Skip to main content
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 14 Women entrepreneurs: From potential to intention. The role of motivations and culture in emerging economies

  • and
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

Entrepreneurial motivations are theorised as informing entrepreneurial behaviours and their scope and direction. Although the literature has identified agency-focused cognitive process, little is still known about women’s entrepreneurial motivations and cultural contexts. To fill this gap, this chapter examines the intersection of entrepreneurial motivations and culture on women’s entrepreneurship in the context of an emerging economy (Poland). To achieve it, this research employed semi-structured interviews to investigate women’s motivational triggers and cultural influences related to the creation of ventures. Our results identify a relationship between culture and motivations to engage in women’s entrepreneurship and show that women share a dissatisfaction perspective within their cultural context thus employing restricted agency when starting a business. Regarding theoretical implications, this study contributes by explaining the interplay of entrepreneurial motivations and culture in ‘doing context’ on women’s entrepreneurship in an emerging economy. This suggests that cultural reasoning for starting a business and cultural context for developing entrepreneurial potential may differ, providing new avenues for expanding generic assumptions on the role of culture in entrepreneurial motivation. Concerning practical implications, the study provides insights about the importance of women entrepreneurs’ cultural context as a central component for economic planning and policy development.

Abstract

Entrepreneurial motivations are theorised as informing entrepreneurial behaviours and their scope and direction. Although the literature has identified agency-focused cognitive process, little is still known about women’s entrepreneurial motivations and cultural contexts. To fill this gap, this chapter examines the intersection of entrepreneurial motivations and culture on women’s entrepreneurship in the context of an emerging economy (Poland). To achieve it, this research employed semi-structured interviews to investigate women’s motivational triggers and cultural influences related to the creation of ventures. Our results identify a relationship between culture and motivations to engage in women’s entrepreneurship and show that women share a dissatisfaction perspective within their cultural context thus employing restricted agency when starting a business. Regarding theoretical implications, this study contributes by explaining the interplay of entrepreneurial motivations and culture in ‘doing context’ on women’s entrepreneurship in an emerging economy. This suggests that cultural reasoning for starting a business and cultural context for developing entrepreneurial potential may differ, providing new avenues for expanding generic assumptions on the role of culture in entrepreneurial motivation. Concerning practical implications, the study provides insights about the importance of women entrepreneurs’ cultural context as a central component for economic planning and policy development.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents VII
  3. List of contributors XI
  4. Foreword XIX
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Section 1: Central and South America
  7. Chapter 1 Financial, human, and social capital – the interplay of resources among women entrepreneurs in Costa Rica 17
  8. Chapter 2 How women entrepreneurs emerge from family firms: The case of Colombia 35
  9. Chapter 3 Inclusive internationalisation as an emerging phenomenon of female entrepreneurship in three Latin American countries 65
  10. Chapter 4 The role of junior enterprises in the promotion of women’s entrepreneurial intentions: A comparison between Brazil and Portugal 121
  11. Section 2: Middle and far east
  12. Chapter 5 Female business angels in emerging economies: Funding family-related entrepreneurs 141
  13. Chapter 6 Women entrepreneurs within family spaces: A spatial perspective from a patriarchal context 165
  14. Chapter 7 An investigation into the influence of confidence, knowledge, and perseverance in supporting female entrepreneurs across emerging markets in India 187
  15. Chapter 8 The invisibility of Vietnamese women in the aquaculture value chain 227
  16. Section 3: Africa
  17. Chapter 9 Women’s enterprising in Africa: A systematic literature review 245
  18. Chapter 10 Coopetition as a strategy for value co-creation in women-owned start-ups in South Africa 273
  19. Chapter 11 Workaround practices within gender-biased entrepreneurship ecosystems – evidence from female entrepreneurs in the East African coffee sector 299
  20. Chapter 12 Agri-businesswomen in Kenya: Personal networks as gendered spaces in women’s entrepreneurship 319
  21. Section 4: Eastern Europe
  22. Chapter 13 Effectual-Causal reasonings inside innovative Belarusian SMEs: A gendered view 351
  23. Chapter 14 Women entrepreneurs: From potential to intention. The role of motivations and culture in emerging economies 369
  24. Postscript: Where do we go from here? 393
  25. Index 395
Downloaded on 26.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110747669-015/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button