Communication and the Gender Entrepreneurship Gap: Jamaican Women-Entrepreneurs’ Views of their Interpersonal Communication Interactions with Others in Business Settings

Abstract

This exploratory study examines the meanings women business owners from Jamaica attach to their interpersonal communication performances in business settings, within the context of the gender entrepreneurship gap. There is limited research about the communication practices of women entrepreneurs from Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), such as Jamaica, where this phenomenon is prevalent. I argue that paying closer attention to the interpersonal communication dynamics businesswomen see as characterizing their interactions with others in business settings is warranted, given the influence that interpersonal communication has on business performance.The results of the study reveal several insights. First, that the women’s interpersonal communication patterns show a partiality toward the self-presentation and relationship objectives of interpersonal communication exchanges. Second, that the participants’ self-construal of their communication styles seem to impose limitations on the ways in which they negotiate business interactions in the Jamaican context and third, that the women’s interpersonal interactions in business settings are mediated by the prevailing gender as well as cultural values governing communication expectations in a place such as Jamaica.