6 Gender Contribution to the Competitiveness of Social Media Entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia: Context of the National Transformation

This research addresses the questions of “how gender impacts the competitiveness of social media entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, and how the national transformation plan to a diversified economy less dependent on oil might have influenced their level of competitiveness”. Gender gap in entrepreneurship and the difference in competitiveness between men and women are covered in literature. Most of this literature addresses entrepreneurship in general and overlooks the possible contribution of starting these businesses through online social media platforms, especially in the context of the Middle East, and in Saudi Arabia in particular, which witnessed major changes at multiple levels since 2016. This research tries to mind this gap and follows an exploratory qualitative case study methodology to examine how these changes might have influenced the level of competitiveness in female entrepreneurs who founded social media businesses in Saudi Arabia. The conservative nature of the Saudi society, insufficient support by each of the family, the society, and the government were found to have contributed to the success of social media businesses owned by females in Saudi Arabia. The introduction of the Vision 2030 and the set of reforms and social changes associated with the National Transformation Plan revealed a high level of competitiveness and entrepreneurial readiness in female Instagram entrepreneurs. The research has implications for theory, private sector, and policymakers and suggests giving the subject more attention in future research.