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We compare the self-employment intentions of women from different contexts, namely, Egypt and Spain after two recent incidents of global economic collapse - the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw on occupational choice and human capital theories to better understand how the self-employment intentions of women with different age, perceptual and human capital profiles vary in periods of crisis. Consistent with previous studies, the results suggest that intentions of self-employment vary with the specific perceptual and human capital attributes of women. However, the macroeconomic conditions and the context matter since the findings also show that the factors that drive the self-employment intention of women differ from one global shock to another. Moreover, the impact of each global shock in every context is different. These findings provide new guidance for policymakers by acknowledging the relevance of the heterogeneity of women, economic periods and contexts to the choice of self-employment.
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PurposeUnder the unique context of COVID-19, this paper aims to analyze how the Government of Pakistan (GoP) provides financial and non-financial support to women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Drawing on the resource-based theory of entrepreneurship (RBTE), the study advances the understanding of resources and grants offered by GoP to women entrepreneurs to help them in business survival.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts qualitative research method to address the questions: how does the Pakistani government respond to issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what assistance and initiatives were implemented by GoP? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty on-job government officials related to the entrepreneurial sector in Pakistan.FindingsThe paper reveals that during the pandemic, GoP keenly communicated with women entrepreneurial representatives to comprehend their business challenges. In addition, waivers and incentives were provided to support their business activities. GoP further invited women entrepreneurs to contribute their knowledge and give suggestions in policy making.Originality/valueLots of research have been conducted to identify the issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the pandemic. However, the specific strategies, policies, and support provided by the governments to address these issues have often been overlooked. This paper fills such gap with focus on the governing bodies and policymakers in Pakistan towards women entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to advance knowledge on the gender-specific conditions that lead to higher entrepreneurial activity (EA) in challenging contexts by examining the interdependencies between several cognitive dimensions (perceived opportunities, perceived capabilities, being undeterred by fear of failure, knowing an entrepreneur who started a business because of the pandemic) and one cultural dimension (masculinity) and their relationship with EA of women and men during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's special report "Women's Entrepreneurship 2020/21: Thriving Through Crisis” for 43 countries, this study uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to assess complex causal conditions. Findings: Results revealed six different causal configurations leading to high female EA and the same number leading to high male EA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although half of these configurations are gender specific, this study found several similarities in the complex conditions leading to the same outcome for women and men. The specific dimensions of perceived opportunities and knowing an entrepreneur who started a business because of the pandemic were crucial for both genders. Still, the latter is particularly important for women. Masculinity orientation was only relevant in the male sample. Originality/value: Despite the remarkable growth of the research on gender and entrepreneurship over the past years, there is still limited knowledge on what leads to women and men's EA in times of crisis. This study's results advance the understanding of gender differences and similarities regarding the complex conditions that favour EA under highly challenging circumstances such as the ones imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The current economic situation in many countries, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has forced local organizations to downsize the number of employees, reduce working hours or rely on temporary workers to perform the job by means of gig workers. While these conditions could be considered as a threat, some workforce vulnerable groups, like women, grasped this opportunity to develop entrepreneurial behavior and start-up their businesses. This paper aims to investigate the factors that under the explained circumstances encourage women to be entrepreneurs, proposing a theoretical model of relationships between gig economy practices and opportunistic and necessity women's entrepreneurship start-ups. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose: This study aims to explore how the COVID-induced exogenous shock changed the prevalent occupational gender stereotypes in entrepreneurship in urban Turkey and presented an opportunity to some Turkish women to start their own business. Furthermore, this study investigated how women entrepreneurs' social networks helped them to clear the gendered hurdles that hindered their entrepreneurial endeavors in the times of COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Highly personal topics like gender stereotypes are complex and nebulous, as is entrepreneurship as lived experience. Moreover, the COVID-induced crisis complicates the context further, which is why the addressal of questions about gendered stereotypes in the process of entrepreneurship, and the role of social networks in that process, warrants a qualitative research approach. Consequently, this study relied on in-depth semistructured interviews for investigating the study's research questions. Findings: The findings suggest that research participants used the COVID-induced crisis conditions as an opportunity to beat the existing occupational gender stereotyping in entrepreneurship in the context of urban Turkey that opened a window of opportunity for the women participants to enter into entrepreneurship. In addition, social networks significantly helped the women entrepreneurs to acquire resources, and provided the leverage needed to clear the gendered hurdles that hindered the women's entrepreneurial endeavors. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is among the first that generates insights into occupational gender stereotyping in entrepreneurship within the context of a developing country in the times of COVID-19 crisis. Hence, this study can help to understand the broader implications of the crisis like COVID-19 for gender-related beliefs and attitudes toward women entrepreneurship within the context of developing countries. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Purpose: Under the unique context of COVID-19, this paper aims to analyze how the Government of Pakistan (GoP) provides financial and non-financial support to women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Drawing on the resource-based theory of entrepreneurship (RBTE), the study advances the understanding of resources and grants offered by GoP to women entrepreneurs to help them in business survival. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts qualitative research method to address the questions: how does the Pakistani government respond to issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what assistance and initiatives were implemented by GoP? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty on-job government officials related to the entrepreneurial sector in Pakistan. Findings: The paper reveals that during the pandemic, GoP keenly communicated with women entrepreneurial representatives to comprehend their business challenges. In addition, waivers and incentives were provided to support their business activities. GoP further invited women entrepreneurs to contribute their knowledge and give suggestions in policy making. Originality/value: Lots of research have been conducted to identify the issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the pandemic. However, the specific strategies, policies, and support provided by the governments to address these issues have often been overlooked. This paper fills such gap with focus on the governing bodies and policymakers in Pakistan towards women entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 crisis. © 2022, Nida Hussain, Baoming Li and Habib Elahi Sahibzada.
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Purpose: This study aims to explore how the COVID-induced exogenous shock changed the prevalent occupational gender stereotypes in entrepreneurship in urban Turkey and presented an opportunity to some Turkish women to start their own business. Furthermore, this study investigated how women entrepreneurs’ social networks helped them to clear the gendered hurdles that hindered their entrepreneurial endeavors in the times of COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Highly personal topics like gender stereotypes are complex and nebulous, as is entrepreneurship as lived experience. Moreover, the COVID-induced crisis complicates the context further, which is why the addressal of questions about gendered stereotypes in the process of entrepreneurship, and the role of social networks in that process, warrants a qualitative research approach. Consequently, this study relied on in-depth semistructured interviews for investigating the study’s research questions. Findings: The findings suggest that research participants used the COVID-induced crisis conditions as an opportunity to beat the existing occupational gender stereotyping in entrepreneurship in the context of urban Turkey that opened a window of opportunity for the women participants to enter into entrepreneurship. In addition, social networks significantly helped the women entrepreneurs to acquire resources, and provided the leverage needed to clear the gendered hurdles that hindered the women’s entrepreneurial endeavors. Originality/value: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is among the first that generates insights into occupational gender stereotyping in entrepreneurship within the context of a developing country in the times of COVID-19 crisis. Hence, this study can help to understand the broader implications of the crisis like COVID-19 for gender-related beliefs and attitudes toward women entrepreneurship within the context of developing countries. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The COVID-19 crisis has introduced unique tradeoffs between health and economic risk, leading to a “life vs. livelihoods conundrum.” This study contributes to research on adversity and entrepreneurship by examining the implications of the pandemic for gender differences in enterprise performance. We further consider how public policy responses in the domains of public health and economic support moderate the potential gendered effects of the pandemic. Data analysis of more than 20,000 enterprises across 38 countries shows that women-owned enterprises were more adversely affected by the pandemic, and that stronger public health policy responses helped reduce the observed gap in performance.
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The sharp outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe economic impact across the globe. It has affected human and business life and specifically led to drastic changes that how businesses and individuals behave. Therefore, this study aims first, to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on informal businesswomen;and second, to know the attitude of these businesswomen toward following the pandemic SOPs (standard operating procedures). Primary data were collected from 400 respondents randomly in district Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Chi-square test analysis was performed to see the differences between rural-urban locations. The results of six products showed that pandemic increased the sales of both urban and rural informal businesses, i.e., cloth, cosmetics, tailoring, and grocery. However, dairy products and beautician businesses were affected adversely. Mix results were obtained about the respondents' attitudes toward pandemic SOPs. We recommend emerging rethinking for policymakers to promote these women businesses as it has played a role in maintaining family livelihood during the pandemic. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Purpose Although the extant literature has already recognised the negative impact of homebound responsibilities on women's entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is yet to know whether and how the family has any other role in women's businesses during this critical period. This research aims to explore the patronising and patriarchal roles of the family regarding women's small businesses in a developing nation during the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This feminist study is based on the interviews of women business-owners of a highly patriarchal developing nation, Bangladesh. During the period of the interview, Bangladesh was one of the top ten regions of the world in terms of the identified coronavirus cases. Findings The research unveils work-family enrichment by illustrating the help of family members in meeting the challenges of the pandemic period regarding women's certain business activities, such as the innovative production process. Besides, the study reveals the assisting and, in some cases, the non-cooperative approaches of family members concerning additional homebound responsibilities that affect work-family conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value Whereas the existing literature on women's entrepreneurship regarding the family revolves around work-family conflict due to maternal or caregiving responsibilities during the COVID-19 period, this feminist study substantially contributes to the understanding by revealing how family members help women by getting involved in business activities. It further enriches the prevailing knowledge regarding assisting or hindering activities of family members concerning domestic activities that affect women's businesses during the pandemic.
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In the pandemic context that is characterized by being complex and uncertain, which has negatively affected the economy of Ecuadorian women, it was considered pertinent to analyze female entrepreneurship within the framework of local development in the province of Cañar in the Republic of Ecuador. From the feminist epistemology, an empiricist research was carried out, with a field design. Data were collected through a reliable structured questionnaire with a Likert scale, the results of which were treated with descriptive statistics. The results indicate that gender entrepreneurship in local development in the province of Cañar is characterized by unstable, uncertain and complex. It is concluded that female entrepreneurship has had to face the challenges imposed by the pandemic, deepening the complexities of women’s lives to become economically independent in the province, making it difficult to promote local development. © 2022, Universidad del Zulia. All rights reserved.
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We complement this research by addressing the question of how entrepreneurial ventures can be resilient in the face of adversity in Times of Crisis. First, we conducted a comprehensive web search to find women's entrepreneurial ventures. Based on web search results, we conducted Online interviews with 90 women entrepreneurs working in many types of ventures. Second, we surveyed innovative actions that help women's entrepreneurial ventures resilience. Building on these insights, we identified a variety of innovative actions to help women's entrepreneurial ventures resilience in times of crisis. We identify five specific types of innovative actions to address venture resilience: Preventive and Supportive, Analytical, Financial risk management, Collaborative competition, and Effectual entrepreneurship. We aim to further nuance our understanding of the COVID-19 crisis results as a challenge for women's entrepreneurial ventures. We suggest key insights on ventures resilience for entrepreneurship Policymakers. © 2022, Institute of Economic Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Africa and in particular sub-Saharan Africa has experienced global expansion for more than a decade, remained resilient through the global economic recession from 2008 to 2010, and now the COVID19 (coronavirus) pandemic has changed the way we live on a daily basis. One unique group of individuals who have withstand these challenges against all odds are women. This chapter highlights women entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa with specific emphasis on Namibian women using in-depth interviews of 20 Namibian women from the Oshiwambo, Nama, Herero, San and Himba tribes. This chapter aims to pin the challenges women entrepreneurs face when setting up their businesses in the Republic of Namibia. In addition, the similarities and differences between these women will be unpack (notable reference will be made with regard to education and also role models), by also drawing from the experiences of other women in the country. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose Family businesses have contributed significantly to economic growth in various countries, including Indonesia. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic reduced the world economy and caused economic shocks in various business sectors. Women successors face significant challenges in overcoming family business problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in terms of resilience, which is seen as the organization's prominent ability for sustainability in a turbulent environment. Thus, this study aims to explore women's initiatives and propose a framework for family business resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach to explore women's initiatives in family business resilience during the COVID-19 period. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with five women's successors of family businesses in Indonesia. Triangulation was used to test data validity. Meanwhile, data analysis uses the Miles-Huberman technique: data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing/verification. Findings This study found that women have the initiative to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and implement resilience in the family business. This study proposes a framework for factors that enhance family business resilience, including strategic decision-making (adaptive capacity, strategy renewal and appropriation capacity), strategic factors (successor motivation, successor competence and family support) and successor incremental program. Women have a long-term orientation toward the sustainability of their family businesses and can overcome various conflicts. The stereotypical view of women's leadership in family businesses has experienced a shift in which capability and competence are the main factors in recognizing women's leadership. Originality/value This study contributes to understanding women's roles in the resilience of family businesses under extreme stress during the pandemic. This study proposes a framework for family business resilience. In addition, this study adds new insights into the specific context of managing family business systems during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the resource-based view (RBV) and strategic management approach.
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During the economic slowdown caused by the financial crisis in 2008, grants for entrepreneurs were made available to support economic development. Whether such a policy instrument is effective for business development is a highly relevant question in the aftermath of the COVID-19. We evaluate the causal effects of small business development matching grants using a quasi-experimental approach. The grants were exclusively targeted to women entrepreneurs and provided during the recession after the financial crisis. Our findings demonstrate an increase in bank loans and a positive impact on turnover, value-added, capital, employment, and overall factor productivity for more experienced women entrepreneurs. As the grants are too small to have direct economic effects or indirect effects via the certification effect, they alleviate time and information constraints of women entrepreneurs. The cost-benefit analysis shows an increase in value-added that outweighs the scheme-related costs.Plain English SummaryThis study evaluates the effect of small public grants for women entrepreneurs. Grants were used for childcare and business consultancy costs to alleviate time and information constraints of women entrepreneurs. Benefiting from these grants resulted in higher bank loans. The women entrepreneurs on average invested more money in capital and had better performance measures like turnover and value-added. The effect was particularly evident among more experienced women entrepreneurs. The cost-benefit analysis shows grant-induced increase in value-added outweighs the scheme-related costs. The study implies small public grants for women entrepreneurs increase small firms’ growth, and these grants are in addition a cost-effective policy tool.
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Economic diversification is vital in achieving sustainable economic development. This diversification is chiefly important for countries relying on natural resources for their economy, such as Qatar. Private enterprises, mainly through small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), have been recognized as crucial and effective means for healthy economic diversification, stimulating economic development, and ensuring equal sharing and distribution of wealth. Recognizing the vulnerabilities within the current economic model has motivated Qatar to relentlessly diversify away from its heavy reliance on natural gas exports. Such diversified and sustainable development cannot be achieved without the contribution of women, who make up a significant percentage of the educated and talented population in this country. However, despite the conspicuous support the state has been providing them with in an aim to promote for their active economic participation as part of Qatar National Vision 2030, women’s full potential to contribute both socially and economically is either hindered or not fully acknowledged due to several socio-economic factors. There is a dearth of studies reporting on the perceived status, challenges, and access to needed resources by women entrepreneurs in Qatar. To address such scarcity, this study builds, in a first step, on a systematic literature review (SLR) to unlock themes related to women and entrepreneurship by analyzing 23 peer-reviewed articles concentrating on the cases of Qatar and the MENA region. Subsequently, a qualitative approach is followed to investigate and examine current successes and obstacles by interviewing 25 actual and aspiring women entrepreneurs in Qatar as well as 5 incubators and government representatives. In a final stage, and based on a design thinking approach and applying the gender-aware framework (known as the 5Ms framework), the paper proposes a preliminary conceptual framework to address the pertaining barriers and pave the way for more progressive policies to cater to the needs of women entrepreneurs and to further promote for sustainable development.
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In this short study, an analysis of the position of women's entrepreneurship in the field of organic food production in Serbia was performed, with an indication of the general relationship in employment and permanent gender inequality, both in our country and in the world. Considering digitalization and automation in many spheres of life in the modern world, a review of trends and competitiveness of women in the labour market is given and the analysis of data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water of the Republic of Serbia (Annual Reports) shows the number of female entrepreneurs in organic production as a promising branch of economy, with an overview of all aspects that have slowed down, reduced, or prevented better results in this area. © 2021, Institute of Economic Sciences. All rights reserved.
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The Covid-19 pandemic presents multiple challenges for sustainable development, particularly for female entrepreneurship in the renewable segment. Solar energy is the most prospective segment of renewable energy resources. The share of global female inventors in energy technologies is less than 30%. This article is devoted to prospects of the development of female entrepreneurship in the solar energy market. We analyzed the global impact of the pandemic on the solar energy markets, and assessed the prospects for their development in the post-pandemic period. We used data from leading international analytical agencies, such as IAE and Bloomberg for 2000-2020. We also used results of international case study analyses of the International Energy Agency from 2019 on female entrepreneurship in solar energy. In addition, we investigated the Russian-French case study of female entrepreneurship in the solar energy segment. Based on the results of the analysis, we concluded that the solar energy sector will continue to develop in the future. According to the research results, negative pandemic trends, such as the reduction in the number of commissioned projects and investments in the solar power industry persist in the short term. So far, the pandemic has not had a significant negative impact on the strategic and long-term period, and female entrepreneurship will continue to evolve. We argue that it is important to minimize financial barriers currently existing in special funding and grant programs for supporting this trend and increasing the number of women in solar energy entrepreneurship. It is crucial to focus future financial programs for female entrepreneurs in the solar energy sector on rural regions as they are more prospective in terms of solar energy development. In addition, a range of educational programs in soft skills should be developed to strengthen engineering specialists’ background in business and negotiations. The research results can be used in future research in the field of sustainable development, renewables, and female employment in the renewable and solar energy sector. © 2021, Institute of Economic Sciences. All rights reserved.
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This study entails in-depth interviews with women entrepreneurs who own beauty parlors in Dhaka, to understand whether they perceive their entrepreneurship as a social change activity entailing empowerment and social inclusion for ethnic women workers. In other words, this study tries to understand why a large proportion of ethnic women are employed in beauty parlors of Dhaka by examining the perspective of women beauty parlor owners who employ them. Only Dhaka is considered in this study as most high-end beauty parlors are located in Dhaka. The interviews indicate that the owners perceive their entrepreneurship as a social change activity entailing empowerment that positively impacts the lives of their women workers regardless of ethnicity. According to the respondents, the motivation for creating employment for ethnic women workers is driven by the need to empower them;social inclusion plays no role in generating employment for ethnic women workers. The findings also show that women beauty parlor owners are countering patriarchal structuring by employing ethnic women workers. The study was conducted post Covid-19 so it takes into account the impact of the pandemic. © 2021, Institute of Economic Sciences. All rights reserved.
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In the recent decade, the spread of COVID-19 has shown significant negative effect on the entrepreneurship activities. Particularly, it destroyed the income generating activities of poor people. Most importantly, the women entrepreneurship activities are disturbed badly which causes to increase the poverty level among women. COVID-19 restrictions limit the women entrepreneurship activities in Telangana state of India. It leads towards the vulnerable condition of women living in Telangana. Therefore, the current study proposed a framework to deal with this issue. This study proposed that;microfinance has the potential to promote women entrepreneurship activities during COVID-19. Microfinance services has vital role to enhance women entrepreneurship activities through various services which may lead to reduce the negative effect of COVID-19. Based on Mayoux's Feminist Empowerment Theory, the current study proposed that;credit, saving and insurance from microfinance institutions can promote women entrepreneurship practices through women decision making. In addition to this, the current study proposed that;previous entrepreneurial experience also has moderating role to strengthen the positive relationship between women decision making and women entrepreneurship. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.