Social Entrepreneurship in Kingdom Saudi Arabia Reflection Paper You should take extensive notes about the experience (academic notes, photos, your persona
Social Entrepreneurship in Kingdom Saudi Arabia Reflection Paper You should take extensive notes about the experience (academic notes, photos, your personal feelings etc.).After this you should develop your perception of the experiences through academic reading and engagement with research. Lastly, you should write a reflection about the experience itself, your personal learning and how your reading discusses the experience in terms of entrepreneurship. Reflections should be a minimum of 400 wordseach and should contain a range of sources(including academic).If you are attending an event which you think will develop your entrepreneurial skills, knowledge or attitude please tell me about it and it may be accepted.You should try to incorporate some character of your own into this it should feel like a scrapbook of ideas and entrepreneurial examples, things that you found interesting over the semester, drawings etc. Whatever you think formed part of your entrepreneurial journey.The document can be formatted and presented however you would like, as long as the written aspects outlined above are included. It is entirely up to you. You will be graded on the comprehensiveness of the portfolio, the creativity incorporated into it (creativity of design and/or creativity of thought), your personal reflections and learning, and how your learning relates to academic content. The Entrepreneurial Career
Intentions and Behavior of KSA
University Students
2019
GUESSS National Report 2019
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)
GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
Executive Summary
Introduction to the GUESSS KSA 2019 Report
The GUESSS (Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey) project is a global
research initiative designed to examine the entrepreneurial intentions and activities of students at
university. The survey was conducted between September and November of 2018 involving 54
countries and over 208600 students. In Saudi Arabia, 1641 students completed the survey, the
results of which are reported herein.
Analysing the Saudi responses, the majority of students were under 25, Saudi nationals, unmarried
and female (1446 or 88.7%). The majority of responses (88%) came from five universities: Princess
Nourah University, Al-Baha University, King Saud University, Prince Sultan University and Jaizan
University. Most students began their university degree in 2015/2016 and were full-time
undergraduate students. 6.6% (109) noted they had a regular job in parallel to their studies. Together
the disciplines of Business/management, Computer Sciences/IT, Arts/Humanities and Human
medicine/health sciences accounted for over 60% of the students in the survey.
What are the career choice intentions of students in KSA?
Directly after university, most students would like to become an employee in a large business, or in
the public service. The least popular career option for graduates was business succession (taking
over a family or other business). When asked to consider their career five years after university, the
most popular career was entrepreneur (36.44%, 598). There was an increase of 30.8% on the number
considering the entrepreneurial career immediately after graduation. The option of succession rose
marginally in the career intentions of students five years on, however the career option of working
as an employee in a non-profit organisation was low at both stages.
What are the entrepreneurial intentions of students in KSA?
Findings indicate that students of Science of art (e.g., art, design, dramatics, music) were more likely
to pursue entrepreneurship directly after their studies than any other field (15%), with natural
sciences reporting the lowest intentions (2%). Students of business/management entrepreneurial
intentions were 40% higher 5 years post-graduation, moving from 32 students intending on
entrepreneurship post-graduation to 211. In considering their entrepreneurial skills, students
noted a highest perceived competence in being a leader and communicator but lowest in
building up a professional network.
730 (44.49%) of students were trying to start their own businesses or become self-employed, while
161 (9.81%) 0.19% had one at the time of survey. Male students had a statistically more positive
association with being an entrepreneur than females. There were statistically higher entrepreneurial
intentions from the children of entrepreneurial parents. Students perceived that close family, friends
and fellow students would be supportive if they chose entrepreneurship as a career choice.
What do we know about aspiring student entrepreneurs in KSA?
In total 21% (N=345) of students were identified as aspiring or nascent entrepreneurs. 15% of these
intended to start their company immediately after finishing their studies, and over half intended to
start within eighteen months of completing studies. Just over half the students (51%) were unsure
whether they wanted the business to be their full-time occupation. Almost 38% reported they were
acting alone, 32.5% co-founders and 25.8% wished to find co-founders but had not yet. 47% had
taken no tangible steps towards starting their business at the time of survey completion.
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
What do we know about active student entrepreneurs in KSA?
Of the 161 student entrepreneurs, the majority indicated their companies were recently formed with
0/1 employees. 28.1% wanted this business to become their main occupation once graduated. While
respondents felt very connected to their companies, 34.5% (N=51 of 148) of the students did not
feel that they would happily spend the rest of their career with their start-up. Over half noted they
had relatives in their ownership team.
What are KSA students intentions for family business succession?
513 or 31.3% students noted their parents were self-employed or were owners of a business,
however despite this 64% (322) did not consider it a family business. The main areas of industry
which respondents indicated their parents were involved in were: 1) Other; 2) Construction and 3)
Trade. 68% of the children of business owners/founders indicated that they did not intend to engage
in family business succession, i.e. they did not intend to take over the family business. Examining
how much the business was discussed at home, visits made to the company, verbal and emotional
encouragement for succession, the results indicate that family business parents in the KSA region
have quite varied attitudes about succession. While 72% of the students felt a loyalty to the family
business, many (71.8%) did not feel an obligation to take it over and 227 (46.4%) of the children of
business owners did not feel they owed anything to their parents business.
What do we know about students working in start-ups?
Thirty students indicated that they worked in a start-up company in a low to medium position. For
the most part, responses indicated that the students tended to enjoy their culture and colleagues in
their company. Many also indicated that they attend external events to network for the company to
increase learning in the start-up ecosystem.
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ……………………………………………….2
Acknowledgements ………………………………………………..6
The International GUESSS project: Key information …..8
Key Findings of International Report 2016-17 …………. 10
Introduction to the KSA context …………………………….. 11
GUESSS Study Saudi Arabia 2018/2019 ……………… 13
1. Student Information ………………………………………….. 14
1.1 Age and Gender of students ……………………………… 14
1.2 Nationality, Religion and Marital Status …………….. 14
1.3 Universities ……………………………………………………. 15
1.4 Level of Education and Field of Study ………………. 15
2. Student Career Choice Intentions ……………………….. 17
2.1 Career Intentions of Student Sample …………………. 17
3. Intentions towards Entrepreneurship …………………… 19
3.1 Entrepreneurial Intentions of Students ……………….. 19
3.2 Intentions to Found a Business by Field of Study … 20
3.3 Share of Aspiring (Nascent) and Active entrepreneurs
21
3.4 Attitudes and Perceptions of Entrepreneurship ……. 21
3.5 Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy …………………………… 22
3.6 Society Perceptions ………………………………………… 23
4. Entrepreneurship and Education …………………………. 24
4.1 Institutional Support for Entrepreneurship………….. 24
4.2 Within Course Development of Entrepreneurial Competencies
24
4.3 Students taking Entrepreneurship Related Classes . 25
5. Aspiring (Nascent) Entrepreneurs……………………….. 27
5.1 Timing of Forthcoming Business………………………. 27
5.2 Approximate Ownership in Business …………………. 27
5.3 Economic Sector of Forthcoming Business ………… 27
5.4 Activities Undertaken towards Entrepreneurship … 28
6. Active Entrepreneurs ………………………………………… 29
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
6.1 Student Company Information………………………….. 29
6.2 Student Company Business Environment, Behavior and Performance 30
7. Family Business and Succession ………………………… 32
7.1 Family Business Information ……………………………. 32
7.2 Influence of Parents Occupation on Entrepreneurial Intentions
34
7.3 Family Business Succession: Support and Encouragement from Parents
35
7.4 Family Business Succession: Perceived Sense of Obligation 38
7.5 Family Business Succession: Affective Commitment40
8. Working in a Start-up ……………………………………….. 42
GUESSS NATIONAL TEAM SAUDI ARABIA…… 44
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
Acknowledgements
The GUESS KSA team would like to express their sincerest gratitude to Princess Nourah bint
Abdulrahman University (PNU) and Dublin City University (DCU) for their support to the
national team. Our most profound thanks goes to all students who participated in the KSA 2018
survey and to the universities which facilitated the distribution of the survey to their students.
We would like to express our thanks to the GUESSS global project team led by Prof. Philipp
Sieger for their efforts in organizing the global research project. Our gratitude extends to Dr.
Zyad Alzaydi, Dr. Bedour Alrayes, and Mr. Khalid Alkhodair for their help in the survey
distribution.
The GUESSS KSA Team
Dr. Dalal Alruabsihi
Princess Nourah bint
Abdulrahman
University
Dr. Roisin Lyons
Dr. Ghadah Alarifi
Dr. Ann Largey
Dublin City University
Princess Nourah bint
Abdulrahman
University
Dublin City University
CITATION
Alrubaishi, D. A., Lyons, R., Largey, A. & Alarifi, G. (2019). The Entrepreneurial Career
Intentions and Behavior of KSA University Students. GUESSS National Report 2019:
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Riyadh, KSA.
DISCLAIMER
Although data used in this report is collected by the GUESSS consortium, its analysis and
interpretation for the 2019 GUESSS Report for KSA is the sole responsibility of the authors.
The authors, for their part, have attempted to ensure accuracy and completeness of the
information contained in this publication. No responsibility can be accepted, however, for
any errors and inaccuracies that occur.
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
The International GUESSS project: Key information
The GUESSS (Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey) project is a global
research initiative designed to examine the entrepreneurial intentions and activities of students
at university. The main goals of the GUESSS project relate to:
1. The start-up process: GUESSS helps to systematically record the founding intention
and activity of students on a long-term basis, and makes a temporal and geographical
comparison possible (panel study).
2. The University: GUESSS offers a temporal and geographical comparison providing
universities with insight into the organization of entrepreneurship (e.g. in the form of
entrepreneurship courses, founding climate, infrastructure, etc.).
3. The Individual: GUESSS allows for a temporal and geographical comparison of
individual-based characteristics that impact the founding intention and activity of
students. The survey is conducted every two years.
The international project was developed by Prof. Dr. Philipp Sieger (Swiss Research Institute
of Small Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Gallen). Every 23 years, a
global data collection effort takes place and has previously been conducted seven times (2003,
2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2016).
In 2018, 54 countries participated in GUESSS. This led to a dataset with more than 208600
completed responses from students from more than 1000 universities. For every participating
country, there is one national team which coordinates data collection in that country. There
have been numerous resulting academic articles and reports which have disseminated
knowledge relating to family firm progression, career choice and entrepreneurial intentionality.
GUESSS data has been used for several publications in leading international academic journals
such as Journal of Business Venturing (JBV) and Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice (ETP).
Impact in practice is generated through numerous international and national project reports, as
well as policy recommendations and action.
The GUESSS data collected internationally is disseminated via a series of individual national
reports and one integrated international report. The report herein pertains to the results obtained
from the study undertaken in KSA in 2018. The global GUESSS report will be released in
Summer 2019.
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
International Report 2016/17
http://www.guesssurvey.org/resources/PDF_InterReports/GUESSS_2016_INT_Report_final5
.pdf
Principle Researchers:
Prof. Philipp Sieger University of Bern / GUESSS Project Manager
Prof. Urs Fueglistaller & Prof. Thomas Zellweger – University of St.Gallen (KMU-HSG /
CFB-HSG) Members of the GUESSS Supervisory Board
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
Key Findings of International Report 2016-17
The international GUESSS Project 2016-17 received more than 122,000 completed responses
from 50 countries and over 1,000 universities. Selected key findings include:
Career intentions directly after 3 rd level: Internationally, the large majority (80.3%) of
students intend to become employees directly after their studies, while 8.8% of students
intend to work in their own business directly after studies.
Career intentions five years after 3rd level: 38.2% intend to work in their own business five
years after completion of their studies. The share of intentional founders in developing
countries is considerably higher than in developed countries.
Career intentions by gender: There appears to be a gender gap whereby females were
found to have weaker entrepreneurial intentions than males, yet this margin varied between
countries.
Career intentions toward entrepreneurship is linked to parental background:
Students with entrepreneurial parents have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than
students without entrepreneurial parents, yet this effect depends on the parents
entrepreneurial performance.
Aspiring Entrepreneurs: There were 21.9% of all students in the international study in
the process of creating their own business. 34.9% of them plan to complete the venture
creation process within one year. 18.6% intend to create the business alone; all others plan
to have co-founders.
Current Entrepreneurs: In the international study, 8.8% of all students already run their
own business. On average, these businesses employ 6.3 employees (full-time equivalents).
Ernst and Young (EY) is the global research partner for the GUESSS Research Project
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
Introduction to the KSA context
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is an Islamic Arab country located in the Arab peninsula
in south-west Asia. KSA is the second largest country in the Arab world, with a population of
33,413.660 million inhabitants in 2018, 37% of which are non-Saudi immigrants seeking
economic opportunity. Of the Saudi citizen population, approximately 58% are under the age
of 30.
KSA is one of the 20 largest economies in the world. It is the worlds largest oil producer,
where oil production has served as a source of capital for the government to fund developmental
projects and support economic growth. However, the dependency on oil as the main source of
income has made the Saudi economy volatile to fluctuations in oil prices leading the
government to implement a plan to diversify the economy. In 2016, the government introduced
Vision 2030, a plan to reform the Saudi economy towards a more diversified and privatized
structure.
Today, entrepreneurship is an essential part of KSA strategic economic planning. In 2016, the
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Authority (Monshaat) was established with the
aim to support entrepreneurship and SMEs in the country and increase their contribution to the
economic development. The government has also introduced many policies and public
programs to facilitate access to capital and support start-ups. Additionally, key stakeholders
such as universities and corporates have initiated programs aimed at serving entrepreneurs.
According to the 2017/2018 KSA Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, 69.7% of
the Saudi population believe that starting a new business is a desirable career choice. Similarly,
69.2% believe that those successful in starting a new business enjoy a high level of social status
and respect. These results are very close to the global percentages reported in the global GEM
report 2017/2018. Such positive perspective indicates that the societal environment in KSA is
considered supportive for start-ups and entrepreneurial activities.
Historically, higher education in KSA has received a huge support from the government as part
of the development process. Currently, KSA has 42 public and private universities, and 13
community colleges with a total number of around 2 million students. The Ministry of
Education is currently encouraging the increased inclusion of entrepreneurship courses and
initiatives in universities as part of the its strategic objectives to achieve Vision 2030. The
establishment of Prince Mohammad bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship
(MBSC) in 2016 is one key example of this governmental support for entrepreneurship
education in the country.
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
Since entrepreneurship is one of the main drivers in the development and diversification of the
Saudi economy from reliance on oil, investigating the Saudi students intention to pursue an
entrepreneurial career path is pivotal for the future of the country. Thus, the results of this report
are instrumental for practitioners and policy makers in making plans to enhance the
entrepreneurial spirit of the young generation.
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
GUESSS Study Saudi Arabia 2018/2019
The international data study was conducted between September and November of 2018. For
the KSA study, the online survey was disseminated by Dr. Dalal Alrubaishi and Dr. Ghadah
Alarifi through a number of participating universities in the country. In the KSA study 1641
students completed the survey. The analysis of the data and creation of the report (English
edition) was conducted by Dr. Roisin Lyons and Dr. Ann Largey.
STUDENT INFORMATION
CAREER INTENTIONS
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS
ACTIVE ENTREPRENEURS
FAMILY BUSINESS / SUCCESSION
WORKING IN A START-UP
Figure 1: Elements in the Report
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GUESSS 2019 Report: KSA
1. Student Information
1.1 Age and Gender of students
Student respondent ages ranged from 16 to 58 years old.
female (reasonably due to the participating universities). In total,
Age (years)
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