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Exploring the financing gap between native born women‐ and immigrant women‐owned firms at the start‐up stage: Empirical evidence from Swedish data

Saeid Abbasian (Department of Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden)
Darush Yazdanfar (Department of Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden)

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship

ISSN: 1756-6266

Article publication date: 20 June 2013

657

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence which identifies the impact of ethnicity and other relevant variables on external capital acquisition among Swedish women‐owned businesses at start‐up.

Design/methodology/approach

Several methods have been employed to analyze the sample including a binary logistic regression model. The sample consists of 836 women‐owned businesses in southeast Sweden; 97 immigrant‐owned, 739 native born‐owned.

Findings

The results indicate that there are partly significant differences between native women‐owned firms and immigrant woman‐owned businesses at start‐up. Unlike the native‐owned firms, the immigrant woman‐owned businesses rely more on loans from family members and less on bank loans.

Practical implications

The results reveal that age has a positive impact on loans from family members, while the additional job outside one's own business, the amount of the owner's personal start‐up capital and firm size positively influenced access to capital from banks. The owners' level of education, previous business experience, the legal form taken by the firm and the industry affiliation conversely played no significant role in explaining the women owners' attitudes toward loans from either friends or the bank.

Originality/value

To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first empirical investigation addressing this issue in the Swedish context.

Keywords

Citation

Abbasian, S. and Yazdanfar, D. (2013), "Exploring the financing gap between native born women‐ and immigrant women‐owned firms at the start‐up stage: Empirical evidence from Swedish data", International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 157-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/17566261311328837

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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