Thriving in uncertainty: comparative performance of women-owned and men-owned micro-enterprises in dynamic economic environments

This study explores the performance of women-owned and men-owned firms in relation to business uncertainty. While most previous research suggests that men-owned firms outperform women-owned firms in terms of output measures, this study focuses on the level of uncertainty in the business environment. We analyse a panel dataset of micro-enterprises in Croatia, Slovenia, and Slovakia from 2010 to 2019, employing pooled ordinary least squares method with fixed effects to estimate the model. The study suggests that female-owned micro-enterprises may outperform their male-owned counterparts in economically uncertain environments. This advantage holds not only when comparing countries with varying levels of economic uncertainty but also during periods of heightened uncertainty within each country. These findings contribute to understanding gender-based performance differences and highlight the potential for women-owned firms to excel in uncertain business environments.