The Influence of National Culture on Entrepreneurial Behaviour: The Case of Saudi Arabia

Entrepreneurship has been long hailed as one of the most important forces of driving economic growth. However, such endeavour is always confronted with several economical, political and cultural challenges that have impacts on entrepreneurs and the process of creating their ventures. The present research seeks to explore the influence of national culture on entrepreneurial behaviour in the context of Saudi Arabia. The study adopts the framework of the four dimensions of national culture namely, Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, and Masculinity vs. Femininity which has been developed by the Dutch business sociologist, Geert Hofstede. After reviewing and discussing the pertinent literature, a qualitative case study approach based on semi-structured telephone interviews is employed for the research to generate data from two case studies represent two entrepreneurs from Saudi Arabia. The study concludes that entrepreneurial behaviour in Saudi Arabia is heavily influenced by the high extent of power distance and uncertainty avoidance in the society. While on the other hand, entrepreneurs in the Kingdom, unlike those in western societies, tend to have a positive perception about the high degree of collectivism and femininity dimensions of the Saudi national culture