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

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.

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