DIGITALIZATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARENESS AMONG THE HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS IN SAUDI ARABIA
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Digitalization and the expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) are reshaping marketing and commerce, but the extent to which Saudi higher-education students understand digital entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and e-commerce remains underdocumented. This study examines digitalization and entrepreneurship awareness among students in Saudi Arabia. A mixed-method design was used, combining an online questionnaire survey of 122 undergraduate and postgraduate students from disciplines with focus-group discussions (focus-group size, procedures, and timing unspecified); the survey sample was 53.3% male and 46.7% female, and ages were <20 (47.5%), 20–22 (33.6%), 23–25 (6.6%), and >25 (12.3%). Quantitative analyses included summaries, independent-samples t tests, one-way ANOVA, correlations, and hierarchical regression (study period unspecified). The results show that 64% of students reported moderate awareness of digital marketing tools and e-commerce platforms, 23% high awareness, and 13% low awareness. General awareness scores were similar by gender (male M=16.68, SD=7.20; female M=15.61, SD=6.61; t(120)=0.845, p=0.400) and age (F(3,118)=1.311, p=0.274) but differed by field of study (F(4,117)=3.340, p=0.013), with higher means in management (M=18.86, SD=6.57) and science (M=17.81, SD=7.08) than in arts (M=13.20, SD=8.50). Field differences were also observed for channel awareness (F(4,117)=2.452, p=0.050) and operational awareness (F(4,117)=2.620, p=0.038). Awareness dimensions were strongly interrelated (r=0.825–0.851, all p<0.01). In regression, demographic/academic variables explained R²=0.097 (F=1.750, p=0.104), with a management effect in Model 1 (B=5.088, p=0.012) that became nonsignificant in Model 2 (p=0.462), while adding general awareness (β=0.453, p<0.001) and channel awareness (β=0.471, p<0.001) increased explained variance to R²=0.796 (F=48.441, p<0.001); confidence intervals and standardized effect sizes beyond β were unspecified.
JEL Classification Codes: L26, M13, M15, M31, O33, L81.
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