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The Effects of Women’s Entrepreneurship Activity on Sustainable Economic Performance

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 19216

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Finance, Statistics and Economic Economy, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Ronda de Toledo, 13003 Ciudad Real, Spain
Interests: business ethics; monetary economics; entrepreneurial economics; economic growth

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Guest Editor
Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Interests: innovation knowledge; entrepreneurship; information technology

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Guest Editor
University Complutense, Spain
Interests: entrepreneurship; women’s entrepreneurship; innovation; international accounting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During the past several decades, an important body of literature on entrepreneurship has arisen. Entrepreneurs use the resources that society puts in their hands to produce more or new goods and services, therefore increasing the societal welfare. Authors have also occasionally worried about the effects of entrepreneurs on economic progress, considering the role of technology and innovation on economic agents’ behavior. In these studies, depending on whether the authors considered positive or negative effects of entrepreneurship, measures have been presented that could enhance or reduce the negative effects of these activities.

On the other hand, the active participation of entrepreneurs in the working world is increasingly apparent with the consolidation of their presence in business at every level, and with the development of economic spaces where entrepreneurial groups can express their potential and creativity. This has obliged policy-makers within the global economy to consider entrepreneurship as a determining variable in any political force, not only for bodies and groups created specifically to this end, but also for any decision-making body.

In this sense, women have developed a relevant entrepreneurship activity that has had positive effects on economic growth and other economic policy objectives. However, they present some different aspects in their activity, and they must deal with some different problems from men’s entrepreneurship activities that must be analyzed—this has usually not been considered within the existing literature.

This Special Issue aims to collect up-to-date research articles that explore and examine the effects of women’s entrepreneurship on economic activity in order to achieve the main economic objectives and improve social welfare.

Prof. Dr. Miguel-Ángel Galindo-Martín
Prof. Dr. Daniel Palacios-Marqués
Prof. Dr. María-Teresa Méndez-Picazo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • women's entrepreneurship
  • economic policies
  • growth
  • innovation
  • knowledge
  • networks
  • microcredit
  • social entrepreneurship
  • internationalization
  • finance
  • countries' experiences

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 313 KiB  
Article
An Empirical Study for European Countries: Factors Affecting Economic Growth and Self-Employment by Gender
by Víctor M. González-Sánchez, Antonio Martínez Raya and Susana de los Ríos-Sastre
Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9450; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229450 - 13 Nov 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3581
Abstract
In economic literature, the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth has been widely discussed for some time now. In addition to the different theoretical approaches, a considerable amount of empirical works in recent decades have sought to verify the direct link between both [...] Read more.
In economic literature, the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth has been widely discussed for some time now. In addition to the different theoretical approaches, a considerable amount of empirical works in recent decades have sought to verify the direct link between both variables by analyzing datasets from several distinct geographic areas. On one hand, it highlights the absence of a common indicator to measure entrepreneurship in practice relating to a country’s economic growth; on the other hand, it shows a great diversity of factors determining them. With the aim of providing new empirical evidence in the field of European entrepreneurship, this paper has analyzed data relating to 31 European countries over the last decade by introducing self-employment as an empirical proxy of entrepreneurship. In particular, this study contrasts the positive effect of public expenditure, investment, human capital, and entrepreneurship on economic growth for a wide range of countries and examines the impact of some economic and educational variables on self-employment, such as unemployment, taxes, education, and early school leaving. The estimation method used in this research had to consider the Ordinary Least Squares through a multiple regression model of constant coefficients based on annual Eurostat statistics for the period of 2010 to 2019. The results obtained verify the positive effect of public expenditure, investment, human capital, and entrepreneurship on economic growth. Moreover, the analysis of other factors affecting entrepreneurship, segregated by gender, shows how unemployment and the level of education have a positive impact on self-employment, while significant increases in the tax rate on capital and early school leaving harmed such variable. No significant differences were found between males and females. Full article
17 pages, 1405 KiB  
Article
Female Entrepreneurship: Can Cooperatives Contribute to Overcoming the Gender Gap? A Spanish First Step to Equality
by Maria Bastida, Luisa Helena Pinto, Ana Olveira Blanco and Maite Cancelo
Sustainability 2020, 12(6), 2478; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062478 - 21 Mar 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 5783
Abstract
To date, entrepreneurship research has rarely focused on cooperatives. Recent research has suggested there is a positive association between cooperatives and women’s entrepreneurial activity based on the assumption that this model is especially suitable for women’s expectations and is favourable to their economic [...] Read more.
To date, entrepreneurship research has rarely focused on cooperatives. Recent research has suggested there is a positive association between cooperatives and women’s entrepreneurial activity based on the assumption that this model is especially suitable for women’s expectations and is favourable to their economic entrepreneurial development. However, few studies have empirically tested these propositions. This research, which analysed data from 264 Spanish cooperatives, confirms these findings. A mixed-methods approach was used. In the first stage, a Delphi study was run with 11 cooperative entrepreneurship experts to ask what factors may be decisive for women preferring a cooperative model. In the second stage, the factors derived from the Delphi study were used in a survey targeting female cooperative associates. The findings confirmed that female cooperative owners perceived this business model to be aligned with their values and best fit their work and lifestyle. This research contributes to the existing social entrepreneurship literature by providing empirical evidence from the Spanish context that highlights the role of women in cooperatives. The findings also emphasize the need for responsive policies and programmes that promote the cooperative model since it promotes female employment and women’s entrepreneurial activity even in periods of economic austerity. Full article
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18 pages, 618 KiB  
Article
Gender Diversity in Spanish Banks: Trickle-Down and Productivity Effects
by María Isabel Delgado-Piña, Óscar Rodríguez-Ruiz, Antonio Rodríguez-Duarte and Miguel Ángel Sastre-Castillo
Sustainability 2020, 12(5), 2113; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12052113 - 9 Mar 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4973
Abstract
The study of the gender composition of top management and its impact for organizations has received increasing attention during recent decades. Despite this, findings have been conflicting and few consistent conclusions have been reached. This paper uses panel data methods to study how [...] Read more.
The study of the gender composition of top management and its impact for organizations has received increasing attention during recent decades. Despite this, findings have been conflicting and few consistent conclusions have been reached. This paper uses panel data methods to study how the presence of women at the board of governance impacts gender diversity at different organizational levels in the Spanish banking sector. In addition, we explore the influence of female representation on employee productivity. Our findings show that the presence of one or two women at the board of directors benefits the advancement of women to managerial positions. We also identify a positive significant relationship between gender diversity at different organizational strata and productivity. The main conclusion of this research is that female representation at the board has relevant implications in terms of women being promoted and organizational outcomes. This contribution is relevant for both scholars and practitioners, as it explores the business case for gender diversity going beyond the upper echelons of organizations. Full article
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15 pages, 826 KiB  
Article
Opportunity Motivation and Growth Aspirations of Mexican Entrepreneurs: The Moderating Role of the Household Income
by José Pedro Carreón-Gutiérrez and José Manuel Saiz-Álvarez
Sustainability 2019, 11(22), 6288; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226288 - 8 Nov 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3969
Abstract
Framed in the Theory of Planned Behavior, this work analyzes the entrepreneurial growth aspirations in efficiency-driven economies and examines the interaction effect of household income on the relationship between opportunity entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial growth aspirations. We propose a growth aspirations model using GEM [...] Read more.
Framed in the Theory of Planned Behavior, this work analyzes the entrepreneurial growth aspirations in efficiency-driven economies and examines the interaction effect of household income on the relationship between opportunity entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial growth aspirations. We propose a growth aspirations model using GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) data, with two explanatory variables: increased wealth and independence, and a moderating variable (household income). Hypotheses were validated with the use of hierarchical regression, and we find that that opportunity motivation is positively related to the entrepreneurial intention to expand entrepreneurial business activities. A second interesting finding of this study is that the independent effects model infers that growth aspirations are significantly related to household income. Full article
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