Faculty of Economics and Business
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Master Thesis
MSc in Business Administration
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The peculiarities of female entrepreneurship in small
business sector of Russia and the Netherlands
Supervisor: Dr. Emiel Eijdenberg
Author: Sinyutina Anna
Student number: 11088486
Statement of originality
This document is written by Anna Sinyutina who declares to take full
responsibility for the contents of this document.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original
and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its
references have been used in creating it.
The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the
supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.
Abstract
Over the past two decades, female entrepreneurship has been recognized to substantially contribute to the global socio-economic development (OECD, 2004). However, most research has been focused on the operation of business start-ups in mature market economies but not countries with transition economies. Russia is one of the representatives of a transition economy, where women's activities are mainly concentrated in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) business sector. As the peculiarities of female start-ups in Russia and their comparison to the ones of the Netherlands received little attention so far, this qualitative research contributes to the existing knowledge by focusing on drivers and challenges that either motivate or stop women to engage in entrepreneurship. To retrieve data and gain in-depth insights, an inductive approach was applied with the help of 15 semi-structured interviews. The results of the research provide evidence that there are both similarities and differences among the peculiarities of Russian and Dutch female entrepreneurs. For instance, the findings show that such factors as Environment Support, Male Support, Entrepreneurial Parents and Creative Skills are the key drivers on the way to recognizing and pursuing a business opportunity. In contrast to what was expected, Education was not found to play such a significant role in predetermining the entrepreneurial path, although in Russia more entrepreneurs have a Master degree. In regards to the differences, more Russian females were discovered to start up out of necessity due to negative working conditions. The relevance of this Thesis can be considered as complementary to the academic knowledge by extending the theory on female entrepreneurship in the context of small business. In addition, it has several implications for the Governmental, Educational and Entrepreneurial Institutions, which can facilitate a growing number of women who are ready to engage in entrepreneurship.
Keywords: female, entrepreneur, small business, start up, drivers, interview, Russia, the
Table of Content
Abstract ... 3 Acknowledgement ... 7 1. Introduction ... 8 2. Literature Review ... 12 2.1 Entrepreneurship ... 12 2.2 Female Entrepreneurship ... 14 2.2.1 Drivers ... 15 2.2.2 Consumer-oriented sector ... 20 2.2.3 Barriers ... 20 2.2.3 Culture ... 202.3 Small business sector ... 21
2.3.1 SME in Russia ... 22
2.4 Peculiarities of female entrepreneurship in developing countries with transition economy (Russia) ... 24
2.4.2 Drivers ... 25
2.4.3 Culture ... 25
2.5 Peculiarities of female entrepreneurship in developed counties with mature economy (the Netherlands) ... 26 2.5.1 Drivers ... 26 2.5.2 Culture ... 27 3. Methodology ... 29 3.1 Method of Analysis ... 29 3.2 Data collection ... 30 3.3 Research Analysis ... 31
3.4 Validity and reliability ... 31
4.1 Sociodemographic factors ... 33 4.1.1 Age ... 34 4.1.2 Education ... 34 4.1.3 Learning in practice ... 35 4.1.4 Entrepreneur type ... 37 4.2 Contextual factors ... 37
4.2.1. Undesirable working conditions ... 37
4.2.2 Quitting a job ... 39
4.2.3 Presence of role models... 40
4.2.4 Environment support ... 41
4.2.5 Male support ... 43
4.3 Subjective perceptions ... 45
4.3.1 Creative skills ... 45
4.3.2 Alertness to unexploited opportunities ... 45
4.3.3 Male qualities or feminity? ... 46
4.4. Why small business? ... 48
4.5 Challenges ... 49
4.6 Start up capital ... 50
4.7 Entrepreneur: born or made ... 51
5. Discussion ... 52
5.1 Comparison with previous research ... 52
5.1.1 Sociodemographic factors ... 52
5.1.2 Contextual factors and their connection to perceptual variables ... 54
5.2 Strengths and practical implications ... 55
5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research ... 57
6. Conclusion ... 59
Appendix 1: Complete overview of Russian respondents ... 66
Appendix 2: Complete overview of Dutch respondents ... 67
Appendix 3: Interview Guideline (the Netherlands) ... 68
Acknowledgement
This thesis is dedicated to all these females who were courageous enough to dive into
the intricate world of entrepreneurship where so much diligence and commitment is
required in order to achieve success.
My thesis would not have been possible without the involvement of all 15 charming
participants, who agreed to share their unique stories and trusted me without any
dread to process the valuable information. They were a great source of inspiration
along my entire journey to finding right answer to the research question.
Next, I would like to thank people who got me in touch with aforementioned
interviewees. Without your large network of contacts, this piece of work would not
have become real.
Moreover, I would like to express great thanks to my supervisor who became a
conductor for me during these months, showing the best route to qualitative research
and helping to arrive to the final destination.
Last but not least, I am very thankful to all friends, parents and boyfriend who were
always there for me with a helpful advice no matter day or night.
1. Introduction
Nowadays it is widely agreed that entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly important source of employment for women worldwide (Langowitz & Minitti, 2007), also playing a significant role in the growth process of both developing and developed countries as there is a broad agreement that the creation of new enterprises is a fundamental driver for economic growth (e.g., Minniti et al., 2005; Acs et al., 2005; Acs et al., 2011). Certain researches even suggest that the contribution to welfare resulting from female entrepreneurship is higher than the one resulting from the activity of men (e.g., Minniti, 2010). However, according to Minniti (2010), the number of female entrepreneurs is still significantly lower than that of men and, although there has been quite a lot of research on the existence of gender differences in entrepreneurial behaviour, the reasons of such differences are still not very clear. There is no general accordance yet if they root in contextual, evolutionary or behavioural causes. Because there is a substantial variation of women’s involvement in entrepreneurial activity among countries, it becomes very important to understand what factors motivate or prevent females from starting up and then have impact on the success of their new ventures, reflecting subsequently on the overall economic development of their respective countries.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) in the special issue on female entrepreneurship (2015) identifies that geography, culture and the level of economic development may explain patterns in the rate and nature of entrepreneurship, as well as social attitudes towards this activity. The report categorizes economies by geographic location and economic development level, addressing culture throughout the discussion. With respect to the stages of economic development, GEM classifies the Russian economy as efficiency-driven, and the one of the Netherlands —as innovation-driven, applying the categories used by the World Economic Forum in its annual Global Competitiveness Report (2015-2016).1
The efficiency-driven economies are characterized by an achievement of higher productivity through economies of scale and development of financial institutions while expanding the industrial sector. Innovation-driven economies are those that are mature and show a progressive shift to an expanding service sector catering to needs of an increasingly wealthy population. This is typically associated with growing research and development, knowledge intensity and innovation.
The GEM (2015) demonstrated that among 61 economies (out of 83) featured in this report and in the previous one, based on 2012 data, overall Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurship Activity
1
This classification is based on the level of GDP per capita and the share of exports of primary goods to total exports (Schwab and Salari-Martin, 2014).
(TEA) rates have increased by 7% since 2012, and the gender gap (ratio of women to men participating in entrepreneurship) has diminished by 6%. TEA rates and gender gap proportions showed a positive upward movement in three regions: factor- and efficiency-driven Asia, Latin America and the innovation-driven Europe region, where Russia is seen as a European efficiency-driven country and the Netherlands — a European innovation-efficiency-driven country.
Female entrepreneurship and gender differences in small business development continue to be at the forefront of research in many countries. Business start-ups have also been intensively researched by academics (e.g., Gartner, 1988; Carter et al., 1996; Gartner & Carter, 2003; Reynolds & Curtin, 2011). However, most research so far has focused on studying mature market economies (e.g., Aldrich et al., 1989; Catley & Hamilton, 1998; Bosma & Schutjens, 2011), but not countries with transition economies and their comparison to the former ones. What is more, in reviewing a major body of academic articles on women entrepreneurs, Carter et al. (2001) have concluded that explanatory theories are still lacking.
Nowadays, the economy in former communist East European countries, including Russia, is in transition and can be classified as developing according to the World Bank categorization (Kelley et al., 2011). At the same time, developing countries are defined as countries characterized by middle-income economies in line with the classification proposed by the World Bank (2011). The environmental context differs greatly between developing and developed countries according to Iakovleva et al. (2014).
In this Thesis Russia was chosen as a research context amongst other countries with transition economy for several reasons. Firstly, Russian culture is quite different from others, though more than seven decades of closed borders had a great impact on the formation of the mentality and perceptions of all former Soviet Union (FSU) states. What is more, Russian economy is now developing very intensively. The structure of demand is changing. With growing purchasing power, entrepreneurship patterns are also changing. Unfortunately, there is a lack of recently conducted research on female entrepreneurship in Russia, which can be partly explained by the fact that it is quite a new trend on the Russian market. The overall entrepreneurial activities in transition
countries were not permitted until about twenty years ago, when the "perestroika" period began in
the FSU (Iakovleva et al., 2014). The economic development of the Russian Federation has been quite challenging since then, although lately the country has been able to develop institutions that support business growth as well as improve governmental regulations for business start-ups. However, even though Russia succeeded to enhance the availability of financial services for small businesses, the sector of entrepreneurship is still seriously underdeveloped in comparison with developed countries (Iakovleva et al., 2014). Consequently, very little is known about such a
phenomenon as female entrepreneurship in Russia. In addition, there is a lack of up-to-date evidence on female entrepreneurship in the small business area in countries with transition economies.
In contrast, there has been lot of research on female entrepreneurship in the Netherlands, which represents developed and mature or innovation-driven economy, as determined by the GEM. According to the GEM (2015), the Dutch TEA rate is still at a historically high level, which is also relatively high, compared to peer economies. 79% of Dutch Adults (18-64 years old) considered Entrepreneurship a desirable career choice, which is higher than the average of 55% for all innovation-driven economies. At the same time, 10.8% of Dutch population had intentions to start a business compared to the 12.7% average of all innovation-driven economies. In an international perspective, the Dutch population scores better on perceived opportunities and fear of failure when compared to the average scores of the rest of the innovation-driven economies.
Because of the fact that there is very limited up-to-date comparable analysis on the topic of female entrepreneurship in Russia and the Netherlands, each being a bright representative of the aforementioned economic categories, it becomes a very interesting challenge to investigate the question and contribute to the research field.
Due to the research gap, the Research Question arises: What are the peculiarities of the
female entrepreneurship in the small business segment of Russia and the Netherlands?
To answer this question, the paper attempts to answer the following sub-questions:
1. Which peculiarities of the female entrepreneurship favour or threaten the start-up initiative and its further success?
2. How are these peculiarities different in Russia and the Netherlands?
My initial research objectives are:
To identify which factors drive women to make a decision to become entrepreneurs and understand if it is a well-planned decision or a result of circumstances;
To explore what factors influence business growth and success, specifically: - Do cultural or social norms have an impact;
- Do subjective perceptual factors influence all the issues mentioned above and to what extent?
To find out which difficulties female entrepreneurs face while starting up and if they feel it would be easier to overcome them if they were men;
To illustrate and explain the differences of all the topics mentioned above in Russia and the Netherlands.
To answer these questions a multiple case study with 15 semi-structured interviews is conducted within the context of this research: female entrepreneurs who have start-ups in small business area and are based in Russia or the Netherlands.
The contribution of this study will be a better theoretical understanding of the current situation of female entrepreneurs in two countries for public organizations, start-up incubators, investors and mentors. The approach that this Thesis takes by conducting interviews will enable to get real in-depth insights, see the underlying factors that influence entrepreneurs’ decisions and the extent to which the contextual peculiarities have an impact on business development. This information can be highly valuable not only for practitioners, but also for national authorities, giving a better understanding on what prevents a larger number of women to engage in entrepreneurial activities. This can stimulate the removal of some obstacles and creation of more favourable conditions for entrepreneurial development.
The thesis proceeds as follows. Firstly, the review of core literature on female entrepreneurship is presented. Secondly, the interviews are conducted and analysed. Then, chapter 3 describes the research methodology followed by the findings in chapter 4. In the next chapter the findings are discussed in the light of the reviewed empirical evidence from the literature. This is followed by practical implications, limitations of this study and prospects for the future research. Finally, the conclusions are drawn in chapter 6.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Entrepreneurship
Although entrepreneurship has provoked a lot of academic interest being widely recognized to play a crucial role for the development and well-being of a society (Kelley et al., 2011), there has been a lack of a common definition of entrepreneurship and a concern on what entrepreneurship represents as a field of study (Gartner, 1990). Because defining the term of entrepreneurship is challenging, the scholars have done so by describing the components it embraces (e.g., Kouriloff 2000) from their own research perspectives rather than adopting a specific definition for the term itself. For instance, from an economics’ perspective, there are financial dimensions estimated with regards to the monetary gain and business growth that are at the heart of entrepreneurship. From a psychological perspective, there are personal attributes, values and traits that are considered inherent in entrepreneurs.
In this study only several definitions of entrepreneurship will be presented in order to focus at the ones where gender is considered. The scholarly definitions of entrepreneurship by Schumpeter (1934, 1954) and Kirzner (1973, 1979) that emphasize innovation, identification of opportunities, wealth creation, consequences for the economy, and the entrepreneur as the main actor in the entrepreneurial process will be adopted as the working definitions for this Thesis. These two economic schools of entrepreneurship are relevant to the study as they are recommended as a proper theoretical framework for the research on the topic of female entrepreneurship (OECD, 2004). They clearly emphasize two distinct but complementary ways for the identification and exploitation of unique peculiarities of women entrepreneurship (OECD, 2004).
The principal idea of Schumpeter’s (1934) definition is that the entrepreneur is a translator of new ideas and inventions into commercial production. The researcher describes the entrepreneur as a key point to the dynamic economic development because he is the innovator who introduces: "a new good," "a new method of production," "a new market," "a new source of supply of raw materials" or "the carrying out of a new organization of any industry" (Schumpeter, 1934: 66).
Another theory of entrepreneurship by Kirzner (1979) lays stress on the alertness of individuals to lucrative opportunities that can lead to gaining pure profits. According to his concept, this is what stimulates market development and determines its direction. Some scholars find Kirzner’s idea similar to Schumpeter’s one because both of them saw the entrepreneur as a decision maker in a specific cultural context, who masters a variety of behaviours. Their idea that the
entrepreneur is as an exploiter of profitable opportunities, creator of innovations in the production chain and a driving force of the country’s economy, is reflected in the majority of academic literature on entrepreneurship in developed economies (e.g., Van Stel et al., 2005).
Both Schumpeter’s and Kirzner’s entrepreneurship definitions are clearly displayed in the main forms of start-ups embedded in real-life context, which create major elements of the entrepreneurial process and help identify how females address self-employment as well as the types of entrepreneurial activities they enter. Kao (1993) summarized the primary components of Schumpeter’s and Kirzner’s views on entrepreneurship and concluded that firstly, entrepreneurial behaviour includes the ability to identify new opportunities based on new approaches and then transform them into something tangible. Secondly, entrepreneurs possess such organizational and personal skills as leadership, conflict resolution, stress management, communication skills, self-understanding and tolerance for ambiguity. Finally, the major conclusion of both theories is that there are consequences of the entrepreneurial behaviour not only for the entrepreneurs themselves, but also for the economy of the whole country. Entrepreneurs are those who not only recognize opportunities, but also have creative abilities and practical skills to turn opportunities into commercial ventures that grow and turn into successful businesses. The psychological characteristics of an individual, such as strong need for achievement and success, ability to innovate and create and self-confidence, play a vital role in definitions of an entrepreneur in the theories of both Schumpeter and Kirzner.
To sum up, entrepreneurship has been conceptualized and defined in a different way by many scholars as entrepreneurship has developed and progressed in the field, but the major elements of Schumpeter’s and Kirzner’s definitions can be traced in most theories.
As stated at the beginning of this section, entrepreneurial activity has been constantly growing over the past two decades of the twentieth century, widely recognized as a key driver of economic dynamism. The number of entrepreneurs entering start-up activities is increasing every day all over the world. Solid structural changes, that take place globally, are providing new opportunities, which are a crucial issue for entrepreneurship as defined by Schumpeter (1934) and Kirzner (1979). Research in the subject area has also sharply increased over the period, because history proves that there is a great contribution to the economic progress from the entrepreneurs, who are able to exploit opportunities and willing to take risks (Hisrich, 2005). However, according to Arenius & Minniti (2005) women are only half as likely to become entrepreneurs as men, which is consistent with previous empirical findings (Reynolds et al., 2004).
The next section introduces the notion of female entrepreneurship and reveals the reasons of such inequality of entrepreneurial activity.
2.2 Female Entrepreneurship
The literature indicates the relative youth of female business (Carter et al., 2001) as the contribution that women make to the business area was not fully recognized until the mid 1980s (Watkins &Watkins, 1984). Many women simply did not have the opportunity, appropriate education or social acceptance to enter the business sector thirty years ago. Studies exploring gender specific barriers (Hisrich & Brush, 1986), drivers for starting-up and comparison analysis with male entrepreneurs (Cromie, 1987) only started to appear in the literature of the mid 80s.
However, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the economies have recognized that it is critical to enable women, who make up half the global population, to participate in the entrepreneurial activities of their countries. Due to the societal changes that have occurred, the business has become an accepted career path for women and the percentage of women in entrepreneurship has been growing globally. Research findings revealed (GEM, 2015) that women entrepreneurs are contributing enormously to the countries’ prosperity worldwide. In contrast, in nations where women have been restricted from entrepreneurial activities and did not facilitate societal development, the economy has been stagnant.
The activity of women entrepreneurs is similar to the overall entrepreneurial process, described by major theorists (e.g, Schumpeter, 1934). Therefore, women entrepreneurs are those achievement-oriented business owners who have recognized an opportunity, manipulated the required resources to exploit it and successfully turned this opportunity into a commercial reality. In order to be able to convert an opportunity into a new business venture, they have used their creative, practical and innovative skills. Thus, they are substantially contributing to the well being of their country by wealth and job creation.
Nevertheless, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2004) states that women still have lower participation rates in entrepreneurship than men because they face more social and cultural obstacles. These constraints involve higher levels of domestic responsibility, lower levels of education (especially in developing countries), lack of female role models in the business sector, fewer business-oriented networks in women’s communities, lack of available capital and assets, lower status in society and a culturally induced lack of assertiveness and confidence in their ability to succeed in business. These factors may prevent women from both perceiving and acting on entrepreneurial opportunities.
According to Kelley et al. (2011), entrepreneurs are major agents of economic growth, innovation and employment, who are influenced by a combination of different factors in a variety of settings, contexts, industries, countries and times. From the economic perspective, entrepreneurship
is an employment choice. Most scholars agree with the division of factors influencing entrepreneurial decisions into three main groups proposed by Arenius & Minniti (2005):
sociodemographic factors, perceptual variables, and contextual factors. A lot of researchers have
studied the importance of sociodemographic factors such as age, household income, work status, and education trying to explain entrepreneurial behaviour and gender differences (e.g., Smallbone and Welter, 2001; Levesque and Minniti, 2006).
Next sub-sections will provide a more profound review of main factors that reflect on entrepreneurial activity of women.
2.2.1 Drivers
First of all, in order to understand the peculiarities of female entrepreneurship, it is important to have a clear idea of the prerequisites that motivate women to make a decision to start their own business.
Recently, a considerable amount of academic literature connected to entrepreneurship has been focused on employment choices and on the alternative causes for people to become entrepreneurs. In such type of research, an individual’s decision to become an entrepreneur is a result of a maximization process when a person compares the returns from overall activities that produce income and selects the alternative of entrepreneurship – the employment opportunity with the highest expected return (Arenius & Minniti, 2005).
Empirical studies in economics have emphasized entrepreneurship as an employment choice and, thus, the demographic and economic factors like Education, Age, Wealth, and Work Situation have been seen as considerable drivers of entrepreneurial behaviour. Gartner in his theory of
Characteristics of the Individual (1985) distinguishes a few more experiences and attitudes that are
related to the background of the entrepreneur such as Previous Work Experience, Job Satisfaction and Entrepreneurial Parents. This is also in line with what Carter et al. (1996) indicate to have a significant influence on the activities of entrepreneurs. Previous Experience and Background Of
The Entrepreneur are some of the factors they argue to be related to what distinguishes
entrepreneurs. In contrast, Robinson et al. (1991) argue that the use of the demographic variables to evaluate entrepreneurial behaviour is not efficient, because there are specific reactions to certain circumstances and constant personality characteristics, which determine the choice of entrepreneurship. Moreover, they argue that some demographic variables such as Birth, Education
After their study analysis of a set of four subcategories of attitudes, Robinson et al. (1991) prove that entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs differ to a large extent in the following subcategories:
Perceived control of business outcomes (Locus Of Control): perception of influence over his or her entrepreneurial business.
Perceived Self-Esteem in business: perception of the competitiveness of the entrepreneur in relation to his or her business activities and self-confidence.
Gartner (1985) also emphasizes that some of the dimensions, which explain new venture creation, are related to psychology, such as Need For Achievement, Locus Of Control and Risk
Taking Propensity.
Arenius & Minniti (2005) improved previous studies by indicating that perceptual
variables, the importance of which for entrepreneurial behaviour has already been established in
the psychology and sociology literature, should also be included in the economic model. They claim that, in addition to the sociodemographic variables, which people consider when they evaluate whether to engage in an entrepreneurial activity, they are also influenced by a number of subjective
perceptions. The factors that shape the people’s perception about entrepreneurship are Presence Of
Role Models, Confidence In One’s Skills And Abilities, Risk Propensity and Alertness To Unexploited Opportunities. The importance to consider perceptual variables displays that there are
intrinsic drivers that play an important role in human behaviour.
The previous work of Shane et al . ( 2003) accepts the Gartner ́s theory (1985) that the entrepreneurial theory should include motivations of the entrepreneurs. They present a wide set of
entrepreneurial motivations: Need for Achievement, Risk Taking, Tolerance for Ambiguity, Locus
of Control, Self-Efficacy, Goal Setting Independence, Drive and Egoistic Passion.
In addition, Shane et al. (2003) present a framework, which helps categorize entrepreneurial motivations and cognitive factors. Cognitive factors often refer to Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Of Individuals. Actual skills and knowledge can be obtained via Educational Institutions, Training
or Role Modelling (Iakovleva et al., 2014). With regard to entrepreneurship, the availability and quality of education varies significantly across countries.
Subjective perceptions
The later results of Langowitz’s & Minniti's (2007) work show that subjective perceptual
variables have a crucial impact towards the entrepreneurial propensity of women and explain a lot
about the difference in level of entrepreneurial activity between the genders. Their findings based on the sample of 17 countries suggest that women tend to perceive themselves and the
entrepreneurial environment in a less favourable light than men. Thus, their conclusion is that
perceptual variables could be the most important factors influencing entrepreneurial behaviour. It is supported with findings that the decision to start up for women is far more complex than for men and that females tend to be more sensitive than males to a variety of non-monetary.
Environment
Entrepreneurs do not work in in a vacuum. Two different perspectives about the environment have been used in the entrepreneurship theory. The first perspective looks at the environment as an outside set of conditions to which the entrepreneur needs to adapt. The second perspective declares that environment is the reality that women create through their own perceptions (Gartner, 1985). In accordance with Gartner’s (1985) theory, individuals respond to the environment as well as rely on encouragement and support from others. Aldrich et al. (1989) and Shane et al. (2003) consider that the study of personal attributes of entrepreneurs and their environmental conditions are complementary. Therefore, Opportunities in the Environment with regard to self-perceptions should be considered as additional elements that motivate the entrepreneur to engage in entrepreneurial activities. In other words, self-perceptions are closely linked to the environment in which the entrepreneurship takes place. For example, if a society mainly defines women through roles connected to family and household responsibilities, societal values implicitly interpret women’s entrepreneurship as less desirable and, as a result, provide lower normative support (Baughn et al., 2006; Langowitz & Minniti, 2007). At the same time,
opportunity recognition is influenced by personal ambitions – the willingness of entrepreneurs to
choose among different opportunities in order to identify and pursue an idea. Consequently, low
self-perceptions or personal ambitions can lead to a lower level of opportunity recognition for
women and, and thus, lower rates of females entering entrepreneurship. De Bruin et al. (2007) refer such behaviour to self-imposed barriers, which relate to women’s erroneous perception that they may not have the right opportunities and enough knowledge to start their own businesses.
Networks
All in all, most scientists agree that the environment plays a role in influencing patterns of entrepreneurial behaviour. Isenberg (2010) affirms that in order to enhance start-up creation, governments need to create ecosystems that assist entrepreneurs. In the context of his theory, Isenberg (2010) mentions some components, which are necessary to build a solid ecosystem: Government Institutions that support entrepreneurship; that respects entrepreneurship as a worthy occupation, Success Stories for inspiration; Educational Institutions that promote entrepreneurship. GEM’s report on women entrepreneurship (2015) emphasizes that in order to improve women’s
confidence to take advantage of opportunities and build their ability to manage risk, special programs should be introduced to enhance skills and competencies, including other initiatives such as mentoring and advising. GEM (2015) also states that while women are almost equally as likely as men are to recognize the presence of opportunities around them, gender gaps are visibly rooted in
Capability Perceptions and Fear Of Failure. Capabilities stem from education and social support.
Economies, like the Netherlands, that promote initiatives for increasing visibility and access to role models, are likely to encourage women entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses.
There are also many studies that have investigated the reasons why people initiate ventures, looking at this issue from a different angle (e.g., Buttner & Moore, 1997; Shane et al., 2003; Minniti et al., 2005). In general, researchers have divided the factors which influence the individual decision to start up into push and pull factors, each shaping a different type of start-up motivation (so-called
opportunity vs. necessity - driven business). In his study Acs (2006) defines "necessity entrepreneurship" as a way of having to become an entrepreneur because one has no better option,
whereas "opportunity entrepreneurship" is an active choice to start a new venture based on the perception that unexploited or underexploited business opportunities exist. This is also in line with the GEM’s (2005) framework, which allowed to differentiate two main reasons that motivate entrepreneurial behaviour of individuals: they either want to exploit a perceived business opportunity (opportunity entrepreneurs), or they are pushed into entrepreneurship because all other possibilities for work are absent or unsatisfactory (necessity entrepreneurs).
The pull factors, associated with "opportunity entrepreneurship", imply the Opportunity To
Work Independently, Desire To Have Greater Control Over One's Work and Earn More Money.
They are more typical for men. On the contrary, women start their businesses primarily as a result of influence from such push factors as Limited Advancement Opportunities, Job Frustration,
Avoiding An Unreasonable Boss or Unsafe Working Conditions (Buttner & Moore, 1997), which
are related to "necessity entrepreneurship". Female entrepreneurs are less often opportunity-driven than men when starting-up because they are more vulnerable to labour market shocks and are fired more often than men. Thus, according to the research of GEM made by Minniti et al. (2005), women become entrepreneurs mostly because of being "pushed" into it. Acs (2006) suggests in his research that opportunity entrepreneurship mostly occurs in developed economies and leads to economic development, whereas necessity entrepreneurship usually occurs in developing economies and is unlikely to lead to economic development.
To sum up, most researchers show similar point of views and have agreed that both objectively measurable characteristics and subjective perceptions are all in a line with the entrepreneurship (e.g., Arenius & Minniti, 2005; Minniti & Nardone, 2007). The results of
Koellinger et al. (2013) suggest that males and females perceive the world around with "different eyes". Based on the reviewed existing academic literature, it can be noted that the fact that differences in cognitive processes and perceptions have an impact on the decision to start a new business contributes towards explaining the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity. Although these factors have a universal effect, their objective importance varies considerably across countries due to differences in underlying conditions (economic, political, cultural, etc.) that further encourage or prevent females from running their own business.
Therefore, it becomes interesting to see how Russian and Dutch entrepreneurs vary in terms of reasons to become entrepreneurs.
Knowing an entrepreneur
The access to Networks and Role Models were also paid a lot of attention amongst other researchers considering being objectively measurable microeconomic factors that influence start up propensity (Minniti, 2010). Contacts with other entrepreneurs can provide women not only with advice and improved confidence, but also with a spread network of new valuable contacts and other benefits, which can lead to the overall success of entrepreneurs' activities.
Some scholars believe that women have different kinds of networks than men, which leads them to reception of different information. The research of Aldrich et al. (1989) suggests that women more often have both men and women in their networks, while men are more likely to have homogeneous networks limited to men.
The little resource base, that some women entrepreneurs are typically able to access at a start-up stage, often results in cautious behaviour and a longer venture creation process (Welter et al., 2007). However, caution can also be associated with a greater feeling of responsibility regarding entrepreneurs’ household, which leads to more risk-averse behaviour, consequently influencing the path and pace of an entrepreneurial performance.
Access to financing
Access to financing is a key at all stages of women’s business development, which should fit in with progress in a business society, shifting financing needs (GEM, 2015). For instance, a challenge for most women of moving from micro businesses to small and medium-sized businesses roots in a need of change from financing a business with micro-finance sources to normal banking conditions, where there is often bias in the lending process (Russia is an example).
2.2.2 Consumer-oriented sector
Evidence from different countries reveals that female business owners prefer to start-up mainly in sectors where women employment is concentrated (e.g., Brush et al., 2006), such as small business retail and services. According to GEM’s special report (2015), female entrepreneurs participate heavily in the consumer-oriented sector because it is easier to enter. However, at the same time it is more difficult to sustain there due to low entry barriers and high competitiveness. Anyway, an investigation of the features of the businesses owned by women shows these to be predominantly service-oriented (Hisrich & Brush, 1999), which nowadays can also partly stem from the fact that businesses in foods, textiles and services areas are becoming more important (GEM, 2015).
2.2.3 Barriers
Barriers to entrepreneurship have long been studied as important factors that discourage
women from creating start-ups.
De Bruin et al. (2007) claim that all the assumptions about entrepreneurial Alertness To
Unexploited Opportunities may be "gendered" because of their underlying assumption of rational
behaviour. Cognitions and perceptions, as seen above, significantly influence the discovery and exploitation of opportunities. However, if women socialize differently, they perceive opportunities in a different way (DeTienne & Chandler, 2007). The perspective of Brush (1992) shows that opportunities go hand in hand with women’s lives and experiences, which can also be related to more macro environmental considerations.
Even though previous empirical research has identified several important barriers, the concept of barriers still lacks comparisons of cross-cultural differences (Ialovleva, 2014). Most studies have used a deductive approach with pre-existing lists of barriers, not allowing for finding out country-specific barriers, particularly in developing countries.
2.2.3 Culture
Shane (1992) reveals the link between individualism and the level of innovativeness in a society. According to the later research based on Hofstede’s (2001) theory of cultural consequences, the values of Russians and Dutch people vary significantly. Russians are found to share more
collectivistic values, whereas Dutch people are considered to be more individualistic. Some other
scientists (e.g., Gesteland, 1999) in their studies on patterns of cross-cultural business behaviour define the Russian culture as Relationship-Focused, Formal, Polychronic and Variably Expressive,
and the Dutch culture - Deal-Focused, Moderately Formal, Monochronic and Reserved (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Peculiarities of business cultures (Gesteland, 1999).
2.3 Small business sector
Recent evidence in literature shows that women are more likely to run a business in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) or, as defined by other practitioners, Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) sector (GEM, 2015).
This occurs for different reasons. First explanation roots in the high level of risk aversion that women tend to have. Women predominantly try to avoid risky opportunities and prefer to play it safe. In such case they do not lose more money than they possess (Kotey & Meredith, 1997). This higher level of risk aversion has an impact on the decisions they make, which then influences business development in terms of its profitability and size. Therefore, females choose industries with less growth potential such as service and retail industry.
What is more, one of the reasons to prefer MSE is that such industries do not cause many expenses and thus require less start-up capital. This enables women to start on their own without seeking outside investment.
In addition to that, females have their household responsibilities alongside having their own businesses (Verheul & Thurik, 2001). These family activities that take much time and effort can be one of the possible explanations why women want to keep their company small, enabling them to stay flexible, and, at the same time, more independent than at the full-time job.
In any case, whether women are involved in small or medium production activities, as shown by OECD (2004), they are contributing internationally by empowering countries’ economies, providing employment and changing the way the world does business (Jalbert, 2002).
Nearly all of the female entrepreneurs taking part in the interviews fall within the definition of small enterprises. However, even though some participants are better described as micro sized businesses that form a significant part of what is called the SME area, I use this term throughout this paper and refer to my respondents as being entrepreneurs of SMEs.
Next sub-sections will provide an overview of SME in Russia and the Netherlands.
2.3.1 SME in Russia
When the Bolshevik Revolution occurred in 1917, Russia was principally agrarian, and small business has never expanded the way it has in the developed countries (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009). The following eighty years under the communist regime have severely restricted and hampered small business development. Such events in Russian history have constrained the formation of proper cultural attitudes toward entrepreneurship.
The SME sector in the Russian post-Soviet economy has appeared via privatization of formerly state-owned enterprises and private venture initiation (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009). Due to the crash of the communist system and solid transformation of the political regime and administrative structure, small business and entrepreneurship are becoming increasingly important in the economic and social development of Russia. They are also starting to attract the more attention of scholars and practitioners as Russian emerging business market creates new demands for academic research (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009).
The phase of economic stability upon Putin’s second presidential term (2004–2008) stimulated increase in the population’s purchasing power and the number of small businesses. Economic stability has also induced higher safety for private investors, signifying easier access to finance for SMEs. Regarding small business entrepreneurial behaviour, Zhuplev & Shtykhno (2009) examined entrepreneurial climate and developments on the Russian small business market
by analyzing entrepreneurs’ motivations and obstacles in starting up and running businesses. The findings of a longitudinal survey with entrepreneurs indicated that Russia’s climate for SME and entrepreneurship has improved, although it is still at a stage of progress. The study showed younger age, larger proportion of female entrepreneurs, and remaining small size of the firms. Although the share of SME entrepreneurial activities in Russia is still lower than in most developed economies, the gap is decreasing (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009).
The 2008 survey stated the emergence of such major motivations toward small entrepreneurship as individual wealth creation and obtaining a status of "own boss". Research evidence demonstrated that reforms in the taxation regime and licensing procedures helped new business entry (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009). Clear regulations and simple bureaucratic processes triggered business growth.
However, the GEM (2007) survey of 42 countries ranked Russia one of the least entrepreneurial countries across its group of middle-low income countries in Europe and Asia. What is more, Russia continues to hold cultural reservations toward entrepreneurship (GEM, 2007), which, as noted earlier, stem from the long history of the Soviet.
Limited sources of financing have been a serious constraint for the development of entrepreneurship in Russia (Iakovleva, 2013). Indeed, most studies on entrepreneurship in developing countries indicate lack of start-up capital as one of the main problems. While there are a few government programs to support SMEs in Russia, the banking system offers loans for small enterprises at higher interest rates than in European countries. This makes loans unaffordable and creates a significant barrier for start-ups (Iakovleva, 2013). This is also partly why most entrepreneurs rely on family and friends as major resources of investment for founding their businesses (RCSME, 2011). Other sources of the initial capital for new venture creation in Russia are personal funds. Banks are usually not used by entrepreneurs to finance their businesses. Recently has been agreed that the business environment in Russia differs considerably from the one in the Netherlands. According to the World Bank (2016) index of easiness of doing business2, the
Netherlands is ranked 28 and Russia – 51 in 2016, which is better than 62 in 2015.
The World Bank’s survey also ranks Russia in the other key subcategories, which show that the overall ranking has improved, although some subcategories prove the opposite: starting a business ranks 41 in 2016 compared to 34 in 2015; trading across borders – 170 compared to 155 in 2015. Registering property accounts for 8 in 2016; getting credit - 42; protecting investors - 66; paying taxes - 47; enforcing contracts - 5 and closing a business - 55. The small sized enterprises
2
The economies are ranked from 1 to 181 and the first place is the best. A high ranking means that the regulatory climate is conductive to the business operation.
in Russian legislation are now defined based on the number of employees and are indicated as having no more than 100 employees (Russian SME Resource Centre, 2003).
2.4 Peculiarities of female entrepreneurship in developing countries with
transition economy (Russia)
Until recently it was not common to see females owning businesses on the global scene, especially in developing countries like Russia. The idea and practice of women entrepreneurship is a new phenomenon there. Until the Gorbachev’s reforms in the late 1980s and the eventual collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, little was known about female entrepreneurship both in practice and theory, which generally drew the scholars’s attention to men.
Historically, Russia’s business climate and cultural tradition have been less favourable for entrepreneurship compared to developed economies. In addition to its very unique politico-economic path, there are other distinctive characteristics like vast territory, tough climate, large distances, poor infrastructure, communal lifestyle, and numerous destructive wars (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009). Nevertheless, through stabilization period during the Putin administration’s two terms, entrepreneurial environment in Russia has improved, though there is a room for progress (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009). The perception of business is related now to the individual wealth creation and an increased freedom of movement. The younger age of female entrepreneurs and amore balanced male-female ratio (49.6:51.4 in 2008 compared to 70:30 in 1994) may signify a number of improvements in education and relative changes in cultural attitudes over the last decade (Zhuplev & Shtykhno, 2009).
When summarizing the empirical results from several studies, Baygan (2000) describes the average woman entrepreneur in post-Soviet context as one belonging to the 35-44 age group, which partly overlaps with later research of GEM (2015) that found that the efficiency-driven region (which includes some FSU countries) is characterized by the appearance of younger entrepreneurs, with the 25-34 age groups having the largest rates. Baygan (2000) also claims that an average female entrepreneur is married and has children as well as has a less formal or business related education or prior work experience than the average man. As regards business characteristics, female entrepreneurs principally set up their ventures with lower start-up capital than men (Welter et al., 2007). Women-owned firms are also mostly found to be smaller in size compared to those owned by men. At the same time, women entrepreneurs are getting increasingly involved in less traditional sectors. When it comes to education, natural sciences have always been a priority and
tradition in post-Soviet countries, while education in the field of business started to be a trend only a few decades ago. Although the studies in the field of the entrepreneurship are still very scarce.
2.4.2 Drivers
Hisrich & Grachev (1995) found in their study that the drivers of Russians to become entrepreneurs were: lack of job satisfaction (10-31%), desiring independence (7-22 %), economic necessity (5-16 %) and opportunity (5-16 %). A later study of Welter et al. (2007) showed that the decision to start a business is formed by a combination of push and pull factors. According to Weleter et al. (2007), the number of reforms in FSU economies deprived many females of paid jobs and social security provided by government, thus forcing them to search for alternative means of generating income. The necessity entrepreneurship is typical for developing countries where economic development is less dependent on international trade and women are less empowered in the economy. The study of GEM (2007) declared the share of opportunity-driven entrepreneurs in Russia to account for 30%, which is one of the lowest shares in comparison to the other middle-income countries. Thus, Russian women generally start their businesses either to generate extra income for the household or for non-economic motives.
2.4.3 Culture
There is empirical evidence that in FSU countries, business is usually considered to be principally "male territory", which requires the so-called "male" qualities, such as strength and assertiveness Welter et al. (2007). This is not surprising in Central Asian and East-European area, where cultural values that emphasize family relations, helped to survive throughout the Soviet period, though gaining momentum, once transition started (Tabyshalieva, 2000). The same trend applies to the Russian Federation, reflecting ‘widely held public assumptions that business is a masculine occupation’ Welter et al. (2007). Akiner (1997) describes this as the ‘concept of male guardianship’, which reflects in both public and private life, being a trend with significant potential consequences for both female entrepreneurship and the role that social capital tends to play in financing a business venture. For example, Roberts & Tholen (1999) discovered in their research on young entrepreneurs in transition economies that female entrepreneurs were more likely to pursue a business with their husband/friend or father as partners or guardians, while in Central European countries, like the Netherlands, it was undoubtedly easier for women to act as entrepreneurs on their own. The previous research of Baines & Wheelock (1998) has proved the efficiency of a non-
formal husband and wife alliance.
This is highly in line with the earlier study of Bollinger (1994) who found a low level of individualism of Russia. In contrast, later study of Naumov & Puffer (2000) claimed moderate score in individualism in the 1990s. Today, the Russian ideology of communal collectivism has only started to shift towards the values of capitalism, individualism and competition.
However, the extent of family support still has a great impact on the performance of women-owned businesses, relating to the emotional, financial or real labour support the family may provide.
2.5 Peculiarities of female entrepreneurship in developed counties with
mature economy (the Netherlands)
As mentioned before in this Thesis, the majority of countries in Western Europe, including the Netherlands, have a developed economy. Well-established business infrastructure, available financial support, a high income per each population member and overall economic stability have been distinctive features of mature economies for many decades (Iakovleva et al., 2014). As shown by World Bank report (2016), business registration in such countries is a relatively fast and easy process, being ranked 30 in the Netherlands among the 189 economies that participated in the research. Banking services are widely available and education in the field of entrepreneurship have existed since the 1970-1980s. In such countries the topics of business development and entrepreneurial activities are at the forefront of academic research and governmental programs (e.g., "Education and Entrepreneurship 2008-2013"), facilitating the emergence of opportunity-seeking individual aspirations and innovative ideas (Bosma & Levie, 2009). Interestingly, the easiness of trading across the borders in the World Bank report (2016) scores 1 across all the countries that participated in the research, which could be a result of the culture’s openness to the new and undiscovered. However, Dutch entrepreneurs face one of the disadvantages of a mature economy: high expertise consumer demands and tough competition in the established market. What is more, being used to a high life standard, they often feel being less rewarded when starting a business compared to the time they were employees (Iakovleva et al., 2014).
2.5.1 Drivers
Traditionally, a very large share of Dutch entrepreneurs have been motivated by the pursuit of opportunity (GEM, 2015). A stable, generous social security system and a greatly protected employee status have been typical for the Netherlands. The proportion of opportunity-driven
entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, who are willing to increase their income or independence, is about 66% according to GEM (2007). The share of opportunity-driven early-stage entrepreneurial activity is found to be the highest in the Netherlands among other innovation-driven countries (GEM, 2015). This can be explained by the fact that there are more available alternatives at individuals’ disposal, which restricts the pressure to start a business out of necessity. Perceived opportunities have increased considerably in comparison with 2013, with high rates at lack of fear of failure and choice of entrepreneurship as a desirable career path (GEM, 2015).
Nevertheless, there are still more men entrepreneurs than women in the Netherlands. Women account for only 28% of the whole entrepreneurship (GEM, 2007).
2.5.2 Culture
There have been a lot of theoretical frameworks explaining cultural dimensions. The most used framework is the four-dimensional model by Hofstede (1984), distinguishing between the following dimensions: Power distance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance,
Masculinity versus Femininity. Power distance is the ‘extent to which less powerful members of
organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally’ (Hofstede & Bond, 1988: 10). Individualism is a degree to which people put their individual gains over group interests. The third dimension, Uncertainty avoidance is "the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations" (Hofstede, 2001: 161). The last dimension, Masculinity, is the degree to which "masculine" values like assertiveness, competition, and success are seen as opposite to "soft" and "feminine" ones: life quality, personal relationships, trust, and service.
Russia The Netherlands
Cultural dimensions Bollinger, 1994 Naumov, 2000 Hofstede, 1984 Kolman et al., 2003 Individualism 26 41 80 85 Uncertainty avoidance 92 68 53 37 Masculinity 28 45 14 17 Power distance 76 40 38 14
Table 1: Comparison of cultural dimensions between Russia and the Netherlands
The following overview compares these four dimensions of Russia and the Netherlands in terms of different studies. As reported by Hofstede (1984) and later by Kolman et al. (2003), Dutch people are very high on individualism. This high score may be an indication of a society with more
individualistic attitudes and quite loose ties with others. Dutch entrepreneurs are more self-reliant and take care of themselves and their close family members. They also have less uncertainty avoidance and power distance than Russian entrepreneurs, which indicates that the fear of failure should be lower. The low rates in masculinity reflect that there is no big differentiation and discrimination between men and women in the Netherlands. The Russians show a higher, but still relatively low masculinity score, as they feel that they have quite low control over situation.
Summarizing, cultural values in the Netherlands and in the Russian Federation vary considerably in line with the studies, based on Hofstede’s (1984) model of cultural dimensions.
3. Methodology
This section explains the methods that were used to conduct this research. In addition, it gives a justification for the relevant usage of the applied methods. The research design describes the inductive approach. Furthermore, the sample selection and data collection process are elaborated in line with the analysis strategy. This is followed by the explanation of how the validity and reliability issues are addressed. All interviews were taken between March 2016 and June 2016.
3.1 Method of Analysis
The research method is a qualitative research methodology, which is chosen in an attempt to best suit the purpose of collecting data and answering the Research Question of this paper as, firstly, little is known about the topic and secondly, it is essential to understand the subject from the perspective of those studied (female entrepreneurs) (Pratt, 2009). The research design of this study is of both exploratory and explanatory nature. As there has been little comparison on the topic of female entrepreneurship in the context of Russian and Dutch business environment, it becomes very interesting to gain new insights and expand current knowledge of the phenomena. An exploratory study is then considered as a valuable means to define "what is happening; to seek insights; and to assess phenomena in a new light" (Saunders et al., 2009). The explanatory part reflects the aim to explain how the phenomena are influenced by a certain context among Russian and Dutch entrepreneurs (Saunders & Lewis, 2012; Yin, 2014).
An inductive approach is used to describe the patterns of female business owners’ behaviors, their difference in the two countries and to develop a theory based on the research findings of this Thesis, although an element of deduction takes place as the aim to investigate the topic is initially caused by a research gap in the existing academic literature (Saunders & Lewis, 2012).
A multiple research case study is applied as the research strategy. There are several reasons for this. First, because of the unilateral data and limited literature available on the topic, it is necessary to understand a real-life phenomenon (female entrepreneurship) in depth, where such understanding encompasses important contextual conditions (small business segment in Russia and the Netherlands) (Yin & Davis, 2007). Moreover, according to Yin (2009), case studies are the preferred unit of research when "how" questions are being posed, the investigator has little control over events and relevant behaviors cannot be manipulated.
The case study often includes such source of evidence as interviews of the persons involved in the events (Yin, 2009). Thus, in order to identify and explain the differences of female
entrepreneurship in Russia and the Netherlands, this Thesis develops multiple case studies based on primary data collected from structured interviews. Different reasons justify the use of semi-structured interviews. First, the data that the participants provide is the main source of information for constructing the theory. Secondly, in-depth or semi-structured interviews enable the researcher to get insights into the first-hand experience of the entrepreneurs. Last but not least, semi-structured interviews can be used to understand relationships between certain variables (Saunders et. al, 2009).
3.2 Data collection
As this Thesis focuses on the current situation that involves looking for differences between specific participants (female entrepreneurs) acting in specific demographic areas (Russia and the Netherlands), the research design required a sample that consisted of comparable individuals in the above mentioned empirical setting. To get a suitable sample and generate representative findings, it was first made sure to select women who have businesses that can be compared with each other. The choice was based on the following criteria: business size (small), start-up date of creation (not more than 3 years ago), business type (lifestyle).
The research on the Russian market was feasible due to the relatively easy access to respondents – the connections between the entrepreneurs and some people the inner circle of author and further application of the snowball sampling strategy once the contact with these entrepreneurs was established (Saunders & Lewis, 2012). The Dutch participants were found at different kinds of start-up events, festivals and fair markets. The permission for an interview was asked those potential candidates who met the criteria following the non-probability purposive sampling technique, specifically, typical case variety (Saunders & Lewis, 2012).
A complete overview of the background data on participants, that was composed after all the interviews were taken, can be found in Appendices 1 and 2.
The 15 face-to-face interviews lasting from 20 to 90 minutes were audio recorded which enabled me to focus on the conversation and not taking notes. As the interviews were semi-structured, the guideline of questions and their order were composed in advance (see Appendices 3 and 4) but modified during the interviews depending on the flow of conversation. The guideline ensured a helpful structure for the interviews, but did not limit their content, giving the participants a chance to bring up anything they considered to be relevant. This led to the emergence of new the themes and enabled the interviewees to share their perceptions without bounding them to discuss only pre-determined topics. As a result, there was a much better understanding of reality.
At the same time, in order to ensure confidentiality, high quality of audio recording and reliability of given information, the interviews were carried out one-on-one. The permission for
recording was asked both at first contact and at the beginning of the interview itself. The overall purpose of the study, a clear description of the required information and further accessibility of data were clearly explained to all the entrepreneurs. After a verbatim transcribing, the interviews taken in Russian were translated into English keeping in mind the original answers and ideas they transfer. The comments enclosed in brackets were written when there was a need to make context information clear.
3.3 Research Analysis
After the iterative review of the transcripts they were coded within a word, a phrase, a sentence or a whole paragraph. Then, the codes were analyzed and grouped into themes. In order to make a coherent flow of all the information, the data was first broken into small parts, as proposed by Boeije (2010). Following the recommendations of Attride-Stirling (2001), the basic themes were identified and derived from the data. As they are not sufficient for the analysis on their own, they were reviewed within a context of other basic themes. Then, the organizing themes were created as middle-order themes that categorize the basic themes into groups that cover similar issues. The organizing themes were transformed into global themes groups, which are called as super-ordinate themes and present a position about the given issue as a whole (Attride-Stirling, 2001). The groups of global themes, organizing themes and basic themes formed a hierarchical thematic framework, which was then interpreted and analyzed according to Attride-Stirling (2001). By using a data-driven approach, it was ensured to explore all the topics that came up during the interviews, and not only the ones that have been found before in literature. Thus, the patterns in the collected data allowed for the development and division of categories and subcategories and for referring units of data to each category. The final phase of the process was the data interpretation. This required an in-depth study of the relations between the themes and the central objectives of this research. The analysis of those relations enabled me to obtain a bigger picture and a clear overview of the collected data, which became the basis for the next chapters of this Thesis.
3.4 Validity and reliability
The strength of the current research is that the internal validity, which refers to the extent of accuracy in measurement, is ensured by conducting semi-structured interviews that provide access to real in-depth information through first-hand experience of female entrepreneurs (Reis & Judd, 2000). The reliability, which indicates the degree of possible alternative explanations for the
