Determinants of women entrepreneurs’ firm performance in a hostile environment

Abstract

This study examines the determinants of firm performance for women entrepreneurs in the context of an emerging economy affected by a turbulent political and socio-cultural environment. The study draws from the resource-based and institutional-based views embedded in the gender-aware 5M (money, management, market, macro/meso environments, and motherhood) model. A generalized structural equation model is used to analyze data from Egypt, the setting for this study. The study finds a positive relationship between women entrepreneurs’ human capital and firm performance. However, no detectable relationship emerges between social capital and firm performance or between women's gender-related personal problems and firm performance. The findings suggest new boundary conditions in the domain of female entrepreneurship in a hostile environment, with important implications for practice and research.