Driving sustainable development: exploring social entrepreneurial behavior in Saudi Arabia universities

Purpose This study aims to examine the factors influencing social entrepreneurship behaviour among Saudi university students and explore the theoretical development of social entrepreneurial behaviour to foster entrepreneurial growth. Design/methodology/approach The research employed the PRISMA statement 2020 to systematically identify relevant records from two widely recognised databases, Scopus and Web of Science. The VOS viewer application’s overlay visualisation capability was used to identify emerging research topics, and a network analysis was performed to determine the outcome of the analytical operations in the cluster map. Findings The findings revealed three primary classifications of records: social entrepreneurship intention, entrepreneurial education, and sustainable entrepreneurship and learning approach. The results indicated that social entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in skill development among university students and contributes to establishing a robust ecosystem within Saudi universities. Research limitations/implications The study’s findings suggest that relatively little research has been conducted on this critical topic because Saudi Arabia’s economy is mainly based on oil resource revenues. There is a need to create entrepreneurial awareness among university students, emphasising the importance of social entrepreneurship education and the role of universities in shaping students’ attitudes and behaviours. Practical implications The study highlights the need for university business schools to invest more effort and resources into fostering social entrepreneurship. Developing entrepreneurial institutes within universities can enable students to initiate their own businesses upon completing their studies. Originality/value The study provides valuable insights into the dynamics of social entrepreneurship within the unique context of Saudi Arabia. The theoretical findings highlight the widespread application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour in previous research and the significant contributions of entrepreneurial intention models proposed by Shapero and Sokol (1982) and Liñán and Chen (2009).