Does Corruption Influence the Self-Restraint Attitude of Women-led SMEs towards Bank Lending?

Abstract

In this paper we address the question of whether the perceived level of corruption in a country may influence women's inclination in self-refraining from applying for bank loans. Using a sample of 60,058 observationsdrawn from the ECB-SAFErelated to SMEs chartered in 11 Euro-area countries during the period 2009-2014, we first investigate whether female-led businesses are more likely, than male-led ones, to refrain from applying for bank credit. Finally, we assess whether corruption actually matters in the women's decision not to relying on the bank-lending channel. Our resultsrobust to various model specificationshighlight that women-led SMEs face a higher probability to self-refrain from applying for loans vis-à-vis their male counterparts. In addition, although corruption appears strongly correlated to the selfrestraint attitudes of firms, our empirical analysis reveals that women-led SMEs generally tend to refrain from applying for loans, more than men, regardless of the quality of the surrounding environment.

Investments in managerial human capital: Explanations from prospect and regulatory focus theories

“…In terms of the first two, these may limit the potential to seek costly training (Barrett, 2015; Padachi and Bhiwajee, 2016; Panagiotakopoulos, 2011). For example, female and minority business owners may have less access to finance to fund managerial training due to a number of factors including structural and sectoral factors (Bruder et al, 2011) and actual or perceived discrimination (Carter et al, 2015; Freel et al, 2012; Galli et al, 2018).…”

Public guarantee schemes, corruption and gender: a European SME-level analysis

“…2 These findings hold in various works that consider gender in a variety of institutional settings -bureaucracies, parliaments, financial markets, etc. (Dollar, Fisman, and Gatti 2001;Swamy et al 2001;Sundström and Wängnerud 2016;Debski et al 2018;Galli, Mascia, and Rossi 2018). Studies in laboratory settings moreover find women to be less corrupt, less tolerant than men of corrupt behaviour, and less likely to generally engage in unethical behaviour of various sorts (e.g., Alatas et al 2009;Frank, Lambsdorff, and Boehm 2011;Barnes and Beaulieu 2014).…”

Does Corruption Discourage More Female Entrepreneurs from Applying for Credit?

“…According to our review of the literature, two studies have investigated whether corruption has a different impact on men and women in access to finance. Galli et al (2018) use data for 11 European countries from the European Central Bank-Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises during the period 2009-2014. They expected that women-owned firms would refrain less from applying for credit when corruption was low than when it was high.…”