Formal Institutional Support for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

The aim of this study is to explore the role of government and private institutions in supporting early stage entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. Entrepreneurship has attracted a fair amount of academic attention; however, to date, only little empirical work has explored the relationships between regulatory, cognitive and normative dimensions of the institutional profile, support for entrepreneurship and business performance, and specifically, in the context of early stage entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. This study takes a two-stage mixed methods approach to data collection. Quantitative data acquired by an online survey of early stage entrepreneurs (117) will inform a subsequent qualitative stage involving interviewing support institution officials and early stage entrepreneurs in order to gain deeper understanding of support agencies' role towards entrepreneurs and to explore how participants view the process of application for support. The online survey results reveal that finance and consultation are the most used forms of support, while entrepreneurial education is the least used. Respondents were predominantly opportunity entrepreneurs; fewer than 10 per cent established businesses out of necessity. Participants perceived cognitive and normative aspects of support favourably, but expressed considerable uncertainty about aspects of legal and financial support. All types of support, but especially regulatory, have positive influence on business performance of start-ups. Implications from the findings are drawn for the forthcoming qualitative investigation.