Female Entrepreneurs in the Hospitality Industry: A Panel Causality Analysis of EU Countries

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of female entrepreneurship (FE) in the tourism and hospitality industry in 30 European countries. Based on annual observations for the period 2006–2016 and using panel causality techniques, the study explores the impact of tourism receipts, GDP per capita, the Global Entrepreneurial Index (GEI), policies related to institutional and cultural issues, childcare and gender parity related to skills and entrepreneurship on FE. The results of robust second-generation panel methods indicate the existence of long-run cointegration among FE, GDP, tourism receipts and other variables of interest. The long-run elasticities of tourism receipts, GDP, GEI, childcare and the female–male ratio of access to human capital formation in terms of training obtained from the panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), panel dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and the pooled mean group estimator (PMG) estimation are significant in the context of FE. The study concludes that pivotal policy interventions are needed to ensure that family policies and procedures, social strategies and tax structures do not discriminate female entrepreneurs. JEL: C32, C33, J16, O52, Z30