THE RESILIENCE OF MINORITY AND FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS: A LOOK AT ETHNICITY AND GENDER

By exploring the resilience skills of African-American, Hispanic and female entrepreneurs, this study examines entrepreneurs who face great obstacles, but still start more businesses than their White counterparts (Fairlie and Robb, 2009). The experiences of minorities and women lead to the development of risk and protective factors that result in differences in resilience. Here we present a model of resilience informed by the psychology and educational literatures which illustrates how particular experiences of minorities and women enable them to develop higher levels of resilience. In this model, the adaptive cultures of women and minorities equip them to overcome the adversity which arises from their social stratification as marginalized groups. We then test this model using a nationally representative, stratified random sample of 340 Black, Hispanic and White male and female entrepreneurs. The empirical results from two-way ANOVAs, Kruskal-Wallis H tests and multiple regression analysis indicate that Blacks and Hispanics had higher social resilience than White entrepreneurs, and that women had greater self and social resilience than male entrepreneurs.

THE CONVERSION FROM INFORMALITY TO A FORMAL ENTITY: LINKS TO THE NATURE OF THE OWNER-MANAGER

Recognizing the heterogeneity of informal microentrepreneurs, this paper assesses the determinants of their willingness to enter the formal sector. Based on human capital theory and social capital theory, we test the hypothesis that firm decision-making regarding formalization is a function of the nature of the informal microentrepreneur. Using data collected from 500 informal microentrepreneurs in Morocco, and employing a logistic regression model, we find that higher education level, motivation by business opportunity, entrepreneurship training, work experience, gender and the importance of social networks have an impact on the desire to formalize. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications.

GENDER GAPS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CLUSTERS OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

In European countries, the gender gap in entrepreneurship is persistently observed because females make up on average 30 percent of entrepreneurs. The aim of the paper is to investigate the impact of gender gaps in education at different levels (youth, higher education, adult learning and STEM education) on the gender gap in entrepreneurship, both in all analyzed European countries and in identified clusters of countries. The research is based on the cluster analysis and regression modelling of yearly panel data for 31 European countries for the period 2013–2018. Generally speaking, to the same extent, the gender gap in entrepreneurship can be explained by the gender gap in educational outcomes at different levels, mostly in early leavers and in STEM education. However, European countries are not monolithic in these aspects, as four clusters of countries are identified. Relationships between the gender gaps strongly depend on the country’s characteristics. In countries with a relatively lower level of female entrepreneurship and their education outcomes, the gender gap in entrepreneurship is affected the most significant in comparison to other clusters, by gender gaps in early leavers, higher education and STEM education. However, in clusters of countries with relatively moderate or high levels of female entrepreneurship and education outcomes, their relationships are rather limited.

CONTEXTUALIZING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS: ECONOMIC DYNAMISM AND CULTURE IN MULTILAYERED RELATIONSHIPS

We examine how economic dynamism, along with the cultural orientation of individualism vs. collectivism shape the multilayered relationships between perceptual variables—self efficacy, attitude, social capital and perceived opportunities—and entrepreneurial intentions (EI). For the first time, we introduce economic dynamism as a national context variable for EI. We also join a group of entrepreneurship scholars to apply a multilayered approach to account for the multiple interactions among individual and contextual variables. We test our hypotheses using country-level aggregates of GEM data. For comparison purposes, we consider four nations differentiated along the dimensions of economic dynamism and the cultural trait of individualism vs. collectivism, namely, China, Italy, Japan and the United States. The results show that self-efficacy predicts EI across all four nations; the interactive effects between perceived opportunities and attitude and between social capital and attitude are contingent upon national contexts in terms of economic dynamism and individualism vs. collectivism. Although economic development long has been a popular contextual variable in the study of EI, there remains a lack of empirical support. One reason is economic development assumes a stable state, when in fact changes in an economy may be more critical in impacting entrepreneurial intentions. In the current study, we replace economic development with that of economic dynamism. Future research needs to refine the construct and develop a measure of it.

UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSES OF NECESSITY MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS IN DEVELOPING CONTEXTS: THE TIJUANA CASE

We conducted an exploratory multi-case study of female, necessity micro-entrepreneurs in developing contexts to partially validate an existing theoretical model and identify relevant omitted variables. Using a sample of eight female, necessity entrepreneurs in Tijuana (Mexico), we were able to challenge the established pull-push binary framework in entrepreneurship as well as the linear entrepreneurial process. Our analysis suggests that motivations, family embeddedness and gender identity are critical factors impacting the female micro-venture creation process in developing contexts. We summarize our theoretical findings in a new process model that accounts for macro, meso and micro factors, offering contributions to the scholarship on female entrepreneurship in developing contexts.

THE ROLE OF EMPOWERED EMPLOYEE ETHICAL VOICE IN SUPPORTING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The ethical landscape of social entrepreneurship firms is at a nascent stage of development. To explore and potentially elevate this issue, this paper presents a conceptual model and accompanying research propositions to enhance the ethical climate surrounding social entrepreneurship. The conceptual model includes three compound constructs—ethical empowering leadership, perceived ethical organizational support and empowered employee ethical voice—augmented with two established constructs, a code of ethics and ethics training. A literature review is provided as supporting information for the conceptual model and associated research propositions. Potential applications and research implications are also presented.

ENTREMPLOYEES AS A TYPE OF HYBRID ENTREPRENEUR: A THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF HOW THE ENVIRONMENT SHAPES ENTREPRENEURS

This paper describes a growing but under-documented entrepreneurial phenomenon called entremployees. This is a hybrid form of entrepreneurship, whereby an individual simultaneously pursues a dual career in both formal employment and, based on that employment, entrepreneurship. Typically, in the mainstream literature, entrepreneurship and formal employment are understood as being mutually exclusive phenomena — one either gets a job or engages in entrepreneurship. However, Zimbabwe’s economic downturn in the last two decades has catalysed the growth of entremployeeism. The paper first outlines the characteristics of entremployeeism. Motivating factors including the external environment as push factors are discussed. The theories that beckon entremployeeism as a distinct form of entrepreneurship are presented. Finally, implications for theory and future research conclude the paper.

RE-CONTEXTUALIZING OPPORTUNITY AS ARTIFACT SIGNALLING FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTION

In exploring entrepreneurial action as a response to opportunities, this paper uses signalling theory to provide new insights as the entrepreneur moves from perception to recognition to enactment. We adopt a dynamic approach to how entrepreneurs perceive opportunities and form initial opportunity beliefs, recognizing that, over time, beliefs change. The perceived potentialities from the signals arising from opportunities also change. Strength of the initial opportunity beliefs, morph-ability of opportunities, frequency of opportunity appearances, multiple interpretations of opportunity, latency of opportunity, observability (intensity, visibility, strength and clarity), distortions of opportunity and false opportunity are topics that are not sufficiently addressed in research on entrepreneurial opportunities. We argue that the signalling effects open new avenues of inquiry related to the central role of opportunity in the entrepreneurial process. Instead of seeing opportunity from either the discovery or creation approaches, opportunity should be viewed as an artifact with embedded perceived potentialities. Implications are drawn for the developmental context.

WHEN RISING TIDES LIFT SOME BOATS MORE THAN OTHERS: GENDER-BASED DIFFERENCES IN THE EXTERNAL ENABLEMENT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

External enablers (EEs) are exogenous, macro-environmental forces that influence the rate, extent and substance of entrepreneurial activity. A steadily increasing body of empirical research has sought to identify, describe and predict the aggregate impact of EEs, yet few studies have assessed whether EEs exert similar or dissimilar effects across societal groups, and none to date have sought to ascertain whether EEs function in a gender-neutral fashion. The issue is important to address because it is common for governments to implement policies designed to leverage or mitigate the influence of EEs. Absent knowledge regarding the differential effects of EEs, policies may be enacted with an aggregate intent, but which may routinely disadvantage female entrepreneurs. To address this concern, we investigate the impact of a prominent EE (internet access) on entrepreneurial activity, employing a longitudinal design, consisting of 61 countries from 2004 to 2013. Our results suggest that increased internet access is, in the aggregate, associated with heightened entrepreneurial activity, but the favorable effect for male entrepreneurs is markedly greater than that for female entrepreneurs. The findings reveal that gender-based disaggregation is critical in assessing the influence of EEs.