Competences of Rural Women Entrepreneurs and Their Quality of Life

ABSTRACT

Background: Women entrepreneurs, especially those from the rural areas, often struggle to develop balance between business decisions and their well-being. Objective: To examine the relationship between rural women entrepreneurs’ competence and their quality of life. Methods: A questionnaire survey measuring life competencies and the quality of life was carried out on a group of 152 women entrepreneurs from rural Perak using the purposive sampling technique. The main research method was quantitative using survey design. The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis using frequency, mean, standard deviation and correlation coefficient were used to assess the relationship between entrepreneurial competence and quality of life. Results: Findings showed that rural women entrepreneurs have a higher level of life competencies and achieved a good quality of life. There is a strong relationship between their life competencies and quality of life and similarly, between rural women entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial skills and spiritual skills and their quality of life. Implication The applicability of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Spencer and Spencer’s theory is highly proven by the evidence of a relationship between life competencies and rural women entrepreneur’s quality of life. These findings have implications for enhancing the efficiency of rural women entrepreneurs through the implementation of competency development programs.