The Role of Information Practices in Research Capacity Building: Perspectives from Saudi Female Academics Who Studied at Home and Abroad

Abstract

In 2016 the Saudi Government created the Saudi Vision 2030 which includes an aim to empower women to engage and participate fully in Saudi society (Saudi Vision 2019). In doing so, the Saudi Vision 2030 specifically mentions support for female academics by mechanisms such as encouraging them to undertake further education in order to enable them to develop their research capabilities. Further proposals include providing them with the opportunity to work in a wide range of academic positions such as university heads and other leadership positions. While these developments are positive, female academics remain disadvantaged compared with their male counterparts because of the legacy of gender inequality, and cultural and social barriers which have led to fewer opportunities to participate in research activities. In order to realise the aims of greater equality, female academics require additional support to build their research capabilities and to enable them to reach their full potential. These supports include collaborative support, and cultural, social, and institutional support.

Information practices include “information literacies, activities, skills and competencies required to inform participation, collaboration and performance in the work environment” (Lloyd 2016, p. 30). Information practice will be the key focus of this research because there is little understanding of the role of information practices in building the research capacity of female academics in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, information practices play an important role in every day and academic contexts. This research aims to investigate the role of information practices in building research capacity within the female academic community of Saudi Arabia. The main research question is: what is the role of information practices in building research capacity within the female academic community of Saudi Arabia? In order to answer the research this question, the following sub questions have been created: firstly, what are the factors that influence the research capacity building of female academics? secondly: what are the barriers that impact research capacity building amongst female academics? Also, what are the opportunities that impact research capacity building amongst female academics? and how can universities support research practices and capacity building amongst female academics?

This research adopts a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 57 Saudi female academics. This research involves female participants who have an academic career and experience in research, and from different geographical regions of Saudi Arabia that represent a range of cultural and academic backgrounds. The target respondents for this research were categorised into four groups: overseas students, academics who have studied overseas, academics who have studied in Saudi Arabia, and research centre staff. The researcher aimed to collect information from female academics with a wide range of academic and research backgrounds in order to meet the research objectives.

The results demonstrate the cultural and social factors which the participants said affected their working environments and research capacity. The cultural factors centred on gender discrimination, the gender relationships at work, as major concerns for many of the participants. The social factors were concentrated around the Saudi female academics’ family commitments which were explored largely in terms of the effect of their domestic and childcare responsibilities. The data also revealed many institutional and personal barriers that challenged research capacity and ultimately hindered achievements. The data from interviews also revealed many opportunities that enhanced research capacity and furthered achievements. These opportunities were categorised as individual, professional, and institutional.

In addition, participants identified several supports provided by universities for research and capacity building amongst female academics. They felt that the importance of networking, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing needed to be recognised by Saudi universities and encouraged. Better research facilities were needed, especially in the commonly under-resourced women’s sections of Saudi universities. There was general agreement that to support research, institutions needed to reduce workloads and develop academics’ research skills.

This research contributes to the understanding of information practices by adapting a contextualised academic information practices framework, which has been developed and further defined from that of (Widén, Steinerová and Voisey 2014). This framework has been developed in the context of Saudi Arabia and its culture and shows the factors affecting Saudi female academics’ research capacity, and how that capacity could be developed through improving information practices. The findings of this research underlined several implications that could help HE institutions in Saudi Arabia take into consideration the identified factors and barriers to implement strategies to overcome these barriers. This could be achieved through several strategies, e.g., networking, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing, recruiting high-quality academics, involving female academics in decision-making, developing research skills and research facilities.