IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v45y2021i2p350-385.html

Entrepreneurship and Poverty Alleviation: The Importance of Health and Children’s Education for Slum Entrepreneurs

Author

Listed:
  • Dean A. Shepherd
  • Vinit Parida
  • Joakim Wincent

Abstract

Research has focused on the role of entrepreneurial action in alleviating poverty. However, there is a gap between individuals’ short-term outcomes from entrepreneurship overcoming immediate resource concerns and the large-scale impact of entrepreneurship on institutional and system change. Therefore, in this study, we explore entrepreneurs’ beliefs about how entrepreneurial action can alleviate poverty. To do so, we conducted a qualitative study of entrepreneurs of businesses located in Indian slums and identified the impact of expectations, role models, and the subjective value of their children’s education in attempts to alleviate poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Dean A. Shepherd & Vinit Parida & Joakim Wincent, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and Poverty Alleviation: The Importance of Health and Children’s Education for Slum Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(2), pages 350-385, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:45:y:2021:i:2:p:350-385
    DOI: 10.1177/1042258719900774
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1042258719900774
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1042258719900774?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. Alan Singer, 2006. "Business Strategy and Poverty Alleviation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 225-231, June.
    2. Sutter, Christopher & Bruton, Garry D. & Chen, Juanyi, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as a solution to extreme poverty: A review and future research directions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 197-214.
    3. Joern H. Block & Marcus Wagner, 2010. "Necessity and Opportunity Entrepreneurs in Germany: Characteristics and Earning s Differentials," Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr), LMU Munich School of Management, vol. 62(2), pages 154-174, April.
    4. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    5. Kent, Derin & Dacin, M. Tina, 2013. "Bankers at the gate: Microfinance and the high cost of borrowed logics," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 759-773.
    6. de Mel, Suresh & McKenzie, David & Woodruff, Christopher, 2014. "Business training and female enterprise start-up, growth, and dynamics: Experimental evidence from Sri Lanka," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 199-210.
    7. Steven W. Bradley & Jeffery S. McMullen & Kendall Artz & Edward M. Simiyu, 2012. "Capital Is Not Enough: Innovation in Developing Economies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 684-717, June.
    8. Ahlin, Christian & Jiang, Neville, 2008. "Can micro-credit bring development?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-21, April.
    9. Yogendra Shakya & Katharine Rankin, 2008. "The Politics of Subversion in Development Practice: An Exploration of Microfinance in Nepal and Vietnam," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(8), pages 1214-1235.
    10. Miriam Bruhn & Dean Karlan & Antoinette Schoar, 2010. "What Capital Is Missing in Developing Countries?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 629-633, May.
    11. Gerard George & Anita M. McGahan & Jaideep Prabhu, 2012. "Innovation for Inclusive Growth: Towards a Theoretical Framework and a Research Agenda," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 661-683, June.
    12. Zoltan Acs, 2008. "How is Entrepreneurship Good for Economic Growth?," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 21, pages 291-301, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    14. 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.
    15. Friederike Welter & Ted Baker & David B. Audretsch & William B. Gartner, 2017. "Everyday Entrepreneurship—A Call for Entrepreneurship Research to Embrace Entrepreneurial Diversity," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(3), pages 311-321, May.
    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. Jandhyala Tilak, 2002. "Education and Poverty," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 191-207.
    18. Pablo Fajnzylber & William F. Maloney & Gabriel V. Montes-Rojas, 2009. "Releasing Constraints to Growth or Pushing on a String? Policies and Performance of Mexican Micro-Firms," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(7), pages 1027-1047, August.
    19. Subbaraman, Ramnath & Nolan, Laura & Shitole, Tejal & Sawant, Kiran & Shitole, Shrutika & Sood, Kunal & Nanarkar, Mahesh & Ghannam, Jess & Betancourt, Theresa S. & Bloom, David E. & Patil-Deshmukh, An, 2014. "The psychological toll of slum living in Mumbai, India: A mixed methods study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 155-169.
    20. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2010. "Entrepreneurship And The Informal Economy: An Overview," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(04), pages 361-378.
    21. Kevane, Michael & Wydick, Bruce, 2001. "Microenterprise Lending to Female Entrepreneurs: Sacrificing Economic Growth for Poverty Alleviation?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1225-1236, July.
    22. Remco Eijkel & Niels Hermes & Robert Lensink, 2011. "Group lending and the role of the group leader," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 299-321, April.
    23. Jeremy Hall & Stelvia Matos & Lorn Sheehan & Bruno Silvestre, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid: A Recipe for Inclusive Growth or Social Exclusion?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 785-812, June.
    24. Philip Kasinitz, 2008. "Becoming American, Becoming Minority, Getting Ahead: The Role of Racial and Ethnic Status in the Upward Mobility of the Children of Immigrants," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 620(1), pages 253-269, November.
    25. Peter Zwan & Roy Thurik & Ingrid Verheul & Jolanda Hessels, 2016. "Factors influencing the entrepreneurial engagement of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(3), pages 273-295, December.
    26. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2013. "Life satisfaction and self-employment: a matching approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1009-1033, May.
    27. Brenner, Reuven, 1987. "National policy and entrepreneurship: The statesman's dilemma," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 95-101.
    28. Joern Block & Karsten Kohn & Danny Miller & Katrin Ullrich, 2015. "Necessity entrepreneurship and competitive strategy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 37-54, January.
    29. Reiss, Franziska, 2013. "Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 24-31.
    30. Garry D Bruton & Susanna Khavul & Helmuth Chavez, 2011. "Microlending in emerging economies: Building a new line of inquiry from the ground up," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(5), pages 718-739, June.
    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. Dean A. Shepherd & Vinit Parida & Joakim Wincent, 2025. "Dirty Entrepreneurship: The Intersectionality of Entrepreneurs’ Dirty Recycling Businesses," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 49(5), pages 1261-1291, September.
    2. Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie, 2025. "A Longitudinal Study of Conditional Student Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 49(1), pages 89-128, January.
    3. Tanveer, Asif & Torres de Oliveira, Rui & Rizvi, Shaheer, 2024. "How sector fluidity (knowledge-intensiveness and innovation) shapes startups’ resilience during crises," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    4. Dean A. Shepherd & Joakim Wincent & Sarah R. Chase, 2025. "What If We Are the WEIRD Ones? A Call (and Roadmap) for More Non-WEIRD Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 49(5), pages 1223-1260, 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. Sutter, Christopher & Bruton, Garry D. & Chen, Juanyi, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as a solution to extreme poverty: A review and future research directions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 197-214.
    2. Henda Omri & Anis Omri & Abdessalem Abbassi, 2025. "Governance-driven entrepreneurship activities for multidimensional human well-being: quality of life and standard of living," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 15(4), pages 1167-1218, December.
    3. Walid A. Nakara & Karim Messeghem & Andry Ramaroson, 2021. "Innovation and entrepreneurship in a context of poverty: a multilevel approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1601-1617, April.
    4. Henda Omri & Anis Omri & Abdessalem Abbassi, 2025. "Entrepreneurship and Human Well-Being: A Study of Standard of Living and Quality of Life in Developing Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 313-344, March.
    5. Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Micro-entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 625-645.
    6. Mojca Svetek & Mateja Drnovsek, 2022. "Exploring the Effects of Types of Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 149-170, January.
    7. Peter Zwan & Roy Thurik & Ingrid Verheul & Jolanda Hessels, 2016. "Erratum to: Factors influencing the entrepreneurial engagement of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(3), pages 297-297, December.
    8. Walid A Nakara & Karim Messeghem & Andry Ramaroson, 2019. "L’innovation produit et service dans un contexte de pauvreté : une analyse multiniveau," Post-Print hal-02519418, HAL.
    9. Estrin, Saul & Guerrero, Maribel & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2024. "A framework for investigating new firm entry: The (limited) overlap between informal-formal and necessity-opportunity entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4).
    10. Marco Caliendo & Alexander S. Kritikos & Claudia Stier, 2023. "The influence of start-up motivation on entrepreneurial performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 869-889, October.
    11. Mirko Hirschmann & Christian Fisch & Steffen Farny, 2025. "An attention-based perspective on how climate impact affects opportunity entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 2217-2257, December.
    12. Isabel Martínez-Rodríguez & Consolación Quintana-Rojo & Pedro Gento & Fernando-Evaristo Callejas-Albiñana, 2022. "Public policy recommendations for promoting female entrepreneurship in Europe," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 1235-1262, September.
    13. David Urbano & Sebastian Aparicio & Victor Querol, 2016. "Social progress orientation and innovative entrepreneurship: an international analysis," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1033-1066, December.
    14. André Stel & Ana Millán & José María Millán & Concepción Román, 2018. "The relationship between start-up motive and earnings over the course of the entrepreneur’s business tenure," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 101-123, January.
    15. Natalie A. Carlson, 2023. "Differentiation in microenterprises," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 1141-1167, May.
    16. Christiana Weber & Anja Fasse & Helen M. Haugh & Ulrike Grote, 2023. "Varieties of Necessity Entrepreneurship – New Insights From Sub Saharan Africa," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(5), pages 1843-1876, September.
    17. Marie-Noëlle Albert & Marie-Michèle Couture, 2013. "The Support to an Entrepreneur," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(2), pages 21582440134, June.
    18. Fang, Hanqing & Chrisman, James J. & Memili, Esra & Wang, Minglin, 2020. "Foreign venture presence and domestic entrepreneurship: A macro level study," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    19. Amorós, José Ernesto & Cristi, Oscar & Naudé, Wim, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Does the motivation to start-up a firm matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 389-398.
    20. Kimmitt, Jonathan & Muñoz, Pablo & Newbery, Robert, 2020. "Poverty and the varieties of entrepreneurship in the pursuit of prosperity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).

    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:sae:entthe:v:45:y:2021:i:2:p:350-385. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.