IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i19p11037-d650298.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Never Too Late to Learn: How Education Helps Female Entrepreneurs at Overcoming Barriers in the Digital Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel M. Molina-López

    (Business Economics Department, Business School, Universidad San Pablo-CEU, CEU Universities, 28003 Madrid, Spain)

  • Manuel R. Tejeiro Koller

    (Business Department, Hult International Business School, London WC1N 2AT, UK)

  • Mercedes Rubio-Andrés

    (Business Economics Department, Business School, Universidad San Pablo-CEU, CEU Universities, 28003 Madrid, Spain)

  • Susana González-Pérez

    (Business Economics Department, Business School, Universidad San Pablo-CEU, CEU Universities, 28003 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

The study of Entrepreneurship Framework Conditions (EFC) has found that training and education have, among other things, a positive effect on overcoming barriers when starting your own firm. Our research can be placed in this line, but with an added specificity, since it is focused firstly on women and secondly on the digital economy. Thus, we have studied the situation of women entrepreneurs in the digital economy in Spain, asking them about their personal traits, the characteristics of their ventures and the barriers they encountered. We have studied the effect of EFCs on overcoming barriers to entrepreneurship, with a special focus on training and entrepreneurship education. In addition, the effect of self-efficacy perception (the conviction of having the necessary skills to start a business) on overcoming barriers to entrepreneurship has been factored in. After the implementation of a Structural Equation Model (SEM), we show that training helps female entrepreneurs in the digital economy to overcome barriers to entrepreneurship, especially after the mediation of their self-efficacy perception, which is increased by specific entrepreneurial training. We can conclude that policy recommendations to counteract the gender gap in entrepreneurship with specific training should be promoted, specifically in such a strategic sector as the digital economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel M. Molina-López & Manuel R. Tejeiro Koller & Mercedes Rubio-Andrés & Susana González-Pérez, 2021. "Never Too Late to Learn: How Education Helps Female Entrepreneurs at Overcoming Barriers in the Digital Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:11037-:d:650298
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/11037/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/11037/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walter, Sascha G. & Dohse, Dirk, 2009. "The interplay between entrepreneurship education and regional knowledge potential in forming entrepreneurial intentions," Kiel Working Papers 1549, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Bosma, Niels & Hessels, Jolanda & Schutjens, Veronique & Praag, Mirjam Van & Verheul, Ingrid, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and role models," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 410-424.
    3. André Stel & David Storey & A. Thurik, 2007. "The Effect of Business Regulations on Nascent and Young Business Entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 171-186, March.
    4. Donato Iacobucci & Alessandro Iacopini & Alessandra Micozzi & Simone Orsini, 2011. "Fostering entrepreneurship in academic spin-offs," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(4), pages 513-533.
    5. Katharina Fellnhofer & Kaisu Puumalainen, 2017. "Can role models boost entrepreneurial attitudes?," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 21(3), pages 274-290.
    6. Kim, Phillip H. & Aldrich, Howard E., 2005. "Social Capital and Entrepreneurship," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 1(2), pages 55-104, June.
    7. Susan Coleman & Dafna Kariv, 2014. "'Deconstructing' entrepreneurial self-efficacy: a gendered perspective on the impact of ESE and community entrepreneurial culture on the financial strategies and performance of new firms," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 157-181, April.
    8. Sarstedt, Marko & Ringle, Christian M. & Smith, Donna & Reams, Russell & Hair, Joseph F., 2014. "Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): A useful tool for family business researchers," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 105-115.
    9. Entrialgo M. & Iglesias V., 2018. "Are the Intentions to Entrepreneurship of Men and Women Shaped Differently? The Impact of Entrepreneurial Role-Model Exposure and Entrepreneurship Education," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, January.
    10. Yuen-Ping Ho & Poh-Kam Wong, 2007. "Financing, Regulatory Costs and Entrepreneurial Propensity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 187-204, March.
    11. repec:use:tkiwps:332 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Chen, Chao C. & Greene, Patricia Gene & Crick, Ann, 1998. "Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy distinguish entrepreneurs from managers?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 295-316, July.
    13. Erikson, Truls, 2002. "Entrepreneurial capital: the emerging venture's most important asset and competitive advantage," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 275-290, May.
    14. Juan De Jesús Pinto Jiménez & Rogelio Fernández Ortea & Luis Martínez Cerna & Guilherme Kauffmann Papaléo, 2006. "Análisis del enfasis en la innovación en la implantación del "Middle-Up-Down Management Model"," Estudios Gerenciales, Universidad Icesi, October.
    15. Storey, D. J. & Tether, B. S., 1998. "New technology-based firms in the European union: an introduction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(9), pages 933-946, April.
    16. Philipp Koellinger & Maria Minniti & Christian Schade, 2013. "Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Propensity," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(2), pages 213-234, April.
    17. Susan Mueller, 2011. "Increasing entrepreneurial intention: effective entrepreneurship course characteristics," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(1), pages 55-74.
    18. Wennekers, Sander & Thurik, Roy, 1999. "Linking Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 27-55, August.
    19. Wynne W. Chin & Barbara L. Marcolin & Peter R. Newsted, 2003. "A Partial Least Squares Latent Variable Modeling Approach for Measuring Interaction Effects: Results from a Monte Carlo Simulation Study and an Electronic-Mail Emotion/Adoption Study," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 189-217, June.
    20. Gielnik, Michael M. & Uy, Marilyn A. & Funken, Rebecca & Bischoff, Kim Marie, 2017. "Boosting and sustaining passion: A long-term perspective on the effects of entrepreneurship training," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 334-353.
    21. Frederic Delmar & Per Davidsson, 2000. "Where do they come from? Prevalence and characteristics of nascent entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, January.
    22. Jonathan Levie & Erkko Autio, 2008. "A theoretical grounding and test of the GEM model," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 235-263, October.
    23. Noa Bergman & Zehava Rosenblatt & Miriam Erez & Uzi De-Haan, 2011. "Gender and the effects of an entrepreneurship training programme on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial knowledge gain," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(1), pages 38-54.
    24. Storey, D. J. & Tether, B. S., 1998. "Public policy measures to support new technology-based firms in the European Union," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(9), pages 1037-1057, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claudia Álvarez & David Urbano & José Amorós, 2014. "GEM research: achievements and challenges," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 445-465, March.
    2. Claudia Alvarez & David Urbano, 2008. "Entorno e Iniciativa Emprendedora: una Perspectiva Institucional," Working Papers 0807, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Dec 2008.
    3. Arezou Abbasianchavari & Alexandra Moritz, 2021. "The impact of role models on entrepreneurial intentions and behavior: a review of the literature," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(1), pages 1-40, February.
    4. Niels Bosma & Jeroen Content & Mark Sanders & Erik Stam, 2018. "Institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in Europe," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 483-499, August.
    5. Vidal-Suñé, Antoni & López-Panisello, María-Belén, 2013. "Institutional and economic determinants of the perception of opportunities and entrepreneurial intention," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 26, pages 75-96.
    6. David Urbano & Sebastian Aparicio & David Audretsch, 2019. "Twenty-five years of research on institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth: what has been learned?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 21-49, June.
    7. R. Sandra Schillo & Ajax Persaud & Meng Jin, 2016. "Entrepreneurial readiness in the context of national systems of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 619-637, April.
    8. António Porfírio, José & Augusto Felício, José & Carrilho, Tiago & Jardim, Jacinto, 2023. "Promoting entrepreneurial intentions from adolescence: The influence of entrepreneurial culture and education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    9. Aparicio, Sebastian & Urbano, David & Audretsch, David, 2016. "Institutional factors, opportunity entrepreneurship and economic growth: Panel data evidence," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 45-61.
    10. Elert, Niklas & Henrekson, Magnus & Stenkula, Mikael, 2017. "Institutional Reform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Agenda for Europe," Working Paper Series 1150, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 16 Feb 2017.
    11. Niklas Elert & Magnus Henrekson, 2019. "The collaborative innovation bloc: A new mission for Austrian economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 295-320, December.
    12. Guillermo Andrés ZAPATA HUAMANÍ & Sara FERNÁNDEZ LÓPEZ & Isabel NEIRA GÓMEZ & Lucía REY ARES, 2017. "THE ROLE OF THE ENTREPRENEUR IN NEW TECHNOLOGY-BASED FIRMS (NTBFs): AN ANALYSIS ACCORDING TO CONTEXT DEVELOPMENT," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 17(2), pages 25-42.
    13. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.
    14. Simón-Moya, Virginia & Revuelto-Taboada, Lorenzo & Guerrero, Rafael Fernández, 2014. "Institutional and economic drivers of entrepreneurship: An international perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 715-721.
    15. Diana M. Hechavarría & Amy E. Ingram, 2019. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem conditions and gendered national-level entrepreneurial activity: a 14-year panel study of GEM," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 431-458, August.
    16. Jolanda Hessels & Marco Gelderen & Roy Thurik, 2008. "Entrepreneurial aspirations, motivations, and their drivers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 323-339, October.
    17. Barinova, Vera (Баринова, Вера) & Zemtsov, Stepan (Земцов, Степан) & Tsareva, Yulia (Царева, Юлия), 2018. "Review of Empirical Studies of Factors of Entrepreneurial Activity [Обзор Эмпирических Исследований Факторов Предпринимательской Активности]," Working Papers 031830, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    18. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Zaouali, Sana, 2022. "The effects of financial inclusion and the business environment in spurring the creation of early-stage firms and supporting established firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Khursheed, Ambreen & Fatima, Maham & Mustafa, Faisal & Nawaz Lodhi, Rab & Akhtar, Ayesha, 2021. "An Empirical Analysis of the Factors Influencing Social Entrepreneurship: A Gendered Approach," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    20. Pekka Stenholm & Zoltán J. Ács & Robert Wuebker, 2015. "Exploring country-level institutional arrangements on the rate and type of entrepreneurial activity," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 20, pages 387-404, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:11037-:d:650298. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.