IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/jms111/v11y2020i2p56-68.html

Italian Female Social Entrepreneurship and Management: An Explorative Study on Social Cooperatives

Author

Listed:
  • Francesca Picciaia

Abstract

Purpose: The main aim of this paper is to individuate the elements that have influenced and/or are influencing the constitution and the activity of a sample of Italian female social cooperative, and the relationship between gender and social enterprise¡¯s internal organization. Methodology/Approach: This is an exploratory study based on a survey of a purposive sample of Italian Social Cooperatives (SCs). The selected SCs are led by women, in order to focus on motivations, constraints and opportunities behind the foundation of the social enterprise and the relationship among female gender, activity and organization. Originality/Value: Albeit with initial insights, the study can contribute, with a country-specific analysis, to the debate on the interconnections amidst institutional environment, cultural and social elements and the development of the female entrepreneurship, with a focus on third sector. Practical Implications: Research findings could help to highlight opportunities and constraints related to the phenomenon on female social entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:jfr:jms111:v:11:y:2020:i:2:p:56-68
    DOI: 10.5430/jms.v11n2p56
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/jms/article/view/17875/11058
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/jms/article/view/17875
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5430/jms.v11n2p56?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malin Gawell & Elisabeth Sundin, 2014. "Social Entrepreneurship, Gendered Entrepreneurship?," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: Anders Lundström & Chunyan Zhou & Yvonne von Friedrichs & Elisabeth Sundin (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 273-291, Springer.
    2. Punita Bhatt Datta & Robert Gailey, 2012. "Empowering Women through Social Entrepreneurship: Case Study of a Women's Cooperative in India," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 569-587, May.
    3. John Watson, 2002. "Comparing the Performance of Male-and Female-Controlled Businesses: Relating Outputs to Inputs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(3), pages 91-100, April.
    4. Anne E. Preston & Daniel W. Sacks, 2010. "Nonprofit Wages: Theory and Evidence," Chapters, in: Bruce A. Seaman & Dennis R. Young (ed.), Handbook of Research on Nonprofit Economics and Management, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Anne De Bruin & Candida G. Brush & Friederike Welter, 2007. "Advancing a Framework for Coherent Research on Women's Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(3), pages 323-339, May.
    6. Amanda Elam & Siri Terjesen, 2010. "Gendered Institutions and Cross-National Patterns of Business Creation for Men and Women," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 22(3), pages 331-348, July.
    7. Candida G. Brush & Sarah Y. Cooper, 2012. "Female entrepreneurship and economic development: An international perspective," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1-2), pages 1-6, January.
    8. Rosa, Peter & Carter, Sara & Hamilton, Daphne, 1996. "Gender as a Determinant of Small Business Performance: Insights from a British Study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(6), pages 463-478, December.
    9. Watson, John & Robinson, Sherry, 2003. "Adjusting for risk in comparing the performances of male- and female-controlled SMEs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 773-788, November.
    10. Leete, Laura, 2000. "Wage equity and employee motivation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 423-446, December.
    11. Eckel, Catherine C & Grossman, Philip J, 1998. "Are Women Less Selfish Than Men? Evidence from Dictator Experiments," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(448), pages 726-735, May.
    12. Du Rietz, Anita & Henrekson, Magnus, 2000. "Testing the Female Underperformance Hypothesis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, February.
    13. Tatiana S. Manolova & Candida G. Brush & Linda F. Edelman & Kelly G. Shaver, 2012. "One size does not fit all: Entrepreneurial expectancies and growth intentions of US women and men nascent entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1-2), pages 7-27, January.
    14. Helene Ahl, 2006. "Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 595-621, September.
    15. Fischer, Eileen M. & Reuber, A. Rebecca & Dyke, Lorraine S., 1993. "A theoretical overview and extension of research on sex, gender, and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 151-168, March.
    16. Anne Pierre & Yvonne von Friedrichs & Joakim Wincent, 2014. "A Review of Social Entrepreneurship Research," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: Anders Lundström & Chunyan Zhou & Yvonne von Friedrichs & Elisabeth Sundin (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 43-69, Springer.
    17. Nancy Carter & Candida Brush & Patricia Greene & Elizabeth Gatewood & Myra Hart, 2003. "Women entrepreneurs who break through to equity financing: The influence of human, social and financial capital," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, January.
    18. Per Davidsson & Johan Wiklund, 2001. "Levels of Analysis in Entrepreneurship Research: Current Research Practice and Suggestions for the Future," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(4), pages 81-100, July.
    19. 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.
    20. Friederike Welter, 2011. "Contextualizing Entrepreneurship—Conceptual Challenges and Ways Forward," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 165-184, January.
    21. repec:taf:entreg:v:24:y:2012:i:5-6:p:425-456 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. John Watson, 2003. "Failure Rates for Female‐Controlled Businesses: Are They Any Different?," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 262-277, July.
    23. Gamber, Wendy, 1998. "A Gendered Enterprise: Placing Nineteenth-Century Businesswomen in History," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 188-218, July.
    24. Preston, Anne E, 1989. "The Nonprofit Worker in a For-Profit World," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 438-463, October.
    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. Sara Poggesi & Michela Mari & Luisa Vita, 2016. "What’s new in female entrepreneurship research? Answers from the literature," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 735-764, September.
    2. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Tendai Gwatidzo & Mthokozisi Mlilo, 2023. "Gender differences in business performance: evidence from Kenya and South Africa," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 591-614, February.
    3. Evan J. Douglas & Vidhula Venugopal, 2025. "The complex causality of gender and entrepreneurship: to grow or not to grow?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 1209-1240, August.
    4. Dautzenberg, Kirsti & Müller-Seitz, Gordon, 2011. "Technologieorientierte Unternehmensgründungen als Männerdomäne?," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 65(3), pages 238-262.
    5. Kalnins, Arturs & Williams, Michele, 2014. "When do female-owned businesses out-survive male-owned businesses? A disaggregated approach by industry and geography," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 822-835.
    6. Alfonso Expósito & Juan A. Amparo Sanchis-Llopis & Juan A. Juan A. Sanchis-Llopis, 2023. "Does entrepreneur gender matter in SMEs performance? The role of innovations," Working Papers 2308, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    7. Maksim Belitski & Sameeksha Desai, 2021. "Female ownership, firm age and firm growth: a study of South Asian firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 825-855, September.
    8. 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).
    9. Daniela Giménez & Andrea Calabrò, 2018. "The salient role of institutions in Women’s entrepreneurship: a critical review and agenda for future research," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 857-882, December.
    10. Desislava I. Yordanova, 2008. "Gender Effects on Performance in Bulgarian Private Enterprises," Working Papers 0806, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Oct 2008.
    11. Marcus Box & Tommy Larsson Segerlind, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Teams, Gender, and New Venture Survival: Contexts and Institutions," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(2), pages 21582440187, May.
    12. Watson, John & Stuetzer, Michael & Zolin, Roxanne, 2017. "Female underperformance or goal-oriented behavior?," MPRA Paper 88403, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Alonso-Almeida, María del Mar, 2013. "Influence of gender and financing on tourist company growth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 621-631.
    14. Justo, Rachida & DeTienne, Dawn R. & Sieger, Philipp, 2015. "Failure or voluntary exit? Reassessing the female underperformance hypothesis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 775-792.
    15. 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).
    16. Maria Bastida & Ana Olveira & Miguel Ángel Vázquez Taín, 2023. "Are cooperatives gender sensitive? A confirmatory and predictive analysis of women's collective entrepreneurship," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(4), pages 1035-1059, December.
    17. Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Terrell, Katherine, 2008. "Does Gender Matter for Firm Performance? Evidence from Eastern Europe and Central Asia," IZA Discussion Papers 3758, IZA Network @ LISER.
    18. Michaela Niefert & Sandra Gottschalk, 2014. "Gründerinnen auf dem Vormarsch? – Die Entwicklung der Beteiligung von Frauen am Gründungsgeschehen," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 8(3), pages 115-145, September.
    19. Welter, Friederike, 2020. "Contexts and gender: Looking back and thinking forward," Working Papers 01/20, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    20. Pettersson, Katarina & Ahl, Helene & Berglund, Karin & Tillmar, Malin, 2017. "In the name of women? Feminist readings of policies for women’s entrepreneurship in Scandinavia," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 50-63.

    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:jfr:jms111:v:11:y:2020:i:2:p:56-68. 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: Jenny Zhang (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://jms.sciedupress.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.