While many significant studies have been made of small firms from economic, business and sociological perspectives, the bulk of the work to date has concentrated upon the male-owned enterprise. The role of women as owner/managers and employers has been largely neglected as an area of serious academic study despite the fact that greater numbers of women are now choosing self-employment. L'article abordera tout d'abord les rapports conceptuels qui existent entre Ie sexe des étudiants et les études entreprises en vue d'un emploi, puis il traitera, dans cette même perspective, de certains aspects significatifs que les chercheurs ont noté parmi les femmes établies à leur compte et enfin il identifiera les points qui devront être sujets d'étude à l'avenir. / This paper was prepared with the support of the Scottish Enterprise Foundation's M. Sc. in Entrepreneurial Studies program, and the Foundation's Research division.

Female entrepreneurship, as a subject of the academic research, has gained a lot of popularity in the recent years. A considerable amount of attention to this field has been caused by the growing recognition that female entrepreneurship has a profound impact on the economic development. Nevertheless, the potential of female entrepreneurs is far from being fully realized in many economies. Having chosen Russia as the area of investigation, the researchers intend to examine female entrepreneurship and discover specific obstacles contained in it. Therefore, this study aims at discovering preventing factors that dissuade Russian women from stepping into entrepreneurship. For the purposes of this work,qualitative research approach is followed, with the actors view and qualitative content analysis being applied. Case studies and interviews are used to collect data about female entrepreneurs' opinion on the general state of female entrepreneurship in Russia, their attitudes toward it and assumptions about existing barriers.               The results of the research demonstrate that distinguished and describedbarriers of female entrepreneurship hold different level of influence. The researchers also emphasize that actual barriers do not fully comply with those that are generally perceived by Russians and broadly described by scholars. From the study it is revealed that the most influential barriers are the following: managerial incompetence together with financial illiteracy, mistrust to the government and the myth of female entrepreneurship, with corruption and social prejudices being of less significance. The conclusion can also be drawn that the revealed myth of female entrepreneurship influences women's attitude towards entrepreneurship in Russia to much more extent than other obstacles. Some recommendations regarding possible alterations to current state of female entrepreneurship in Russia as well as suggestions to future female entrepreneurs, such as improving entrepreneurial environment, educational toolkit for female entrepreneurs, the importance of telling inspirational stories, are presented.

The presented master thesis is an exploratory study on the motivational factors of the Swedish Mumpreneurs to start a business. Providing a nuanced and detailed review of the evolution of the literature on female entrepreneurship, the phenomenon of ‘Mumpreneurship’ is being introduced as a new, internationally widespread concept. Following a close look at this particular contestable subject, the study shows how different internal and external factors can influence the motivation of the Swedish mothers with small children to enter self-employment. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivational factors of Swedish female entrepreneurs with children, so-called ‘Mumpreneurs’, to establish a business. Design/methodology/approach: A small sample of businesses with mothers as founders in the boundaries of Sweden were surveyed, with a prepared interview guide, focusing on the factors of motivation, marital status, children, family and challenges. Findings: The empirical findings of the study draw conclusions on the basis of 8 in-depth interviews conducted with Swedish Mumpreneurs. The findings of the exploratory research indicate that various internal and external factors motivate Swedish mothers with small children to replace previous employment with entrepreneurial activities. It can be argued from the results of the presented paper, that the need for independence and self-achievement, high levels of stress and lack of job opportunities, flexibility and happiness, are all instrumental in the investigation of the motivational factors. Research limitations/implications: The study has been conducted using a relatively small sample of women entrepreneurs with children in Sweden. Therefore, the findings are not representative and cannot be generalized for the whole population. The topic of interest would benefit if a research were conducted in a longer time span and replicate in range of different industries in order to further test the results.

For as long as internationalization has been a research topic, the risks surrounding it has been discussed. Several theories have emerged concerning how to go about international business, which entry modes and strategies to use as well as which markets to enter and at which pace - everything in order to reduce the risks of business failure. The lack of institutional and economic stability in emerging markets has evolved into warning signs for foreign firms as they are hesitant to enter these markets due to higher risks and furthermore, there are assumptions regarding low entrepreneurial skills in these markets, much due to the stability-barrier. In this regard, Thailand presents an interesting case, especially when aiming to look into females as entrepreneurs. The country presents a large number of females involved in business activities that show no sign of being hindered by the stability factor.  These interesting aspects paved the way for this thesis’ purpose “to examine and understand how Thailand's female entrepreneurs engage in international business activities.” Through examining the internationalization process from an aspect of both personal traits and network connections, findings have been presented regarding how the Thai female entrepreneur uses these components to initiate international business activities for her small- and medium-sized enterprise. These findings have enriched the understanding of how females approach and experience an internationalization process. To ensure a broader comprehension of the subject, this research has followed a qualitative research method combined with an abductive approach which this thesis has benefitted from as there is a lack of research on the subject. The theoretical framework starts with presenting the phenomena entrepreneurship, and then more in-depth explains concepts of female- and international entrepreneurship, introducing concepts like internationalization and psychic distance. Finally, the theoretical framework is concluded with a conceptual framework model explaining how all concepts are connected. Before presenting the empirical findings of the research, the methodology chapter explains how the researchers went about this study, how all the data was collected and under which circumstances. In order to tie the empirical findings with the theoretical framework, an analysis was made which presents this thesis’ findings in a theoretical manner before everything is tied together in a conclusion. The findings conclude that there is a significant bond between personal traits, networks, and firm internationalization and furthermore, this thesis suggests that Thai female entrepreneurs are fearless and therefore, encounter few of the barriers that other female entrepreneurs do. Finally, this thesis is concluded with theoretical and practical implications as well as suggestions for future research within the area.  “It is obvious that they are notafraid of what this might do.”

This study focuses on female entrepreneurship in Afghanistan as a relatively new phenomenon in the country. It captures women entrepreneurs’ lived experiences and investigates their motivations, the factors affecting their businesses, the challenges they face, and their survival strategies. It also explores entrepreneurship's impacts on women’s lives, particularly affecting their ascribed gender roles and contributions to social transformation. The findings of this research, based on qualitative interviews with 19 female entrepreneurs in Afghanistan, suggest that female entrepreneurship could be an effective way of involving women in social and economic development. This thesis also contributes to women’s empowerment and increases job opportunities for other women. It also has the potential to address women’s previously unmet needs. I argue that in conservative societies, entrepreneurship brings about social change by normalizing women’s presence in the public sphere, particularly in business, and therefore it should be supported and promoted.

From a social constructionist understanding of social reality, this research explores how the female entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurship are represented in official discourses. From the view point of post-structuralist feminism, this research takes the position that discourses are linguistic practices that create truth effects. It finds that the texts on the official website, including the policies and the female entrepreneurs¡¦ stories, have the potential to reproduce the stereotype of gender.

Background: Female entrepreneurship has been through a big upswing during the past decades. More women are deciding to start their own business and engage in the business creation world, which is proven to be one of the most important and fast-growing aspects of entrepreneurship worldwide. However, in the past, females who made such decisions have faced many obstacles and resistance in terms of treatment, financial support and combining working and family life. Further, previous research regarding female entrepreneurship and its correlation to societal change proves that the progression is affected by external factors such as governmental institutions, attitudes and fundamental assets (first developed by Baumol in 1990). Purpose: By identifying certain rapid changes that society has been through during the past decades, the purpose of this study is to highlight what these developments mean for female entrepreneurs and their current role in a changing society.  Method: This is a qualitative research based on an inductive approach where semi-structured interviews are the foundation of its empirical findings. The method has adopted the Gioia (2012) method with the purpose of identifying patterns and themes that can generate useful conclusions on the chosen topic.  Conclusion: The findings show that digitalization and technology have been two of the most significant changes in society during the past decades. These have generated more role models, new social networks, better communication and new entrepreneurial fields - all promoting the growth of female entrepreneurship. Combining work and family life seem to be primarily an obstacle and it is no longer a huge disadvantage to be a female when starting a new business. Its developments have resulted in new advantages for investments and gaining opportunities, as well as new entrepreneurial fields.

There are fewer female entrepreneurs than their male counterparts worldwide. This disparity persists even in countries like Sweden with the highest gender equality index scores and therefore presumed to be more gender equal. Moreover, women are underrepresented in the entrepreneurship literature. With fewer studies exploring female entrepreneurs and the gender-specific challenges, they face because ofinsufficient support, financial and otherwise. Gender equality in entrepreneurship has socio-economic importance and it plays a significant role in the overall economic growth. Making entrepreneurship a crucial economic development tool for women. With previous research showing that female entrepreneurs tend to exit their ventures at a higher rate, in this study we have explored the entrepreneurial exit decisions of female entrepreneurs with a focus on Sweden. Through our qualitative study, we interviewed 10 women that had previously made an entrepreneurial exit. Our findings show that female entrepreneurs mostly exit due to voluntary reasons, which affirms previous research that has found that female entrepreneurs are more likely to exit voluntarily than male entrepreneurs for mostly personal reasons and not because of underperformance (Justo et al., 2015; Jawarna et al., 2020). Moreover, we have further explored voluntary exits and involuntary exits. With findings showing that voluntary exits happen mostly due to management-related issues, economic instability, geographic relocation, or when the entrepreneur finds what they perceive as a better opportunity. All the involuntary exits in this study were a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study contributes to the literature of entrepreneurial exit as well as gender studies with its recommendations.

The proliferation of female entrepreneurs, especially in developing countries, instigated this study, to understand their judgement and decision-making processes in the highly complex and uncertain entrepreneurial landscape within which they need to thrive. The study focused on cognitive bias and its effects on risk perception and firm performance, particularly in female entrepreneurs. This study took a quantitative approach to analyse the effects of cognitive bias. A cross sectional explanatory research design, using a combination of purposive and snowballing non-probability sampling strategies, yielded a sample of 75 female entrepreneurs. The data collected on their risk perception, which is believed to be a determinant of success, was analysed using Pearson’s correlations, paired t-tests and multivariate regression statistical techniques. The key findings of this study are based on the evaluation of four research hypotheses were; a weak negative relationship exists between overconfidence and risk perception; a positive relationship exists between overoptimism and risk perception; and no relationship exists between self-efficacy and risk perception. With regard to firm performance, none of the cognitive biases or risk perceptions were found to have any statistically significant relationship. This study brought a different dimension to the effects of cognitive bias, as its findings mostly contradicted existing literature. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Purpose – The purpose of this master thesis is to offer a number of illustrations of Russian female entrepreneurs in order to identify potential motivational factors that make Russian women launch their own business start-ups. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative research method is applied within the master thesis based on information received from secondary (case studies) and primary (semi-structured interviews) data collection methods. The actor view and combination of directed and summative approaches of the qualitative content analysis update the information gathered within the theoretical studies of peer-reviewed articles on female entrepreneurship in general and particularly in Russia. Findings – Female entrepreneurs are not a homogenous group. Motivational factors can be divided in two groups: both applicable to male and female entrepreneurship; exclusively female motivations. “The glass ceiling effect” is a common problem that pushes women into self-employment. “Internal-stable reasons” encourage women entrepreneurship as an opportunity to achieve work-life balance and be one’s own boss. The desire of social contribution is a driver of female entrepreneurship, too. Marriage and birth of children make females think about starting their own businesses as well. Female entrepreneurship discrimination in Russia still exists up to now, in particular: sexism and dalliance. The principle motivational factors for women entrepreneurs in Russia are: wholesome family relationship and family support. One can behold a developing positive trend inside the boundaries of various discrimination problems that used to frustrate the majority of females determined to embark on entrepreneurial activity. Still the majority of females who are determined to launch entrepreneurial projects consider marriage to be a significant and useful social institution. Research limitations/implications – The research studies on women entrepreneurship in the world are at the infancy stage, much less in Russia. Thus, the number of articles on female entrepreneurship is willing to be broaden. The only conduction of interviews in terms of empirical analysis is not enough and could be supported by surveys and focus groups in the future. The authors are limited in time and resources for the analysis of such a vast topic as well as restrictions in the regional context (central regions – Moscow) disallow to apply findings in relation to the whole Russian Federation. Practical implications – The findings of the master thesis could be used by researchers to replicate the study of motivational factors in a multiregional sample and to know whether the results are similar in all regions of Russia; and policy makers to motivate women to become entrepreneurs as it is a source of new jobs and allows women to be active participants in the country’s economy.