Life on heels and making deals: A narrative approach to female entrepreneurial experiences in the UAE
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss issues related to entrepreneurial undertakings of women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the purpose of contributing to the development of context-dependent knowledge of entrepreneurship. Focussing on the life narratives of two expatriate female business-owners who created a common enterprise, the case permits to uncover and critically assess the different stages of the entrepreneurial process in a unique cultural setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed a narrative case study approach to allow for a rich contextual information to emerge from the detailed accounts of individual lives and entrepreneurial experiences of case protagonists. Data were gathered from multiple sources (e.g. interviews, e-mail exchanges, web sites) and subsequently analyzed and coded into prevalent themes by two researchers and one assistant independently, permitting to achieve both data and investigator triangulation.
Findings
This case elucidates the entrepreneurial journey of two female expatriates who launched their individual businesses and joined efforts in the establishment of Heels and Deals (H & D), a network that helps UAE-based women-entrepreneurs reach their professional aspirations within a patriarchal society. The cofounders are now at a cross-roads where they have to make a choice between running their own businesses to secure their sustainability and focussing on H & D to lead its international expansion. The narratives of the case protagonists allow contrasting the discovery and creation views of entrepreneurship and examining the role of leadership skills and personality characteristics in entrepreneurial success.
Originality/value
Despite an increasing number of businesswomen in the UAE, little is known about the way they approach the complex entrepreneurial process and deal with challenges and opportunities faced on the road. The case bridges this gap by offering the possibility to reflect on how expatriate female entrepreneurs in a Middle-Eastern context balance multiple trade-offs to succeed in their business-related endeavors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Samar Essam El Dien Amer, a former undergraduate student at the School of Business Administration at the American University of Sharjah (UAE), for her valuable assistance during the initial stages of this research project. The constructed comments and recommendations provided by the anonymous reviewers on the prior versions of this manuscript are acknowledged with thanks.
Citation
Bodolica, V. and Spraggon, M. (2015), "Life on heels and making deals: A narrative approach to female entrepreneurial experiences in the UAE", Management Decision, Vol. 53 No. 5, pp. 984-1004. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-10-2013-0552
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited