Search results

This bibliometric review aims to display visually the intellectual communities (i.e. the cooperation networks among various countries, institutions, journals and individuals), the intellectual structure (i.e. the status quo and development trajectory of the intellectual base) and emerging hot topics of the female entrepreneurship research in 1975-2018. Based on the comprehensive review of the state-of-the-science, this paper aims to identify significant research gaps in extant studies and develop potential future research agendas that may catalyse new streams of female entrepreneurship research.

Bibliometric analysis via science mapping provides in-depth analyzes, highlights the intellectual structure and identifies hot topics. Using CiteSpace, co-citation networks of contributing countries, institutions, cited journals and authors are mapped first. Second, co-citation network analysis helps to identify the key “nodes” in the intellectual structure. The landscape view identifies main clusters from an overall perspective, while a timeline view delineates the characteristics and evolution of focal clusters. Major clusters are interpreted in detail with the help of foam tree graph processed by Carrot. Finally, the co-occurrence network analysis is conducted by using VOSviewer to examine hot topics and research frontiers

The findings show that the publications of female entrepreneurship increase exponentially. The major driving force of female entrepreneurship research is from the USA and England. In terms of intellectual structure, key concepts behind different clusters represent the major milestones in relation to individual determinants of female entrepreneurship, the impact of cultural and contextual factors on female entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship in non-OECD countries, as well as the impact of family, social and institutional factors on the survival and exit of male and female enterprises. Hot topics include financing sources, the embeddedness nature, the impact and environmental factors of female entrepreneurship.

This study presents important practical implications. The findings suggest that intellectual communities of the female entrepreneurship field are relatively loose. Close contact and cooperation among different countries, institutions and researchers are lacking. To promote the evolution of the field, researchers who belong to different institutions in different countries may need to strengthen contact and cooperation. Additionally, papers in journals from the business and management discipline are most cited in this field, preventing new knowledge from other disciplines flowing into the female entrepreneurship field. Accordingly, female entrepreneurship research journals may need to expand their focus and combine knowledge from various domains.

This bibliometric review provides a more comprehensive, systematic and objective review of the female entrepreneurship field. Previous qualitative reviews are typically based on personal judgement, while a few quantitative reviews only describe statistical data. This study is based on thousands of citation data rather than a small number of papers pre-selected by the researcher, thus, is more data-grounded and less biased than prior reviews. It expands previous reviews by transparently visualizing the underlying structure and evolution of the field. Moreover, it highlights significant gaps in extant studies and develops future research agendas to catalyse new streams of research.

This paper aims to propose a multi-level integrative research framework anchored in an institutional theory that can successfully capture the multitude of factors affecting the expression of female entrepreneurship in context. Although female entrepreneurship is known to contribute to economic growth and vitality, and to enhance the diversity of employment in any economic system, there is very little research pertaining to female entrepreneurship in the Middle East. The authors use this framework to provide insights into multi-level factors enabling and constraining the experience of female entrepreneurship in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and advance knowledge of female entrepreneurship in a particular Middle Eastern context as well as cross-nationally.

Analytical framework and qualitative research methodology consisting of focus group meetings and interviews with 15 female entrepreneurs and five male partners in the UAE.

Our findings aptly highlight the salience of a complex set of entangled factors lying at multiple levels of analysis in shaping female entrepreneurship in the UAE. Our findings also accentuate the importance of the institutional and social contexts in shaping the situational opportunities and constraints that affect female entrepreneurship and its complex expressions in a particular society. Although our findings document a positive tide of change in favor of female entrepreneurship, they also reveal the persistence of various traces of stereotypes and patriarchy that continue to constrain the free expressions of female entrepreneurship in the UAE.

This study contributes empirically by conveying the lived experiences of a sample of women entrepreneurs in the UAE, but the results cannot be generalized given the limited size of the sample investigated. Conceptually, the analytical framework proposed in this paper represents a simplified heuristic tool rather than an explanatory model of the complex dynamics and interplays between different levels of analysis and institutional pressures when examining female entrepreneurship.

The value added of this research is to present original insights into female entrepreneurship from a vibrant Middle Eastern context, namely, the UAE, a country that has attracted and witnessed increasing attention in recent years in the context of globalization. In view of the Western-centric nature of academic publication on the topic, there is a real need for fresh theoretical and empirical insights stemming from an Arab-Middle Eastern context to advance knowledge and scholarship in this area.

This study aims to investigate the synergies between the economic environment and the smart living dimension embedded in the current smart city initiatives, focusing on the localization of female entrepreneurship in contemporary cities. This interaction is under-investigated and controversial as it includes cities' practices enabling users and citizens to develop their potential and build their own lives, affecting entrepreneurial and economic outcomes. Building upon the perspective of the innovation ecosystems, this study focuses on the impact of smart living dimensions and R&D investments on the localization of female entrepreneurial activities.

The study uses a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and a panel dataset that considers 30 Italian smart city projects for 12 years to demonstrate the relationship between smart living practices in cities and the localization of female entrepreneurship. The complementary effect of public R&D investment is also included as a driver in the “smart” city transition.

The study found that the advancement of smart living practices in cities drives the localization of female entrepreneurship. The study highlights the empirical results, the interaction over the years and a current overview through choropleth maps. The public R&D investment also affects this relationship.

This study advances the theoretical discussion on (1) female entrepreneurial intentions, (2) smart city advancement (as a context) and (3) smart living dimension (as a driver) and offers valuable insight for governance and policymakers.

This study offers empirical contributions to the preliminary academic debate on enterprise development and smart city trajectories at the intersection between human-based practices and female entrepreneurship.

This study offers empirical contributions to the preliminary academic debate on enterprise development and smart city trajectories at the intersection between human-based practices and female entrepreneurship. The findings provide valuable insights into the localization of female entrepreneurship in the context of smart cities.

This study seeks to develop a clearer understanding of the motivational factors affecting Saudi female business undergraduates' choice of pursuing entrepreneurship.

The research adopts a quantitative approach to gain general understanding of the students' perceptions with regard to their motivations to pursue entrepreneurship. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey administered to 214 female business undergraduates at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (PMU) in Al-Khobar, to investigate their perceptions of entrepreneurial motivations. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used to identify the motivational factors. Multiple regression analysis was used to reveal relationships between the motivation factors and entrepreneurial motivation of female business undergraduates.

The study revealed four generalised entrepreneurial motivations among Saudi female business undergraduates: personal motivational factors with an emphasis on freedom and social status; business motivational factors such as financial rewards and security; social motivational factors manifested in the influence of the community, roles and family; and environmental motivations which were mainly associated to education, the market knowledge and ability to access finance.

The study was restricted to female students at PMU University. Thus, generalisation of the results could be limited. The findings of the study could be useful to relevant authorities to enhance and boost entrepreneurship for female students and hence to contribute to the national Vision 2030.

This study is among those few studies located in the MENA region that explore Saudi female university students' attitude towards entrepreneurship. It adds to the authors' understanding on the four generalised factors by highlighting the importance of the family's role and entrepreneurship education in motivating Saudi female students towards entrepreneurship engagement. It also contributes to the understanding of these motivations that could be applied in other similar contexts.

The study examines the characteristics and development trends of female entrepreneurship publications, cooperation networks between countries, journals and individuals, intellectual structure of female entrepreneurship studies in Africa and hot research topics. Future comparative studies in different contexts and interdisciplinary collaboration can enrich the understanding about female entrepreneurship research.

The authors used text mining to analyze 130 peer-reviewed articles published from 1975 to 2022 for keywords and classify them into eight main classes: (1) Paradoxical space and informality, (2) work–family conflict, (3) women's entrepreneurial identity and networking, (4) rural women's entrepreneurial activities in the agricultural sector, (5) religious belief and women's entrepreneurial practice, (6) financial trap and environmental challenges, (7) women's entrepreneurial intentions and capacity building and (8) women in cultural entrepreneurship.

Female entrepreneurship publications develop significantly. Since 1975, African female entrepreneurship study has grown. Results show 130 publications from 1975 to 2023, with two papers published yearly in 2006–2011 and 23 in 2023, indicating growing interest. Paradoxical space and informality, work–family conflict, women's entrepreneurial identity and networking, religious belief and practice, financial trap and environmental challenges and entrepreneurial intentions and capacity building were hot topics identified by topic modeling analysis.

Female entrepreneurs have looser intellectual networks. Nation, organization and researcher communication is inadequate. Collaborating researchers from different universities and countries may develop the field.

This study is more data-driven and less biased than earlier reviews because it is based on thousands of citation data rather than a small number of papers pre-selected by the researchers. Displaying the field's structure and evolution enhances previous reviews.

This study aims to add a gender perspective to the current ecosystem of entrepreneurship education whereby an innovative model of the female entrepreneurship education ecosystem (FEEE) consisting of five stakeholders (university, government, society, enterprise and the international community) is examined.

The study conducted an online questionnaire among 505 respondents from two universities and one higher vocational college in China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the correlation between factors and structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to test the five hypotheses proposed in the study.

The results indicated that the five stakeholders (the university, government, society, enterprise and international community) positively affect FEEE. The study emphasizes the urgent demand to consider gender perspectives in the ecosystem of entrepreneurship education and provides plausible ways to conduct female-targeted education with the joint efforts of different stakeholders.

The study aims to increase the number of future female entrepreneurs, enhance the future skills of female students in the digital era and ultimately advance humankind. The study emphasizes the urgent demand to consider gender-perspective in the entrepreneurship education ecosystem and provides plausible ways to conduct female-targeted education with the joint efforts of different stakeholders.

This paper sheds light on evaluating FEEE through five stakeholders' dimensions, which explores the solutions to the current female entrepreneurship education (FEE) issues.

The paper aims to shed light on the factors that affect female entrepreneurship at the macro-environment level and motherhood in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Drawing on the 5M model and an institutional approach, this paper uses a qualitative semi-structured in-depth interview approach with 44 female entrepreneurs.

The results uncover several findings highlighting the important influence of the macro-environment on female entrepreneurs in Bahrain, grouped under formal (complex regulations, double employment constraints and financial obligations) and informal (societal perceptions) institutions, as well as the nuanced role of motherhood factors.

The study addresses the motherhood aspect of female entrepreneurs comprising household, family, child/elderly care and societally perceived female duties. Therefore, it constitutes the primary building block in a more gender-aware approach to female entrepreneurship. Addressing societal perceived gender roles leads to a comprehensive perspective on the study of female entrepreneurs.

Women entrepreneurs face several challenges in creating and running ventures, especially in emerging and developing countries. In this sense, by aiming to generate inputs capable of helping overcome them, this study aims to categorize the policy, managerial and practical implications of articles whose empirical research was in one or more of the 155 emerging and developing countries. Further, although scholars have addressed female entrepreneurship in developed economies, there is scant literature in the context explored here. This article provides suggestions for new studies, helping academics fill gaps in the literature.

This article adopts a systematic literature review approach, performing content analysis and bibliometric description for the sample. The study comprises 77 articles selected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Research concentrates on Asian countries, with lower incidences in Latin America and Africa. The policy implications focus mainly on the executive rather than legislative spheres. The practical implications focus mainly on entrepreneurial development agencies and women entrepreneurs. Among the suggestions for novel studies, those focusing on methodological choices and female enterprises stand out.

This paper maps and categorizes the policy, managerial and practical implications, helping to raise governments’, policymakers’ and practitioners’ awareness of the preferred strategies to overcome the challenges of female entrepreneurship.

This paper emphasizes reflections of mutual interest to researchers, policymakers and practitioners, filling gaps in studies that prioritize an academic audience. Regarding the academic audience, this paper contributes to innovatively categorizing suggestions for future research and building an extensive research agenda capable of guiding research in this area.

The use of social media is becoming increasingly important for entrepreneurial marketing as a way to gain psychological empowerment through female entrepreneurship. The participation of female entrepreneurs on social media has witnessed an increasing trend. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of social media participation on female entrepreneurs towards digital entrepreneurship intention and their psychological empowerment.

This cross-sectional study integrates the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework with uses and gratification theory to understand and determine a theoretical framework in understanding the importance of social media for female entrepreneurship in the contemporary digital era. To ensure internal consistency of the latent constructs, this study determines Cronbach’s alpha for all the variables. Further, exploratory factor analysis is performed to ensure the unidimensionality of the latent constructs. Structural equation modelling is performed to test the theoretical framework.

Data analysis confirms the significant effect of social media participations on female entrepreneurs towards their digital entrepreneurship intention which further affects their psychological empowerment.

The practical contributions of this study highlight the importance of female entrepreneurship which is essential for attaining self-reliance by reducing the socio-economic barriers. Further, female entrepreneurs’ participation in social media communities enhances the levels of empowerment.

The article examines whether cross-border trade in digitally delivered services (DDSs) has an influence on European female entrepreneurship. Two research questions were asked to assess the potential impact of trade in DDSs both on the import and export sides.

To answer the research questions, the panel data for 26 European countries for the years 2008–2019 were implemented to estimate panel regression models. Based on the results of variance inflation factors (VIFs) and Breusch–Pagan and Hausman tests, the estimations of panel models were conducted for female entrepreneurship as a dependent variable and measures of import and export of digitally delivered services as independent variables.

The imports of digitally delivered services positively affect female entrepreneurship in European countries, whilst the impact of the export of digitally delivered services is statistically insignificant. The possibility of being a customer of digitally delivered services through its import may become a gender equaliser in entrepreneurship. However, as differences in digital competencies and growth intentions prevent women from acting as the providers of digitally delivered services, the export of DDSs can sustain the existing gender gap in entrepreneurship.

The research findings provide the added value in the field of female entrepreneurship, referring to institutional theory and human capital theory. The import of DDSs seems to support female entrepreneurs through the reduction of cultural distance, whilst the human capital theory gains the perspective of limited digital competencies needed to export DDSs as a pathway to the internationalisation of women's ventures. The practical implications for trade policy, digitalisation and gender equality should aim not only at supporting women's export propensity, but should also focus on the development of their digital competencies.

Instead of commonly used perspective of international entrepreneurship, the authors implemented the lens of cross-border trade to check whether there is a linkage between internationalisation, measured by imports and exports of DDSs and female entrepreneurship. Trade economists neglect the gender dimension in their studies of pro-growth internationalisation. In contrast, research on female entrepreneurship does not consider the potential of cross-border trade in DDSs as a gender equaliser.