Entrepreneurship research in the Middle East and North Africa: trends, challenges, and sustainability issues

Aljuwaiber, Abobakr

doi:10.1108/jeee-08-2019-0123

Cited by 43 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 230 publications

(183 reference statements)

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“…These studies have pinpointed a number of individual factors that often nurture entry to self-employment. Recently, systematic and comprehensive reviews have appeared (Simoes et al , 2016; Aljuwaiber, 2020 among others). The comprehensive survey on individual determinants proposed by Simoes et al (2016) usefully classifies them into several categories and discusses their theoretical and empirical effects on self-employment.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypotheses Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The determinants of self-employment entry of Palestinian youth

Morrar

Amara

Zwick³

2021

JEEE

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Purpose This paper aims to study the impact of micro-level socio-economic, demographic and geographical factors on the likelihood of self-employment entry of young adults in Palestine and filling a gap in the analysis of determinants of self-employment for young adults in Palestine. Design/methodology/approach The research design is based on a multinomial logistic (MNL) model and on the testing of seven hypotheses deriving from the review of the theoretical and empirical literature, using a micro-level longitudinal data set from the Palestinian Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) between 2009 and 2016. In the analysis, the dependent variable (employment status) is a discrete variable that takes four unordered and independent outcomes: wage employee, self-employed, employer and unpaid family member. Findings This study has strong evidence that the likelihood of self-employment increases with age. However, results are inconsistent with the well-known curvilinear relationship between age and self-employment. Regarding the role of gender, results show that young men are more likely to become self-employed than young women. Results indicate that there is a significant and negative impact of an increasing level of education on self-employment entry for both youth and the whole population. On the opposite, training after graduation increases the likelihood of self-employment entry for youth with high education level. Besides, this paper finds that young workers living in urban areas have more likelihood to enter self-employment than those in rural areas and young workers in Gaza have more likelihood to enter self-employment than their counterparts in West Bank. Practical implications First, in both West Bank and Gaza, young women are less inclined to actively engage in self-employment, which confirms structural inequalities between men and women. Therefore, this study calls for social protection programmes and for national programmes that would promote and develop women’s self-employment. Second, because this paper finds that youth self-employment is more an opportunity-driven phenomenon than a necessity-driven one, this study calls for programmes that provide youth with small business grants and training on entrepreneurship and business models. Originality/value Insights are valuable as both government institutions and universities and entrepreneurial startups can benefit from knowing which factors contribute to the self-employment likelihood of youth in Palestine and use the policy recommendations to develop capacity-building programmes to provide the youth and women with skills and competencies which enable them to turn to self-employment.

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Section: Theoretical Background and Hypotheses Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The determinants of self-employment entry of Palestinian youth

Morrar

Amara

Zwick³

2021

JEEE

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“…The MENA region has witnessed profound political and economic upheavals, which started with the Tunisian revolution in 2011 which has swept across several other Arab countries, including Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Algeria. However, the MENA region is in a great period of political, economic, and social transformation; this has enabled it to become a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship in the full expansion [11,12,15]. In addition, the MENA countries have the potential to leapfrog into the digital economy and benefit from its geographical location, with access to large markets in America, Europe and Asia.…”

Section: Overview Of the Mena Region And Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MENA region is experiencing huge economic, geopolitical and social transformations under the pressure of the 2011 Arab Spring movements. This has enabled this region to become a center of entrepreneurship and innovation with the potential for transformation, growth and competitiveness [2,11,12]. These profound transformations and challenges serve as a background for this empirical research, which focuses mainly on analyzing the new MENA business environment's effect on innovation behavior of companies along with financial and non-financial obstacles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial and Non-Financial Obstacles to Innovation: Empirical Evidence at the Firm Level in the MENA Region

Oudgou

2021

Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity

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Innovation, in all its forms, has become a central activity in companies. Moreover, innovation is considered as the engine of growth in several countries. The main objective of this paper is to study the determinants of innovation (product and process) in firms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region via concentrating on the impact of financial and non-financial obstacles. The empirical study refers to row data collected by the World Bank’s Survey of Enterprises (WBES) between 2013 and 2020 in 10 MENA countries. The empirical results of the probit model estimation show that international quality certification, women’s participation in ownership, and investment in research and development (R&D) have a positive impact on all types of innovation. Nevertheless, small firms, sole proprietorships, and firms managed by women are found to be less innovative. The problem of endogeneity between innovation and financial obstacles is controlled thanks to the use of the instrumental regression method (IV-probit). The results confirm that the variable measuring the financial obstacles is endogenous, and it impacts all types of innovation negatively. The results of the IV-probit regression show that the non-financial obstacles related to the business environment which negatively affect innovation are: business licensing and permits, corruption, access to electricity, labor regulations, political instability, and the practices of competitors in the informal sector.

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“…Similarly, social media has also had a substantial effect on the development of SMEs in the Arab world [30,31]. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, gender and female entrepreneurial behavior significantly predict entrepreneurship [32].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Environment, Business and Human Behavior towards Entrepreneurial Sustainability

2022

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The current paper investigates the factors, i.e., environmental, business, behavioral, and human relations, that promote entrepreneurial sustainability of SMEs in Pakistan. The study employs the quantitative approach, which utilizes the cross-sectional data of 347 entrepreneurs of the SMEs sector of Pakistan. The data study applies a survey questionnaire to collect the data. The random technique is employed to target the respondents. By employing the structural equation model (SEM), the study finds a positive and significant impact of environment/surroundings, business, behavior, and human-related factors on entrepreneurial sustainability. In a simple sense, all the hypotheses are accepted. The study’s findings would encourage practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to hunt the patterns of social, behavioral, economic, human, and environmental contributions to promote entrepreneurial activity. Further, the study would provide an optimal solution to utilize these factors for bringing sustainable development SMEs.

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Entrepreneurship research in the Middle East and North Africa: trends, challenges, and sustainability issues

Cited by 43 publications

References 230 publications

The determinants of self-employment entry of Palestinian youth

The determinants of self-employment entry of Palestinian youth

Financial and Non-Financial Obstacles to Innovation: Empirical Evidence at the Firm Level in the MENA Region

The Role of Environment, Business and Human Behavior towards Entrepreneurial Sustainability

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