Julia Rouse and Dilani Jayawarna
This paper asks whether enterprise programmes are overcoming the finance gap faced by their disadvantaged participants. Specifically, the paper seeks to assessthe level of finance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper asks whether enterprise programmes are overcoming the finance gap faced by their disadvantaged participants. Specifically, the paper seeks to assessthe level of finance invested by participants on a leading UK enterprise programme, the New Entrepreneur Scholarships (NES).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a postal and e‐survey of participants on a leading UK enterprise programme, reporting on 472 respondents. Three capital structure variables (personal investment, external private investment and grants) are employed to analyse the importance of various types of funding in NES businesses. These figures are compared with published data about use of different types of finance, including principal sources of funding, in UK start‐ups. Descriptive statistics of perceptions of under‐capitalisation, and needs for additional funding, are also reported.
Findings
NES Scholars make significantly lower start‐up investment than is typical in UK small businesses, particularly in terms of personal finance. Finance provided by the programme is important but does not compensate for poor access to personal and loan investment. Perhaps as a consequence, almost half of the Scholars were under‐capitalised.
Practical implications
Implications for policy are discussed at length. In particular, practical options for addressing the under‐capitalisation of businesses started under enterprise programmes are analysed, including increasing and targeting grant finance, providing soft‐loans, improving access to existing sources of public funding for small businesses, easing access to private finance, providing more support for the self‐employed through the welfare and tax credit systems and paying childcare subsidies.
Originality/value
The paper presents novel analysis of the capital structure of businesses started under an enterprise programme and employs this to explore the critical question of whether – and in what ways – these firms are under‐capitalised. It also presents new analysis of the policy options available for improving finance to disadvantaged groups. It fills gaps in the literatures relating to small business finance and small business and social inclusion.
Details
Keywords
Julia Rouse, Lorna Treanor and Emma Fleck
This extended Editorial outlines the genesis and theoretical interests of the Gender and Enterprise Network from which this special issue of the International Journal of…
Abstract
Purpose
This extended Editorial outlines the genesis and theoretical interests of the Gender and Enterprise Network from which this special issue of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research emerged. In the call for papers, researchers were asked to employ existing gender theories to explore entrepreneurship. The theories and empirical insights presented in the five papers are summarised and compared. Key directions for future work are outlined.
Design/methodology/approach
Articles in the special issue include cross-national studies, multi-level analyses drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods, longitudinal analysis and feminist research. The Editorial explores methodological challenges, including how to encourage cross-national collaboration, research the circumstances in which entrepreneurship is gender liberating and embed gender theory in research on male entrepreneurship.
Findings
A comparison is made of the findings from the papers in this special issue, to draw out wider implications for our understanding of entrepreneurship as a gendered process.
Originality/value
This special issue represents a significant milestone in advancing our understanding of all entrepreneurship as gendered. Its focus on gender theory (rather than on the empirical study of women ' s entrepreneurship) is novel and marks the theoretical direction advocated by the Gender and Enterprise Network. It is hoped that the employment of gender theory in the Editorial and articles will spark the interest, and raise the contribution, of the wider entrepreneurship research community. An agenda for the future is outlined.
Details
Keywords
Doris Ruth Eikhof, Juliette Summers and Sara Carter
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact gendered media representations of entrepreneurs may have on the reality of female entrepreneurship. It analyses the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact gendered media representations of entrepreneurs may have on the reality of female entrepreneurship. It analyses the representation of women entrepreneurs in a women ' s magazine. Media representations influence, firstly, whether women perceive entrepreneurship as desirable and attainable, and thus impact the strength and direction of their entrepreneurial aspirations. Secondly, media representations shape how key stakeholders such as bankers or clients view and interact with female business owners, thereby impacting women entrepreneurs’ business relations and opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews research on media representations of women entrepreneurs, gender inequalities in entrepreneurial activity and work before presenting an in-depth qualitative analysis of a magazine series reporting on female entrepreneurs.
Findings
The authors’ analysis reveals how the woman ' s magazine in question portrays female entrepreneurship as focused on traditionally female activities and pursuits and as domestically-centred. Relating these findings to evidence on gender inequalities in entrepreneurial activity, the paper raises important questions about the impact of media representations of women entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates the benefits of understanding entrepreneurial activity as work and includes analytical perspectives from the sociology of work in the analysis of media representations of entrepreneurship.
Details
Keywords
Employing a feminist relational lens, the purpose of this paper is to explore the work-life balance experiences of black migrant women entrepreneurs, examining the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
Employing a feminist relational lens, the purpose of this paper is to explore the work-life balance experiences of black migrant women entrepreneurs, examining the relationship between macro, meso and micro levels of business activity. The paper examines the obstacles raised and opportunities enabled by the confrontation and negotiation between the private and public space.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative methods are used and the paper draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 29 black women business owners in the legal and black hairdressing sectors in London. The analysis of the paper is informed by a relational approach that recognises the embedded nature of business activity in differing levels of social action.
Findings
The analysis reveals that ability of the women in the study to manage their work-life balance was shaped by power relations and social interactions between and within cultural, structural and agentic dimensions of small business ownership.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on business and entrepreneurial behaviour of women by embedding work-life balance experiences of black migrant women in context of relations between and within macro, meso and micro levels. It conceptualises the behaviour of the women in the study in terms of confrontations, negotiations and dialogue between notions of motherhood, femininity, family and entrepreneurship at the societal, institutional and individual levels. In so doing the paper expands the literature on minority entrepreneurship and underscores the interconnected nature of these three levels to produce unique experiences for individual migrant women.
Details
Keywords
James J. Chrisman and Daniel T. Holt
The purpose of this paper is to explain how the concept of socioemotional wealth can be combined with other important concepts in the family firm literature to develop a theory of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain how the concept of socioemotional wealth can be combined with other important concepts in the family firm literature to develop a theory of the family firm.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper based on a review of the paper of Martin and Gómez-Mejía in this issue as well as the family business literature in general.
Findings
Martin and Gómez-Mejía (this issue) present a theoretical model and propositions on the relationship between socioemotional and financial wealth that advances understanding of family firm decision-making. That paper provides an initial step toward a theory of the family firm that can explain why firms select the family form of organization to conduct economic activities, what determines their scale and scope and why heterogeneity is observed among family firms. This commentary takes another step toward such a theory by discussing how the combined consideration of goals, governance and resources could be used to address the above three questions.
Originality/value
The precepts of a new theory of the family firm is presented that incorporates the concepts of goals (socioemotional wealth), governance (family ownership and control) and resources (familiness) of family firms to explain why family firms exist and potentially thrive as well as to explain the heterogeneity among family firms.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to develop gendered entrepreneurship theory through a focus on the roles of space and place in the daily lives and businesses of mothers who have…
Abstract
Purpose –
The purpose of this paper is to develop gendered entrepreneurship theory through a focus on the roles of space and place in the daily lives and businesses of mothers who have configured business around the daily routines of family work.
Design/methodology/approach –
Through a consideration of the accounts of 29 “mumpreneurs” and using a framework forwarded by Jarvis to understand the geographically embedded “infrastructure of everyday life”, this paper seeks to understand mumpreneurial decision making, choice and constraint.
Findings –
Spatial factors, in their myriad forms, run through and affect mothers’ different levels of capability and constraint, and thus the (gender-role and entrepreneurial) “choices” that individuals and families make. Placing families in the realities of specific, material locales helps to embed our understandings of these decision-making processes in real places.
Originality/value –
This discussion: advances new understanding about how space and place enable or constrain mumpreneurship (in particular) and entrepreneurship (more generally); and provides a lens through which to examine the structure/agency dualism in relation to gendered entrepreneurship.
Details
Keywords
Saurav Pathak, Sonia Goltz and Mari W. Buche
Research and theory indicate that macro-level variables can influence the effects of individual-level factors on the economic behavior of women; however, this has rarely been…
Abstract
Purpose
Research and theory indicate that macro-level variables can influence the effects of individual-level factors on the economic behavior of women; however, this has rarely been examined with regard to women ' s entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship has thus far been examined from a gender-neutral perspective. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by deriving predictions using a sociological model of gender stratification and examining the effects of gendered institutions on women ' s entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset comprising over 40,000 individuals across 30 countries combined with data from the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), the authors examined the direct as well as cross-level moderation effects of gendered institutions on the probability of women entering into entrepreneurship.
Findings
Results indicated that gendered institutions moderate effects of individual variables on the entrepreneurship of women, suggesting that in theory and research, individual factors affecting women ' s entrepreneurship should be considered within the larger cultural context.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide additional evidence for the gender stratification theory of women ' s economic activity. Future research should examine alternative operationalizations of the variables, as well as effects of additional gendered institutions.
Practical implications
Results suggest that changes may be needed in entrepreneurship development policies in countries with cultural values creating barriers for women ' s entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This multi-level analysis is derived from a theoretical framework and helps account for the rates of entrepreneurial activity found among women across many countries.
Details
Keywords
Haya Al-Dajani and Susan Marlow
The purpose of this paper is to develop an empirically informed conceptual framework to analyse the gendered relationship between empowerment and entrepreneurship contextualised…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an empirically informed conceptual framework to analyse the gendered relationship between empowerment and entrepreneurship contextualised within the lives of displaced Palestinian migrant women operating home-based enterprises in Amman, Jordan.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal qualitative study was undertaken during which semi-structured in-depth interviews were regularly conducted with 43 women producing high-quality traditional embroidered goods within home-based enterprises. The empirical material was utilised to inform and illustrate the creation of an empowerment framework.
Findings
Entrepreneurship is popularly presented as an individually focused economic undertaking. However, this paper demonstrates it is also a socio-politically situated activity; within this particular context, marginalised subordinated women were empowered through their home-based enterprises.
Originality/value
This paper offers a gender informed conceptual framework to inform the analyses of empowerment and entrepreneurship. The discussion describes the necessary processes for development goals to be realised, and explains how traditionally subordinated women can utilise enterprise to contribute to social change. In so doing, the proposed conceptual framework acts as a theoretical illustration of the gendered relationship between empowerment and entrepreneurship.
Details
Keywords
Haya Al-Dajani, Zografia Bika, Lorna Collins and Janine Swail
This editorial aims to investigate the interface between gendered processes and family business by exploring the extent to which gendered processes are reinforced (or not) in…
Abstract
Purpose
This editorial aims to investigate the interface between gendered processes and family business by exploring the extent to which gendered processes are reinforced (or not) in family business operations and dynamics. This approach will complement the agency and resource-based view theoretical bases that dominate family business research (Chrisman et al., 2009) and further contribute to extending gender theories.
Design/methodology/approach
Acknowledging that gender is socially constructed, this editorial discusses the interface between gendered processes and family business within entrepreneurship research.
Findings
Despite a growing interest in gender and family business, there is limited literature that explores gender theory within family business research. A gender theory approach embracing family business research contributes to a needed theoretical deconstruction of existing perspectives on the operations, sustainability and succession of family businesses in the twenty-first century.
Originality/value
This editorial makes a contribution to extant scholarship by extending gender theories through an exploration of the gendered processes in family business research.