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21 – 30 of over 15000Saadat Nakyejwe Lubowa Kimuli, Kasimu Sendawula and Shakilah Nagujja
This study aims to explore the sustainable entrepreneurship practices undertaken in women-owned businesses, challenges and strategies that women business owners intend to adopt to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the sustainable entrepreneurship practices undertaken in women-owned businesses, challenges and strategies that women business owners intend to adopt to implement more sustainable entrepreneurship practices using evidence from Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is cross-sectional and qualitative in nature. It involved conducting in-depth interviews with women business owners operating in Owino market and study results were analyzed using ATLAS. ti 8.
Findings
The results indicate that women business owners undertake social, environmental and economic practices in their businesses. However, participants are constrained by fire outbreaks, riskiness of their businesses and breakdown of machinery. Therefore, indicated plans of using energy-saving stoves and electronic tailoring machines digitizing their businesses and hiring skilled workers in order to improve sustainable entrepreneurship practices in their businesses.
Originality/value
This study offers maiden evidence on the sustainable entrepreneurship practices undertaken by women business owners, challenges faced and strategies undertaken to support uptake of more sustainable entrepreneurship practices in their businesses using evidence from Uganda.
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This paper aims to examine the relationship between family responsibilities and family support, on the one hand, and decisions by men and women concerning owning a business, as…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relationship between family responsibilities and family support, on the one hand, and decisions by men and women concerning owning a business, as well as how many hours they work in that business.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used data collected by the US Current Population Survey between 1989 and 2011 and had a starting sample of 1,258,430 individuals, and a final sample of 27,147.
Findings
The authors found that both women and men are more inclined to own a business when they are married, have children or receive financial support from their spouse. They also found widespread gender differences in these analyses. The influence of family-related issues on owning a business is stronger for women than for men.
Originality/value
The findings indicate that male business owners work longer hours if they have young children. In contrast, female business owners reduce their work hours if they are married, have young children and receive support from their spouse. Implications are discussed.
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Charles Stephen Tundui and Hawa Petro Tundui
The purpose of this paper is to investigate performance drivers of women-owned businesses that are funded primarily through microcredit. It draws on Storey’s theory of small…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate performance drivers of women-owned businesses that are funded primarily through microcredit. It draws on Storey’s theory of small business growth and family embeddedness axiom to examine the factors that drive the performance of businesses that are funded primarily through microcredit.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a cross-sectional survey that covered 208 women business owners who had access to microcredit. The authors use a logistic regression analysis to model the relationship between independent variables and enterprise performance.
Findings
The paper demonstrates that microcredit plays a significant role in business performance. The credit amount has the most significant influence on the enterprise capital base, whereas the effect on profits is insignificant. Also, owners are more likely to report growth in profits if they possess skills in business management. In addition, younger business owners and necessity entrepreneurs are more likely to report success in their businesses. Other factors that have a significant effect on business performance are product cycle, loan use and family support.
Originality/value
Many women in Tanzania are entering business ownership and depend on microcredit as their primary source of capital for starting and growing their businesses. However, just a few businesses grow into small and medium-sized enterprises. For informed policy decisions, it is important that the factors influencing the performance of funded businesses are known and well understood. This understanding will help the government and development practitioners assist women in achieving business growth rates that could warrant their empowerment and poverty reduction prospects.
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Saeid Abbasian and Darush Yazdanfar
The main purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence which identifies the impact of ethnicity and other relevant variables on external capital acquisition among Swedish…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence which identifies the impact of ethnicity and other relevant variables on external capital acquisition among Swedish women‐owned businesses at start‐up.
Design/methodology/approach
Several methods have been employed to analyze the sample including a binary logistic regression model. The sample consists of 836 women‐owned businesses in southeast Sweden; 97 immigrant‐owned, 739 native born‐owned.
Findings
The results indicate that there are partly significant differences between native women‐owned firms and immigrant woman‐owned businesses at start‐up. Unlike the native‐owned firms, the immigrant woman‐owned businesses rely more on loans from family members and less on bank loans.
Practical implications
The results reveal that age has a positive impact on loans from family members, while the additional job outside one's own business, the amount of the owner's personal start‐up capital and firm size positively influenced access to capital from banks. The owners' level of education, previous business experience, the legal form taken by the firm and the industry affiliation conversely played no significant role in explaining the women owners' attitudes toward loans from either friends or the bank.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first empirical investigation addressing this issue in the Swedish context.
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Shanan Gwaltney Gibson, William C. McDowell and Michael L. Harris
This exploratory study examines the financial performance satisfaction of small business owners at two time periods: (1) nearing the end of the Great Recession and (2) three years…
Abstract
This exploratory study examines the financial performance satisfaction of small business owners at two time periods: (1) nearing the end of the Great Recession and (2) three years into economic recovery. In addition to considering small business owners in general, special attention has been paid to women and minority owners. Using independent samples t-tests, results indicate that business owners are more satisfied with their financial performance in 2012 than they were in 2009. However, results were not consistent for all subgroups of the population; differences exist between men and women owners and between Caucasian and minority owners. Whereas men mirrored the results for all business owners, women did not report increased satisfaction in any of the five areas of financial performance examined. Caucasian owners reported increases in four of the five areas of financial health and minority owners saw an increase in only three. The study also provides practical implications and areas for future research.
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Whereas the extant literature on women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively focused on developed nations, the effect of many context-specific issues of other countries on…
Abstract
Purpose
Whereas the extant literature on women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively focused on developed nations, the effect of many context-specific issues of other countries on ventures of women has been overlooked. The study aims to reveal how political unrest, a common feature of the developing nation, can significantly affect the experiences of women in small businesses of that region.
Design/methodology/approach
This feminist research is conducted on Bangladesh, which is one of the most politically unstable countries in the world. The study conducts interviews with women to explore the adverse effect of political unrest on their small firms.
Findings
The feminist research reveals some problems of women business-owners concerning political unrest in this highly patriarchal context. It also discloses how political chaos challenges the government initiative in financially supporting women business-owners.
Practical implications
Policymakers of developing nations can be benefitted by taking into account the problems of women business-owners concerning political unrest, specifically the access to debt financing issues while designing policies for women's empowerment.
Originality/value
The article contributes to the women's entrepreneurship scholarship with reference to political unrest, a contextual issue of developing nations. Whereas the existing studies mostly concentrate on holding women individually liable for the limited scale of their business operation, this research potentially challenges the view by drawing upon political unrest as an external factor that negatively affects their ventures. The study further advances the prevailing knowledge by critically unveiling some gender-specific problems of women business-owners regarding political unrest.
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The purpose of this paper is to compare the transformational leadership style of women business owners and those women in the top position of organizations with women executives…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare the transformational leadership style of women business owners and those women in the top position of organizations with women executives who are not in the top leadership position of organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach using a population and business owners and executives from the private sector of the American Management Association.
Findings
The findings support the relationship between a woman owning a business or being in the top position and the increased use of transformational leadership behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
The paper analyzes data collected in 1997 and the changes to the demographics may in fact be a limitation of the study.
Originality/value
The study focuses on the importance of contextual considerations in the study of women and their use of transformational leadership.
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The purpose of this paper is to deal with the design of small‐business training programs and focuses on women business owners, their real needs and the supply of adequate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deal with the design of small‐business training programs and focuses on women business owners, their real needs and the supply of adequate training. How and to what extent are client selection and support needs influenced by the gender system?
Design/methodology/approach
An in‐depth study of an ambitious Swedish project is reported. Interviews with the participating business‐owners and advisors, combined with observations during lectures and coaching sessions have been conducted.
Findings
Even gender‐conscious support organizations may have a biased process of client recruitment, leading to an unintended discrimination of women business owners. The women meet the same obstacles as men but also give witness to the subtle obstacles which originate in the gender‐system.
Research limitations/implications
The study is qualitative and does not aim to provide statistically valid generalizations.
Practical implications
Gender awareness of support organizations is crucial, in client selection as well as in designing programs and when coaching. These business owners need to understand the gender system in order to handle it more effectively. It is argued that special programs are still needed, even in a country like Sweden known for its relative equality between women and men.
Originality/value
The context is interesting and the longitudinal in‐depth approach brought the author unusually close to advisors and participants. It enabled an understanding of what happened over a short period of time in the minds of those involved, regarding sensitive issues.
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M. Cristina Díaz García and Sara Carter
In this paper, a social capital perspective is presented to illustrate the interaction between gender and resource mobilization through business owners' networks.
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, a social capital perspective is presented to illustrate the interaction between gender and resource mobilization through business owners' networks.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper explores the resources provided by key supporters of small and young Spanish business owners within the professional service sector.
Findings
The findings suggest that a small group of key individuals provides a diverse range of mainly intangible support to the entrepreneur. Overall, the paper finds only limited support for the idea that male and female networks differ in resource mobilization except for the source of contacts‐referrals and emotional capital. The importance of including emotional capital is evident in the fact that men and women seek it in large numbers, although few studies consider it within the resources provided by the entrepreneurial networks, since it is normally attributed to women and the private sphere.
Research limitations/implications
It seems that women business owners, through their embeddedness in networks, can build a bridge between their agency and the structure which normally implies some constraints for them due to the gender‐belief system. Establishing a mentorship program can prove very useful, since business owners prioritize obtaining intangible resources from their key supporters: ideas‐advice, emotional support, and contacts‐referrals.
Originality/value
Despite the research attention on social capital in recent years, prior work has tended to focus on how actors connect (structural dimension); however, there is a dearth of research about the resources actors can potentially gain access to by examining with whom they connect. Moreover, few studies have recognized the impact of gender on networking experiences.
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While the entrepreneurship and small business research literature has tended to portray women as lesser than men in identifying the differences between them, little research has…
Abstract
Purpose
While the entrepreneurship and small business research literature has tended to portray women as lesser than men in identifying the differences between them, little research has looked at how gender is construed in business ownership. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new focus, examining how male and female business owners construe each other.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employs George Kelly's personal construct theory and repertory grids to examine the constructs associated with male and female business owners.
Findings
It is found that there are many constructs used to describe business owners and, counter to predictions from some of the literature review, few differences between the way in which male and female business owners are construed. The paper offers explanations as to why so few differences are found.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is limited to just one area of Britain and the businesses had all been established in the last three years. This will influence the generalizability of the findings.
Originality/value
This paper is able to offer research evidence to demonstrate that male and female business owners do not construe male and female business owners differently.
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