International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the main challenges that startups face in Saudi Arabia. It tries to identify the wave of opportunities that come along with startups and analyze the main factors for success and sustainability. A sample of 40 respondents was established. According to the survey results, consumer-oriented activity dominates startup activities. Startups remain mainly dependent on non-equity funding. The first challenge that startups encounter is finding funding. Saudi startups are more focused on product innovation. Most of the respondents think that aspects of the entrepreneur's personality and skills play a significant role in the success of startups.    

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of overeducation on several job attitudes and outcomes. The study is based on cross-sectional survey data from 398 Saudis in the labor market. Drawing upon a person-job fit theory, two different self-assessments—direct self-assessment and indirect self-assessment—are used to examine how overeducation influences job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and job performance. The results of the hierarchical regressions suggest that overeducation across the two measures is significantly negatively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment, while significantly positively related to turnover intentions, even after controlling for different confounding variables. However, no significant impact was found for job performance. Furthermore, despite the slight differences in terms of the magnitudes of their effects, the two self-assessment measures of overeducation largely overlap and yield similar conclusions. These findings confirm that except for job performance, overeducation—as a form of person–job misfit—is an important predictor of job attitudes and outcomes. The current study extends the existing literature by providing comparative empirical evidence on the impact of overeducation in Saudi Arabia

This paper examines the impact of audit committee characteristics on the performance of Saudi listed banks. Data are collected from the annual reports of Saudi listed banks from 2010 to 2018. To test hypotheses, this study applies the random effects model as the main method of analysis, while the ordinary least square (OLS), the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), and the panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) methods are used for robustness check and additional analysis. The empirical results indicate a significant positive effect of audit committee independence on all measures of bank performance (ROA, ROE, Tobin’s Q). The empirical results of this study also provide important implications for regulatory bodies and market participants in Saudi Arabia and developing countries to understand the actual role of different attributes of the audit committees on firm performance.

The aim of this study was to identify the impact of HR activities on competitive advantage in private schools. The study uses primary data collected with the help of a well-structured questionnaire that was developed and distributed among a sample of 92 respondents (49 female and 43 male), questionnaire results were statistically analyzed to test the hypotheses that were developed to identify the impact of HR activities on competitive advantages. Multiple regression analysis was used as a statistical tool and technique to identify five key elements: recruitment and reward system, training and skill development activities, organization climate, employee participation and empowerment; and effective communication system to determine competitive advantage in private schools in Jordan. The results indicated that there is a statistically significant effect of HR activities on the competitive advantage; On the other hand, there is no impact of other variables.

The self-employment issue has attracted the attention of both researchers in the field of economies of labor and policymakers. This paper investigates the main determinants of being self-employed in Saudi Arabia including age, gender, qualification, earning, and non-financial benefits cited by the self-employed workers in the Saudi labor market. However, very limited previous research has discussed the subject of self-employment determinants altogether. The analysis uses the "household survey" Labor Force Direct Survey LFDS for Saudi Labor Market to investigate individuals’ determinants for being self-employed and to have a better explanation of self-employed jobs and their determinants. Estimates are presented on a sample of 1100 participants who became self-employed by 2017. The data provide detailed information on self-employment that allows analyzing the complete set of determinants that controlled self-employment. The descriptive statistics show that the self-employed tend to be young males aged between 20-35 years, with a preference of working in the telecommunication sector, with a high school certificate, and with a monthly earning target between 7001-10000 SR. Findings show that the most cited reason for the male at 90% was a preference for being one’s own boss. For females, the most cited motivating factor about 89% was ‘the opportunity to raise more money.    

Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally transforming accounting practice by displacing traditional data-processing tasks, augmenting auditing functions, and reshaping the professional competency requirements of financial reporting. While these technological developments generate substantial efficiency gains, they simultaneously introduce unprecedented ethical challenges, including algorithmic opacity, accountability diffusion, bias propagation in automated judgment, and the erosion of professional scepticism — that threaten the integrity of financial reporting and the public trust upon which the accounting profession's social licence to operate ultimately depends. This paper develops a rigorous, theoretically grounded analysis of the intersection between artificial intelligence and accounting ethics, drawing on institutional theory, agency theory, virtue ethics, and the stakeholder trust framework to diagnose how AI adoption reconfigures the ethical architecture of financial reporting and to prescribe the governance, professional, and regulatory responses required to safeguard ethical standards and trust in this transformed environment. The paper makes three original contributions: first, it develops a multi-dimensional taxonomy of AI-related ethical risks in accounting, distinguishing technical, professional, and systemic risk categories; second, it proposes the Ethical AI Accounting Governance Framework (EAAGF), an original implementation model that integrates algorithmic governance, professional ethics renewal, regulatory adaptation, and stakeholder assurance mechanisms; and third, it situates these contributions within a comparative empirical analysis of AI adoption experiences across major accounting contexts, integrating evidence from surveys, regulatory reports, and case illustrations. The paper argues that the central challenge is not whether AI will transform accounting — this is already occurring — but whether the profession, regulators, and organisations can collectively construct the ethical governance infrastructure required to ensure that transformation advances rather than undermines the accountability, transparency, and trust that constitute the profession's foundational social purpose.

Research on organizational sustainability (OS) remains a global debate. Consequently, organizations have become increasingly interested in adopting leadership styles to drive sustainability goals. Thus, in the present study we examined the impact of green transformation leadership (GTL) on OS and its dimensions (environmental, social, and economic), focusing on the mediating role of green talent management (GTM). We employed a quantitative methodology, using questionnaires for data collection and SPSS (version 25) and AMOS (version 23) for data analysis. The sample consisted of lower-level leadership, including executive management and department heads from Egypt’s renewable energy organizations. We gathered 250 valid responses. The findings indicate that GTL has a positive impact on OS both directly and indirectly through GTM. Also, we found that GTM mediates the relationship between GTL and OS. These findings strengthen the view that the effectiveness of GTL is fundamentally reflected in the adoption of sustainable strategies and is the cornerstone for enabling an organization to achieve OS. Our research addresses a gap in the literature by examining the impact of GTL on OS while considering the impact of GTM, which previous researchers did not consider. In addition, we provide managerial implications for renewable energy organizations as well as limitations and directions for future research.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the main challenges that startups face in Saudi Arabia. It tries to identify the wave of opportunities that come along with startups and analyze the main factors for success and sustainability. A sample of 40 respondents was established. According to the survey results, consumer-oriented activity dominates startup activities. Startups remain mainly dependent on non-equity funding. The first challenge that startups encounter is finding funding. Saudi startups are more focused on product innovation. Most of the respondents think that aspects of the entrepreneur's personality and skills play a significant role in the success of startups.    

This paper examines the impact of audit committee characteristics on the performance of Saudi listed banks. Data are collected from the annual reports of Saudi listed banks from 2010 to 2018. To test hypotheses, this study applies the random effects model as the main method of analysis, while the ordinary least square (OLS), the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), and the panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) methods are used for robustness check and additional analysis. The empirical results indicate a significant positive effect of audit committee independence on all measures of bank performance (ROA, ROE, Tobin’s Q). The empirical results of this study also provide important implications for regulatory bodies and market participants in Saudi Arabia and developing countries to understand the actual role of different attributes of the audit committees on firm performance.

The aim of this study was to identify the impact of HR activities on competitive advantage in private schools. The study uses primary data collected with the help of a well-structured questionnaire that was developed and distributed among a sample of 92 respondents (49 female and 43 male), questionnaire results were statistically analyzed to test the hypotheses that were developed to identify the impact of HR activities on competitive advantages. Multiple regression analysis was used as a statistical tool and technique to identify five key elements: recruitment and reward system, training and skill development activities, organization climate, employee participation and empowerment; and effective communication system to determine competitive advantage in private schools in Jordan. The results indicated that there is a statistically significant effect of HR activities on the competitive advantage; On the other hand, there is no impact of other variables.