Dianne H.B. Welsh, Eugene Kaciak, Esra Memili and Caroline Minialai
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between women entrepreneurs’ firm performance and two dimensions (enrichment and interference) of the business-family…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between women entrepreneurs’ firm performance and two dimensions (enrichment and interference) of the business-family interface (BFI) in the moderating context of the level of economic development in two emerging countries – Morocco and Turkey. The enrichment perspective was operationalized as family instrumental (financial) and affective (moral) support, while interference was operationalized as gender-related personal problems.
Design/methodology/approach
The study drew upon the work-family interface (WFI) theory from the family embeddedness perspective in the context of institutional economics. In Morocco, a purposive sample of 116 women entrepreneurs completed a self-administered questionnaire using field collection, mail, and phone surveying methods. In Turkey, 147 women entrepreneurs completed the questionnaire online and through personal contacts in business organizations.
Findings
The findings indicated a positive relationship of family financial support with business performance of female entrepreneurs in Morocco, a less economically advanced country. However, family moral support is related to better firm performance in Turkey, a more advanced economy. Gender-related personal problems of women entrepreneurs appear to hamper their business performance in Turkey; while in Morocco, the performance of women entrepreneurs seems to improve in the face of such impediments.
Practical implications
The results provide initial evidence that female entrepreneurs benefit from the linkages of family-to-business enrichment in different ways, depending on the country’s level of economic development. In less economically developed countries, women entrepreneurs benefit more from instrumental rather than affective components of the enrichment dimension of the BFI. Conversely, in more economically advanced countries, female entrepreneurs benefit more from affective rather than the instrumental elements of this dimension. Likewise, the components of the interference dimension of the BFI affect female entrepreneurs differently depending on the economic development of the countries. Women in the less-developed country of Morocco are less impeded by their personal problems compared to their counterparts in Turkey, a more developed economy. Actually, Moroccan women entrepreneurs improved their business performance when facing obstacles, most likely due to their increased inner strength and resilience acquired when battling adversarial institutional conditions.
Originality/value
The present study makes three unique contributions to the entrepreneurship literature. First, the study links the two BFI dimensions (enrichment and interference) to firm performance with an exclusive focus on female business owners. Second, within the construct of enrichment, the study employs both family instrumental and emotional support. Third, the study shows that the country’s level of economic development moderates the relationships between the BFI dimensions and firm performance.
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Narongsak Thongpapanl, Eugene Kaciak and Dianne H.B. Welsh
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether job rotation strategies and joint reward systems are equally effective in encouraging cross-functional collaboration (CFC) under…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether job rotation strategies and joint reward systems are equally effective in encouraging cross-functional collaboration (CFC) under all organizational contexts, ranging from young and small firms to mature and large ones.
Design/methodology/approach
To ensure a wide applicability of findings in this study, the research model and hypotheses were tested with a sample of 232 Canadian firms active in a variety of industrial sectors. A survey instrument that comprised all the questionnaire items corresponding to the examined constructs is the foundation of the data used in this contribution.
Findings
This study shows that job rotation and joint rewards are strong and positive drivers of interdepartmental collaboration, which subsequently enhance firm performance. However, this illustration must be considered in the context of the firm shaped by its size and age because these two variables strongly and negatively moderate the relationships between CFC and its two antecedents.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to Canadian firms only. The manufacturing sector was not differentiated into subsectors, such as technology. Future studies could compare subsectors of manufacturing to see if there is any correlation between types of industries, age, and size.
Originality/value
Not all firms will be able to take advantage of the widely accepted values of job rotation and joint reward systems in generating CFC. Firms, to an extent, appear to be confronted with the liability of aging but not with the liability of smallness.
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Izabela Anna Koładkiewicz, Eugene Kaciak and Marta Wojtyra-Perlejewska
This study examines the family- and non-family-related reasons that may determine the choice of the anticipated entrepreneurial exit strategy (exit intention).
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the family- and non-family-related reasons that may determine the choice of the anticipated entrepreneurial exit strategy (exit intention).
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a survey of 267 owner-managers of micro-and small-sized firms in Poland and focuses on their exit intentions (rather than actual actions) as precursors to entrepreneurial exit. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that family-related reasons may encourage entrepreneurs to choose the stewardship strategy over the financial harvest or voluntary cessation strategies, while non-family-related reasons such as maintaining financial independence and health may encourage the choice of the financial harvest or the voluntary cessation strategy.
Originality/value
This research contributes to both the entrepreneurial exit literature and psychological ownership theory by demonstrating the potential relevance of psychological ownership in the selection of exit strategies.
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Dirk De Clercq, Eugene Kaciak and Narongsak Thongpapanl
This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between women entrepreneurs' experience of family-induced work happiness and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between women entrepreneurs' experience of family-induced work happiness and the competitive performance of their companies, as well as the invigorating role of their perceptions of environmental hostility in this process.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected among a nationwide sample of women entrepreneurs in Denmark.
Findings
The spillover of positive emotions from family to work can spur competitive performance if women entrepreneurs adopt an entrepreneurial strategic posture. This intermediate role of entrepreneurial orientation is particularly prominent among women entrepreneurs who experience their market environments as highly threatening to their success.
Practical implications
For practitioners, this study identifies a key mechanism, an entrepreneurial strategic direction, by which positive work energy stemming from family involvement can enhance women entrepreneurs' business success. The study also shows how this mechanism is triggered by resource-draining competitive markets that appear hostile instead of benign.
Originality/value
The adoption of an entrepreneurial posture is an unexplored but critical factor through which women entrepreneurs' sense of happiness at work, caused by their family involvement, can be leveraged into enhanced success at the organizational level. This study also explicates how this beneficial role is invigorated by beliefs about environmental hostility, as a critical external source of resource depletion.
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Victor Silva Corrêa, Rosileine Mendonça de Lima, Fernanda Regina da Silva Brito, Marcio Cardoso Machado and Vânia Maria Jorge Nassif
Women entrepreneurs face several challenges in creating and running ventures, especially in emerging and developing countries. In this sense, by aiming to generate inputs capable…
Abstract
Purpose
Women entrepreneurs face several challenges in creating and running ventures, especially in emerging and developing countries. In this sense, by aiming to generate inputs capable of helping overcome them, this study aims to categorize the policy, managerial and practical implications of articles whose empirical research was in one or more of the 155 emerging and developing countries. Further, although scholars have addressed female entrepreneurship in developed economies, there is scant literature in the context explored here. This article provides suggestions for new studies, helping academics fill gaps in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This article adopts a systematic literature review approach, performing content analysis and bibliometric description for the sample. The study comprises 77 articles selected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases.
Findings
Research concentrates on Asian countries, with lower incidences in Latin America and Africa. The policy implications focus mainly on the executive rather than legislative spheres. The practical implications focus mainly on entrepreneurial development agencies and women entrepreneurs. Among the suggestions for novel studies, those focusing on methodological choices and female enterprises stand out.
Practical implications
This paper maps and categorizes the policy, managerial and practical implications, helping to raise governments’, policymakers’ and practitioners’ awareness of the preferred strategies to overcome the challenges of female entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This paper emphasizes reflections of mutual interest to researchers, policymakers and practitioners, filling gaps in studies that prioritize an academic audience. Regarding the academic audience, this paper contributes to innovatively categorizing suggestions for future research and building an extensive research agenda capable of guiding research in this area.
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Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa, Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado, Dolores Rando-Cueto and Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez
The management of employee happiness and well-being has been gaining interest in academic research in recent years; however, few studies have focussed on the entrepreneur's…
Abstract
Purpose
The management of employee happiness and well-being has been gaining interest in academic research in recent years; however, few studies have focussed on the entrepreneur's perspective. The aim of this paper is to analyse the state of research on women-led businesses, well-being and happiness management.
Design/methodology/approach
A bibliometric study has been carried out since 1996, the first year in which publications in this field were detected. In total, 128 papers are identified in the most reliable database, Web of Science Core Collection. A network mapping of authorship, citation and co-occurrence of keywords in scientific publications is shown.
Findings
The results of this study confirm that societal changes resulting from crises increase research interest in improving organisational environments and happiness. After the economic crises of 2013, there was a boost, and after the pandemic, there is again a boost in research. More than half of the publications and citations on female entrepreneurship and happiness management are post-pandemic. The study offers some research directions and emphasises the role of gender.
Originality/value
This article brings a new approach to the study of well-being in organisations, highlighting the relevance of the role female leadership plays in promoting happiness at work.
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Wei Deng, Qiaozhuan Liang, Jie Li and Wei Wang
This bibliometric review aims to display visually the intellectual communities (i.e. the cooperation networks among various countries, institutions, journals and individuals), the…
Abstract
Purpose
This bibliometric review aims to display visually the intellectual communities (i.e. the cooperation networks among various countries, institutions, journals and individuals), the intellectual structure (i.e. the status quo and development trajectory of the intellectual base) and emerging hot topics of the female entrepreneurship research in 1975-2018. Based on the comprehensive review of the state-of-the-science, this paper aims to identify significant research gaps in extant studies and develop potential future research agendas that may catalyse new streams of female entrepreneurship research.
Design/methodology/approach
Bibliometric analysis via science mapping provides in-depth analyzes, highlights the intellectual structure and identifies hot topics. Using CiteSpace, co-citation networks of contributing countries, institutions, cited journals and authors are mapped first. Second, co-citation network analysis helps to identify the key “nodes” in the intellectual structure. The landscape view identifies main clusters from an overall perspective, while a timeline view delineates the characteristics and evolution of focal clusters. Major clusters are interpreted in detail with the help of foam tree graph processed by Carrot. Finally, the co-occurrence network analysis is conducted by using VOSviewer to examine hot topics and research frontiers
Findings
The findings show that the publications of female entrepreneurship increase exponentially. The major driving force of female entrepreneurship research is from the USA and England. In terms of intellectual structure, key concepts behind different clusters represent the major milestones in relation to individual determinants of female entrepreneurship, the impact of cultural and contextual factors on female entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship in non-OECD countries, as well as the impact of family, social and institutional factors on the survival and exit of male and female enterprises. Hot topics include financing sources, the embeddedness nature, the impact and environmental factors of female entrepreneurship.
Practical implications
This study presents important practical implications. The findings suggest that intellectual communities of the female entrepreneurship field are relatively loose. Close contact and cooperation among different countries, institutions and researchers are lacking. To promote the evolution of the field, researchers who belong to different institutions in different countries may need to strengthen contact and cooperation. Additionally, papers in journals from the business and management discipline are most cited in this field, preventing new knowledge from other disciplines flowing into the female entrepreneurship field. Accordingly, female entrepreneurship research journals may need to expand their focus and combine knowledge from various domains.
Originality/value
This bibliometric review provides a more comprehensive, systematic and objective review of the female entrepreneurship field. Previous qualitative reviews are typically based on personal judgement, while a few quantitative reviews only describe statistical data. This study is based on thousands of citation data rather than a small number of papers pre-selected by the researcher, thus, is more data-grounded and less biased than prior reviews. It expands previous reviews by transparently visualizing the underlying structure and evolution of the field. Moreover, it highlights significant gaps in extant studies and develops future research agendas to catalyse new streams of research.