Abstract
During last decade, Saudi universities have experienced changes in their curricula introducing several courses and workshops on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture. However, Saudi Arabia TEA (Total entrepreneurial activity) is still low at 9,4% (Kelley & al., 2010) and the entrepreneurial intention of Saudi at 1%. This fact opens up debate on studying factors that may explain entrepreneurial intentions of young Saudi students. The aim of this paper is to understand the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions of Saudi students who are registered in the preparatory year at Al Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University in different academic paths. Through a literature review, we use an adapted theoretical model of intention (Ajzen, 1991) which is tested by Boissin et al., (2007a; 2007b), attempting to explain intention with three typical variables of the theory of planned behavior: attitudes toward the behavior, perceived social norms, and perceived self-efficacy. To test this model, a survey research was conducted in 2013 within a population of 655 male students who were attended an "entrepreneurial culture" day training. Only 196 questionnaires were valid for the research and concerned Saudi students in different disciplinary paths (different sub-samples: Humanities = 63; Applied = 41; Sanitary = 31; Islamic and others = 30; Business = 31). The collected data were analyzed by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique and the XLSTAT 2014 software. The results were presented and discussed. They demonstrate that entrepreneurial intention of Saudi students was mainly determined by their perceived self-efficacy rather than by their attitude towards entrepreneurial behavior. Subjective norms are not seen as a real determinant of intention. Thereafter, some research and practical implications and recommendations are presented for the Saudi University World.