Examining the influence of social capital on rural women entrepreneurship. An empirical study in Iran
| Pages | 209-227 |
| Date | 08 July 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-10-2013-0054 |
| Published date | 08 July 2014 |
| Author | Leila Nasrolahi Vosta,Mohammad Reza Jalilvand |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Business ethics,Sustainability |
Examining the influence
of social capital on
rural women entrepreneurship
An empirical study in Iran
Leila Nasrolahi Vosta
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, and
Mohammad Reza Jalilvand
Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
and Institute for Planning and Economic Research, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the empirical assessment of the influence of social
capital on women entrepreneurship in rural regions in Iran.
Design/methodology/approach – The study involves a questionnai re-based survey of entrepreneurial
women from a number of rural regions in the Iran. A total of 265 usable questionnaires were received from
rural women who were engaged in entrepreneurial activities from five rural regions. These were subjected
to a series of correlational and regression analyses. The measures of the independent (the components of
social capital) and dependent (the psychologicaltraits of entrepreneurs) variables are based on literature.
Findings – The results reveal that social capital has a positive and significant influence on rural
women entrepreneurship. With strong statistical significance, three social capital factors – str uctural,
relational,and cognitive – providean explanation for variations in psychological traits ofentrepreneurs
including achievement, innovation, personal control, self-esteem, opportunism, autonomy/independence,
and risk/uncertainty.
Originality/value – Although the literature has long pointed out the importance of social capital as
a determinant of entrepreneurship activity, entrepreneurship researchers have not focussed on the
influence of each dimension of social capital on psychological traits of entrepreneurs. Thus, this study
makes a contribution toward filling this gap.
Keywords Social capital, Iran, Women entrepreneurship, Psychological traits, Rural region
Paper type Research p aper
1. Introduction
Entrepreneurship can be seen as a phenomeno n that stems from and is nourished by
different sociocultural environments and contexts. Both entrepreneurship practitioners
and policymakers have shown a growing interest in the contextual factors in which
entrepreneurial activities take place (Thornton et al., 2011). Commun ities need to
a suitable context to sustain entrepreneurial activities within the community and
a social system frameworkin understanding the process of entrepreneurship (Lina et al.,
2006). Social capital has been considered as a major wedge to mobilize environmental
resources to overcome obstacles and threats during the entrepreneurial process
(Davidsson and Honig, 2003). The underlying basis of the theory of social capital rests
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
Received 23 October 2013
Revised 6 February 2014
Accepted 26 February 2014
World Journal of Entrepreneurship,
Management and Sustainable
Development
Vol.10 No. 3, 2014
pp. 209-227
rEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/W JEMSD-10-2013- 0054
Previous version of this paper was presented at the First International and Third National
Student Conference on Entrepreneurship in University of Tehran,Iran (2014). The authors wish
to express sincere thanks to the anonymous referee and the WJEMSD editors for their helpful
and insightful suggestions regarding an earlier version of the paper.
209
Influence of
social capital on
rural women
entrepreneurship
on the idea that social networks constitute a fundamental resource for doing business
(Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). Despite the theoretical interest in the relationship
between social capital and entrepreneurial activities, few contri butions have explicitly
discussed the link between social capital and entrepreneurship (Kim and Aldrich, 2005;
Ruef, 2010). Social capital is often divided into three separate dimensions including
structural, relational, and cognitive (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). Moreover, it could
be expected that entrepreneurs often possess certain distinct psychological traits including
achievement, innovation, personal control, self-esteem, opportunism, autonomy/
independence, and risk/uncertainty which define their behaviors/actions (Lumpkin and
Dess, 1996; Shanthakumar, 1992; Duchesneau and Gartner, 1990; Solomon and Winslow,
1988; Sexton and Bowman, 1986; McClelland, 1961). These traits are also formed values/
beliefs held and play an important role in driving entrepreneurial decision making (Lina
et al., 2006). Thus, psychological traits may affect the intentions and the manner in which
the individual acts. We hold that if social capital dimensions can influence these critical
psychological traits of entrepreneur. Additionally, most of the studies on entrepreneurship
are focussed on actions that belong to men-gendered area. Only a small number of studies
look closely at the women entrepreneurs and their typical actions. Initiating a business and
maintaining it require extra effort for women trying to succeed in male-dominated work
environments. Consequently, womenwill ne ed to acquire more assets through their social
networks and connections. The studies on the issue emphasize the fact that women tend to
make greater use of their social networks as a source of social capital (Aldrich, 1999;
Greve and Salaff, 2003). Furthermore, studies point to the lack of entrepreneurship studies
in rural regions, but also observe that such regions tend to be rich in social capital
(Ring et al., 2010). Territorial assets in the form of social capital may be mobilized as
regional drivers for entrepreneurial purposes by helping entrepreneurs to overcome the
constraints of limited resources (Bauernschuster et al., 2010). Yet little attention has been
paid to the relationship between social capital and women entrepreneurship in rural
regions, with only a few exceptions (e.g. Stathopoulou et al., 2004; Poon et al., 2012;
Aramand, 2013). Rural regions suffer from two main geographical disadvantages. First,
spatial isolation increases the difficulty of delivering transportation infrastructure
efficiently. Second, the lack of transportation infrastructure in turn reduces access to urban
centers and markets (Poon et al., 2012). Despite their unfavorable location, social capital of
rural regions may be potentially tapped for regional development through entrepreneurial
pursuits. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framewo rk denoting the
causal effects of social capital dimensions on fostering or hindering psychological traits of
entrepreneur women in rural regions in Iran. This study contributes to the growing body
of knowledge and understanding on women entrepreneurship and the role of social capital
on entrepreneurial motivation. To the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of analysis on
the influence of each dimension of social capital (structural, relational, and cognitive) on
various psychological traits of entrepreneur women (achievement, innovation, personal
control, self-esteem, opportunism, autonomy/independence, and risk/uncertainty) i n rural
regions. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 develops the theoretical model.
In Section 3, we describe the methodology, while the empirical findings are examined in
Section 4. Finally, Section 5 concludes.
2. Theory
2.1 Women entrepreneurship and rurality
The emergence of women entrepreneur in a society depends to a great extent on
the economical, social, religious, cultural, and psychological factor prevailing in the
210
WJEMSD
10,3
To continue reading
Request your trial