Despite the lack of scholarly attention given to the voluntary sector in Saudi Arabia, the need for a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the NGO landscape in KSA has never been greater. Given Saudi Arabia’s global leadership in humanitarian and developmental aid and the growing scrutiny over the management of its non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially post 9/11, the Saudi voluntary sector finds itself at an important crossroads. Calls for introspection, renewed management, and improved mechanisms for evaluation, control and monitoring have steadily been growing. This study argues that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a central role to play in harnessing the NGO landscape of KSA. There are many benefits in the integration of ICT within the landscape of the Saudi NGO in providing better coordination and communication within and between stakeholders, knowledge and information transfer and sharing, the education and training for its staff and more rigorous evaluation, and the control and monitoring of initiatives. However, in order to advance the ICT agenda within the voluntary sector in KSA, a knowledge base regarding the sector’s attitude towards ICT adoption is essential. The aim of this study therefore, is to understand the dynamics of the technology adoption process in Saudi NGOs based on the experiences of Saudi NGO managers. Critically, the nature, i.e. whether technology adoption is based on personal, organizational or environmental and external factors, or a combination of these predictors forms the primary aim of this study. Second, the structure of technology adoption, in terms of determining which of these aforementioned factors generate a greater willingness to adopt new technologies forms a secondary objective. A third study objective seeks to deduce the managerial and public policy implications of a greater understanding of the nature and structure of technology adoption in Saudi NGOs. Post-positivist critical realist ontology is adopted to guide the mixed methods implementation of the research. An initial series of interviews with 12 Saudi managers is conducted to determine the key factors that influence technology adoption followed by the main element of the study, a survey of 287 NGO managers to test the conceptualization of technology adoption, and accompanying hypotheses, derived from the extant literature review and qualitative phase. Multi-variate, bivariate analysis and moderation analysis were used to test the proposed relationships. The initial interviews identified a modified version of the commonly applied technology acceptance model, the UTAUT framework, accurately reflected technology adoption in the Saudi NGO context and specifically proposed that the key predictors were a combination of personal factors (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived risk), external or environmental factors (government support and competitive pressure) and finally organizational factors (facilitating conditions and compatibility). Multi-variate analysis validated this multi-dimensional nature of technology adoption in Saudi NGOs, but did not find statistical support for perceived risk, government support and compatibility, and with the exception of social influence, nor for any moderating role of gender and age on the personal predictive factors. The study contributes to theory since previous studies exploring technology adoption have adopted unitary approaches whereas the current study validates a multi-dimensional perspective as more reflective of technology adoption in Saudi NGOs. The implications of this finding, and for the inclusion and exclusion of predictive factors, are discussed. Specifically, the implications for managers and public policy are also overviewed. Finally, this study concludes with limitations and recommendations for further research.

This thesis investigates economic growth in Africa using three empirical papers from a number of different angles. The thesis begins by investigating the effects of different natural resources on economic growth in Africa. Three exogenous natural resources proxies (for agriculture, fuels and minerals) have been constructed to account for endogeneity issues. Empirical results show that agriculture has a strong positive effect on economic growth, while fuels and minerals affect growth negatively in all specifications even after controlling for endogeneity, quality of institutions and economic policy. The results reject the notion for generalized natural resource curse and argue that the amalgamation of natural resources components into one measure may obscure differences in their respective growth impacts. The thesis also investigates the effect of total and sectoral (primary, manufacturing and services sectors) FDI inflows on total factor productivity (TFP) at a macro level, using a new dataset for TFP developed by UNIDO-World Productivity Database and employing instrumental variables 2SLS estimation technique to control for endogeneity problem. Empirical findings show positive and statistically significant effects from total and sectoral FDI inflows on TFP growth. The findings also show that services sector has the highest potential to accelerate TFP growth (especially through communications, and trade and business sub-sectors). Finally, the thesis considers the role of economic transformation in the form of increased manufacturing share in aggregate output in accelerating growth and reducing growth volatility in Africa. It examines the key determinants of growth in the share of manufacturing output (in GDP) and its relationship with real GDP growth and (growth) volatility. Empirical results indicate that real GDP growth and domestic investment are among the key drivers of growth in the share of manufacturing output and that growth in the latter has, in turn, the potential to raise GDP growth and reduce growth volatility.

Brand personality is considered as an important element in building and maintaining strong and valuable brands. Several brand personality scales have been proposed within the brand marketing literature, but no reliable and valid brand personality scale has yet been produced for the Islamic context. Therefore, scholars and practitioners have been unable to empirically assess brands‘ personalities, identity and image in such a context. In addition to developing a brand personality measure for an Islamic context, this study explored Islamic religious beliefs‘ influence on brand personality. A related scale was conceptually and empirically explored in this research, and the influence of Islamic religious beliefs on subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity and new religious compliant product adoption was investigated. The study also examines the moderation effects of the demographic variables of age and income, and the mediation effects of the constructs of subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, relative advantage, compatibility and complexity. This study advances the marketing knowledge by presenting a more critical and empirical understanding of the degree to which Islamic religious beliefs influence a brand personality measure, consumers‘ favouring or not favouring a brand‘s personality, and their adoption of new religious compliant products in religiously featured societies. The influence of Islamic religious beliefs on new product adoption generally has not been investigated previously, with exception of the study by Shabbir (2010), and more specifically no previous study has examined the influential relationship between Islamic religious beliefs and new religious compliant product adoption. Given that the value of while the religious markets‘ is expanding, with the Muslim market value alone estimated to be US$ 2.7 trillion currently, and expected to increase to US$30 trillion by 2050, this makes this study a valuable addition to the marketing management field. A quantitative methodology was employed to collect data from the three largest cities in Saudi Arabia: Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam; a total of 352 usable questionnaires were returned. After verifying raw data coding accuracy, the missing values from the raw data were assessed, and data tested for normality, outliers and multicollinearity. The brand personality scale development and the conceptual framework were assessed with 287 questionnaires. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to purify the scale, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to verify the scale and determine its psychometric properties. The hypothesised relationships were tested by employing structural equation modelling based on partial least square procedures. Mediation effects were examined using the Sobel test, and moderation effects were assessed using multi group analysis. The findings yielded a unique Islamic brand personality with four dimensions and 28 sub items, which contained one dimension with five religious traits. Gender, age and income were found to moderate some of the hypothesised relationships. Significant influence of Islamic religious beliefs was observed on the Islamic brand personality scale, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity and new religious compliant product adoption. The influence of Islamic religious beliefs on the brand personality measure was observed to be stronger than anticipated by this study. Also surprisingly it was found that the adoption behaviour differs between men and women with the same Islamic religious beliefs and values. Wealthy and educated participants were found to be more concerned with whether the personality of the products that they purchase contradicts with their Islamic religious beliefs or not. The developed Islamic brand personality scale will significantly support marketing managers who operate in the Muslim market to design a more desirable brand personality for their brands. Additionally, marketing practitioners will be helped understand the factors that affect their consumers‘ behaviour and purchasing activities, and carry out the segmentation process more effectively bearing in mind the differences observed between the age, gender and income groups. Finally, this study is one of the first that explores the links between Islamic religious beliefs, brand personality and new religious compliant product adoption in the light of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT). It develops a new Islamic brand personality scale and it is believed to provide a ground for different directions for future research.

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary approach to investigate decision-making in English local authorities, through an ethnographic, narrative framework. Based on fieldwork conducted between 2009 and 2010, the thesis explores several families’ experiences of local government policymaking. The thesis provides a new perspective on the constructions of communities and identities through policy design and implementation. The research has also paid close attention to local government practitioners, the organisations they work within and the roles they have played in the lives of the aforementioned families. The thesis shows how the practitioners’ decision-making creates an ethical narrative, which in itself can tell a story of how social and physical worlds are built. The thesis contributes to the community-based perspectives in public administration literature through the analysis of narratives and community identity construction. Employing the methodological approach of Critical Discourse Analysis, also involving aesthetic observations, the research shows how policymaking itself serves as a story-telling practice within local government. Making use of Traveller caravan sites as a stage, the research illustrates stories of building, managing and evicting sites, as a way to discuss localised power, citizenship and value-systems in present-day England.

Delivering a high standard of services to customers is recognised as an important objective for any service provider. In order to achieve this goal employees are encouraged to go about their jobs in certain ways, comply with guidelines and in accordance with the strategy drawn by the organisation. Although service quality is difficult to define and measure, research has not stopped looking for processes, tools and business practices so as to improve service quality performance. Literature suggests both practical tools to achieve organisational goals with respect to service delivery and offers theoretical foundations to examine the interrelationships between variables that contribute to those organisational goals. Despite an emerging interest in customer integration and customer co-production in service provision in the Marketing literature, little attention has been paid to the investigation of relationships between customer integration, customer co-production and service quality performance. Based on the facilities-transformation-usage framework of service delivery and control theory, we develop a conceptual framework that examines the impact of combining quality control initiatives (QCIs) on service quality performance. We explicitly consider formal and informal control mechanisms as well as selected elements of the organisation internal environment as antecedents of QCIs. Customer co-production is proposed as a consequence of QCIs, and it is proposed that when customer integration is high the relationship between customer co-production and service quality performance will be strengthened. The conceptual framework is tested using data drawn from hotel managers and employees across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; a total of 398 usable questionnaires were analysed. The relationships between variables are tested by applying variance based structural equation modelling. Moderator effects were tested using residual centring. The findings of this study reveal unique results. Environment characteristics positively influence controls in shaping employees’ behaviour. However, contrary to expectations, environment characteristics, specifically, greater procedural knowledge, greater performance documentation and organisational commitment did not strengthen the relationship between customer co-production and service quality performance. Similarly, the notion that higher levels of customer integration enhance the relationship between customer co-production and service quality performance is not supported. Finally, when customer co-production, which takes place when the customer takes a part in the core service provided is high, an improvement in service quality can be observed. The results of this study would benefit service managers to gain a better understanding of how QCIs influence the relationship between customer integration and customer coproduction and service quality performance.

One of the challenges faced by project managers is frequent change requests, which usually lead to changes in the scope of a project. Change has been said to be inevitable, and without change everything stagnates. However, ad hoc changes can be adverse, and in some instances cause whole projects to stagnate, or fail. Therefore, studies on the causes and effects of change requests are critical. The latest official reports about government projects in Saudi Arabia suggested that 62% experienced change in the contract, and one project had cancelled 80% of the items of the contract, which changed the project completely. The extent of this problem posed a need to study the cause of stalled projects in the Kingdom. Responding to these concerns, the aim of this research is to explore the conceptualization of change requests, and how they occur, the causes and effects of change requests and the current methods of handling change requests and how effective they are in large building projects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Based on the exploration the research provides a comprehensive analysis of issues surrounding change requests- including cultural impacts- from the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups, in a distinctive, under- researched context. This in turn leads to development of a conceptual framework for understanding change requests and diagnosing related problems. A qualitative approach and case study strategy was applied to study this phenomenon and to explore whether and how culture affects change requests in Saudi Arabia. Data collection was conducted by two means: Secondary data were collected from documents reporting change requests (n= 6) and change orders (n= 7) in large construction companies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 stakeholders of four large government construction projects: 4 owner representatives, 15 consultants, 4 project managers and 17 department managers. The findings revealed inconsistent and confused conceptualizations of change requests, and failure to distinguish between change requests and change orders. None of the projects had standardised, formally documented change request procedures, but relied on informal communications. A variety of causes for change requests, beyond those previously documented in the literature were identified, including internal causes arising from one or other of the project stakeholders, and external causes outside the stakeholders’ control. Direct effects included time and cost overruns, while potential (indirect) effects included lowered morale and productivity, and loss of reputation. However, there could also be positive effects, such as improved quality and client satisfaction. Change requests are currently handled ad hoc as they occur. The findings also revealed the impact of Saudi culture (notably power distance and uncertainty avoidance) on project management generally, and change requests specifically. It is concluded that change request frequency could be reduced and harmful impacts minimized by engagement of all stakeholders in the project design stage, use of a standard contract such as FIDIC to clarify parties’ responsibilities and protect their rights, and use of formal documented change request procedures. However, for Saudi Arabia and other developing countries, which may be using non-standard contracts and ad hoc change request procedures, the framework proposal in this study can be used to aid consistency and clarity among stakeholders, diagnose bottlenecks and identify appropriate solutions to minimize change requests and mitigate harmful impacts on projects.

This thesis presents a case-study based on the academic fields of Development Theory, Knowledge Management and Social Entrepreneurship that portrays the development history of a Mexican rural community (Huixcazdhá) that hosts a food processing company (San Miguel). The analysis uses concepts of human centered development and the Capability approach by Amartya Sen to describe the history of improvement of the wellbeing of people from the community thanks to the presence of the amaranth processing company. It also shows how despite the limitation in resources present in the environment where the business operates, San Miguel may be considered a knowledge creating company under the framework of Nonaka. Finally, it presents the personal history of the social entrepreneur in the establishment of a company with a strong social vision that completely integrates its business operations with the dynamics of the community. The research paradigm that provides light to the study is pragmatism; using case-study as research strategy and an inductive research approach, limitations intrinsic to these elements are discussed and tackled in the methodological design. The data collection stage included on-site observations in the company and community for a period of six months, carrying out thirty in-depth interviews to collect personal views of persons from the community who work in the company, and the analysis of different documents produced by the company, social entrepreneur, and external agents such as the media, government and other institutions. A Computer-Aided Qualitative Analysis Software (NVivo) was used to analyze all data obtained and to give shape to the conclusions drawn from the research. The main findings obtained in relationship to each of the fields of knowledge considered in the thesis are: In relation to Social Entrepreneurship, the ethical fiber as a personal characteristic of the entrepreneur is a major element that has not received enough attention; additionally the process to develop a social vision that captures a collective purpose with a transformative effect and a widespread reach to create and sustain social value is stressed. Regarding the field of Knowledge Management, the process of adapting the elements of a knowledge-creating firm in a rural environment with major limitations regarding the human and material resources is shown. In the field of Development Theory, a process view where primary assets of a community are turned into an expanded capability set that changes into a choice process to convert it into achieved functionings is introduced. Furthermore, the elements that connect the three fields based on pragmatism is introduced; particularly the spirits of bricolage, phronesis and distributed agency are analyzed and extracted from the empirical evidence as relevant elements in the construction of a successful experience of development.

My purpose with this PhD has been to provide a new foundation for systems practice in order to ground multi-method systemic interventions. The field of Critical System Thinking (CST), which was established to provide this grounding, finds itself immersed in a crisis called the “paradigm problem”. This has come about because it has sought to integrate different Western epistemologies in order to ground methodological pluralism. In particular, CST has uncritically assumed parallel worlds that speak different languages in its attempt to integrate different systems approaches informed by Western epistemologies that are not ontology-free. Hence, system practice is in need of a new ground to justify the use of different systems methodologies that avoids both a fractured universe and atheoretical pragmatism. I advance a ‘world-hypothesis’, which is essentially a world-image to explain reality. I have pursued a fascinating journey into systems philosophy and systems science to see the universe with new eyes. The result is a new world image called the One World of causally interdependent systems that competes both with the Common World of linguistic meanings constituted by society through language and with the Natural World of extended objects made of interacting parts. The One World hypothesis questions the authenticity of currently prevailing world-images and points to the possibility of a new age for systems thinking. However, controversially for systems scientists, the implication is that they need to give up on both the part-whole and the holarchy concepts. Importantly, if the One World hypothesis is to provide new grounds for systems practice and methodological pluralism, the picture of the universe has to be completed with an understanding of how conscious systems operate. Thus, I provide a scientific hypothesis and I postulate education as a future systems methodology to inform systemic interventions in conscious systems. I also encourage systems scientists and systems practitioners to work together to flesh out a multi-method skeleton to organize the field of systems practice. Finally, I propose the next phase of my own research, which will be to develop an educational systems methodology to improve conscious systems.

Corporate branding is a product of the late 20th century which often requires positioning the corporation in terms of its values, emotions, philosophy, and not just its products and services. Within the corporate branding discourse, corporate identity (CI) is held to be a key focal point. CI creates a sense of individuality for an organisation that can be used as a main source of differentiation. Thus, CI’s strategic instrumentality can be used as a means to achieve and maintain competitive advantage as customers can potentially identify with some aspects of a business, including its societal and cultural policies as well as its products and services. Furthermore, stakeholders are much concerned with corporate image and reputation which is based on elaboration of CI over time. As a result, interest in CI has accelerated in academic and business circles over the past ten to fifteen years. While the concept of CI has been widely discussed and defined in the literature, there is as yet no universally accepted definition and an agreement on what constitutes the construct has not been achieved, despite the fact that several explanatory frameworks and taxonomies have been developed. While these frameworks are of value to researchers in developing and structuring the nascent literature, they merely provide a platform for subsequent research. However, even the developed frameworks lack theoretical depth at this stage and do not provide a clear specification of the construct domain, which is considered essential given the ambivalent boundaries between CI and related constructs, such as corporate image, reputation, and corporate branding. Therefore, in many respects, overlapping and contiguous interconnections persist, obfuscating CI boundaries. In addition, they tend to adopt a metaphorical view of CI that continues, suggesting a broad, over-simplified and insufficiently operational theory. Moreover, despite the significance that CI research has recently been accorded, such research has largely ignored the moral aspect of CI and a theoretically informed body of knowledge, explaining the relationship between CI and CSR, does not exist. Informed by these issues and from a multidisciplinary perspective, this thesis aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of CI (its meaning, elements/dimensions, theoretical underpinning and measurement) and its relationship with CSR. This was achieved using an exploratory sequential mixed method research design, qualitative followed by quantitative research. The first phase was an exploratory interpretive phase which concerned an examination of the meaning and elements of CI, gaining insights into the nature of CSR in practice and an exploration of the relationship between these two strands from practitioners’ and experts’ viewpoints. This was based on the use of semi-structured interviews with twenty five senior managers responsible for CI, brand management, and CSR in fifteen leading companies operating in different industries in the UK as well as in three public relations (PR) agencies. Data analysis of the exploratory phase of research was informed by content analysis and Miles and Huberman’s (1994) approaches to qualitative analysis, and augmented by the use of NVivo9. Based on the findings of the first phase, a theoretical framework and an empirically testable scale for the CI construct were developed, and the relationship between CI and CSR was hypothesised. Consequently, the second phase concerned validating the CI framework and scale, testing hypotheses concerning the CI-CSR relationship, and empirically examining CSR engagement in practice. A completed sample (n=126) was obtained using surveys administered via postal mail to senior executives responsible for branding/marketing/communication and CSR functions in organisations operating in the UK’s food and beverage manufacturing sector. Data analysis involved the use of Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) utilising SPSS19. This helped purify the measure and reveal the dimensions structure. Then, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) were applied utilising SmartPLS. The application of CFA provided robust support for CI dimensionality validation and evidence for the psychometric properties of the scale while SEM enabled the examination of hypotheses between constructs. The findings show that CI is a third-order, hierarchical, multi-dimensional construct comprising six dimensions: corporate communications, corporate visual identity (CVI), behaviour, culture, mission dissemination, and founder leadership. Additionally, CSR comprises two dimensions: social responsibility and legal responsibility. Further, the findings support the assumption of this thesis that CI drives CSR, demonstrating the significant, positive influence of CI on CSR. The analysis also reveals the significant, positive indirect effect of individual CI dimensions on CSR. These findings have significant theoretical, managerial and methodological contributions to CI and CSR literature which are discussed in the Conclusions chapter. It is hoped that future research will build on these results so that further avenues can be explored.

Employees’ effectiveness is a long-term goal for organisations that seek to succeed and continue in the business world, which has become since the last decade of the twentieth century a world where there is no place except for the strong, because of intense competition on the local and international levels. This position has been imposed on business organisations by many factors, headed by globalization, economic and cultural openness and the global financial crisis. Human capital as a key success factor of business organisations receives the greatest attention especially in service organisations such as hospitals, universities, banks, restaurants etc. This is because the customer does not purchase a commodity directly, but receives goods as a supplement to the service. Therefore, customers are likely to assess the benefit they received through dealing with a certain organisation to get the service, and paying the cost of these benefits. Banks, as service organisations, rely on effective staff to achieving their strategic goals in terms of competitive advantage, customer service and achieving customer satisfaction through providing a high quality of banking services in an attractive manner. Therefore, the main challenge that faces human resource management is how to practise the related activities in order to gain the most effective employees. The main objective of this thesis is to identify the role of the HRM activities, recruitment and training methods, and employees' development, in achieving employees' effectiveness in Saudi banks. When studying a social phenomenon, focus often exceeds the known variables, to include cultural factors dominant in the research society, and because this study concerns the banking sector in Saudi Arabia, which is governed by Islamic culture, cultural factors will have important effects on HRM activities, especially, recruitment and training in terms of the prevalence of nepotism and cronyism in employment affairs. Therefore, the variables of this study comprised employees' recruitment and employees’ training and development, in addition to social culture and business culture as independent variables, and employees’ effectiveness as the output variable. This study was conducted upon a sample of four banks (two national banks, and two foreign banks) operating in Riyadh city. Data was collected from 512 employees, via a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with senior officials in HR departments in the four banks. The results of qualitative data analysis were fully consistent with the results of analysing quantitative data. The findings showed that the best strategy for employees’ recruitment is one based on using multiple methods of recruitment from all sources. Recruiting employees through coordination with universities was ranked first among recruitment methods, although it can be considered as response to the Saudization Policy, and simulation-based training is the most common in Saudi banks, ranking first among training methods.