There are many factors that affect academic achievement among first year college students in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of academic achievement of first year college students in Saudi Arabia by investigating the relationship between a selection of demographic, academic, and psychological variables and their effects on first-year students’ GPA. All first-year students admitted to the King Saud University in fall 2016 or spring 2017 were invited to complete a self-report survey. 1457 students have completed and submitted the survey. Multiple regression analysis was performed with all independent variables in order to determine whether there were any significant relations between the independent variables and academic achievement. Among the study variables, six variables predicted first-year students’ GPA. Those variables were high school, Saudi aptitude test, Saudi achievement test, gender, stress, and mother’s education level.

Dans cette thèse, j’étudie l’impact des inégalités salariales horizontales sur la performance des commerciaux. J’explore plus particulièrement les coûts relatifs aux comparaisons dont sont l’objet ceux qui sont considérés comme des références dans la force de vente. Grâce à des données relatives à la rémunération et à la performance de plus de 34000 commerciaux, et aux marques qu’ils vendent, je montre que le pouvoir des marques peut se substituer à la rémunération et contrecarrer l’effet négatif des inégalités salariales sur la performance. Par ailleurs, mes résultats suggèrent que la qualité du travail commercial peut également remplacer la rémunération et ainsi influencer la relation entre inégalités salariales et performance. De plus, je décris l’effet de la structure du capital des entreprises sur la gestion de la performance des forces de vente. Je conclus cette étude en montrant comment les responsables devraient tirer partie de leurs marques et de leurs activités commerciales, puisque la manière dont de nombreuses organisations commerciales rémunèrent leurs talents commerciaux se traduit par une augmentation de la dispersion des salaires. / This dissertation examines how horizontal pay inequalities in sales organizations impact salespeople’s performance. More specifically, I explore costs that arise through social comparisons with salient targets within sales organizations. I use compensation and performance data of more than 34,000 salespeople as well as data pertaining to the brands they sell, to show that brand power can substitute for pay and counteract the detrimental effect of pay inequality on performance. Moreover, my results suggest that job challenge can also act as a surrogate for pay, thereby affecting the relationship between pay gaps and performance. Further, I describe the effect of organizational ownership structure on salespeople’s performance management. Given that many sales organizations reward better performers by heightening pay dispersion, decision makers should carefully leverage their brand portfolio and sales team job assignments to soften the impact of pay gaps on salespeople’s performance.

<p>Osnovni problem ovog istraživanja je identifikacija indikatora performansi sistema socijalne za&scaron;tite i razvoj modela koji omogućuju monitoring i upravljanje određenim segmentima sistema socijalne za&scaron;tite, kao konceptualno i metodolo&scaron;ki novog pristupa koji će omogućiti unapređenje performansi, detekciju eventualnih neželjenih efekata i anomalija u sistemu prilokom uvođenja i tako obezbediti da se spreče sistemske zloupotrebe i umanje neželjeni efekti primene. Ovo istraživanje se zasniva na činjenici da određene regionalno zavisne fluktuacije parametara sistema indukuju odstupanje od matematičkih modela, &scaron;to jasno pokazuje gde su propusti koje treba re&scaron;iti odgovarajućim promenama zakonske regulative i podzakonskih akata na osnovu kojih se sprovodi odgovarajući sistem socijalne za&scaron;tite.Predloženi model i koncept transformacije e-uprave u pametnu upravu biti će testiran u okviru programa dečijeg dodatka, kao studije slučaja i jednog od najvećih segmenata sistema socijalne za&scaron;tite, a dobijeni rezultati će moći da se iskoriste za kontrolu i unapređenje sličnih složenih podsistema u okviru celokupnog sistema socijalne za&scaron;tite.</p> / <p>The main problem of this research is the identification of indicators of the performance of the social protection system and the development of models that enable monitoring and management of certain segments of the social protection system, as a conceptual and methodologically new approach that will enable improvement of performance, detection of possible adverse effects and anomalies in the system during the introduction. to prevent systemic abuse and reduce adverse effects of administration. This research is based on the fact that certain regionally dependent fluctuations in the system parameters induce deviation from mathematical models, which clearly shows where the flaws to be solved by appropriate changes in the legislation and bylaws on the basis of which the corresponding social protection system is implemented. The proposed model and the concept of e-government transformation into smart governance will be tested under the child-allowance program, as case studies and one of the largest segments of the social protection system, and the results obtained will be able to use for the control and improvement of similar complex subsystems within the overall social protection system.</p>