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Modarresi, Meisam; Arasti, Zahra; Talebi, Kambiz; Farasatkhah, Maghsoud
2017 Gender in Management: An International Journal
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the growth barriers of women’s home-based businesses (HBBs) in Iran.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative approach was used by 22 in-depth interviews with Iranian female HBBs owners/mangers.FindingsBusiness growth barriers of women were categorized in a multi-level framework of individual barriers (micro), business-related barriers (medium) and environmental barriers (macro). The most important micro-level barrier is lack of skills and experience, while the financial barriers identified as the most business-related one and, finally, the problems of having work interactions with men is the most important environmental barrier women-owned HBBs mentioned.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this paper can help policy-makers better understand growth barriers for women-owned HBB and attenuate these barriers by developing purposeful supportive growth policies that are commensurate with the barriers. Also, HBB women owners themselves could better concentrate on removing barriers by deepening their understanding of their business growth barriers.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the scarce knowledge about women-owned HBBs in Iran, a rapidly growing, developing country, which can provide better insights from a less explored context. Moreover, as there is only a limited understanding of HBB growth, especially in relation to women business owners, the paper results can prove helpful for researchers in the domain of female entrepreneurs.
Bertelsen, Rasmus Gjedssø; Ashourizadeh, Shayegheh; Jensen, Kent Wickstrøm; Schøtt, Thomas; Cheng, Yuan
2017 Gender in Management: An International Journal
PurposeEntrepreneurs are networking with others to get advice for their businesses. The networking differs between men and women; notably, men are more often networking for advice in the public sphere and women are more often networking for advice in the private sphere. The purpose of this study is to account for how such gendering of entrepreneurs’ networks of advisors differs between societies and cultures.Design/methodology/approachBased on survey data from the Global Entrepreneurships Monitor, a sample of 16,365 entrepreneurs is used to compare the gendering of entrepreneurs’ networks in China and five countries largely located around the Persian Gulf, namely Yemen, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.FindingsAnalyses show that female entrepreneurs tend to have slightly larger private sphere networks than male entrepreneurs. The differences between male and female entrepreneurs’ networking in the public sphere are considerably larger. Societal differences in the relative prominence of networking in the public and private spheres, and the gendering hereof, correspond well to cultural and socio-economic societal differences. In particular, the authors found marked differences among the religiously conservative and politically autocratic Gulf states.Research limitations/implicationsAs a main limitation to this study, the data disclose only the gender of the entrepreneur, but not the gender of each advisor in the network around the entrepreneur. Thus, the authors cannot tell the extent to which men and women interact with each other. This limitation along with the findings of this study point to a need for further research on the extent to which genders are structurally mixed or separated as entrepreneurs network for advice in the public sphere. In addition, the large migrant populations in some Arab states raise questions of the ethnicity of entrepreneurs and advisors.Originality/valueResults from this study create novel and nuanced understandings about the differences in the gendering of entrepreneurs’ networking in China and countries around Persian Gulf. Such understandings provide valuable input to the knowledge of how to better use the entrepreneurial potential from both men and women in different cultures. The sample is fairly representative of entrepreneur populations, and the results can be generalized to these countries.
2017 Gender in Management: An International Journal
PurposeThe aim of this paper is threefold: to identify the combinations of national culture dimensions that lead to high (or low) entrepreneurial activity (EA) for men and women, to understand the role of economic development as a relevant condition that combines with national culture dimensions to achieve high (or low) male or female EA and to identify the differences between the configurations that lead to those outcomes.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and from the Hofstede Centre for 77 countries, this study uses a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore complex causal relations between national culture dimensions, the level of economic development (conditions) and the male and female EA (outcomes).FindingsThis research provides three major insights. First, it is not possible to talk about a single culture that promotes entrepreneurship, but instead in several entrepreneurial cultures. This is particularly interesting when distinguishing between genders, because there are configurations that are specific to one of the genders. Second, different levels of economic development (high/low) combine with national culture dimensions to produce different configurations that can lead to high EA. Third, differences found between the solutions for both genders are higher in the case of the configurations that lead to high EA than in the ones that lead to low EA.Practical implicationsThese results are very important to governments and policy makers with the objective of stimulating the EA within their specific countries. When designing public policies to promote entrepreneurship, they should take into consideration the specific cultural context of the country. The cultural context of each country presents multiple dimensions; therefore, the design of public policies should not rely on single, occasional and unarticulated policies. There are countries where the cultural context only promotes EA for males or females. In those cases, the public policies should differentiate between men and women, to be equally effective.Originality/valueBy using a configurational approach, this study identifies several configurations of national culture dimensions and the level of economic development that lead to the same outcomes: high (or low) EA. Some of the configurations are specific to achieving only male or female EA (high or low).
Nelson, Diane M.; Brooks, Stoney L.; Sahaym, Arrvvind; Cullen, John B.
2017 Gender in Management: An International Journal
PurposeAn international archival data set resulting from a survey of workers in 27 countries is studied, examining certain individual factors affecting family-friendly work perceptions (FFWP) beginning within the USA and, then, studying FFWP across a select group of six countries, specifically comparing the USA to Bulgaria, Denmark, Japan, Russia and South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews studies on gender differences affecting FFWP, focusing on International Social Survey Programme Work Orientation III Survey 2005.FindingsThe six-country comparative analysis shows differences: in the demographic factors in the effects of gender, age and marital status, and the work context factors of number of work hours and type of employer on FFWP; FFWP for those who are self-employed (entrepreneurs), government workers, those working for public companies and those working for private companies and self-employed (entrepreneurial) workers show greater appreciation for family-friendly work practices than those who are government workers and those working for public and private companies.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of this research include the drawbacks of using secondary data such as the method of data collection, the quality of cross-national data and the fit between the manifest variable survey responses with the latent construct.Practical implicationsManagers need to be aware of the importance of family-friendly work practices to their employee base. Failure to match the desired level of FFWP could lead to a less productive and unhappy workforce.Social implicationsCultural effects were found in the results, indicating that demographics have differing effects across cultures, but workplace factors are constant across cultures.Originality/valueThe paper provides valuable information on gender differences across cultures.