Entrepreneurial Intentions: Factors Influencing Intentions Among Arab Students Factors Influencing Intentions among Arab Students: Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship can be defined as the process and mindset to initiate and develop economic activity. Studies have shown entrepreneurship to be a crucial driver of economic growth. This study sought to examine the factors that influence entrepreneurial attitudes among students in Arab countries. More specifically, it sought to examine the role of universities, role models, the entrepreneurial curriculum, and students' demographic characteristics in promoting Arab students' entrepreneurial attitudes. The study employed a quantitative research design, where data was gathered from a sample of 1500 undergraduate Arab students in government universities, and subjected to one-way ANOVA tests. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) was used to draw additional conclusions from the gathered data. The results showed that Arab students acknowledge the role played by universities, the entrepreneurship curriculum, role models, and demographic variables in influencing their attitudes towards entrepreneurship. Universities and the entrepreneurial curriculum were found to be the greatest influencers of students' entrepreneurial attitudes, ahead of role models and demographic variables. However, the low overall mean showed that most students do not believe that these institutions have played their role satisfactorily. Regarding the moderating effect of demographic variables, ANOVA results showed that age, academic major, and work experience were not important determinants of students' entrepreneurial attitudes. However, one's country, their gender, and academic level were found to be significant influencers of entrepreneurial attitudes. Male students were more entrepreneurially-inclined than their female counterparts, and so were those in third and fourth years of study, compared to those in their freshman and sophomore years. The overall finding of the study was that universities need to play a more profound role in influencing students' entrepreneurial attitudes

Factors Influencing Preference towards Entrepreneurship among University Students in Arab Countries

The European Commission defines entrepreneurship as the process and mindset to initiate and develop economic activity (European Commission, 2003). The continued uncertainty about the economy, signified by a declining number of corporate recruiters fosters the appeal of new business launching and self-employment (Schaper & Volery, 2004). Studies have shown entrepreneurship to be an effective driver of economic growth and a sustainable source of competitiveness amidst emerging trends of globalization (Schaper & Volery, 2004). According to the authors, entrepreneurship drives growth through technological change, innovation, job creation, and wealth generation (Schaper & Volery, 2004). Over the last 15 years alone, large corporations and Fortune 500 companies have eliminated millions of jobs through retrenchment plans; yet entrepreneurial discoveries have yielded an yearly average of 600,000 new incorporations, and generated millions of job opportunities (Morris & Kuratko, 2002). These findings explain researchers' continued interest in studying the impact of entrepreneurship on growth, and the factors influencing the development of entrepreneurial attitudes among different segments of the population. Most of these studies have, however, focused on western economies, leaving knowledge gaps in relation to the effects of the same in other regions such as Africa and the Middle East.

This paper seeks to identify the core variables influencing youths' attitudes towards entrepreneurship in selected Arab countries in Africa and the Middle East. It is based on an empirical study conducted among a sample of 1500 undergraduate students pursuing business-related degrees in Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Considering the importance of entrepreneurship on the modern-day economy, the current study will provide meaningful insights on how universities and other institutions of higher learning could provide entrepreneurial support to their students to enable them start their own business ventures.

1.1 Problem Statement

A 2009 report by Silatech and Gallup on the entrepreneurial attitudes of Arab youth identified three factors that youth consider to be the greatest obstacles to success in life: the necessity of personal connections (wasta), lack of awareness on new employment initiatives, and inadequate educational systems that do not offer effective job training (Gallup...

The report carefully states that Arab youths hold complex attitudes towards entrepreneurship - most of them believe that entrepreneurship leads to wealth and job creation, yet solid majorities do not harbor entrepreneurial intentions, neither do they believe they can make good entrepreneurs (Gallup Inc., 2009).
This mismatch between entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial intentions among Arab youth is reflected in a study by Almobaireek and Manolova (2011) involving 59 MENA countries. The study showed that although Arab youth consider entrepreneurship a good career choice, most of them do not harbor serious entrepreneurial intentions (Almobaireek & Manolova, 2011). In Egypt, for instance, 77.7% of respondents indicated their agreement with entrepreneurship as a good career choice, yet only 24% mentioned harboring serious entrepreneurial intentions (Almobaireek & Manolova, 2011). The situation is even more worrying in Saudi Arabia, where 86% of youth consider entrepreneurship a good career choice, and only 1% are inclined to take up entrepreneurial opportunities (Almobaireek & Manolova, 2011). Moreover, only 7.7% of respondents believed that they were adequately trained and qualified to start and sustain their own businesses.

The Almobaireek and Manolova (2011) study presents an interesting finding about the impact of successful role models on Arab youth's entrepreneurial intentions. The study findings depict a mismatch between youth's perceptions about successful entrepreneurs in their countries, and their own inclination to take up entrepreneurial opportunities (Almobaireek & Manolova, 2011). In Egypt, for instance, 89.5% of respondents indicated respecting and according successful entrepreneurs high statuses in society, yet only 24% indicated being influenced by these high statuses to take up entrepreneurial opportunities (Almobaireek & Manolova, 2011). The case was no different in Saudi Arabia, where the statistics compare 92.3% to 1% (Almobaireek & Manolova, 2011).

The findings from these studies beg the question, 'how effective is the educational system and curriculum in Arab countries in equipping students with entrepreneurial skills?' Moreover, what is the impact of role models in shaping Arab youths' attitudes towards entrepreneurship? These two questions drive the current study.

1.2 Study Objectives

Based on the background provided in the preceding section, this study seeks to realize the following objectives:

i) To examine the role of universities in promoting entrepreneurship on Arab university students' preference towards entrepreneurship

ii) To determine the impact of role models in influencing Arab students' preference towards entrepreneurship

iii) To examine the effect of the entrepreneurial curriculum and content on Arab students' preference towards entrepreneurship

iv) To examine the moderating effect of demographic characteristics on Arab students' preference towards entrepreneurship

1.3 Significance of Study

The study provides crucial insight to policymakers in MENA countries. Its findings will go a long way towards assisting them in the formulation of effective policies for enhancing entrepreneurial skills among university students. University administrators will better understand the roles that their institutions could play in fostering entrepreneurial development among students. They will understand the influence of role models and demographic variables such as gender on students' preference towards entrepreneurship. This way, policymakers and course designers will be able to come up with effective frameworks for instilling entrepreneurial skills among students. Consequently, more students will be inclined to learn entrepreneurship skills, and the country as a whole will benefit from increased growth and low unemployment levels.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 The university's role in promoting entrepreneurship and students' preferences towards entrepreneurship

Researchers concur that universities can play a crucial role in building entrepreneurial skills among students; however, their performance in this regard is far from perfect (Salem, 2014; Iqbal et al., 2012). In his study seeking to analyze the role played by Saudi Arabian universities in shaping entrepreneurial intentions among students, Salem concluded that "most universities have not fully integrated entrepreneurship programs in their curricula" (Salem, 2014, p. 630). Most institutions, the author posits, only offer entrepreneurship programs in economics and business studies, leaving students in other academic fields such as technology, mathematics, and computer science with no such exposure (Salem, 2014). These findings mirror those of Iqbal and his colleagues (2012), who found that most students in Saudi Arabia and other MENA countries do not consider universities and colleges to have played a sufficient role in influencing their entrepreneurial intentions. The authors, therefore, concluded that universities need to revisit their curricula so they are more focused on equipping students with relevant entrepreneurial skills (Iqbal et al., 2012).

Other researchers have moved away from the question of whether or not higher learning institutions have played their role as they should, choosing instead to focus on how such institutions need to adjust themselves to be more effective influencers of entrepreneurial intentions among students. Gallant and her colleagues (2001) point out that the university's role as an influencer of entrepreneurial intentions can be categorized into two: its role as an educator and its role as a promoter of entrepreneurship. As an educator, the university could foster students' interests towards entrepreneurship by:

i) Providing students with ideas to start new businesses

ii) Offering bachelors or masters studies on entrepreneurship

iii) Arranging workshops and conferences on entrepreneurship

iv) Offering project work focused on entrepreneurship

v) Creating awareness of entrepreneurship as a possible career choice

As a promoter of entrepreneurship, the university could play its role by:

i) Allowing business ventures run by students to use university services

ii) Bringing students in contact with the network needed to start…