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Advancing theory development in venture creation: Signposts for understanding gender
Abstract
Women are one of the fastest-growing populations of entrepreneurs worldwide and make a significant contribution to employment, innovation and economic growth in all economies (Kelley et al., 2011). The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) shows that 126 million women in 67 economies started and managed businesses in 2012, representing more than 52 per cent of the world’s population and 84 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) (Kelley et al., 2013). Another 98 million women across these regions ran businesses they launched at least three years ago. Yet, in nearly all of the 67 economies the rate of men’s venture creation is higher than that of women (Kelley et al., 2013). This raises questions as to why the rate of men’s venture creation exceeds that of women, and what factors explain these differences. Theory development exploring the role of gender in venture creation and sources of possible differences between men and women in this process is limited. Notwithstanding a growing body of literature and notable initiatives (namely the Diana Project, which since 1999 has worked to grow research in the field), there remains a comparative paucity of theoretically grounded research on the topic (Brush et al., 2010b; Hughes et al., 2012; Sullivan and Meek, 2012). Without theory development regarding gender in entrepreneurship, we lack strong conceptual foundations for exploring variation in venture creation and growth between male and female entrepreneurs, and among groups of women (Jennings and Brush, 2013).
... Furthermore, women are especially motivated to start their own businesses in the hopes of attaining a better balance between work and family (Hughes, 2005). Brush et al. (2014) further explained the gender-related degrees that can influence entrepreneurial activities. These are the degree of household and family embeddedness, the degree of structural embeddedness and the degree of cultural embeddedness (Brush et al, 2014). ...
... Brush et al. (2014) further explained the gender-related degrees that can influence entrepreneurial activities. These are the degree of household and family embeddedness, the degree of structural embeddedness and the degree of cultural embeddedness (Brush et al, 2014). ...
Gender inequality and empowerment of all women and girls is not a stand-alone sustainable development goal but rather an integral of the other goals of decent work and economic growth, poverty elimination and sustainable cities and communities. Women entrepreneurs play an important role in their economies. Our study fills a gap in the literature on women entrepreneurship in some ways. It focuses specifically on the early steps of business ventures for men and women who have potential and intention to start up their own businesses in the very near future. We explore the influence of factors related to personal characteristics, family relevance and social connections on their entrepreneurial decisions. We used a rich set of individual-level data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2013 for six Southeast Asian countries which are at different stages of their economic development. This has allowed us to compare and draw implications on the relevance of the stage on business intentions across groups of men and women. At the country level, in our analysis of 2011–2015 data also from GEM, we found a potential negative correlation between the Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rates and urbanization levels in six ASEAN countries. The analysis at the individual level confirmed that women in ASEAN economies generally have a 4% higher probability than men of realizing their intentions in establishing business start-ups, other factors being equal. This result varies from country to country. The largest effect was in Indonesia (8%), followed by Thailand and Malaysia (3.8%) but there was no such difference in Singapore, the Philippines or Vietnam. Moreover, business skills are more important than general education in determining business start-ups. A business-oriented social network, especially knowing successful entrepreneurs, perceptions of entrepreneurship and attitudes also play critical roles in raising the probability for both men and women to create their business ventures by 10–20%.
... Currently, loans given to female entrepreneurs must be guaranteed by the husband (father of the family). This should not be a legal obligation (Ahmed, 2014;Brush et al., 2014). In most cases, female entrepreneurs must rely on personal savings and financial assistance from a parent or spouse to begin their business career (Marlow & Patton, 2005). ...
... Entrepreneurial experience leads to greater access to financial and social networks, which in turn makes a significant contribution to female entrepreneurs' business growth and development (Coleman, 2016). Unfortunately, it is difficult for women to gain that experience and build those networks in the first place (Ahmed, 2014;Brush et al., 2014). ...
This article examines the challenges and obstacles faced by female entrepreneurs in the cottage, micro, small, and medium enterprise (CMSME) sector in Bangladesh and shows that a combination of legislatory and regulatory reform can mitigate many of the issues that prevent women gaining from, and contributing to, this vital economic sector. Access to finance is found to be the greatest challenge faced by women in starting and operating CMSMEs in Bangladesh. This article explores the significant gender gap in access to formal credit, a gap that impacts negatively on the sector's growth and development. The article uses liberal feminist theory as a framework for analysis of the reforms. Analysis of data collected from banks and financial institutions on CMSME loans (2010–2018) shows that female entrepreneurs are treated significantly differently from men by financial institutions in Bangladesh.
... This has since changed with more emphasis on gender equality and encouraging female entrepreneurship in the tourism sector (Dionysopoulou & Aivaliotou, 2021). Some research suggests that female and male entrepreneurs do not differ in terms of capabilities (Ahl, 2006) but most research recognizes the differences in terms of context (Kogut & Mejri, 2021), choice of industry (Greene et al., 2003), and performance (Brush et al., 2014). There are certain stereotypes associated with being a female entrepreneur such as being more interested in social issues due to social norms existing in society. ...
The aim of this article is to examine whether female tourism entrepreneurs are more interested in climate change than male entrepreneurs are as part of their focus on sustainable entrepreneurial endeavors. A qualitative study of female tourism entrepreneurs is examined that focuses on three main climate change strategies: conservative , compliant, and proactive. The findings suggest that female tourism entrepreneurs are more influenced by their social circle and general interest in environmental issues that lead them to focus on climate change actions. The results of this study will help tourism providers, businesses, government, and the community better understand the role of gender in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship.
... Social identity theory proved helpful in understanding the phenomena of female entrepreneurs' encounters with different identities. The use of the theory of social identity improves the understanding and knowledge of female entrepreneurs in the setting of a group (Brush et al., 2014). The following themes best reflect female entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial identities: participative, role, relationship-focused, resilient, and creative. ...
Objective: To understand the entrepreneurial identity, through the lived experience of female entrepreneurs who are familiar with the phenomenon. This objective was premised on understanding that entrepreneurial identity is a product of context which shapes the social-cultural norms and environment within which individuals, operate and construct their identity. This is captured in entrepreneurship scholarship where the discipline is still struggling to build a reliable definition of female entrepreneurship applicable to both developed and developing countries and its effect on their respective economies. Research Design & Methods: This study used a qualitative research design that followed a phenomenological approach with thirty five female entrepreneurs, utilising semi structured in depth individual meetings. Findings: Female entrepreneurs build, balance, and manage a wide range of entrepreneurial ventures of varying sizes across sectors while maintain both role and social identities. Female entrepreneurs also express strong views on earning returns and income to not only grow their business but support their employees, communities, themselves, and their families. Implications & Recommendations: This study generated five themes that should be researched quantitatively to determine further understanding of entrepreneurship and developing other entrepreneurs in developing countries. Contribution & Value Added: The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on entrepreneurship in entrepreneurial identity, by exploring the female entrepreneur as both a role and identity. It examines this through the perspective of role identity and learn how female entrepreneurs consider their role as an entrepreneur.
... Female entrepreneurs often have weaker experience of professional deals than male entrepreneurs do, including a lack of experience in mastering technical and business organization challenges . On the other hand, Manolova et al. (2008) and Brush et al. (2014) argue that achieving financial returns mainly motivates male entrepreneurs, while achieving non-economic goals (i.e. self-confidence) motivates female entrepreneurs. ...
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the effect of female top management and female dominant owner on whether firms experience obstacles to obtaining external finance in 136 medium- and low-income countries during 2006–2019. The analysis controls for the role of corporate governance and other firm-specific characteristics, as well as for the impact of national institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis elucidates the economic and non-economic factors driving female corporate leadership. Further, in order to capture the causal effect, the analysis uses univariate tests, multivariate regression analysis, disaggregation testing, sensitivity and endogeneity analysis to confirm the quality of the estimates. The analysis controls for various additional country-level factors.
Findings
The results show that female top management and female ownership are broadly significant determinants of firms' access to external finance, especially in relatively larger and more developed countries. The role of controlling shareholders is significant and mediates the gender effect. The latter appears more pronounced in smaller and medium-size firms, operating in the manufacturing and services sectors as well as in the countries with higher levels of development. This also varies with the countries' macroeconomic conditions and institutions governing gender development and equality as well as institutional governance effectiveness.
Practical implications
The results suggest that firms wishing to improve the firms' access to external finance should consider the role of gender in both top management and corporate ownership coupled with the effect of the specific characteristics of firms and the conditioning role of national institutions.
Originality/value
The study examines the gender effects of top management and dominant ownership for the external financing decisions of firms in low- and middle-income countries, which are underresearched. These gender effects are mitigated in various ways by the specific characteristics of firms and especially on national institutions.
... Female entrepreneurs often have weaker experience of professional deals than male entrepreneurs do, including a lack of experience in mastering technical and business organization challenges . On the other hand, Manolova et al. (2008) and Brush et al. (2014) argue that achieving financial returns mainly motivates male entrepreneurs, while achieving non-economic goals (i.e. self-confidence) motivates female entrepreneurs. ...
Purpose
Social risk management is vital for growth and business continuity. This study investigates the social risk shift in supply chain management during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were retrieved from Bloomberg between 2010 and 2021 regarding all supply chain enterprises from nine countries. The authors undertake a confirmatory examination of formulated hypotheses. Social supply chain risk (SSCR) refers to “firms that took the necessary steps to decrease social risks in their supply chain. Social risks involve the child or forced labor, poor working conditions, lack of a living and fair or minimum wage”. The authors complement the analysis and address the endogeneity issue using the dynamic generalized moments method (GMM).
Findings
A significant positive relationship between COVID-19 and SSCR was discovered in this study. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain firms faced supply chain social risk. Notably, SSCR policies differ from one country to another during this period.
Research limitations/implications
The research has some limitations. The sample data are limited to 9 countries. Furthermore, it was somewhat difficult to determine the country-wise difference using COVID-19 as a dummy variable. Future research may adopt qualitative approaches, such as structural or semi-structural interviews.
Practical implications
The results have important implications for supply chain practitioners to consider the critical role of social risk in their operations. COVID-19 has exposed the new political economy and re-centered governments as the key actors in tackling grand challenges to safeguard workers, produce socially useful products and protect their stakeholders. Also, the study highlights the importance of governments and policymakers having a well-structured regulatory framework and environment for firms to comply with the social norms in their supply chain management. Finally, the study's findings should encourage supply chain managers to adopt a proactive mechanism that reduces the social risk impacts of pandemics.
Originality/value
Considering the historical backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study is unique in measuring the SSCR of enterprises from a worldwide viewpoint.
... In doing so this article builds on the contextualization argument of Harrison,Leitch and McAdam [7] where gender is part of the context. They argue that, as in the field of entrepreneurship more generally, it is impossible to discuss entrepreneurial leadership separately from the context within which it is demonstrated because context affords both opportunities and constraints owing to the actions of individuals through spatial and institutional norms [17]. ...
Within the emerging domain of entrepreneurial leadership research, gender issues have been largely ignored. This study aims to examine the nexus between entrepreneurial leader identity, entrepreneurial passion, and growth intention. This is done within the stacked context of being a woman entrepreneur, and in rural, regional and remote (RRR) Australia. This unique study draws upon a cross-sectional survey of 99 women entrepreneurs, employing a partial least square structural equation model. The study has found a positive relationship between entrepreneurial leader identity on the one hand and growth intention and passion on the other but could not find any conclusive evidence of a relationship between entrepreneurial passion and venture growth intention. The study opens new research avenues into the novel construct of entrepreneurial leader identity and helps to better understand the dynamics of RRR women entrepreneurship in the Australian context.
... Market access/opportunity entrepreneurship Women have restricted access to markets Women go into business out of necessity rather than for opportunity Men report more favourable opportunities than women Bates, 2002;Gupta et al., 2014;Luke andMunshi, 2010: Naser et al., 2009 Money Access to financial resources Women have less access to financial resources Investors tend to prefer men entrepreneurs Women seek less capital than men Women are more reliant on personal rather than external resources Perceived capabilities play a role in women entrepreneurship Becker-Blease and Sohl, 2007;Belluci et al., 2010;Brooks et al., 2014;Coleman and Robb, 2016;Eddelston et al., 2014;Fairlie and Robb, 2009;Kanze et al., 2018;Morris et al., 2006;Balachandra et al., 2019 Management Human and organisational capital Women acquire fewer business-related competencies, including higher levels of management, resource management, and team building Barnir, 2014;Junquera, 2011;McGowan et al., 2015;Rodríguez and Santos (2009) Motherhood Familiar responsibilities/hous ehold context Family responsibilities limit the time devoted to business development and growth Women fulfil multiple roles and are entrapped between family responsibilities and business duties Women suffer from a lack of support from families Women often face work-family conflict, especially when their businesses experience high-growth paths Ashe et al., 2011;Jennings and McDougald, 2007;Brush et al., 2014;Loscocco and Bird, 2012;Powell, 2013;Raghuvanshi et al. 2017;Shelton, 2006;Welsh and Kaciak, 2018 Macro/meso level factors National policies/environment /strategies; policy supporting processes. ...
This study was commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee. It highlights that despite the increasing number of public policies and institutional resources designed to promote women-led business, the entrepreneurship gender gap persists. This study aims to analyse this apparent contradiction, focusing on three main questions: What are the constraints that women face when deciding to become entrepreneurs? What factors attract women's interest and motivate them to start their own business? And which policies may benefit women's entrepreneurship? Women's entrepreneurship and self-employment, including aspects of gendered Corporate Social Responsibility
... These stereotypical perceptions lead to focusing present conditions of women's venturing rather than on future potential. Consequently, VCs tend to be biased in perceiving women as lacking important entrepreneurial role characteristics such as leadership, experience, endurance, and financial savvy (Brush et al., 2014). Such perceptions lead VCs to evaluate women as less competent or trustworthy than men (Becker-Blease and Sohl, 2007) and view woman-led ventures as less riskier investments than those led by men (Greene et al., 2001;Edelman et al., 2018). ...
We introduce Personal Construct Theory (PCT) and the Repertory Grid methodology to investigate deeper differences in the way government venture capital financiers cognitively process to evaluate 77 investment proposals from women and men entrepreneurs. In our study of financiers’ who are by law forbidden to discriminate, we reveal an underlying cognitive bias when evaluating women entrepreneurs. We find that the difficulty when assessing women’s venture potential, as indicated by the greater thought complexity and the excessive weight financiers place on the person rather than the full business case, can be considered to represent the underlying thought mechanism that affect women’s chances of securing financing. This finding suggests women entrepreneurs are looked upon as being role incongruent: misdirecting attention in evaluations. Evaluating women entrepreneurs is a cognitive challenge, because they deviate from the stereotype of an entrepreneur.
... Research confirms that women entrepreneurs are also required to develop entrepreneurial skills, knowledge and experience, as well as networking ties to become a successful entrepreneur. Brush et al. (2014) argue that if women develop entrepreneurial skills they can start businesses with greater confidence. Santos et al. (2018b) posit that women may associate in a network of existing entrepreneurs to enhance their level of skills, knowledge and confidence. ...
While previous studies have examined the impact of informal institutions to determine entrepreneurial activities, this paper explores the different configurational paths of informal institutions to promote men’s and women’s entrepreneurial activities across factor-driven and efficiency-driven economies. We collected data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for 56 countries for the years 2008–2013 and employed fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to conduct the empirical analysis. The results confirm that a single antecedent condition is unable to produce an outcome while combination of different conditions can produce an outcome. We find that cultural-cognitive institutional antecedents in combination with social-normative antecedents create configurations of conditions that lead to the higher levels of men’s and women’s entrepreneurial activities in factor-driven and efficiency-driven economies. Moreover, this study shows that these causal conditions configure differently to promote men’s and women’s entrepreneurial activities in factor-driven and efficiency-driven nations. This paper may create awareness in potential entrepreneurs regarding specific sets of institutional antecedents that can increase the emergence of entrepreneurship in different economic clusters. We show that institutional antecedents which are essential to promote entrepreneurship combine distinctly for men’s and women’s entrepreneurship and this combination varies in different stages of economic development.
... The 5 M gender-aware framework offers a valuable foundation for understanding the challenges faced by growth-oriented women entrepreneurs, directing attention to gendered processes that either support, or constrain, business growth. To briefly illustrate, a wealth of studies show how family responsibilities shape women's entrepreneurial activity, at times leading them to reduce or limit their growth aspirations, and/or the time and resources they devote to business development (Jennings and McDougald, 2007;Brush et al., 2014;Leung, 2011;Loscocco and Bird, 2012). Similarly, macro-level, comparative, research highlights how sociocultural values and attitudes shape women's entrepreneurial intentions, practices, and opportunities for mentorship and success (Elam, 2008;Elam and Terjesen, 2010;Ettl and Welter, 2010). ...
Purpose
This purpose of this paper is to examine processes of entrepreneurial learning and leadership development (ELLD) for women involved in growth-oriented businesses. It considers how ELLD can be supported by building gender-aware ecosystems for growth.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a small-scale study of a growth accelerator program in Canada run by Alberta Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) were used. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, drawing on interview, document and observational data
Findings
The study finds that three key activities – formal learning, informal learning and peer/community support – are central to women entrepreneurs’ learning and leadership development. In line with emerging scholarship, entrepreneurial learning is found to be strongly relational with social capital play a central role in the formation of human capital.
Originality/value
This study contributes to authors’ understanding of the micro-foundations of growth, the processes involved in entrepreneurial learning and leadership development and the importance of developing gender-aware ecosystems.
... Yacus, Esposito, and Yang (2019) suggested that one of the reasons women start in these sectors is the presumption that women are relationship-oriented, kind, helpful, concerned, and sympathetic to others' needs -all the characteristics that are needed to succeed in these industries (Yacus, Esposito, and Yang 2019). On the flip side, entrepreneurship is seen as muscular when it pertains to more profitable industries, such as high tech or manufacturing, and women are more likely to face discrimination in these fields (Jennings and Brush 2013;Brush, de Bruin, and Welter 2015). The exact industries that most women start their ventures in (retail and service) were also found to be the most negatively affected by higher minimum wage rates (Garrett and Wall 2006). ...
The effect of minimum wages on employment is one of the most widely studied and most controversial topics in labor economics and public policy but its impact on early startups is poorly understood and under-researched. In this manuscript, we investigate whether minimum wage rates correlate with the probability that a nascent startup hires employees and achieves profitability, a topic that has never been addressed before. We found negative but not significant correlation between the minimum wage rates and a nascent venture’s probability of hiring employees. However, female entrepreneurs were significantly less likely than male entrepreneurs to hire when faced with higher minimum wage rates. For ventures with employees, higher minimum wage rates were correlated with lower probability of achieving profitability vs. quitting the startup process.
... Although female entrepreneurship is growing increasing rapidly and plays an important role (Wilson et al. 2007), female entrepreneurs still represent only half of the male entrepreneurs (Shinnar et al. 2012) and this reality is consistent across different nations (Gupta et al. 2009). Besides many studies evidenced that men, compared to women, acknowledge entrepreneurship more attractive than other professions (e.g., Díaz-García and Jiménez-Moreno 2010; Ahl 2006) and women are driven to entrepreneurship with the desire to better adjust work and family life (Brush et al. 2014;Marques et al. 2011b). Thus, it is imperative to identify factors responsible for this reality (López-Delgado et al. 2019). ...
This study aims to investigate if engaging in physical activity (PA) and gender influences people’s entrepreneurial intention (EI). A survey for measuring EI and PA was developed and administered to the general population. The data were collected with a questionnaire distributed across all continental Portuguese regions. A two-way analysis of variance was used to test the influence of PA level and gender in EI. The results highlight that PA and gender have an impact on EI. This study’s main practical implication is that evidence was found that people need to be involved in more PA, especially in high PA level, because the results show that there is an association with increased levels of EI. This paper contributes to filling a gap in the literature by identifying the importance of PA for the increase of EI. This relationship may be a consequence of skills promoted by the practice of PA and also the development of some personal psychological and cognitive characteristics such as autonomy, risk tolerance, and leadership. The main implication resulting from this study is that it is essential to develop and booster PA into society, namely through PA programmes in organisations, not only for improving persons’ health condition but also as a social benefit, that can promote social innovation and entrepreneurship.
... The study found no strong evidence for womenowned firms being impeded by female owners' lack of education or experience. Greater access to apprenticeships in target industries for women entrepreneurs can be beneficial 123 of women's roles in the global economy both as consumers and entrepreneurs (e.g., Brush et al. 2014). Cluster two comprises articles of a more conceptual nature, in some cases using less common research methods such as content and discourse analyses (Ahl 2006) or ethnographic studies (Bruni et al. 2004). ...
This study sought to explore the existing academic literature on female entrepreneurship to assess how this field of research is organized in terms of publications, authors, and periodicals and/or sources. In addition, the research focused on mapping knowledge networks through citation and co-citation analysis and identifying natural clusters of the main keywords used. The study also examined the challenges (i.e., opportunities and difficulties) the literature reveals for the study of female entrepreneurship. That is, the knowledge gained from the bibliometric study (i.e., what has already been researched and the limits of these studies) was used to identify what research opportunities are present in this area. The articles gathered in the search were submitted to a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer and TreeCloud software. The results obtained from the analysis of document citations reveal three clusters: (1) entrepreneurial profile, (2) gender identity and theoretical conceptualizations, and (3) the entrepreneurial process context. By studying the articles’ citation profile, this study’s findings contribute to a better understanding of the flow of production and research-related practices in this stimulating area of research, which is still in its infancy phase.
... see Bhaves, 1994;Deakins and Whittam, 2000;Dimov, 2010), (iiii) followed by an intended individual (e.g. see, Katz and Gartner, 1988;Aldrich, 1990Aldrich, , 2000Brush et al., 2014) entrepreneur (e.g. see, Gartner, 1985;Campbell and De Nardi, 2009;Dimov, 2010;Davidsson and Gordon, 2102), (iiv) who organizes a series of activities (e.g. ...
Start-ups, often seen as sources of innovation and change, are prone to failure and accordingly they are attracting considerable attention not least from policy makers and Government officials. However, the various new venture creation studies that have emerged since the early 1980s lack cohesiveness, and the domain remains controversial. This article not only exposes the limitations of the existing body of understanding on the topic but attempts to develop a more comprehensive and comprehendible framework for start up (new venture) creation. To do so it uses the frameworks proposed by Whetten, and March and Smith to develop 11 propositions. The resultant model suggests that the creation of a start up involves the identification of an idea or opportunity by an entrepreneur who subsequently organizes a series of activities, mobilizes resources and creates competence using his/her networks in an environment in order to create value. It sheds light on the start-up (new venture) creation process and has relevance for entrepreneurs, policy makers and researchers.
... Another approach looking into individual-level factors is the social cognitive perspective, which addresses the thinking-doing connection for entrepreneurs; that is, how and why individuals discover, evaluate, and exploit opportunities (Mitchell et al. 2004). This view analyses the cognitive processes that result from social interactions, norms and values, and through which information is acquired and used, as well as how these processes build the knowledge structures for making assessments, judgements and decisions about an opportunity (Brush, de Bruin, and Welter 2014;Dequech 2003;Liñán, Santos, and Fernández 2011;Sánchez, Carballo, and Gutiérrez 2011). ...
The phenomenon of women engaging in entrepreneurship is expanding and becoming acknowledged as a valuable resource that must be institutionally and socially supported. Through entrepreneurship education, female students, as potential entrepreneurs, can develop and strengthen those skills and behaviours identified as characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. This paper explores four attributes associated with entrepreneurship (creativity, problem management, risk management, and self-confidence) of 1838 undergraduate students from 11 universities in Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Uruguay) and one in Spain, used as a control group. By comparing the results for the male and female student population, self-confidence appears as an attribute that is present at the same level in both groups; statistically significant differences were reported for the other three attributes (creativity, problem management, and risk management). Entrepreneurship programmes can utilise such information to strengthen in female students those attributes for successful engagement in entrepreneurial activity.
Scholarship has evidenced that context is more complicated within women’s entrepreneurship because it is gendered. Failure to engage appropriately with context can lead to overly simplistic interpretations of research findings. Accordingly, in this study we explore how studies on women’s entrepreneurship engage with context and demonstrate how context engagement can be enhanced by applying arts-based literary techniques such as defamiliarization, exposition, highlighting sub-texts and privileging the protagonist. Our findings show that context is still significantly under treated in women’s entrepreneurship research. We make three important contributions: we enhance understanding of context, synthesize current methodological approaches to context analysis, and signpost scholars toward some effective techniques for enhancing their engagement with context. In so doing, the paper answers previous calls for more theoretical development within the field.
This paper explores some the first nationally representative survey data on the experiences of women entrepreneurs in Canada during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws from the 2020 GEM Canada adult population survey (APS), collected in the summer of 2020 (June–August). Our focus is on women running early-stage firms (less than 3.5 years of age). Since the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was a time of great flux and uncertainty, the GEM Canada data provides a valuable window on behaviours and attitudes ‘on the ground’ as entrepreneurs, along with local, provincial, and federal governments, worked to navigate through unprecedented risks. Guided by existing research on gender and entrepreneurship, our descriptive analysis explores women’s activity rates, business discontinuance, attitudes, growth aspirations, and key challenges and opportunities. The 2020 GEM Canada data highlights several areas of concern with respect to women’s activity rates and business exits, and their perceptions of opportunities. But it also reveals surprisingly positive attitudes and aspirations, and the identification of new opportunities for some women entrepreneurs. While our analysis is exploratory, and longer-term trends remain to be seen, the results reported here offer a valuable baseline following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the last decade, a lot of studies have focused on the effects of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intentions of students. However, various conclusions are seen in previous literature regarding the impact of entrepreneurship education on the entrepreneurial intentions of students. In a lot of papers regarding the relation between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions and behavior, the variable sex (being male or female) is a control variable or studied as moderator. Since sex is not always seen as a sufficient moderator, some researchers split the total test group into two subgroups, based on the gender role orientation of people (masculinity and femininity) rather than the sex differences, although research in this area is quite scarce. This book chapter tackles this research gap and examines the effects of entrepreneurship education on student’s entrepreneurial intention, when emphasizing not only on sex but also on masculinity and femininity. Two different empirical studies are integrated. The first study demonstrates that male students have higher entrepreneurial intention compared with female students, and people with high masculinity also score higher in entrepreneurial intention, compared with people with low masculinity. The second study reveals that an elective, lecture-based course especially suited the students with high masculinity.
Every so often, a research study has a profound impact on a field by calling into question previously held assumptions and by generating new avenues of understanding that form the foundation for subsequent studies. In their seminal piece, A Gendered Perspective on Organizational Creation, Barbra Bird and Candida Brush (2002) draw from three theoretical frameworks (Jungian psychology, cognitive and moral development, and feminist theory) to develop a new and more balanced perspective on organizational creation that reflects both feminine and masculine perspectives in the venture creation process and new venture attributes.
Over the past decades, the Jordanian government has made great efforts to help poor women start small businesses by providing microcredit and facilitating financial services. Although in Jordan almost hundreds of thousands of women have the ability to contribute more fully to their economy, they are reluctant to do so. Women’s participation in economic activities in 2016 was only 13.2%, while the unemployment rate for Jordanian women was 24.1%. The decline in women’s participation in small business management has gradually become an important issue following the trial of more than 13,000 Jordanian women for non-payment of their micro-loans. This study aims to identify the factors that hinder Jordanian women from achieving job stability. In this qualitative study, a semi-structured interview method with sixteen open-ended questions was used to collect relevant data. A purposeful sampling method is also used to select participants. To analyze the data, this study used NVivo 11 software as a method. Using System Theory, this study showed that women’s failure depends on three factors: women entrepreneurs, the environment around women entrepreneurs, and micro-financial institutions. Findings of this study suggest that strengthen women’s entrepreneurship sustainability and minimize the risk of failure should be done through integrated strategies include these three domains.
This study aims to identify the antecedents of entrepreneurial activity in the agri-food sector of the Portuguese region of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (TMAD), taking into account a gender perspective. Thus, we intend to assess whether the environment influences embeddedness, and whether embeddedness, individual entrepreneurial orientation, innovative behaviour and gender impact or influence the perceptions of feasibility and desirability as antecedents of entrepreneurial activity of entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector of the TMAD region. The measurement instrument was applied to 249 firms in the agri-food sector, created in the last 5 years. A model was conceptualised where the relationships between the constructs relating to embeddedness, IEO and EI were presented, and three control variables were subsequently added: the innovative behaviour, the environment and gender. Univariate and multivariate statistical techniques, such as structural equation modelling, were used to assess the proposed conceptual model. Thus, considering the complexity of the model under study, we performed an analysis which considered personal factors or characteristics, such as innovative behaviour, gender and IEO, as these are characteristics of the individual and may be influenced or shaped by external factors such as the context, i.e., the environment and embeddedness.
In a better attempt to understand nascent entrepreneurship, this paper explores the relationship between opportunity recognition and the entrepreneurial intent of nascent entrepreneurs. Contrary to conventional wisdom, research on this relationship is fragmented and empirically underdeveloped. In addition, the contextual and perceptual boundary conditions of government support, gender, and minorities are explored. We surveyed 1246 nascent entrepreneurs in the state of Florida, which is the largest data set on this topic in Florida. Respondents answered 55 survey questions on potential barriers to entrepreneurship to help understand how their context impacts their intent to start a new business. Our empirical results indicate that opportunity recognition by nascent entrepreneurs significantly affects entrepreneurial intent, the strength of which is moderated by government support and gender, but not by minorities. Our study is a direct response to the call-in existing entrepreneurship literature for new research in geographically narrower contexts as the largest survey-based study at the state level in the US that we know of. We extend and demarcate entrepreneurial self-efficacy into a new context while clarifying boundary conditions. Lastly, our dependent variable measures intensity of intention to start a business along a time dimension which empirically narrows the gap between studies on entrepreneurial intention and studies on entrepreneurial action.
Women entrepreneurs consistently raise far less investor funding than men. In this study, we consider how women’s use of gender-similar language may influence investor decisions on venture pitches. Contrary to theories of communicative style and gender, we find women do not apply linguistic styles traditionally attributed to women in crafting their pitches. Instead, women entrepreneurs use language similar to their male counterparts when pitching to investors. Consistent with gender role congruity theory, we found that a masculine linguistic style is generally more effective in pitching situations, with limitations. Overly masculine language had a negative impact for both male and female entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest women entrepreneurs have a clear understanding of the power of the spoken language and the impact of the words they use when pitching investors for funding.
Despite the obstacles they face, women entrepreneurs in LAC countries are achieving greater gender parity than in other parts of the world. This chapter focuses on the characteristics and drivers of entrepreneurial success for women in LAC countries, analyzing how culture, catalysts, supports, and governmental and private sector initiatives and partnerships foster women’s entrepreneurship in this region. The chapter also includes examples of model initiatives and women entrepreneurs in several economies in the LAC region.
The South African government has instituted numerous programs to advance the role of women in the construction sector. While there has been an increase in the overall number of women-owned contractors suggesting a gender-positive environment in post-apartheid, there is a high failure rate of women-owned contractors. This study seeks to explore the primary contributory factors that lead to business failure. A sample of women-owned contractors in Durban was surveyed using an instrument developed from published literature on women in construction in South Africa.
The sample of women-owned contractors was drawn from the Durban area from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Contractors Register database. Findings suggest that lack of training provided by the industry, dominantly male networks, prejudice and stereotyping, and lack of opportunity were the primary reasons given for failure. This study identifies the failure factors that need to be addressed to increase the participation of women-owned contractors in the construction sector.
The findings provide a review on guidance for remedial interventions that will positively impact the number of women-owned contractors that will survive in the construction sector.
This study examines the ownership structure of nascent businesses with a particular focus on the role of gender. Based on theories of gender and entrepreneurship, we examine how male and female entrepreneurs differentially mobilize their preexisting social and cultural capital to launch new businesses. With their limited social and cultural capital, we expect that female entrepreneurs are more likely to establish either a solo or a family-only enterprise rather than a non-family business in comparison to male counterparts. Moreover, we explore the possibility that female-led solo or family businesses tend to show lower performance compared to the male counterpart. Using a nationally representative data of nascent entrepreneurs in the USA, the results suggest that female entrepreneurs are more likely to found enterprises alone or with family members than their male counterparts especially when they lack social or cultural capital. In addition, our findings show that solo or family businesses run by female entrepreneurs tend to display lower initial performance compared to males. The results have important implications for broadening our understanding of the role of gender in the formation of entrepreneurial businesses.
This study seeks to identify the antecedents of women’s entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and exploring what possible relationships that may exist between them. The research focuses on women entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs in a quantitative perspective whose methodology consisted of the collection of primary data through a survey distributed to women in Portugal. After structural equation modelling was applied, the results suggested that recognition of opportunities influences EO. This influence is expressed both directly and indirectly through training in management and entrepreneurial skills. These findings led to the conclusion that policies promoting training for community members, in general, need to be rethought and policies need to emphasise training in management that enhances entrepreneurial skills, thereby increasing the proliferation of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education and training should be promoted from basic education onwards in order to develop entrepreneurial skills from an early age. Prior to this study, the relationships between opportunity recognition, management training and entrepreneurial skills have never been studied in relation to women.
The study examines various forms of entrepreneurship of the Negev Bedouin women, mostly within the urban settings, in order to determine strategies applied in their entrepreneurial development. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with 28 women entrepreneurs, interviews with representatives of institutions supporting entrepreneurship and on participatory observations. The research draws on existing ethnic entrepreneurship theories and the family-embeddedness perspective, which allows for consideration of the relation between economic processes and family system characteristics and transformations which occur simultaneously and have reciprocal impact.
The Bedouin women entrepreneurs are found to operate mainly within their urban ethnic enclaves, whereby difficult economic conditions combined with gender pressures create a mostly informal sector that complements insufficiencies of the formal market.
These women develop their businesses by applying specific patriarchal connectivity strategies, which were developed due to strong impact of familial factors, such as: transitions in family structure, accessibility to family financial and human resources, adherence to the social codes and values. The impact of the last factor is visible on two levels: gender-separation of economic activities and networks (products and services addressed to women and children) and different roles of male and female family members. Whereas female members become employees or assistants, the male members keep their patriarchal positions as protectors and facilitators between the social requirements and exigencies of the economic activities. The connective strategies of Bedouin women entrepreneurs aim strongly at fulfilling their social roles as women, mothers and wives within the patriarchal order and as such, they bridge the gap between the strategies that previously accommodated desert condition subsistence living and the exigencies of the market economy of their contemporary semi-urban desert environment.
Dans cet article nous développons une recherche approfondie sur les déterminants de la motivation entrepreneuriale des mampreneurs en contexte français.
Les résultats de notre étude montrent que les dimensions motivationnelles des mampreneurs françaises sont diverses et non mutuellement exclusives. Au-delà de la conciliation travail-famille, la recherche de satisfaction, d’indépendance et de reconnaissance professionnelle sont des facteurs importants de motivation entrepreneuriale pour ces mères entrepreneures. Ils sont cependant conditionnés par des facteurs contextuels perçus au moment de la décision de création et qui sont susceptibles d’évoluer dans le temps. Cet article propose alors un modèle de la motivation entrepreneuriale des mampreneurs qui inclut la prise en compte de différentes strates motivationnelles qui combinent des facteurs psychologiques, économiques et environnementaux.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make the argument that previously marginalized but now flourishing subfields of entrepreneurship research continue to provide insights that can form the basis for future entrepreneurship research that is more broadly practical and critical. What is currently core or “mainstream” in entrepreneurship research would then be seen as an important but rare special case.
Design/methodology/approach
The essay briefly explores a number of illustrative themes that have emerged and become important in women’s entrepreneurship research (acknowledging that some similar themes have emerged in other subfields). These themes are used to suggest how broader application of such insights to theory-building about entrepreneurship in general – rather than “just” to “women’s entrepreneurship” – might greatly enrich the field.
Findings
The authors’ arguments suggest that research focused on ghettoized subfields such as women’s entrepreneurship challenge the assumptions of what entrepreneurship is and what it contributes. For example the richer perspective on motivations, goals, and outcomes and on the possibilities of emancipation that currently animate research on women’s entrepreneurship can improve the understanding of all entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
Too much of current entrepreneurship research is both of limited practical value for “practitioners” and of little “critical value” for scholars interested in how things might work better. The authors argue that by broadening the set of goals, motivations, contexts and accomplishments that are taken as legitimate targets of study, entrepreneurship research can become both more practical and more critical and thus more broadly useful and legitimate.
Purpose
This paper aims to look at the multiple embeddedness of male self-employment by focusing on entrepreneurship of men supported by female breadwinners.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a qualitative research design, the paper presents three case studies drawn from a research project, where 40 narrative interviews were conducted with female and male business starters.
Findings
The concept of embeddedness that was developed for female business founders can also be applied and specified for business startups of men. Creating and conducting a business or becoming self-employed is for men closely related to and interwoven with gender norms, household and partnership dynamics. Men who are not the family breadwinners benefit from the male connotations of entrepreneurship. Male self-employment, even if of precarious or low pecuniary relevance, allows them to fulfill the norms of masculinity and employment.
Research limitations/implications
Given that this is a qualitative study only based on three case studies, more research is needed to estimate the frequency of this type of male self-employment.
Originality/value
The importance of the context for the decision on starting-up and conducting a business is shown for male entrepreneurs. The study demonstrates how on the household level the male entrepreneurship norm is transformed into everyday lives and fits into gender arrangements. In emphasizing the non-economic dimensions of entrepreneurship, the paper opens the discussion about the interconnections between gender and entrepreneurship for men as well.
The terrain of context in social entrepreneurship is not uniform. It is complex and has a variety of contours. This article provides an original typological conceptual framework to advance a deeper understanding of how the different contours of context can shape and also be shaped by the enactment of the processes of social entrepreneurship. It draws on the collection of articles in the special issue to illuminate the framework and describes four distinct roles that context can play in relation to the enactment of social entrepreneurship. It also uses the framework to springboard discussion on a future research agenda.
Literature on the creation of organizations is often cast within a masculine gender framework. This paper draws from three theoretical perspectives to develop a new perspective that broadens the view of organizational creation by encompassing the relative balance of feminine and masculine perspectives in the entrepreneur's venture start-up process and new venture attributes. We elaborate the relatively less visible feminine and personal perspective and compare this with the traditional or masculine perspective. Important to the discussion is the distinction between biology (sex: male and female, man and woman) and socialized perspectives (gender: masculine and feminine). While research and the general public often use the concept of gender loosely to signify sex, we follow a more precise feminist distinction. The paper advances new concepts of gender-maturity (an individual difference) and gender-balance (an organizational quality).
Population density--the number of organizations of a particular type--has been used to study the effects of legitimation and conception on rates of organizational founding and failure. We investigate the influence of population density and relational density--the number of ties between organizations and their institutional environment--on founding and failure rates in a population of day care centers. Findings suggest that embeddedness in the institutional environment underlies the legitimating effects of initial population growth and the improved survival capabilities of a population of organizations in the long run.
Despite significant research interest in small firm networks, gaps continue to exist in knowledge and understanding about the concept of a network and its relationship with small firms. This article seeks to build upon extant research by discussing some of the findings to emerge from a qualitative study of small firm networks. The findings presented concentrate on the contents found to exist across the social networks in which six small service firms are embedded. Discussion of these reveal the multiplexity of network relationships and emphasize the informal nature of small firm networking processes. In particular, discussion provides some insight into what motivates small firms to engage in networking and identifies areas for future research.
Building on prior research regarding the impact of role models on entrepreneurial career interest, this article directly assesses the impact of family background on interest in small firm ownership over time. In addition, differences in male and female interest in small firm ownership are explored. This study involves an ongoing assessment of people in the entry stages of their careers. Results indicate gender has the primary influence on interest in small firm ownership, with males showing a higher level of interest than females. Implications for future research are discussed.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on gender, and specifically, women and entrepreneurship as well as present a process model of gender and entrepreneurship to guide future research.
Design/methodology/approach
Following research from Baron and Henry, the literature is organized into a process model of gender and entrepreneurship and a brief review of the research on each stage of the model is presented. Further, building on the process model, specific propositions associated with each stage that are motivated by expectancy theory are developed.
Findings
Research on women and entrepreneurship has increased over the last two decades and there is much research yet to be done.
Practical implications
Practical implications include that women may engage in networking activities focused on family and friends for obtaining financial resources.
Social implications
Based on this review, evidence suggests societal attributions and socialization processes relative to the sexes may create barriers to entry for women due to the uneven distribution of assets, educational foci, and daily life activity expectations amongst the sexes. These factors, in effect, create the glass ceiling that women are often described as facing that extends to entrepreneurship. To lessen these effects, women might be advised to pursue education within fields more closely linked to high‐growth industries.
Originality/value
The authors review research on women and entrepreneurship from 1993‐2010 and organize the literature within Baron and Henry's process model of entrepreneurship. As such, the paper illuminates a process model of gender and entrepreneurship that builds from and extends research linking the I/O psychology and entrepreneurship literatures.
Despite an increasing trend in the number of females who start businesses in Western countries, the proportion of female compared to male entrepreneurs is still relatively low. Moreover, past research has found that females tend to start businesses with less potential for profitability and growth than men. Investigates gender differences among Norwegian entrepreneurs in the process of starting a new business. Tests the following three hypotheses: H1 - during the business gestation process female entrepreneurs stress personal expectancies while male entrepreneurs stress economic expectancies; H2 - during the business gestation process women perceive stronger social support than men do, and women put more emphasis on such support than men do; H3 - female entrepreneurs perceive having less control and lower entrepreneurial abilities than their male counterparts. In support of H1 and H2, females were found to emphasize independence as a reason for start-up, and to perceive a high degree of social support during the business gestation process. However, contrary to H3, females were found to perceive themselves as possessing higher entrepreneurial abilities than men.
The social plays an important role in entrepreneurship, but one that is not well understood. We argue that the social conditions of entrepreneurs, as well as the social nature of opportunities, affect the entrepreneurial process. Hence it is conceptually useful to understand enterprise as socially situated. Accordingly, this article examines the enactment of a socialized opportunity to explore the process of entrepreneurial growth. We find that a conceptualization of social value creation usefully develops our understanding and challenges the view that economic growth is the only relevant outcome of entrepreneurship. Our case study shows how social value is created in multiple forms at different centres and on different levels: from individual self-realization over community development to broad societal impact. We also find complex interrelations between the different levels and centres, thus, we argue that entrepreneurship is as much a social as an economic phenomenon.
We examine the connection between personal network characteristics and the activation of ties for access to resources during routine times. We focus on factors affecting business owners' use of their core network ties to obtain legal, loan, financial and expert advice. Owners rely more on core business ties when their core networks contain a high proportion of men, are very dense, and have high occupational heterogeneity. We conclude with suggestions for future research and implications for other populations in need of routine resources.
This chapter will apply an institutional theory perspective to women’s entrepreneurship in transition economies, exploring its different levels of embeddedness as well as the impact of change.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a new gender‐aware framework to provide a springboard for furthering a holistic understanding of women's entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds on an existing framework articulating the “3Ms” (markets, money and management) required for entrepreneurs to launch and grow ventures. Drawing on institutional theory, it is argued that this “3M” framework needs further development and “motherhood” and “meso/macro environment” are added to extend and mediate the “3Ms” and construct a “5M” framework to enable the study of women's entrepreneurship in its own right.
Findings
It was found that “Motherhood” is a metaphor representing the household and family context of female entrepreneurs, which might have a larger impact on women than men. The meso/macro environment captures considerations beyond the market, such as expectations of society and cultural norms (macro), and intermediate structures and institutions (meso).
Practical implications
For the women entrepreneur, this analysis has implications for understanding the sources of the challenges they face by providing insights on the importance of the interplay of both individual and societal factors that impact on their enterprise. For policy makers, it turns the spotlight on the need for an integrated approach for fostering female entrepreneurs that is not blind to overarching institutionalised social structures and gender asymmetries.
Originality/value
The framework helps lay a foundation for coherent research on women's entrepreneurship. It is unique in making explicit the social embeddedness of women entrepreneurs and considers the multiple levels of influence on their entrepreneurial actions.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider why entrepreneurship theorising has become fragmented and how the research problem might be resolved.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors first examine how entrepreneurial constructs reflect only part of what we “mean” by the construct to argue that we use different social constructions. This explains why theories are fragmented. But the authors then ask how we might use and reconcile this diversity, pointing to the utility of the constructs as part of a complex whole. The authors discuss entrepreneurship as a complex adaptive system showing how connections and relatedness help explain the power of entrepreneurship to use and adapt to change.
Research implications
The authors' proposition of entrepreneurial endeavours as a complex adaptive system provides a fresh theoretical platform to examine aspects of entrepreneurship and improve theorising.
Practical implications
The authors argue that this idea of connecting can also be used at the level of practice – how the connections that entrepreneurs use may help to explain some of what goes on in entrepreneurial practice.
Originality/value
The paper's contribution is a relatively novel way of connecting diverse theorising.
Develops a model of the factors that motivate women to start their own businesses. Qualitative research involving 25 French women entrepreneurs were used to explore case study situations. The research identified a number of situations that relate to women’s decisions to become entrepreneurs, namely “dynastic compliance”, “no other choice”, “entrepreneurship by chance”, “natural succession”, “forced entrepreneurship”, “informed entrepreneur” and “pure entrepreneur”. The findings do not reinforce the assumption that a majority of women become entrepreneurs for reasons of necessity and identified antecedents to the generalised “push”, “pull” and environmental motives.
The purpose of this work is to develop a systematic understanding of embeddedness and organization networks. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at 23 entrepreneurial firms, I identify the components of embedded relationships and explicate the devices by which embeddedness shapes organizational and economic outcomes. The findings suggest that embeddedness is a logic of exchange that promotes economies of time, integrative agreements, Pareto improvements in allocative efficiency, and complex adaptation. These positive effects rise up to a threshold, however, after which embeddedness can derail economic performance by making firms vulnerable to exogenous shocks or insulating them from information that exists beyond their network. A framework is proposed that explains how these properties vary with the quality of social ties, the structure of the organization network, and an organization's structural position in the network.
A minority of economists and a relatively larger contingent of scholars in other social sci-ences have attempted to show that the neoclassical theory of economic behavior has seri-ous limitations and to develop alternative approaches. In this effort, both non-neoclassical economists and non-economists have enriched their work with research done outside their original disciplines, but there is room for much more interdisciplinary cooperation. This paper is part of a broader interdisciplinary discussion of institutions, cogni-tion, and economic behavior begun in Dequech 2003a. The present paper examines what has been called, in recent economic sociology, the cognitive and cultural embeddedness of economic behavior, relating this to discussions of institutions in econom-ics. It considers not only the so-called new economic sociology but also part of the new institutionalism in sociology, an approach marked by its emphasis on cultural-cognitive issues, according to W. Richard Scott (2001, 57). Additionally, the paper is intended to facilitate communication among institutional economists and economic sociologists, which requires discussing some key concepts and how they might be translated into a different language and related to each other. Given this journal's readership, a more specific aim is to make institutional economists more aware of interesting lines of work in economic sociology. The paper is organized as follows. The first section discusses the notion of embeddedness, which is a core concept for many contemporary economic sociologists. Different varieties of embeddedness are identified. The second section examines the notion of culture and the influence of culture on economic behavior and then relates
Progress toward understanding human behavior has been hindered by discipline-bound theories, dividing our efforts. Fortunately, these separate endeavors are converging and can be effectively integrated. Focusing on the fundamental features of picoeconomics. expectancy theory, cumulative prospect theory, and need theory, we construct a temporal motivational theory (TMT). TMT appears consistent with the major findings from many other investigations, including psychobiology and behaviorism. The potential implications of TMT are numerous, affecting our understanding on a wide range of topics, including group behavior, job design, stock market behavior, and goal setting.
This paper examines how culture and gender shape entrepreneurial perceptions and intentions within Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework and gender role theory. We test whether gender differences exist in the way university students in three nations perceive barriers to entrepreneurship and whether gender has a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived barriers and entrepreneurial intentions across nations. Findings indicate significant gender differences in barrier perceptions. However, this gap is not consistent across cultures. Also, a moderating effect of gender on the relationship between barriers and entrepreneurial intentions is identified. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
We examined the role of social embeddedness in creating positive perceptions of organizational support among managerial and staff employees (n = 72) of a large manufacturing firm. We operationalized social embeddedness as the size, density, and quality of employees' networks of multiplex, reciprocated exchange relationships with colleagues. After controlling for support from supervisors and upper management, we found all three aspects of social embeddedness to be associated with perceived organizational support (POS). This research suggests that in addition to the top-down influence of the organizational hierarchy, POS results from the organizational community within which employees are embedded through their social network in the workplace. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This study documents how owners of small businesses arrive at growth objectives for their firms. The decision to pursue (or not) a growth objective involves trade‐offs among both financial and non‐financial factors. Owners' growth decisions appear to be shaped by attitudes towards owners' perceived outcomes of growth and the opinions (about growth) of important others in the owners' lives. Male and female owners exhibit strong similarities in how they arrive at growth decisions. However, female business owners appear to accord relatively more weight to their needs for a supportive managerial and spousal setting and to be discouraged to a relatively greater degree by the growth‐related stress associated with personal demands made on their time and family.
Résumé
Cette étude documente la façon dont les propriétaires de petites entreprises formulent des objectifs d'expansion pour leur firme. La décision de suivre (ou de ne pas suivre) un plan donné comprend des facteurs financiers et non‐financiers. Les décisions d'expansion que prennent les propriétaires semblent dictées par les attitudes et la perception qu'ils ont au sujet de la croissance de leur propre entreprise. Elles sont aussi dictées par les opinions des personnes que les propriétaires ont en estime. Il existe de grandes similarités entre la façon dont les hommes propriétaires d'entreprise et les femmes propriétaires d'entreprise arrivent aux décisions concernant la croissance de leur entreprise. Mais, les propriétaires femmes semblent avoir relativement plus besoin d'une situation directoriale et familiale stimulante et sont découragées à un niveau relativement plus élevé par le stress lié à la croissance et les exigences faites sur leur temps et leur famille.
Research on embedded network ties has generally provided a fairly static view of embeddedness. Yet, built upon the social relationship, embeddedness is expected to be a dynamic phenomenon that evolves over time based upon the history of the relationship. This paper focuses on the description, clarification and explanation of the evolutionary processes and paths of embedded network ties. Thus, embeddedness is proposed to be not only multi-dimensional (Hite, 1999, 2000) but also dynamic and evolving. The two specific research questions that drive this research are: 1) Within embedded network ties, how do the components of the social relationship facilitate the evolution of embeddedness? and 2) Based upon the social components of embeddedness, what are the different paths to embeddedness and their strategic implications? Using case study methods, this study examined eight emerging firms in the computer industry. Based on the data, theoretical models suggest three evolutionary processes of network entry, leverage of social components and trust facilitation as well as four potential paths for the evolution of embedded network ties. Findings indicate that network ties that enter the network through a personal relationship may evolve more quickly toward full embeddedness. Strategic implications are also suggested for the governance of embedded network ties.
This article compares the family business, and its reciprocal institution, the business family, to a one-sided band known as the “Möbius strip.” After explaining the rationale for this comparison, the conceptualization is enriched and then enlarged to accommodate the diverse range of firms identifying themselves as family businesses. Next, a process model is presented to explain the emergence, existence, and decline of the familybusiness interface. The article concludes with a discussion of several research-related implications arising from this comparison.
Managers who pride themselves on giving employees what they request may be shortchanging women, simply because men ask for a lot more than women do. This can be costly for companies, and it requires management intervention.
The entrepreneurship literature has been criticized for providing inadequate accounts of business owners' actual experiences and challenges. Work-family interface (WFI) considerations in particular are noticeably absent from much theorizing and research-despite the importance of such considerations to entrepreneurs themselves. We demonstrate how constructs from the WFI literature can help address an important entrepreneurship question that has not been answered satisfactorily to date: Why is there a persistent performance differential between male-headed and female-headed firms?
The contextual factors of entrepreneurship consist of social, political, and economic variables such as displacement, changes in markets, and government deregulation (Bird, 1988). Entrepreneurial intentions are further structured by both rational/analytic thinking (goal-directed behavior) and intuitive/holistic thinking (vision). These thought processes underlie the creation of formal business plans, opportunity analysis, and other goal-directed behavior. This paper further develops Bird's model of entrepreneurial intentionality by suggesting that individual self-efficacy, which has been defined as a person's belief in his or her capability to perform a task, influences the development of both entrepreneurial intentions and actions or behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The present research applied the theory of planned behavior to predict employment status choice, defined as the intention to enter an occupation as a wage or salaried individual or as a self-employed one. The role of family background, sex, and prior self-employment experience was also investigated. Using a sample of 128 Norwegian undergraduate business students, the findings strongly support the theory of planned behavior as applied to employment status choice intentions. Moreover, demographic characteristics were found to influence employment status choice intentions only indirectly through their effect on attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control.
This paper has three overarching objectives. The first is to document the development of the body of work known as women's entrepreneurship research. The second is to assess the contributions of this work, specifically vis-à-vis the broader entrepreneurship literature. The third is to discuss how this broader literature poses challenges (both difficulties as well as opportunities) for scholarship on female entrepreneurs. We approach these objectives from the standpoint of informed pluralism, seeking to explore whether and how women's entrepreneurship research offers extensions to—and can be extended by—general research on entrepreneurs and their ventures.
Within developing and disadvantaged economies, women’s self-employment has been identified as a tool to assist in alleviating poverty and empowering individual women. To explore these arguments, this article considers the experiences of Palestinian women who operate home-based enterprises within conservative patriarchal families. Empirically, we drew upon a study of 43 home-based female embroiderers, all members of the ‘1967 displaced Palestinian community’ now living in Amman, Jordan. From the evidence, it emerges that although these women make a critical contribution to family incomes, their entrepreneurial activities are constructed around the preservation of the traditional family form such that while some degree of empowerment is attained, challenges to embedded patriarchy are limited.
While most previous studies focus on the effects of individuals' and couples' characteristics on the division of housework, this study argues that macro-level factors are equally important in the dynamics of housework distribution between spouses. Data from the 1994 International Social Survey Programme is used to examine whether macro-level gender inequality limits the effect of individual-level variables (relative resources, time availability, and gender ideology) on the division of housework in 22 industrialized countries. The results show that the equalizing effects of time availability and gender ideology are stronger for women in more egalitarian countries; women in less egalitarian countries benefit less from their individual-level assets. Additional analysis shows that other macro-level factors (economic development, female labor-force participation, gender norms, and welfare regimes) may also influence the division of housework. The results suggest that changes in individual-level factors may not be enough to achieve an equal division of housework without the reduction of macro-level gender inequality.
This article begins with a look at women employment over the years and the historical place of women entrepreneurship in today’s economy. It continues by analyzing data statistically on women entrepreneurs in the United States across racial lines, with a particular focus on Hispanic women entrepreneurs. The article ends by examining the critical issues that are important for women entrepreneurs in today’s environment as well as the future implications of these issues.
There is an increasing concern for the notion of ‘embeddedness’ of economic activity; yet the conceptualization of the concept and its operationalization remain underdeveloped. First, embeddedness may concern, on the one hand, the structure of relations that tie economic actors together (structural embeddedness) and, on the other hand, the social strands supplementing economic strands in each relation (substantive embeddedness). In this paper, a network framework is outlined which proposes several layers or ‘orders’ of embeddedness. Focusing on small firms, the point of departure is individual exchange relationships as personal ties combining economic and social concerns. First-order embeddedness concerns the localized business networks created by combining these dyadic relations. Second-order embeddedness is achieved when considering also the memberships of business persons in economic and social local institutions while third-order embeddedness concerns the special cases where these institutions bridge gaps between firms. The network model is operationalized and applied to a small Swedish industrial (furniture) community, its firms and economic/social institutions. The findings generally support the applicability of the model and demonstrate the supplementarity of different layers/orders of embeddedness. Further research challenges are deduced and implications for practitioners are provided.
Sociologists today are faced with a fundamental dilemma: whether to conceive of the social world as consisting primarily in substances or processes, in static ''things'' or in dynamic, unfolding relations. Rational-actor and norm-based models, diverse holisms and structuralisms, and statistical ''variable'' analyses continue implicitly or explicitly to prefer the former point of view. By contrast, this ''manifesto'' presents an alternative, ''relational'' perspective, first in broad, philosophical outlines, then by exploring its implications for both theory and empirical research. In the closing pages, it ponders some of the difficulties and challenges now facing relational analysis, taking up in turn the issues of boundaries and entities, network dynamics, causality, and normative implications.
Despite voluminous research indicating that women and minorities have limited access to or are excluded from organizational networks, two central questions remain unanswered: (a) In what specific ways, if any, do the interaction networks of men and women and whites and racial minorities differ? and (b) What mechanisms produce those differences? The central thesis of the article is that the organizational context in which interaction networks are embedded produces unique constraints on women and racial minorities, causing their networks to differ from those of their white male counterparts in composition and characteristics of their relationships with network members. Organizational context is hypothesized to affect personal networks directly, as well as through its impact on individuals' strategies for managing constraints. A theoretical perspective that views women and minorities as active agents who make strategic choices among structurally limited alternatives is offered.
An approach to the conceptualization and facilitation of women's career development based on and , 84, 191–215) self-efficacy theory is presented. The model presented postulates that largely as a result of socialization experiences, women lack strong expectations of personal efficacy in relationship to many career-related behaviors and, thus, fail to fully realize their capabilities and talents in career pursuits. Sex differences in the access to and availability of four sources of information important to the development of strong expectations of personal efficacy are reviewed and discussed in relationship to women's career decisions and achievements. The utility of the proposed model for integrating existing knowledge of women's career development, for generating productive avenues of inquiry, and for guiding intervention efforts is discussed. The conceptual framework provided is seen as having implications for the career development of men as well as women, but the focus herein is on its potential for contributing to knowledge of the career development of women.
Purpose
The welfare states of Scandinavia have been regarded as forerunners of gender equality, but structural barriers to women's participation in the labour market may discriminate against women and create opportunity costs delimiting women's career choices. Family policies are defined to include maternity/paternity leave, benefits, childcare and leave to take care of sick children. The aim of this paper is to increase awareness and elucidate the impact of welfare policies on women's entrepreneurship because it may impact on women's entrepreneurial behaviour. Hence, it seeks to investigate the reasons underlying this apparent anomaly so that future policies in Scandinavia and Europe may be tailored to suit the needs of female entrepreneurs.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses publicly available statistical data combined with unique survey data from a sample of 1,000 sole proprietors (men and women), all members of the Danish Association for the Self‐employed, to identify the problems encountered by female entrepreneurs. The survey findings are illustrated with three interviews with female entrepreneurs that have been published in the Danish newspapers discussing the problems encountered by self‐employed female entrepreneurs.
Findings
Even though the various Scandinavian models provide for ample maternity leave, benefits and childcare, on the whole, the Nordic Welfare Model is too heavily grounded in the ideals of employment favouring employment over entrepreneurship. For example, in Denmark, a sole proprietor is not allowed to work whilst on maternity leave. If she does so, her maternity allowance is reduced. This may be tantamount to closing the business down if you have a child, and may account for the fact that women are generally much older than men when starting a business. The majority of women in the survey are critical of the maternity leave system and 30 percent perceive the childcare system as a significant barrier to starting a business.
Research limitations/implications
Future research needs to compare the Danish evidence with that from other Nordic countries to establish whether the problem is restricted to Denmark. Additionally, research should focus on identifying whether child‐bearing and ‐rearing influences on the age at which women start a business.
Originality/value
So far, it has been taken for granted that the initiation of public childcare would facilitate increased entrepreneurship among women. This study shows that this is not necessarily so, and that there is a schism between welfare models that facilitate employment and those that facilitate entrepreneurship.
The dramatic expansion of scholarly interest and activity in the field of women's entrepreneurship within recent years has done much to correct the historical inattention paid to female entrepreneurs and their initiatives. Yet, as the field continues to develop and mature, there are increasingly strong calls for scholars to take their research in new directions. Within this introduction to the special issue, we expand upon the reasons for this call, describe who responded, and summarize the new frontiers explored within the work appearing in this and another related collection. We conclude by delineating new territories for researchers to explore, arguing that such endeavors will join those in this volume in not only addressing the criticisms raised to date, but also in generating a richer and more robust understanding of women's entrepreneurship.
Purpose
Interest in women entrepreneurs from various backgrounds has led to increased publication in the literature about particular women's entrepreneurship issues. However, notwithstanding the importance of this area, little information exists about women entrepreneurs' business practices, survival and growth strategies and their perceptions of entrepreneurial careers; indeed, many questions remain unanswered. To address this gap, this study aims to explore some of these questions by considering women entrepreneurs in Arab countries, more specifically, women's entrepreneurship activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), a country with unwritten social mores in a patriarchal, male dominant society. The key objective is to examine these women's personal characteristics, motivation factors, business challenges and perception on entrepreneurial behaviours.
Design/methodology/approach
Because of the lack of statistical data and difficulties conducting studies in an Arabic society, this study employed a qualitative research methodology. The research comprised 19 in‐depth interviews with Saudi women entrepreneurs who were identified through referrals from the Women's Section of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Findings
The Saudi women entrepreneurs were found to exhibit many similarities with their counterparts in other Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region countries in terms of their personality traits. However, they differed in other aspects such as their educational backgrounds and the manner in which they acquired entrepreneurial skills. The findings suggest some strategies to contribute to greater success rates for women entrepreneurs in Islamic countries, where entrepreneurial activities are nascent but growing.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the study is the restricted locale of the sample. A more extensive study is needed and future research should be more diverse – including widening the selection of respondents, industries and countries.
Practical implications
The paper shows that women's entrepreneurial activities in KSA are important to economic and social development. Saudi women's entrepreneurship, properly harnessed, has great potential as a tool for transforming the economy.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on gender‐related business barriers due to the scarcity of publications about women's economic activities in the MENA region, specifically in KSA. The paper is also valuable for policy makers in KSA and researchers wishing to pursue indigenous entrepreneurship and gender studies.
There has been a notable increase in the number of women entering self-employment in the UK since the 1980s, such that by 1997 women represented approximately 26% of the self-employed population (Office of National Statistics, 1997). Existing evidence pertaining to this area has largely focused upon the challenges presented specifically to women when entering self-employment and whether their problems are associated with their gender. Whilst there are dissenting opinions, the evidence would appear to suggest that women will experience challenges within self-employment that can be related to their gender. This has resulted in suggestions for specific policies or initiatives to assist women to overcome these barriers, and also suggestions regarding specific behaviours that women might adopt to help themselves and to serve as role models to other nascent female 'entrepreneurs'. This paper offers a critique of the dominant focus of the literature pertaining to women and self-employment and upon the so-called 'solution' to the problem of female entrepreneurship. Rather, it is suggested that the prevailing literature has almost completely failed to cite the analysis of women in self-employment in the larger feminist debate regarding female subordination, androcentric norms and masculinized hegemony. Hence, the dominant analysis in this area represents women as blemished men who must be assisted to become honorary men, and in so doing will then achieve within the existing paradigm of entrepreneurship. For as long as this analysis persists, our comprehension of the experience of femaleness and self-employment will only be partial.
Women are the majority owners of 30% (6.7 million) of all privately held firms in the US. The vast majority of these firms, however, are smaller than average with only 16% achieving annual revenues of more than $500,000. This suggests that women may have different expectations for the growth of their ventures than men. Using the US Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics dataset, this paper utilizes an expectancy theory perspective to propose differences in growth expectancies of nascent men and women entrepreneurs. Specifically, we conceptualize new venture creation as a process based on the effort–performance–outcome model of entrepreneurial expectancies and propose that differences in motivations towards growth may mediate those relationships. Our findings indicate that while men want to grow their new ventures to achieve financial success, for women, financial success is just one of many reasons to achieve growth. Implications are discussed.
Entrepreneurial firms, a major source of new employment in Europe, require risk capital from informal venture capitalists in order to create substantial economic growth. This study surveys the capital-acquisition process from the demand sideÐthat is, from the entrepreneurs' perspective. Twenty semi-structured, qualitative, in-depth interviews, conducted over 2 years and focusing on the entrepreneur-informal investor relationship, yielded four case studies that are analysed here. The analysis reveals two very different approaches to acquiring informal venture capital. One approach views capital as a scarce resource, the other views it as a commodity. Entrepreneurs who view it as a commodity contend that what makes the capital-acquisition process so difficult is not securing the capital itself, but rather finding investors with the requisite expertise and contacts. This paper proposes the term relevant capital to describe thèadded value' capital that these investors provide, and offers qualitative insights into the content of the informal investor/ entrepreneur relationship.
a b s t r a c t This paper investigates an essential aspect of the entrepreneurial personality: why women's self-employment rates are consistently lower than those of men. It has three focal points. It discriminates between the preference for self-employment and actual involve-ment in self-employment using a two (probit) equation model. It makes a systematic dis-tinction between different ways in which gender influences the preference for and actual involvement in self-employment (mediation and moderation). It includes perceived ability as a potential driver of self-employment next to risk attitude, self-employed parents and other socio-demographic drivers. A representative data set of more than 8000 individuals from 29 countries (25 EU Member States, US, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) is used (the 2004 Flash Eurobarometer survey). The findings show that women's lower preference for becoming self-employed plays an important role in explaining their lower involvement in self-employment and that a gender effect remains that may point at gender-based obstacles to entrepreneurship.
This study introduces a novel multidimensional measure of the entrepreneurial environment that reveals how differences in institutional arrangements influence both the rate and the type of entrepreneurial activity in a country. Drawing from institutional theory, the measure examines the regulatory, normative, and cognitive dimensions of entrepreneurial activity, and introduces a novel conducive dimension that measures a country’s capability to support high-impact entrepreneurship. Our findings suggest that differences in institutional arrangements are associated with variance in both the rate and type of entrepreneurial activity across countries. For the formation of innovative, high-growth new ventures, the regulative environment matters very little. For high-impact entrepreneurship an institutional environment filled with new opportunities created by knowledge spillovers and the capital necessary for high-impact entrepreneurship matter most.