Determinants of social entrepreneurial intention: empirical evidence from the Saudi context

Purpose Little previous research has investigated the determinants of social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) in the context of Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this study is to advance a research model that examines the direct and indirect effects of prior experience with social problems via empathy, moral obligation, social self-efficacy and perceived social support on SEI. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on data collected from a survey using questionnaires completed by 278 Saudis. To analyze data and test the developed hypotheses, an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to investigate the factorial structural of the constructs, their reliability and validity. Then, goodness-of-fit statistics showed model fits of different alternative models. A hierarchical regression modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of main variables on SEI. Findings Results show positive relationships between prior experience with social problems and SEI antecedents, on one hand, and between prior experience with social problems and SEI on the other hand. Notably, no significant relationships exist between moral obligation and SEI and social support and SEI. Additionally, only empathy and social self-efficacy mediated the relationship of prior experience with social problems to SEI. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the literature by showing how most of the SEI's antecedents can play a mediating role between prior experience with social problems and SEI. The main limitation of this study is that it was not possible to generalize the findings. Future research perspectives were proposed to address this limitation and add new insights to the field considering the context of an emerging country. Originality/value This study is one of the first to conduct such an investigation in the Saudi context. It validates the scales of previous empirical models on SEI and partially replicates their results.