While Saudi Arabia has demonstrated tremendous efforts in achieving the objective of sustainable development by encouraging sustainable procurement practices by the public and private organisations, there still exist significant hurdles blocking the full implementation of these practices. This study is an effort to empirically investigate the aspects of sustainable procurement practices by Saudi Arabian public and private organisations, particularly the nature, extent and main barriers to implementing those practices at the organisational levels. It also determines and analyses the relationship between an organisation’s, whether public or private, sustainable procurement practices and the barriers to implementing those practices. Using a structured questionnaire survey with 202 procurement directors/senior managers of those Saudi Arabian organisations, we employed multivariate and multiple regression techniques to achieve the study objectives. Our empirical results suggest that regardless of the ownerships and types of organisations, the current state of sustainable procurement practices seems overly negative, and the attitudes of top management as well as the cultural aspects of the organisations pose the main barriers to effectively implementing sustainable procurement practices at the organisational levels. We believe that this study provides an important benchmark whereby one could measure the progress of sustainable procurement practices at the organisational levels, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Depending on the similarity of the aspects of the organisations in other countries with those in Saudi Arabia, the benchmark would have wider applicability.

This exploratory study investigates the impacts of sustainable procurement (SP) practices on organizational performance by using the established scales of SP practices and organizational performances, taking Saudi Arabia as a case country. Data used in the study was collected through a questionnaire survey from procurement directors and managers. Regression and multivariate-based path analysis was performed to assess the impacts of SP practices. From the preliminary results, a significant association between combined SP practices and organizations’ financial performance was found. A mediational analysis was conducted to discover the direct and indirect effects of SP practices on financial performance. There was no evidence of a significant direct impact of the summary measures of SP practices on financial performance, while the indirect impact of SP practices via organizational nonfinancial performance on financial performance was found to be statistically significant. This study contributes to SP practice literature by developing a conceptual model for the outcomes of SP practices and establishing statistically significant relationships between SP practices, organizational financial performance, and mediating factors.

Objective: While macroeconomic and environmental events affect the overall economic performance of nations, there has not been much research on the effects of important macroeconomic and environmental variables and how these can influence progress. Saudi Arabia’s economy relies heavily on its vast reserves of petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, and copper, but its economic growth trajectory has been uneven since the 1990s. This study examines the effects of carbon emissions, rainfall, temperature, inflation, population, and unemployment on economic growth in Saudi Arabia. Methods: Annual time series dataset covering the period 1990–2019 has been extracted from the World Bank and General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection, Saudi Arabia. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration has served to investigate the long-run relationships among the variables. Several time-series diagnostic tests have been conducted on the long-term ARDL model to check its robustness. Results: Saudi Arabia can still achieve higher economic growth without effectively addressing its unemployment problem as both the variables are found to be highly significantly but positively cointegrated in the long-run ARDL model. While the variable of carbon emissions demonstrated a negative effect on the nation’s economic growth, the variables of rainfall and temperate were to some extent cointegrated into the nation’s economic growth in negative and positive ways, respectively. Like most other nations the short-run effects of inflation and population on economic growth do vary, but their long-term effects on the same are found to be positive. Conclusions: Saudi Arabia can achieve both higher economic growth and lower carbon emissions simultaneously even without effectively addressing the unemployment problem. The nation should utilize modern scientific technologies to annual rainfall losses and to reduce annual temperature in some parts of the country in order to achieve higher economic growth.

In general, foreign direct investments (FDIs) play a crucial role in driving a country’s economic development, promoting diversification, and enhancing competitiveness. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which heavily rely on the oil and gas sectors, are particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices. However, these countries have recognized the imperative of economic diversification and have increasingly turned to inward FDIs to achieve it. By attracting capital, advanced technology, and expertise from foreign investors, FDIs enable the GCC countries to expand their economic base beyond the oil and gas sectors. This diversification not only creates employment opportunities but also fosters resilient economic growth, ultimately leading to an improvement in the living standards of the local population. This study investigates the macroeconomic and environmental factors that potentially attract foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the long run. Additionally, the study explores the causal relationship between these factors and FDI inflows. The panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration is the primary analytical technique used, utilizing long time-series data from six GCC countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the period 1990–2019. The empirical results indicate that, in the long run, almost all independent variables significantly influence FDI in GCC countries. Variables such as GDP growth (GDPG), inflation (INFL), carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂), and urbanization (URB) are found to be highly significant (p≤0.01) in their impact on FDI. Moreover, unemployment (UNEMP) also positively and significantly influences FDI in these countries in the long run. Based on the key findings, strategies aimed at reducing persistently high unemployment rates, maintaining population growth, viewing FDI as a driver for GDP growth, and continuing with infrastructure development and urbanization are expected to attract more FDI inflows into GCC countries in the long run. Additionally, fostering both long-term economic incentives and creating a conducive business infrastructure for investors are vital for attracting inward FDI into any nation, including those in the GCC. This research would benefit various stakeholders, including governments, local businesses, investors, academia, and the local society, by providing valuable knowledge and informing decision-making processes related to economic development, diversification, and investment promotion.

We investigated the macroeconomic determinants of neonatal, infant, and under-five mortalities in Bangladesh for the period 1991–2018 and discuss implications of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) and Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4) for developing countries. We used annual time series data and the econometric techniques of Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) regressions for analysis. Determinants most effective in combating neonatal, infant, and under-five mortalities include variables such as ‘protecting newborns against tetanus’, ‘increasing healthcare expenditure’, and ‘making sure births are attended by skilled healthcare staff’. Employing more healthcare workers and assuring more and improved healthcare provisions can further reduce the neonatal, infant, and under-five mortalities. Developing countries with similar macroeconomic profiles can achieve similar SDG 3 and MDG 4 outcomes by emulating the policies and strategies Bangladesh applied to reducing child mortalities over the last three decades.