Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into how female entrepreneurs develop and communicate an authentic personal brand. The authors examine the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) ...activities undertaken by female entrepreneurs and identify the impression management (IM) behaviours and tactics used. The authors explore the risks associated with self-promotion to gain a better understanding of how female entrepreneurs market themselves and their businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA). Using semi-structured interviews, the authors explore the experiences of female entrepreneurs as they engage in IM behaviours. The sample is drawn from female entrepreneurs who have small-scale businesses, which span a range of specialist service sectors. All participants are engaging in personal branding activities. Participants were recruited via a gatekeeper and invited to take part in the study. Data from 11 female business owners were collected and analysed using IPA. Interview transcripts and field notes were analysed for broad patterns, and then initial codes developed, which allowed for themes to emerge, with a number of core themes being identified. These core themes are presented, together with verbatim quotes from participants, to provide a rich insight into the marketing activities of these female entrepreneurs.
Findings
The findings reveal the complex challenges faced by female entrepreneurs as they engage in self-promotion and IM to market their business. Four key themes emerge from the data to explain how female entrepreneurs engage in managing their brand both online and offline: experimental, risk, authenticity and supplication. The study identifies, in particular, that female entrepreneurs use the tactic of supplication in combination with self-promotion to communicate their brand. Additionally, it was found that female entrepreneurs share their personal fears and weaknesses in an attempt to be seen as authentic and manage the risk associated with self-promotion.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the EM literature by extending the understanding of the risks associated with self-promotion for female entrepreneurs. The study also contributes to the IM literature by providing a better understanding of IM beyond organisations and applied to an entrepreneurial domain. The study highlights a number of important implications for entrepreneurial practice and policy.
Studies indicate that more male entrepreneurs are pursuing business ventures than their female counterparts. Latterly, there has been increased research interest in female entrepreneurs and their ...positive contribution to the retail economy. The main purpose of this study was to examine how some specific masculine traits can be enculturated into individuals (i.e. female entrepreneurs). The study also reviewed literature that discussed reasons which hinder female entrepreneurs in the retail world. The reasons range from being risk averse, being too agreeable and being overly anxious about failure. Through qualitative research exploration of female entrepreneurs, semi-structured interviews were undertaken to examine and understand their experiences. Themes which emerged from questioning the ten female entrepreneurs enabled the researcher to construct a theoretical framework. Analysis of the content findings showed that female entrepreneurs were indeed willing to adopt specific masculine traits. The result of this investigation is that through implementing specific masculine traits, female entrepreneurs have greater chances of success in their retail businesses. Although the research presented valid findings regarding the benefits of masculine traits on the retail industry, the research was limited by the sample size and the location of the research. This contribution remains unique in the way that it provides valuable information to the retail industry about the process of overcoming failure through enculturating masculine traits into female entrepreneurs.
•Masculine traits will enhance entrepreneurial success for female entrepreneurs.•Female entrepreneurs enhance business chances through recognising gender identity.•Research model recognises, manipulates, develops traits and starts the enculturation.•Early enculturation of beneficial gender traits leads female entrepreneurs to success.•Female entrepreneurs in the retail industry will benefit from mentoring programs.
Purpose The study aims to understand why women-owned microenterprises (WOMEs) in India experience a lower growth rate, where growth can be represented in increments in the venture’s size or scope. ...There is no conclusive understanding of the factors that affect the sustained growth of WOMEs in India. Design/methodology/approach What personal, social and economic factors support or hinder the choice, growth and sustainability of women-owned ventures? What role do institutional factors (government, nongovernment organizations (NGOs), self-help groups and microfinance institutions) play toward the sustainability of WOMEs? The answers to these questions were obtained through a qualitative design by interviewing 30 micro women entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu, a Southern state of India and one of the largest hubs for WOMEs and their responses were content analyzed using NVivo 12 software. Findings The findings capture and apply the fundamentals of two key theoretical perspectives, resource-based view (RBV) and self-determination theory (SDT), in identifying the links between the individual, social and economic factors and their combined effect on the sustained growth of women-owned micro businesses. The findings add value in identifying the ingrained cultural norms and traditions and several internal and external factors that support or challenge the growth of WOMEs. This study highlights that the interventions by the government need to be strengthened for the growth and sustainability of WOMEs. Practical implications The study’s findings provide suggestions to policymakers, banks, funding agencies, financial institutions and NGOs to design applicable policies and schemes toward the sustained growth of WOMEs. Originality/value This study contributes toward a better understanding of the trends in the context of WOMEs from an Indian context. This topic has received little attention in the academic literature. Second, the study’s conceptual contribution is an application of SDT and RBV to understand and categorize the enablers and deterrents in the path of growth of WOMEs, which is a novel pursuit.
This research aims to identify critical success factors and challenges faced by nontechnical female entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, it aims to explore the strategic ...financial, marketing, and safety responses taken by these entrepreneurs to sustain their businesses. Data are collected through interviews and surveys from 106 female entrepreneurs in Peru and 100 female entrepreneurs in Ecuador. Key findings reveal the importance of physical and mental health, as well as excellent customer service, for the success of nontechnology-based businesses. Both countries express concerns about the risk of infecting family members. Resilience strategies include cost reduction and issuing bonds. Our research contributes to the understanding of nontech female entrepreneurs and their businesses in Peru and Ecuador during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. It highlights important factors for success and survival and addresses the significant challenges faced, as well as the strategic responses employed by these entrepreneurs within the Latin American context.
Barriers to rural women entrepreneurs in Oman Ghouse, Suhail; McElwee, Gerard; Meaton, Julia ...
International journal of entrepreneurial behaviour & research,
10/2017, Letnik:
23, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the barriers confronted by rural women entrepreneurs in Oman. The study focusses on women living in rural and mountain areas who aspire to move beyond ...their traditional family roles. It identifies several problems including accessing funding for new ventures and innovative activities, a lack of skills-based training and limited family support.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on 57 responses to a semi-structured questionnaire, and face to face qualitative interviews with ten women entrepreneurs. Quantitative responses are evaluated and ranked in terms of their mean score, standard deviation and the intensity of each factor shaping rural women entrepreneurship. Five qualitative cases are presented.
Findings
Although Oman is arguably one of the more progressive Arab countries regarding gender equality and women empowerment, the findings exhibit socio-cultural concerns which hamper women entrepreneurial venture creations and their subsequent success. The findings of the research are discussed using the three dimensions of entrepreneurship identified by Wenneker and Thurik (1999). The three dimensions are: conditions leading to entrepreneurship, characteristics of entrepreneurship and outcomes of entrepreneurship.
Practical implications
Suggests that Omani policymakers should consider how women entrepreneurs can be better supported so that they can diversify household income by starting new ventures while simultaneously contributing to the socio-economic development of the region. A number of suggestions on how this can be achieved are presented.
Originality/value
Research on rural women entrepreneurship in the context of an Arab country is scarce and the study can provide an overview of the obstacles and the support required for the development of the rural women entrepreneurship in this region.
Studies have invoked several theoretical perspectives to explain differences between female-owned businesses and male-owned businesses. Yet, few have considered the possibility that differential ...outcomes between female-owned businesses and male-owned businesses vary from setting to setting, an insight that we derive by combining social constructionism with feminist theory. We articulate hypotheses regarding the outcome of business survival duration based on this insight. Then, using a dataset of one million Texan proprietorships, we test these hypotheses by estimating separate gender effects for many individual industries and geographic areas. We find that female-owned businesses consistently out-survive male-owned businesses in many industries and areas.
•Social constructionism motivates disaggregated study of owner gender and survival.•We analyze survival of one million proprietorships owned by men and women.•Male-owned businesses do not out-survive those owned by women throughout the economy.•Female-owned businesses out-survive male-owned businesses in many industries.•Female-owned businesses out-survive male-owned businesses in large cities.
Gender (in)equality in entrepreneurship has been getting more attention in recent decades. The number of female entrepreneurs repeatedly reported less than males due to cultural issues, education, ...and lack of support. Moreover, launching start-up apiaries is more challenging for Asian women in tourism, and the likelihood of unsuccessful experiences is higher among them. Accordingly, the lack of empirical material on female entrepreneurs in tourism and gender equality issues, especially in middle east countries, are the two main gaps. Therefore, this paper tries to reveal the Iranian female entrepreneurship experience to fulfil these gaps. This research applied a qualitative research design leading with social constructivism and critical theory. 12 Iranian female tourism entrepreneurs participated in semi-structured online interviews. The snowball sampling technique was applied to collect data that was analysed thematically. The findings of this study highlighted that family responsibility, legal disparities, credit constraints, and the social construction of gender roles and norms are among the hurdles restricting females from engaging in social and economic opportunities. Moreover, the participants mentioned that the lack of social, government, and sponsors' support and a platform for training and sharing peers' experiences impact their businesses.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect the decision of university female students to start a business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Most of the existing research focuses on ...exploring the challenges female entrepreneurs face after they start a business, but no research has investigated the challenges they encounter before they start a business. A total of 507 responses were collected from six universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Findings show that knowledge about starting a business is the most influential factor that motivates female students to establish their own business.
A growth model for understanding female-owned enterprises Ogundana, Oyedele; Simba, Amon; Dana, Leo-Paul ...
Journal of the International Council for Small Business (Print),
04/2024, Letnik:
ahead-of-print, Številka:
ahead-of-print
Journal Article
Odprti dostop
Numerous policy initiatives designed to support the growth of female-owned enterprises in the developing economies have repeatedly failed to achieve their objectives. Research recognizes the lack of ...contextualized growth models for defining female-owned enterprises in such contexts as the main issue. Thus, and drawing from our qualitative data, we propose a growth model to account for the business development activities of female-owned enterprises from a developing economy perspective. Through analyzing our qualitative data, it emerged that money (access and utilization), management (nonformal education and experience), and market (customer intelligence) were direct determinants of the growth trajectories of female-owned enterprises. Motherhood (household and family), meso- (membership of professional networks and social learning), and macro-environment (sociocultural and economic issues) indirectly influenced their growth by mediating women's access and utilization of the aforementioned direct determinants. From that, we offer recommendations for practitioners including public authorities and key actors within the entrepreneurial ecosystem that provide the support infrastructure for female-owned enterprises in a developing economy.
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