A women's worth: exploring ethnic minority female entrepreneurs' experiences in Sri Lanka
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26661/2522-1566/2022-1/19-06Keywords:
ethnic minority entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, narratives, qualitativeAbstract
Women, particularly minority women, remain underrepresented in entrepreneurial activities and continue establishing ventures in low-growth sectors. This qualitative research explores ethnic minority female entrepreneurs' experiences by focusing on why women might choose entrepreneurship as a career choice and their constraints. The study adopts a social constructionist approach, specifically narrative design. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with ten minority female entrepreneurs who founded ventures in Sri Lanka. Thematic analysis was used, and the transcripts were reviewed and explored, codes created, emerging themes identified, and interpretation with explanation building undertaken. Findings revealed that perception of ethnic discrimination discourages some ethnic minority businesses from applying for bank loans. As a result, female entrepreneurs perceive higher financial barriers to their business. Moreover, the results highlight the importance of transnational family networks within all aspects of the business and suggest that these links can sometimes provide a fertile source of new business ideas and limit innovation and decisions shaped by cultural norms. The findings can support facilitating and promoting entrepreneurship among ethnic minority female entrepreneurs. It could be valuable to further our understanding of the role of ethnic minority females and their experiences of combining entrepreneurship and business.
JEL Clasification: C35, L26, L31.
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Loscocco, K. M. (2009). Enterprising women: a comparison of women’s and men’s small business networks”, Gender & Society, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 388-411.
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Ram, M. and Smallbone. (2003). Special issues”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development. Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 99-102.
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Surangi, H. (2018). "What influences the networking behaviours of female entrepreneurs? A case for the small business tourism sector in Sri Lanka", . International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship,, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 116-133.
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Waldinger, R. a. (1990). , Ethnic Entrepreneurs – . Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
Waldinger, R. D. (1990). , ‘Spatial dimensions of opportunity structures’, in R.Waldinger,H. Aldrich and R.Ward (eds), Ethnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies,London: Sage, . pp. 106–30.
Waldinger, R., Aldrich, H. and Ward, R. . (1990). Ethnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
Welter, F. (2004). The environment for female entrepreneurship in Germany. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development,, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 212-21.
Allen et al, E. A. (2008). 2007 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship. , available at: www.gemconsotrium.org.
Azmat, F 20. Dana, L., & Morris, M. (2010). exploring social responsibility of immigrant entrepreneurs: Do home country contextual factors play a role? Eur Manag J. 28(5), 377–386.
Barrett. (2002). "The economic embeddedness of immigrant enterprise in Britain",. International Journal of Entrepreneurship Behaviour Research,, Vol. 8 Nos 1/2, pp. 11-31.
Barrett, G. J. (2001). Socio-economic and policy dimensions of the mixed embeddedness of ethnic minority business in Britain. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 241-58.
Bates, T. . (1997). "Financing small business creation: the case of Chinese and Korean immigrant entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing,, Vol. 12, pp. 109-24.
Baughn, C. C. (2006). The normative context for women's participation in entrepreneurship: a multicountry study", . Entrepreneurship Theory and practice, Vol. 30 No. 5, pp. 687-708.
Bieler. (2000). 'Competitiveness and cohesion: the 'embedded ness' of ethnic minority business.' Rising East, Vol 3, No. 3, pp. 22-45.
Bose, S. (2016). "Women owned business sees 12 percent rise in revenue, says Biz2Credit",Small Business Trend, available at: http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/03/2016-women-owned business--business-biz2credit.html (accessed March 15, 2018).
Brush, 1992; Brush and Cooper, 2012; Welter, 2004; Henry et al., 2015. (n.d.).
Brush, C. C. (2006). Growth-Oriented Women Entrepreneurs and Their Businesses: A Global Research Perspective, Edward. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
Brush, C.; Buttner, E.H. and Rosen, B. (1988),;. (1992). "Research on women business owners: past trends, a new perspective and future directions", Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,. Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 5-30.
Carter et al. (2001). "Women’s business ownership: a review of the academic, popular and internet literature”, Small Business Service Industry Report:. RR002/01, Department of Trade and Industry, London.
Carter, N.M., Williams, M. and Reynolds, P.D. . (1997). “Discontinuance among new firms in retail: the influence of initial resources, strategy, and gender”,. Journal of Business Venturing,, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 125-145.
Choeni, A. . (1997). Veelsoortig Assortiment, Het Spinhuis, Amsterdam.
Coleman, J. (1988). “Social capital in the creation of human capital”, . American Journal of Sociology, , Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 595-620.
Coleman, S. and Robb, A. ((2009),). A comparison of new firm financing by gender: evidence from the Kauffman firm survey data”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 397-411.
Cornwall. (1998). “The entrepreneur as a building block for community”,. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship,, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 141-8.
Cunningham and Lischeron. (1991). “Defining entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business Management,, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 45-61.
Dawe, A. a. (2005). “The experiences of Asian women entering business start-ups in the UK”, in Fielden, S.L. and Davidson, M.J. (Eds),. International Handbook of Women and Small Business Entrepreneurship, , Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
Dechant and Al-Lamky. (2005). “Towards an understanding of Arab women entrepreneurs in Bahrain and Oman”. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 123-40.
Dechant, K. and Al-Lamky, A. . (2005). “Towards an understanding of Arab women entrepreneurs in Bahrain and Oman. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship,, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 123-40.
DeMartino, R. and Barbato, R.”,. (2003). “Differences between women and men entrepreneurs: exploring family flexibility and wealth creation as career motivators”,. Journal of Business Venturing,, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 815-23.
Dhaliwal and Kangis. (2006). “Asians in the UK: gender, generations and enterprise”, Equal. Opportunities International,, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 92-108.
Dhaliwal, S. (.–a. (2000). “Entrepreneurship – a learning process: the experiences of Asian female entrepreneurs and women in business” . Education + Training,, Vol. 42 No. 8, pp. 445-52.
Du . (2013). Does religion matter to owner-manager agency costs? Evidence from China”,. Journal of Business Ethics,, Vol. 118 No. 2, pp. 319-347.
Engelen, E. (2001). “Breaking in and breaking out: a Weberian approach to entrepreneurial opportunities”,. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 203-223.
Gabaccia. (1991). “Immigrant women: nowhere at home”, Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 10.
GEM. (2004). UK Executive Report 2004, . Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, , available at: www.london.edu/fem/Research/GEM_UK_2004_report.pdf.
Gower., Silverman D ; Silverman D (1993) ;. (1985). Qualitative methodology and sociology. Hants: Gower.Interpreting qualitative data. . Methods for analysing talk, text and interaction. London: Sage.
Granovetter, M. (1985). “Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness”,. American Journal of Sociology, , Vol. 91 No. 3, pp. 481-510.
Hafizullah, A. Z. (2012). Problems faced by Women entrepreneurs in Kohat city of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Pakistan',. International Journal of Human Resource stuides, , vol. 2, No. 1.
Hiebert, D. (2002). “Economic associations of immigrant self-employment in Canada”,. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, , Vol. 8 Nos 1/2, pp. 93-112.
Jones, T. and D. McEvoy . (1986). ‘Ethnic enterprise: the popular image’, in J. Curran, J. Stanworth and D. Watkins (eds), The Survival of the Small Firm,. vol. 1, Gower: Aldershot, , pp. 197–219.
Jones, T., & Ram, M. (2007). Re-embedding the ethnic business agenda. Work Employ Soc,, 21(3), 439–457.
Kilby, P. (1983). “The Role of Alien Entrepreneurs in Economic Development,. ” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings,, Vol. 73, pp. 107-111, May 1983.
Kloosterman et al. (1999). ‘Mixed embeddedness, migrant entrepreneurship and informal economic activities,’. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research,, Vol. 23. No. 2. pp. 253-267.
Levent. (2003). “Diversity in entrepreneurship: ethnic and female roles in urban economic life”,. Economics, 30, pp., 1131-1161.
Levent, T. M. (2003). Diversity in entrepreneurship: ethnic and female roles in urban economic life”,. International Journal of Social Economics, , Vol. 30 No. 11, pp. 1131-61.
Loscocco, K. M. (2009). Enterprising women: a comparison of women’s and men’s small business networks”, Gender & Society, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 388-411.
Palaniappan, G., Ramanigopal, C.S. and Mani, A. (2012). 'A study on problems and prospects of Women Entrepreneurs with special reference to ERODE DISTRICT', Journal of Physical and Social Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 3, March.
Patton, D. and Marlow, S. (2005). All credit to men? Entrepreneurship, finance and gender”,. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 1-26.
Ram, M. and Smallbone. (2003). Special issues”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development. Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 99-102.
Ram, M., Jones, T. and Villares-Varela, M. . (2017). “Migrant entrepreneurship: reflections on research and practice”,International Small Business Journal, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 3-18.
Shaw, E., Marlow, S., Lam, W. and Carter, S. (2009). “Gender and entrepreneurial capital: implications for firm performance”,. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 25-42.
Surangi, H. (2018). "What influences the networking behaviours of female entrepreneurs? A case for the small business tourism sector in Sri Lanka", . International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship,, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 116-133.
Victor and Associates. (1993). Economic Revitalisa tion of the Inner Cities: The Urban Programme and Ethnic Minorities . Inner City Research Programme. London: HMSO.
Waldinger, R. a. (1990). , Ethnic Entrepreneurs – . Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
Waldinger, R. D. (1990). , ‘Spatial dimensions of opportunity structures’, in R.Waldinger,H. Aldrich and R.Ward (eds), Ethnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies,London: Sage, . pp. 106–30.
Waldinger, R., Aldrich, H. and Ward, R. . (1990). Ethnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
Welter, F. (2004). The environment for female entrepreneurship in Germany. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development,, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 212-21.
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Published
2022-04-20
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How to Cite
Sahira, S. and Surangi, H. (2022) “A women’s worth: exploring ethnic minority female entrepreneurs’ experiences in Sri Lanka”, Management and Entrepreneurship: Trends of Development, 1(19), pp. 76–88. doi:10.26661/2522-1566/2022-1/19-06.
