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The purpose of this is to classify the social and economic factors which impact the involvement of women in self-help groups (SHGs) for their economic as well as social empowerment.

The research has been conducted in Nainital district of Uttarakhand (India) in 2018. Primary data have been gathered from women respondent only on factors relating to the ownership of asset, housing characteristics and other demographic details. Both SHG and non-SHG women members have been chosen as key informants during the survey. Multi-stage purposive and stratified random sampling has been used for the selection of respondents and SHGs. The logit regression model has been formulated to describe the causes that influence the participation of women in SHGs. Also, an empowerment index has been constructed to measure the effect of SHGs on women empowerment.

The results show that factors including age, education, family type and distance from the market have a significant impact on the participation of women in SHGs. Also, there is a significant difference in both these values which suggests that the value of the empowerment index gets significantly increased after joining the SHGs.

Analytically derived factors have been used to develop an empowerment index. Hence, the present research is valuable for marketing practitioners, entrepreneurs and professionals from the development sector who intend to work amongst SHGs, primarily with women. The paper is valuable for academic researchers in this area so that the limited body of knowledge, on the empowerment index, could be developed.

The present research is unique because the authors did not find work, especially in the context of rural India, in the said area. Factors impacting the participation of women in SHGs along with the impact of participation on empowerment have been explored using the logit regression model, leading to the development of an empowerment index.

Microfinance/microcredit/self-help groups (SHGs), as an instrument of women's empowerment, have attracted the attention of many researchers. However, despite being one of the most important aspects of SHGs, leadership in these groups has been neglected in the existing literature. The purpose of this paper is to focus on leadership in women-SHGs, and particularly on factors contributing to the emergence of leaders.

The research followed quantitative methodology. The study was conducted on women-SHGs in Dharavi (Mumbai, India), one of the largest slums in Asia. An equal number of leaders and non-leader members from women-SHGs were interviewed.

The findings demonstrates that a “participative/democratic style of leadership” is preferred by non-leader members within female SHGs. It also highlights that apart from traits/abilities of members and their situation within family and the group, other external factors also contribute to the emergence of leaders within SHGs. Often, rules and regulations of formal institutions and government policies force the group to replace its most efficient leader with another with no proven leadership qualities. The findings compelled us to re-think: “Is it really traits or situations that influence the emergence of leaders within women-SHGs?” or, “Is it a matter of forced leadership?” Leadership in female SHGs needs to be understood in totality, within the framework of their domestic world and their socio-economic context.

The findings of the study provide scope to governments and other formal institutions to re-evaluate their existing policies, rules and regulations in dealing with female SHGs in order to help women's empowerment in a real sense.

The study was conducted using a limited number of female SHGs, but it provides an insight to existing practitioners, governments and other formal institutions that are working on microfinance and using SHGs to empower women.

The purpose of the paper is to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis and systematic review to examine the research landscape of women empowerment through participation in self-help groups (SHGs), identifying the eminent contributors, intellectual communities and future research agenda in the field of SHGs and women empowerment.

The global works of literature related to the theme of SHGs and women empowerment between 1998 and May 6, 2022 were scanned for bibliometric analysis and systematic review. A total of 176 English language documents from the Scopus database were extracted. Bibliometric analysis is conducted using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer software.

This study finds that SHGs are paramount in achieving rural women’s empowerment multidimensionally. Found that India is the most contributing country with 136 documents, and Ranjula Bali Swain and Fan Yang Wallentin are the most cited authors in the research field of SHGs and women empowerment. In addition, the paper proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework to portray rudimentary antecedents of women’s empowerment achieved through participation in SHGs.

This bibliometric analysis, along with a systematic review demonstrating a framework encapsulating the principal dimensions of women empowerment and their indicators, will be helpful to practitioners, government, policymakers and researchers working in the area of SHGs and women empowerment.

This study recognizes numerous significant contributions by eminent scholars and presents a concise review of the literature for novice researchers working in the area of SHGs and women empowerment.

The starting premise of this study is that women's empowerment is the goal for self-realization and that the support that comes from local tourism stakeholders represents an adequate base. In many rural areas, women have established self-help groups (SHGs), which facilitate the interaction with a wide range of stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of SHGs on female entrepreneurship and self-employment in tourism.

To examine the research question, this study adopted a quantitative research that included a sample of 513 women in a less-advanced rural area in Serbia. For the data analysis, the generalized linear regression model (GLM) was used.

According to the results, self-employment is the leading goal of women's empowerment.

The main limitation in the research and the authors’ suggestion for future research is to increase the sample size of female respondents, so examination of their attitudes and role in the travel business in their local settings might reach higher significance. The second issue that the authors would like to point out is a highly local character of our study, so the future research should involve other rural areas in the country and from abroad (e.g. similar undeveloped countryside with noticeable, active women's role in local entrepreneurship).

The most important practical implications of this paper are twofold: (1) the results of the research have shown that the tourist potential of rural areas can be enhanced through local tourism stakeholders' support; (2) women without professional interest or jobs in rural areas, especially in the areas where the population is traditionally dominated by men (husband/brother/father), have a chance to earn and to be economically more independent. This research can affect future studies to investigate other aspects of empowerment depending on the difference of regions, from one side, and also alternative opportunities for tourism and local development in less-advanced rural areas, from another side.

The study analyzes the tourism potential of the rural areas (which are less advanced and mostly very poor in developing countries, such as Serbia). In this case, there are opportunities to increase employment, social inclusion of women, development of new tourism strategies, implementation of destination marketing, etc. Moreover, it contributes to future research in the field of stakeholders in tourism strategies.

Through a thematic analysis, this research study aims to examine the role of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and self-help groups (SHGs) in empowering rural women and their contribution to financial inclusion in India. Sustainable development can be achieved when resources are equally available and accessible for all, irrespective of gender differences.

For qualitative research, the response was collected through focused group discussion and gathered responses from members working in SHGs in Uttarakhand in India. Thematic analysis was done to analyse the data till the saturation level was reached.

Despite several socio-economic developments worldwide, women still fall among some of the most vulnerable communities, unable to access resources at par with men. Thus, women’s empowerment emerges as a theme central to sustainable development. MFIs are looking to empower women by increasing their savings habits. There are consistent efforts on the part of the government to formalize the system of SHGs and give them additional financial support by creating a proper link between the banking system and SHGs. We also need technology and innovation for creating financial literacy among women. Women’s empowerment cannot be achieved unless they are involved in financial inclusion by creating awareness.

The research focuses on people’s socio-economic development, especially women living in hilly and rural areas within the specific context of Uttarakhand in India. This research will provide an opportunity for strategic approaches and reveal the areas where government needs to focus for sustainable development.

Self-help groups (SHGs) have widely been accepted by developing nations for their contribution to inclusive development. Despite its importance and the recognition of the same, SHGs and their members face several challenges. The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively investigate the inhibiting factors affecting the effectiveness of women SHGs. The paper also proposes a roadmap for all the self-help promoting institutions, such as banks, state and central government, and non-government organizations to address the challenges.

The study adopts an exploratory research design to undertake this applied research. It uses phenomenographic and interpretative approaches. Qualitative data have been collected from 24 members belonging to eight SHGs from the eastern Indian state of Odisha with the help of a semi-structured interview schedule. The result has been analyzed by using content analysis.

The study finds that SHG members in Odisha face several challenges in the form of financial bottlenecks, entrepreneurial obstacles, capacity-building impediments, mentor-ship challenges, socio-structural challenges and group dynamics.

The study finds many unique and contextual inhibiting factors, which are valuable additions to the existing literature. At the same time, the result may not be applicable to other kinds of SHGs, such as Alcoholic Anonymous, as their nature, composition and deliverables are quite different from the SHG that the current study has taken into consideration.

The proposed roadmap would be useful to policymakers, non-government organizations and other agencies involved in the promotion and capacity building of SHGs operating in Odisha in particular and India in general.

The literature is mainly concerned with the impact evaluation of SHG programs. This study investigates the challenges faced by SHGs in a systematic way and provides a roadmap to address the same in a comprehensive way.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the commercialisation mechanisms of the innovations that emerge from the informal sector of Indian economy. Also known as grassroots innovations, they are said to better fit with the local market demands and conditions in the developing nations of the world. The paper discusses the grassroots innovation ecosystem in India and the role that is played by the state in providing institutional support.

The paper is based on an exploratory study using both the primary and secondary sources of data. Primary data are taken from the interview of the innovators during the field work, whereas secondary data are acquired from research articles published in various journals indexed in Scopus and web of sciences, government publications and reports. The annual reports of National Innovation Foundation are analysed to gather information and to build the arguments for this paper. The secondary data are also collected and evaluated from the database of the grassroots innovators available on Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network.

The paper provides insight into how the grassroots innovations are commercialised in India through different pathways such as social entrepreneurship, technology transfer and open source technology. It takes four case studies to discuss the institutional support to the grassroots innovator and the challenges in the diffusion of the grassroots innovations.

Due to the chosen research approach, the results cannot be generalised on all grassroots innovations. Researchers are encouraged to conduct a survey of more grassroots innovations in order to derive generalised outputs.

The paper includes implications for understanding the diffusion process of grassroots innovations that can be useful for all the emerging and developing nations.

The paper fulfils an identified need to study the diffusion modes of informal sector innovations and management of grassroots innovations.

Gender equality and women empowerment which are part of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals have attracted researchers and policymakers worldwide. Various programmes and interventions aiming at empowerment have been designed and implemented by both national and international agencies. One of the flagship programmes of NABARD introduced in the year 1992, the self-help group (SHG)–bank linkage model is also known for its impact on the availability of credit and empowerment of women. Later, the SGSY scheme was restructured into the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in the year 2013. Initially, SHGs focussed on savings and credit linkage, but now the emphasis has been changed to generate livelihoods and economically empowering women on a sustainable basis through training women to establish micro-enterprises. In this facet, the journey of microfinance in empowering women is systematically analyzed. The state of Haryana has consistently outperformed other states in terms of economic and agricultural growth but it ranks poorly in terms of its key human development indicators. Despite high productivity and low poverty, the state faces challenges related to the health and nutrition of children. Literature provides evidence that the health and nutrition status of children and women is closely linked to women empowerment. Using secondary sources of data, we conclude that micro-finance can be a useful tool for empowering women provided the roadblocks are identified and the requisite support is provided to women entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the inequality perpetuated through social categories in accessing the social capital generated through the microfinance interventions in India as the country has pronounced economic inequality by social categories like many developing stratified societies.

The study uses survey data collected from 75 villages in rural India and tests whether the formation and maximization of social capital through self-help groups (SHGs) is dominated by social categories, e.g. high-caste groups, males and superior occupation classes. Using logistic regression framework, the study assesses the formation and maximization of social capital through multiple SHG membership.

The paper finds that the microfinance approach of empowering weaker sections is considerably limited in its success, in the sense that it provides them with the opportunity to the credit access and support through SHGs. But, the empirical model further indicates that social capital in form of these SHGs may fall prey to the dominant social categories, and thus, these institutions may potentially enhance inequality.

The paper is derived from the secondary data set, so it is unable to comment field reality qualitatively.

Microfinance policy makers will have an improved understanding of inherent social inequalities while implementing group-based programs in socially stratified societies.

Social capital, if treated as an outcome accumulated in form of groups, provides with an important framework to assess the unequal access through the microfinance interventions. Overlooking the inherent unequal access will deceive the purpose of social justice in the group-based interventions. The microfinance and other welfare policies engaged in group formation and generating the social capital need to be more sensitive to the disadvantageous sections while focusing on multiple group access by disadvantaged social groups.

The purpose of the paper is to address the sustainability issue of Self-help groups by means of developing small business/micro-entrepreneurs.

The causal relationship between empowerment through SHG and micro-entrepreneurship is being investigated by estimating empirical data through structural equation modelling with second-order latent factor.

Empirical examination supports the causal relationship between empowerment through SHG and small business.

The study is conforming the policy of group forming and, at this stage, develops a conceptual framework but with real implications for comprehensive policy decisions.

There are many studies on the women empowerment aspect of SHGs. However, few attempted to find out how the micro-entrepreneurs emerging from SHGs.