Differences and determinants of female entrepreneurship across selected EU countries: some empirical evidence for the period 2010–2018

Abstract

There is a wide differentiation in the level of female entrepreneurship across European Union countries. The literature emphasises the importance of various intrinsic (i.e. education, experience, human capital, access to capital resources) and extrinsic (i.e. influencing the level of entrepreneurship) factors. The purpose of this article is to empirically analyse the relationship between the level of female self-employment and the economic and social determinants of female labour force participation for 19 EU member states. This article uses panel data techniques to empirically analyse the relationship between the female self-employment and the following: gross domestic product per capita, female unemployment rate, total fertility rate, crude marriage rate, people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by age, gender wage gap (median) for full-time employees, masculinization index. Simple statistical methods and Pearson correlation coefficient were used in this paper. An econometric model was created to verify the factors affecting the level of female self-employment. Statistical data collected by Eurostat and the OECD were used to conduct the analyses. Due to limited data availability, the study covers the years 2010–2018. Gretl and Excel were used to conduct the analysis.