The status quo of omani female entrepreneurs: a story of multidimensional success factors

While the Omani government’s endeavours over two decades to support entrepreneurship, particularly among women, have been significant, research has not substantiated their impacts; even so, the number of female entrepreneurs has substantially increased. This study aims to contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by investigating this aspect of the Omani government’s entrepreneurship efforts in addition to other factors found in literature that contribute to the success of female entrepreneurship. A comprehensive literature review is conducted using the ‘wildcard operator’ search technique to define the factors affecting success in entrepreneurship; the study tests these factors to understand their applicability in the Omani context in order to build a sound conceptual model. A questionnaire-based survey was employed to collect primary data from 218 successful Omani female entrepreneurs from 2017 to 2020. The data collected were analysed using structured equation modelling. Out of the 12 hypotheses proposed, seven were confirmed by the results, and a hypothetical multifactor success factor model was proposed accordingly. The proposed model can be used as a hands-on indicative tool for assisting Omani policy- and decision makers to implement effective policies in the future that will be able to leverage female entrepreneurship. The generalisability of the model needs further research to determine its fitness for the contexts of other countries.