IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/erjour/v14y2024i4p1857-1886n1015.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender Differences in the use of Social Capital for Entrepreneurial Activity Within Contexts of Poverty

Author

Listed:
  • Proaño Sánchez Fernando X.

    (University of Guayaquil, Administrative Sciences School, Av. Delta, 090510, Guayaquil, Ecuador)

  • Bojica Ana M.

    (University of Granada, Business and Economics School, Department of Management, II Campus de la Cartuja s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain)

Abstract

Previous research has pointed to differences in the use of social capital between male and female entrepreneurs that may explain, in part, the different outcomes they obtain. Adopting a gender perspective, this study analyses whether these differences depend on the contextual configurations in which their businesses operate, specifically the degree of hostility of the context and their household structure. Thirty male and female entrepreneurs who set up their businesses in poor neighbourhoods in and around the city of Guayaquil (Ecuador) were interviewed. Data was analysed using content analysis and comparative qualitative fuzzy set analysis. The results show that women rely on bridging and bonding social capital for favourable entrepreneurial outcomes, while men rely mainly on bonding social capital, with the structure of the household being one of the influences that condition whether or not they go outside their immediate environment to mobilise resources. This work contributes to a better understanding of how the relational behaviour of male and female entrepreneurs is conditioned by gender and context. These results differ from those obtained in previous research focusing more on developed countries and suggest that gender differences in social capital are at least partly explained by the contextual configurations in which entrepreneurs find themselves, and especially by the needs and agency space available to them, rather than by the faithful reproduction of gender roles and the behavioural patterns derived from them.

Suggested Citation

  • Proaño Sánchez Fernando X. & Bojica Ana M., 2024. "Gender Differences in the use of Social Capital for Entrepreneurial Activity Within Contexts of Poverty," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 14(4), pages 1857-1886.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:erjour:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:1857-1886:n:1015
    DOI: 10.1515/erj-2023-0124
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2023-0124
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/erj-2023-0124?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    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:bpj:erjour:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:1857-1886:n:1015. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.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.