READINESS OF THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SAUDI PRIVATE UNIVERSITY: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

July edition READINESS OF THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SAUDI PRIVATE UNIVERSITY: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY Adnan Iqbal 0 0 Assistant Professor, College of Business/ Prince Sultan University Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Yahya Melhem Associate Professor, College of Business/ Prince Sultan University Riyadh Saudi Arabia Husam Kokash Assistant Professor, College of Business/ Prince Sultan University Riyadh Saudi Arabia The purpose of this paper is to investigate the entrepreneurship perception and entrepreneurship intention of Saudi university students and to find out whether they are ready for the market challenges and risk taking which are part of entrepreneurial activities. The population comprised of students of one of the private universities in Saudi Arabia, a questionnaire survey was adopted to collect the primary data from the respondents whom they were randomly selected, total of 292 questionnaires were received. The study findings indicate the satisfying level of students intentions on entrepreneurship and their willingness to put their efforts in entrepreneurship activities. Furthermore, it is suggested that entrepreneurship education should centre on development of competencies related to entrepreneurship and cultural awareness. This study not only addressed the missing gap in current literature upon entrepreneurship, but provided implications for university educators. 1. Introduction: 2. Literature Review Entrepreneurial intent was defined as intent to own one's own business while in some studies; entrepreneurial intent was defined as intent to create a venture. Other studies never clearly defined what they meant by entrepreneurial intent (Dutta and Thornhill 2008). For instance, Johnson (2001) suggests a comprehensive definition of the entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial role: An individual who assumes responsibility and ownership in making things happen; is open to and able to create novelty; who manages the risks attached to the process; and who has the persistence to see through to some identified end-point, even when faced with obstacles and difficulties (p. 137). However, Krueger (1993) defines entrepreneurial intentions as a commitment to starting a new business. This is accepted as a more encompassing concept than merely owning a business; since intentions have been found to be immediate antecedents of actual behavior; intention models predict behavior better than either individual (e.g. personality) or situational (e.g. employment status) variables, and predictive power is critical to improving post hoc explanations of entrepreneurial behavior (Urban, Van Vuuren and Owen, 2008). Early researchers in the area of entrepreneurial intent, such as Ajzen (1991), note: personal evaluation of a behavior (attitude), socially expected mode of conduct (Social norm), and self-efficacy with respect to the behavior (perceived behavioral control) are very different concepts each of which has an important place in social and behavioral research (p.199). He asserts that people's attitudes can result into certain behavior. One's intention towards entrepreneurship can be considered as the primary predictor to becoming an entrepreneur. Krueger, Reilly and Carsrud (2000) conducted a study on American students facing career decisions. They found that intentions models offered strong statistical support for predicting entrepreneurial behavior. Similarly, Krueger (1993; cited in Basu and Virick (2008)), note that individuals attitude toward entrepreneurship are determined by external factors like previous experience, education. However, this notion is not fully explored. One of the best known models on attitude-behavior relationship is Fishbein and Ajzen (1980) theory of reasoned action, which describes purposeful behavior as a function of behavioral intentions (Martin and Fellenz, 2010). Researchers in this area, such as Krueger, Reilly and Carsrud (2000), suggested that intention models provide significant understanding about the entrepreneurial activities. These researchers have used Ajzens theory of planned behavior (TPB) on business students and found that model was significant and could be served as a valuable tool for understanding entrepreneurial intentions. 2.1 Review of Applications of Ajzens Theory of Planned Behavior The theory of planned behavior has received significant research support from different contexts (Hale, Householder and Greene (2003), Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaw (1998)). For instance, Ajzen, Joyce, Sheikh, and Gilbert (2011) carried out four studies (Study 1 (N=79), Study 2(N= 79), Study 3(N= 85) and Study 4(N-89), to examine the linkages between knowledge and the prediction of behavior. The study was based on the assumption that being well informed was a prerequisite for effective action to produce desired outcomes. The results revealed that attitudes, Social norms and perceptions of control were found to predict intentions to drink alcohol, to conserve the energy, to attend a mosque service, and to vote support for Muslim student activities; and these intentions were generally good predictors of the corresponding behaviors. Stone, Jawahar and Kisamore (2010) applied theory of planned behavior (TPB) for the prediction of cheating intentions and behaviors on the sample of 241 business graduates. They found that the TPB model was significantly related to the model components, attitudes, norms, control and behavior. Engle, Dimitriadi, Gavidia, Schlaegel, Delanoe, Alvarado, He, Buame, and Wolff (2010) test the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict entrepreneurial intent in 12 countries representing all ten of the global regional cluster as identified in the GLOBE project. A total of 1748 usable questionnaires were collected from university business students in 12 countries (Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Russia, Spain, Sweden and USA). The results suggest that Ajzens model of TPB significantly predict entrepreneurial intent in each of the study country. However one element of the model, social norms, was a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intent in each country (In Costa Rica it alone accounted for 40% of the variance in entrepreneurial intent). Maruf, Mohammad and Ramayah (2005) studied the two models for predicting intention to purchase via the internet in three Asian countries (Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore). The behavioral intention to purchase via the internet was examined as a function of attitude towards purchase, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of planned behavior (TPB). Results indicated that both models were significantly influenced the behavioral intention to purchase. The TPB (adjusted R2= 0.55), however, was better than TAM (adjusted R2 =0.44) in explaining behavioral intention to purchase. Further, study found that Social norm (= 0.21) as the significant determinant towards behavioral intention (...truncated)