Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies

Trends and Challenges

V. Ramadani, S. Gërguri-Rashiti, A. Fayolle, V. Ramadani, S. Gërguri-Rashiti, A. Fayolle

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781137444493
• eBook ISBN: 9781137444516
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This book explores different topics in the field of female entrepreneurship, such as motivational factors of female entrepreneurs, career perspectives of women, social female enterprises, tourism and hospitality, and emotional and institutional support of female entrepreneurial initiatives in the perspective of different transitional countries.

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Introduction: Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies as a Significant but Understudied Field

Veland Ramadani, Alain Fayolle and Shqipe Gërguri-Rashiti

Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: Trends and Challenges addresses different topics in the field of female entrepreneurship – motivational factors of female entrepreneurs, career perspectives of women, problems and challenges, innovativeness, risk management, financing opportunities, social female enterprises, tourism and hospitality, emotional and institutional support for female entrepreneurial initiatives and small businesses, and so on – using the perspective of different transitional countries.

In recent years, female entrepreneurs have attracted increasing attention among researchers (Welter et al., 2004; Minniti et al., 2005; Colette and Johnston 2007; Welter and Smallbone, 2010; Byrne and Fayolle, 2013; Kariv, 2013; Ramadani et al., 2013). There are two main reasons why female entrepreneurs merit academic investigation:

1. female entrepreneurs have been recognised as an important untapped source of economic growth, considering that they create new jobs for themselves and others, and provide different solutions to management, organisation and business problems as well as to the exploitation of business opportunities;
2. female entrepreneurship has been traditionally neglected both in society in general and in the social sciences, considering that mainstream research, policies and programmes tend to be ‘men streamed’ (Baker et al., 1997; OECD, 2004).

The number of female entrepreneurs is increasing as is their importance in society. This is true around the world including in transition economies, where the transition process has resulted in reflective and dramatic economic, political and social changes (Aidis et al., 2007; Ramadani et al., 2013). In the past, entrepreneurship was considered to be a male-dominated sector (Brush, 1992; Berg, 1997). From research conducted in 41 countries during 2003, it was found that men were almost twice as engaged in starting a new business than women; the Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) (the percentage of adults [18–64 years] who attempt to start a business or already are owners of small businesses set up earlier than 42 months) of females was 7%, while that of males was 12% (Brush et al., 2006). The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM 2004) reports that women represent more than one-third of all people involved in entrepreneurial activity, or respectively, in some transition countries; the results were as follows: Bulgaria, 36%; Czeck Republic, 27%; Hungary, 31.5%; Latvia, 35%; Lithuania, 43.3%; Poland, 39%; Romania, 26%; Bosnia and Herzegovina, 26%; Serbia, 26% and Macedonia, 18% (Aidis, 2003; Dombrovsky and Ieva, 2005; Aidis et al., 2007; Sabarwal and Terrell, 2008).

With respect to transition economies, as Kitching and Woldie (2004) noted, a lot of questions and concerns can be raised about the position of female entrepreneurs: Have economic and political developments given women a greater opportunity to start their own business in recent years? What type of businesses are women involved in? What access do they have to financial and other resources? Do they face problems similar to their male counterparts? Are women subject to discrimination and harassment? Are their concerns similar to those of businesswomen elsewhere or are their experiences determined more by their local social and economic conditions or traditional cultural norms? All these questions and concerns are treated in an original and effective way in this book.

Female-owned enterprises are of special importance for several reasons (OECD, 2004; Welter et al., 2004): First, female entrepreneurs create jobs for themselves and others. The creation of private firms by women allows capitalisation of experience, acquired skills and obtained training, and helps to reduce the effect of discrimination against women in the labour market. Second, the establishment of private enterprises which provide employment to women would give them the opportunity to balance work and family responsibilities, and improve family welfare and social cohesion. This will be the real challenge for female entrepreneurs. Third, establishment of small enterprises owned by women can help in increasing women’s autonomy and their opportunity to have a more active and representative role in the country’s economic and political life. Fourth, female-owned businesses can assist in fighting the trafficking of women which is of great concern in many transition countries. Fifth, female entrepreneurs can serve as role models for younger generations indicating new opportunities for employment. Sixth, development of female entrepreneurship could result in a more successful and faster transition process through improved innovative capacities and private sector development.

Structure of the book

Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: Trends and Challenges presents a comprehensive picture of the issues that plague female entrepreneurship. Besides theoretical background, it provides a mosaic of empirical evidence that is very likely to offer a brighter view of this field from the perspective of transition countries. The book is an outcome of long-lasting endeavour and it includes the contributions of motivated scholars and experts from transition countries and beyond.

This book consists of 14 chapters. Chapter 1, ‘Introduction: Female entrepreneurship in transition economies as a significant, but understudied field’, written by the editors, introduces the reader to the aims and rationales of the book. The 13 chapters that follow examine female entrepreneurship from different perspectives in different countries.

Chapter 2, ‘Female entrepreneurship in transition economies: An overview’, contributed by Mirjana Radović-Marković showed that in most transitional countries, women continue to fight for equality in the business world and to find a place among their male counterparts in entrepreneurship roles. Furthermore, the author analyzed the motives of women to become entrepreneurs in the transition countries. The chapter ends with a comparison of two countries, namely, Bulgaria and Serbia, with a conclusion that women entrepreneurs in Serbia and Bulgaria, as in other transition countries, face similar issues associated with the social, political and economic changes and challenges, resulting from the transition process.

Chapter 3, ‘Motivational factors of female entrepreneurs’ by Alicia Mas-Tur, Domingo Ribeiro Soriano and Norat Roig-Tierno, explores the motivations that drive women towards entrepreneurship. The authors study extrinsic, intrinsic and transcendental motivations, classifying these motivations into push and pull factors. They focus only on women’s motivations, independent of their male counterparts, enlightening us on the main reasons why women undertake an entrepreneurial venture.

Mateja Vadnjal and Jaka Vadnjal, the authors of Chapter 4, ‘Female entrepreneurs’ start-ups: emotional versus traditional support’, aspire to challenge the traditional approach in researching female entrepreneurship and the barriers women face in pursuing their entrepreneurial careers. Based on a survey of 121 female start-ups, the authors conclude that family support, both from parents and from spouses, is extremely important. They also prove that having children does not appear to be a very large obstacle for women to start a business.

Chapter 5, ‘Gender-based determinants of innovative activity in southeast European established entrepreneurs’ by Karin Širec and Dijana Močnik, aims to assess relationships between established entrepreneurial firms’ innovative activity and their owner-managers’ (male vs female) educational level, international orientation and growth aspirations. The results imply that most innovative activity is present in women with post-secondary education. They also indicate that international orientation is positively and significantly related to innovative activity, and that internationally oriented female entrepreneurs are more innovative. In the end, among female-owned enterprises growth aspiration is not a significant variable.

The aim of Chapter 6, ‘Does an entrepreneur’s gender matter for credibility and financing of SMEs?’, is to understand the relationship between gender and perceived credibility in terms of financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The authors, Natalia Vershinina, Yulia Rodionova and Susan Marlow, explore these effects by industry, establishment, employment size, and so on. Results show evidence of lower credibility as measured by having an overdraft, checking/savings account and access to alternative informal sources of financing.

The aim of Chapter 7, ‘Privileging women’s voices and experiences: A career perspective to study female entrepreneurship in transition economies’ by Ziyu Long, is to contribute to the sustainable development of female entrepreneurship and the well-being of women entrepreneurs in transition economies by theorising the field of research on women’s entrepreneurial careers. The author defines it as the work-life experienced by women business-owners in their specific cultural and institutional contexts that are under transition. The author also notes that existing research exploring the relationship between gender and an entrepreneurial career revolves around three topics: (a) entrepreneurial career choice, (b) entrepreneurial career performance and finally (c) critiques of the dominant discourses that underlie the entrepreneurial career model. While it is not the intention to provide a wide-ranging review of literature, this chapter aims to sketch out the research themes and identify knowledge gaps to provide the way for future studies on women’s entrepreneurial careers in transition economies.

Chapter 8, ‘Gender (in)equality in entrepreneurship: Challenges for Romania’ by Emilia Herman and Zsuzsanna Katalin Szabo, is about women-owned businesses in Romania. In order to identify the gender gap in entrepreneurship and to present the entrepreneurial profile of Romanian entrepreneurs by gender, the authors provide detailed analyses of entrepreneurial activities. The authors study financial, institutional and socio-cultural factors and their impacts on women’s entrepreneurial activities in Romania and analyse the problem of gender (in)equality using publicly available databases.

Chapter 9, ‘The profile of female entrepreneurs in the Republic of Macedonia’, looks at the conditions for female entrepreneurship, perspectives for development and the array of problems that women entrepreneurs in Macedonia face. In order to gain a better picture of the current motives, problems and perspectives of Macedonian women in entrepreneurship, a survey was conducted from January to March 2014, to complement seco...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables and Exhibits
• Forewords
• Acknowledgements
• Notes on Editors
• Notes on Contributors
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction: Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies as a Significant but Understudied Field
• 2 Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: An Overview
• 3 Motivational Factors of Female Entrepreneurs
• 4 Female Entrepreneurs’ Start-Ups: Emotional Versus Traditional Support
• 5 Gender-based Determinants of Innovative Activity in Southeast European Established Entrepreneurs
• 6 Does an Entrepreneur’s Gender Matter for Credibility and Financing of SMEs?
• 7 Privileging Women’s Voices and Experiences: A Career Perspective to Study Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies
• 8 Gender (In)equality in Entrepreneurship: Challenges for Romania
• 9 The Profile of Female Entrepreneurs in the Republic of Macedonia
• 10 Female Entrepreneurship in Albania: State, Trends, and Challenges
• 11 The Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Case Studies of Female Polish Entrepreneurs
• 12 Female Social Entrepreneurship in Turkey
• 13 Women Entrepreneurs in Chile: Three Decades of Challenges and Lessons in Innovation and Business Sustainability
• 14 One Nigerian “Femtrepreneur”: A Case Study of Virtue in Business
• Index