Institutional Support is Good for Female Entrepreneurs but How?

Abstract

Female entrepreneurs often face challenges that can be magnified in constrained contexts where they lack the same rights and resources as men. Although past research suggests that institutional support may help contribute to female entrepreneurs’ success, it is still unclear how this support affects post-founding entrepreneurial processes and outcomes in constrained contexts. Using a unique sample of Iranian female entrepreneurs, our moderated mediation analysis shows that institutional support moderates the effect of entrepreneurial actions on new venture performance through entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Thus, while female entrepreneurs face significant challenges in constrained contexts, institutional support can enable them to translate their entrepreneurial actions into higher self-confidence and better venture outcomes. Post-hoc comparisons with an American sample also suggest that the type of institutional support varies between constrained and less constrained contexts. In sum, these results suggest that institutional support helps female entrepreneurs succeed after the venture founding stage by strengthening the entrepreneurial action — self-efficacy relationship.