IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mgt/youmgt/v11y2013i1p41-60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Gender Differences within the African Business Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Herman Linde

    (North-West University, South Africa)

  • Renjini Alex

    (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)

  • Felicity van Vrede

    (North-West University, South Africa)

  • Werner Havenga

    (North-West University, South Africa)

  • Jan C. Visagie

    (North-West University, South Africa)

Abstract

The objective of this exploratory study was to determine whether there are any differences in the use of conflict-handling (management) styles between men and women among entrepreneurs of small businesses in South Africa, and to compare the results against the conflict-handling styles used by male and female executives in organisations in Nigeria. The empirical research was done by applying the Rahim Organizational Inventory (ROC ii) model. The results revealed that, although slight, a variance in conflict-handling styles exists between males and females, respectively. In South Africa, females tend to make use of the integrating style on a more frequent basis than males do to manage conflict with subordinates. Males registered a strong negative correlation between integrating, dominating and compromising styles. The study also compared results of a similar study done on executives in Nigeria. The results of the Nigerian sample are similar to that of the South African sample, in that both males and females tend to use the integrating style more frequently. Also, there is a slight indication that Nigerians have marginally lower concern for self than South Africans do.

Suggested Citation

  • Herman Linde & Renjini Alex & Felicity van Vrede & Werner Havenga & Jan C. Visagie, 2013. "A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Gender Differences within the African Business Environment," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 11(1 (Spring), pages 41-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:mgt:youmgt:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:41-60
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1581-6311/11_041-060.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leora F. Klapper & Simon C. Parker, 2011. "Gender and the Business Environment for New Firm Creation," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 237-257, August.
    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. Diana Hechavarría & Charles Matthews & Paul Reynolds, 2016. "Does start-up financing influence start-up speed? Evidence from the panel study of entrepreneurial dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 137-167, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Thomas Buser, 2016. "The Impact of Losing in a Competition on the Willingness to Seek Further Challenges," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(12), pages 3439-3449, December.
    4. Dileni Gunewardena & Abdoulaye Seck, 2020. "Heterogeneity in entrepreneurship in developing countries: Risk, credit, and migration and the entrepreneurial propensity of youth and women," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 713-725, August.
    5. Nava Ashraf & Alexia Delfino & Edward L. Glaeser, 2019. "Rule of Law and Female Entrepreneurship," NBER Working Papers 26366, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Wesemann, Henrik & Wincent, Joakim, 2021. "A whole new world: Counterintuitive crowdfunding insights for female founders," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    7. Ghani,Syed Ejaz & Grover,Arti & Kerr,Sari & Kerr,William Robert, 2016. "Will market competition trump gender discrimination in India ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7814, The World Bank.
    8. Kevin Banning* & Ravi Chinta, 2019. "Attitudinal and Structural Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Women," Business, Management and Economics Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 5(2), pages 26-32, 02-2019.
    9. Dirk Dohse & Rajeev K. Goel & Michael A. Nelson, 2019. "Female owners versus female managers: Who is better at introducing innovations?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 520-539, April.
    10. Carbunaru Andra Florentina, 2019. "Influence Of Push And Pull Factors On Female Entrepreneurship In Romania," Junior Scientific Researcher, SC Research Publishing SRL, vol. 5(1), pages 55-69, May.
    11. 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.
    12. Nassani, Abdelmohsen A. & Aldakhil, Abdullah Mohammed & Abro, Muhammad Moinuddin Qazi & Islam, Talat & Zaman, Khalid, 2019. "The impact of tourism and finance on women empowerment," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 234-254.
    13. Saibal Ghosh, 2023. "Gender and discouraged borrowers: Evidence from India," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 1731-1752, October.
    14. Zhang, Dengjun & Wellalage, Nirosha Hewa & Fernandez, Viviana, 2022. "Environmental assurance, gender, and access to finance: Evidence from SMEs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    15. Jennifer M. Sequeira & Sherrhonda R. Gibbs & Norma A. Juma, 2016. "Factors Contributing To Women’S Venture Success In Developing Countries: An Exploratory Analysis," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(01), pages 1-31, March.
    16. Marco Caliendo & Steffen K�nn, 2014. "Regional Effect Heterogeneity of Start-up Subsidies for the Unemployed," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(6), pages 1108-1134, June.
    17. World Bank Group, 2016. "Women Entrepreneurs in Indonesia," World Bank Publications - Reports 24751, The World Bank Group.
    18. Fang, Sheng & Goh, Chorching & Roberts, Mark & Xu, Lixin Colin & Zeufack, Albert, 2022. "Female entrepreneurs and productivity around the world: Rule of law, network, culture, and gender equality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    19. Xuemei Xie & Jiuchang Lv, 2016. "Social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs and new venture performance: the moderating effects of entrepreneurial alertness and gender discrimination," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 963-983, December.
    20. Allison, Lee & Liu, Yu & Murtinu, Samuele & Wei, Zuobao, 2023. "Gender and firm performance around the world: The roles of finance, technology and labor," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    organisation; conflict management styles; relationships;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions

    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:mgt:youmgt:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:41-60. 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: Alen Jezovnik (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fmkupsi.html .

    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.