Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship

There is no gender difference between success in establishing a business once both males and females have the same preference to self-employment and attempts towards establishing a new business. However, the gender gap tends to be huge when it comes to individual preferences and attempts to start up an entrepreneurial activity. In this study, we empirically estimate the role of inequality in individual and country attributes between man and woman in the bridging the gender entrepreneurship gap. Using Oaxaca-type decomposition and its extensions, we found that differences in both individual as well as country characteristics largely favor males, while the former play greater role in explaining the gender gap. Empirical results also show differences in return to measured characteristics favor males. Nevertheless, a portion of gender gap that is unexplained by the differences in these characteristics and their coefficients (or return) could still indicate gender discrimination.

We examine the influence of the dimensions of social networks on the growth aspirations of female entrepreneurs. Using multi stage stratified random sampling, 540 women were surveyed in the five geographic regions of Uganda. Drawing on social network theory, point bi-serial correlation and logistic regression analysis were carried out to test our hypotheses. Although we find a relationship between belonging to a social network and growth, we also find that the relationship between the other indicators of social networks, including social support, discussion of business ideas, equality of network members and growth, are not statistically significant. We propose this may be because the challenges that face female entrepreneurs in this context negate the influence of social networks on growth. On the other hand, we posit that the metrics used to measure entrepreneurship related constructs are biased not only against women but even the developing country context.

Data and general observations would indicate that Chinese new ventures are not as innovative as U.S. new ventures. This paper utilizes the Institution-Based View of Entrepreneurship to argue that the varying institutions within the subnational regions influence the innovativeness of new ventures. More specifically, this variation in innovativeness of new ventures is more salient in the Chinese setting than the United States setting because of the unevenness of institutional transitions within Chinese subnational regions. Using a sample of 488 Chinese new ventures and 317 U.S. new ventures, this paper not only shows that region matters beyond individual and industry characteristics, but also shows that China suffers from a weighted averages issue, with Central and West subnational regions of China bringing down its overall innovativeness of new ventures. This provides implications on the appropriateness of making comparisons at a country level.

The economic environment and associated constraints have significant and unequal effects on Small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Constraints have been used, among other growth factors, to understand why some SMEs fail to grow while others foster. However, beyond knowing the effects or constraints, it is important entrepreneurs know how they can avoid constraints. The study provides an important contribution by showing that South-African SMEs that face constraints because of competition, government rules and regulations, financing gaps and corruption, can navigate away from these constraints by going international. The evidence shows a positive moderating effect of internationalization on the relationship between local constraints and SME growth. However, the results also reveal that lack of government support is a significant constraint to growth when SMEs export internationally.

Although risk has always been at the center of entrepreneurship, research on risk recognition in new ventures is limited. Applying cognitive information-processing theory, we develop a theoretical framework that explores the interactive influences of entrepreneurs' social networks and their cognitive characteristics on the outcomes of risk recognition. We test the framework on a sample of 226 Chinese entrepreneurs. The results show that network size, tie strength and structural holes enhance risk recognition outcomes and that cognition (i.e. risk propensity and illusion of control) generally reduces such effects, except in the case of illusion of control, which has no effect on structural holes.

This paper looks at the mediating effect of entrepreneurs' actual behavioral controls on the relationship between psychic distance stimuli and export mode choice of SMEs. Based on a dataset of 84 Vietnamese exporters, we find that: (i) entrepreneurs' actual behavioral controls and organizational factors are determinants of Vietnamese SMEs' export mode choice; (ii) psychic distance (geographic distance and psychic distance stimuli) does not influence Vietnamese SMEs' export mode choice; (iii) entrepreneurs' actual behavioral controls do not play the mediating or moderating role in the relationship between psychic distance and Vietnamese SMEs' export mode choice.