South African female entrepreneurs’ business styles and their influence on various entrepreneurial factors

Natanya  Meyer

doi:10.23762/FSO_VOL7_NO2_2

Published : 2019-06-30

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2019)

South African female entrepreneurs’ business styles and their influence on various entrepreneurial factors

Natanya Meyer

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL7_NO2_2

Abstract

Female participation in entrepreneurial activity is noticeably smaller in most countries compared to male participation. In addition, female entrepreneurs may be more inclined to have lifestyle businesses than high-growth businesses. The aim of this study was to explore the differences in various entrepreneurial factors between South African female entrepreneurs running lifestyle businesses versus high-growth businesses. The study made use of a self-administered questionnaire using a convenience sample to collect data from active female entrepreneurs. The sample comprised 510 respondents representing all South African provinces. Data was analysed using reliability and validity analysis, MANOVA and ANOVA. The results indicated that female entrepreneurs who prefer to follow a high-growth business style reported higher means for all variables with statistical significant differences. These included the intention to remain in business, intention to grow the business and business growth factors. No differences were observed for the factors concerning internal and external motivation, training and education and attitude towards business. The results from this study are interesting as, in the case of South African female entrepreneurs, and contrary to the literature, many female entrepreneurs do prefer and want to follow a high-growth business style.

Keywords:

Female entrepreneurs, South Africa, entrepreneurial factors, business styles

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Meyer, N. . (2019). South African female entrepreneurs’ business styles and their influence on various entrepreneurial factors. Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 7(2), 25–35. https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL7_NO2_2

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Natanya Meyer

Natanya.Meyer@nwu.ac.za

Affiliation:

North-West University South Africa

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Dr. Natanya Meyer is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sci - ences at the North-West University in South Africa. Apart from her responsibilities as lecturer, she also serves as guardian to the Young Entrepreneurs Business Organisation (YEBO) student society on the Vaal campus, an executive member of the Golden Trian - gle Chamber of Commerce (GTCOC) and as a community of practice member in the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) initiative launched by the Department of Higher Education (DHE) in 2017. She enjoys research and has so far published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles in national and international journals and conference proceedings as sole author and co-author respectively. Her research fo - cuses on entrepreneurial and economic re - lated topics with a focus on females, youth and the enabling environment. She is a re - viewer, editorial board and scientific commit - tee member for several national and interna - tional journals and collaborates with various Asian and east European universities.

South African female entrepreneurs’ business styles and their influence on various entrepreneurial factors

Natanya Meyer

Abstract

Keywords:

Natanya Meyer

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