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Purpose Using the resource-focused view of the firm as a theoretical backdrop, this study aims to examine the relationships between entrepreneurial perceptions and two dependent measures (i.e. customer satisfaction outcomes and firm performance). Specifically, the study tests the boundary conditions of the resource-based view (RBV) performance relationship in a Middle Eastern context. Design/methodology/approach The data from 171 female Saudi entrepreneurs are analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The research results revealed that marketing capability and financial capability (i.e. financial capital access) have a positive significant effect on both dependent measures. Labor shortage also has a negative significant effect on both dependent variables, whereas operations capability does not show a significant effect on the two dependent measures. To a large extent, the results show that the RBV holds true in the Saudi context. Originality/value The study contributes to the knowledge about the effects of specific human and financial capital, as well as illuminates how marketing capability, financial capital access and labor shortage impact these dependent variables in the unique context of Saudi Arabia among female entrepreneurs, thereby extending the knowledge of the RBV in different contexts. Furthermore, it extends knowledge of the entrepreneurship literature, especially in the area of gender-based entrepreneurship research in developing countries.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine consumers’ attitudes toward marketing practices and consumer rights in Jordan, based on an empirical investigation of university students. The study refers to John Kennedy’s bill of four consumer rights: the Right to Safety, the Right to be Informed, the Right to Choose and the Right to be Heard. Design/methodology/approach – This paper depends on a convenience sample of 381 students, using a drop-off method, with a structured, self-administered questionnaire to measure consumer attitudes regarding the four basic consumer rights, as listed above, utilizing a five-point Likert scale measure. Findings – The overall findings show that the current consumers’ attitudes toward marketing practices related to protection of consumer rights is not highly favorable, indicating that more work will be needed for improvement, with more attention to consumers’ Right to be Heard. The study urged marketers and public policymakers in Jordan to reconsider the way consumer rights were being approached by marketing practitioners. Originality/value – The study is unique by virtue of its nature, scope and way of empirical investigation, as it explores the status of perceived consumer rights for the first time in Jordan, drawing on John Kennedy’ model. The study calls upon marketers and public policymakers to pay more attention to the current status of consumer rights, with implications for better business strategies and more useful legislations pertaining to consumer protection.

The authors examine the relationship between challenges faced by the female Saudi entrepreneurs and their ability to predict consumer needs in the context of the stage of entrepreneurial activity (early-late stage). The results from hierarchical regression show that early-late stage entrepreneurial activity moderates the relationship between challenges faced and the ability to predict customer needs. The pattern of the relationships was negative within the early-stage group and positive within the late-stage entrepreneurial group. Also, the relationship was slightly more sensitive for the late group than for the early group. The article ends with a discussion of the results, implications, and suggestions for future research.

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