Abstract:

This paper understands the role of Knowledge-Based-Entrepreneurship (KBE) in changing the economy of Saudi Arabia into a knowledge-based economy. The ambition of this paper is to align entrepreneurship theorizing with the Saudi market needs by redirecting our entrepreneurship thinking away from the opportunistic metaphors to more creative and knowledge thinking. This paper reconceptualizes the entrepreneurship view. It is empirically compared between two dominant streams of theorizing on entrepreneurship: the opportunity view versus the knowledge view. A Mediation Model Path Test has been applied to examine the relationships. The analysis indicates that the opportunistic view is not adequate as a platform for entrepreneurial responding to Saudi economic changes. Instead, an alternative perspective is developed as Knowledge-Based -Entrepreneurship. The findings reveal that (KBE) has a positive and significant impact on economic performance. It is also found that (KBE) has a mediating effect on entrepreneurship more than the opportunistic effect. This perspective emphasizes the importance of building entrepreneurial knowledge infrastructure, that creates multiple forms of value. This paper contributes to the knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship by offering an alternative view of entrepreneurship grounded. It goes beyond investigating the economic support of adopting the Knowledge-Based-Entrepreneurship compared to the Opportunity-Based-Entrepreneurship.