The increasing use of the internet has created a new opportunity for companies to disseminate different types of information to their current and potential investors via the internet. This type of voluntary disclosure, Corporate Internet Reporting (CIR), can improve the disclosure quality and the transparency to satisfy all users’ needs. Furthermore, corporate governance has attracted considerable global attention, especially after the collapses that have occurred in the financial markets. Recently, a growing interest has evolved in exploring corporate governance in emerging markets due to the increased demand for transparency by stakeholders. To provide new insights, this study aims to explore the extent of CIR, examine its relationship with some corporate governance and firm characteristics variables, and to determine the impact of CIR on firm financial performance. These associations are investigated by employing a quantitative method dependant on a multi-theoretical framework. The study uses a self-constructed disclosure index, which includes 196 items, to measure the CIR of 170 Saudi listed companies. The findings indicate that the level of CIR is, on average, moderate compared to their counterparts in developed countries. Further, the empirical results reveal that firms which are large in size, with low liquidity rate, distribute dividends, have board which is meet less frequently and have less independent members in the audit committee are more likely to have high CIR level. In addition, the results indicate that firm growth, leverage, industry type, audit type, board size, board independence, role duality, block holder ownership, directors ownership, institutional ownership, government ownership, audit committee size and audit committee frequency of meeting appear to be insignificant predictors for CIR total. However, the findings show that the significance of these variables varies among the CIR components: content, presentation, timeliness, usability and audit. Finally, it is statistically evident that CIR has no significant impact on firm financial performance in Saudi listed companies. These findings suggest that further effort is required to enhance the awareness of good corporate governance and that other variables may be more relevant to CIR in the Saudi context.

abstract: Delays are a major cause for concern in the construction industry both globally and locally in Saudi Arabia. This paper identifies the main causes of delay in infrastructure projects in the holy city of Makkah (Saudi Arabia) and compares these with projects around the rest of the country and other Gulf countries as well. Data were obtained from 49 infrastructure projects that were undertaken by the owner and were analyzed quantitatively to understand the severity and causes of delay. 10 risk factors were identified in this study and these factors were grouped into four categories. The average delay in infrastructure projects in the city of Makkah was found to be 39%. The most severe cause of delay was found to be the land acquisition factor. This highlights the critical land ownership and acquisition issues that is prevailing in Makkah. In addition to this, other factors include contractors’ lack of expertise, haphazard underground utilities (line services), and re-designing. It is concluded that majority of delays were caused from the owner’s side as compared to contractors, consultants, and other project’s stakeholders. This finding was in line with the research findings of the Gulf Countries Construction (GCC) Industry’s literature as well. This study will fill an important practice and research gap for improving the efficiency in project delivery for infrastructure projects in the holy city of Makkah and the Gulf countries at large. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction 2015

abstract: ABSTRACT The current Saudi Arabian (SA) procurement system leads to many losses in money and benefits in projects. Also, the use of the traditional procurement system in SA has been identified as one of the causes for poor performance in the delivery of construction and the major risk to the SA government. A questionnaire has been developed and carefully designed based on literature review. The purpose of the survey was to identify the validity of the recent claims that the procurement system in SA is broken and to improve the current SA procurement system. The questionnaire was sent out to 1,396 participants including included 867 engineers, 256 consultants, 93 contractors, 35 owners and 132 architects and 13 academics. All participants have been registered and licensed professionals at the SA Council for professional engineers, who work in both private and public sectors. The participants are interested in the SA procurement and contracts system with experience ranging from one to more than twenty-five years with the majority of twenty-five years of experience in common construction sectors such as; residential and commercial buildings, healthcare buildings, industrial building and heavy civil construction. Most of the participants from both private and public sectors agreed with the survey questions subject matter regarding: zone price proposals, contractors' evaluation, risks, planning, projects' scope, owners concern and weekly risks reports (WRR). The survey results showed that the procurement system is the major risk to projects, affects construction projects negatively and is in need of improvement. Based on the survey and literature review, a model, called Saudi government performance procurement model (SGPPM), has been developed in which the most expert contractor is chosen through four phases: submittals& education, vendors selection, illustration and execution. The resulting model is easy to implement by SA government and does not require special skills or backgrounds. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Construction Management 2017

abstract: The issue of women driving remains to be highly debated in Saudi Arabia. Recent developments on its legalization have sparked conversation and discourse, particularly in social media sites like Twitter. Several hashtags have been used to indicate either support or criticism towards the movement. Examining Twitter tweets and hashtags, the study explored how the discourse on women driving had been executed, particularly in between genders. The study analyzed a sizeable number of tweets as well as their context via linguistic corpora analysis. Following Norman Fairclough’s framework, the two opposing perspectives were investigated both at a level of textual analysis. The selected tweets were representative of the three hashtags that emerged on the heat of the discourse regarding the issue of women driving in Saudi Arabia: #Women_car_driving, #I_will_drive_my_car_June15, and #I_will_enter_my_kitchen_June15. The results showed, among others, that tweets with the hashtag #Women_car_driving presented a tremendous support towards the movement. On the other hand strong opposing reactions emerged from the hashtags #I_will_drive_my_car_June15 and #I_will_enter_my_kitchen_June15. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Linguistics and Applied Linguistics 2017

This study aims to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the information technology services in academic libraries in Saudi Arabia and to propose ways in which these services could be developed. The methodology applies theoretical models, questionnaires and structured interviews. Two models were developed to investigate the behaviour of academic staff and students, the first representing users' cognitive attitudes and the degree of user-satisfaction with the services provided. The second model examines interactions between the university administration, computer centres and libraries. Questionnaires and interviews have been used to generate empirical findings. The main findings concentrate on the following issues. Most respondents had used computers either on or off campus. Use of computers at the selected universities was found to vary significantly. Respondents from science faculties were found to use technology more than other users. IT systems, network infrastructure and the availability of qualified staff were, to varying degrees, found to be a constant source of concern and a hindrance to the provision of effective services. There was no consistent pattern of use and there was frequently a failure to provide any service at all. The only means for academic staff and users to gain access to the Internet was through departmental provision as, at the time of this research, this was not available in the libraries. A lack of funding, qualified staff, programmers and connections to the computer networks are regarded as major reasons for not providing efficient electronic services to users. The main recommendations of this study are that coordination and co-operation between libraries, making full use of technology, should be established. Universities should lobby the Finance Ministry to argue for a change in the regulations to allow libraries to generate their own revenue in order to enhance existing services. University administrations, computer centres and academic departments should establish formal procedures to provide effective electronic services to users. The present provision of training facilities for both staff and students needs to be extensively reviewed and enhanced.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility, practicality and desirability of establishing a virtual university using Internet-based technology in Saudi Arabia. The intention would be to deliver higher education in order to accommodate the rapid growth in the number of secondary school graduates. This is regarded as one of the most important challenges currently facing higher education institutions, particularly universities in the Kingdom. The questionnaire in this study was designed to obtain respondents' views in relation to the proposed model. It was distributed to 996 teaching members (male and female) at three major universities: KSU, IMIU and KAU. The number of questionnaires returned was 538; this represents about 57% of the total sample. The majority of respondents (about 67.7%; N= 364) suggested that establishing a virtual university in Saudi Arabia was appropriate to meet the increasing demand for higher education. Group B represented the highest percentages of agreement at around 92.7%, while Group A represented nearly 60.2%. In contrast, the remaining 32.3% of the total number of respondents believed that there are alternative available solutions that can be utilised in order to overcome this problem. Almost 19.0% stated that they would like the private sector to take its responsibility seriously and begin autonomously, or collaboratively with the Saudi government, to construct more traditional colleges and universities in all regions of the Kingdom. Around 51.1% were in favour of the MI-IE, on behalf of the Saudi government, taking full control of higher education provision, introducing more traditional public colleges and universities throughout the Kingdom. Finally, almost 29.9% appreciated any effort made by the current traditional universities to increase their capacity to absorb more students now and in the future. Interviews were carried out in order to gain respondents' opinions on the overall situation. These interviews were composed of two sets: the first set was conducted with various decision-makers at the HESC, the MMHE, KSU, INIIU, and KAU. The second set was conducted with the Director of IU at KACST, the Manager of Internet Services at STC, and one representative of the ISPs in the Kingdom. The outcomes revealed that, in recent times, the higher education system in general and universities in particular have encountered, in addition to the rising number of secondary school graduates who wish to pursue higher education, other problems such as a lack of equal educational opportunities, a lack of educational quality, increased drop-out rates and a lack of interest in learning by some students, a lack of well-forged and mutual relationships between universities and the private sector, and so on. The application of SSNI, which made use of the results of the questionnaires and interviews, determined and confirmed the improvements needed to surmount these limitations. The proposed system encompasses strategic planning, content, communication technology and relevant systems for central support. Each part of the system was logically built to carry out certain activities that work in harmony with the others in order to achieve the mission of the entire system. The study concluded that a virtual university was both systematically desirable and culturally feasible; therefore, recommendations were made for its implementation.

Built heritage sites, which symbolise, represent and reveal valuable parts of any nation, require special attention including a visionary policy covering regulations, legislation and so on. Built heritage conservation policy worldwide has developed in the last four decades towards using heritage sites for tourism development. This thesis attempts to explain the evolution of built heritage conservation policy in Saudi Arabia, from the first conservation efforts in the 1970s to 2015, through the case study of Historic Jeddah. Jeddah is an ancient costal city on the Red Sea. Considered the main gateway to the holy cities of Makkah and Al-Medina since the 7th century, it has grown and developed with notable Islamic influence. The defensive wall which stood from 1509 to 1947 preserved the ancient city to the present day, where the remainder of the historic walled city is called Historic Jeddah. This is the only historic urban centre in Saudi Arabia that remains inhabited with its urban and architectural authenticity. The thesis argues that its survival has been assured by three successive built heritage conservation policies: Matthew’s Policy (1970-2006), the SCTA Policy (2006-10) and the UNESCO Policy (2010-20). The research traces these three built heritage conservation policies by investigating in depth three analytical dimensions: the policy contents, the actors involved and the actual impacts (interventions and interactions) on the built environment of Historic Jeddah. The research is based on the hypothesis that the focus of built heritage conservation policy in Saudi Arabia has shifted from preserving national identity and legacy (mainly represented by structures of state power) towards using built heritage sites for the purpose of developing international tourism, especially after the recent attempts to inscribe a number of national heritage sites on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. The evidence used to test this hypothesis comes from the examination of a range of documents, archives and conservations projects since the 1970s, as well as interviews conducted with various Saudi heritage stakeholders.

This study tells the life stories of four Saudi female artists. Using life story narrative approach, I focused on the following research questions: How are Saudi female artists fulfilling their aspirations as artists in the conservative Saudi society? What are the common and divergent themes in the life stories of the Saudi women artists, namely Safeya Binzagr, Maha Almalluh, Tagreed Albagshi, and Fida Alhussan? The artists were interviewed using open-ended questions and asked to discuss their artwork. The postmodern feminism and social construction theories were used to understand their life experiences and how they came to be “successful artists” in the conservative Saudi society. The findings showed that family and formal education played an important role in these women’s life journeys as artists. The Saudi society was also a major influence, sometimes supporting them, at other times obstructing them. These artists share many personality features such as being persistent, believing in themselves, taking risks, facing challenges, being independent, being responsible as artists and as part of society, and being honest in their artwork. This study contributes to the art education curriculum in Saudi schools and universities. Globally, it contributes to women’s studies and to social and cultural studies in shedding light on the Saudi society, especially as it is experienced by women.

Saudi Arabia has, in recent years, experienced a remarkable development in publishing, due to the expansion of education, the encouragement of writers and publications by the government, and the Islamic heritage. In this context, a National Bibliography is a vital ingredient in promoting publications and encouraging their wider use. The objective of this study is three-fold: to find a model for National Bibliography in the KSA; to consider this proposal in the context of Arab national bibliographies and in the light of broader international aspects. The method of study involved reading a wide range of works on the subject, including papers and conference documents as well as books. Interviews were conducted with individuals and organisations connected with the subject. Description and analysis of works in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Tunisia were made according to the following plan: publisher; need and aim; scope of coverage (period, subject, type and number); organisation; bibliographical description; and depository law. Most of the bibliographic works produced in the KSA have been for specific purposes, appearing at different periods and often overlapping. They cannot themselves be regarded as a retrospective national bibliography but could be useful in producing one. Egypt and Tunisia are chosen for study as both have experienced similar problems to the KSA and both have a tradition of regular national bibliography. In both countries, the National Library produces the National Bibliography. Their experiences are considered useful for positive adoption of successful features and avoidance of shortcardngs in setting up a Saudi National Bibliography. In addition, a wider examination of Arab Bibliography and international definitions and practices has been made. Deposition law, as a vital feature of successful bibliography production, has also been considered for the main countries studied and for others. The National Library of Saudi Arabia should be the body to publish the prospective National Bibliography, benefiting fron the examples given above. Recarmendations are made for the administration and working of the New Bibliography.

This master's thesis analyzes and redesigns the current performance design of the Main Library in Najran University campus, Najran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to achieve a completely energy independent and off-grid building. The research demonstrates the energy development in KSA, investigates and analyzes the project, and studies the energy systems. Climate data for Najran city was generated and analyzed in Climate Consultant 6.0. The research examines case studies from hot-arid climates that are responsive climatically. In addition, the energy generation and storage systems are calculated and specified to the building and its site; Quick Energy Simulation Tool (eQUEST) was used to analyze and simulate the energy use in the existing building. Furthermore, Revit software was utilized to develop the project design and simulate daylight intensity for indoor and outdoor spaces. Additionally, Cool Vent simulated the natural ventilation for the building for the low-energy performance case and the high-energy performance case, and direct passive evaporative cool towers were simulated in COOLT software. Appropriate building envelopes, passive cooling strategies, and native landscapes are applied to the off-grid case. Solar power generation outcomes, wind turbines output, batteries size are optimized in HOMER energy simulation software; thus, this off-grid building generates electricity more than its use, then, stores the extra energy in batteries banks. Through this research energy independency was accomplished with a reduction in total energy consumption by 64%, and human thermal comfort levels were attained in the proposed design.