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1 – 10 of over 19000The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of gender and regional cultures on entrepreneurial intentions and perceived barriers to entrepreneurship in two diverse…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of gender and regional cultures on entrepreneurial intentions and perceived barriers to entrepreneurship in two diverse regions of a state. Authors in the past have consistently expressed the need for studies on entrepreneurial intentions that would encompass both the gender and cultural dimensions, as there is a potential interactive effect between sex and culture, which remains largely unstudied despite its potential to provide an explanation for the contradictory findings that have emerged when either sex or culture was studied separately.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a quantitative study. The primary data were derived from the students of professional courses. The sampling method used was proportionate stratified sampling. The scales used were tested with regard to validity and reliability. The chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and Mann–Whitney U test were used to draw relationships between the variables.
Findings
The findings indicated significant gender differences in perceptions of barriers and entrepreneurial intentions among youth. The findings also showed that the barrier perceptions and the entrepreneurial intentions between genders vary with change in culture at the regional level.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the very limited research available on perceived barriers and entrepreneurial intentions that focuses on the effect of gender from a cross-cultural perspective. This paper further contributes by testing the results in two culturally diverse regions of a single state of India, which has helped us understand the impact of regional cultures while controlling for the effects of the entrepreneurship support systems provided by the governments in different nations.
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Manjit Singh Sandhu, Shaufique Fahmi Sidique and Shoaib Riaz
Postgraduate students who are more mature and have greater job experience are more likely to be inclined towards entrepreneurship. However, postgraduate students face various…
Abstract
Purpose
Postgraduate students who are more mature and have greater job experience are more likely to be inclined towards entrepreneurship. However, postgraduate students face various barriers such as lack of funds, fear of failure and lack of social networking that may hinder their entrepreneurial inclination. The barriers faced by these postgraduate students may also exhibit different dimensions compared with barriers faced by existing entrepreneurs. This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived barriers to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial inclination.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey‐based methodology, data were collected from a sample of 267 postgraduate students from various Malaysian universities. Respondents' perception towards five barriers to entrepreneurship (aversion to risk, fear of failure, lack of resources, lack of social networking, and aversion to stress and hard work) and their entrepreneurial inclination were assessed.
Findings
The model R‐squared indicated that 31.5 percent of the variation in the entrepreneurial inclination is explained by the five perceived barriers. The highest ranked barrier to entrepreneurship was lack of social networking followed by lack of resources and aversion to risk.
Research limitations/implications
The findings in this study cannot be generalized to non‐student populations since it covers only postgraduate students. The quantitative approach used was unable to uncover in‐depth information on the various barriers. A qualitative approach may be more appropriate to obtain further details.
Originality/value
This research provides interesting insights into the entrepreneurship barriers faced by postgraduate students from a developing nation where such research is lacking.
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Kumari Amrita Tripathi and Saumya Singh
This paper aims to study the impediments and difficulties that prevent Indian women from becoming entrepreneurs.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the impediments and difficulties that prevent Indian women from becoming entrepreneurs.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained through a survey involving 15 experts. Based on the feedback provided by the experts, ten relevant barriers in the context of Indian micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) were chosen. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data. These ten barriers create obstruction for Indian women as entrepreneurs. These barriers were ranked, and causal relationships among them established using interpretive structural modeling and Matrice d’Impacts croises-multiplication appliqúean classment (cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification) (ISM–MICMAC) approach.
Findings
This study identifies, on the basis of extant literature and experts’ opinion, ten barriers to female entrepreneurship. These barriers were ranked, and causal relationships among them established using the ISM–MICMAC approach. On the basis of ranking, women can move forward in MSMEs after removing these obstacles and it will have good results.
Research limitations/implications
In this research, with literature reviews and experts opinion, ten barriers have been identified for women’s entrepreneurship and have been used to build the model.
Practical implications
To bring Indian women forward in the field of entrepreneurship, both the society and the government should work together, and efforts should be made to overcome the obstacles coming in the way of entrepreneurs.
Social implications
Female entrepreneurship in India faces many problems including negative attitude of authorities and society toward women. The society and authorities have no format or model for Indian women to move forward in the entrepreneurship sector.
Originality/value
This study seeks to identify, on the basis of a thorough review of literature and expert opinion, major barriers to female entrepreneurship in the context of Indian MSMEs.
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Wendy A. Bradley and Caroline Fry
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…
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.
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Boumediene Kebaili, Saif Saeed Al-Subyae and Fahed Al-Qahtani
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of psychological and institutional factors on the entrepreneurial intention among Qatari male students. Qatar has the world…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of psychological and institutional factors on the entrepreneurial intention among Qatari male students. Qatar has the world highest incomes per capita. Recently, the government launched many initiatives to stimulate Qatari’s to engage in entrepreneurship activities.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. The target population of this research were Qatari male students in the final year of Bachelor degree in Management. A total of 155 responses were used for the purpose of this study.
Findings
The findings indicate that Qatari male students hold a high entrepreneurial intention. In addition, two institutional barriers and three psychological barriers were found to be associated with the entrepreneurial intention.
Research limitations/implications
It would be interesting to investigate the barriers to entrepreneurial intention among Qatari female students by expanding the current theoretical framework to include some cultural factors pertaining to Qatari female students.
Practical implications
This study has implications for statutory bodies involved in promoting entrepreneurship activities. In addition, it offers some suggestions for educational institutions and vocational training centres.
Originality/value
The research confirms the need for more than one theory in explaining the entrepreneurship intention. Another contribution is the context of this study. Qatar’s social, economic and political contexts are totally dissimilar from Eastern or Western set-ups. The study provides some insights on the psychological and institutional barriers among Qatari male students.
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Fatma Abd El Basset, Robin Bell and Buthaina Al Kharusi
Previous research has found that family characteristics, including family income, entrepreneurship/business experience and family size, can influence offspring’s entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research has found that family characteristics, including family income, entrepreneurship/business experience and family size, can influence offspring’s entrepreneurial potential and perception of the barriers to entrepreneurship. This paper aims to extend this proposition to women in Oman to determine whether family income, entrepreneurship/business experience and family size influence women’s perception of barriers to entrepreneurship
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on primary data that was collected through a structured questionnaire from 123 female respondents at an Omani private university. The data was analysed using PCA, correlation and regression analysis to determine the influence of the family characteristic on the perception of barriers to entrepreneurship.
Findings
The findings concluded that the three family characteristics being tested were not able to predict a change in the perception of barriers to entrepreneurship. This contradicts previous research conducted in Western contexts and highlights the potential weakness in family support for female entrepreneurship in Oman.
Originality/value
These results challenge some of the extant findings in the literature, thus enriching the current perspectives on female entrepreneurship and the impact of Omani family characteristics, in terms of income, economic background and family size, on the perception of barriers that hinder entrepreneurship among female students
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Boumediene Kebaili, Saif Saeed Al-Subyae, Fahed Al-Qahtani and Zakariya Belkhamza
The purpose of this paper is to explore the major entrepreneurship barriers facing Qataris. Qatar has a very specific economic and cultural environment that is different from any…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the major entrepreneurship barriers facing Qataris. Qatar has a very specific economic and cultural environment that is different from any other Arab or western country. Such differences may contribute to the existing literature regarding entrepreneurship barriers in the Middle East.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative methodology was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with final year business students. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were used in order to uncover all aspects related to the research objective from the students’ perspective.
Findings
Seven factors were identified as the main barriers to start-up new business activities among Qataris, which are: the non-availability of funds, risk avoidance, fear of failure, market barriers, knowledge barriers, stress avoidance, and attitude towards change.
Research limitations/implications
It will be very useful to conduct a comparative study that covers more Gulf Cooperation Council countries to see whether the findings can be generalised to them. Furthermore, since this study adopted a qualitative approach, it will be interesting to empirically test these findings using a quantitative method.
Practical implications
The government needs to ease and facilitate the loans, by establishing a government fund for financing new businesses. Learning institutions have an important role to reduce these barriers. Indeed, promoting a healthy culture that encourages and promotes entrepreneurship can be achieved by including specialised entrepreneurship courses into students’ curriculum as early as primary schools. Government can also allocate certain percentage of contracts to new or small companies. This will ease market access. Business associations must also play their part by providing assistance, and provide training programmes tailored to the need of local potential entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the entrepreneurship body of knowledge by providing insight from the Qatari-specific economic and social environment context.
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Udeni Salmon and Ann Singleton
The study deploys Anthias' intersectional framework of social spaces and her concept of translocational positionality to explore the barriers to entrepreneurship for refugee…
Abstract
Purpose
The study deploys Anthias' intersectional framework of social spaces and her concept of translocational positionality to explore the barriers to entrepreneurship for refugee entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom (UK). In particular, the study aims to assess how migrant identities require a specific form of business support.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 32 semi-structured interviews with 14 refugee entrepreneurs and 18 business support agents were conducted between April and October 2022 and, together with field notes, were combined for thematic analysis in NVivo 12.
Findings
Organisational, representational, intersubjective and experiential barriers combined to create practical and psychological deterrents to entrepreneurship for refugees. However, an explicitly humanistic and de-centred approach to business support was (partially) able to counter such barriers.
Practical implications
Policymakers and business support agencies should consider intersectional characteristics and the importance of a compassionate and individual approach when designing business support programmes for refugee entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
Two intersectional concepts of social spaces and translocational positionality are brought into conversation with each other, creating a novel approach to framing the barriers to entrepreneurship for refugees.
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Mohd. Nishat Faisal, Fauzia Jabeen and Marios I. Katsioloudes
In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, entrepreneurship is not a very popular option among women. The low rate of entrepreneurship as a career choice among females is…
Abstract
Purpose
In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, entrepreneurship is not a very popular option among women. The low rate of entrepreneurship as a career choice among females is attributed to factors that are specific to females in GCC region. The purpose of this paper is to understand these variables and their interrelationships that lead to low rate of adoption of entrepreneurship as a career choice among females in GCC region.
Design/methodology/approach
The research followed a two-stage process; first, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify barriers to female entrepreneurship in GCC region. In the second stage, the identified barriers were modeled using fuzzy interpretive structural modeling technique to construct a hierarchical structure and the impact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification approach to analyze the control power and dependence among these barriers.
Findings
The research shows that there exists a group of barriers having a high driving power and low dependence requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance, while another group consists of those variables that have high dependence and are the resultant actions.
Practical implications
This research will help policy makers to focus on variables that are most important and requires immediate attention for the development and empowerment of female entrepreneurship in the GCC region. The paper suggests future course of action to provide an impetus to efforts aimed at improving female entrepreneurship in the GCC region.
Originality/value
The policy makers in the GCC region have accorded high priority to entrepreneurship to reduce the dependence of population on government jobs. This research is one of the few studies on female entrepreneurship conducted in GCC region to understand the impediments that limit the adoption of entrepreneurship as a career choice by women.
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Bahadur Ali Soomro, Nadia A. Abdelmegeed Abdelwahed and Naimatullah Shah
The current environment is unhelpful to female entrepreneurs, and they need to overcome numerous barriers when starting their own businesses. In this study, the researchers…
Abstract
Purpose
The current environment is unhelpful to female entrepreneurs, and they need to overcome numerous barriers when starting their own businesses. In this study, the researchers investigated the significant barriers that Pakistani female entrepreneurs require to overcome in this respect.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the researchers used a quantitative study and they used a questionnaire to survey the respondents and collect cross-sectional data. The researchers targeted female students who were undertaking bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in different Pakistani public and private sector universities. Accordingly, the researchers based this study’s findings on the usable samples received from 498 Pakistani female students.
Findings
The researchers used a structural equation model (SEM) in this study and its findings highlight that aversion to risk (ATR) has an insignificant impact on entrepreneurial inclinations (EI). In addition, fear of failure (FoF), lack of resources (LoR), aversion to hard work and stress (ASH) and the lack of social networking (LSN) have negative and insignificant effects on EI. The ATR factor has an insignificant effect on entrepreneurial success (ES), whereas FoF, LoR, ASH and LSN are negative and insignificant predictors of Pakistani female students’ ES.
Practical implications
This study’s findings may help Pakistani women to overcome the barriers to ES. In this respect, the researchers recommend that the Pakistan Government and policymakers develop significant strategies to provide the conducive business environment and to financially support Pakistani women to start their own businesses. Furthermore, this study’s findings contribute greatly to the vast amount of current literature and help to overcome the entrepreneurial conditions and barriers that potential entrepreneurs from advanced and developing countries experience frequently.
Originality/value
This study’s findings provide empirical evidence of EI and ES in Pakistan.
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