Challenges to Cracking the Glass Ceiling among Saudi Women in the Tourism Industry

Women’s participation in the tourism workforce is growing intensely in response to Saudi Vision 2030. Notwithstanding this, Saudi women still have limited access to senior management positions. This study explores the barriers that Saudi women face to reach top managerial positions in the tourism industry and explores how Saudi women could crack the glass ceiling. For these reasons, this study undertook a phenomenological approach using in-depth interviews with Saudi women who were able to reach senior management. The purpose of the interviews is to explore their lived experience and their accessibility to senior management positions. The results of a thematic analysis showed that there were four overlapped barriers for the glass ceiling among Saudi women: cultural and social barriers, regulatory barriers, organizational barriers, and personal barriers. These main barriers have sub-barriers that contribute to the glass ceiling and prevent many women from reaching senior positions. This study shows that overcoming these barriers, particularly cultural and social barriers, could help Saudi women to crack the glass ceiling and achieve their dream of leadership. This study discusses the implications for policy makers, academics, and practitioners on the effective contribution of Saudi women to the tourism labor market, which contributes to sustainable tourism development and, ultimately, to Saudi Vision 2030

Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Students’ Learning Experience Using Microsoft Teams versus Social Network Sites

The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 forced governments to continue with distance learning. Due to the absence of a formal digital learning management system (DLMS), public universities in many countries adopted social network sites (SNSs), e.g., Facebook and WhatsApp, and/or digital communication platforms, e.g., Microsoft (MS) Teams and Zoom for teaching and learning. This research investigates students’ learning experiences and responses to course/s incorporating SNSs and MS Teams as a sole distance learning platform during COVID-19. An online, pre-tested, questionnaire was used, directed at bachelor students in public institutions in Egypt, offering tourism and hotel programs, who received their courses using both SNSs and MS Teams. The results showed that the usage of both SNSs and MS Teams helped students to access information and learning resources, have good impact on their knowledge construction and critical refection, and report overall positive learning experience. The results of paired-samples t-test showed statistically significant differences between students’ experiences of course/s incorporating SNSs and MS Teams. However, students recorded limited support by their educators and peers and low participation in course activities that adopted MS Teams. They also reported poor assessment and feedback with course/s that incorporated SNSs. Hence, several implications for scholars, policymakers, and educators were presented for achieving better learning experience and to cope with the pandemic or similar crises, especially in universities with poor infrastructure, including unavailability of DLMS

Excessive Food Buying in Saudi Arabia Amid COVID-19: Examining the Effects of Perceived Severity, Religiosity, Consumption Culture and Attitude toward Behavior

The current study builds on both the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to examine why consumers in Saudi Arabia engage in excessive food-buying behavior amid COVID-19. The study tests the direct impact of food consumption culture, perceived severity of COVID-19, and religiosity on excessive food-buying intentions and the indirect effect through attitudes toward excessive food buying. The results of the inner model using SmartPLS4 showed that the perceived severity of COVID-19 has a direct significant positive effect on attitudes toward excessive food buying and excessive food-buying intention. Despite food consumption culture being found to have no direct significant effect on excessive food-buying intention during the pandemic, it has a direct effect on attitudes toward excessive food buying. Surprisingly, religiosity was found to have a positive effect on consumers’ attitudes and excessive food-buying intentions. The results confirm that consumers misunderstood Islamic religious principles regarding food consumption, which does not accept excessive buying or food waste. Attitudes toward excessive food buying were found to mediate the relationship between food consumption culture, perceived severity of COVID-19, religiosity, and excessive food-buying intention. The results of the study are discussed and implications are highlighted for academics and policymakers

Do You Feel Safe Here? The Role of Psychological Safety in the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Turnover Intention Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Despite their significant role in the performance of hotel industry, hotel workers are suffering from high rates of turnover, due to several reasons, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had numerous negative consequences on hotel workers, including their intention to leave the job or/and career. This study is an attempt to investigate the impact of transformational leadership on turnover intention amid COVID-19 and how psychological safety can intermediate this relationship. The study used a quantitative research approach via a pre-test instrument, self-distributed and collected from hotel workers at different regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Valid responses from 1228 workers, analyzed through a structural equation modeling (SEM) of AMOS version 23, showed that transformational leadership has a significant negative impact on turnover intention as hypothesized. Nevertheless, it has a significant positive impact on psychological safety, whereas psychological safety has a significant negative impact on turnover intention. The most important finding of this study was the perfect mediating effect of psychological safety in the link between transformational leadership and workers’ turnover intention. This finding confirms that psychological safety has the ability to change the above-mentioned link. In other words, the presence of psychological safety ensures negative turnover intention, even if transformational leadership practices do not exist. The findings have implications for scholars and practitioners, especially in tourism and hotel context, in relation to the role of psychological safety and transformational leadership in creating a sustainable working environment to maintain a lower turnover intention

Challenges in Effective Implementation of Saudization Policy in the Restaurant Sector

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of the countries that heavily rely on expatriates, especially in the private sector, which includes restaurants. However, to overcome the increasing rate of unemployment, the government has adopted new quota up to 50% Saudi Arabian people in restaurants. Notwithstanding, Saudization has been more successful in public sectors than it has been in the private sector. The current study undertook a sequential mixed method approach, starting with a questionnaire for newly joined local workers in restaurants and supplemented with in-depth interviews with managers. The main purpose of the questionnaire was to understand how new local workers perceive their new jobs/careers in restaurants, while the managers’ interviews explored the challenges encountered in the effective implementation of the new quota in restaurants. The results of questionnaire showed that local workers had negative perceptions about their new jobs/careers. They perceived it as a “bad” and “disrespected” job and reported overall dissatisfaction with their new job. Newly joined local workers consider restaurant positions as a “transit job”, with no intention to continue it as a career or even recommend it to their friends and family members. Managers, on the other hand, identified six main challenges that are associated with this, albeit they are linked to the absence of a clear strategic framework and executive plan by the government for the effective implementation of the new quota. The plan has to clearly focus on the employability and mitigate the wrong assumption about working in restaurants due to cultural and social impacts. The plan should consider the needs of both employers and employees to promote sustainable career among local workers, which ultimately influences the sustainable development of restaurants in the KSA

Saudi Zero Food Waste Certification: A Novel Approach for Food Waste Management in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia (SA) is categorised as one of the nations with the highest food waste globally. However, this rate of food waste encompasses a high risk to the economy, society and environment. The government has prioritised food security and environmental sustainability in its Saudi Vision 2030; hence, the government has developed some initiatives for food waste reduction. However, these efforts have not achieved the desired outcomes, as there is no evidence that food waste was reduced after such initiatives. The current research reports the results of the first phase of a wider study on food waste management (FWM), which has undertaken a novel approach towards FWM in food service organisations in SA by integrating the perspectives of stakeholders: customers, managers and academics specialised in food management/service. The results of in-depth interviews with key stakeholders identified the main causes of food waste in food service organisations. The findings confirmed that causes of food waste are all associated with each other and linked to either the absence of strategic and legal frameworks, consumer behaviour or poor management of food chains in food service organisations. Solutions for effective FWM were discussed with key stakeholders. The research showed that there is a need for an integrated approach for FWM in each sector where food waste is apparent such as food service organisations. Hence, the Saudi Zero Food Waste Certification has been introduced as a novel approach for managing food waste in food service organisations

Do you feel safe here? The role of psychological safety in the relationship between transformational leadership and turnover intention amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Despite their significant role in the performance of hotel industry, hotel workers are suffering from high rates of turnover, due to several reasons, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had numerous negative consequences on hotel workers, including their intention to leave the job or/and career. This study is an attempt to investigate the impact of transformational leadership on turnover intention amid COVID-19 and how psychological safety can intermediate this relationship. The study used a quantitative research approach via a pre-test instrument, self-distributed and collected from hotel workers at different regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Valid responses from 1228 workers, analyzed through a structural equation modeling (SEM) of AMOS version 23, showed that transformational leadership has a significant negative impact on turnover intention as hypothesized. Nevertheless, it has a significant positive impact on psychological safety, whereas psychological safety has a significant negative impact on turnover intention. The most important finding of this study was the perfect mediating effect of psychological safety in the link between transformational leadership and workers' turnover intention. This finding confirms that psychological safety has the ability to change the above-mentioned link. In other words, the presence of psychological safety ensures negative turnover intention, even if transformational leadership practices do not exist. The findings have implications for scholars and practitioners, especially in tourism and hotel context, in relation to the role of psychological safety and transformational leadership in creating a sustainable working environment to maintain a lower turnover intention

Adopting an Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour to Examine Buying Intention and Behaviour of Nutrition-Labelled Menu for Healthy Food Choices in Quick Service Restaurants: Does the Culture of Consumers Really Matter?

This research aims to examine an extended model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to understand the determinants of consumers’ intentions to buy and recommend nutrition-labelled menu (NLM) items for making healthy food choices. The research examines the influence of attitude towards behaviour (ATT), subjective norms (SNs), perceived behavioural control (PBC) and health consciousness on consumers’ intentions to buy and recommend NLM. The research also examines the role of culture in shaping buying and recommendation intentions of NLM by undertaking a comparative study of the extended model among consumers in two different countries that have enough variation based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, i.e., the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Kingdom (UK). The results of questionnaire surveys analysed with SmartPLS version 4 showed that ATT, SNs and health consciousness significantly predict intentions to buy NLM items among KSA consumers in quick service restaurants (QSRs). However, PBC did not have a significant influence on KSA consumers’ intentions to buy NLM items. On the other hand, ATT, PBC and health consciousness significantly predict intentions to buy NLM items among UK consumers in QSRs. Nonetheless, SNs did not have a significant influence on UK consumers’ intentions to buy NLM items. The intention to buy NLM significantly predicts the intentions to recommend NLM among consumers in both countries (KSA and UK). The results of a multi-group analysis showed significant differences between the KSA and the UK regarding the influence of both SNs and PBC on consumers’ intentions to buy NLMs as well as on their indirect influence on intentions to recommend NLM items. The results value the role of culture in shaping consumers’ intentions to buy and to recommend NLM items for healthy food choices, which has numerous implications for international QSRs, policy makers, and academics

Developing a Healthcare and Medical School at King Faisal University: Implications for Educational Performance and Cost-Effectiveness

This research explored the potential of developing a university healthcare and medical school within King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, by merging four medical and/or healthcare colleges within the institution into a medical school. The objective of a medical school is to produce professionals who are capable of performing the most fundamental tasks in healthcare and medicine up to the expectations of the market. This research explored various case studies involving mergers, their importance, and how they were conducted to inform this research study. This study adopted a qualitative research approach to collect data from healthcare and medical colleges’ senior management, including deans, vice-deans, as well as heads of departments. The results showed several benefits of mergers, although some challenges were also raised. Culture, which some interviewees identified as change-resistant and risk-averse, was recognised as a key challenge for implementing mergers. Additionally, the need for generating funds for the merger projects was identified as a challenge at the start of the initiatives. Furthermore, compliance with regulations and laws at a public university is another challenge. This study identified the need for a strategic framework that builds on stakeholders’ involvement and proper communication and addresses the proposals’ repercussions. Some implications for educational performance and cost effectiveness were highlighted

Going Green Together: Effects of Green Transformational Leadership on Employee Green Behaviour and Environmental Performance in the Saudi Food Industry

Over the last few decades, environmental impacts have been a major concern not only for policymakers but also for scholars and leaders of organisations. The leadership of organisations can drive the green behaviour of their employees, thus driving the overall green performance of enterprises. In this research, we examined the direct influence of green transformational leadership (GTFL) on the environmental performance of food organisations and the indirect influence via green behaviour of employees. More specifically, we have examined the mediating effect of employee green behaviour, whether task-related or pro-environmental behaviour, on the association between GTFL and environmental performance. For this purpose, we adopted a pre-tested research instrument for data collection from 1050 employees in different food enterprises across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). We have used Amos structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the direct and indirect effects of GTFL. The results confirmed a positive significant influence of GTFL on both dimensions of green behaviour, i.e., task-related and pro-environmental behaviour, and on environmental performance. The results showed a partial mediating effect of task-related behaviour in the link between GTFL and environmental performance, whereas pro-environmental behaviour has a perfect mediation effect. The results highlight the dynamic role of pro-environmental behaviour in affecting the above link and send a crucial message to leaders in the food industry about prioritizing pro-environmental behaviour when selecting and recruiting new employees. Additionally, development programs should be conducted to enhance the pro-environmental behaviours among employees