ISLAMIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A CASE STUDY OF SAUDI ARABIA

Rasem N. Kayed () and M. Kabir Hassan
Additional contact information
Rasem N. Kayed: Faculty of Administrative and Financial Sciences, Arab American University, PO Box 240, Jenin — West Bank, Palestine, Israel

Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), 2010, vol. 15, issue 04, 379-413

Abstract: As this paper examines the relationship between Islamic values and entrepreneurial activity, it seeks to establish whether these values can be more effectively tapped into to raise the profile of Islamic form of entrepreneurship. A written, self-administered questionnaire among a random sample of Saudi entrepreneurs in the city of Riyadh was employed to generate descriptive data to assess the views and attitudes of Saudi entrepreneurs toward both conventional and Islamic forms of entrepreneurship. We find that Saudi entrepreneurs perceive themselves to be committed Muslims who consider entrepreneurship a religious and economic duty intended to generate halal (lawful) income to meet their financial obligations and to contribute to the falah (well-being) of the Muslim ummah (nation) in this life and hereafter. The findings also negate the prevalent conventional assumption that Islam is intrinsically anti-modernization and anti-development, and that the religiously-based Saudi culture would hinder the emergence and the development of a vibrant entrepreneurship culture in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: Islamic entrepreneurship; modernization; Westernization; cultural values; falah (well-being) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1084946710001634
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:jdexxx:v:15:y:2010:i:04:n:s1084946710001634

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S1084946710001634

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE) is currently edited by Peter Koveos

More articles in Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().