Extending the debate over entrepreneurial education effectiveness: the case of a Saudi university

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to assess the effectiveness of entrepreneurial education (EE) through its impact on the predictor of behavior, which is entrepreneurial intention (EI), by studying the context of a Saudi university, in this case, Umm Al Qura University (UQU). The research theorizes a relationship between EE, innovativeness (INN) as a dimension of personality traits (PTs), and EI, mediated by entrepreneurial motivation (EM). Additionally, in this study, INN played a mediator role between EE and EI.Design/methodology/approachAll direct and indirect effects were tested using a quantitative approach. A sample of 240 undergraduate UQU students from different specialties was applied. UQU is witnessing an unprecedented movement that seeks to spread entrepreneurial culture throughout the educational system as a whole, following the recommendations of the Kingdom's 2030 vision.FindingsThe results indicate that EE and INN significantly predicted EI, though in an uneven manner. However, EM played a significant mediator role only between INN and EI. INN is a significant mediator in the relationship between EE and EI.Practical implicationsFuture entrepreneurs must learn how to think, communicate, solve problems, deal with failure and exploit new opportunities. However, the debate over the contribution of EE to entrepreneurs is continuing. All educators, government officials, members of society and others are involved in encouraging entrepreneurial initiative. They should consider and understand how to affect entrepreneurial feasibility and desirability.Originality/valueVariables included in the research model are not original; however, rarely in recent research works have psychological variables such as EM and INN been integrated into one model to explain the intention to enterprise business. This study provides a well-supported explanation of intention as a good predictor of entrepreneurial behavior that will be useful to all involved in encouraging potential entrepreneurs to succeed.

The Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy in Mediating the Effect of Entrepreneurship Education and Financial Support on Entrepreneurial Behavior

“…Similar results have also been obtained previously, which states that good entrepreneurship education can encourage students to take higher entrepreneurial behavior (Ho et al, 2014). The results of this study are also strengthened by the results of research finding that the variable of entrepreneurship education has a positive and significant influence on the variable of entrepreneurial behavior (Ayed, 2020;Howorth et al, 2012).…”

“…Research on the effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial behavior has been previously investigated by several researchers (Ahmed et al, 2019;Alkhalaf et al, 2022;Anosike, 2018;Ho et al, 2014;Moraes et al, 2022;White et al, 2022). The results that entrepreneurship education is indeed able to create entrepreneurial behavior on students (Ayed, 2020).…”

Influence of entrepreneurship support programs on nascent entrepreneurial intention among university students in China

“…Prior research attempted to investigate the effectiveness of entrepreneurial education in the context of Saudi universities, and results were found to be satisfactory, including student satisfaction and success in the entrepreneurship course, which may be inadequate constructs of entrepreneurial educational effectiveness (Ge et al, 2017;Ayed, 2020). Moreover, Fellnhofer and Puumalainen (2017) showed that involvement in an entrepreneurship program substantially increased the perceived viability of starting up a company.…”

A study of online entrepreneurship education under conditions of a pandemic

“…Questions were based on theoretical analysis and the aim of the research. The questions sought to distinguish how respondents can define entrepreneurship (entrepreneurship definition is analysed in the studies of Turner (2004); Wicham (2006); Skulskis (2012); Stripeikis (2008); Čiburienė, Guščinskienė (2009); Žibėnienė ( 2014 2020)), which are the worrying factors of building a business during a pandemic (Kuckertz et al, 2020;Al Issa (2020)), which teaching methods promote entrepreneurship in higher education (Johann et al (2020); Kim et al (2020); Bacq et al (2020); Yu, 2020), which measures can help develop entrepreneurship in higher education (Muñoz-Castro (2019); Gautam, Singh (2015); Ayed (2020)). The binary scales method consisting of binary items that assume one of the two possible values was used.…”

“…Gautam, Singh (2015) claim that the entrepreneurship education is the exploration of the source of opportunities and the process of discovery in which a person strives for creativity, takes risks, and turns ideas into action. According to Ayed (2020), entrepreneurial education and innovativeness can evoke entrepreneurial intention. Miranda et al (2020) analyze the entrepreneurship education in the context of multidisciplinary collaboration: sociology, psychology, philosophy, business, and engineering education.…”