Perceptions to start up business as a career choice among saudi female higher education students

Abstract

This study explored factors inspiring female university students in Saudi Arabia to choose entrepreneurship as their career choice. This explorative empirical study sought to explore this phenomenon in the context of a culture of socialization strongly attached to religion and steeped in tradition. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey administered to female university students. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to identify influencing factors. The results mostly support previous study findings on perceptions about the drivers of females’ aspirations in venture creation. Entrepreneurship and business-related courses and media roles are recognized as the most influential factors explaining reasons for the choice of occupation and career. However, this study found only mixed support for these variables. Interestingly, this study found that social learning theory was negatively and significantly related to the decision of female university students to start up a business as a career choice, opposite to previous findings. The findings will assist relevant authorities in facilitating an increase in female entrepreneurship to contribute to the national Vision 2030.