Abstract
Industrial firms today are actively promoting intrapreneurship within the systems, and permitting employees to spend some time on innovative ideas unrelated to their normal jobs. This paper provides an overview of the intrapreneurship approach to innovation among Saudi Arabian firms. It focuses on the organisational characteristics of Saudi Arabian firms, the internal organisational factors influencing intrapreneurship behaviour and innovation in terms of management support, work discretion, rewards/reinforcement, time availability, and organisational boundaries; and the relationship between organisational characteristics and the factors influencing intrapreneurship behaviour and innovation along the aforementioned five areas. The study utilised descriptive-correlational method using a questionnaire as the main instrument in gathering the data. The respondents composed of fifty employees holding managerial position from all levels and one hundred non-managers of different industries of Saudi Arabian firms. The findings revealed that there are organisational characteristics conducive to entrepreneurship such as removing the formal structure and sidestepping organisational bureaucracy and start-up style of management. The relationship between two variables was statistically significant. In other words, the employees in Saudi Arabian firms were positive in becoming entrepreneurs within the existing organisation.