The Effects of Gender on Entrepreneurship in Bulgaria: An Empirical Study

Abstract

The research on gender and entrepreneurship has been conducted mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries; therefore research findings may not be valid for other countries and contexts due to differences in economic, institutional and cultural characteristics. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of gender effects on entrepreneurship and factors underlying possible gender differences in entrepreneurship in a sample of 501 Bulgarian entrepreneurs. Data was collected by structured interviews and analysed by means of regression in which a number of independent variables are controlled for. As in other countries and contexts, Bulgarian female entrepreneurs are less likely to exhibit entrepreneurial intentions than their male counterparts even after controlling for a number of characteristics of the entrepreneur, firm, and environment. Gender differences infirm size, legal form, personnel, and sector account for gender differences in entrepreneurship. The paper provides some policy implications and places the current results in respect to future research. 1. Introduction Although the participation of women in entrepreneurship has reached a significant percentage m most developed and many developing countries, female participation rate in entrepreneurship is systematically lower than male participation rate (Brush, 1992, Minniti et al., 2005). In addition to gender differences in the rates of entrepreneurial activity, academic research has identified differences between male and female entrepreneurs and their ventures m various aspects including growth intentions and actual rate of firm growth (Brush, 1992; Orser and Hogarth- Scott, 2002; Orser et al., 1998; Rosa et al., 1996; McPherson, 1996; Morrison et al., 2003). The research on gender and entrepreneurship was conducted mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries; therefore research findings may not be valid for other countries and contexts due to differences in economic, institutional and cultural characteristics. During the last 20 years, Bulgaria and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) experience profound reforms aimed at the democratisation of society and the liberalization of economy that resulted in the formation of private business sector and entrepreneurial class. Entrepreneurship is considered as an important factor for the transition from centrally -planned to market economy (McMillan and Woodruff, 2002; Smallbone et al., 2001). As in Western countries, women in CEE become entrepreneurs significantly less often than men despite their good levels of education and high labour force participation (UNECE, 2002). Entrepreneurship is an attractive employment option that might enable women in CEE to overcome shortcomings in the labour market and to combine work and family lives and could play a key role for improving the status of women in the economy and society as a whole (Degtiar, 2000; Stoyanovska, 2001). Despite this, female entrepreneurship in CEE has not attracted much research attention (Metcalfe and Afanassieva, 2005; Isakova et al., 2006). Sporadic empirical evidence suggests that although the majority of female entrepreneurs in CEE are growth-oriented (Wells et al., 2003; Welter et al., 2005) female entrepreneurs are less growth-oriented than male entrepreneurs (Isakova et al., 2006). As the role of female entrepreneurship in transition economies increases, it is important to understand discrepancies in the growth intentions of female and male entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study is to examine growth intentions of Bulgarian female and male entrepreneurs and to identify factors underlying possible gender differences in growth intentions. A comprehensive view of the reasons for gender differences in growth intentions is a key to formulate public policy measures for encouraging the growth of female-owned businesses. Few studies have made a systematic distinction between the different effects of gender on entrepreneurship (e. …

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