thesis on female entrepreneurship

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Women entrepreneurship: a systematic review to outline the boundaries of scientific literature.

• Department of Social Psychology and Anthropology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

In recent years, the study of women entrepreneurship has experienced great growth, gaining a broad consensus among academics and contributing above all to understanding all those factors that explain the difficulty of women in undertaking an entrepreneurial career. This document tries to contribute to the field of study, thanks to a systematic analysis through the publications present in the topic. For this purpose, 2,848 peer-reviewed articles were analyzed, published between 1950 and 2019, using the Scopus database (SCImago Research Group). Through the use of a series of bibliometric indicators it was possible to define the current state of research on the international scene. The analysis revealed that it is a multidisciplinary field of study and that has started to expand further since 2006, culminating in 2019, which makes it become a current and valid object of study. The analysis of the clusters allowed to isolate 6 different lines of research in which emerged, on the one hand, the importance of entrepreneurial education, social entrepreneurship and the socio-cultural context of reference (e.g., culture, family, and institutional support) as tools to overcome the gender gap, on the other, the importance that women entrepreneurship assumes in the economic growth of the country (especially in developing economies), promoting social inclusion and combating poverty and discrimination. The study presents an important contribution to reflect on current policies and to outline future lines of investigation.

Introduction

Female entrepreneurs represent the fastest growing category of entrepreneurship worldwide and have received, especially in recent years, the attention of many academics. According to the emerging literature, women can make a significant contribution to entrepreneurial activity ( Noguera et al., 2013 ) and economic development ( Kelley et al., 2017 ; Hechevarría et al., 2019 ) in terms of creating new jobs and increasing the gross domestic product (GDP) ( Bahmani-Oskooee et al., 2013 ; Ayogu and Agu, 2015 ), with positive impacts on reducing poverty and social exclusion ( Langowitz and Minniti, 2007 ; Rae, 2015 ). The percentage of women who decide to pursue an entrepreneurial career is, however, lower than that of men ( Elam et al., 2019 ), and this difference is greater as the level of development of the country increases ( Coduras and Autio, 2013 ).

A theoretical framework used to explain this difference underscores the importance of economic and regulatory conditions ( Estrin and Mickiewicz, 2011 ). For example, in the literature it is possible to trace substantially two macro-categories that have a different impact on the entrepreneurial activity of men and women. The first refers to the role of property rights underlying an entrepreneurial productive activity. In general, property rights facilitate access to resources and, in many institutional contexts, women are particularly limited in their access to the economic resources necessary for entrepreneurship ( Brush et al., 2009 ), as entrepreneurs have to rely more on informal networks that usually tend to be dominated by men ( Aidis et al., 2008 ). Furthermore, because of gender-defined social positioning, men can also be more effective in dealing with government officials ( Bardasi et al., 2011 ).

The second focuses on a group of government-determined regulations and policies, such as welfare and system taxes. Some studies ( Parker, 2009 ; Aidis et al., 2010 ) have found that a larger state sector militates against entrepreneurial activity. Therefore, tax and social security provisions can influence entrepreneurial entry through their direct impact on expected returns from entrepreneurial activities and opportunity costs. High levels and rising marginal tax rates can weaken incentives for opportunity-oriented entrepreneurs by reducing the potential, while higher levels of social assistance provide alternative sources of income and, therefore, by increasing alternative wages, they can reduce incentives for entrepreneurship. This appears particularly important in the case of women as a large state sector is dedicated to women offering security, educational services, health care and housing, but inevitably reducing their premiums.

However, among countries with similar economic conditions ( Minniti, 2010 ; Dheer et al., 2019 ), this difference continues to exist between men and women when it comes to starting a business, which has led to calls to further expand the scope of explanatory factors ( McGowan et al., 2015 ).

In line with this reasoning, there is empirical evidence that a woman's decision to start a business depends on her socio-cultural background ( Ahl, 2006 ).

A first theme of analysis useful to explain the gap between men and women in entrepreneurship can be represented by the social roles and stereotypes that are culturally assigned to men and women.

The term gender was first introduced by Stoller to describe people based on biological physical characteristics, this would determine the individual's behavior. Based on these characteristics, men are expected to behave well masculine while women should think and to behave feminine. According to the social role theory ( Eagly, 1987 ), gender stereotypes can make a person socially acceptable. When a role is associated with men, women they are not suited to the role because they do not have the necessary skills. The behavioral differences related to gender specific perceptions and preferences could explain the different inclination of men and women toward entrepreneurship. Koellinger et al. (2011) conducted an analysis in 17 countries showing a lower entrepreneurial propensity for women. In addition, the authors provided empirical evidence of gender differences related to self-efficacy and fear of failure.

Literature shows that entrepreneurs are described as aggressive and with high-risk proclivities ( Bird and Brush, 2002 ), as well seem more socially inclined to achieve and obtain economic benefits, an image which does not fit in women ( Ahl, 2004 ; Dileo and Pereiro, 2019 ), who seem closer to care and the emotional sphere, therefore, in pursuit of social value ( Hechevarría et al., 2012 ; Urbano Pulido et al., 2014 ).

Additionally, in an analysis aimed to investigate how academics contribute to the perpetuation of stereotypes about female entrepreneurship, Ahl (2004) found that in all the texts reviewed, women entrepreneurs were considered secondary to men. The reasons for this “negative representation” remains the subject of international debate, for which there are no common results.

This stereotyped and male-centered vision discourages some women from participating in business activities, which could also have a consequence on people who interact with women at the community level, creating an additional barrier ( Langowitz and Morgan, 2003 ). The results of the systematic analysis conducted by Sullivan and Meek (2012) suggested that the attributions of society and the different socialization processes relating to men and women may create obstacles for women due to the unequal distribution of assets and services, educational objectives and daily life activity expectations.

According to a study by Guzman and Kacperczyk (2019) , females are 63% less likely than males to obtain external financing in terms of risk capital, and the most significant part of the gap derives from differences in gender.

The social construction of the entrepreneur as an independent and stereotyped man calls into question a second theme of analysis that can be limiting for women, namely the responsibility that women seem to have on the family/work issue ( Jennings and Brush, 2013 ; Neneh, 2018 ). Boz et al. (2016) discovered that women who care most about the family have negative behaviors at work, consequently, the balance between family and work is more difficult for women entrepreneurs, which represents a fundamental obstacle to the growth of their businesses.

Other empirical evidence has shown the opposite. According to Thébaud (2015) , work-family conflict can be an important factor that motivates women to start a business. For example, business creation can offer women considerable flexibility in terms of work hours (for example, work only a few hours a week or work at home) allowing them to find a balance between work and family commitments ( Kirkwood and Tootell, 2008 ).

In this sense, the study by Rembulan et al. (2016) , which analyzed differences in the work-family conflict between women who work as employees (98 employees) and those who work as entrepreneurs (91 entrepreneurs), showed that most female entrepreneurs have very low conflict in all aspects: time, tension, and behavior; unlike women who work as employees who tend to have higher conflict. One possible explanation may be in the gap of the annual income received. Specifically, the higher the income, the less the stress caused by the work- family conflict.

The literature has paid little attention to the analysis of women's motivations and expectations about entrepreneurship and how it really offers a better “balance” between family and work. McGowan et al. (2012) conducted a qualitative study with 14 women from Northern Ireland while they established and managed heir businesses, balancing family needs. The results showed that the motivation to engage in venturing was the desire to balance family responsibilities thanks to the greater flexibility that characterizes this type of work, with the desire to achieve personal independence.

However, entrepreneurship offered a partial answer. In some cases it has acted as a trigger for women to take a positive step they have been contemplating for some time. On the other hand, the negative realities of the company posed serious challenges to these women. For most of them, obtaining and maintaining an adequate balance between the domestic and working spheres of their lives has remained a constant challenge, a source of stress.

In addition, men and women cannot participate in the same entrepreneurial activity due to differences in the access to diverse forms of capital. For example, Johansen (2013) points out as issues the difficulty in obtaining support (institutional, family, and financial), fear of failure, self-assessment of the gender gap, and unfavorable social perceptions. Noguera et al. (2013) highlight fear of failure and self-efficacy as important barriers that hinder the propensity of women to pursue a business career. Other authors have reached similar conclusions in recent years ( Wieland et al., 2019 ).

The results are not uniform, but despite the differences, these studies generally show that women entrepreneurs experience a greater lack of support than men when they try to access business resources ( Langowitz and Minniti, 2007 ). However, the results of a study by Centindamar et al. (2012) on the relative importance of the three types of capital for business: human, family, and financial, underlined that, regardless of sex, these three types of capital influence the likelihood of becoming entrepreneurs. In addition, contrary to expectations, the impact of human capital on the probability of becoming an entrepreneur is greater for women than for men. The data also revealed that family capital facilitates the entry of women into entrepreneurship only in large families. No gender differences were observed with respect to the impact of financial capital.

From this outlined literature, it seems necessary to clarify the existing theoretical concepts to better explain the uniqueness of female entrepreneurship as an independent research topic. Over the years, in fact, the lack of specific research on the phenomenon ( De Bruin et al., 2007 ), and a stereotypically male business model considered as a natural way for doing business ( Bruni et al., 2004 ), caused a delay and underestimation of the study of women in the business process as an important area of research until the late 90's ( Jennings and Brush, 2013 ). As Brush (1992) noted: “Women business owners are similar to males across some basic demographic factors, problems, and business characteristics, but they differ widely from male business owners across individual dimension related to education, work experience, skills, approach to venture creation / acquisition, business goals, problems and performance” (p. 24).

Global statistics also highlight this aspect. Although over the years there has been a significant increase in the number of women who have developed or undertaken an entrepreneurial activity, it will take at least another 108 years to completely close the gender between men and women, and 202 years to achieve equality between the two genders in the workplace. This is confirmed by the Global Gender Gap Report 2018 published by the World Economic Forum (2018) , which taking into account four indicators: economic opportunity, political growth, training, health, and survival, showed in 2018 a 68% gap. The wage gap is almost 51%, and in 2018 women in leadership positions were only 34%. The same is also true for 2020 (Global Gender Gap score stands at 68,6%) ( World Economic Forum, 2020 ).

In addition, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2018/2019, which provides an overview of the status of female entrepreneurship in 49 countries, Slovenia, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Turkey are the countries where women startups are less than half of men's. In some countries in Europe and North America, the levels of the TEA (Total Entrepreneurial Activity) rate for women do not reach 5% ( Bosma and Kelley, 2019 ).

In startups around the world the situation is no different. As highlighted by the Startup Outlook 2018 survey, published by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) (2019) , 71% of new American companies do not have women on their board, and 57% do not have the top positions in the so-called C-Suite. Other information obtained from the new companies registered in CrunchBase indirectly confirms the data of the Svb Survey: in 2017, only 17% of the young innovative companies had a female co-founder.

This considered, it seems important to increase the percentage of women in entrepreneurship, an issue that has aroused political interest in recent years by emphasizing the possible economic benefits that could be derived from it ( Carter et al., 2015 ), stating gender equality contributes to economic growth. In fact, the “global gender gap” is at the base of EU policy, as it identifies a clear economic logic to encourage women to become independent entrepreneurs ( Carter et al., 2015 ; Sorgner et al., 2017 ). Nonetheless, this purely economic emphasis for multiple female entrepreneurs has been defined as an intention to “sell neoliberal values to defenders of gender equality” ( Elomäki, 2015 ). Additionally, according to Boyd (2016) , what is missing is a critical counterweight in the public debate: there is no collective questioning among all the actors who work from different fields to understand the gender-related discrimination, something necessary for a truly sustainable development.

This systematic analysis attempts to present an overview of the topic, tracing the current trend of research on women's entrepreneurship, highlighting the future directions of research, with the aim of deepening our understanding of this research branch.

Specifically, this article has two main objectives. The first is to highlight the growth of female entrepreneurship in scientific literature through the chronological distribution of publications and the productivity of authors, journals and countries. The second objective is to track the lines of research most developed and analyzed by the scientific community.

The article is organized in the following manner: first, we discuss the research review approach used in the article and, second, present the results of the analysis performed. Lastly, we present the conclusions that can be drawn from our analysis, the limitations of the study, and indications for future research.

Materials and Methods

We carry out this systematic analysis of the literature to contribute to the systematization of scientific production on the relationship between entrepreneurship and women. In this sense, we have used the Scopus database, widely recognized in the scientific community, with more than 27 million abstracts, and is currently considered the largest database of scientific literature ( Burnham, 2006 ).

The selected search terms included the words “entrepren * ” and “women,” using the “AND” Boolean connector and including “all fields” as a search field, with no time margins. The bibliographic search ended in December 2019, generating a total of 4,164 documents published between 1950 and 2019.

The final selection of the articles was made using the following inclusion criteria: (i) scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals, since they are considered valid sources of knowledge ( Podsakoff et al., 2005 ), (ii) written in English. All articles related to the year 2020, articles written in a language other than English, conference presentations, book and thesis chapters, etc. have been removed. Although this may represent a limitation since part of scientific contributions has been excluded, we believe it is an effective way to garantee the quality of the work thanks to their reliability in the academic world and the rigorous review processes that are usually carried out ( Nicholas et al., 2015 ).

This selection phase narrowed the field, producing the final result of 2,848 scientific articles. To minimize the subjective component and possible attribution errors, we followed the guidelines of the PRISMA method ( Liberati et al., 2009 ; Moher et al., 2009 ; Urrútia and Bonfill, 2010 ). This allows replicating the work ( Lourenço and Jones, 2006 ; Pittaway and Cope, 2007 ), and we used a series of bibliometric indicators to analyze the temporal evolution of scientific production, the most influential authors on the subject, the most productive scientific journals with regards to the number of articles published, and countries with the highest number of scientific contributions. Figure 1 shows the flow chart of the bibliographic research according to the recommendations of the PRISMA method.

Figure 1 . Flow Diagram—PRISMA method, 2009.

The analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics to describe the general panorama of female entrepreneurship. In addition, VOSviewer software version 1.6.10 ( Van Eck and Waltman, 2010 , 2014 ) was used, a bibliometric technique that allows the graphic representation, identification and classification of groups in an associated strategic matrix based on similarities and differences (distance based mapping). Although the qualitative analysis of the literature may be influenced by the subjectivity of the author, this method solves this problem. Using the keywords used by the authors themselves, it allows to reduce the distortion deriving from subjective variables, moreover, the graphic creation of maps allows to examine the deep relationships between the variables, which helps to better understand the nature of a research field, becoming an indisputable analysis tool ( Vallaster et al., 2019 ), currently used ( Martínez-López et al., 2018 ).

Specifically, an citation analysis was conducted to identify great impact of authors and co-citation analysis was conducted in order to measure the similarity between authors, journals and countries. Keyword co-ocurrence analysis was used to analyze the type and strength of the relationship between different fields of science. In Table 1 we report the first 5 keywords that in our study had greater strength.

Table 1 . Occurrence of most relevant keywords.

Results and Discussion

Bibliometric analysis.

Figure 2 shows the progress of scientific research on entrepreneurship and women over the years. It is a research field that, although studied for 70 years (the first article dates back to 1950), has developed mainly in recent years, registering a significant increase since 2006 ( n = 61) and reaching the highest peak of publications in 2019 ( n = 381). This increase could suggest a change in interest in scientific research and a continuous and growing evolution of research in the field of female entrepreneurship as a valid trend.

Figure 2 . Evaluation of scientific publications per years. Source: Elaborated by the Authors.

To identify the “research front” on female entrepreneurship through temporal overlap, we used the analysis of the co-ocurrence of keywords (with a minimum of five keywords).

The “research front” ( Price, 1965 ) is the growing tip of literature and characterize the transient nature of a research field. It is a dynamic analysis, as it is affected by changes in the research area, as well as by the importance, over the years, of a specific research linea. The identification of the research front helps scholars to outline the most current trends in literature ( Boyack and Klavans, 2010 ).

As can be seen in Figure 3 , in recent years there has been a change in interest in the international research. From observing the financing and capitalization of women's businesses (the keywords in purple: commercial development, financing, economic growth, informal economy), there has been a growing emphasis on more sensitive issues that place the need to study women's entrepreneurship as a separate field of research, with an emphasis on factors that differentiate them from its male counterpart and that allow overcoming the male-female gap in entrepreneurship (the keywords in yellow: social networks, role models, culture, entrepreneurship education, women empowerment, social entrepreneurship, family support, empowerment, social capital, self-efficacy). In fact, the relative emphasis on education, empowerment, family, social entrepreneurship, culture highlights the effort of researchers in analyzing that set of contextual and socio-psychological factors to allow the desired change.

Figure 3 . Temporal overlay on a keyword co-word occurrence map for women entrepreneurship articles.

In the 2,848 articles selected for the bibliometric analysis, a total of 3,903 authors were found, with an average of 1.95 authors per article, which shows that this is a fragmented field of research, probably due to its recent development in the scientific landscape and its multidisciplinary character. The most productive author is Marlow with 18 published articles followed by Ahl ( n = 15 articles), Kaciak with 13 articles, Welter ( n = 12 articles), and Orser ( n = 10 articles).

The Figure 4 , indicates author co-citation analysis. Out of a total of 68,657 authors in the author co-citation network, 443 researchers met a threshold of at least 45 author co-citations.

Figure 4 . Author co-citation analysis of the woman entrepreneurship literature.

The most highly “co-cited authors” about female entrepreneurship are Brush (1,297), Welter (992), Marlow (898), Carter (802), and Ahl (660). It should be noted that their highly cited documents tend to focus on two investigative lines of female entrepreneurship: that relating to the study of economic factors and associated barriers especially in developing countries (red cluster) and that relating to culture, gender roles and stereotypes (blue cluster). The results seem to suggest that, over the years, the interest of academics who have approached the study of female entrepreneurship has fundamentally concerned the study of barriers (economic, political, social) and the relationship between socio-cultural factors and gender-gap.

In Figure 5 we present the results of the main scientific journals that have published on female entrepreneurship. We considered the journals with at least 10 published articles, for a result of 28 scientific journals (out of a total of 841 journals). The scientific journals are displayed by circles and labels. The size of the publication circles and the label depends on the total strength of the links of a given publication. To avoid label overlap, some labels may not be visible. The color of an element is determined by the cluster to which the scientific journals belongs. The distance between two journals indicates the strength of their relationship in terms of links to common themes ( Van Eck and Waltman, 2010 , 2014 ).

Figure 5 . Scientific Journal analysis of the women entrepreneurship literature.

These journals published 900 articles, accounting for 32.6% of the scientific production on female entrepreneurship. In particular, the scientific journals that have most published on the topic of female entrepreneurship have focused on three investigative lines: obstacles to female entrepreneurship (red cluster), the relationship between culture, gender roles and stereotypes (blue cluster) and the role of human and social capital in the growth of female enterprises (green cluster). In addition, the analysis of the research areas further clarifies the nature of the journals, underlining how these investigative lines have been treated from different perspectives ( Table 2 ). The first 28 scientific journals, in fact, cover a differentiated range of topics such as business and management, social sciences and gender studies, human resource management; economics, law, engineering and technological innovation.

Table 2 . Scientific journals with the most publications on the subject and Research Area.

This aspect to underlining the multidisciplinary nature of research about female entrepreneurship, also underlines the importance of the topic as a tool to generate value in the international economic market.

With respect to the country with the most scientific contributions, the analysis showed that the United States is the nation with the greatest scientific interest, with 754 published articles, followed by the United Kingdom ( n = 393), India ( n = 212), Canada ( n = 180), and Australia ( n = 115). These five countries, mainly western countries, account for 1,654 articles (52,6%) of our full corpus of women entrepreneurship articles. Researchers in various Southern European countries (e.g., Spain: 109; Italy: 57; Portugal: 24) have also actively contributed to literature, representing a further 26% of the women entrepreneurship articles. Analyzing further, it was observed that 74% of the documents in the database came from developed companies and only 26% from developing companies ( Figure 6 ). This result, in line with previous systematic reviews ( Hallinger and Chatpinyakoop, 2019 ), creates a strong geographical imbalance and represents a gap in the literature that should be filled.

Figure 6 . Country analysis of the women entrepreneurship literature.

Topical Clusters of the Women Entrepreneurship

To get an overview of the main lines of research, we employed keyword co-occurrence analysis to reveal key topics within the women entrepreneurship knowledge base ( Figure 7 ). In particular, with a minimum of 10 co-ocurrences per keyword and a total of 44 keywords, the topics studied most frequently by women entrepreneurship scholars cohere into six themes. It is important to keep in mind that, according to the analysis performed, the same article can be in different groups if it contains keywords that are part of several groups. The different groups are shown in Table 3 .

Figure 7 . A minimum of 10 co-occurrence for author's keywords.

Table 3 . Different clusters of scientific literature.

As emerged from the analysis of “front research,” in the last decade, there has been a change in interest in the international research. From observing the financing and capitalization of women's businesses, there has been a growing emphasis on more sensitive issues that place the need to study women's entrepreneurship as a separate field of research ( De Carolis et al., 2009 ; Davis and Shaver, 2012 ). In this sense, in a study conducted by Dawson and Henley (2015) it was found that the gap between men and women in starting an entrepreneurial career is due to lower risk attitude expressed by women. According to Dawson and Henley (2015) , the low rate of women entrepreneurs is associated with a greater fear of failure, little confidence in their skills, and perception of poor support from social networks. In addition, in a systematic analysis by Mishra (2015) , the 48 articles analyzed showed that self-confidence, the provision of assistance and institutional support; and the ability to access the credit service and social networks are factors that stimulate female entrepreneurs. Similar results were found a few years earlier by Alam et al. (2011) , who highlighted how personality factors (self-efficacy and risk propensity) and contextual factors (social media and professional) are intertwined. These factors, which are part of a sustainable business, are highly relevant for female entrepreneurs.

In recent years, many researchers have analyzed female entrepreneurship and its associated limitations (cluster 1, in red), especially in developing countries ( Gautam and Mishra, 2016 ; Raghuvanshi et al., 2017 ). Discussing about emerging economies is extremely important, as the factors behind the low percentage of women in business activities seem to be different in developing economies than in developed economies. One could argue that women in developed countries are more likely to find suitable jobs than women in developing areas, that are also more prone to gender-related discrimination and hostile work environments ( Kirby and Ibrahim, 2011 ; Salamzadeh et al., 2013 ).

Research shows that in these countries, women entrepreneurs face greater barriers ( Panda, 2018 ; Abou-Moghli and Al-Abdallah, 2019 ) and that their business ventures efforts are generally discouraged ( Kapinga and Montero, 2017 ).

For example, the systematic analysis conducted by Panda (2018) on 35 articles and 90 developing countries, reveals that the constraints faced by women stem from gender discrimination, conflict between family and work, poor access to resources, lack of training and personality differences. Specifically, they are wary of risks and suffer from isolation in their entrepreneurial path, show a lack of self-confidence and an excess of insecurity.

Raghuvanshi et al. (2017) , analyzed the different barriers that female entrepreneurs face, which can be summarized as follows: lack of education, experience and training opportunities; limited spatial mobility; lack of support from families; lack of institutional support; and problem in the acquisition of financial resources. Mirghafoori et al. (2010) in his study mentioned a series of obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs in Iran that result from the lack of confidence of financial institutions toward women.

According to Okoye (2013) , although in Nigeria the main need for the emancipation of women is access to financing, other problems come into play, such as the high failure rate of political support programs. Santoni and Barth (2014) concluded that the barriers faced by female entrepreneurs in developing countries are inherent due to poor access to financing and lack of institutional support. These conclusions have also been shared in the past by other studies en Irán ( Galard, 2005 ; Sarfaraz and Faghih, 2011 ).

In a study conducted by Yogendrarajah and Semasinghe (2015) , on a group of women from Sri Lanka, the two authors found a statistically significant relationship between the development of entrepreneurship and the microcredit program. Helping women entrepreneurs to have better access to credit means increasing their awareness in terms of risk management and self-efficacy, contributing to the family economy, improving their quality of life and, not least, reduce gender disparities.

Studies that have focused on human and social capital (cluster 2, in green) can be included in this scenario. Human and social capital resources are the key to help entrepreneurs, especially in the initial phase of their business ( Brush et al., 2002 ). Studies in this sector have shown that high levels of human capital are positively related to the performance and management of a company ( Millán et al., 2014 ).

The results of a study by Klyver and Schenkel (2013) , based on GEM data in 41 countries, revealed that human capital is positively associated with nascent entrepreneurship and also has a positive impact on both, objective elements such as starting a business, and subjective elements such as self-perception and self-efficacy.

Studies like Aldrich and Cliff (2003) and Kirkwood (2007) have also shown that social capital is one of the biggest supporting factors for female entrepreneurship. An analysis by Ventura Fernández and Quero Gervilla (2013) shows, for example, that the existence of links with support agencies influences women's self-efficacy levels and, therefore, their intention to undertake in business activities. According to Álvarez et al. (2012) , in addition to the important role of formal social capital (policy support, financing and training), it is especially the “informal capital” (family, emotional support, social network) that has the greatest impact.

However, while the relationship between these types of intangible resources and women's businesses has been widely documented in developed countries, there is limited research in emerging economies. From our analysis, we found a study that considered the impact of human, social and reputational capital on women's businesses in Ghana. The results showed the positive impact of the three types of capital on corporate growth, but, to a greater extent, they highlighted the importance of women's social networks for the growth of their businesses, and to further improve the value of their intangible skills ( Sallah and Caesar, 2020 ).

The third theme (blue cluster) analyzes the complex relationship between culture and gender differences ( Eden and Gupta, 2017 ), considering female entrepreneurship a result of contextual and psychological factors that differentiate it from its male counterpart.

Culture greatly influences the way in which entrepreneurs develop their business initiatives, referring to prejudices, social roles and a stereotyped vision of the gender (for example, women are seen as incompatible with the business because it is too emotional and less rational in making decisions) that contribute to a men-cenetred vision of entrepreneurship ( Shinnar et al., 2012 ; Rubio-Bañón and Esteban-Lloret, 2016 ). This is reflected in Hoyt and Murphy (2016) conclusion that the prejudices women face in business are the result of gender stereotypes.

These factors related to a country's different perceptions of the role of women in society, explain that the differences concern attitudes toward entrepreneurship, but also some psychological traits that influence entrepreneurial intention: higher levels of self-efficacy, self-confidence, independence, risk appetite, and autonomy in men compared to women ( Langowitz and Minniti, 2007 ; Robb and Watson, 2012 ).

In addition, women compared to the male counterpart, to a greater extent reject the choice of an entrepreneurial career because they consider themselves as lacking in entrepreneurial skills and knowledge ( Wilson et al., 2007 ; Kirkwood, 2009 ) and unable to respond to the challenges of a company as it is not very socialized in corporate roles ( Yordanova and Tarrazon, 2010 ). Ultimately, what these studies show is an issue of how gender roles could influence the types of career deemed acceptable for women, further increasing gender differences ( Griffiths et al., 2013 ; Kalafatoglu and Mendoza, 2017 ).

As the cluster analysis shows, entrepreneurial education is closely linked to culture and gender differences, which is considered a potential tool for increasing entrepreneurial intentions, bridging the gap between men and women. This occurs both in the consolidation phase of the company and in the start-up phase ( Mazzarol et al., 1999 ; Rotefoss and Kolvereid, 2005 ). A country that promotes entrepreneurial educational initiatives, encourages women's participation in entrepreneurship and reduces the woman-man gap ( Petridou et al., 2009 ).

Mand et al. (2018) showed that education influences the entrepreneurship levels of Indian women even in a stereotypically masculine sector such as electronics.

Other empirical evidence has highlighted the importance of entrepreneurial education in analyzing the mediating role of self-efficacy. For example, studies have shown that entrepreneurial education has a greater impact on the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy ( Wilson et al., 2007 ; Centindamar et al., 2012 ). Others have shown that high levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy is related to a higher probability of developing a business activity ( Krueger et al., 2000 ; De Clercq and Arenius, 2006 ). Wilson et al. (2007) analyzed the role of mediating self-efficacy on the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intention of students and adults in adulthood. In both cases, entrepreneurial self-efficacy partially mediated this relationship.

Along these factors, the literature analysis has also allowed us to identify the role of the surrounding environment, focusing mainly on the family (Cluster 4, in yellow). Our analysis showed the crucial and positive role of family members, especially when external support systems are limited ( Chang et al., 2009 , 2012 ), both as a source of economic support, especially at the start of a business ( Shen et al., 2017 ; Cardella et al., 2020 ), and on the motherhood issue ( Jennings and McDougald, 2007 ), providing moral and psychological support to women who have to reconcile family responsibilities with the desire for professional development.

A field of study in which the gap between men and women seems to be significantly reduced is that related to social entrepreneurship (cluster 5, in purple). It is an extremely recent field of research (the first article dates from 2009), and as expected, according to our analysis it is one of the clusters with the least number of publications.

In general, women seem motivated toward social goals, unlike men whose attitudes push toward more economic and material issues ( Dorado and Ventresca, 2013 ). As the literature shows ( Themudo, 2009 ; Hechevarría et al., 2012 ) social enterprises are more suited to the social role of women.

For example, Van Ryzin et al. (2009) suggests that women are more likely to be social entrepreneurs than men, since this type of company seems to share their objectives, more oriented to the attention and support of the community. In addition, according to Teasdale et al. (2011) , more than 90% of women occupy management positions in voluntary organizations or the third sector. This is reflected in Kuschel and Lepeley (2016) stating that women entrepreneurs in the technology industry tend to start businesses with romantic partners, in a process of co-preneurship.

These results are in line with more recent studies that have demonstrated the importance of social entrepreneurship, especially for women who undertake in a poorly developed country ( Kyalo and Kiganane, 2014 ; Nicolás and Rubio, 2016 ).

Women are motivated to choose an entrepreneurial career for different reasons than men. In general, men appreciate good pay, job security and promotion opportunities, while women prefer opportunities to use their initiative and flexible hours ( Zou, 2015 ). The greater motivational desire among women to achieve a better balance between work and family life, leaving aside the desire for economic wealth ( Thébaud, 2015 ), could explain the importance of social entrepreneurship as a possible career option.

For example, Muntean and Ozkazanc-Pan (2016) suggested that social enterprises can help foster reconciliation policies, such as flexible time or parental leave, which act as a motivating factor, encouraging women's career advancement.

In summary, research suggests that the intrinsic characteristics of social entrepreneurship (e.g., collaboration and mutual assistance) may be more suited to women's needs, their way of working (high quality relationships) and respect for women's priorities (like reconciliation and equal opportunities).

Additionally, as Rembulan et al. (2016) have shown, women entrepreneurs, compared to women who work as employees, have very low levels of conflict regarding time management and family care.

Lastly, cluster 6 (in light blue) includes feminist theories that attempt to explain gender discrimination in entrepreneurship as a result of stereotypes and prejudices, which deserves a discussion of its own. The articles have revealed a shift in a focus from liberal feminism, centered on a collectivist conception of women and inspired by gender equality as a political factor, to liberal post-feminism, which uses more individualistic and identity-focused vision, in which single women must compete in the national market and contribute to the economic growth of the country through self-employment ( Berglund et al., 2018 ). In particular, the liberal feminist theory ( Fischer et al., 1993 ), analyzed supports the need for social reform to give women the same opportunities that are reserved for men (for example, access to resources and social networks, education, previous experience in business). Liberal post-feminism, instead, takes into account many different views of the world. These differences do not imply that women are less effective in business than men, but only that they could adopt different approaches that could be as effective as the more traditional approaches adopted by men ( Watson and Robinson, 2003 ). The problem would lie in the lack of acceptance by the social network and community, however, despite the great efforts made in this regard, both views have significant shortcomings. For example, no perspective considers the different cultural values that can convey different attitudes, expectations, and behaviors not only between men and women, but also between different nations.

Although it is widely accepted that entrepreneurship gives additional value to the economy of a nation and a shift in business, the understanding between entrepreneurship and development is still far from complete ( Kelley et al., 2017 ). Recognizing, therefore, the factors and peculiarities that also influence the field of female entrepreneurship seems a challenge and a call to which the entire community is expected to answer at different levels. This could help academics and policy makers gain useful knowledge and facilitate the conditions of women in business. Parallel to what was stated in Holmquist and Sundin (2002) , beyond the different points of view, it would be desirable to consider the issue from a holistic perspective, focusing on the strengths of each one for a vision as unitary and convincing as possible in the analysis of female entrepreneurship.

Conclusions

The objective of this systematic analysis was to investigate the scientific literature on the relationship between entrepreneurship and women. To this end, we analyzed a total of 2,848 articles selected from the Scopus database (Scimago Research Group). Based on the results obtained, some conclusions can be drawn.

As the analysis shows, it is a relatively current area of research (the first article was published in 1950) which over the years has shown constant interest from academics, with a greater development of articles in the last 20 years.

Furthermore, it is a research field that shows a multidisciplinary character that mainly affects the area of business and management, but also social and gender studies, Economics, Political Sciences, Technology and Innovation.

In addition, in the last decade, “front research” has shown a change of interest in the scientific community, moving from the study of economic and political issues to the analysis of the useful factors that allow to bridge the male-female gap.

In general, it was possible to isolate 6 research line that characterize the current field. The topic that has received the most attention from academics and, therefore, a greater number of studies is related to the importance of the family as support for women entrepreneurs, particularly with regard to maternity management (cluster 4), closely related to cluster 1 that highlights the barriers that characterizes women's access to the entrepreneurial sector.

On the other hand, the group that according to our analysis has the least number of articles published relates to feminist theories (cluster 6), followed by cluster 5, about to the relationship between social entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship. The latter could be explained probably because it is an extremely recent research field (the first article dates from 2009), but in constant evolution. As noted in recent studies, social entrepreneurship is a very interesting field of analysis, since the gap between women and men is greatly reduced because the roles and stereotypes that influence women's behavior lead to identify better with the values present in social enterprises ( Nicolás and Rubio, 2016 ).

Although this work covers a large number of publications, some limitations must be pointed out. First, it may be important to use other databases to expand the body of literature and highlight the differences and similarities with the analysis presented by us. It may also be of interest to use different bibliometric indicators to continue studying the research fields.

For this study, we used cluster analysis to delineate the boundaries of scientific literature through VosViewer 1.6.10 software. It is a tool that, although it has received a broad consensus from researchers ( Martínez-López et al., 2018 ), presents some limitations, since it provides a limited number of relationships that, based on similarities and co-occurrence techniques, only take into account the frequency of the keywords considered. This could represent a limitation if the search field is excessively fragmented. For example, a total of 4,455 keywords emerged from our analysis, and the field was reduced to 44 keywords, establishing a co-ocurrence of 10. This indicates that it is an extremely varied field of study in which academics have adopted different points of view.

From this study, some suggestions for future research can also be outlined.

First, the vast majority of women's business studies have been carried out in western and developed countries. It would be appropriate for academics to deepen this issue in developing areas in order to test the theories already used, analyze the dynamics that are created in these different geographical areas, as well shed light on the social and cultural challenges women face in these contexts. Additionally, this aspect was also recently confirmed by Rashid and Ratten (2020) , who in their systematic review of female entrepreneurship in emerging economies, found only a total of 76 published articles.

Future studies should also reflect on the fact that more and more women participate in the growth of their businesses, going beyond the initial phase, which concerns simple entrepreneurial intention. The articles that are part of this systematic analysis did not take into account the difference between intention and behavior. It would be advisable to focus more on this difference, emphasizing whether women who are in a later stage face the same specific challenges as in the early stages. Entrepreneurship is more than the simple act of starting a business, since it also represents the will and desire to manage an existing company (see the case of family businesses). Therefore, it would be desirable, especially with reference to women, to reflect on the barriers they face to grow their businesses, in terms of work/family balance issues, choice of professional sector and identification of opportunities and development of human and social capital. In this sense, a great importance for women derives not only from access to financial resources, but also from intangible resources (human and social capital) that constitute the key to business success in general, and specifically in women. Studies in this area, however, seem limited. A careful reflection on women entrepreneurs, both in developed and developing economies, could help to better understand how to exploit these resources.

Furthermore, it could be a further reason for reflection, analyzing the problem of immigrant women entrepreneurs, the motivations that push them to start entrepreneurial activities, the social consequences of their entrepreneurial behavior and how the whole process is conditioned by their belonging to the female gender.

From a purely methodological point of view, we expect the use of diversified, quantitative, qualitative or mixed approaches, since this may offer greater potential to analyze different nuances and peculiarities that may be important to deepen on the female issues in entrepreneurship. Similarly, the increasing availability of large data sets allows us to understand possible disadvantages among different groups of female entrepreneurs ( Fairlie and Robb, 2008 ). The comparisons between different female groups in social, cultural and socio-family abstractions, with difficult access to human and intangible resources and financial resources, remain important fields of analysis and exploration.

Finally, there is a need for greater efforts by academics to critically reflect and strengthen current theories on entrepreneurship, which should be useful for the development of more solidified theories that take into account culture and institutional practices and how they relate with gender issues ( Wilson and Tagg, 2010 ).

We believe that the results of this systematic analysis are a starting point for contributing to an ever clearer systematization of the scientific literature, which, given the very varied nature of the research topic, has some limits which are not always easy to define. In our analysis, we have adopted a holistic point of view to give voice to the different theoretical contributions that have tried to explain the many facets of the research lines. The synthesis of topics of recent interest among scholars has produced numerous topical clusters and a change of interest, over the years, from a study aimed at economic issues to an analysis that deepens the factors that contribute to reducing woman-man gap.

We interpret it in the sense that scholars have started to take an interest in female entrepreneurship as an independent construct and not simply as a counterpart to the male one, applying already existing models concerning male entrepreneurship. This also represents a useful starting point for political systems and further strengthens our conclusions.

In light of the results found in our study, we can affirm that the work done gives us the opportunity to have a broader vision of gender and women's entrepreneurship, not only considering the motivations, objectives, measures of success and the different contexts, in which their ventures are managed and developed, but also taking into account the heterogeneity of female entrepreneurs in general.

The researchers recognize that women's entrepreneurship is very varied and rich in nuances, hence the commitment that must exist in researchers to commit to this complexity and, at the same time, strength. Women entrepreneurs are not a homogeneous group, and therefore we must recognize gender identities, which are rarely considered in the entrepreneurship literature. This is especially important when it comes to, for example, programs and policies to support female entrepreneurship. We cannot do “one size fits all” training. In other words, female entrepreneurs are not minors, subordinates, they simply do entrepreneurship differently and in this process make significant and valuable contributions to the global economy. A better understanding of this diversity of female entrepreneurship will surely contribute new ideas for research on entrepreneurship in general.

Our research also opens up new questions that will need to be addressed in future research. For example: (a) How do different contexts (organizational, family environments, high technology, etc.) and cultural environments impact on women's business management? How do women entrepreneurs undertake in such contexts? (b) How can theories outside of entrepreneurship/small business fields shed light on women's entrepreneurship and its management strategies? (c) How should women's entrepreneurship best be conceptualized to better understand the diversity, strategic management and growth dimensions of business creation? With new theoretical and methodological approaches and perspectives, we can address these questions.

Data Availability Statement

All datasets generated for this study are included in the article/supplementary material.

Author Contributions

All three authors participated in the analysis and drafting of this document. Specifically, GC has selected and analyzed all the articles present in Scopus. BH-S provided interesting details on the subject. JS-G examined the methodology used and the final draft of the document. The authors decided to approve the final work and take full responsibility for the originality of the research.

This research was funded by the Board of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León (ref J424), Spain.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Chair of Entrepreneurs University of Salamanca for supporting the research.

Abou-Moghli, A. A., and Al-Abdallah, G. M. (2019). A systematic review of women entrepreneurs opportunities and challenges in Saudi Arabia. J. Entrep. Educ. 22:6 . Available online at: https://www.abacademies.org/articles/A-systematic-review-of-women-entrepreneurs-opportunities-and-1528-2651-22-6-486.pdf

Ahl, H. (2004). The Scientific Reproduction of Gender Inequality; A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Women's Entrepreneurship . Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.

PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar

Ahl, H. (2006). Why research on women entrepreneurs needs new directions. Entrepreneurship 30, 595–621. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2006.00138.x

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Aidis, R., Estrin, S., and Mickiewicz, T. (2008). Institutions and entrepreneurship development in Russia: a comparative perspective. J. Bus. Venturing 23, 656–672. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2008.01.005

Aidis, R., Estrin, S., and Mickiewicz, T. (2010). Institutions, finance and the level of development: the impact on entrepreneurship in transition. Rev. Econ. Institut. 1:rei.v1i1.3. doi: 10.5202/rei.v1i1.3

Alam, S. S., Fauzi, M., Jani, M., and Omar, N. A. (2011). An empirical study of success factors of women entrepreneurs in southern region in Malaysia. Intern. J. Econ. Finance 3, 166–175. doi: 10.5539/ijef.v3n2p166

Aldrich, H. E., and Cliff, J. E. (2003). The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship:toward a family embeddedness perspective. J. Business Venturing 18, 573–596. doi: 10.1016/S0883-9026(03)00011-9

Álvarez, C., Noguera, M., and Urbano, D. (2012). Condicionantes del entorno y emprendimiento femenino: un estudio cuantitativo en España. Econ. Indus. 383, 43–52. Available online at: http://www.minetur.gob.es/Publicaciones/./RevistaEconomiaIndustrial/383/ClaudiaAlvarez.pdf

Google Scholar

Ayogu, D. U., and Agu, E. O. (2015). Assessment of the contribution of women entrepreneur towards entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. Intern. J. Curr. Res. Acad. Rev. 3, 190–207. Available online at: http://www.ijcrar.com/vol-3-10/Ayogu,%20Deborah%20U.%20and%20Agu,%20Everistus%20Ogadimma2.pdf

Bahmani-Oskooee, M., Kutan, M. A., and Xi, D. (2013). The impact of economic and monetary uncertainty on the demand for money in emerging economies. Appl. Econ. 45, 3278–3287. doi: 10.1080/00036846.2012.705430

Bardasi, E., Sabarwal, S., and Terrel, K. (2011). How do female entrepreneurs perform? Evidence from three developing regions. Small Business Econ. 37, 417–441. doi: 10.1007/s11187-011-9374-z

Berglund, K., Ahl, H., Pettersson, K., and Tillmar, M. (2018). Women's entrepreneurship, neoliberalism and economic justice in the postfeminist era: a discourse analysis of policy change in Sweden. Gender Work Organization 25, 531–556. doi: 10.1111/gwao.12269

Bird, B., and Brush, C. (2002). A gendered perspective on organizational creation. Entrepreneurship 26, 41–65. doi: 10.1177/104225870202600303

Bosma, N., and Kelley, D. (2019). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2018/2019 . Global Report. Babson Park, MA, London: Babson College and London Business School. Available online at: https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-2018-2019-global-report

Boyack, K. W., and Klavans, R. (2010). Co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and direct citation: Which citation approach represents the research front most accurately? J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 61, 2389–2404. doi: 10.1002/asi.21419

Boyd, G. G. D. (2016). The girl effect: a neoliberal instrumentalization of gender equality. Consilience 15, 46–180. doi: 10.7916/D88052F2

Boz, M., Martínez-Corts, I., and Munduate, L. (2016). Types of combined family-to-work conflict and enrichment and subjective health in Spain: a gender perspective. Sex Roles 74, 136–153. doi: 10.1007/s11199-015-0461-5

Bruni, A., Poggio, B., and Gherardi, S. (2004). Entrepreneur-mentality, gender and the study of women entrepreneurs. J. Organ. Change Managem. 17, 256–268. doi: 10.1108/09534810410538315

Brush, C. G. (1992). Research on women business owners: past trends, a new perspective and future directions. Entrepren. Theory Practice 16, 5–30. doi: 10.1177/104225879201600401

Brush, C. G., Carter, N. M., Greene, P. G., Hart, M. M., and Gatewood, E. (2002). The role of social capital and gender in linking financial suppliers and entrepreneurial firms: a framework for future research. Venture Capital 4, 305–323. doi: 10.1080/1369106022000024897

Brush, C. G., de Bruin, A., and Welter, F. (2009). A gender-aware framework for women's entrepreneurship. Intern. J. Gender Entrepreneurship 1, 8–24. doi: 10.1108/17566260910942318

Burnham, J. F. (2006). Scopus database: a review. Biomed. Digit. Libr. 3:1. doi: 10.1186/1742-5581-3-1

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Cardella, G. M., Hernández-Sánchez, B. R., and Sánchez-García, J. C. (2020). Entrepreneurship and family role: a systematic review of a growing research. Front. Psychol. 10:2939. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02939

Carter, S., Mwaura, S., Ram, M., Trehan, K., and Jones, T. (2015). Barriers to ethnic minority and women's enterprise: Existing evidence, policy tensions and unsettled questions. Intern. Small Business J. 33, 49–69. doi: 10.1177/0266242614556823

Centindamar, D., Gupta, V., Karadeniz, E. E., and Egrican, N. (2012). What the numbers tell: the impact of human, family and financial capital on women and men's entry into entrepreneurship in Turkey. Entrep. Regional Dev. 24, 29–51. doi: 10.1080/08985626.2012.637348

Chang, E. P. C., Memili, E., Chrisman, J. J., Kellermanns, F. W., and Chua, J. H. (2009). Family social capital, venture preparedness and start-up decisions: a study of Hispanic entrepreneurs in New England. Family Busin. Rev. 22, 279–292. doi: 10.1177/0894486509332327

Chang, E. P. C., Memili, E., Chrisman, J. J., and Welsh, D. H. B. (2012). What can drive successful entrepreneurial firms? An analysis of the Inc 500 companies. J. Small Business Strategy 22, 27–49.

Coduras, A., and Autio, E. (2013). Comparing subjective and objective indicators to describe the national entrepreneurial context: the global entrepreneurship monitor and the global competitiveness index contributions. Investig. Regionales 26, 47–74. Available online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10017/26972

Davis, A. E., and Shaver, K. G. (2012). Understanding gendered variations in business growth intentions across the life course. Entrepreneurship 36, 495–512. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2012.00508.x

Dawson, C., and Henley, A. (2015). Gender, risk, and venture creation intentions. J. Small Business Management 53, 501–515. doi: 10.1111/jsbm.12080

De Bruin, A., Brush, C. G., and Welter, F. (2007). Advancing a framework for coherent research on women's entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship 31, 323–339. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2007.00176.x

De Carolis, D. M., Litzky, B. E., and Eddleston, K. A. (2009). Why networks enhance the progress of new venture creation: the influence of social capital and cognition. Entrepreneurship 33, 527–545. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00302.x

De Clercq, D., and Arenius, P. (2006). The role of knowledge in business start-up activity. Intern. Small Business J. 24, 339–358. doi: 10.1177/0266242606065507

Dheer, R. J. S., Li, M., and Treviño, L. J. (2019). An integrative approach to the gender gap in entrepreneurship across nations. J. World Business 54:101004. doi: 10.1016/j.jwb.2019.101004

Dileo, I., and Pereiro, T. G. (2019). Assessing the impact of individual and context factors on the entrepreneurial process. A cross-country multilevel approach. Intern. Entrepreneurship Management J. 15, 1393–1441. doi: 10.1007/s11365-018-0528-1

Dorado, S., and Ventresca, M. (2013). Crescive entrepreneurship in complex social problems: institutional conditions for entrepreneurial engagement. J. Business Venturing 28, 69–82. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2012.02.002

Eagly, A. H. (1987). Sex Differences in Social Behavior. A Social-Role Interpretation . New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Eden, L., and Gupta, S. (2017). Culture and Context Matter: Gender in International Business and Management (February 28, 2017). Forthcoming in Cross Cultural and Strategic Management, Special Issue on “Gender in International Business and Management”; Mays Business School Research Paper No. 2925609 . Available online at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2925609

Elam, A. B., Brush, C. G., Greene, P. G., Baumer, B., Dean, M., and Heavlow, R. (2019). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2018/2019 Women's Entrepreneurship Report. Babson College: Smith College and the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association.

Elomäki, A. (2015). The economic case for gender equality in the European Union: selling gender equality to decision-makers and neoliberalism to women's organizations. Eur. J. Women's Studies 22, 288–302. doi: 10.1177/1350506815571142

Estrin, S., and Mickiewicz, T. (2011). “Entrepreneurship in transition economies: the role of institutions and generational change,” in The Dynamics of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Data , ed M. Minniti (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 181–208. ISBN 9780199580866.

Fairlie, R. W., and Robb, A. M. (2008). Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black, Asian and White-Owned Businesses in the United States . Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Fischer, E. M., Reuber, A. R., and Dyke, L. S. (1993). A theoretical overview and extension of research on sex, gender and entrepreneurship. J. Business Venturing 8, 151–168. doi: 10.1016/0883-9026(93)90017-Y

Galard, P. (2005). The efficient factors affecting the development of women entrepreneurship in Iran. Women Res. 13, 101–123.

Gautam, R. K., and Mishra, K. (2016). Study on rural women entrepreneurship in India: Issues and challenges. Intern. J. Appl. Res. 2, 33–36. Available online at: http://www.allresearchjournal.com/archives/2016/vol2issue2/PartA/1-13-172.pdf

Griffiths, M. D., Gundry, L. K., and Kickul, J. (2013). The socio-political, economic, and cultural determinants of social entrepreneurship activity: an empirical examination. J. Small Business Enterprise Dev. 20, 341–357. doi: 10.1108/14626001311326761

Guzman, J., and Kacperczyk, A. O. (2019). Gender gap in entrepreneurship. Res. Policy 48, 1666–1680. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2019.03.012

Hallinger, P., and Chatpinyakoop, C. (2019). A bibliometric review of research on higher education for sustainable development, 1998–2018. Sustainability 11:2401. doi: 10.3390/su11082401

Hechevarría, D., Bullough, A., Brush, C., and Edelman, L. (2019). High-growth women's entrepreneurship: fueling social and economic development. J. Small Business Managem. 57, 5–13. doi: 10.1111/jsbm.12503

Hechevarría, D. M., Ingram, A., Justo, R., and Terjesen, S. (2012). “Are women more likely to pursue social and environmental entrepreneurship,” in Global Women's Entrepreneurship Research: Diverse Settings, Questions and Approaches , eds K. Hughes and J. Jennings (Edward Elgar), 135–151.

Holmquist, C., and Sundin, E. (eds.) (2002). Företagerskan: Om Kvinnor och Entreprenörskap [The entrepreneuse: On women and entrepreneurship]. Stockholm: SNS Förlag.

Hoyt, C. L., and Murphy, S. E. (2016). Managing to clear the air: stereotype threat, women, and leadership. Leadersh. Q 27, 387–399. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.11.002

Jennings, J. E., and Brush, C. G. (2013). Research on women entrepreneurs: challenges to (and from) the broader entrepreneurship literature? Acad. Manag. Ann. 7, 663–715. doi: 10.1080/19416520.2013.782190

Jennings, J. E., and McDougald, M. S. (2007). Work-family interface experiences and coping strategies: implications for entrepreneurship research and practice. Acad. Managem. Rev. 32, 747–760. doi: 10.5465/amr.2007.25275510

Johansen, V. (2013). Entrepreneurship education and start-up activity: a gender perspective. Intern. J. Gender Entrepreneurship 5, 216–231. doi: 10.1108/17566261311328864

Kalafatoglu, T., and Mendoza, X. (2017). The impact of gender and culture on networking and venture creation - An exploratory study in Turkey and MENA region. Cross Cult. Strategic Managem. 24, 332–349. doi: 10.1108/CCSM-04-2016-0090

Kapinga, A. F., and Montero, C. S. (2017). Exploring the socio-cultural challenges of food processing women entrepreneurs in Iringa, Tanzania and strategies used to tackle them. J. Glob. Entrepr. Res. 7, 1–24. doi: 10.1186/s40497-017-0076-0

Kelley, D. J., Baumer, B. S., Brush, C., Green, P. G., Mahdavi, M., Majbouri, M., et al. (2017). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2018/2017 Report on Women's Entrepreneurship. Babson College: Smith College and the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association.

Kirby, D. A., and Ibrahim, N. (2011). Entrepreneurship education and the creation of an enterprise culture: provisional results from an experiment in Egypt. Intern. Entrepreneurship Managem. J. 7, 181–193. doi: 10.1007/s11365-010-0153-0

Kirkwood, J. (2009). Motivational factors in a push-pull theory of entrepreneurship. Gender Managem. 24, 346–364. doi: 10.1108/17542410910968805

Kirkwood, J., and Tootell, B. (2008). Is entrepreneurship the answer to achieving work-family balance? J. Managem. Organization 14, 285–302. doi: 10.5172/jmo.837.14.3.285

Kirkwood, J. J. (2007). Igniting the entrepreneurial spirit: is the role parents play gendered? Intern. J. Entrepreneurial Behav. Res. 13, 39–59. doi: 10.1108/13552550710725174

Klyver, K., and Schenkel, M. T. (2013). From resource access to use: exploring the impact of resource combinations on nascent entrepreneurship. J. Small Business Managem. 51, 539–556. doi: 10.1111/jsbm.12030

Koellinger, P., Minniti, M., and Schade, C. (2011). Gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity. Oxf. Bull. Econ. Stat. 75, 213–234. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0084.2011.00689.x

Krueger, N. F. Jr., Reilly, M. D., and Carsrud, A. L. (2000). Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions. J. Business Venturing 15, 411–432. doi: 10.1016/S0883-9026(98)00033-0

Kuschel, K., and Lepeley, M. T. (2016). Copreneurial women in start-ups: Growth-oriented or lifestyle? An aid for technology industry investors. Acad. Rev. Latino. Adm. 29, 181–197. doi: 10.1108/ARLA-08-2015-0231

Kyalo, T. N., and Kiganane, L. M. (2014). Challenges facing women entrepreneurs in africa -a case of kenyan women entrepreneurs. Intern. J. Adv. Managem. Econ. Entrepreneurship 1, 1–8.

Langowitz, N., and Minniti, M. (2007). The entrepreneurial propensity of women. Entrepreneurship 31, 341–364. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2007.00177.x

Langowitz, N., and Morgan, C. (2003). “Women entrepreneurs: breaking through the glass barrier,” in New Perspectives on Women Entrepreneurs , ed J. Butler (Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing), 101–119.

Liberati, A., Altman, D. G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P. C., Ioannidis, J. P., et al. (2009). The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate healthcare interventions: explanation and elaboration. Ital. J. Public Health 7, 354–391. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b2700

Lourenço, F., and Jones, O. (2006). Developing entrepreneurship education: comparing traditional and alternative teaching approaches. Intern. J. Entrepreneurship Educ. 4, 111–140.

Mand, H. S., Atri, M., and Gill, A. (2018). Influence of unemployment and education on women's intentions to start e-entrepreneurship: Evidence from Indian survey data. Intern. J. Entrepreneurship Small Business 35, 203–219. doi: 10.1504/IJESB.2018.094964

Martínez-López, F. J., Merigó, J. M., Valenzuela-Fernández, L., and Nicolás, C. (2018). Fifty years of the European journal of marketing: a bibliometric analysis. Eur. J. Marketing 52, 439–468. doi: 10.1108/EJM-11-2017-0853

Mazzarol, T., Volery, T., Doss, N., and Thein, H. H. (1999). Factors influencing small business start-ups: a comparison with previous research. Intern. J. Entrepreneurial Behav. Res. 5, 48–63. doi: 10.1108/13552559910274499

McGowan, P., Cooper, S. Y., Durkin, M., and O'Kane, C. (2015). The influence of social and human capital in developing young women as entrepreneurial business leaders. Small Business Managem. 53, 645–661. doi: 10.1111/jsbm.12176

McGowan, P., Redeker, C. L., Cooper, S. Y., and Greenan, K. (2012). Female entrepreneurship and the management of business and domestic roles: motivations, expectations and realities. Entrepreneurship Reg. Dev. 24, 53–72. doi: 10.1080/08985626.2012.637351

Millán, J. M., Congregado, E., and Román, C. (2014). Entrepreneurship persistence with and without personnel: The role of human capital and previous unemployment. Intern. Entrepreneurship Management J. 10, 187–206. doi: 10.1007/s11365-011-0184-1

Minniti, M. (2010). Female entrepreneurship and economic activity. Eur. J. Dev. Res. 22, 294–312. doi: 10.1057/ejdr.2010.18

Mirghafoori, H., Tooranloo, H., and Taheridemneh, M. (2010). Investigating the barriers of women's entrepreneurship in Iran society. J. Managem. Transform. 2, 47–64. doi: 10.22067/pmt.v1i2.2883

Mishra, A. K. (2015). Impact of capacity building on women entrepreneurs – A literature analysis. Intern. J. Multidiscipl. Res. Dev. 2, 344–348. doi: 10.22271/ijmrd

CrossRef Full Text

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., and PRISMA Group (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med. 6:97. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097

Muntean, S. C., and Ozkazanc-Pan, B. (2016). Feminist perspectives on social entrepreneurship: critique and new directions. Intern. J. Gender Entrepreneurship 8, 1–32. doi: 10.1108/IJGE-10-2014-0034

Neneh, N. B. (2018). Family-work conflict and performance of women-owned enterprises: the role of social capital in developing countries-implications for South Africa and beyond. J. Intern. Women's Studies 19, 326–343. Available online at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol19/iss6/21

Nicholas, D., Watkinson, A., Jamali, H. R., Herman, E., Tenopir, C., Volentine, R., et al. (2015). Peer review: still king in the digital age. Learned Publishing 28, 15–21. doi: 10.1087/20150104

Nicolás, C., and Rubio, A. (2016). Social Enterprise: Gender gap and economic development. Eur. J. Managem. Business Econ. 25, 56–62. doi: 10.1016/j.redeen.2015.11.001

Noguera, M., Álvarez, C., and Urbano, D. (2013). Socio-cultural factors and female entrepreneurship. Intern. Entrepreneurship Managem. J. 9, 183–198. doi: 10.1007/s11365-013-0251-x

Okoye, C. (2013). Women entrepreneurship development, sustainable livelihoods and microfinancing in Nigeria. Afr. J. Dev. Res. Entrepreneurship 2:1 . Available online at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292159658

Panda, S. (2018). Constraints faced by women entrepreneurs in developing countries: review and Ranking. Gender Managem. 33:4. doi: 10.1108/GM-01-2017-0003

Parker, S. C. (2009). The Economics of Entrepreneurship . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Petridou, E., Sarri, A., and Kyrgidou, L. P. (2009). Entrepreneurship education in higher educational institutions: the gender dimension. Gender Managem. 24, 286–309. doi: 10.1108/17542410910961569

Pittaway, L., and Cope, J. (2007). Entrepreneurship education: a systematic review of the evidence. Intern. Small Business J. 25, 479–510. doi: 10.1177/0266242607080656

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Bachrach, D. G., and Podsakoff, N. P. (2005). The influence of management journals in the 1980s and 1990s. Strategic Managem. J. 26, 473–488. doi: 10.1002/smj.454

Price, D. J. S. (1965). Networks of Scientific Papers -The pattern of bibliographic references indicates the nature of the research front. Science 149, 510–515. doi: 10.1126/science.149.3683.510

Rae, D. (2015). Opportunity-Centred Entrepreneurship . New York, NY: Palgrave McMillan.

Raghuvanshi, J., Agrawal, R., and Ghosh, P. K. (2017). Analysis of barriers to women entrepreneurship: the DEMATEL approach. J. Entrepreneurship 26, 220–238. doi: 10.1177/0971355717708848

Rashid, S., and Ratten, V. (2020). “A systematic literature review on women entrepreneurship in emerging economies while reflecting specifically on saarc countries,” in Entrepreneurship and Organizational Change. Managing Innovation and Creative Capabilities , ed V. Ratten (Cham: Springer), 37–88.

Rembulan, C., Rahmawati, K., and Indudewi, F. (2016). Work-family conflict of women entrepreneurs and women employees. ANIMA Indonesian Psychol. J. 31, 111–123. doi: 10.24123/aipj.v31i3.570

Robb, A. M., and Watson, J. (2012). Gender differences in firm performance: evidence from new ventures in the United States. J. Business Venturing 27, 544–558. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2011.10.002

Rotefoss, B., and Kolvereid, L. (2005). Aspiring, nascent and fledgling entrepreneurs: an investigation of the business start-up process. Entrepreneurship Reg. Dev. 17, 109–127. doi: 10.1080/08985620500074049

Rubio-Bañón, A., and Esteban-Lloret, N. (2016). Cultural factors and gender role in female entrepreneurship. Suma de Negocios 7, 9–17. doi: 10.1016/j.sumneg.2015.12.002

Salamzadeh, A., Farsi, J. Y., and Salamzadeh, Y. (2013). Entrepreneurial universities in Iran: A system dynamics model. Intern. J. Entrepreneurship Small Business 20, 420–445. doi: 10.1504/IJESB.2013.057200

Sallah, C. A., and Caesar, L. D. (2020). Intangible resources and the growth of women businesses: empirical evidence from an emerging market economy. J. Entrepreneurship Emerging Economies. doi: 10.1108/JEEE-05-2019-0070

Santoni, J., and Barth, I. (2014). Le rôle du réseau dans le développement de l'entrepreneuriat féminin: cas d'un centre entrepreneurial au sein d'une business school. @GRH , 2, 81–113. doi: 10.3917/grh.142.0081

Sarfaraz, L., and Faghih, N. (2011). Women's entrepreneurship in iran: a GEM based-data evidence. J. Global Entrepreneurship Res. 1, 45–57. Available online at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/049c/be08f3e9bb7582263f89672c12e030704377.pdf

Shen, T., Osorio, A. E., and Settles, A. (2017). Does family support matter? The influence of support factors an entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of college students. Acad. Entrepreneurship J. 23, 23–43. doi: 10.5465/AMBPP.2017.10901abstract

Shinnar, R. S., Giacomin, O., and Janssen, F. (2012). Entrepreneurial perceptions and intentions: the role of gender and culture. Entrepreneurship 36, 465–494. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2012.00509.x

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). (2019). Startup Outlook 2018 Report . Available online at: https://www.svb.com/startup-outlook-report-2018

Sorgner, A., Bode, E., and Krieger-Boden, C. (2017). Women20 Study. The Effects of Digitalization on the Gender Equality in the G20 Economies . Germany: Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Available online at: http://www.emsdialogues.org/

Sullivan, D. M., and Meek, W. R. (2012). Gender and entrepreneurship: A review and process model. J. Managerial Psychol . 27, 428–458. doi: 10.1108/02683941211235373

Teasdale, S., McKay, S., Phillimore, J., and Teasdale, N. (2011). Exploring gender and social entrepreneurship: women's leadership, employment and participation in the third sector and social enterprises. Voluntary Sector Rev. 2, 57–76. doi: 10.1332/204080511X560620

Thébaud, S. (2015). Business as Plan B: institutional foundations of gender inequality in entrepreneurship across 24 industrialized countries. Adm. Sci. Q 60, 671–711. doi: 10.1177/0001839215591627

Themudo, N. S. (2009). Gender and the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit Voluntary Sector Q. 38, 663–683. doi: 10.1177/0899764009333957

Urbano Pulido, D., Ferri Jiménez, E., and Noguera i Noguera, M. (2014). Female social entrepreneuship and socio-cultural context: an international analysis. Revis. Estud. Emp. Segunda Época 2, 26–40.

Urrútia, G., and Bonfill, X. (2010). PRISMA declaration: a proposal to improve the publication of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Med. Clín. 135, 507–511. doi: 10.1016/j.medcli.2010.01.015

Vallaster, C., Kraus, S., Nielsen, A., and Merigo Lindahl, J. M. (2019). Ethics and entrepreneurship: a bibliometric study and literature review. J. Bus. Res. 99, 226–237. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.050

Van Eck, N. J., and Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: vosviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics 84, 523–538. doi: 10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3

Van Eck, N. J., and Waltman, L. (2014). “Visualizing bibliometric networks,” in Measuring Scholarly Impact: Methods and Practice , eds Y. Ding, R. Rousseau, and D. Wolfram (Cham: Springer), 285–320. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-10377-8_13

Van Ryzin, G., Grossman, S., DiPadova-Stocks, L., and Bergrud, E. (2009). Portrait of the social entrepreneur: statistical evidence from a US panel. Intern. J. Voluntary Nonprofit Org. 20, 129–140. doi: 10.1007/s11266-009-9081-4

Ventura Fernández, R., and Quero Gervilla, M. J. (2013). Factores explicativos de la intención de emprender en la mujer. Aspectos diferenciales en la población universitaria según la variable género. Cuad. Gestión 13, 127–150. doi: 10.5295/cdg.100271rv

Watson, J., and Robinson, S. (2003). Adjusting for risk in comparing the performance of male- and female- controlled SMEs. J. Business Venturing 18, 773–788. doi: 10.1016/S0883-9026(02)00128-3

Wieland, A. M., Kemmelmeier, M., Gupta, V. K., and McKelvey, W. (2019). Gendered cognitions: a socio-cognitive model of how gender affects entrepreneurial preferences. Entrepreneurship Reg. Dev. 31, 178–197. doi: 10.1080/08985626.2018.1551787

Wilson, F., Kickul, J., and Marlino, D. (2007). Gender, entrepreneurial self–efficacy, and entrepreneurial career intentions: implications for entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship 31, 387–406. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2007.00179.x

Wilson, F., and Tagg, S. (2010). Social constructionism and personal constructivism: Getting the business owner's view on the role of sex and gender. J. Gender Entreprenerurship 2, 68–82. doi: 10.1108/17566261011026556

World Economic Forum (2018). The Global Gender Gap Report 2018 . Geneva. ISBN-13: 978-2-940631-00-1. Available online at: https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2018

World Economic Forum (2020). Global Gender Gap Report 2020 . Geneva. ISBN-13: 978-2-940631-03-2. Available online at: www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf

Yogendrarajah, R., and Semasinghe, D. (2015). Micro credit is a tool for women entrepreneurship development. J. Mathemat. Syst. Sci. 5, 385–390. doi: 10.17265/2159-5291/2015.09.005

Yordanova, D. I., and Tarrazon, M. A. (2010). Gender differences in entrepreneurial intentions: evidence from Bulgaria. J. Dev. Entrepreneurship 15, 245–261. doi: 10.1142/S1084946710001543

Zou, M. (2015). Gender, work orientations and job satisfaction. Work Emp. Soc. 29, 3–22. doi: 10.1177/0950017014559267

Keywords: entrepreneurship, women, literature review, gender gap, female entrepreneurship, barriers, work-family balance, economic development

Citation: Cardella GM, Hernández-Sánchez BR and Sánchez-García JC (2020) Women Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review to Outline the Boundaries of Scientific Literature. Front. Psychol. 11:1557. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01557

Received: 20 February 2020; Accepted: 10 June 2020; Published: 17 July 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Cardella, Hernández-Sánchez and Sánchez-García. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Giuseppina Maria Cardella, mariucardella@usal.es

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Information

• Author Services

Initiatives

You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess .

Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. A Feature Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for future research directions and describes possible research applications.

Feature papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and must receive positive feedback from the reviewers.

Editor’s Choice articles are based on recommendations by the scientific editors of MDPI journals from around the world. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal.

Original Submission Date Received: .

• Active Journals
• Find a Journal
• Proceedings Series
• For Authors
• For Reviewers
• For Editors
• For Librarians
• For Publishers
• For Societies
• For Conference Organizers
• Open Access Policy
• Institutional Open Access Program
• Special Issues Guidelines
• Editorial Process
• Research and Publication Ethics
• Article Processing Charges
• Testimonials
• Preprints.org
• SciProfiles
• Encyclopedia

Article Menu

• Subscribe SciFeed
• Recommended Articles
• Google Scholar
• on Google Scholar
• Table of Contents

Find support for a specific problem in the support section of our website.

Please let us know what you think of our products and services.

Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI.

JSmol Viewer

Women entrepreneurship: challenges and perspectives of an emerging economy.

1. Introduction

2. study background and literature, 3. methodology, 4.1. sample general characteristics, 4.2. motivation behind starting an entrepreneurial venture, 4.3. support vs. discrimination, 4.4. level of women entrepreneurship performance and support vs. discrimination: testing of the research hypothesis, 5. discussions and recommendations, 6. conclusions and implications, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

• Abel, Martin. 2019. Women Bosses Face More Discrimination (Both from Men and Women). Fast Company. October 18. Available online: https://www.fastcompany.com/90419052/women-bosses-and-gender-discrimination (accessed on 30 October 2022).
• Ahl, Helene. 2006. Why research on women entrepreneurs need new directions. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice 30: 595–621. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ahmeti, Eni, and Alba Demneri Kruja. 2020. Challenges and Perspectives of Supply Chain Management in Emerging Markets: A Case Study Approach. In Leadership Strategies for Global Supply Chain Management in Emerging Markets . Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 132–46. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ajjan, Haja, Stephanie Beninger, Rania Mostafa, and Victoria L. Crittenden. 2014. Empowering women entrepreneurs in emerging economies: A conceptual model. Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies 5: 16–30. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Alite, Rexhina. 2013. Diskriminimi gjinor në menaxhimin e karrierës. Master of Science Thesis; pp. 1–42. Available online: https://www.uamd.edu.al/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Diskriminimi-gjinor-n%C3%AB-menaxhimin-e-karrier%C3%ABs.pdf (accessed on 30 October 2022).
• Anderson, Alistair R., and Sara Drakopoulou. 2009. The role of family members in Entrepreneurial networks: Beyond the boundaries of the family firm. Family Business Review 18: 135–54. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Anderson, Alistair, and Funmi Ojediran. 2022. Perspectives, progress and prospects; researching women’s entrepreneurship in emerging economies. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies 14: 292–315. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Apostu, Simona Andreea, Lindita Mukli, Mirela Panait, Iza Gigauri, and Eglantina Hysa. 2022. Economic Growth through the Lenses of Education, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. Administrative Sciences 12: 74. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Asllani, Arben, Richard Becherer, and Qirjako Theodhori. 2014. Developing a Sustainable Economy through Entrepreneurship: The Case of Albania. South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics 12: 243–62. [ Google Scholar ]
• Avram, Gabriela, and Eglantina Hysa. 2022. Education, Knowledge and Data in the Context of the Sharing Economy. In The Sharing Economy in Europe . Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 181–206. [ Google Scholar ]
• Berhani, Riada, and Eglantina Hysa. 2014. The Economy of Albania Today and then: The Drivers to Growth. Paper presented at 4th International Conference on European Studies, Tirana, Albania, November 10; p. 598. [ Google Scholar ]
• Berisha, Anisa, Alba Kruja, and Eglantina Hysa. 2022. Perspective of Critical Factors toward Successful Public–Private Partnerships for Emerging Economies. Administrative Sciences 12: 160. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Bitzenis, Aristidis, and Ersanja Nito. 2005. Obstacles to entrepreneurship in a transition business environment: The case of Albania. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 12: 564–78. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Blessinger, Patrick, and Barbara Cozza. 2016. University Partnerships for Academic Programs and Professional Development . Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. [ Google Scholar ]
• Blessinger, Patrick, Enakshi Sengupta, and Mandla Makhanya. 2018. Higher education’s key role in sustainable development. University World News , September 7, vol. 519. [ Google Scholar ]
• Blinder, Alan S. 1973. Wage discimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources 8: 436–55. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Brush, Candida G., and Sarah Y. Cooper. 2012. Female entrepreneurship and economic development: An international perspective. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 24: 1–6. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Byrne, Janice, Azzedine Tounes, Oliver Giacomin, and Salma Fattoum. 2016. For Better or for Worse? Marital Status, Parental Status and Entrepreneurial Growth Intentions . Washington, DC: International Council for Small Business—ICSB, pp. 1–11. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cesaroni, Francesca Maria, and Paola Paoloni. 2016. Are family ties an opportunity or an obstacle for women entrepreneurs? Empirical evidence from Italy. Palgrave Communications 8: 1–7. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Coleman, Susan. 2012. Constraints faced by women small business owners: Evidence from the data. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 7: 151–74. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281360126_Constraints_faced_by_women_small_business_owners_Evidence_from_the_data (accessed on 10 October 2022).
• Corrêa, Victor Silva, Fernanda Regina da Silva Brito, Rosileine Mendonça de Lima, and Maciel M. Queiroz. 2021. Female entrepreneurship in emerging and developing countries: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship 14: 300–22. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Corrêa, Victor Silva, Rosileine Mendonça de Lima, Fernanda Regina da Silva Brito, Marcio Cardoso Machado, and Vânia Maria Jorge Nassif. 2022. Female entrepreneurship in emerging and developing countries: A systematic review of practical and policy implications and suggestions for new studies. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies , ahead-of-print . [ Google Scholar ]
• De Vita, Luisa, Michela Mari, and Sara Poggesi. 2014. Female Entrepreneurship research: Emerging evidences. Waves and Winds of Strategic Leadership for Sustainable Competitiveness. Paper presented at European Academy of Management, 14th Annual Meeting, Valencia, Spain, June 4–7; pp. 1–41. [ Google Scholar ]
• El Alaoui, Aicha, Jovan Shopovski, Murtaz Kvirkvaia, Noor Alam, and Onyeka Uche Ofili. 2016. Obstacles to entrepreneurship in Albania, Georgia, Morocco, Nigeria, and Pakistan. European Scientific Journal 12: 1–22. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Farzana, Riaheen. 2018. The impact of Motivational Factors towards Entrepreneurial Intention. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing 14: 639–47. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferizi, Vjosa, and Alba Demneri Kruja. 2018. Coastline hospitality industry performance, challenges, and opportunities: Evidence from Durres coastline. In Managing Sustainable Tourism Resources . Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 14–38. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferri, Luca, Gianluca Ginesti, Rosanna Spanò, and Annamaria Zampella. 2018. Exploring the Entrepreneurial Intention of female students in Italy. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market and Complexity 4: 27. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Fondas, Nanette. 2013. Women Are More Likely Than Men to Be Engaged in Their Jobs. The Atlantic. Available online: https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/06/women-are-more-likely-than-men-to-be-engaged-in-their-jobs/277107/ (accessed on 10 December 2022).
• GEM. 2019. Women’s Entrepreneurship Report, Global Entrepreneurship Research Association . London: London Business School. Available online: https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-20182019-womens-entrepreneurship-report (accessed on 15 December 2022).
• GEM. 2022a. Advancing High-Growth Women’s Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies. Available online: https://we-fi.org/advancing-high-growth-womens-entrepreneurship-in-emerging-economies/?fbclid=IwAR19eAlpw9UmfIc0SlkW0godhDT2nfkWidan-qaf9gbIumewJnKFDq7fkyo (accessed on 15 December 2022).
• GEM. 2022b. We-Fi Research Paper Outlines Key Recommendations to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Emerging Economies. Available online: https://www.gemconsortium.org/news/gem-%2F-we-fi-research-paper-outlines-key-recommendations-to-support-women-entrepreneurs-in%C2%A0emerging-economies (accessed on 15 December 2022).
• Godany, Zsuzsanna, and Ladislav Mura. 2021. Success from the perspective of female entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 9: 521–34. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Goyal, Pardeep. 2016. Beyond a Job, There’s Entrepreneurship. What Lies Beyond That? Your Story. Available online: https://yourstory.com/2016/03/beyond-job (accessed on 10 December 2022).
• Greene, Patricia G., Myra M. Hart, Elizabeth J. Gatewood, Candida G. Brush, and Nancy M. Carter. 2003. Women entrepreneurs: Moving front and center: An overview of research and theory. Coleman White Paper Series 3: 1–47. [ Google Scholar ]
• Guleviciute, Gintare, and Zivile Bauboniene. 2015. Promotion of the Entrepreneurship in the context of female employees and female entrepreneurs. Social Transformations in Contemporary Society 3: 128–41. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hysa, Eglantina. 2011a. Corruption and human development: Albania and EU-27. Social Studies Journal 5: 43–52. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hysa, Eglantina. 2011b. Corruption and human development correlation in Western Balkan countries. Euro Economica 4: 148–57. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hysa, Eglantina, and Egla Mansi. 2020. The Entrepreneurs’ Role in Innovation: Developed versus Developing Countries. Paper presented at XIV IBANESS Congress Series on Economics, Business and Management, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, June 6–7; Available online: http://ibaness.org/conferences/plovdiv_2020/ibaness_plovdiv_proceedings_draft_5.pdf (accessed on 1 September 2022).
• Hysa, Eglantina, Alba Demneri Kruja, and Vera Shiko. 2021. Current and Prospective Expansion of the Sharing Economy in Albania. In The Collaborative . Edited by Andrzej Klimczuk, Vida Česnuitytė and Gabriela Avram. Limerick: University of Limerick, pp. 22–34. [ Google Scholar ]
• INSTAT. 2016. Business Register 2015. Tirana: INSTAT. Available online: http://www.instat.gov.al/media/1828/regjistri_ndermarrjeve_2015.pdf (accessed on 20 September 2022).
• International Labor Organization. 2019. The Business Case for Change . Geneva: Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACT/EMP), International Labour Office. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ismail, Irwan, Norhusniyati Husin, Najihah Abdul Rahim, Malina Hanum Kamal, and Rosfatihah Che Mat. 2016. Entrepreneurial Success among single mothers: The role of motivation and passion. Procedia Economics and Finance 37: 121–28. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Jamali, Dima. 2009. Constraints and opportunities facing women entrepreneurs in developing countries: A relational perspective. Gender in Management: An International Journal 24: 232–51. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Kelley, Donna J., Slavica Singer, and Michael Herrington. 2012. The global entrepreneurship monitor: 2011 Global Report. GEM 7: 2–38. [ Google Scholar ]
• Koka, Sindiola, Alba Kruja, and Eglantina Hysa. 2021. Assessing Perspectives and Opportunities of Airbnb Hosts in Albania. Becoming a Platform in Europe 159. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri. 2013a. Entrepreneurship and knowledge-based economies. Revista Românească pentru Educaţie Multidimensională 5: 7–17. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri. 2013b. The contribution of SMEs to the economic growth (Case of Albania). EuroEconomica 32: 55–67. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri. 2020a. Entrepreneurial challenges of Albanian agribusinesses: A content analysis. JEEMS Journal of East European Management Studies 25: 530–54. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri. 2020b. Entrepreneurial orientation, synergy and firm performance in the agribusiness context: An emerging market economy perspective. Central European Business Review 9: 56. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri, and Adela Kadiasi. 2020. Enterpreneurial skills and start-up challenges in the albanian ecosystem. In Book of Proceedings . p. 162. Available online: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/63089281/Microsoft_Word_-_0.3_-_Book_of_Proceedings_Barcelona.docx20200425-45894-hmu9s4-libre.pdf?1587838530=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DTRENDS_AND_DETERMINANTS_OF_COLOMBIAN_MIG.pdf&Expires=1681209727&Signature=EC6PA5bdHjuvkWTbnyQrMBH9ERxx7qm0hSIpgXMTqDn6oxSqnUGcIhS4Jdrza9HHF31RVDAdY9O7dVevJkRlGiQVigysuL5Enrcs5qZRWy9nqDEh2VDCwNRbKFF9fPOgqRtE3w1iU2Xl5sXuxlLEJkBiGauMrSrfEuEvFy3qvFYA-sntBAlJHbKomgElj9Zho8ogMbvZ~bLpIiE~N-s9~saDa6cqghcDlYBns7htuRPNBGiHhE4gTQaCUrCQHQXR-PHauBu6gM5To94KLg0-MuA6~993UtVvq3NhBr6V8O9IWdUP6-Y4yTINol1Y8Ej1XDQmC81XnrdyM~WWntCstQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA#page=162 (accessed on 20 October 2022).
• Kruja, Alba Demneri, and Anisa Berisha. 2021. UK-Albania Tech Hub: Enhancing Tech Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Albania . Tirana: British Embassy of Tirana. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri, and Eltona Berberi. 2020. Tourism and handicraft industry: Opportunities and challenges of operating in the Albanian market. In Cases on Global Leadership in the Contemporary Economy . Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 119–36. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri, and Kei Hysi. 2020. Influence of Practice Management Software on Dental Services: A Case Study Approach. In Networked Business Models in the Circular Economy . Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 241–67. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri, and Lumturi Kalluci. 2021. Entrepreneurship among Graduates: A Self-Employment and Advancement Opportunity . Lviv: Happiness and Contemporary Society, pp. 158–61. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kruja, Alba Demneri, Xhimi Hysa, Teoman Duman, and Ava Tafaj. 2019. Adoption of software as a service (SaaS) in small and medium-sized hotels in Tirana. Enlightening Tourism. A Pathmaking Journal 9: 137–67. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Landrum, Sarah. 2018. More Millennial Women Are Becoming Stay-At-Home Moms—Here’s Why. Forbes. Available online: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahlandrum/2018/02/09/more-millennial-women-are-becoming-stay-at-home-moms-heres-why/#77ec0c846a2b (accessed on 15 October 2022).
• Lemieux, Thomas. 2002. Decomposing changes in wage distributions: A unified approach. Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d’économique 35: 646–88. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Mansi, Egla, Eglantina Hysa, Mirela Panait, and Marian Catalin Voica. 2020. Poverty—A Challenge for Economic Development? Evidences from Western Balkan Countries and the European Union. Sustainability 12: 7754. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Manta, Otilia, Eglantina Hysa, and Alba Kruja. 2021. Finances and National Economy: Frugal Economy as a Forced Approach of the COVID Pandemic. Sustainability 13: 6470. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• McCarthy, Niall. 2016. The Industries with Most Female Managers. Statista. Available online: https://www.statista.com/chart/4482/the-industries-with-the-most-female-managers/ (accessed on 15 October 2022).
• Meunier, Frederic, Yulia Krylova, and Rita Ramalho. 2017. Women’s Entrepreneurship: How to Measure the Gap between New Female and Male Entrepreneurs . Washington, DC: World Bank. [ Google Scholar ]
• Minniti, Maria, and Wim Naudé. 2010. What do we know about the patterns and determinants of female entrepreneurship across countries? The European Journal of Development Research 22: 277–93. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Mirchandani, Kiran. 1999. Feminist insight on gendered work: New directions in research on women and entrepreneurship. Gender, Work and Organization 6: 224–35. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Mustafaraj, Erind. 2017. Outside the Walls of Albanian Patriarchy. Journal of Gender and Feminist Studies 9: 101–15. Available online: http://www.analize-journal.ro/library/files/numarul_9/9_6_erind_mustafaraj_102-115.pdf (accessed on 15 October 2022).
• Naser, Kamal, Wojoud Rashid Mohammed, and Rana Nuseibeh. 2009. Factors that affect women entrepreneurs: Evidence from an emerging economy. International Journal of Organizational Analysis 17: 225–47. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Ndou, Valentina. 2021. Social entrepreneurship education: A combination of knowledge exploitation and exploration processes. Administrative Sciences 11: 112. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Ndou, Valentina, Gioconda Mele, and Pasquale Del Vecchio. 2019. Entrepreneurship education in tourism: An investigation among European Universities. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education 25: 100175. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Nikina, Aanna, Lois M. Shelton, and Severine L. Loarne. 2015. An examination of how husbands, as key stakeholders impact the success of female entrepreneurs. Journal of Small Business and Entreprise Development 22: 38–62. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Oaxaca, Ronald. 1973. Male–female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review 14: 693–709. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Overall, Nickola C., Garth J. Fletcher, and Jeffry A. Simpson. 2016. Helping Each Other Grow: Romantic Partner Support, Self-Improvement and Relationship Quality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36: 1496–513. Available online: http://zackpreble.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/OverallFletcher-Simpson-2016.pdf (accessed on 13 November 2022). [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Panait, Mirela, Eeglantina Hysa, Marius G. Petrescu, and Hailong Fu. 2022. Universities–Players in the Race for Sustainable Development. In Higher Education for Sustainable Development Goals . Gistrup: River Publishers, pp. 23–42. [ Google Scholar ]
• Panday, Ashmika. 2018. Married or Single: How to Thrive as a Female Entrepreneur. Standard Media. Available online: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/evewoman/article/2001266012/why-married-women-are-more-likely-to-be-successful-entrepreneurs-than-single-women (accessed on 13 November 2022).
• Pereiro, Thais Garcia. 2016. The determinants of female employment in Albania. Paper presented at the 7th International Scientific Conference “Economic Policy and EU Integration”, Aleksander Moisiu University, Durres, Albania, April 20–21. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rashid, Sumayya, and Vanessa Ratten. 2020. A systematic literature review on women entrepreneurship in emerging economies while reflecting specifically on SAARC countries. In Entrepreneurship and Organizational Change . Cham: Springer, pp. 37–88. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rathirane, Yogendrarajah. 2013. Women empowerment through Decision making. International Journal for Economics and Business Management 3: 1–10. [ Google Scholar ]
• Secundo, Giustina, Valentina Ndou, Pasquale Del Vecchio, and Gianluigi De Pascale. 2019. Knowledge management in entrepreneurial universities: A structured literature review and avenue for future research agenda. Management Decision 57: 3226–57. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Shkrepa, Lerida, and Alba Demneri Kruja. 2021. Influence of Information Systems and Technology on Hospitality Business Performance in Albania. In Developing Knowledge Societies for Distinct Country Contexts . Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 206–32. [ Google Scholar ]
• Stamarski, Cailin S., and Leanne Son Hing. 2015. Gender inequalities in the workplace: The effects of organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism. Frontiers in Psychology 6: 1400. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• USAID. 2018. Barazia gjinore ne biznes: Analize e hulumtimit te opinionit publik ; Washington, DC: USAID: Nga populli Amerikan, pp. 1–56.
• Vasile, Valentina, Gheorghe Zaman, Steliana Pert, and Felicia Zarojanu. 2007. Restructuring Romania’s Education System Considering the Evolutions from the Domestic Market Perspective and Impact on RDI Progress (No. 2007, 2) . Bucharest: Strategy and Policy Studies (SPOS). [ Google Scholar ]
• Verheul, Ingrid, and Roy Thurik. 2001. Start-up Capital: Does gender matter. Small Business Economics 16: 329–45. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Williams, Christine, Patti Giuffre, and Kirsten Dellinger. 2013. Sexuality in the Workplace: Organizational Control, Sexual Harassment and the Pursuit of Pleasure. Annual Review of Sociology 25: 73–93. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Xheneti, Mirela, and David Smallbone. 2008. The Role of Public Policy in Entrepreneurship Development in Post-Socialist Countries: A Comparison of Albania and Estonia. EBS Review 24: 23–36. [ Google Scholar ]
• Xiong, Lin, Irene Ukanwa, and Alistair R. Anderson. 2020. Institutional influence and the role of family in poor women’s micropreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research 26: 122–40. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Zenelaj, Besjon, and Alba Kruja. 2017. Entrepreneurship intention of Albanian students: An evidence from computer engineering and business informatics programs. AC-EITAI 2017: 297. [ Google Scholar ]
• Zenger, Jack, and Joseph Folkman. 2019. Research: Women Score Higher than Men in Most Leadership Skills. Harvard Business Review. Available online: https://hbr.org/2019/06/research-women-score-higher-than-men-in-most-leadership-skills (accessed on 15 September 2022).

Click here to enlarge figure

Share and Cite

Ahmetaj, B.; Kruja, A.D.; Hysa, E. Women Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Perspectives of an Emerging Economy. Adm. Sci. 2023 , 13 , 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13040111

Ahmetaj B, Kruja AD, Hysa E. Women Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Perspectives of an Emerging Economy. Administrative Sciences . 2023; 13(4):111. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13040111

Ahmetaj, Bardhyl, Alba Demneri Kruja, and Eglantina Hysa. 2023. "Women Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Perspectives of an Emerging Economy" Administrative Sciences 13, no. 4: 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13040111

Article Metrics

Article access statistics, further information, mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi.

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals

Advertisement

Female entrepreneurship in the digital era

• Published: 10 December 2019
• Volume 55 , pages 305–312, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

• Elisa Ughetto 1 ,
• Mariacristina Rossi 2 ,
• David Audretsch 3 &
• Erik E. Lehmann 4  

10k Accesses

85 Citations

1 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

The literature on female entrepreneurship is blooming and largely points to the challenges that women face in establishing and running a business, with a particular focus on access to information, finance and networks. Surprisingly, little is known on the role played by digital technologies in driving changes in female entrepreneurship. While academic research is starting to analyze the role that digital technologies play in entrepreneurial ecosystems, the gender perspective remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we outline contributions that intend to enlarge and thicken our understanding of whether and how women entrepreneurs leverage new digital technologies in the creation and conduct of new ventures in order to overcome the hurdles they face. We conclude with a promising new line of research to our understanding of whether and to what extent new digital technologies provide an opportunity space in the creation and conduct of new ventures for women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Women Entrepreneurship and Digital Technologies: Towards a Research Agenda

Female Entrepreneurship

Analyzing Opportunities for Eliminating Inequality in Female Digital Entrepreneurship in Spain

Explore related subjects.

• Artificial Intelligence

In 2015, women angels represented 25.3% of the angel market (Center for Venture Research, USA).

Acs, Z., Bardasi, E., Estrin, S., & Svejnar, J. (2011). Introduction to special issue of Small Business Economics on female entrepreneurship in developed and developing economies. Small Business Economics, 37 (4), 393–396.

Google Scholar  

Adams, R. B., & Ferreira, D. (2009). Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance. Journal of Financial Economics, 94 (2), 291–309.

Adema W., Ali, N., Frey, V., Kim, H., Lunati, M., Piacentini, M., & Queisser, M. (2014). Enhancing women’s economic empowerment through entrepreneurship and business leadership in OECD Countries. OECD report.

Alesina, A. F., Lotti, F., & Mistrulli, P. E. (2013). Do women pay more for credit? Evidence from Italy. Journal of the European Economic Association, 11 (1), 54–66.

Amason, A. C. (1996). Distinguishing the effects of functional and dysfunctional conflict on strategic decision making: resolving a paradox for top management teams. Academy of Management Journal, 39 (1), 123–148.

Ardagna, S., & Lusardi, A. (2008). Explaining international differences in entrepreneurship: the role of individual characteristics and regulatory constraints. NBER Working Paper No. 14012.

Arenius, P., & Minniti, M. (2005). Perceptual variables and nascent entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 24 , 233–247.

Audretsch, D. B., Lehmann, E. E., & Wirsching, K. (2017). Female immigrant entrepreneurship. In A. Link (Ed.), Gender and entrepreneurial activity (pp. 64–68). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Autio, E., Nambisan, S., Thomas, L. D. W., & Wright, M. (2018). Digital affordances, spatial affordances, and the genesis of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 12 , 72–95.

Bardasi, E., Sabarwal, S., & Terrell, K. (2011). How do female entrepreneurs perform? Evidence from three developing regions. Small Business Economics, 37 , 417.

Basiglio S, P. Devincentiis, E. Isaia and MC Rossi (2019), Credit access and approval, CeRP Working Papers 189, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).

Becker-Blease, J. R., & Sohl, J. E. (2007). Do women-owned businesses have equal access to angel capital? Journal of Business Venturing, 22 (4), 503–521.

Bi, R., Davison, R. M., & Smyrnios, K. X. (2017). E-business and fast growth SMEs. Small Business Economics, 48 (3), 559–576.

Blair, I. V. (2002). The malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6 (3), 242–261.

Brescoll, V. L. (2016). Leading with their hearts? How gender stereotypes of emotion lead to biased evaluations of female leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 27 (2), 415–428.

Bruni, A., Gherardi, S., & Poggio, B. (2004). Doing gender, doing entrepreneurship: an ethnographic account of intertwined practices. Gender, Work and Organization, 11 , 406–429.

Brush, C., Carter, N., Gatewood, E., Greene, P., & Hart, M. (2001). The Diana Project. Women business owners and equity capital: the myths dispelled. Kauffman Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Available at http://www.kauffman.org/pdf/diana_project.pdf .

Brush, C., Edelman, L. F., Manolova, T., & Welter, F. (2019). A gendered look at entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 53 (2), 393–408.

Burgess, Z., & Tharenou, P. (2002). Women board directors: characteristics of the few. Journal of Business Ethics, 37 (1), 39–49.

Buttner, E. H., & Rosen, B. (1992). Rejection in the loan application process: male and female entrepreneurs’ perceptions and subsequent intentions. Journal of Small Business Management, 30 (1), 58–65.

Cavalluzzo, K. S., Cavalluzzo, L. C., & Wolken, J. D. (2002). Competition, small business financing, and discrimination: evidence from a new survey. Journal of Business, 75 (4), 641–679.

Cole, R.A., & Mehran, H. (2009). Gender and the availability of credit to privately held firms: evidence from the surveys of small business finances. Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Report, No. 383, August.

Coleman, S. (2000). Access to capital and terms of credit. Journal of Small Business Management, 38 (3), 37–52.

Coleman, S. (2002). Constraints faced by women small business owners: evidence from the data. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 7 (2), 151–174.

Colombelli, A. E., Grinza, V., Meliciani, M. R. (2019) Pulling effects in migrant entrepreneurship: does gender matter?, Collegio Carlo Alberto Notebook, No 591.

Cunningham, J., O’Reilly, P., Dolan, B., O’Kane, C., & Mangematin, V. (2017). Gender differences and academic entrepreneurship: a study of scientists in the principal investigator role. In A. Link (Ed.), Gender and entrepreneurial activity (pp. 221–251). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Daniels, J. (2009). Rethinking cyberfeminism(s): race, gender, and embodiment. Women's Studies Quarterly, 37 (1-2), 101–124.

De Pater, I. E., Van Vianen, A. E. M., & Bechtoldt, M. N. (2010). Gender differences in job challenge: a matter of task allocation. Gender, Work and Organization, 17 (4), 433–453.

Dezsö, C. L., & Ross, D. G. (2012). Does female representation in top management improve firm performance? A panel data investigation. Strategic Management Journal, 33 (9), 1072–1089.

Dezsö, C. L., Ross, D. G., & Uribe, J. (2016). Is there an implicit quota on women in top management? A large-sample statistical analysis. Strategic Management Journal, 37 (1), 98–115.

Dholakia, R. R., & Kshetri, N. (2004). Factors impacting the adoption of the Internet among SMEs. Small Business Economics, 23 (4), 311–322.

Dwyer, S., Richard, O. C., & Chadwick, K. (2003). Gender diversity in management and firm performance: the influence of growth orientation and organizational culture. Journal of Business Research, 56 (12), 1009–1019.

Dy, A. M., Martin, L., & Marlow, S. (2018). Emancipation through digital entrepreneurship: a critical realist analysis. Organization, 25 (5), 585–608.

Fairlie, R. W., & Robb, A. M. (2009). Gender differences in business performance: evidence from the characteristics of business owners survey. Small Business Economics, 33 , 375–395.

Fielden, S. L., Davidson, M. J., Dawe, A. J., & Makin, P. J. (2003). Factors inhibiting the growth of female owned small businesses in North West England. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 10 (2), 152–166.

Fischer, A. R., Reuber, L. S., & Dyke, L. S. (1993). A theoretical overview and extension of research on sex, gender, and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 8 (2), 151–168.

Flabbi, L., Macis, M., Mora, A., & Schivardi, F. (2019). Do female executives make a difference? The impact of female leadership on gender gaps and firm performance. The Economic Journal, 129 (622), 2390–2423.

GEM. (2017). Women’s entrepreneurship 2016/2017 Report. Year, 2017 https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-20162017-womens-entrepreneurship-report .

Gicheva, D., & Link, A. (2015). The gender gap in federal and private support for entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 45 (4), 729–733.

Giones, F., & Brem, A. (2017). Digital technology entrepreneurship: a definition and research agenda. Technology Innovation Management Review, 7 (5), 44–51.

Gneezy, U., Kenneth, L. L., & List, J. A. (2009). Gender differences in competition: evidence from a matrilineal and a patriarchal society. Econometrica, 77 , 1637–1664.

Gregory-Smith, I., Main, B. G. M., & O’Reilly III, C. A. (2013). Appointments, pay and performance in UK Boardrooms by Gender. The Economic Journal, 124 , F109–F128.

Hacker, H. M. (1951). Women as a minority group. Social Forces, 30 (1), 60–69.

Henry, C., Orser, B. J., Coleman, S., Foss, L., & Welter, F. (2017). Women’s entrepreneurship policy: a 13 nation cross-country comparison. In C. G. Brush & T. Manolova (Eds.), A comparative analysis of entrepreneurial ecosystems and growth of women’s entrepreneurship . London: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc..

Hillman, A. J., Shropshire, C., & Cannella, A. A. (2007). Organizational predictors of women on corporate boards. Academy of Management Journal, 50 (4), 941–952.

Jennings, J. E., & Brush, C. G. (2013). Research on women entrepreneurs: challenges to (and from) the broader entrepreneurship literature? Academy of Management Annals, 7 , 661–713.

Khajeheian, D. (2013). New venture creation in social media platform; towards a framework for media entrepreneurship. In: Friedrichsen M., Mühl-Benninghaus W. (Eds) (2013) Handbook of social media management. Media Business and Innovation. Springer, Berlin

Kuhn, P., & Villeval, M. C. (2015). Are women more attracted to co-operation than men? The Economic Journal, 125 , 115–140.

Lee, M. P., & James, E. H. (2007). She’-e-os: Gender effects and investor reactions to the announcements of top executive appointments. Strategic Management Journal, 28 , 227–241.

Link, A. (2017). Gender and entrepreneurial activity, an overveiw. In A. Link (Ed.), Gender and entrepreneurial activity (pp. 1–5). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Manello, A., Cisi, M., Devicienti, F., & Vannoni, D. (2019). Networking: a business for women. Small Business Economics (this issue)

Martin, L., & Wright, L. T. (2005). No gender in cyberspace? Empowering entrepreneurship and innovation in female-run ICT small firms. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 11 (2), 162–178.

Matsa, D., & Miller, A. (2013). A female style in corporate leadership? Evidence from quotas. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5 (3), 136–169.

Mc Adam, M., Crowley, C., & Harrison, R. (2019). Digital girl: cyberfeminism and the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies. Small Business Economics (this issue)

McAdam, M., Harrison, R. T., & Leitch, C. M. (2019). Stories from the field: women’s networking as gender capital in entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 53 (2), 459–474.

Minniti, M., & Nardone, C. (2007). Being in someone else’s shoes: the role of gender in nascent entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 28 , 223–238.

Oakley, J. G. (2000). Gender-based barriers to senior management positions: understanding the scarcity of female CEOs. Journal of Business Ethics, 27 (4), 321–334.

Oggero, N., Rossi, C., & Ughetto, E. (2019). Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills. Small Business Economics (this issue).

Orser, B., Coleman, S., & Li, Y. (2019). Progress or pinkwashing: who benefits from women-focused capital funds? Small Business Economics (this issue).

Poczter, S., & Shapsis, M. (2018). Gender disparity in angel financing. Small Business Economics, 51 (1), 31–55.

Poggesi, S., Mari, M., & De Vita, L. (2016). What’s new in female entrepreneurship research? Answers from the literature. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 12 (3), 735–764.

Riding, A., & Swift, C. (1990). Women business owners and terms of credit: some empirical findings of the Canadian experience. Journal of Business Venturing, 5 (5), 327–340.

Rosser, S. V. (2005). Through the lens of feminist theory: focus on women and information technology. Frontiers, 26 (1), 1–23.

Scherer, R. F., Brodzinski, J. D., & Wiebe, F. A. (1990). Entrepreneur career selection and gender: a socialization approach. Journal of Small Business Management, 28 (2), 37–44.

Sussan, F., & Acs, Z. J. (2017). The digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. Small Business Economics, 49 (1), 55–73.

Thébaud, S. (2015). Business as plan B: institutional foundations of gender inequality in entrepreneurship across 24 industrialized countries. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60 (4), 671–711.

Van der Zwan, P., Verheul, I., & Thurik, A. R. (2012). The entrepreneurial ladder, gender, and regional development. Small Business Economics, 39 (3), 627–643.

Verheul, I., & Thurik, R. (2001). Start-up capital: does gender matter? Small Business Economics, 16 (4), 329–345.

von Briel, F., Davidsson, P., & Recker, J. (2017). Digital technologies as external enablers of new venture creation in the IT hardware sector. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42 (1), 47–69.

Wajcman, J. (2010). Feminist theories of technology. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34 (1), 143–152.

Weber, A., & Zulehner, C. (2010). Female hires and the success of start-up firms. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 100 (2), 358–361.

Welsh, D., & Dragusin, M. (2009). Women-entrepreneurs: a dynamic force of small business sector. Center for Women’s Business Research, The Economic Impact of Women-Owned Businesses in The United States.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Politecnico di Torino & BRICK-Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy

Elisa Ughetto

Università di Torino & CeRP-Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy

Mariacristina Rossi

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

David Audretsch

University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany

Erik E. Lehmann

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elisa Ughetto .

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Ughetto, E., Rossi, M., Audretsch, D. et al. Female entrepreneurship in the digital era. Small Bus Econ 55 , 305–312 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00298-8

Download citation

Accepted : 30 September 2019

Published : 10 December 2019

Issue Date : August 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00298-8

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Digital era
• Entrepreneurship

JEL Classifications

• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

A Systems View Across Time and Space

• Open access
• Published: 07 October 2020

Determinants that influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia

• Endalew Terefe Alene 1  

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship volume  9 , Article number:  24 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

24k Accesses

46 Citations

Metrics details

The purpose of this study was to explore determinants that influence women entrepreneurs’ performance in micro and small enterprises in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia, and in turn contribute to entrepreneurship-related literature mainly in developing countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed an explanatory research design with agreement of primary data collection via a cross-sectional survey questionnaire followed by quantitative research approach. The sample of this study was 180 women entrepreneurs and selected using random sampling technique.

The findings of this study revealed that educational level, previous entrepreneurial experience, access to business training, access to finance, access to business information, government support, land ownership, and tax are significant in explaining women entrepreneurs’ performance in one hand. On the other side, however, age, marital status, access to market, and access to physical infrastructure are found to be insignificant variables in determining women entrepreneurs’ performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study used one time data for determinants like level of education, previous working experience, age, and profitability of the enterprise. Thus, due to frequent change in such variables, the study may not reflect the dynamics of the data, which would have a convincing influence on the conclusion. In addition, the research has only consisted of 180 samples. Moreover, such number may not represent the whole population of the entrepreneurs of Ethiopian MSEs. In future research, it is advisable to expand study factors, use interviews as a research tool, and make a comparison between women and men entrepreneurial performances.

Practical implications

The paper might serve as an input for officials to consider such determinants and encourage an environment that increases women entrepreneurs’ performance. In addition, the study might help women entrepreneurs in addressing the factors affecting performance to take actions towards improving their performance and in turn contribute to job creation, wealth, innovation, and poverty alleviation.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on the determinants of women entrepreneurs’ performance in micro and small enterprises. Specifically, it tests the impact of educational level, age, marital status, previous entrepreneurial experience, access to business training, access to finance, access to business information, access to market, access to physical infrastructure, government support, land ownership, and tax on the performance of women entrepreneurs.

Introduction

In the twenty-first century, more attention is given to the subject of entrepreneurship through establishing micro and small enterprises. Extensive evidence shows that the performance of women-owned micro and small enterprises (here after called as MSEs) played pivotal roles for the development of a nation (Shakeel, Yaokuang, & Gohar, 2020 ) and the well-being of societies by creating jobs, wealth, and innovations (Mozumdar, Van Der Velde, & Omta, 2020 ). In Ethiopia, the importance of enterprises owned by women entrepreneurs is noticed on different documents like industrial policy, MSE development strategy, and the growth and transformation plans I and II to accelerate growth and reduce poverty (Meressa, 2020 ). Despite this, both the growth and performance of women-owned MSEs remain a concern, although women entrepreneurship has gained popularity in the country with a growing number of women to start and run their own business (Awoke, 2019 ). Moreover, the performance of women-owned MSEs has been persistently influenced by numerous factors; even a significant number of women’s interest in business show some escalation in Ethiopia, but their success is still insignificant (Meresa, 2018 ).

To identify the determinants that influence the performance of women entrepreneurs, a detailed and regular study at country, city, and firm level is important to provide result-oriented and sustainable support to the enterprises (Awoke, 2019 ; Gizaw, Tsega, & Hailegiorgis, 2019 ; Tekele, 2019 ). With reference to this, a small number of studies have been carried out in different parts of the country to identify determinants that influence the performance of MSEs. This includes the studies made by Abdissa and Fitwi ( 2016 ), Aemiro ( 2019 ), Assefa and Cheru ( 2018 ), Gizaw et al. ( 2019 ), Hawando ( 2017 ), Meresa ( 2018 ), and Tekele ( 2019 ) to mention a few. However, these studies discuss constraints faced by MSEs in general without focusing on the possible differences between women- and men-owned MSEs. In addition, these studies also neither provide consistent finding nor address the factors that influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in the country. They tried to explore the factors affecting the performance of MSEs in Ethiopia. So far, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, too limited studies were conducted on the factors affecting the performance of women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. The first one is a study conducted by Awoke ( 2019 ) that assessed determinants of women entrepreneurs performance in Ethiopia the case of Hawassa city. This study incorporated only education level, access to credit, business experience, market linkage, and job satisfaction to investigate performance influencing factors, ignoring more of business performance constraint variables discussed in the literature. Secondly, a desk review study on women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia was conducted by Solomon ( 2010 ) only using secondary data.

Correspondingly, apart from the Ethiopian context, previous studies have been carried out in different parts of the world to identify the factors that affect women entrepreneurs’ performance in MSEs. Still, evidence in developed and developing countries revealed inconclusive findings with regard to the determinants. Although the impact and magnitude of variables on business performance vary from country to country, region to region, and firm to firm, there are many common factors considered as business performance determinants in literature of women entrepreneurs in MSEs. To mention a few, educational level, access to finance, access to training, access to market, legal and government barriers, access to network, lack of infrastructure, and cultural factors are among others. These variables were collected from studies made by Abiodun and Amos ( 2018 ); Bakar and Ahmad ( 2016 ); Brixiová and Kangoye ( 2019 ); Chathurangani, Hemathilake, and Samudrika ( 2019 ); George ( 2018 ); Hasan and Almubarak ( 2016 ); Haxhiu ( 2015 ); Kanapathipillai and Azam ( 2019 ); Kyalo ( 2016 ); Leszczyński ( 2016 ); Mozumdar et al. ( 2020 ); Muogbo and John-Akamelu ( 2019 ); Mwania ( 2015 ); Panda ( 2018 ); Raheem ( 2013 ); Saidi et al. ( 2017 ); Shakeel et al. ( 2020 ); Simion ( 2018 ); Wangari ( 2017 ); Welsh, Kaciak, Memili, and Minialai ( 2018 ); Welsh, Kaciak, and Shamah ( 2017 ); and Zeb ( 2018 ) through systematic review. Therefore, the above evidence suggests the following reasons why additional research in the area of women entrepreneurs in MSEs is needed in the context of Ethiopia in general and Gondar city in particular as one of an emerging economy center of the country.

Accordingly, the first reason is the performance of women entrepreneurs in MSEs and has been determined by numerous factors; even a significant number of women’s interest in business show some escalation in Ethiopia, but their success is still insignificant. If so, women entrepreneurs in Gondar city are no exception to this. Secondly, despite the fact that previous empirical studies of different countries have identified the common determinants associated with the performance of women entrepreneurs, the influence and magnitude of each determinant vary from one area to the other which provide inconsistent findings that cannot be generalized and need further research. Lastly, in the context of Ethiopia, existing studies on determinants that influence the performance of women entrepreneurs missed the main determinants, for example, demographic variables, and no study is conducted particularly in the selected case study area which leads the researcher to conduct this study to fill the gap on the issue.

As a result, against this background, the purpose of this study was to explore determinants that influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in MSEs in Gondar city of Northwest Ethiopia. The novelty of this paper is that it incorporated demographic variables and environmental influences so as to fill the gap in the women entrepreneurs’ performance literature in developing countries unlike the existing studies made by Awoke ( 2019 ) and Solomon ( 2010 ). Most importantly, this paper tried to answer the question of what determinants influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in MSEs in Gondar city using regression analysis. This paper proceeds as follows: First, it discusses review of related literature. Second, it describes the methodology of the study. Third, it discusses and presents the statistical results, and finally, it presents the conclusion, limitation, and future implication of the study.

Literature review

This section presents the review of empirical literature via reviewing the works of different scholars, researchers, and practitioners on determinants of women entrepreneurs’ performance. In this context, many empirical studies have been conducted on determinants of women entrepreneurs’ performance, covering various scopes using different sample entrepreneurs and methodologies globally. However, findings of many studies with regard to the variables influencing the performance of women entrepreneurs produced numerous factors with different impacts on performance. To identify the most commonly used variables as performance determinants, a concentrated and careful systematic review of literature was carried out on relatively recent empirical studies. In this context, the author reviewed studies conducted by Abdissa and Fitwi ( 2016 ); Abimbola and Agboola ( 2011 ); Carranza, Dhakal, and Love ( 2018 ); Chebii, Ogada, and Achar ( 2015 ); Danga, Chongela, and Kaudunde ( 2019 ); Doris ( 2016 ); Kyalo ( 2016 ); George ( 2018 ); Hasan and Almubarak ( 2016 ); Hundera ( 2014 ); Jha, Makkad, and Mittal ( 2018 ); Kamunge and Tirimba ( 2014 ); Kanapathipillai and Azam ( 2019 ); Lucas ( 2017 ); Mandawa ( 2016 ); Mbiti, Mung, and Kyalo ( 2015 ); Muogbo and John-Akamelu ( 2019 ); Nasri and Muhammad ( 2018 ); Sajilan, Hadi, and Tehseen ( 2015 ); Salah and Kaplan ( 2018 ); Soomro, Abdelwahed, and Shah ( 2019 ); Tekele ( 2019 ); and Zeb ( 2018 ) randomly. As a result, twelve main variables namely age, marital status, educational level, previous entrepreneurship experience, access to business training, access to finance, access to market, access to information, access to government support, access to physical infrastructure, land ownership, and tax were taken from the studies. The detail review on the linkage between each variable and women entrepreneurs’ performance is therefore discussed below to develop a clear conceptual framework (Fig. 1 ).

Conceptual framework developed by the author based on empirical literature discussed

Age is used in social science research to classify people and point out the differences among them (Lucas, 2017 ). It is a time of life, and one’s qualification and power increase with age. Moreover, Peter and Munyithya ( 2015 ) assert that skills of a person improve with age. According to Soomro et al. ( 2019 ), there are positive and significant linkages between age and business performance of entrepreneurs in the MSE sector of developing countries. In addition, Sajilan et al. ( 2015 ) argued that young entrepreneurs impact more on the firm’s performance than old entrepreneurs.

Marital status

The study used marital status as a determinant factor of women entrepreneurs’ performance in MSEs. This is understandable from the context that married women with children are faced with more responsibilities of feeding and clothing their children and themselves, and taking care of other members of their household. In line with this, studies by Chebii et al. ( 2015 ), Peter and Munyithya ( 2015 ), and Soomro et al. ( 2019 ) argued that there is a negative relationship between marital status and business performance. This means that being a woman does not represent a difference but being a married woman does in relation to performance. They further noted that single women perform in business more similar like men and their networks are diverse.

Educational level

Education is presumably related to knowledge, skills, motivation, self-confidence, problem solving ability, commitment, and discipline. Higher education is expected to increase the ability to cope with problems and seize opportunities (Welsh et al., 2017 ). In addition, it is believed that entrepreneurs with higher educational qualification are expected to make better quality decisions to manage a firm in a way that reduces the likelihood of failure (Saidi et al., 2017 ). Therefore, firms owned and managed by entrepreneurs with higher educational experience increases in success than their counterparts (Mozumdar et al., 2020 ).

Previous entrepreneurial experience

The effect of previous entrepreneurial experience upon the performance of small businesses was tested in several studies. Accordingly, Carranza et al. ( 2018 ) found that longer previous entrepreneurial experience has a positive impact on business performance. Shakeel et al. ( 2020 ) and Muogbo and John-Akamelu ( 2019 ) argued that previous experience equips owner and/or managers with the knowledge and skills required to identify and exploit opportunities, assess market trends, and intuitively make decisions pertaining to customer needs as well as competitors’ moves. This is to mean that previous entrepreneurial experience and firm performance have a positive relationship, that is, as the age of an individual firm increases, the firm profitability also increases (Mandawa, 2016 ).

Business training

Business training influences the decision and performance of women entrepreneurs, irrespective of the size and stage of business (Hundera, 2014 ). This is to mean that lack of training could have an effect in women entrepreneurs to explore the personal entrepreneurial competence that might help them improve their business success (Gizaw et al., 2019 ). Moreover, the findings of Jha et al. ( 2018 ) suggested that a customized training program for women entrepreneurs is essential at each stage of businesses to enhance the enterprises’ success. Therefore, women entrepreneurs perform better in their business when they access business training (Mandawa, 2016 ).

Access to finance

Availability of finance ensures the profitability of firms as it injects working capital. In this context, studies by Danga et al. ( 2019 ), Kamunge and Tirimba ( 2014 ), Kanapathipillai and Azam ( 2019 ), and Tekele ( 2019 ) argued that high working capital permits to run a huge business and allows using advanced technology which increases the productivity level and quality. Moreover, entrepreneurs who suffer capital constraints in their initial business investment have lower profits, and their survival rate is lower than those who had adequate capital (Wangari, 2017 ). Therefore, women entrepreneurs perform better in their businesses when they have financial accessibility (George, 2018 ).

Access to physical infrastructure

Access to public physical infrastructure services includes water, electricity, serviceable roads, telecommunication, telephones, electronic media, and postal services which are all crucial for business start-up, development, and performance. Limited access to public physical infrastructure services is a major constraint to MSEs’ survival and growth as it limits operations and restricts access to markets and raw materials. Previous studies by Danga et al. ( 2019 ), Kamunge and Tirimba ( 2014 ), and Tekele ( 2019 ) reported that the inadequacy of the physical infrastructure is a principal cause of low levels of investment and unsatisfactory performance of small and micro enterprises. Thus, infrastructure can influence the performance of MSEs positively or negatively. Good infrastructure enhances positive impacts to the MSEs’ performance while poor infrastructure attributes a negative impact on the performance of MSEs (Danga et al., 2019 ).

Government support

Government support such as providing aids, funds, training projects, and tax relaxation can play a vital role in the success of women entrepreneur organization. As Salah and Kaplan ( 2018 ) stated, government supports are beneficial to women entrepreneurs. However, strict policies of the government related to investments and towards micro and small-sized enterprises adversely influence women entrepreneur. Moreover, previous studies by Haxhiu ( 2015 ) and Zeb, Jan, Ihsan, and Shah ( 2019 ) found that legal and administrative factors have the highest impact on the performance of women entrepreneurs. This is to mean that this occurs due to the lack of government support, access to policymakers, bureaucracies, and the overall legal and administrative factors.

According to Tee, Boadi, and Opoku ( 2016 ), taxation plays an important role in the development of every economy as well as the growth of micro and small enterprises (MSEs). They argued that taxes imposed on micro and small enterprises impact their performance in terms of profits in different ways. Moreover, studies by Haxhiu ( 2015 ), Abdissa and Fitwi ( 2016 ), and Hasan and Almubarak ( 2016 ) on obstacles being faced by women entrepreneurs indicated that taxation, regulations, and legal barriers can play as major constraints for women entrepreneurs and success of their business. On the other hand, Atawodi and Ojeka ( 2012 ) found that there is a negative relationship between tax and a small business performance to sustain. This means that firms paying the lower taxes are able to increase their performance for a longer period of time than those paying higher taxes.

Land ownership

Evidently, business operating in premises allotted by government agencies had better chance of success compared to those set up in privately rented premises (Meressa, 2020 ). Moreover, a research conducted by Doris ( 2016 ) indicated that availability of land is very important for the success and sustainable growth of entrepreneurs because it creates access to resource and the necessary markets. Land in which MSEs are to display and sell their products is also the major problem affecting the performance of MSEs (Kyalo, 2016 ). According to Abdissa and Fitwi ( 2016 ), micro and small-scale enterprises having enough own working premises (land) grow more than those enterprises which have no working premises and selling outlets. The issue of land provision and the land lease system has constrained the chance of micro and small enterprises’ success (Carranza et al., 2018 ). Furthermore, Hasan and Almubarak ( 2016 ) reported that land ownership has significant influence on women entrepreneurs’ performance.

Access to market

Firms can have forward linkage with customers or other sellers and backward linkage with their raw material suppliers to get the needed materials to produce goods or services (Meressa, 2020 ). This is to mean that the absence or low supply of raw materials may increase the cost of production and bring other drawbacks like stagnation, low quality of products, and poor performance among others (Nasri & Muhammad, 2018 ). In other words, adequate supplies of raw materials ensure good performance of firms and unavailability of raw materials can be a barrier for success. Therefore, access to market and micro and small enterprises’ performance have a positive relationship (Jha et al., 2018 ).

Access to information

Lack of information has been reported as one of the key factors affecting women entrepreneurs’ performance in developing countries (Nasri & Muhammad, 2018 ). Accordingly, it is believed that enterprises that have access to information grow faster than their counterparts because using information can improve and strengthen customer relationships, enhance firm image, enhance market linkage, and enable them to compete with other firms (Giday, 2017 ; Kamunge & Tirimba, 2014 ). Moreover, having a social network is a valuable asset that can help an entrepreneur to obtain access to information as well as resources like credit. Social networks can play a higher role in helping entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles related to transaction costs, contract enforcement, and regulation (Mulugeta, 2014 ). Therefore, enterprises that have information perform better than their counterparts.

Materials and methods

This study is conducted in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia. The city is found in Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. Gondar city is located at 12° 36′ North and 37° 28′ East and has an average elevation of 2201 m above the sea level. The city to a large extent lies on a semi-flat plain and is surrounded on three sides by a crown of 3000-m-high mountains. The city is also among the ancient, large, and currently the fastest growing city in Ethiopia. Currently, according to the Central Statistical Agency (CSA), the population of the city is projected to be 360,600 in , 2018 (Fig. 2 ).

Location of the study area

Research design, data, and sample size determination

Cresswell ( 2014 ) suggests that the researcher should choose the research design (strategy) that best suits the needs and purpose of the research in order to obtain research outcomes that have real-world practice value. In this context, any design can be selected by researchers based on the nature of research problem and questions to address the problem. Accordingly, researchers could choose among different types of possible research designs depending on purpose of the research, method of data collection, time dimension, and research approach as an architect can choose among different types of possible building designs depending on factors such as purpose of the building, method of construction, time of construction, and the like (Bhattacherjee, 2012 ). This study, therefore, employed an explanatory cross-sectional survey research design with primary and secondary data. In this context, the study used primary data that were collected with a structured questionnaire using cross-sectional survey, and secondary data were collected from the literature review and other data sources. The research also employed a two-stage random sampling technique to select the sample respondents in the study area. In the first stage, Maraki sub-city was purposively selected to conduct the study since this sub-city seizes an area which has a large number of women entrepreneurs. The number of women entrepreneurs in this sub-city was 1250. In the second stage, the total sample size was determined using the following formula (Eq. 1 ):

where n is the sample size, Z is the value found in statistical tables which contain the area under the normal curve that cuts off an area α at the tails (1 − α equals the desired confidence level, e.g., 95%) (1.96), p is the estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population (0.5), q is 1 – p , and e is the desired level of precision (0.07). Hence, using the above formula (1), the calculated number of sample size is 196. This number of sample size was also substantiated by Creative Research Systems (Kothari, 2004 ) sample size calculation method. Hence, if N < 10,000 population size, the computed sample size was decreased to 180 using the following formula (Eq. 2 ):

where f n is the desired sample size, n is the sample size, and N is the target population.

Moreover, respondents were randomly selected from the sub-city based on the sub-city roster used as a sampling frame.

Instrument determination

Data were generated through close-ended questions. Structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic, environmental influences, training, and development variables on the performance of women entrepreneurs using a Likert scale. The Likert scale was divided into four categories: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree for different statements that represent knowledge, feelings, and practice components. The four categories were then grouped into two categories of positive and negative. The positive category includes responses given as strongly agree and agree, while the negative category includes responses given as disagree and strongly disagree. The summary measures are then developed by assigning a value of “1” if respondents answered positively to two or three of the components, and a value of “0” if respondents answered negatively to two or three of the components. All of the variables were measured on ratio scales. Similarly, the dependent variable, i.e., performance of women entrepreneurs (profitability), was measured using the Likert scale as four categories such as strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. However, the four categories were later grouped into two categories of positive and negative. The positive category includes responses given as strongly agree and agree, while the negative category includes responses given as disagree and strongly disagree. The summary measures for the dependent variable are then developed by assigning a value of “1” if the respondents answered positively to three components, and a value of “0” if the respondents answered to two components (see below) (Table 1 ).

Determination of variables in the model

The study has two variable categories. In this context, the dependent variable of the current study is performance of women entrepreneurs in MSEs. Along with, age, marital status, educational level, previous entrepreneurial experience, business training, access to finance, land ownership, access to physical infrastructure, access to market, access to information, government support, and reasonable tax levied were the independent variables included in the empirical model.

Empirical studies provide different variables for the performance of women entrepreneurs. Among these, total asset, sales growth, employment size, profit, market share, and customer base are mostly known (Doris, 2016 ). These measures depend upon the ease of availability of the data and good judgment of the researcher. In this context, profit is mostly used in MSEs’ performance literature globally (Meechaiwong, Somjai, Pol, & Girdwicha, 2019 ; Mozumdar et al., 2020 ; Shakeel et al., 2020 ; Welsh et al., 2017 ). Consequently, this study considered profit as best fitted measure of MSEs’ performance.

Much of women entrepreneurs’ performance related studies applied both multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression models. For example, Doris ( 2016 ), Meechaiwong et al. ( 2019 ), and Shakeel et al. ( 2020 ) used multiple linear regression model in their studies. However, Mozumdar et al. ( 2020 ) and Welsh et al. ( 2017 ) used binary logistic regression in their studies. Therefore, both logistic and multiple regressions could be used in MSEs’ performance related studies. On the one side, multiple linear regressions could be chosen if the performance measure used as the dependent variable takes a continuous measure. On the other hand, binary logistic regression model could be used if the performance measure used as the dependent variable takes a discrete (categorical) measure. Accordingly, this study applied binary logistic regression (logit) model consistent with that of Mozumdar et al. ( 2020 ) and Welsh et al. ( 2017 ) since enterprises’ performance is considered as a discrete (categorical) variable.

In this context, different literatures claim that the following assumption of logistic regression model/logit model needs to be tested. To this effect, contingency coefficient for dummy/discrete independent variables was computed to check the presence of multicollinearity problem among them. By definition, contingency coefficient is a measure of the degree of relationship/association of dependence among categorical/dummy independent variables included in the study. As a decision rule, a contingency coefficient greater than 1 indicates the presence of multicollinearity among dummy independent variables. In this study, twelve dummy independent variables were included and their contingency coefficients were measured using SPSS.

The model used for this analysis is presented as Eq. 3 :

where Yi is the dependent variable (performance of women entrepreneur), a is the regression constant ( Y -intercept), b 1–12 are the slope of the regression line (are coefficients indicating the degree of association between each independent variable and the outcome), and x 1–12 are the independent variables.

Results and discussion

Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.

During data collection, 180 questionnaires were distributed to the sample respondents. The response rate is 100% (all respondents returned completed questionnaire). The result of the survey indicates that the average age of respondents was 39 years with age range between 18 and 60 years. With regard to educational level of respondents, more than half of the respondents had completed 10 + 1 and 10 + 2 certificate from TVET (Technical and Vocational Education Training), whereas the remaining respondents had completed their primary and secondary education. Moreover, nearly two third of the respondents were single in their marital status, while one third of them were married. The average year of previous entrepreneurial experience of the respondents was 12 years within the range between 1 and 25 years of entrepreneurial experience as shown in Table 2 .

Econometric results and discussion on performance determinants

Determining the factors that may significantly influence on women entrepreneurs’ performance in MSEs requires the employment of econometric analysis. In this context, therefore, the study used binary logistic regression analysis (logit model) to identify factors that significantly influence the performance of women entrepreneurs. Consequently, profit of the firm was proposed to be used as means of women entrepreneurs’ performance measurement in MSEs.

Based on the analysis, Table 4 provides the results of binary logistic regression of each variable, while Table 3 also provides the correlation matrix of each dummy variable indicating that there is no multicollinarity problem among the independent variables. To this end, the table has shown that there is no strong relationship within each independent variable.

The result of the regression output depicted in Table 4 revealed that educational level is statistically significant and has a positive relationship with performance of women entrepreneurs. This implies that firms owned and managed by women entrepreneurs with higher formal educational experience have shown higher performance in terms of profit than their counterparts. This finding is consistent with the finding of Saidi et al. ( 2017 ) and Rajni & Mehta ( 2018 ) who reported that entrepreneurs with higher educational qualification are expected to make better quality decisions to manage a firm in a way that reduces the likelihood of failure. Moreover, the result is also consistent with the findings of Berii ( 2019 ) who reported that woman with higher education levels were more likely to state positive economic empowerment, and this result suggests that investing in education helps the empowerment of woman in economy.

The regression output revealed that previous entrepreneurial experience is found out to have a positive and significant influence on the performance of women entrepreneurs (Table 4 ). It is also confirmed by the correlation matrix which revealed that there is a positive relationship between previous entrepreneurial experience and performance of women entrepreneurs (Table 3 ). This implies that as the experience of an individual firm increases, the firm profitability also increases. This is to mean that older firms are more likely to maximize profit than younger firms because of the social capital they have gathered over time through experience. This finding also accords with the result of Rajan, Muralidharan, and Ravi ( 2019 ) and Khaleque ( 2018 ) who stated that an enterprise’s experience has a significant effect on the performance for the reason that older firms have more experience and a superior financial position to execute their business activities than their counterparts.

Access to finance, on the other hand, is statistically significant and has a positive association with performance of women entrepreneurs as indicated from logit model and correlation matrix (Tables 3 and 4 ). This implies that women entrepreneurs perform better in their businesses when they have financial accessibility. This means that women-owned enterprises with access to finance have a chance to maximize profit than credit-constrained women-owned enterprises. In line with this, the current study is consistent with the research findings of Wangari ( 2017 ) who reported that women entrepreneurs who suffer capital constraints in their initial business investment have lower profits, and their survival rate is lower than those who had adequate capital. On the other side, the finding of this study contradicts with that of Leszczyński ( 2016 ) who stated that successful female business owners relied primarily on their own resources (“Financial capital”) to fund their operational activities and the short- to medium-term growth needs of their firms.

The study confirmed that access to business training is also statistically significant and has a positive association with women entrepreneurs’ performance (Table 4 ). This indicated that women entrepreneurs perform better in their business when they access business training to develop the relevant skills and knowledge needed to increase business performance. In this context, the current study is consistent with the research findings of Mwania ( 2015 ) who reported that access to business trainings is an indicator that had a significant influence on the performance of women in small and medium enterprises.

Access to business information was found to be statistically positive and significantly influence the performance of women entrepreneurs at p < 0.05 significant level (Table 4 ). This implies that women entrepreneurs in MSEs that have access to business information grow faster than their counterparts because using information can improve and strengthen customer relationships, enhance firm image, enhance market linkage, and enable them to compete with other firms. The finding of this study is consistent with that of Mandawa ( 2016 ).

The logit model output revealed that land ownership is statistically significant and positively associated with women entrepreneurs’ performance (Table 4 ). This implies that women entrepreneurs with secured land ownership as a working premise have a chance to maximize profit than their counterparts. Moreover, enterprises having convenient display room and selling premises have a chance of increasing firm profit than their counterparts. The finding of this study is consistent with that of Abdissa and Fitwi ( 2016 ) and Awoke ( 2019 ).

Government support was also included in the model to see whether or not it is correlated with the performance of women entrepreneurs with special reference to profitability. In this context, evidence of the regression output revealed that government support has a statistically significant influence on the performance of women entrepreneurs and is positively associated with performance as indicated from the correlation matrix (Tables 3 and 4 ). This implies that women enterprises that have access to government support packages such as devising policies and legal infrastructure, technology, incentives, and giving social recognition have performed better than their counterparts. In this context, the current study is consistent with the research findings of Giday ( 2017 ), Kamunge and Tirimba ( 2014 ), and Zeb et al. ( 2019 ).

In addition to the above discussion, the regression output indicated that levied tax has a positive and statistically significant influence on the performance of women entrepreneurs (Table 4 ). This implies that women-owned enterprises paying lower taxes are able to increase their performance for a longer period of time than those that pay higher taxes. The finding of this study is consistent with that of Tee et al. ( 2016 ) and Atawodi and Ojeka ( 2012 ). On the other hand, however, the results of logit model output indicates the absence of statistically significant effect of age, marital status, access to market, and physical infrastructure on the performance of women entrepreneurs though the study conceptualized their influence based on literature.

Considering that entrepreneurship is a key driver for economic growth and development (Mandawa, 2016 ; Mozumdar et al., 2020 ; Wangari, 2017 ), understanding which determinant variables influence the performance of women entrepreneurs appears to be a remarkable phenomenon. In this context, this study provides new empirical evidence on determinants that influence women entrepreneurs’ performance based on the data acquired from 180 women entrepreneurs in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia, using regression analysis. Consequently, the result of regression output revealed statistically significant evidence of eight explanatory variables out of 12 variables in determining women entrepreneurs’ performance in MSEs at 5% significance level. Therefore, educational level, previous entrepreneurial experience, access to business training, access to finance, access to information, access to government support, tax, and land ownership were significant in one hand. But age, marital status, access to market, and physical infrastructure are found to be insignificant variables.

Accordingly, the regression output indicated that enterprises owned and managed by women entrepreneurs with higher formal education experience higher performance in terms of profit than their counterparts. In addition, women entrepreneurs with secured land ownership as a working premise have a chance to maximize profit than their counterparts. In the other context, the finding revealed that women entrepreneurs perform better in their businesses when they have financial accessibility than other financially constrained enterprises. Moreover, the study finding also revealed that women entrepreneurs perform better in their business when they access business training to develop the relevant skills and knowledge needed to increase business performance. Similarly, women entrepreneurs in MSEs having access to business information grow faster than their counterparts because using business information can improve and strengthen customer relationships, enhance firm image, enhance market linkage, and enable them to compete with other firms. With regard to previous entrepreneurial experience, as the experience of an individual firm increases, the firm profitability also increases. Furthermore, the finding revealed that women-owned enterprises that have access to government support packages such as devising policies and legal infrastructure, technology, incentives, and giving social recognition have performed better than their counterparts. In addition, the regression output revealed that women-owned enterprises paying lower taxes are able to increase their performance for a longer period of time than those that pay higher taxes.

The findings of this study, therefore, suggest that women entrepreneurs with lower profit should take actions for better improvement of their performance and their contribution for the city as well as national economy by means of creating strong information exchange with customers and scale up their experience for better performance. With regard to government support, it should encourage the outstanding women entrepreneurs. In addition, providing access to resources like education and training, financial support and technology, devising policies and legal infrastructure, and giving social recognition is the responsibility of the government. Moreover, with regard to finance, micro and small enterprises’ policy and strategy suggest microfinance institutions to be the sole providers of saving and credit services to entrepreneurs. Despite this, microfinance institutions by themselves are in limited finance in general. For this reason, the government should reconsider the financial policy and strategy of MSEs as long as finance is cardinal for business operation and expansion.

Limitation and further implication of the study

Ethiopia is one of the developing countries that women entrepreneurs recently are increasing to participate in the business arena. However, their business growth and success were influenced by different factors. Therefore, to identify the factors that influence women entrepreneurs’ performance in MSEs in Ethiopia, the researcher could not found sufficient baseline literature on the determinants that influence women entrepreneurs’ performance as this can be a limitation of the research. However, there are some studies (Abdissa & Fitwi, 2016 ; Aemiro, 2019 ; Gizaw et al., 2019 ; Hawando, 2017 ; Meresa, 2018 ; Meressa, 2020 ; Tekele, 2019 ) in Ethiopia which focus on factors affecting the growth and performance of micro and small enterprises. Therefore, lack of related literature on the issue makes it difficult to compare the present result with other similar studies in Ethiopia and the study area in particular. On the other side, even though the study has attained its objective, there are still some limitations. In this context, the study used cross-sectional data for determinants like level of education, previous working experience, age, and profitability of the business. Due to frequent change in these variables, the study may not reflect the dynamics of the data, which would have influence on the conclusions. Another limitation is that the research has only consisted of 180 samples. Such number may not represent the whole population of the entrepreneurs of Ethiopian MSEs. Notwithstanding, the findings of the present study can serve as an input for further research and for policymakers in developing countries in general and the study area in particular with regard to women entrepreneurs’ performance in MSEs.

Availability of data and materials

The data is included in the manuscript.

Abbreviations

Micro and small enterprises

Technical and Vocational Education Training

Abdissa, G., & Fitwi, T. (2016). Factors affecting performance of micro and small enterprises in South West Ethiopia: The case of Bench Maji, Sheka, and Kefa zones. Global Journal of Management and Business Research: A Administration and Management , 16 (10).

Abimbola, O. H., & Agboola, G. M. (2011). Environmental factors and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa , 13 (4), 166–176.

Google Scholar  

Abiodun, E. A., & Amos, D. D. (2018). The performance of women entrepreneurs: Human and financial capital. A Research Journal of Social Science and Humanity , 2 (1), 30–37.

Aemiro, T. (2019). Deterrents to the success of micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia: The case of Amhara Region MSEs. Journal of Social Economics Research , 6 (2), 117–125. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.35.2019.62.117.125

Assefa, M., & Cheru, E. (2018). Factors affecting the growth of women entrepreneurs in micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia. Abyssinia Journal of Business and Social Sciences , 3 (1), 32–38.

Atawodi, O. W., & Ojeka, S. A. (2012). Relationship between tax policy, growth of SMEs and the Nigerian economy. International Journal of Business and Management , 7 (13), 125–135.

Article   Google Scholar  

Awoke, F. (2019). Determinants of women entrepreneurs ’ performance in Ethiopia (evidence from Hawassa City Administration). European Journal of Business and Management , 11 (22), 18–30. https://doi.org/10.7176/EJBM

Bakar, A. A., & Ahmad, S. (2016). Determinant factors of women entrepreneurs ’ business performance: A conceptual framewok. Journal of Global Business and Social Entrepreneurship (GBSE) , 1 (1), 55–67.

Berii, D. (2019). The factors affecting women’s economic empowerment in micro and small scale enterprise in the case of yeka sub city. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in Regional and Local Development, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices (Second Edi). Florida, USA: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Brixiová, Z., & Kangoye, T. (2019). Networks, start-up capital and women ’ s entrepreneurial performance in Africa: Evidence from Eswatini. IZA – Institute of Labor Economics, Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5–9 53113 Bonn, Germany.

Carranza, E., Dhakal, C., & Love, I. (2018). Female entrepreneurs: How and why are they different? 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA.

Chathurangani, H. B. ., Hemathilake, D., & Samudrika, K. (2019). Factors affecting on the performance of women entrepreneurs ’ in small and medium entities. Navigating Cyberspace for Socio-Economic Transformation and Redefining Management in Light of Digital Economy , 261–284. Sri Lanka: Rajarata University of Sri Lanka [email protected] .

Chebii, P. A., Ogada, J. O., & Achar, G. (2015). Demographic factors associated with entrepreneurial performance among rural women: A case of Funyula women in Kenya. International Journal of Innovative Social Sciences & Humanities Research , 3 (2), 1–7.

Cresswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (Fourth Edi; V. Knight, J. Young, & K. Koscielak, eds.). California, USA: SAGE Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320.

CSA. (2018). Population projection of Ethiopia. Retrieved from www. csa.gov.et on March 30, 2020.

Danga, M., Chongela, J., & Kaudunde, I. (2019). Factors affecting the performance of rural small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a case study of Tanzania. International Journal of Academic Accounting, Finance & Management Research , 3 (5), 35–47.

Doris, N. (2016). Factors influencing the performance of female owned enterprises: A case of businesses in the central business district of Nairobi, Kenya . A Project Report Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For The Award Of Master Of Arts In Project Planning And Management Degree Of The University Of Nairobi, Kenya.

George, K. (2018). Factors influencing the performance of women entrepreneurs: A case of Iringa Municipality. A dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences in Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award the Bachelor of Accounting and Finance with Information Technology. Ruaha Catholic University.

Giday, B. (2017). Determinants of micro and small enterprises performance in Godere Woreda of Gambella Regional State, Ethiopia. In A thesis Submitted to the Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics, School of Post Graduate Studies of Arba Minch University in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of Masters of Art in Economics . Arbaminch: Ethiopia.

Gizaw, Y., Tsega, S., & Hailegiorgis, K. (2019). Assessment of the challenges and opportunities of women entrepreneurs in assessment of the challenges and opportunities of women entrepreneurs in Sodo Town, Wolaita Zone, SNNPR. Asian Journal of Economics, Business and Accounting , 10 (1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.9734/AJEBA/2019/v10i130097

Hasan, F. S. M. A., & Almubarak, M. M. S. (2016). Factors influencing women entrepreneurs’ performance in SMEs. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development , 12 (2), 82–101.

Hawando, A. (2017). Assessing performance of micro and small enterprises in Oromia Regional State. Thesis Submitted to Accounting and Finance Department in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Business Administration in Finance . Ethiopia: Addis Ababa University.

Haxhiu, E. (2015). The factors affecting success and performance of women entrepreneurs in Kosovo. A Research project report submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of a Master Of Arts Degree in Economics for University of Ljubljana.

Hundera, M. B. (2014). Micro and small scale enterprises (MSEs) development services in women’ s entrepreneurial start-ups in Ethiopia: A study conducted in three cities: Dire Dawa, Harar and Jigjiga. Journal of Behavioural Economics, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Accounting and Transport , 2 (4), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.12691/jbe-2-4-1

Jha, P., Makkad, M., & Mittal, S. (2018). Performance-oriented factors for women entrepreneurs – A scale development perspective. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies , 10 (2), 329–360. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEEE-08-2017-0053

Kamunge, M. S., & Tirimba, O. I. (2014). Factors affecting the performance of small and micro enterprises in Limuru Town Market of Kiambu County, Kenya. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications , 4 (12).

Kanapathipillai, K., & Azam, S. M. F. (2019). Women entrepreneurs path to success: An investigation of the critical success factors in Malaysia. European Journal of Human Resource Management Studies , 3 (1), 106–129. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3375708

Khaleque, A. (2018). Performance of women entrepreneurs: Does access to finance really matter? Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics , 11 (21), 23–48.

Kyalo, M. E. (2016). Factors influencing performance of women entrepreneurs in Kenya: A case of bungoma south. A Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of Master of Arts Degree in Project Planning and Management of University Of Nairobi, Kenya.

Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques (Second Ed.). New Delhi: NENew Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers.

Leszczyński, D. (2016). Exploration of key success factors that influence business performance: The experiences of women micro-entrepreneurs from Mazovia Voivodeship of Poland. International Journal of Management and Economics , 10 (51), 63–89. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijme-2016-0020

Lucas, S. (2017). The impact of demographic and social factors on firm performance in Kenya. Journal of Business and Economic Development , 2 (4), 255–261. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jbed.20170204.18

Mandawa, B. (2016). Enhancing the performance of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries – A study of Zambia . Alliance Manchester Business School: A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities.

Mbiti, F. M., Mung, J., & Kyalo, D. (2015). The influence of socio-cultural factors on growth of women-owned micro and small enterprises in Kitui County, Kenya. International Journal of Business and Social Science , 6 (7), 242–250.

Meechaiwong, A., Somjai, S., Pol, G., & Girdwicha, N. (2019). Factors influence business performances of entrepreneurial female. In The 2019 International Academic Research Conference in Helsinki, 34–37 . Finland: International Academic Research Conference in Helsinki.

Meresa, M. (2018). Factors affecting the performance of small-scale enterprise (restaurant and hotels) Inraya Azebo Wereda: The case of Mohoni, Maychew and Korem. International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research (IJMSR) , 6 (1), 68–92.

Meressa, H. A. (2020). Growth of micro and small scale enterprises and its driving factors: Empirical evidence from entrepreneurs in emerging region of Ethiopia. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship , 9 (11), 1–22.

Mozumdar, L., Van Der Velde, G., & Omta, S. W. F. (2020). Determinants of the business performance of women entrepreneurs in the developing world context. MDPI, J Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal , 3 , 215–235.

Mulugeta, H. (2014). Assessing the factors affecting the performance of micro and small scale enterprises: The case of Yeka Sub-City, Addis Ababa. A thesis Submitted to the Department of Management, College of Business and Economics, School of Post Graduate Studies of ST.Marry’s University in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of Masters of Art in Business Management, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Muogbo, U., & John-Akamelu, C. R. (2019). Factors affecting the performance of women entrepreneurs in micro and small enterprises: (A study of selected women in Awka, Anambra State Nigeria). EPRA International Journal of Research & Development , 4 (2), 215–225.

Mwania, A. (2015). Factors influencing the performance of women entrepreneurial ventures in Kongowea Market, Mombasa County, Kenya. A Research project report submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of a Master of Arts Degree in Project Planning and Management of the University of Nairobi.

Nasri, N., & Muhammad, S. (2018). Factors affecting female entrepreneurial intentions in Kabul, Afghanistan. Journal of Economics and Management Sciences , 1 (1).

Panda, S. (2018). Constraints faced by women entrepreneurs in developing countries: review and ranking. Gender in Management: An International Journal , 1754–2413. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-01-2017-0003

Peter, P. W., & Munyithya, H. M. (2015). The Gender factor Influence on Entrepreneurial Success in Kitui County, Kenya. International Journal of Education and Research, 3 (7), 13–32.

Raheem, F. (2013). Factors affecting women entrepreneurs business performance in Pakistan. Journal of Managerial Sciences , XI (4).

Rajan, S., Muralidharan, P., & Ravi, H. (2019). Successful women entrepreneurial business performance model in MSMEs of Karnataka. International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering, Technology, and Management (ICETETM-2019), 26th-27th April 2019 | PDIT, Hospet, Karnataka , (May), 164–175.

Rajni, & Mehta, S. (2018). Determinants of women entrepreneurs’ performance in Haryana, India. I nternational Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 7 (10), 193–202.

Saidi, N. A., Rashid, N. A., Zin, N. M., Ramlan, H., Johari, N., & Mohamad, M. R. (2017). Determinants of women entrepreneurs’ performance in SMEs. International Symposium & Exhibition on Business and Accounting 2017 (ISEBA 2017) , (ISBN: 978-983-42982-9-6). Kula Lumpur: University Malaysia Kelantan.

Sajilan, S., Hadi, N. U., & Tehseen, S. (2015). Impact of entrepreneur’s demographic characteristics and personal characteristics on firm’s performance under the mediating role of entrepreneur orientation. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research , 4 (2), 36–52.

Salah, N., & Kaplan, B. (2018). Factors influencing women entrepreneurs’ business success in Somalia. Research in Business and Management , 5 (1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.5296/rbm.v5i1.12341

Shakeel, M., Yaokuang, L., & Gohar, A. (2020). Identifying the entrepreneurial success factors and the performance of women-owned businesses in Pakistan: The moderating role of national culture. SAGE Open Journal , 1 (1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020919520

Simion, J. A. (2018). Factors affecting the growth of women-owned micro enterprises in Kenya: A case of the Nubian women in Nyanchwa, Kisii County, Kenya. A research project submitted to School of Business in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Degree of Master of Business Administration in Project Management of Kenyatta University.

Solomon, D. (2010). Desk review of studies conducted on women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. Produced and distributed by the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations with financial support from the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation, Sida, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Soomro, B. A., Abdelwahed, N. A. A., & Shah, N. (2019). The influence of demographic factors on the business success of entrepreneurs: An empirical study from the small and medium-sized enterprises context of Pakistan. International Journal of Entrepreneurship , 23 (2), 1–12.

Tee, E., Boadi, L. A., & Opoku, R. T. (2016). The effect of tax payment on the performance of SMEs: The case of selected SMEs in Ga West Municipal Assembly. European Journal of Business and Management , 8 (20), 119–125.

Tekele, A. A. (2019). Factors affecting the performance of micro and small enterprises in Wolita Sodo Town. International Journal of Research in Business Studies and Management , 6 (12), 18–26.

Wangari, R. (2017). Factors affecting the performance of businesses owned by female entrepreneurs in Kenya. A Research Project Report Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA),United States International University. Kenya.

Welsh, D. H. B., Kaciak, E., Memili, E., & Minialai, C. (2018). Business-family interface and the performance of women entrepreneurs: The moderating effect of economic development. International Journal of Emerging Markets , 13 (2), 330–349. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJoEM-03-2017-0095

Welsh, D. H. B., Kaciak, E., & Shamah, R. (2017). Determinants of women entrepreneurs’ firm performance in a hostile environment. Journal of Business Research , (December), 0–1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.12.015

Zeb, A. (2018). Determinants of successful women entrepreneurship in Pakistan. Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences , 11 , 62–86.

Zeb, A., Jan, S., Ihsan, A., & Shah, F. A. A. (2019). Political factors and women’s entrepreneurial performance. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS) , 13 (1), 165–179.

Download references

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the research participants who lived in Maraki-sub city for their willingness to give information to the research question. I would like to acknowledge Amele for language editorial works and her genuine comments and corrections which helped the paper to be in its present form.

This study was conducted by the author finance only. There is no any financial support from any organization.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Development and Environmental Management Studies, University of Gondar, PO Box 192, Gondar, Ethiopia

Endalew Terefe Alene

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

I have carried out all the whole works of the study. I designed the study research design and carried out the field work, document analysis, literature work, manuscript draft, and editorial. The author, Endalew Terefe, personally undertook this study. The author also read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Endalew Terefe Alene .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

Not applicable since this research did not involve human subject.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The author declares that there are no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Alene, E.T. Determinants that influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia. J Innov Entrep 9 , 24 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-020-00132-6

Download citation

Received : 16 February 2020

Accepted : 31 August 2020

Published : 07 October 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-020-00132-6

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Women entrepreneur
• Performance
• Gondar city
• Micro and small enterprise, Determinant

• Erasmus School of Economics
• Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication
• Erasmus School of Law
• Erasmus School of Philosophy
• Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management
• International Institute of Social Studies
• Rotterdam School of Management
• Tinbergen Institute
• Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies
• RSM Parttime Master Bedrijfskunde
• Erasmus University Library
• Thesis Repository.
• Erasmus School of Economics /
• Business Economics /
• Master Thesis
• Search: Search

Female Entrepreneurship

Publication.

An exploration of the determinants that influenced female entrepreneurs who were born in the beginning of the 20th century

In this thesis the determinants that influenced women, born in the beginning of the 20th century to become self-employed are explored. In cooperation with ERGO, a research group within the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, 57 of the original participants of the Rotterdam Study were approached for this research. More than half of these women did not appear to be self-employed at any moment of their lives. This not only influenced this research, but may also influence the Rotterdam Study, which investigates the influence of human genes as a determinant on actual entrepreneurship. The constant comparative method of Glaser and Strauss (1967) is used for this research. Their method codes different events in such a way that they can be compared. The biographies were set up by using a narrative method constructed by Riessman (1993). My Results show that there were no significant differences between the participants and the results of previous studies. Most women possess more than half of the characteristics identified by previous studies. Even one woman possesses five of the six traits. Education is a trait which seemed to have a positive influence on actual entrepreneurship for six out of the seven women. Family background seemed to be the least influential determinant. Furthermore, I found that their main objective to start their own business is to be independent. They were able to find a balance between earning money and raising their children.

Add Content