Saudi Women Behavior Towards the Acceptance of Industrial Small Business

Abstract

The aim of this research was to canvass Saudi women’s opinions about behavioral beliefs, i.e., attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on their behavioral intention and hence adopting the small business initiative. Following the descriptive method, adopting the planned behavior theory PBT, a questionnaire consisted of 15 items was adapted to measure the variables of the research, i.e., three predictors, which are attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, one mediating variable, which is behavioral intent and one dependent variable, which is the actual behavior. The questionnaire was electronically administered. A total of 724 questionnaires was collected in 2019. The results indicated that attitudes towards the behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control had significant effects on behavioral intention, which in turn affect the target behavior. Behavioral intention had shown a mediating effect on the relationship between predictors and the response variable. Consequently, decision-makers are required to conduct awareness campaigns in order to promote the involvement in small businesses in the community, raising women’s attitudes towards this type of business via success stories and full government support. Their perceived behavioral control can be enhanced through training to acquire business-related skills.

Women’s entrepreneurial behavior in Saudi Arabian SMEs: A study based on Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior

“…It was acknowledged that perceived behavioral control (PBC) is a key predictor of individuals' BIs (Baker and White, 2010). Previous related works in Saudi Arabia such as Almohaimmeed et al (2020) study revealed significant and positive effects of the PBC on both BI and the behavior of Saudi women to accept small business ventures as well as women's BI mediated the effect of their PBC on their actual behavior. Therefore, the following hypotheses were assumed: H5: There is a significant effect of PBC on WEB.…”

“…Consequently, attitudes toward a given behavior increase individuals' involvement in EBs (Joensuu-Salo et al, 2021). In a recent study conducted by Almohaimmeed et al (2020) on Saudi women's behavior towards the acceptance of industrial small businesses, it was found that their attitudes towards the behavior had a significant effect on their BI, which in sequence influenced their actual behavior to accept small business initiatives. To predict Saudi women's attitudes toward entrepreneurial small business, the following hypotheses were suggested: H1: There is a significant effect of ATB on WEB.…”

“…Zheng et al (2023) found that SN has direct effects on individuals' saving intentions. Almohaimmeed et al (2020) added that BI is positively related to individuals' BIs to accept small business initiatives. Therefore, it was assumed that: H3: There is a significant effect of SN on WEB.…”

“…One of the most useful theories to predict human behavior is Ajzen's (2020) theory of planned behavior (TPB) with its accent focus on three main factors: Attitudes toward behavior (ATB), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavior control (PBC) (Ajzen, 2020;Wach and Wojciechowski, 2016;Zheng et al, 2023). TPB has been utilized to predict human behavior in numerous domains such as entrepreneurship business among the youth (Mann et al, 2023), proenvironmental behavior (Gansser and Reich, 2023;Al-Tit, 2016), speeding behavior (Ding et al, 2023), business EB (Morales-Pérez et al, 2022;Pidduck et al, 2023), micro and small business behavior (Srimulyani and Hermanto, 2022), public transport use (Ali et al, 2023), car-sharing use (Li and Zhang, 2023), energy-saving behavior in Saudi Arabia (Hamouri, 2023) as well as acceptance of industrial small business by Saudi women (Almohaimmeed et al, 2020). Previous related works confirm that TPB elements have significant effects on human behavioral intentions (BIs) (Joensuu-Salo et al, 2021;Zheng et al, 2023;Almohaimmeed et al, 2020).…”

“…TPB has been utilized to predict human behavior in numerous domains such as entrepreneurship business among the youth (Mann et al, 2023), proenvironmental behavior (Gansser and Reich, 2023;Al-Tit, 2016), speeding behavior (Ding et al, 2023), business EB (Morales-Pérez et al, 2022;Pidduck et al, 2023), micro and small business behavior (Srimulyani and Hermanto, 2022), public transport use (Ali et al, 2023), car-sharing use (Li and Zhang, 2023), energy-saving behavior in Saudi Arabia (Hamouri, 2023) as well as acceptance of industrial small business by Saudi women (Almohaimmeed et al, 2020). Previous related works confirm that TPB elements have significant effects on human behavioral intentions (BIs) (Joensuu-Salo et al, 2021;Zheng et al, 2023;Almohaimmeed et al, 2020). In the entrepreneurship domain, human BIs refer to individuals' intentions to start up new ventures and conceive to do so someday in the future (Wach and Wojciechowski, 2016).…”