Effect of Early-Late Stage Entrepreneurial Activity on Perceived Challenges and the Ability to Predict Consumer Needs: A Saudi Perspective

Abstract

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.

Psycho-attitudinal features: a study of female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia

“…In Saudi Arabia, social and cultural norms (Abdelmegeed, 2015;McAdam et al, 2018), government regulations (Welsh et al, 2014), and networking (Abdelmegeed, 2015;Alturki and Barazwell, 2010;Kalafatoglu and Mendoza, 2017) are macro-environmental factors that can discourage female entrepreneurs, particularly in the mature stage of business (more than 10 years) for what is as yet unknown reasons. This effect is similarly highlighted in other studies that concluded environmental factors can support (Alkhaled and Berglund, 2018;Leung, 2011) or constrain (Ettl and Welter, 2012) the unfolding of entrepreneurship (Darley and Khizindar, 2015). For example, as Akinyemi and Adejumo (2018) identify, government regulations and bureaucracy are influential factors.…”

“…Consistent with this literature, studies in Arabic society confirm social structure and cultural norms impact on women running businesses (Ahmad, 2011a(Ahmad, , 2011bAlkhaled and Berglund, 2018;Alturki and Barazwell, 2010;Danish and Smith, 2012;Darley and Khizindar, 2015;Welsh et al, 2014). Literature also suggests that Saudi women face difficulties at the macro and meso level of cultural, social norms and institution (Danish and Smith, 2012;Kalafatoglu and Mendoza, 2017;McAdam et al, 2018).…”

“…At a meso level, research in Saudi Arabia shows female digital entrepreneurs can fill institutional voids (McAdam et al, 2018), while another study of early-late-stage entrepreneurial activity shows that experience gained through the entrepreneurial stages can moderate the perceived challenges of female entrepreneurs (Darley and Khizindar, 2015). Of the many attitudinal variables available, this paper uses the five variablesopenness, extraversion, conscientiousness, stability and agreeablenessidentified in the Big Five model, as well as risk propensity.…”

“…Second, while studies of female entrepreneurs have increased in recent years, much more needs to be done in developing countries (De Vita et al, 2014;Kemp et al, 2015;Sullivan and Meek, 2012). That said, gender-based studies that exist have highlighted, for example, opportunities and challenges faced by female entrepreneurs (Abdelmegeed, 2015;Ahmad, 2011b;Danish and Smith, 2012;Darley and Khizindar, 2015;McAdam et al, 2018;Sivakumar and Sarkar, 2012;Welsh et al, 2014), factors that influence motivation (Ahmad, 2011b;Sadi and Al-Ghazali, 2010), and issues related to women empowerment (Alkhaled and Berglund, 2018;McAdam et al, 2018). In Saudi Arabia specifically, which provides the geographic context for this paper, research recognises the contribution made by women in terms of economic growth in small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the kinds of motives that drive their participation -creating jobs for themselves and others (Ahmad, 2011a(Ahmad, , 2011bAlkhaled and Berglund, 2018;Danish and Smith, 2012;Hattab, 2012;Minkus-McKenna, 2009;Sadi and Al-Ghazali, 2010;Welsh et al, 2014).…”