Born Not Made: The Impact of Six Entrepreneurial Personality Dimensions on Entrepreneurial Intention: Evidence from Healthcare Higher Education Students

Abstract

Background: The KSA government has envisioned a national transformation plan via Vision 2030. The purpose of this plan is liberalization which provides an opportunity for the private sector to increase its share in the healthcare system. Evaluating the entrepreneurial potential of healthcare students is essential due to their future role in the healthcare environment. Thus, the goal of the current study is to measure entrepreneurial intentions and identify the characteristics and personality dimensions among junior healthcare students and fresh graduates in Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study design was utilized to survey healthcare students in their final years of study and fresh graduates at King Faisal University (KFU), Saudi Arabia. The research team identified six as the most common entrepreneurial intention traits. Entrepreneurial traits included internal locus of control, innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, autonomy, and problem-solving. A previously recognized and validated questionnaire was distributed through social media platforms and formal university emails. PLS-SEM was employed for the examination of both the measurement and structural models. Results: Internal locus of control was found to have a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention, so H1 was supported. Likewise, innovativeness showed a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention among healthcare students, which confirmed H2. The results also showed that autonomy substantially impacted entrepreneurial intention, so H3 was supported. Similarly, proactiveness has a direct influence on entrepreneurial intention; thus, H5 was supported. Furthermore, problem-solving personality dimensions also had a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention, so H5 and H6 were supported. Conversely, risk-taking propensity exhibited a negative insignificant effect on entrepreneurial intention. Thus, H4 was not supported. Conclusions: Saudi healthcare students revealed their intention towards entrepreneurship and were quite positive about becoming entrepreneurs. Furthermore, students’ entrepreneurial intention was affected by their quality of proactiveness, innovativeness, internal locus of control, problem-solving, and autonomy but not risk-taking propensity.