Noha Al-Khalqi - Senior HTC Thesis

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN YEMEN:
A YEMENI YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
___________________________
A Thesis
Presented to
The Honors Tutorial College
Ohio University
___________________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for Graduation
from the Honors Tutorial College
with the degree of
Bachelor of Business Administration
___________________________
by
Noha Fowzy Al-Khalqi
August 2017
This thesis has been approved by
The Honors Tutorial College and the College of Business
__________________________
Dr. Ikenna Uzuegbunam

Assistant Professor, Management
Thesis Adviser
___________________________
Dr. Raymond Frost

Director of Studies, Business Administration
___________________________
Cary Roberts Frith

Interim Dean, Honors Tutorial College
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN YEMEN: A YEMENI YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
Acknowledgments
‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Allah for all the blessings and for providing
me with strength throughout this journey. I was blessed with countless individuals who have
made this thesis possible and contributed to this achievement directly and indirectly.
The first person whom I am most grateful to for all his help, wisdom, and kindness is my
advisor Dr. Ike. With a smile on his face and kindness in his heart, he has always believed in me
and helped me believe in my own ability to succeed in all endeavors. I am forever grateful for his
support and encouragement for the past three years. As my thesis advisor and mentor, he has
taught me more than I could ever give him credit for here. Thank you for being a wonderful
advisor.
I would also like to thank my parents and sister, Reem, for their love, support, comfort,
and understanding. Mom and dad, thank you for your hard work and your sacrifices to get me the
quality education you have always wished for me. Your love and guidance are with me in
whatever I pursue. You are my ultimate role models. I also want to thank the rest of my family
members and my friends who have provided me with their prayers and moral support; thank you
for helping me keep going.
Last but not least, all this would not have been possible without the support of the Honors
Tutorial College and specifically, Dr. Raymond Frost and Cary Roberts Frith. Thank you for
being so supportive of my academic goals and for going above and beyond to help me continue
my education. Words will not express my gratitude for all your efforts that helped me pursue
opportunities I did not think were possible prior to joining HTC.

Table of Contents
Abstract.............................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1
Social Entrepreneurship ................................................................................................... 2

Social Enterprise (SE) ..................................................................................................... 5
MENA Developing Region ............................................................................................... 7

Youth in MENA Countries ............................................................................................. 9
MENA Youth and Entrepreneurship ............................................................................ 10
Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 12
Hypotheses ....................................................................................................................... 12
Methods ............................................................................................................................ 17
Data Collection ............................................................................................................. 18
Study Sample ................................................................................................................ 18
Key Variables................................................................................................................ 19
Control Variables .......................................................................................................... 21
Results .............................................................................................................................. 24
Post-hoc Analysis and Discussion .................................................................................. 32
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Work ............................................................ 36
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 37
References ........................................................................................................................ 40
Appendix A: Survey – English Version ........................................................................ 49
Appendix B: Summary of Organizations Contacted ................................................... 56
Appendix C: Factor Analysis ......................................................................................... 56
Appendix D: Garrett’s Ranking Technique ................................................................. 57

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between youth in the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and social entrepreneurship. Specifically, this
study looks at their interest in becoming social entrepreneurs, and at their perception on
the impact of social entrepreneurship. This research contributes to the social
entrepreneurship literature by exploring how youth can leverage social enterprise to
contribute to the development of countries in the MENA developing region. A
quantitative methodology with 77 survey respondents revealed that understanding the
meaning of social entrepreneurship and being aware of the impact that social enterprises
can enable youth interest in this field. This study concludes by recommending for social
entrepreneurship education and institutional support from the government, private sector,
and financial institutions to promote social entrepreneurial efforts among youth.
Keywords: Social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, Yemen, Middle East, North

Africa, MENA, economic development, developing countries
INTRODUCTION
Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a powerful platform for stimulating
community development and contributing to a sustainable economic development. This
study adopts a definition of social entrepreneurship which describes it as a process that
combines economic and social value to combat social issues and create social change
(Dees, 1998; Alvord, Brown, & Letts, 2004; Mair, & Marti, 2006). Specifically, this
study focuses on the “tangible outcome” of social entrepreneurship, referred to as social
enterprise (Mair, & Marti, 2006). A social enterprise is a financially viable, revenue-
generating, organization that uses business strategies to achieve its social or
environmental mission (Rogerson, Green, & Rabinowitz, 2013).
To date, there are few studies that have investigated social entrepreneurship and
social enterprise in the Middle East and North African (MENA), especially among
developing countries in this region (Abdou, Fahmy, Greenwald, & Nelson, 2010; Jamali,
& Kreidie, 2014). Data that reflects the role of social entrepreneurship in developing
MENA countries are very limited and outdated (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
[GEM], 2010). More recently, MENA developing countries have been suffering from a
stagnant economic growth and an increase in political instability (World Bank, 2015),
which some researchers and institutions suggest is a result of the high number of youths’
unemployment in the region (World Bank, 2011; Lin, 2012). In an area where more than
30 percent of youth, the largest population group in the region, is unemployed (Abdou et
al., 2010), social entrepreneurship may be the key to solving the long-standing social and
environmental issues in the region. By encouraging young adults to become social
entrepreneurs, social enterprise can achieve a dual-purpose; it can become a platform that
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reduces youth unemployment and mobilizes them to become change agents in their
communities.
It is important to fill this knowledge gap to improve the development efforts in
MENA developing countries. Generally, there is a tendency of including youth over 18
years old into the adult population, which diminishes the capabilities and competencies
that youth offer over adults (Chigunta, 2002). Therefore, exploring the field through the
perspective of the largest population group, youth, in the developing MENA region is
crucial. This study makes a major contribution to research on social entrepreneurship by
exploring youth’s perspective on social enterprise in Yemen, an exemplar of MENA
developing countries. A quantitative research design is conducted to examine the
perspectives of Yemeni young adults 1, between the ages of 18 and 35, on the role of
social enterprise in Yemen. Specifically, the study assesses youth’s personal interest in
starting up or in being involved in social enterprises in Yemen. The study also explores
their perspective on whether social enterprises can have an impact on improving the
country’s economic situation. The overall goal of this research is to explore how to
promote social entrepreneurship among MENA youth to further contribute to the
development efforts in this region.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A variety of definitions of social entrepreneurship have been suggested across the
literature on this topic. As Dees (1998) stated, social entrepreneurship can be interpreted
1In this study, the term “youth” and “young adult” will be used interchangeably.
Both terms refer to the same age range which is between 18 and 35 years old (Schoof,
2006).
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differently by different people. Some scholars have referred to social entrepreneurship as
a practice implemented by commercial businesses to be socially responsible (Waddock,
1988; Sagawa & Segal, 2000), some have conceptualized it as a way for non-profits to
restructure their financial and/or management strategies to achieve their mission
(Boschee, 1998; Austin, Stevenson, & Wei-Skiller, 2003), and others have defined it as a
way to tackle social issues in communities and create social change (Alvord et al., 2004).
Many researchers also rely on the broader entrepreneurship literature to conceptualize
social entrepreneurship (Certo & Miller, 2008; Mair & Martì, 2006).
Evidently, social entrepreneurship is a sub-category of entrepreneurship. A broad
definition of entrepreneurship, according to Certo and Miller (2008), “involves the
identification, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities” (p. 267), where opportunities
in this context refer to products and services that entrepreneurs sell in markets that result
in profit maximization. However, in the social entrepreneurial context, the exploitation of
opportunities aims to creature social value and wealth creation rather than profit
maximization alone (Thompson and Doherty, 2006; Certo & Miller, 2008; Zahra,
Gedajlovic, Neubaum, & Shulman, 2009).
The social element in the definition of social entrepreneurship is vaguely
described in most of the definitions presented in prior research. Mair and Martì (2006)
analyzed three cases of highly successful social entrepreneurial initiatives in an effort to
elaborate on the social domain of social entrepreneurship. The authors reported that these
projects shared a common feature, which is the creative use of the limited resources to
address a specific social problem that led to social change in their communities. As Mair
and Martì (2006) summarized it, “these examples show how social entrepreneurship
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catalyzes social transformation by meeting social needs” (p. 38). While all three cases
also generated financial returns, the priority objective was to generate social value, and
the economic value was treated as means to an end to ensure financial sustainability.
“Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the
change agents for society” (Ashoka, n.d., para. 6). What motivates entrepreneurs and
social entrepreneurs can vary from one to another depending on many factors.
Established incentives for entrepreneurs are profits or financial (Casson, 1982), which
also measures their success, while social entrepreneurs are driven by their desire to create
a positive impact in their society (Certo & Miller, 2008). While these fundamental
incentives may commonly exist among both entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs, they
are also limiting and have been criticized as narrow (Carsrud & Brännback, 2011; Katz &
Gartner, 1988). More recently, researchers have attempted to highlight other common
factors that motivate social entrepreneurs. Germak and Robinson’s (2012) study on social
entrepreneurship motivation uses quantitative analysis to examine common motivational
factors among nascent social entrepreneurs. They identify five motivational bases that
drive social entrepreneurs: personal fulfillment, helping society, non-monetary focus,
achievement orientation, and closeness to a social problem. Miller, Grimes, McMullen,
and Vogus (2012) focused on compassion as a driving force for social entrepreneurs
which they define as a “prosocial motivator characterized by other-orientation and an
emotional connection to others in suffering” (p. 620).
In sum, the social entrepreneurship literature shows that while there is a subtle
disagreement among scholars about the definition of social entrepreneurship, most
scholars relatively agree on some key aspects of social entrepreneurship. First, social
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value creation is more fundamental than profit-seeking in social entrepreneurship.
Second, social entrepreneurs are motivated by personal fulfillment, compassion (helping
society), non-monetary focus, achievement orientation, and closeness to a social problem.
These common motivating factors encourage social entrepreneurs to find innovative ways
to address specific social issues. The most common path that social entrepreneurs take to
implement their ideas is through starting up or getting involved with social enterprise
organizations.
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE (SE)
“When ethical, environmental, human and social aspects of enterprise become

so interwoven into the fabric of society that the term social enterprise will be
rendered useless, we will have achieved the highest pinnacle of development at
least in what business, entrepreneurship and governance are concerned.”
- Pedro Jacob
Social entrepreneurship is usually put into practice by social entrepreneurs who
establish a social enterprise organization. While acknowledging the social
entrepreneurship field is yet to agree on a definition for the concept, this study
conceptualizes social enterprise (SE) as a revenue-generating, economically viable
organization that prioritize their social and/or environmental mission over profit
generation (Dees 1998; Bornstein 1998; Rogerson et al., 2013). What differentiates social
enterprises from the traditional charitable foundations and non-profit organizations is the
use of entrepreneurial, innovative, solutions in achieving their mission along with
achieving financial independence. This means that they do not have to rely on
government grants, or fundraisers, to be sustainable. Therefore, the success of social
enterprise organizations is measured using both social impact and financial sustainability.
5
Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, and Shulman (2009), propose a measure for social
entrepreneurship that takes into account both the social and the economic value
generated. The measure, referred to as “total wealth”, evaluates social enterprises in a
tangible and intangible way. Total wealth (TW) is calculated by totaling Economic
Wealth (EW) and Social Wealth (SW) after subtracting away the Economic Costs (EC),
Opportunity Costs (OC), and Social Costs (SC). As a result, TW= EV+ SV− (EC+OC+
SC). Zahra et al. further discuss how this standard demonstrates the balance between the
social value and wealth generation created by social entrepreneurs given the economic
and social costs provided (Zahra et al., 2009).
Social enterprise is changing the way we think about sustainable economic
development. Launching social enterprises has recently gained global momentum
especially among young adults (Shrestha & Appanah, 2005). This can be attributed to the
increased attention to social enterprise through programs, education institutions, and even
some governments (Abdou et al., 2010). It has even been applied to rural areas through
organizations like Ashoka, Grameen Bank, and the United Nations. However, the future
growth of social enterprise lies with youth (Shrestha & Appanah, 2005). Many scholars
believe that youth today have the characteristics that make successful social
entrepreneurs. They are passionate, energetic, have an interest in problem-solving, and
want to make a positive impact in their communities (Shrestha & Appanah, 2005).
Maytha Al Habsi, the Deputy CEO of Emirates Foundation, added that “millennials 2 have
a healthy risk appetite, excited about the opportunities that the 21st century and the
2 There is no precise start and end date for the millennial generation but it is
generally referred to those born in the early 1980’s to early 2000’s (Bump, 2014). The
article referenced above specifically talks about youth between 15 and 35 years old.
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digital revolution bring” (D’Cunha, 2016, para. 3). This is an opportunity for countries
where the population of youth is large as social enterprise organizations will allow young
adults to create more employment opportunities by starting up their own businesses while
still helping their communities, hence improving the overall economic situation of the
country (Rajasekaran, Chinnathai, & Ramadevi, 2015).
Many developing countries have struggled to find ways to engage their youth
population in stimulating the nation’s economy (Abdou et al., 2010). The governments’
inability to provide job opportunities for youth leads to a high rate of unemployment
(Cowling, & Bygrave, 2002). Therefore, more importance has been placed on
entrepreneurship in recent years to improve developing countries by promoting regional
development and improving the economic situation of the country (Rajasekaran et al.,
2015). This makes youth social entrepreneurship a key, not only for helping decrease the
high rate of unemployment, but also for solving social issues in these countries. This is
consistent with the view that social entrepreneurs are change agents who seek to address
citizens’ needs that their government is unable to address (Dees, 1998). Social enterprises
have the opportunity to fulfill a community’s need and address a problem that the
government failed or are unable to solve. (Abdou et al., 2010).
MENA DEVELOPING REGION
In this study, the primary focus is on youth perspectives of social enterprise in the
MENA developing countries region. The World Bank identified fourteen developing
countries in this region3: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,
3 Countries excluded from this list include Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman)
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Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. These MENA developing
countries face numerous social, economic, and political issues (Abdou et al., 2010; Jamali
& Kreidie, 2014). Some of the most pressing issues that the MENA developing region
faces include high rates of poverty and unemployment, low quality and underdeveloped
health care and education systems, political instability and corruption (World Bank,
2015; Jamali & Kreidie, 2014).
In 2015, the Fragile States Index (FSI)4 ranked Yemen the fourth from the last of
178 countries, just above Syria, with a score of 111.1 out of 120. This categorizes Yemen
(and Syria) under the “Very High Alert” (Messner et al., 2017) and is mainly due to the
ongoing conflict and violence, which leads to weak governance and levels of external
intervention. One of the indicators that lead to the total FSI ranking includes economic
decline and poverty, which measures factors that cause economic decline within a
country. These measures look at patterns of escalating economic decline of a country
measured per capita such as poverty levels, business failures, a rapid drop in trade
revenue or foreign investment, or a collapse of a national currency. Yemen’s score in the
economic decline indicator is the lowest in the region with 9.3 out of 10 followed by
Egypt 8.2, Libya 8.5, and Syria 8.1 (Messner et al., 2017). Part of the economic decline in
these countries can be attributed to the aftermath of the Arab Spring that took place in
each of these countries causing political unrest and economic turbulence.
4 The Fragile State Index (FSI) is an annual ranking that consists of twelve social,
economic, and political indicators that measure the stability of 178 countries. Each
indicator ranges from 1 – 10 with 10 being the “most severe”. The countries are ranked
based on their composite score. Data is available from 2005 until 2015.
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YOUTH IN MENA COUNTRIES
Most MENA countries, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries,
are experiencing what had been referred to as a “youth bulge”. Countries that experience
youth bulge are the ones where children and young adults make up the largest portion of
the population. Youth make up more than two-thirds of the MENA region population
(“The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies”, 2012). Yemen, for example, has
one of the youngest population in the Middle East with over 75 percent of the total
population under 25 years old (Assaad, Barsoum, Cupito, Egel, 2009). In developing
countries like Yemen, this large cohort of young people often faces difficulty finding
employment opportunities with sufficient income. This causes a problem for a country
where according to the World Bank, “the youth bulge become a demographic bomb” that
may cause social and political unrest (Lin, 2012).
Youth unemployment rate is the main measure for assessing how successful a
country is able to manage the youth bulge. The youth unemployment rates in the MENA
region are higher than any other region in the world with 30 percent (World Bank, 2015),
while the global rate is 13.5 percent (International Labour Organization [ILO], 2016).
The Commonwealth Youth Development Index (YDI), which measures youth
development, ranks Yemen as the third from the last in Economic and Opportunity
domain with a rank of 181 out of 183. The Economic and Opportunity domain measures
the “extent to which young people are in employment, their ability to access finance and
economic opportunities, or whether they are in education or training that could lead to
gainful employment” (YDI, 2016). As projected in the youth bulge theory, many
developing countries in MENA region that failed to provide employment for their youth
9
are currently facing political and social problems which are evidenced by the
revolutionary wave of the Arab Spring that began in late 2010 and took place in Egypt,
Libya, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. Additionally, access to financial security represents a
significant problem in the region, especially after the Arab Spring (Jamali & Kreidie,
2014). The combination of the unstable political situation and the deteriorating economic
conditions has led the entire region to resort to entrepreneurship as the main source of
employment (Nasr & Pearce, 2012).
MENA YOUTH AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In order to prevent high rates of youth unemployment, countries with stable
governments have advocated for entrepreneurship and innovation, in order to encourage
youth to start up their own businesses (Abdou et al., 2010). Recently, some governments
in the region along with incubators and accelerators, have been promoting
entrepreneurship among youth along with increasing start-up funding to help create more
jobs. According to MAGNiTT (2017), the largest networking platform for start-ups in the
Middle East, start-ups in the MENA region received $889 million in 2016 and $290
million in funding for the six months of 2017. This is in comparison to the amount of
funding in 2014 of $114 million and 2015 of $166 million. This astonishing increase
shows a solid growth in start-up investments and a good sign of growth in entrepreneurial
activity and supportive ecosystem in the MENA region (MAGNiTT, 2017).
A 2016 Forbes article talks about the initiatives that the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) government has been undertaking recently to develop the ecosystem, funding, and
legislations needed to encourage young social entrepreneurs to pursue their ideas
(D’Cunha, 2016). Organizations such as the UAE Foundation and C3, are educating
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young adults on how to start social enterprises and are connecting them with mentors in
their fields of interest (D’Cunha, 2016). These organizations are confident that youth
have the potential to solve some of the long-standing social issues that their country has
faced. But in order to help them succeed, the government and investors need to support
these social entrepreneurs by creating a supportive ecosystem for their social enterprises.
In developing countries in the MENA region, such as Yemen, very little is known
about the social entrepreneurial efforts and its impact in the country. The research to date
shows that social entrepreneurship remains a foreign practice in Yemen. Just recently,
intergovernmental organizations began to promote and support social businesses and
enterprises. In 2015, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Yemen
launched a Social Business Lab that aims to support and give youth an opportunity to
work on identifying solutions for various social issues within their communities. The
UNDP has also supported other social business activities in efforts to bridge resilience
building, youth employment, and enterprise recovery. Some of the initiatives and projects
implemented include relaunching affected bakeries in Aden, establishing a garbage
collection business that employs 11 youth in Sana’a, and training 250 young and
unemployed midwives in Taiz governorate with skills and equipment to set up rural
clinics (UNDP, 2015). Apart from the initiatives created by the UNDP, there is a lack of
research that addresses the interest of youth in social entrepreneurship, and on the impact
of social enterprises on Yemen’s economic and social conditions. This indicates the need
to understand the perceptions of youth on social enterprise in Yemen, which will be
thoroughly discussed in the next section.
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to understand the factors that affect the interest in social enterprise and
perception of the impact of social enterprise in the overall economic situation of a
country among Yemeni youth, this study addresses the following related research
questions. These research questions (indicated by the letter “R”) and the following
hypotheses (indicated by the letter “H”) are listed below:
R1. Do Yemeni youth have the interest in being engaged in social enterprise?
R2. Do Yemeni youth believe that social enterprises can have an impact on the
development efforts in Yemen?
R3. How does the current economic situation in Yemen affect the interest of
youth in social enterprise?
R4. How does the current economic situation in Yemen affect youth’s
perceived impact of social enterprise?
HYPOTHESES
To answer the following research questions, we must get an in-depth knowledge
on what factors contribute to an interest in social enterprise and how does it benefit the
community. We must also examine how the economic conditions on both the individual
level of the social entrepreneur and on the national level might impact social enterprise
and social entrepreneurs.
As mentioned earlier, the ultimate goal that social entrepreneurs want to achieve
when starting social enterprise organizations is to find solutions for long-standing social
issues in their communities such as unemployment, poverty, inequality, food security,
corruption, and many others. The economic element in social enterprise involves a
combination of a workforce, financial risk-taking, production of products or services, and
maintaining overall self-sufficiency. The social element of social enterprise organization
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is represented by the purpose of benefiting the society and creating a positive impact in
the community. This can include providing employment opportunities to the
disadvantaged community members such as the homeless, disabled, autistic, less
qualified, among others as means of creating community development and wealth
creation (Zahra et al., 2009). In this regard, social enterprises can encourage and promote
social integration across all social levels including those normally excluded from
employment, leading to a social transformation that is achieved by the use of innovative
ideas and business strategies (Doherty, Haugh & Lyon, 2014).
Few scholars have been able to draw on any systematic research into the
relationship between the economic conditions and social enterprise. Midgley (1994)
suggests that “economic development is a prerequisite for social development” (as cited
in Frank & Muranda, 2016, p. 36), where social development refers to providing to major
social, developmental issues including welfare education, and many others. This can be
attested by looking at how economic condition can affect engagement with social
enterprise at the individual level.
Starting an enterprise (regardless if it is a traditional enterprise or a social
enterprise) is more challenging for people from low-income backgrounds than others
(Laney, 2013). This is because low-income (poor) people face more barriers to entry into
entrepreneurship. Furthermore, compared to their higher income counterparts, people
from low-income backgrounds are more susceptible to capital market imperfections
(Banerjee & Newman, 1994) because they tend to have less initial endowments and
resources (e.g. education). For example, in developing countries such as Yemen, youth
from lower income groups face major resource and financial constraints that prevent
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them from becoming contributors to their society and become civically engaged (Assaad
et al., 2009). Some of the major constraints that youth face includes lack of educational
attainment, early marriage for female youth, youth unemployment (Assaad et al., 2009).
This suggests that youth with poor financial standing are less likely to have interest and
engage in social enterprise.
Conversely, youth in better income class have more access to more resources
including education (including private school education), mentors and role models, social
support, and sometimes, financial capital. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report on
MENA region (2010) indicates that the level of early stage entrepreneurial activity
generally tends to increase with the level of the household income and with educational
level.
This discussion suggests that youth in a good financial standing are more likely to
have interest and engage in social enterprise. The macro economic conditions in
developing regions serve as an incentive and a motivating factor for social entrepreneurs
to act. However, their financial situation plays a role in their likelihood of pursuing social
entrepreneurship as youth who live in better economic conditions are more likely to get
involved with social enterprise organizations. They possess the characteristics of social
entrepreneurs by having the educational and financial means and ethical motivators (such
as the desire to help their society and being close to the social issues facing their
communities) which implies that they are better suited to address the social problems that
exist around them (Germak & Robinson, 2012). Therefore, when taken together, our H1
and H2 suggest that Yemeni youth with higher income status will tend to have more
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interest in social enterprise and will also be more likely to have a higher perception of
social enterprise impact in Yemen.
H1. The higher the income class of Yemeni youth, the higher their personal
interest will be in social enterprise
H2. The higher the income class of Yemeni youth, the higher the perceived
impact of social enterprise
Social entrepreneurs see problems as opportunities (Ashton, 2011). Hypothesis 3
and 4 are based on this view of social entrepreneurs. The economic deterioration and
youth’s difficulty in finding jobs, added to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, will
encourage youths to become social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are motivated by
helping their community (Germak and Robinson, 2012; Levie & Hart, 2011). The most
successful cases on social entrepreneurship and social enterprise organizations in
developing countries were created by social entrepreneurs who found a way achieve their
mission and provide services or products despite the political and economic instability
(Frank & Muranda, 2016). One of the most well-known and successful example that
addressed a major social issue is Grameen Bank. Founded by Muhammed Yunus,
Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization that gives out loans to individuals in order
to start their own businesses and repays the loan once they start making profits. This bank
only serves poor and had helped more than 8 million (as of 2011) launch their small
business (Grameen Bank, n.d.). Social enterprise organizations such as Grameen Bank
create more opportunity for people in developing countries by providing services that the
government has failed to provide. This discussion posits that youth who are living in a
community facing harsh economic conditions, and have even been possibly affected by it,
15
may be more likely to be motivated to pursue social entrepreneurship to address the
economic challenges.
The concept “perception of challenges of youth employment” is used to
subjectively evaluate current economic conditions and challenges facing youth in Yemen
due to the lack of quantitative data on the current economic situation. The most recent
published data on Yemen were conducted before the political unrest in 2015 which has
affected the country’s economic situation immensely. A report by Mercy Corps issued in
2013 states that the youth unemployment rate in Yemen is at 35 percent (Noronha, 2013).
However, this number is assumed to be even larger amid the recent political events that
took place after 2013 including the coup in 2015 and Saudi Arabian-led intervention in
Yemen that destroyed many factories and caused several companies to lay off employees
and suspend the wages of many others (Human Rights Watch, 2016).
Prior research suggests that, similar to entrepreneurship (Cowling & Bygrave,
2002), social enterprise increases when unemployment among youth increases. Social
enterprise has in fact been associated with fostering employment growth and reducing
unemployment, including long-term unemployment (Defourny & Nyssens, 2008; Kerlin,
2010). Since social enterprise is used as means of providing employment opportunities
for individuals who might otherwise not be employed, it is reasonable to believe that
social enterprise might create opportunities and provide employment opportunities for
youth living in politically and economically unstable countries, like Yemen. Hence, as
the economic situation deteriorates, youth will be more likely to consider pursuing social
entrepreneurship.
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H3. The higher the perception of challenges of youth employment, the higher
their personal interest will be in social enterprise
H4. The higher the perception of challenges of youth employment, the higher
the perceived impact of social enterprise
METHODS
A structured survey was used to collect the data for this study. The survey
consisted of 42 questions comprised of four constructs of closed-ended, Likert scale
ranking, as well as multiple choice questions for demographic information,
socioeconomic background, and social entrepreneurial characteristics of the respondents.
The survey was made available for the participants in both English and Arabic language 5.
A pilot test was conducted to assess the quality of the survey. Ten Yemeni youth
participated in the pilot test and minor revisions and improvements were made to the
survey before launching the final version. These revisions specifically focused on
formatting, re-wording, and reorganizing the content in the survey. The total number of
questions was condensed to secure more completed responses without overwhelming the
participants. Additionally, checkpoints were added to keep the participants focused on the
survey and ensure reliability of the results. Refer to Appendix A for the final, distributed
survey. The collected data were analyzed using factor analysis, Garrett’s ranking
analysis, bivariate correlation, and multi-regression analysis. IBM SPSS statistics
package and Stata software were used for the data analysis.
5 It was essential to translate the survey to Arabic, the official language in Yemen,
as only 9% of the total population speak English as a second language (Euro International
Monitor, 2011)
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DATA COLLECTION
The primary method for data collection from the participants was through an
online administered survey that was designed and distributed using Qualtrics Software
tool. The survey is comprised of six parts: the introduction and consent form, eligibility
check to determine that they are within the age range and are currently residing in
Yemen, demographic information for control variables, the main survey which included
four constructs that derived the dependent variables and the moderator variables, multiple
choice questions that assessed the participants perception of social enterprise, along with
future career questions, and lastly family socioeconomic questions. It was distributed via
several online platforms including, social media websites, online forums, university
emails, and non-profit organizations and took approximately 10 to 15 minutes to
complete. Check Appendix B to view a summary list of the channels through which the
survey was distributed.
STUDY SAMPLE
To participate in the study, the individual had to be currently residing in Yemen,
between the ages of 18 – 35, and fluent in either Arabic or English. A total of 235
participants engaged with the online survey. Of those 235 respondents, several recorded
answers were excluded from the survey to ensure accuracy of the results. These
exclusions included: 17 who did not meet the age criteria, 58 who did not live in Yemen,
30 who did not pass the validity check-points, and 53 who did not complete the survey.
After cleaning the data and removing invalid responses, 77 valid, completed responses
were analyzed in this study (i.e. 33% of the original sample that engaged with the
survey).
18
KEY VARIABLES
Dependent variables (DV). There are two dependent variables in this study,
interest in social enterprise (SE) and perceived impact of social enterprise (SE). These
variables are latent constructs, which were created using the principal components factor
analysis, with varimax rotation 6. Table 1 and 2 show the 11 variables that make up the
two main dependent variables, interest in SE7 and perceived impact of SE. As shown in
the tables, the results were highly correlated and reliable with a Cronbach Alpha
coefficient (α) of 88.2% and 89.1% respectively. The factor score produced an eigenvalue
of 3.41 for interest in SE and 3.898 for perceived impact of SE.
Table 1. Factor analysis for DV 1: Interest in SE
Dependent
Factored Variables Component Uniqueness
Variable
I am (not) interested in SE 0.7524 0.4340
I (don’t) want to be s social entrepreneur 0.8474 0.2820

Interest in
I (don’t) want to open my own SE 0.8387 0.2965 Social
Enterprise
I (don’t) want to work for SE 0.8078 0.3474
I (don’t) want to learn more about SE 0.8763 0.2320
6 Both Bartlett (known for generating unbiased factors) method and regression
(known for its accuracy) method were used when generating the latent constructs from
the factor analyses to see if the methods produce different results. The results showed that
the scores were robust regardless of the method of generating the latent constructs.
Therefore, the regression method results were reported for this study.
7 In the context measuring the interest of SE, there was an additional variable
regarding the respondent’s familiarity with SE. This variable was not significantly
correlated with the rest of the indicators, therefore, it was excluded from the factor
analysis and treated as an independent variable. The rationale behind excluding the
indicator was because the framing of this variable in the survey was opposite to the rest
of the variables.
19
Table 2. Factor analysis for DV 2: Perceived impact of SE
Dependent
Variable
SE will (not) improve Yemen’s economic
0.7414 0.4503
situation
SE is (un)able to decrease youth
0.8530 0.2724
unemployment
SE can(not) empower youth towards Perceived
0.7974 0.3641
developing Yemen Impact of
SE can(not) fulfill unmet social needs with Social
0.7890 0.3775
new services and innovative solutions Enterprise
SE will (not) reduce the burden on the
0.8562 0.2669
government
SE will (not) reduce the burden on 0.7934 0.3705
charities/non-profits
Independent variables (IV). In the pilot test for the survey, a direct question asked
the respondent to select their household income. This question was one of the measures
created for the independent variable. However, only a small number of answers were
received as respondents preferred to opt out from answering by either skipping the
question or selecting “prefer not to answer” option. This suggests that the respondents
might have refrained from answering this question because (1) they do not know what
their family currently receives, or (2) they do not wish to share their income status given
the current economic situation in the country that might have affected the household
financial situation.
An alternative question was created using subjective methods to identify the
independent variables. To get as close as possible to understanding the economic
situation of the youth in Yemen, this study relies on a Subjective Social Status (SSS)
measures to gauge the current income status of the respondent. The American
Psychological Association (APA), defines SSS as a method that measures the
20
“perceptions of one's social standing using categories such as "working class" or "middle
class," or perceptions of one's social position relative to others based on income,
educational attainment and occupational prestige” (n.d., para.17). Accordingly, the
following categories were used to describe the income class of youth in Yemen: lower
class, lower middle class, upper middle class, and upper class.
CONTROL VARIABLES
Demographic control variables. Following previous entrepreneurship work, some
demographic variables that could affect the dependent variables of interest in our study
were controlled for. The binary variable, gender, was coded as male=0 and female=1.
According to a report by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) conducted in 2009 on
entrepreneurial activity in the MENA region8, the TEA9 rate for men is 1.5 times that for
women10 which was reported to be a small gap when compared to other GEM countries.
Hence, gender was controlled for as it might be correlated with interest in social
enterprise and as a result could affect the perceived impact of social enterprise.
Age was another variable controlled for. Due to the large youth population in
Yemen, GEM (2010) reports that the largest percentage of entrepreneurial activity is
within the 18 – 24 age range. However, Yemen was the only country where the rate
plunges in the 24 – 44 age groups. Contradictorily, a study reported that there is a
positive relationship between entrepreneurial attitudes and age, where the level of
entrepreneurial attitudes increases as the increase of age (Tamizharasi & Panchanatham,
8 This is the latest report on entrepreneurial activity in the MENA region. The
report takes into consideration both traditional enterprises and social enterprises.
9 TEA rate refers to the early-stage entrepreneurial rate
10 29.0% for men compared to 18.8% for women
21
2010). In the survey, age was separated into three categories: (1) under 18 years old, (2)
18 years old through 24 years old, (3) 25 – 30 years old, (4) 30 years old through 35 years
old, (5) over 35 years old. Respondents who selected the first or last category were not
eligible to take the rest of the survey as they did not fit our demographics.
Another variable controlled for is educational attainment of the participants to see
if their interest and perceived impact of social enterprise varies based on the educational
level. Generally, the entrepreneurial activity increases with education in MENA countries
(GEM, 2010). However, Yemen was an exception where people with secondary
education had a higher entrepreneurial activity than those with post-secondary education
(GEM, 2010). Education is a categorical variable derived from the survey question
related to the highest educational level, which included 11 categories ranging from “No
education complete” all the way through “Doctorate (Ph.D.) degree”. Lastly, marital
status was controlled to measure for correlation with interest in SE and perceived impact
of SE. Marital Status included 6 categories: (1) Single, (2) Engaged, (3) Married, (4)
Divorced, (5) Widowed, and (6) Prefer not to answer.
Other control variables. Additional control variables were sought out while
assessing the relationship of interest in SE and perceived interest in SE with income
status and employment challenge variables. Volunteer experience was controlled for,
given that youth with volunteer experience are likely to have more interest in social
enterprise and are also more likely to perceive social enterprise as impactful for the
development of the country. Volunteer experience is a binary variable in where 1 = yes
and 0 = no. Private school education was also controlled for as youth who attend private
schools are more likely to have a better-quality education and complete higher education
22
levels (Ashley et al, 2014; Jimenez, Lockheed, & Paqueo, 1991). This would overall lead
to having more interest in social enterprise and might also have a higher perception of the
impact of SE. Attending a private school or a public school is a binary variable where
private school = 1 and public school = 0. The variable, city, was coded as Sana’a = 1 and
all other answers = 0. In the survey, the question included four multiple choices which
included Yemen’s main cities, Sana’a, the capital city, Aden, Taiz, and “other” where
participants can write the name of the governorate they live in. However, these three
cities were highlighted because it is anticipated that most youth who have access to the
internet would live in urban areas.
Two additional factors related to the broader external environment were
controlled for, namely the SE ecosystem in Yemen, and the macro environment in
Yemen. These factors were generated using factor analysis. In the SE ecosystem
construct, the underlying variables presented are adopted from Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor (GEM), National Expert Survey (NES) established codes. These variables help
understand the available support and the environment provided for youths interested in
starting or getting involved with social enterprises. Several scholars have highlighted the
importance of having a supportive environment for social entrepreneurs to thrive
(Kostetska & Berezyak, 2014; Fontan & Shragge 1998; Midgley & Livermore 1998;
Abdou et al., 2010). This includes the support from the government, private sector,
financial institutions, and intergovernmental organizations in some countries. The result
of the analysis was very reliable with a reliability coefficient of 87.72% and an
23
eigenvalue of 3.75. The final construct 11 in the survey, looked at the macro environmental
factors which were set as the moderators in this study. Five different variables generated
a 76.5 % reliability and an eigenvalue of 2.54. These variables encompassed the political,
economic, and social factors in Yemen. The component and uniqueness of both
constructs can be found in Appendix C.
The last two variables controlled for were familiarity with SE and society’s
awareness of SE. Both variables were derived from Likert scale questions where youth
ranked how familiar they are with social entrepreneurship from 1 “not familiar” to 5
“very familiar” and how important they think society’s awareness of SE is where 1 “very
important” and 5 “not important”. It is reasonable to suggest that participants who are
familiar with SE and think it is important for their community to understand what social
enterprise is, would be more likely to have personal interest in becoming social
entrepreneurs, and may have a higher perception of social enterprise’s impact on Yemen.
RESULTS
Of the 77 participants, 43 are female, and 34 are male. About 56% of the
participants were between 18 and 24 years old, 23% between 25 - 30 years, and 21%
between 31 and 35 years of age. 60 out of the 77 respondents were living in the capital
city of Yemen, Sana’a. 67% of the respondents were single and only 23% were married.
11 Similar to the excluded variable from the interest in SE construct, society’s

awareness of SE was also excluded from the macro environment factors construct. The
variable remained as an independent control variable because it was worded differently
from the rest of the questions which affected the factor score when conducting the
analysis.
24
Participants were also asked about their highest level of education that they have
completed. Four completed secondary school, 5 were high school graduates, 4 completed
English (or other) language training certificate, 22 completed some university courses but
did not receive any degree, 2 completed a technical diploma (or equivalent), 34 received
their Bachelor’s degree, 5 completed their Master’s degree, and 1 respondent completed
their Doctorate (Ph.D.) degree. 57% attended a public high school and 43% attended a
private high school. In terms of their current employment status, 37 were current
students, 28 were employed, and 13 were unemployed. 55 of the respondents, 72%, had
previous volunteering experience. Overall, the sample was representative of the youth
population with a balance between gender, the majority being between the 18 and 24 age
categories, and around 32% of the youth labor force is unemployed.
The result for independent variables derived, income class and employment
challenge, are shown in Figure 1 and 2. Figure 1 shows that the majority of the
participants identified themselves between lower and upper middle class. Only 4 percent
of the participants identified as being in the lower class whereas 45 percent believe that
they are from the lower middle-class status and 54 percent believe they are within the
upper middle class.
When asked about how challenging is it for youth to find employment in Yemen,
89 percent of the respondents indicated it is “very challenging”, “challenging”, or
“moderately challenging” (49%, 31%, and 9% respectively). Only 6 percent stated that it
was somewhat challenging and 3 percent believed that it was not challenging for youth to
obtain employment in Yemen. The results support previous research on the difficulty for
25
youths’ to find job opportunities leading to a high number of youth unemployment across
the country (Assaad et al., 2009; Noronha, 2013).
Figure 1. Summary of Yemeni youth's perceived income class
IV 1: Income Class
45
40
40
35 33
# of respondents
30
25
20
15
10
5 3
1
0
Lower Class Lower Middle Class Upper Middle Class Upper Class
What income class do you consider yourself to be in?
Figure 2. Summary of perceived youth employment challenge in Yemen
IV 2: Perceived Youth Employment Challenge

40.00 38.00
35.00
Number of respondents
30.00
24.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00 7.00
5.00
5.00 3.00
0.00
Not challenging at Somewhat Moderately Challenging Very challenging
all challenging challenging
How challenging is it for youths to find employment in Yemen?
26
Table 3 below presents descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations which
include the dependent variables, independent variables, and control variables. Income
class was correlated with both dependent variables (Perceived impact of SE: r = 0.25,
p<0.05) and (Interest in SE: r = 0.24, p<0.05) respectively. However, employment
challenge was only correlated with one of the dependent variables, which is the perceived
impact of SE (r= -0.27, p<0.05). The rest of the correlations were relatively low except
for a few statistically significant control variables. Refer to Table 3 for the correlation
matrix.
27
Table 3. Bivariate correlation matrix
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1. Perceived Impact of SE 1
2. Interest in SE 0.57 1
3. Income Class 0.25 0.24 1
4. Employment Challenge -0.27 -0.18 -0.1 1
5. Familiarity with SE 0.13 0.21 0.17 -0.07 1
6. Moderators-FA 0.09 0.09 -0.07 -0.16 -0.01 1
7. Society's Awareness 0.35 0.36 -0.06 0 -0.01 0.08 1
8. City (Sana’a =1) -0.1 0 0.24 0.08 -0.17 0.08 -0.17 1
9. Age 0.17 0.1 -0.12 -0.06 0.21 0.14 0.21 -0.12 1
10. Volunteer experience 0.09 -0.05 0.1 0.04 0.21 -0.01 0.08 0.08 0.05 1
11. Highest Edu. Level -0.07 -0.09 0.11 -0.01 0.08 -0.03 0.1 0.18 0.23 0.19 1
12. Gender (F = 1) -0.28 -0.04 -0.08 0.18 -0.22 0 -0.14 0.22 -0.42 -0.22 -0.06 1
13. Private School -0.08 -0.05 0.24 -0.08 -0.15 0.11 -0.31 0.45 -0.44 -0.14 -0.19 0.23 1
14. Marital Status (Single =1) -0.04 0.17 0.08 -0.05 -0.02 0.04 -0.03 0.1 -0.55 -0.01 -0.15 0.28 0.25 1
15. Ecosystem Support-FA -0.01 0 -0.01 -0.13 0.02 0.33 0 -0.03 -0.26 -0.07 0.03 0.26 0.22 0.17 1
Mean 0 0 2.51 4.16 2.79 0 3.17 0.78 1.65 0.71 7.77 0.56 0.43 0.68 0
S.D. 1 1 0.6 1.09 1.44 1 1.7 0.42 0.81 0.45 1.78 0.5 0.5 0.47 1
Min -2.64 -2.39 1 1 1 -1.98 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 -1.13
Max 1.26 1.08 4 5 5 2.01 5 1 3 1 11 1 1 1 2.86
Bivariate correlations greater than or equals to absolute value of 0.19, 0.23 and 0.33 are significant at the p< 0.1, p<0.05, and p<0.01 respectively.
28
Table 4 shows the results of the multivariate regression analysis presented across
9 models. The results in Model 6 (β = 0.4591, p<0.05) and Model 8 (β = 0.4338,
p<0.05) support Hypothesis 1 in that the higher the income class of Yemeni youth, the
higher their personal interest will be in social enterprise. Hypothesis 2 is also supported
as demonstrated in the results in Model 2 (β = 0.4769, p<0.01) and Model 4 (β = 0.4378,
p<0.01). The higher the income class of Yemeni youth, the higher the perceived impact
of social enterprise. Contrary to Hypothesis 3, perception of the challenges of
employment in Yemen was negatively related to the personal interest in social enterprise
as demonstrated in Model 7 and 8, though this effect is not statistically significant.
Surprisingly, Model 3 (β = -0.2179, p<0.01) and Model 4, (full model) (β = -0.1939,
p<0.01) shows an inverse relationship with Hypothesis 4. The significant negative
coefficient shows that the higher the perception of challenges of employment, the lower
the perceived impact of social enterprise.
Model 1 and 5 are base models for each of the dependent variables, which include
only control variables. In Model 1, gender has an inverse relation with perceived impact
of SE (β = -0.4469, p<0.05) which indicates that female youth are less likely to perceive
the impact of SE in Yemen. In Model 5, marital status significance (β = 0.4480, p<0.05)
suggests that single youth are more likely to have interest in SE. Education had an inverse
significant relationship with personal interest in SE and income class (Model 6; β = -
0.1024, p<0.01) and (Model 8; β = -0.1048, p<0.01). This indicates that youth who have
obtained a higher education level and have higher income levels have less interest in
being engaged with SE. This may be due to youth’s interest in other professions and
career paths. In other words, youth with higher levels of education and higher income
29
level refers to group of youths who most likely know their interests or who already have a
profession and thus do not see themselves pursuing SE or getting involved in this field.
Familiarity with SE yielded a significant result with personal interest in SE. This
signifies that youth who are familiar with social enterprise are more likely to have
personal interest in it that youth who are not familiar with social enterprise. Another
major finding was society’s awareness of SE which was significant across all 9 models.
Youth who believe that society’s awareness of social entrepreneurship is important tend
to have high perception of impact of social enterprise and tend of have more interest in
SE.
30
Table 4. Multivariate regression analysis
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Model 6 Model 7 Model 8 Model 9
Variables Perceived impact of SE Interest in SE
Income Class 0.4769** 0.4378** 0.4591* 0.4338* 0.2328
[0.2025] [0.1953] [0.2298] [0.2289] [0.2179]
Employment Challenge -0.2179** -0.1939** -0.1494 -0.1256 -0.0366
[0.0845] [0.0891] [0.0936] [0.1027] [0.0844]
Perceived impact of SE 0.4590***
Age 0.1007 0.1505 0.074 0.1226 0.1729 0.2207 0.1545 0.2027 0.1464
[0.2053] [0.1973] [0.1903] [0.1850] [0.1861] [0.1753] [0.1814] [0.1741] [0.1443]
Gender (Female = 1) -0.4469* -0.3566 -0.3434 -0.2719 0.0205 0.1075 0.0915 0.1624 0.2872
[0.2386] [0.2314] [0.2368] [0.2252] [0.2603] [0.2487] [0.2585] [0.2409] [0.1906]
Marital Status (Single = 1) 0.0766 0.061 0.0185 0.0105 0.4480* 0.4330* 0.4082 0.4003 0.3955*
[0.2529] [0.2577] [0.2362] [0.2454] [0.2645] [0.2580] [0.2570] [0.2521] [0.2264]
Education -0.0721 -0.0917 -0.078 -0.0954 -0.0835 -0.1024** -0.0875 -0.1048** -0.061
[0.0632] [0.0618] [0.0574] [0.0573] [0.0572] [0.0511] [0.0569] [0.0518] [0.0528]
Private/Public Education (Private = 0.1309 0.0165 0.0557 -0.0412 0.0411 -0.0691 -0.0105 -0.1064 -0.0875
1)
[0.3523] [0.3405] [0.3419] [0.3244] [0.3062] [0.2657] [0.3078] [0.2617] [0.2412]
Location (Sana’a = 1) 0.0509 -0.1017 0.1157 -0.0316 0.2768 0.1299 0.3212 0.1753 0.1898
[0.3216] [0.3062] [0.3105] [0.2952] [0.3380] [0.3290] [0.3447] [0.3397] [0.3126]
Volunteer Experience 0.0438 0.0435 0.0696 0.0664 -0.2456 -0.2459 -0.2279 -0.2311 -0.2616
[0.2615] [0.2533] [0.2580] [0.2536] [0.2593] [0.2491] [0.2557] [0.2491] [0.2204]
Familiarity with SE 0.0562 0.0171 0.0509 0.0156 0.1846** 0.1470* 0.1809** 0.1460* 0.1388*
[0.0893] [0.0859] [0.0880] [0.0850] [0.0833] [0.0802] [0.0841] [0.0816] [0.0720]
SE Ecosystem (Factor Score) 0.0454 0.0565 0.0152 0.0287 -0.0108 -0.0001 -0.0314 -0.0181 -0.0313
[0.1414] [0.1485] [0.1420] [0.1501] [0.1206] [0.1139] [0.1168] [0.1115] [0.1110]
Society’s Awareness of SE 0.2015** 0.1905** 0.2069** 0.1962*** 0.2244*** 0.2139*** 0.2281*** 0.2176*** 0.1275**
[0.0786] [0.0742] [0.0779] [0.0736] [0.0732] [0.0734] [0.0729] [0.0731] [0.0606]
Moderators 0.0232 0.0485 0.0015 0.0271 0.0194 0.0438 0.0045 0.0299 0.0175
[0.1423] [0.1397] [0.1421] [0.1412] [0.1380] [0.1398] [0.1386] [0.1419] [0.1277]
Constant -0.341 -1.1875 0.5947 -0.2857 -1.2276* -2.0426** -0.5863 -1.4586 -1.3274
[0.7793] [0.8617] [0.8137] [0.9284] [0.7071] [0.9471] [0.7541] [1.0550] [1.0383]
Observations 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75
R-squared 0.21 0.275 0.26 0.315 0.257 0.319 0.281 0.335 0.481
Adjusted R-squared 0.0722 0.135 0.117 0.169 0.128 0.187 0.142 0.194 0.36
+p <0.1, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p<0.001
31
POST-HOC ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
This study set out with the aim of assessing the level of interest among youth in
becoming social entrepreneurs, as well as their opinion on the impact that SE can have on
Yemen. The results of this study show that youth from comparatively, higher income
backgrounds believe in the impact of social entrepreneurship can have on the
development in the country, and are more likely to have an interest in becoming social
entrepreneurs. This is consistent with findings in previous studies on social
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in general (Banerjee & Newman, 1994; GEM,
2010; Laney, 2013) because young adults who are financially stable do not face the same
obstacles or barriers that those in lower income class do (Laney, 2013). In addition to
limited education and financial skills, youth living in poverty also have limited exposure
to entrepreneurial mentors and role models, which is an important factor for successful
entrepreneurs (Laney, 2013). In a country like Yemen, where the proportion of youth
living in poverty is very high, this is potentially, an economically significant finding.
In the survey, the respondents were asked to identify up to three barriers that
youth might face when starting social enterprises in Yemen. After aggregating the
responses, the top barriers included youth’s lack of awareness on how to create social
impact in their communities, lack of infrastructure facilities, and almost at the same level,
not having a business idea, and the concerns about financial risk associated with starting
an enterprise. Three respondents chose “other” as a top barrier with one of them stating
that the political situation and the country’s instability is one of the top barriers. These
results denote lack of social enterprise awareness and education among youth, as well as
lack of support system specifically from the government and from financial institutions.
32
Identifying lack of awareness on how to create social income and not having a
business a business idea as barriers to social enterprise in Yemen can be attributed to
youth’s lack of familiarity with social entrepreneurship. The study found that there is a
significant correlation between the level of familiarity with personal interest in SE. That
is, familiarity with SE breeds interest in SE among youth. While this may seem like an
obvious finding, it should not be overlooked as understanding what social
entrepreneurship is and the potential impact it can have in solving social and
environmental issues in communities is the foundation of promoting social
entrepreneurship among youth.
Figure 3. Barriers to starting social enterprises in Yemen
Barriers to SE in Yemen
60
54
50
42
40
30 26 25
20 16 15 14 14
10
10 8
4 3
However, when perceived impact of SE was added to the regression analysis in
Model 9, income class changed from being a significant variable to not significant while
33
interest in SE and perceived impact of SE had a strong positive significant relationship (β
= -0.4590, p<0.001). In order to better interpret this result, a post-hoc test was conducted
using Sobel-Goodman mediation test to test for a mediation between the perceived
impact of social enterprise (DV 2) and the relationship between income class (IV 112) and
interest in social enterprise (DV 1) based on the following hypothesis:
H5. Youth's perception of the impact of social enterprise will mediate the
relationship between their income class and their interest in social
enterprise.
The result shows the mediation effect of perceived SE impact was statistically
significant with approximately 56.36% of the total effect (of income class on personal
interest in SE) being mediated. In other words, about 56 percent of the relationship is in
fact mediated by perceived impact of social enterprise.
To get a better picture of what Yemeni youth think are the benefits of having
social enterprise organization in Yemen, the respondents were asked to rank the
following benefits of starting social enterprise organizations in Yemen from 1 (being the
highest) to 8 (the lowest). The recorded answers of the respondents on the different
benefits were ranked using Garrett’s ranking technique (Rajasekaran et al., 2015) to
highlight what the youth see as the most important benefits of starting social enterprises
in Yemen. Refer to Appendix D to see how the ranks were derived using Garrett’s
technique.
12The employment challenge variable (IV2) was not investigated in the post-hoc
mediation test because it was not significant with personal interest in SE (DV).
34
As presented in Table 5 below, the respondents consider being independent and
their own boss as the top benefit of having their own social enterprise. Following that is
being able to contribute to the development of the country. Noting these two benefits as
the top benefits of being social entrepreneurs demonstrates that youth recognize that
social enterprise is not a non-profit or a charity organization but a business that can have
an impact on the development of their country.
Table 5. Ranking of the benefits of starting SE in Yemen

Benefits Garrett's Avg. Score Rank
You are your own boss 59.61 1
You can contribute to the development of the country 56.00 2
You can work on things that interest you 54.35 3
You can connect your SE with your passion/hobby 49.60 4
You can earn respect in society 49.07 5
You can do something new 47.04 6
You can earn more money 46.06 7
You can set your own working hours 38.28 8
Respondents were also asked about what might encourage youth to pursue social
entrepreneurship and become social entrepreneurs, 30 respondents stated that social
entrepreneurship education is needed to promote social enterprise; while another 30
reported that having access to capital is necessary to encourage youth in this field.
Having mentors or role models who are following a similar track along with media
coverage on social enterprises in the region and social entrepreneurial efforts around the
communities were other recommendations for encouraging youth in Yemen to engage
with social enterprises. Additionally, one respondent selected ‘other’ and conveyed the
following statement on what might encourage youth to become social entrepreneurs:
“Their belief that these projects may be the most important reasons for the
development of Yemen and improve the course of living among individuals. In
addition, when they see the positive results of their work or the work of others too
they will be motivated and incentivized to intensify the various types of projects.”
35
This comment touches on the role of youth themselves to become self-driven and
starters to creating social change. It can also be related to becoming more familiar with
social entrepreneurship in order to believe in the work and impact of social enterprises
and become invested in this field.
Figure 4. Encouraging SE in Yemen
How to encourage social enterprise among youth in Yemen

50%
45%
38.96% 38.96%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15% 12.99%
10% 6.49%
5%
0%
Better Media Coverage Access to Capital SE Education Mentor/Role-model
LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORK
Although the study has made some contributions to our understanding of youth
perception and attitudes toward social enterprise in the MENA developing country
context, there were some unavoidable limitations. This section describes these limitations
and proposes several suggestions for future research. The first limitation was limited
access to participants. This study focused on Yemeni youth who are currently living in
Yemen to get the most accurate responses regarding social enterprise in Yemen based on
the current situation that the youth experience. However, given that the research was
36
conducted in the United States, the survey was created and distributed online. The
disadvantage of using an online survey tool is the exclusion of several youth groups who
do not have access to the internet. This includes youth living in rural areas (which
represent more the half of the total youth populating), youth who live in poverty, and
illiterate (or digital illiterate) youth.
The second limitation is the sample size of the study. This is slightly connected to
the first limitation as our sample size of 77 did not represent the entire youth population.
To generalize the results for the youth population in Yemen, the study should have
involved more participants. The third limitation is the lack of prior research studies on the
topic of social enterprise, especially in MENA developing countries. As discussed in the
literature review section, the field of social enterprise has gained attention more recently
but most of the studies have focused on solving social issues among the marginalized and
disadvantaged communities in developed nations.
Based on these limitations, it is evident that additional research on social
enterprise in the Middle East and North Africa region is needed to gain further
knowledge on how it can contribute to the development of the nations in this region. It is
recommended to conduct the study on site to gain access to a larger sample of the youth
population and to ensure a representative distribution of the population. A larger sample
size might yield more accurate correlations as it will be easier to find significant
relationships from the data.
CONCLUSION
This study set out to understand how social enterprise can be utilized by youth to
contribute to a sustainable economic development in the Middle East and North Africa
37
region. Using Yemen as an example of the MENA region, an exploratory study was
conducted, where youths’ interest in social enterprise and youth’s perceived impact of
social enterprise on Yemen economic situation were the primary variables being
investigated. The findings from this study suggest that youth with a better financial
standing are more likely to have a higher perception of the impact of social enterprise and
as a result have a higher interest in social enterprise, which was discovered to be
mediated by the perception of the impact. While the study did not find a significant
relationship between the economic conditions of the country and youth’s personal interest
in engaging in social enterprise, it discovered that familiarity with social entrepreneurship
influences youth’s personal interest in social enterprise.
In assessing the results of the study, it becomes clear that Yemeni youth lack the
knowledge and support necessary to become social entrepreneurs. Three main
recommendations are derived from the findings to encourage youth to become social
entrepreneurs and contribute to the development of the country.
Social Entrepreneurship Education. In order for youth to create and implement
innovative ideas and solve social issues around their community, they must be equipped
with the knowledge and necessary skills that prepare them to identify opportunities and
enter the market. Education and training across different levels become crucial to
preparing youth to become social change agents in their communities. This calls for
schools, universities, and other educational institutions to embed social entrepreneurship
in their curriculums to promote awareness of and competence in this field of endeavor.
Universities in Yemen can promote social enterprises through collaborating with
entrepreneurship hubs in the country and organizing social innovation events and
38
programs that engage youth practically with social enterprises and connects them with
potential mentors in this field.
Government Support. The government support is essential in helping social
enterprises thrive and become successful. In developing countries such as Yemen, the
government fails to provide basic services. Social enterprises have the potential to find
ways to solve these social issues. Hence, the government needs to support these
organizations in achieving their goals. Support can include simplifying the process to
obtain a business license/permits or collaborating with enterprises that require the
assistance of their governments to deliver their services or products.
Private Sector Support. Businesses, intergovernmental organizations, financial
institutions, and other enterprises can play a great role in encouraging social enterprise in
the country. These institutions can support social enterprises with many things including,
providing them with financial support for start-up social enterprises through grants,
investments, or loans. They can also offer business training, mentorship, internship
experience, and volunteer learning opportunities. Such support will not only prepare
youth to become social entrepreneurs but will also help them create a network people of
expertise and a support system.
39
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APPENDIX A: SURVEY – ENGLISH VERSION
Q1 Social Entrepreneurship in Yemen

Title of Research: Social Entrepreneurship in Yemen: A Yemeni Youth Perspective
Researchers: Noha Al-khalqi, Dr. Ikenna Uzuegbunam
You are being asked to participate in a web-based online survey for a research. This
study is being done by Noha Al-khalqi under the supervision of Dr. Ikenna Uzuegbunam.
For you to be able to decide whether you want to participate in this project, you should
understand what the project is about in order to make an informed decision. This process
is known as informed consent. This form describes the purpose, procedures, possible
benefits, and risks. It also explains how your personal information will be used and
protected. Once you have read this form and your questions about the study are answered,
you will be asked to participate in this study.
Explanation of Study This study is being conducted to examine the
perspective of Yemeni youth on the role of social entrepreneurship (businesses that
are primarily driven by social missions) in Yemen. Specifically, this research examines
youth’s interest in starting up or in being involved in social enterprises in Yemen. The
study explores youth’s opinion on the impact that social enterprises can have in
improving the country’s economic situation including the high youth unemployment.
If you agree to participate, you will be asked to fill out an online survey about how
you view the role of social entrepreneurship in Yemen. You will be asked to answer some
questions about yourself, including some demographic information and information about
your future career. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes.
You should only participate in this study if you are a Yemeni citizen currently living
in Yemen (and have not left Yemen for more than 3 months during the last 12 months),
can speak and write English or Arabic fluently, and between the ages of 18 and 35.
Risks and Discomforts There are no foreseeable risks or discomforts involved in
participating in this study.
Benefits This study is important to society and the scientific community because
it will enhance the knowledge about youth’s engagement in social entrepreneurship in the
Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) developing countries. Policy makers and
international organizations in Yemen can leverage insight from this study to solve
relevant societal issues such as: poverty, youth unemployment, malnutrition, and many
others. You will receive no direct benefits from participating in this research study.
Participation Your participation in this survey is voluntary. You may refuse to
take part in the research or exit the survey at any time without penalty. You are free to
decline to answer any particular question you do not wish to answer for any reason.
Confidentiality and Records Your study information will be kept confidential by
keeping all information completely anonymous. For maximum confidentiality, please
clear your browser history and close the browser before leaving the computer.
Contact Information If you have any questions regarding this study, please
contact the investigator [Noha Al-khalqi, na360012@ohio.edu, +1-(740)-517-6814] or
the advisor [Dr. Ikenna Uzuegbunam, uzuegbun@ohio.edu, +1-(518)-330-1554].
If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research participant, please
contact Dr. Chris Hayhow, Director of Research Compliance, Ohio University, +1-(740)-
593-0664 or hayhow@ohio.edu.
49
Electronic consent Please select your choice below. You may print a copy of this
consent form for your records.
Clicking on the “Agree” button indicates that:
1. you have read this consent form and have been given the opportunity to ask
questions and have them answered;
2. you have been informed of potential risks and they have been explained to your
satisfaction;
3. you are 18 years of age or older;
4. your participation in this research is completely voluntary;
5. you may leave the study at any time;
6. if you decide to stop participating in the study, there will be no penalty to you and
you will not lose any benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.
Q2. I agree to participate in this survey Q6. Which governorate do you live in?
o I agree o Aden
o I disagree o Sana'a
If I disagree Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Survey o Taiz
o Other ____________________
Q3. How old are you?
o Under 18 Q7. Did you leave Yemen for more than 3
o 18 - 24 months during the past 12 months?
o 25 - 30 o Yes
o 31 - 35 o No
o 36 or Older If Yes Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Survey
If Under 18 Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Survey If 36
or Older Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Survey
Q8. What language(s) do you speak?
 Arabic
Q4. Do you currently live in Yemen
 English
o Yes
 Other ____________________
o No
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Survey
Q9. Gender:
Q5. How long have you lived in Yemen? o Male
o Never o Female
o Less than 1 Year
o 1 – 4 Years Q10. What is your current marital status?
o 5 – 9 Years o Single
o 10 Years or more o Engaged
o My entire life o Married
o I don’t know o Divorced
o Widowed
o Prefer not to answer
50
Q11. What is the highest degree or level Q16. What is your current employment
of education you have completed? status? (Please select all that applies)
o No education completed  Student
o Primary School completed  Employed
o Secondary school completed  Unemployed
o Some high school, no diploma  Other ____________________
o High school graduate
o English (or other) language Q17. Have you previously been
training and education certificate employed?
(for example: Exceed, YALI,  Yes
AMIDEAST)  No
o Some university courses, no  I have had an internship
degree  Other ____________________
o Technical diploma (or equivalent)
o Bachelor’s degree Q18. How challenging is it for youths to
o Master’s degree find an employment in Yemen?
o Doctorate (PhD) degree o Very challenging
o Challenging
Q12. Did you attend a private or a public o Moderately challenging
high school? o Somewhat challenging
o Public o Not challenging at all
o Private
Display This Question: If What is your current
Display This Question: If Did you earn your {Bachelor’s employment status? Student Is Selected
degree} from Yemen? Is Selected Q19. College/Department/Major
Q13. Did you earn your Bachelor’s degree o Business
from Yemen? o Engineering
o Yes o Information technology
o No o Medicine and Health Sciences
o Other ____________________
Display This Question: If Did you earn your {Master’s
degree} from Yemen? Is Selected Display This Question: If What is your current
Q14. Did you earn your Master’s degree employment status? Employed Is Selected
from Yemen? Q20. What type of organization do you
o Yes work for?
o No o For profit
o My own business
Display This Question: If Did you earn your {Doctorate o Non-profit
(PhD) degree} from Yemen? Is Selected
o Government
Q15. Did you earn your Doctorate (PhD)
o Health Care
degree from Yemen?
o Education
o Yes
o Other ____________________
o No
51
Q21. Do you have any volunteer experiences?
o Yes
o No
Q22. What type of volunteer experiences did you participate in?
o I have never volunteered before
o Through an institution or organization (organized by organizations like your
school, Hemat Shabab, UNICEF, etc.)
o Community service (organized by community members or by yourself)
o Other ____________________
Q23. Before this section starts, you need to understand the meaning of social
entrepreneurship and social enterprise:
Social entrepreneurship: Social entrepreneurship is the use of creative, innovative
approaches to develop projects and organizations that create broad social impact.
Basically, it’s entrepreneurialism, but with the central goal of having a social rather
than simply business impact.
Social Enterprise: Social enterprises are businesses that focus on their social or
environmental mission. They are revenue-generating, economically viable models
that can have a financial as well as quantifiable social and/or environmental impact.
Source: http://www.nahdetelmahrousa.org/social-enterprises/what-social-
entrepreneurship
Q24. What is a social enterprise?
o Business that want to make money
o Businesses that focus on their social or environmental mission
o Non-profit organizations
Q25. Note: In each line, there will be 2 sentences, one on each side. Please make sure
you can see both sentences when you are answering this section. If you are using your
phone, try to use the landscape mode. For each statement, select the option that
best describes your level of familiarity/interest in social entrepreneurship (for
example: 1 = not familiar ... 3 = moderately familiar ... 5 = very familiar)
1 2 3 4 5
I am not familiar with social I am familiar with social

o o o o o
entrepreneurship (SE) entrepreneurship (SE)
I am not interested in SE o o o o o I am interested in SE
I don't want to be a social
o o o o o I want to be a social entrepreneur
entrepreneur
I don't want to open my own social I want to open my own social
o o o o o
enterprise enterprise
I don't want to work for a social I want to work for a social
o o o o o
enterprise enterprise
I don't want to learn more about SE o o o o o I want to learn more about SE
52
Q26. For each statement, select the option that best describes your perspective of the
impact of social entrepreneurship in Yemen (for example: 1 = not impactful ... 3
= moderately impactful ... 5 = very impactful)
1 2 3 4 5
Social Entrepreneurship (SE) will not Social Entrepreneurship (SE) will
improve Yemen’s economic o o o o o improve Yemen’s economic
situation situation
SE is unable to decrease youth SE is able to decrease youth
o o o o o
unemployment unemployment
SE cannot empower youth towards SE can empower youth towards
o o o o o
developing Yemen developing Yemen
Thank you for staying focused, Thank you for staying focused,
select point 2 to make sure you're o o o o o select point 2 to make sure you're
still reading still reading
SE cannot fulfill unmet social needs SE can fulfill unmet social needs
with new services and innovative o o o o o with new services and innovative
solutions solutions
SE will not reduce the burden on SE will reduce the burden on the
o o o o o
the government government
SE will not reduce the burden on SE will reduce the burden on
o o o o o
charities/non-profits charities/non-profits
challenges/opportunities in social entrepreneurship (for example: 1 = very discouraging
... 3 = neither discouraging or encouraging ... 5 = very encouraging)
1 2 3 4 5
Current political instability will Our current political instability will
o o o o o
prevent youth from engaging in SE encourage youth to engage in SE
The level of corruption in our The level of corruption in our
o o o o o
society hinders SE efforts society does not hinder SE efforts
SE is discouraged in our society o o o o o SE is encouraged in our society
To make sure you are still reading, To make sure you are still reading,
o o o o o
please select point 4 in this line please select point 4 in this line
Our current economic climate (e.g. Our current economic climate (e.g.
unemployment) prevents youth o o o o o unemployment) encourages youth
from engaging in SE to engage in SE
Women (relative to men) are not Women are equally supported in
o o o o o
equally supported in pursuing SE pursuing SE
The society’s awareness of SE is The society’s awareness of SE is not
o o o o o
important important
53
level of support when pursuing social entrepreneurship (SE) (for example: 1 = not
supportive ... 3 = moderately supportive ... 5 = very supportive)
1 2 3 4 5
There is financial support for youth
There is a lack financial support
o o o o o pursuing Social Entrepreneurship
for youth pursuing SE
(SE)
There is a lack of government The government supports youth
o o o o o
support for youth pursuing SE pursuing SE
There is a lack of business support Businesses support youth pursuing
o o o o o
in for youth pursuing SE SE
There is a lack of physical & There are physical & services
services infrastructure for youth o o o o o infrastructure for youth pursuing
pursuing SE SE
There is a lack of SE education SE education and training is
o o o o o
and training for youth available for youth
There is a lack of international
International organizations support
organizations support in for youth o o o o o
youth pursuing SE
pursuing SE
Q29. Ideally, what is your dream job? Q32. What would be the ideal time in
o Pharmacist your life to start your own business?
o Teacher o After completion of
o Entrepreneur education
o Social Entrepreneur o After a number of years of
o Businessman/Businesswoman working for someone else
o Doctor o While I'm a student
o Engineer o Other _________________
o Other __________________
Q30. Ideally, what sector would you prefer Q33. I'm always optimistic about my
to work in? future
o My own business o Strongly agree
o For-profit Company o Agree
o Non-profit Organization o Neither agree nor disagree
o Government o Disagree
o Other __________________ o Strongly disagree
Q31. Who greatly influences your job Q34. I'm always optimistic about
choice? Yemen's future
o Myself o Strongly Agree
o My parents o Agree
o My teachers o Neither agree nor disagree
o My friends o Disagree
o Other ____________________ o Strongly disagree
54
Q35. What do you think are the benefits for Q38. In your opinion, what can encourage
starting and running your own social more youth in Yemen to pursue social
enterprise? (Rank it from 1 to 6) entrepreneurship as a career path?
 You are your own boss o Better media coverage
 You earn respect in society o Access to capital
 You can work on things that interest you o Social enterprise education
 You can earn more money o Mentor/Role-model
 You can set your own working hours o Other ____________________
 You can contribute to the development Q39. What income class do you consider
of the country yourself to be in?
 You connect your job/business with your o Lower class
passion/hobby o Lower middle class
 You do something new o Upper middle class
Q36. What are the main barriers to start and o Upper class
develop innovative social enterprises in your Q40. Does anyone in your family own a
country? (select 3 answers) business?
 I will not be able to get proper funding o Yes
 I do not have good business idea o No
 Too difficult to get the licenses and o Not sure
permits Display This Question: If Does anyone in your family
own a business? Yes Is Selected
 I am not aware of how to make a social
impact Q41. What type of business does your family
 I am afraid my social enterprise would fail member own?
 I do not have the proper skills to start my o For-profit
own business o Non-profit
 I do not get social support (for example: o Not sure
Display This Question: If Does anyone in your family
from family, friends, relatives, etc) own a business? Yes Is Selected
 Gender: the possibility of being Q42. Is the business named after your
disadvantaged because of being a woman family’s last name? (example: Alkuraimi
 Lack of infrastructure facilities Exchange Company, Hayel Saeed Anam & Co)
 Too great of a financial risk o Yes
 There are no barriers o No
 Other __________________ Q43. What is your father's occupation?
Q37. How would you view people who have o Teacher
their own social enterprise? o Employee
 I respect them o Engineer
 I have a lot to learn from them o Farmer
 I would like to be like them o Other __________________
 It does not make a difference to me if Q44. What is your mother's occupation?
they have their own social enterprise or o Teacher
not o Employee
o Registered Nurse
o Housewife
o Other ____________________
55
APPENDIX B: SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONS CONTACTED
Below is a summary count of all organizations that were contacted to help spread
and share the survey among Yemeni youth. All organizations/institutions were contacted
via email and/or their social media.
Contacted Count
Universities/Institutes/English language centers 20
NGO’s and foundations 27
Entrepreneurship Hubs 5
Other Facebook pages/groups with strong Yemeni youth presence 18
Total 70
A full excel document with the breakdown information that includes the name and
links can be obtained by contacting the researcher Noha Al-Khalqi.
APPENDIX C: FACTOR ANALYSIS
Table 1: Construct 3 – Factor analysis of the ecosystem of SE

There is (a lack of ) financial support for youth pursuing SE 0.8041 0.3535
There is (a lack of) government support for youth pursuing SE 0.8536 0.2714
There is (a lack of) business support in for youth pursuing SE 0.7423 0.4490
There is (a lack of) physical & services infrastructure for youth
0.8692 0.2444
pursuing SE
There is (a lack of) SE education and training for youth 0.7888 0.3777
There is (a lack of) international organizations support in for youth
0.6664 0.5560
pursuing SE
Table 2. Construct 4 – Factor analysis of the macro-environment factors

of SE

Current political instability will (encourage) prevent youth from
0.7776 0.3953
engaging in SE
The level of corruption in our society (does not) hinders SE efforts 0.7617 0.4198
SE is (encouraged) discouraged in our society 0.7088 0.4976
Our current economic climate (e.g. unemployment) (encourages)
0.6853 0.5303
prevents youth from engaging in SE
Women, relative to men, are (not) equally supported in pursuing SE 0.6189 0.6170
56
APPENDIX D: GARRETT’S RANKING TECHNIQUE
Henry Grarett’s technique was used in this study to rank the respondent’s
responses of the benefits of starting social enterprise in Yemen. There were 8 benefits
(factors) listed in the question where the respondents had to rank from 1 to 8 with 1 being
the highest benefit to 8 the lowest.
Table 1. Benefits of starting SE (Key)
Factor Benefit
F1 You are your own boss
F2 You earn respect in society
F3 You can work on things that interest you
F4 You can earn more money
F5 You can set your own working hours
F6 You can contribute to the development of the country
F7 You connect your job/business with your passion/hobby
F8 You do something new
1. To analyze the results of all the respondents, we begin by tabulating all the answers
recorded for each factor and each rank.
Table 2. Results of respondents answers to rank the benefits of SE in Yemen

Rank F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8
1 23 4 7 4 3 16 8 7
2 8 11 11 9 1 13 8 11
3 6 10 16 12 5 8 7 8
4 12 9 10 5 6 12 14 4
5 12 12 13 5 10 4 7 9
6 4 8 6 14 12 5 12 11
7 4 12 7 12 15 7 8 7
8 3 6 2 11 20 7 8 15
9 72 72 72 72 72 72 72 72
2. Calculate the percent position using the following formula:

100 𝑅𝑗𝑗−0.5
Percent position =
𝑁𝑗
Where:
• Rjj = rank given for the ith variable by jth respondents.
• Nj = number of variable ranked by jth respondents
57
3. The percent position is then converted to a Garrett’s score using Garrett’s ranking
conversion table.
Table 3. Percent position calculation and Garrett score value conversion

Rank Percent position Garrett's score
1 =100*(1-0.5)/8 80
2 =100*(2-0.5)/8 68
3 =100*(3-0.5)/8 60
4 =100*(4-0.5)/8 53
5 =100*(5-0.5)/8 47
6 =100*(6-0.5)/8 40
7 =100*(7-0.5)/8 32
8 =100*(8-0.5)/8 20
4. The Garrett’s score value is then multiplied with its respective rank.
5. We sum the value for every rank to generate the total value for each Factor.
Table 4. Calculated Garrett score
Rank F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8
1 1840 320 560 320 240 1280 640 560
2 544 748 748 612 68 884 544 748
3 360 600 960 720 300 480 420 480
4 636 477 530 265 318 636 742 212
5 564 564 611 235 470 188 329 423
6 160 320 240 560 480 200 480 440
7 128 384 224 384 480 224 256 224
8 60 120 40 220 400 140 160 300
Total 4292 3533 3913 3316 2756 4032 3571 3387
6. Each total score is then divided by the total number of respondent (i.e. 72
respondents).
7. The ranks are distributed sequentially, from the highest average score (1 st) to the
lowest (8th).
Table 5. Average score calculation and rank distribution

Factor Total Score divided by 72 Average Score Rank
F1 4292/72 59.61 1
F2 3533/72 49.07 5
F3 3913/72 54.35 3
F4 3316/72 46.06 7
F5 2756/72 38.28 8
F6 4032/72 56.00 2
F7 3571/72 49.60 4
F8 3387/72 47.04 6
58
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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN YEMEN:

A YEMENI YOUTH PERSPECTIVE

The Honors Tutorial College

of the Requirements for Graduation

from the Honors Tutorial College

with the degree of

Bachelor of Business Administration

Noha Fowzy Al-Khalqi

The Honors Tutorial College and the College of Business

Dr. Ikenna Uzuegbunam

Dr. Raymond Frost

Cary Roberts Frith

‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

for helping me keep going.

opportunities I did not think were possible prior to joining HTC.

Social Entrepreneurship ................................................................................................... 2

MENA Developing Region ............................................................................................... 7

Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 12

Post-hoc Analysis and Discussion .................................................................................. 32

Limitations and Suggestions for Future Work ............................................................ 36

Appendix A: Survey – English Version ........................................................................ 49

Appendix B: Summary of Organizations Contacted ................................................... 56

Appendix C: Factor Analysis ......................................................................................... 56

Appendix D: Garrett’s Ranking Technique ................................................................. 57

Keywords: Social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, Yemen, Middle East, North

Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a powerful platform for stimulating

community development and contributing to a sustainable economic development. This

study adopts a definition of social entrepreneurship which describes it as a process that

study focuses on the “tangible outcome” of social entrepreneurship, referred to as social

generating, organization that uses business strategies to achieve its social or

environmental mission (Rogerson, Green, & Rabinowitz, 2013).

environmental issues in the region. By encouraging young adults to become social

It is important to fill this knowledge gap to improve the development efforts in

MENA developing countries. Generally, there is a tendency of including youth over 18

crucial. This study makes a major contribution to research on social entrepreneurship by

exploring youth’s perspective on social enterprise in Yemen, an exemplar of MENA

developing countries. A quantitative research design is conducted to examine the

promote social entrepreneurship among MENA youth to further contribute to the

development efforts in this region.

A variety of definitions of social entrepreneurship have been suggested across the

differently by different people. Some scholars have referred to social entrepreneurship as

a practice implemented by commercial businesses to be socially responsible (Waddock,

restructure their financial and/or management strategies to achieve their mission

Many researchers also rely on the broader entrepreneurship literature to conceptualize

Evidently, social entrepreneurship is a sub-category of entrepreneurship. A broad

definition of entrepreneurship, according to Certo and Miller (2008), “involves the

identification, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities” (p. 267), where opportunities

in profit maximization. However, in the social entrepreneurial context, the exploitation of

Gedajlovic, Neubaum, & Shulman, 2009).

The social element in the definition of social entrepreneurship is vaguely

analyzed three cases of highly successful social entrepreneurial initiatives in an effort to

entrepreneurship motivation uses quantitative analysis to examine common motivational

drive social entrepreneurs: personal fulfillment, helping society, non-monetary focus,

achievement orientation, and closeness to a social problem. Miller, Grimes, McMullen,

which they define as a “prosocial motivator characterized by other-orientation and an

emotional connection to others in suffering” (p. 620).

disagreement among scholars about the definition of social entrepreneurship, most

value creation is more fundamental than profit-seeking in social entrepreneurship.

Second, social entrepreneurs are motivated by personal fulfillment, compassion (helping

society), non-monetary focus, achievement orientation, and closeness to a social problem.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE (SE)

“When ethical, environmental, human and social aspects of enterprise become

Social entrepreneurship is usually put into practice by social entrepreneurs who