IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i5p2163-d1603974.html

Factors Shaping Sustainability Through Female Entrepreneurship in the GCC: A Systematic Review with Multi-Level and Institutional Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Rabia Naguib

    (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, School of Economics, Administration and Public Policy, Doha P.O. Box 200592, Qatar)

  • Julia Barbar

    (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, School of Economics, Administration and Public Policy, Doha P.O. Box 200592, Qatar)

Abstract

This article explores the intersection of gender, entrepreneurship, and sustainability in the context of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The article proposes a comprehensive analytical framework that incorporates multiple levels of analysis and examines the institutional pressures influencing women’s entrepreneurial participation using a systematic literature review. It provides insights into the interconnectedness of individual (micro level), organizational-sectoral (meso Level), and societal and national (macro-level) factors, offering policy recommendations to foster a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem and support women’s contributions to sustainable economic development in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Rabia Naguib & Julia Barbar, 2025. "Factors Shaping Sustainability Through Female Entrepreneurship in the GCC: A Systematic Review with Multi-Level and Institutional Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-36, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:5:p:2163-:d:1603974
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2163/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2163/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sonja Franzke & Jie Wu & Fabian Jintae Froese & Zi Xuan Chan, 2022. "Female entrepreneurship in Asia: a critical review and future directions," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 343-372, July.
    2. Snyder, Hannah, 2019. "Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 333-339.
    3. Daniel Stefan & Valentina Vasile & Anca Oltean & Calin-Adrian Comes & Anamari-Beatrice Stefan & Liviu Ciucan-Rusu & Elena Bunduchi & Maria-Alexandra Popa & Mihai Timus, 2021. "Women Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Business Development: Key Findings from a SWOT–AHP Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Mohammad I. Al-Housani & Muammer Koç & Mohammed S. Al-Sada, 2023. "Investigations on Entrepreneurship Needs, Challenges, and Models for Countries in Transition to Sustainable Development from Resource-Based Economy—Qatar as a Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-28, May.
    5. Esmat Zaidan & Mohammad Al-Saidi & Suzanne H. Hammad, 2019. "Sustainable development in the Arab world – is the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region fit for the challenge?," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 670-681, July.
    6. Garry D. Bruton & David Ahlstrom & Han–Lin Li, 2010. "Institutional Theory and Entrepreneurship: Where Are We Now and Where Do We Need to Move in the Future?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(3), pages 421-440, May.
    7. Chiplunkar, Gaurav & Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou, 2024. "Aggregate Implications of Barriers to Female Entrepreneurship," IZA Discussion Papers 17281, IZA Network @ LISER.
    8. Friederike Welter, 2011. "Contextualizing Entrepreneurship—Conceptual Challenges and Ways Forward," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 165-184, January.
    9. Nadia Abdelhamid Abdelmegeed Abdelwahed & Abdulrahman Alshaikhmubarak, 2023. "Developing Female Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intentions through an Entrepreneurial Mindset and Motives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, April.
    10. Dhahri, Sabrine & Omri, Anis, 2018. "Entrepreneurship contribution to the three pillars of sustainable development: What does the evidence really say?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 64-77.
    11. Matthew P. Johnson & Stefan Schaltegger, 2020. "Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development: A Review and Multilevel Causal Mechanism Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(6), pages 1141-1173, November.
    12. Md. Mazharul Islam & Abla Abdul Hameed Bokhari & Turki Shjaan Abalala, 2018. "Perceptions to Start up Business as a Career Choice among Saudi Female Higher Education Students," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22, May.
    13. Kathleen Dechant & Asya Al Lamky, 2005. "Toward An Understanding Of Arab Women Entrepreneurs In Bahrain And Oman," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 10(02), pages 123-140.
    14. Elena Bardasi & Shwetlena Sabarwal & Katherine Terrell, 2011. "How do female entrepreneurs perform? Evidence from three developing regions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 417-441, November.
    15. Gaurav Chiplunkar & Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, 2024. "Aggregate Implications of Barriers to Female Entrepreneurship," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(6), pages 1801-1835, November.
    16. Sumaya Hashim, 2023. "Women entrepreneurs in the Gulf States: Taking stock and moving forward," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(9-10), pages 841-884, October.
    17. Btool H. Mohamed & Ibrahim Ari & Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada & Muammer Koç, 2021. "Strategizing Human Development for a Country in Transition from a Resource-Based to a Knowledge-Based Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-27, December.
    18. Melissa Langworthy & Tonia Warnecke, 2021. "“Top-Down” Enterprise Development and COVID-19 Impacts on Gulf Women," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 325-333, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bożena Gajdzik & Radosław Wolniak & Wieslaw Wes Grebski, 2025. "Structural Drivers of Poland’s Renewable Energy Transition (2010–2023): Empirical Insights from Regression and Cluster Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-26, September.

    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. Celiku, Bledi & Ubfal, Diego Javier & Valdivia, Martin, 2025. "Gender Gaps in the Performance of Small Firms : Evidence from Urban Peru," Policy Research Working Paper Series 111218, The World Bank.
    2. Sewaid, Ahmed & Zahra, Shaker A. & Aparicio, Sebastian, 2026. "From novice to serial entrepreneur: How institutions influence relaunching decisions on international crowdfunding platforms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Francesca Picciaia, 2020. "Italian Female Social Entrepreneurship and Management: An Explorative Study on Social Cooperatives," Journal of Management and Strategy, Journal of Management and Strategy, Sciedu Press, vol. 11(2), pages 56-68, May.
    4. Aparicio, Sebastian & Audretsch, David & Noguera, Maria & Urbano, David, 2022. "Can female entrepreneurs boost social mobility in developing countries? An institutional analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    5. Jean-Marie Nkongolo-Bakenda & Elie V. Chrysostome, 2020. "Exploring the organizing and strategic factors of diasporic transnational entrepreneurs in Canada: An empirical study," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 336-372, September.
    6. Wafa Alwakid & Sebastian Aparicio & David Urbano, 2021. "The Influence of Green Entrepreneurship on Sustainable Development in Saudi Arabia: The Role of Formal Institutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-23, May.
    7. Belay Mengstie & Yohannes Mekonnen Yesuf, 2026. "Entrepreneurship environment and enterprise performance: the mediating role of entrepreneurial competency," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    8. Gutmann, Jerg & Marchal, Léa & Simsek, Betül, 2025. "Women’s rights and the gender migration gap," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    9. Sara Arbelo-Pérez & Desiderio Gutiérrez-Taño & Inés Ruiz-Rosa, 2026. "Relationship between institutional factors and economic development: the effect of tourism activity," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 16(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Bento, Pedro, 2025. "Female entrepreneurship in the U.S. 1982–2012: Implications for welfare and aggregate output," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    11. Vershinina, Natalia & Rodgers, Peter & Tarba, Shlomo & Khan, Zaheer & Stokes, Peter, 2020. "Gaining legitimacy through proactive stakeholder management: The experiences of high-tech women entrepreneurs in Russia," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 111-121.
    12. Olivetti, Claudia & Pan, Jessica & Petrongolo, Barbara, 2024. "The evolution of gender in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics,, Elsevier.
    13. Natalia Vershinina & Gideon Markman & Liang Han & Peter Rodgers & John Kitching & Nigar Hashimzade & Rowena Barrett, 2022. "Gendered regulations and SME performance in transition economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1113-1130, February.
    14. Castellanza, Luca, 2022. "Discipline, abjection, and poverty alleviation through entrepreneurship: A constitutive perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1).
    15. James J. Chrisman & Hanqing C. Fang & Lloyd Steier, 2023. "Positioning, Articulating, and Crafting Conceptual Articles on Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 211-231, March.
    16. Carmit Gal & Israel Rachevski, 2026. "Understanding entrepreneurial propensity: an integrated analysis of cognitive traits and contextual factors in diverse economies," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, December.
    17. Nicoletta Berardi & Benjamin Bureau, 2025. "The proportion of female business leaders is gradually increasing in France [La part des femmes parmi les dirigeants d’entreprises françaises croît progressivement]," Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 257.
    18. Etayankara Muralidharan & Saurav Pathak, 2018. "Sustainability, Transformational Leadership, and Social Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Lindelöf, Peter & Hellberg, Roland, 2023. "Incubation - An evolutionary process," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    20. Franczak, Jennifer & Lanivich, Stephen E. & Adomako, Samuel, 2023. "Filling institutional voids: Combinative effects of institutional shortcomings and gender on the alertness – Opportunity recognition relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:17:y:2025:i:5:p:2163-:d:1603974. 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.