Wind beneath my wings: policies promoting high‐growth oriented women entrepreneurs

Abstract

Purpose -While numerous comparative studies have measured women's participation in starting or owning a business, the factors stimulating their engagement in highly productive entrepreneurial activity have been understudied. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the literature. Design/methodology/approach -This study compares country-level data on the institutional and cultural factors that affect a woman's decision to start and grow a business with country-level measures of the entrepreneurial environment, innovative activity and access to opportunity. Findings -It was found that three institutional and cultural factors influence the decision calculus of women to found and expand enterprises: legal and social status; institutional presence; and economic empowerment. Women who have the requisite support exploit market opportunities and translate their ideas, creativity and skills into high potential, high growth ventures. This in turn generates entrepreneurial activity, job creation and prosperity at the country level. Research limitations/implications -Comparable data on variables of interest, including the number of female-founded high-growth businesses and child care support, for example, are not available across countries. This study uses proxies and indices where data are missing and makes recommendations on improving data collection for future scholarship. Practical implications -Improving access to collateral by strengthening the property rights of women, increasing the representation of women in banking, business, government and academia, and providing greater economic empowerment of all women produces more productive entrepreneurial activity and prosperity for the entire population. Originality/value -Women entrepreneurs are a missing link that explains variation among countries in the quality and quantity of entrepreneurial activity.

Determinants of female entrepreneurship success across Saudi Arabia

“…It is apparent from our research results that the first hypothesis is supported, where the support structure provided by the government is an important factor in helping university female students start a new business (Muntean, 2013). This is demonstrated by formal government policy to create an appropriate environment that supports females with resources to assess business feasibility and legal counseling, all of which are required at each stage in starting a new business (Itani et al, 2011).…”

Leveraging the macro-level environment to balance work and life: an analysis of female entrepreneurs’ job satisfaction

“…Yet stress-inducing, resource-depleting concerns about fulfilling work and life responsibilities can be countered by relevant, resource-enhancing, macro-level factors (Anand et al 2015;Wayne et al 2017). By including gender-egalitarian contextual conditions (Welzel 2013), we extend prior research, both within and outside the realm of entrepreneurship, that focuses on the direct effects of such factors (Brieger et al 2018(Brieger et al , 2019, and we also contribute to entrepreneurship research that notes the impacts of other country-level factors on women's entrepreneurial ventures (Bullough et al 2017;Clark Muntean 2013;Sequeira et al 2016;Thebaud 2015). Furthermore, previous studies of the link between work-life balance and professional well-being rarely test multilevel models that bridge individual and country levels (Thebaud 2015); in a notable exception, Haar and colleagues (2014) investigate the interplay of work-life balance and macro-level factors for employees' personal well-being.…”

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems

“…The relative absence of venture capitalists interested in investing in women's businesses suggests that the stress in entrepreneurial ecosystem research on venture capitalists is not necessarily appropriate for a female‐oriented entrepreneurial ecosystem. Many obstacles are cultural and institutional in nature, and they account for much of the cross‐national variation in female entrepreneurship (Muntean, ). For all entrepreneurs, money, markets, and management are essential; for women, family/household context and societal structures also are key influences (Brush, de Bruin, & Welter, ).…”