Family Support as a Social Resource for Entrepreneurship: The Moderating Role of Conflict Competence in Entrepreneurial Intention

Entrepreneurial intention is shaped by both individual and social factors. Family support can play an important role, particularly for individuals from business families. This study examines the relationships between family moral and instrumental support and entrepreneurial intention. It also examines whether conflict competence strengthens these relationships. The study uses data from 423 university students in Saudi Arabia with at least one parent who is self-employed or a majority business owner. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. The results show that both family moral and instrumental support are positively related to entrepreneurial intention, with moral support showing a stronger relationship. Conflict competence also strengthens both relationships, although its moderating role is stronger for moral support. These findings show that family support may be more closely related to entrepreneurial intention when students are better able to manage disagreement within the family. The study contributes to the literature by showing how different forms of family support and conflict competence work together in shaping the entrepreneurial intention of the next generation.