Gender and entrepreneurial intention in low-income countries: the relative roles played by anticipated financial returns versus perceived barriers for university students in Sierra Leone
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
ISSN: 1355-2554
Article publication date: 19 February 2024
Issue publication date: 23 August 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the extent to which female and male university students from low-income countries express different entrepreneurial intentions. Specifically, the study empirically tests whether the anticipated financial returns to entrepreneurship versus salaried employment, or the perceived barriers to entrepreneurship exert a stronger influence on the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the relationship of anticipated rewards versus barriers to entrepreneurship on gender and entrepreneurial intention, the study uses new data from a field survey in Sierra Leone and employs multiple mediation analyses.
Findings
The authors find that the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intentions operates through the mediator of perceptions of the financial returns to entrepreneurship but not perceived barriers to entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
The authors study intent, not behavior, acknowledging that cognitive intent is a powerful predictor of later behavior. Implications for future research on entrepreneurship in the African context are discussed.
Practical implications
The results from this study can be applied to both pedagogic and business settings in the field of entrepreneurship, with concrete implications for policymakers.
Originality/value
Results suggest that the gender gap in entrepreneurial intentions (EI) for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)- and business-educated students in Sierra Leone is predominantly influenced by anticipated financial returns to occupational choices, as opposed to perceived barriers to entrepreneurship, a more frequently studied antecedent to EI.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are gratefully acknowledge funding and support from the Edward B. Roberts (1957) Fund and the Jean Hammond (1986) and Michael Krasner (1974) Fund, and the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. The authors are grateful to the government of Sierra Leone, Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL), and the university students, faculty, and administrators in Freetown for their participation in this study. The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful comments from Saul Estrin, Fiona Murray, Chiara Spina, and the colleagues from the Oxford Residence Week for Entrepreneurship Scholars. The authors thank Leanne Fan, Ethan Poskanzer, and Imesh Waasala for their research assistance.
Citation
Bradley, W.A. and Fry, C. (2024), "Gender and entrepreneurial intention in low-income countries: the relative roles played by anticipated financial returns versus perceived barriers for university students in Sierra Leone", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 30 No. 7, pp. 1750-1778. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-11-2022-0980
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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