Article: Research on women's entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: a bibliometric analysis and research outlook Journal: Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development (JIBED) 2025 Vol.17 No.5 pp.1 - 37 Abstract: This paper offers a concise review of prior research on women's entrepreneurship in the unique cultural context of Saudi Arabia. A bibliometric analysis was performed on 154 publications obtained from the Scopus database to provide a holistic understanding of the theme of women's entrepreneurship, particularly in light of the Saudi Vision 2030 which is transforming the country into a diversified knowledge-based economy. This bibliometric evaluation reveals that scholarly focus on this topic hastened after 2016. Moreover, it captures the major dimensions of women's entrepreneurship as well as the indicators underlying it, including highly relevant but underdeveloped themes. The results will be valuable to practitioners, scholars and policymakers working on women's economic empowerment in Saudi Arabia. Among other implications, the findings demonstrate the need for further capacity development and training among women, particularly in the areas of governance, leadership and the application of digital technology in business. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Research on women's entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: a bibliometric analysis and research outlook

Authors: Maher N. Itani; Bassem M. Nasri

Addresses: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Ajman University, Ajman, UAE ' College of Business Administration, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al Khobar, KSA

Abstract: This paper offers a concise review of prior research on women's entrepreneurship in the unique cultural context of Saudi Arabia. A bibliometric analysis was performed on 154 publications obtained from the Scopus database to provide a holistic understanding of the theme of women's entrepreneurship, particularly in light of the Saudi Vision 2030 which is transforming the country into a diversified knowledge-based economy. This bibliometric evaluation reveals that scholarly focus on this topic hastened after 2016. Moreover, it captures the major dimensions of women's entrepreneurship as well as the indicators underlying it, including highly relevant but underdeveloped themes. The results will be valuable to practitioners, scholars and policymakers working on women's economic empowerment in Saudi Arabia. Among other implications, the findings demonstrate the need for further capacity development and training among women, particularly in the areas of governance, leadership and the application of digital technology in business.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship; sustainable development goals; bibliometric analysis; Saudi Vision 2030; Saudi Arabia; national transformation; female entrepreneurs.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2025.151555

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2025 Vol.17 No.5, pp.1 - 37

Received: 01 May 2025
Accepted: 18 Oct 2025
Published online: 05 Feb 2026 *

Title: Research on women's entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: a bibliometric analysis and research outlook

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