Female informal entrepreneurship: conceptualizing a contextualized and multi-level process

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this conceptual paper is to devote special attention to contextualizing and gendering the subject of female informal entrepreneurship as a complex phenomenon. Moreover, it aims to understand the multi-level nature of female informal entrepreneurship, encompassing the context, individual, the firm and the network and its processual nature, moving between formalization, informalization and hybridization. Design/methodology/approach The study is a conceptual contribution, following the methodological guidelines by Jaakola (2020). Findings The study discusses in a holistic approach the importance of various dimensions of context (institutional, economic and technological) from the female informal entrepreneurship perspective. The findings are systematized within a conceptual model that highlights the processual and multi-level nature of the phenomenon in its relationships with multiple contexts. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the study lie in its conceptual nature. Literature is not analyzed following a systematic approach but along the guidelines for conceptual papers, which implies potential neglect of some studies. The conceptual model of female informal entrepreneuring aims to suggest future research directions and develop policies. Practical implications The study raises key issues for policymakers when dealing with female informal entrepreneurship. The role of context opens new avenues for policymaking. Gendering the context in its multiple dimensions and understanding the possible evolutionary pathways of female informal entrepreneurs permit to develop policies tailored to the specificity of the phenomenon. Originality/value The study integrates and systematizes extant work on female informal entrepreneurship, by examining the contextual dimensions, including the technologies available, and their dynamics over time and linking them to entrepreneurship as a multi-level process, which can evolve through tensions and paradoxes in nonlinear ways from informal to formal and vice-versa or persist in the informal condition.

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