was associated with lower volunteering rates, whereas during the pandemic counties with higher levels of social capital had higher levels of informal volunteering.
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    LIVED EXPERIENCES OF SAUDI NURSES WORKING WITH COVID-19 PATIENTS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY
    (Barry University, 2024-05-08) Alharbi, Bandar; Colin, Jessie
    Background: Nurses in Saudi Arabia who have worked with COVID-19 patients practice under highly stressful conditions which threaten their health and ability to work. The negative impacts will continue to occur and may result in an unsafe working environment without an understanding of the lived experience of Saudi nurses working in a clinical setting. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of Saudi nurses working with COVID-19 patients. Philosophical Underpinning: A transcendental phenomenological qualitative approach guided by an interpretivist paradigm was engaged to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of Saudi nurses working with COVID-19 patients. Methods: The target population for the study participants was Saudi nurses who work with COVID-19 patients in Al Madinah City, Saudi Arabia. Purposive and snowball sampling was used. Data analysis was guided by Moustakas’ 1994 model of transcendental phenomenology. Results: Four themes emerged from fifteen study participants: Fearing COVID-19, Lacking Resources, Supporting and Encouraging, and Being Socially isolated. Conclusions: This study revealed that Saudi nurses face many challenges while caring for COVID-19 patients. The findings of this study have the potential to assist healthcare institutions in understanding the challenges nurses face while providing care to infected patients. These will enable institutions to devise strategies that effectively tackle these challenges and enhance the overall quality of patient care.
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    The Impact of COVID-19 Cases on S&P 500 Firms' Response to Quarterly Earnings Announcements
    (Cardiff University, 2024-01-24) Altamimi, Abdulrahman Abdullah; Wang, Q
    This study examines the relationship between macro-level COVID-19 news and the stock market's processing of firm-level earnings announcements among S&P 500 companies. Contrary to the prevailing theories positing that macro-news diverts attention from firm-specific developments, our findings suggest a contradictory enhancement of market sensitivity to earnings information during the pandemic. We observe that the market's immediate reaction to earnings surprises, as measured by cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) 0,1, does not significantly deviate across sectors in the presence of COVID-19 news. However, in the health sector, the sensitivity to earnings news is 3.06 times higher, implying an increased investor focus on firm-specific information. Moreover, the long-term CAR (2,61) investigation indicates a 71% amplification of the market's response to earnings surprises during the pandemic, demonstrating a nuanced dynamic where macro-news events, rather than obscuring, may indeed sharpen the market's attention to corporate announcements. These counterintuitive results, suggesting a 17% stronger sensitivity on days with macro-news announcements, suggest a complementary rather than substitutive relationship between macro-news and micro-level information processing. Our findings contribute to the literature on market efficiency and investor behaviour by challenging the conventional understanding of information assimilation in times of macroeconomic stress.
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    AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND RETAILERS' BUSINESS MODEL IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
    (University of Central Florida, 2023) Alfardan, Bader; O'Neal,Thomas
    This study aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 on consumer buying behavior and shifts in retail business models within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in response to the challenges introduced by the pandemic. The study had several objectives, including examining the global impact of the pandemic on retail consumers, analyzing variations in the effect on luxury and essential products, investigating the strategies employed by physical store retailers to address the consequences of COVID-19, and providing recommendations for retailers to operate sustainably in the future. To achieve these objectives, the study utilized a mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative research. Data was collected from 180 consumer respondents via a quantitative survey questionnaire and from eight retailers through one-on-one interviews. Reliability analysis was conducted using Cronbach's Alpha. Subsequently, the data was evaluated through frequency and cross-tabulation methods, while interview transcripts served to corroborate and contrast the quantitative findings. The study revealed that the COVID19 pandemic significantly altered consumer shopping patterns. There was a heightened demand for groceries, essentials, health and hygiene products, while non-essentials and luxury items experienced reduced demand. Consumers showed a preference for online retail platforms over traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Based on these findings, Saudi Arabian retailers are advised to exploit a hybrid model, blending online and physical stores in the post-COVID period, and to establish multiple online sales touchpoints. Luxury retailers, in particular, are encouraged to diversify their portfolio range to include value-for-money options, leverage social media marketing to promote their offerings, and improve consumer perceptions around online purchasing, specifically in the areas of delivery and return policies.
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    The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Dental Health Practices and Oral Health Outcomes in Children: A Scoping Review
    (Saudi Digital Library, 2023-09-15) Alsadoon, Mashael; Lodder, Annemarie; Heilmann, Anja
    Background: Oral health is a critical aspect of overall well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected children's oral health through dental clinic closures, disrupted school-based oral health programs, increased sugary snack consumption, and changes in oral hygiene behaviours Aim: The aim of this study was to undertake a scoping review of the literature on the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental health practices and oral Health outcomes in children. Methods: A literature search was carried out using three online databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) to select studies published between 2020 and 2023. The initial search included 516 results, which were subsequently screened based on their titles and abstracts. After screening process, 16 studies were considered for the final review. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to dental care for children, especially in lower income countries and among those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Health behaviours, such as brushing frequency and dietary habits, varied during the pandemic, with some children improving their oral care and food choices while others experienced declines. Dental caries prevalence increased, affecting children's quality of life, particularly when parents were distressed. Conclusion: The pandemic had adverse effects on the availability of dental clinics and has exacerbated inequality. It has also impacted children's Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQOL) and behaviour, leading to reduced brushing and increased sugar consumption. Parental involvement and education play a crucial role in addressing these issues.
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