Female Business Research Articles

Gender Inequality in Undergraduate Business Schools: The Glass Door Effects

This study examined female underrepresentation in business schools among undergraduate students and faculty in a sample of universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and compares the findings to other public universities in Pennsylvania. We found that during the 1995–2008 period, when compared with other academic disciplines, female student representation in business programs was lower than in other colleges and actually had declined over time. Similarly, female business faculty representation was lower than the average female representation at their respective universities. The majority of previous studies examined the “glass ceiling effect” to describe the impediments that women face in their quest for executive positions in the business world. This study attempted to shed light on possible obstacles that women face at the entry to the business world and discusses challenges to recruiting and retaining female students and faculty in business programs. The implications of these findings are imperative for maintaining diverse education and industry environments, which can have long-term economic consequences for society at large. The importance of this issue was highlighted in the recently passed Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Gender Inequality in Undergraduate Business Schools: The Glass Door Effects

This study examined female underrepresentation in business schools among undergraduate students and faculty in a sample of universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and compares the findings to other public universities in Pennsylvania. We found that during the 1995–2008 period, when compared with other academic disciplines, female student representation in business programs was lower than in other colleges and actually had declined over time. Similarly, female business faculty representation was lower than the average female representation at their respective universities. The majority of previous studies examined the “glass ceiling effect” to describe the impediments that women face in their quest for executive positions in the business world. This study attempted to shed light on possible obstacles that women face at the entry to the business world and discusses challenges to recruiting and retaining female students and faculty in business programs. The implications of these findings are imperative for maintaining diverse education and industry environments, which can have long-term economic consequences for society at large. The importance of this issue was highlighted in the recently passed Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Gender and business ownership: questioning “what” and “why”

PurposeTo date, comparisons of performance in male and female businesses show contradictory results, although the majority of evidence is drawn from Anglo‐Saxon countries. This study aims to explore the effects of gender on business performance in a sample of Spanish firms.Design/methodology/approachThis paper extends previous work with a quantitative analysis of effects of gender on performance. In‐depth interviews yield insights on how gender impacts performance.FindingsThe quantitative analysis shows that gender has a simple effect on performance, but it is less robust when other factors are included in the model. Furthermore, this relationship is more complex, since gender has an indirect and moderating effect on performance. The results indicate possible sources of gender differences and suggest factors that require further investigation with a qualitative approach. This analysis expands our understanding in two ways: first, by suggesting that we have to make sense of businesses through another lens, and second, by implying that we have to be aware that we can find heterogeneity among women.Research limitations/implicationsPerformance differences are due to differences in women's assessment of performance and/or their socio‐economic positioning. The premises of mainstream theories should be questioned in order to develop gender research.Originality/valueThe study answers the call of using mixed methods to gain insights that lead to a cumulative knowledge in this area.

Exploring the Motivation and Barriers in Way of Pakistani Female Entrepreneurs

Aims: Many women are entrepreneurs worldwide however the global impact of female entrepreneurs is just beginning to achieve intensity and concentration. The number of female business owners continues to increase steadily worldwide, today women in advanced markets and economies own more than 25 per cent of all businesses (NFWBO, 1998). Women are struggling hard to bear the risk of new venture for chance of profit. There exists a short literature truly addressing opportunities and challenges of female entrepreneurs in developing countries like Pakistan which calls for an enquiry. This paper aims to explore the factors responsible for motivation and hindrance in the way of female entrepreneurs and also address the pertinent gender issues in context of Pakistan. Study Design: Qualitative approach was employed according to the nature of sample available. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in four major cities of Pakistan i.e. Faisalabad, Lahore, Sargodha, Sialkot. The duration of study was from January 2011 to Research Article British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science, 2(4): 353-368, 2012 354 June 2012. Methodology: Qualitative approach was employed according to the nature of sample available. Focus group discussion was used as data gathering instrument. A sample of 160 respondents was gathered. Results: The findings of the study illustrate that female entrepreneurs are motivated to earn money for personal use, to contribute to family income, Personal ambition, and for self satisfaction. In addition, the perceived barriers for female entrepreneurs are inadequate education, Lack of guidance, Capital unavailability and Customs and local culture. Conclusion: The study has revealed that females taking part in entrepreneurial activities in Pakistan are mostly married with low education level. Female entrepreneurs in Pakistan seem to be motivated to become entrepreneurs mainly from factors like “due to earn money for personal use, to contribute to family income, Personal ambition, and For self satisfaction. The findings of study indicated that factors such as “Inadequate education, Lack of guidance, Capital unavailability and Customs and local culture appear to be as barriers in the way of female entrepreneurial activities in Pakistan.

Bi-Polar: College Education and Loans to Small Businesses Headed by Black Females

This paper uses the 1998 and 2003 Surveys of Small Business Finance (SSBF) to detail the recent experiences of black female headed small businesses (BFHBs) in the capital markets. It documents, a large disparity in the importance of a college education for black and non-black female headed businesses (NFHBs); that the race of a female headed business is an important factor in determining whether a loan is approved; and that although receiving a college education does not remove the cost BFHBs face due to their owner's race, it is significantly lower than that faced by their peers without a college educated owner. Together, this paper provides striking evidence of taste-based and statistical discrimination, both in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Male vs. female business owners: Are there differences in investment behavior?

This paper analyzes gender dierences in the investment activity of German small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The empirical analysis is carried out on a sample of firms drawn from the KfW Mittelstandspanel, a representative survey of German SMEs for the period from 2003 to 2009. We find evidence that female-owned firms are less likely to invest and if they invest, then their average investment rate is lower. These dierences cannot entirely be explained by firm or owner characteristics. Furthermore, women’s investment is less sensitive to cash flow, which indicates that it is unlikely that their lower investment is driven by diculties in acquiring external finance. An analysis of stated investment goals reveals that women have dierent preferences and attitudes towards investment. They indicate to a lesser extent aspiring and growth-orientated investment goals like sales increase, innovation/R&D or implementation of new products.

Workforce Reductions at Women-Owned Businesses in the United States

This paper finds that women-owned private firms were less likely than firms owned by men to downsize their workforces during the Great Recession. Year-to-year employment reductions were as much as 29 percent smaller at women-owned firms, even after controlling for industry, size, and profitability. Using data that allow us to control for additional detailed firm and owner characteristics, we also find that women-owned firms operated with greater labor intensity after the previous recession and were less likely to hire temporary or leased workers. These patterns extend previous findings associating female business leadership with increased labor hoarding.

Emerging Issues in Business Education: A Panacea for Effective Utilization and Application of ICTS as a Tool in Business Education in Nigerian Universities

The business education programme has experienced unprecedented technological changes in the recent years. The new trend in ICTs place greater responsibilities on business educators. If business educators must be the master of the skills and knowledge of ICTs he teaches, he must be retrained regularly as to adapt to the technological changes in education industries. This study seeks to find the extent of utilization and application of ICTs tools in teaching and learning of business education courses in Nigerian universities. A survey design was employed for the study. The population for the study consists of 100 business educators in the universities located in South-East (Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo States). There was no sample; hence the population was very few. A questionnaire containing 5-point Likert type of scale was used. The data generated was analyzed using frequency count and z-test statistics (for research questions and hypothesis respectively), the study reveals that there was no significant difference in the mean scores of male and female business educators regarding the strategies, ICT tools/facilities and problems hindering the teaching and learning of business education courses in the Nigerian Universities, so gender is not a barrier at all. It recommends that the Nigerian government should provide enough capital for the procurement and maintenance of ICT tools.

Family Friendly Entrepreneurship: New Business Formation in Family Spaces

Seventy three per cent of UK enterprises have no employees and seventeen per cent of these are managed solely by women (GEM UK Data 2005). UK female entrepreneurship is thus a significant economic phenomenon and it is increasing, especially in rural areas. Suggestions are that women’s businesses are different to men’s (Ahl 2006, Hanson 2003, Hanson and Blake 2004) in terms of their nature, location, type and the way that business is done. Limited empirical investigation has been undertaken, especially within geography (Hanson 2003). In addition, it has been argued that women’s participation in self-employment generally, is under-theorised (Blake, 2006; Ahl, 2006; Lewis 2006). Buzar et al (2005) identify the need to consider within this, the social construction of gender, time, space, economy and culture. This paper aims to advance knowledge and understanding of both the characteristics of female businesses and the coordinates and circumstances of female entrepreneurship. This paper will investigate the nature, dynamics, networks and locations of the new businesses (started up with in the past five years)of thirty women entrepreneurs all of whom are mothers and most of whom work at home. Two different types of new work/economic space will be examined. The first, the work locations of this economic activity, are a key defining feature of these businesses – they are typically the kitchens, bedroom and garages of the entrepreneurs’ family homes within the spaces of family life. An understanding of such enterprises is assisted by adopting a household-level, work-life reconciliation perspective (Jarvis 2005, Moen and Sweet 2004). The second new economic space reported in this paper will be the typical spaces of networking and marketing which often take place in electronic space, particularly the social networking sites (and especially female social and business networking, and mothers’ networking internet sites that have become so popular in the past five years or so. Thus this paper will focus on new spaces of work and new ways of doing business.

Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Propensity*

AbstractUsing data from representative population surveys in 17 countries, we find that the lower rate of female business ownership is primarily due to women's lower propensity to start businesses rather than to differences in survival rates across genders. We show that women are less confident in their entrepreneurial skills, have different social networks and exhibit higher fear of failure than men. After controlling for endogeneity, we find that these variables explain a substantial part of the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity. Although, of course, their relative importance varies significantly across countries, these factors appear to have a universal effect.

Mental distress, alcohol use and help-seeking among medical and business students: a cross-sectional comparative study

BackgroundStress and distress among medical students are thoroughly studied and presumed to be particularly high, but comparative studies including other student groups are rare.MethodsA web-based survey was distributed to 500 medical students and 500 business students. We compared levels of study stress (HESI), burnout (OLBI), alcohol habits (AUDIT) and depression (MDI), and analysed their relationship with self-assessed mental health problems by logistic regression, with respect to gender.ResultsMedical students' response rate was 81.6% and that of business students 69.4%. Business students scored higher on several study stress factors and on disengagement. Depression (OR 0.61, CI95 0.37;0.98) and harmful alcohol use (OR 0.55, CI95 0.37; 0.75) were both less common among medical students. However, harmful alcohol use was highly prevalent among male students in both groups (medical students 28.0%, business students 35.4%), and among female business students (25.0%). Mental health problems in need of treatment were equally common in both groups; 22.1% and 19.3%, respectively, and was associated with female sex (OR 2.01, CI95 1.32;3.04), exhaustion (OR 2.56, CI95 1.60;4.10), lower commitment to studies (OR 1.95, CI95 1.09;3.51) and financial concerns (OR 1.81 CI95 1.18;2.80)ConclusionsMedical students may not be more stressed than other high achieving student populations. The more cohesive structure of medical school and a higher awareness of a healthy lifestyle may be beneficial factors.

Who is she? The Turkish Cypriot female entrepreneur

This study has provided empirical evidence related to the activity of female entrepreneurs in North Cyprus, in particular, concentrating on their personal profile, characteristics of their business, the motivation behind their choice of becoming a business owner, and their measures of business success. The study instrument used to collect primary data from the respondents was a four-part cross-sectional structured qualitative questionnaire personally administered by the authors. A total of 291 female business owners were randomly selected and approached with 176 agreeing to take part in the study, giving a response rate of 61%. Results indicate that the typical Turkish Cypriot female entrepreneur is aged between 35 and 44 years, is married, has 2 children, and is a high-school graduate. She is active in retail trade, and has no prior work experience. Her motivation for engaging in entrepreneurial activity is because of her desire for independence and to earn an income, with profits/sales and growth/expansion being her measures of business success. Key words: Entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurs, small and medium sized enterprises, North Cyprus.

The Search for an Authentic Entrepreneurial Identity: Difference and Professionalism among Women Business Owners

This article contributes to the recent stream of research on enterprise and identity by exploring the authenticity‐driven identity work of a group of women business owners. While previous research has highlighted the effort some female business owners put into fitting in with the masculine identity of the entrepreneur, this article focuses on those women who self‐consciously adopt a feminized entrepreneurial identity as a means of being ‘who I really am’ in a business context. Nevertheless, despite their expressed commitment to a feminized identity, the article highlights their incorporation of a contrasting position or antagonism in this authenticity‐driven endeavour. Drawing on Charme's notion of existential authenticity, which places an emphasis on the cultural, historical, political, economic and physical limits to being ‘true to oneself’, the article shows how the situated nature of women's search for an authentically driven entrepreneurial identity means that they draw on a feminized discourse of difference and a contrasting masculine discourse of professionalism in their identity construction labours.

The impact of female business leaders on the performance of listed companies in South Africa

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of female business leaders in JSE-listed companies on the financial performance of those companies. This is as result of the proposition that women, over and above men, bring unique skills to the workplace. However, it is hypothesized in this study that JSE-listed companies led by a high percentage of women do not outperform similar companies led by a low percentage of women. The Lean Modigliani and France Modigliani measure (M2) was used to test this hypothesis. Results of this study indicate that companies led by women do not outperform similar companies led by men. As a result, the null hypothesis is not rejected. Implications of these results are discussed.

Gender Differences In Students Ethical Impressions Of Questionable Marketing Practices

In this study, we test the theory that female business majors are more sensitive than male business majors to the ethical issues in advertising promotions. We also examine whether or not business majors are as sensitive as liberal arts majors. Our sample is made up of 218 students from the Northeast area of the US. To measure ethical sensitivity in marketing situations, the participants responded to six scenarios developed from actual news data. The results indicate that female students and female business majors were more sensitive to potentially unethical advertising than male students. We also found that liberal arts students were more sensitive to ethical issues than their counterparts in business schools.

The New Strategic Imperative: Understanding the Female Business Traveler

This paper explores the characteristics, needs, and behaviors of women who travel on business and analyzes the data for potential segmentation. The study focuses exclusively on the female business traveler. The sample consists of 235 female business travelers from a variety of industries. The statistical methods include correlation analyses, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. The findings show that 6 factors explain 60.4% of the variance in characteristics, behaviors and needs of female business travelers. Cluster analysis further identifies 3 clusters: the Connective, the Empowered, and the Productive. The results show that there are three distinct types of women who travel on business. Strategies are suggested for organizations to use the findings to respond to female business travelers.

Family Owned Business Fraud: The Silent Thief

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The ACFE 2002 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse shows “The per-employee losses from fraud in the smallest businesses are 100 times the amount of their largest counterparts.” Further, major factors contributing to small business fraud include: inadequate employee prescreening; limited controls and too much trust. The focus of the paper is on issues raised by questions such as should family businesses be concerned about fraud and to what extent can control measures be adopted to help reduce losses caused by this condition?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It is an examination of a survey sent to 167 female business owners and their responses to questions about fraud.</span></span></p>

Challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Nigeria

PurposeThis study seeks to examine the business and social profiles of 67 women entrepreneurs in three regions of Nigeria in order to identify patterns of entrepreneurship and social and economic challenges facing women business owners in Nigeria. The study aims to support and encourage sustainable small‐scale economic development activities by Nigerian women and determine ways to integrate these small businesses into existing urban economic development projects and strategies for poverty alleviation, expand understanding of the business and social profiles of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria, examine the contextual influences on their work, raise the level of awareness of women entrepreneurs amongst all economically active agents and researchers, influence social and economic policy addressing issues of women entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approachA survey was developed and administered to a sample of 62 practicing Nigerian female entrepreneurs. The survey was divided into sections that recorded personal demographics, the entrepreneur's perceptions of the business environment and their venture and the motivations and drives that led to the birth of their business. Data were collected and processed to produce frequency distributions on every question/variable in the survey followed by cross‐tabulations between all variables and χ2 tests in order to reveal strong associations.FindingsWith no or few significant differences shown to exist between male and female business owners or managers once they have already started an enterprise, there is a strong indication that Africa has sizeable hidden growth potential in its women. From the results presented, it is evident that female entrepreneurship in Nigeria is driven by micro‐financing as well as family dynamics that work to shape and influence the birth of a business.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research initiatives need to explore the gender dimension and the influence of education levels on the role models that influence and drive female entrepreneurship. In addition, the evolution of the complete life cycle of the entrepreneur's business should be examined and dependencies on the variables presented should be investigated. Finally, research should focus studies whose aim is to influence social and educational policy that encourages women's entrepreneurship in the fight for poverty alleviation in Africa.Originality/valueUnique contribution with information being provided regarding an area that has not been studied before with a quantitative and qualitative method both within the same study.

Does a Picture Paint a Thousand Words? Evidence from a Microcredit Marketing Experiment

Female entrepreneurship is low in many developing economies partly because of constraints on women's time and mobility, which are often reinforced by social norms. This paper analyzes a marketing experiment designed to encourage women to adopt a new microcredit product. A brochure with the same content but two different covers was randomly distributed among male and female borrowing groups. One cover featured five businesses run by men, while the other showed identical businesses run by women. Men and women responded to psychological cues. Among men who were not business owners, had lower measured ability and whose wives were less educated, the responses to the female brochure were more negative, as did female business owners with low autonomy within the household. Women with relatively high levels of autonomy had a similar negative response to the male brochure, while there was no effect on female business owners with autonomy. Overall, these results suggest that women's response to psychological cues, such as positive role models, may be affected by their level of autonomy at home, and more intensive interventions may be required for more disadvantaged women.

Does gender matter? A review of work‐related gender commonalities

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which differences and similarities exist between female and male business professionals.Design/methodology/approachA total of 1,164 students from three English‐speaking countries completed a 75‐item multi‐dimensional tool that consists of 17 empirically independent work preference constructs associated with psychological learning styles, work values, work interests, and personality temperament.FindingsThere are few notable or significant differences between the work preferences of female and male business professionals within each country. Differences between the work preferences of female and male business professionals are not consistent from nation to nation.Research limitations/implicationsAdditional research on gender differences of work preferences needs to include larger samples of college students majoring in non‐business subjects as well as working adults drawn from related occupational fields.Practical implicationsManagers need to understand that biological sex may be irrelevant when it comes to the selection, placement, training, development, and appraisal of employees.Originality/valueContrary to prior research, the results refute the existence of work‐related differences between females and males.