- Title
- A framework for understanding the role of culture and the transmission of women entrepreneurship promotion in South Africa
- Creator
- Karasi, Yvonne https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8822-281X
- Subject
- Women in economic development -- South Africa
- Subject
- Businesswomen -- South Africa
- Subject
- Women-owned business enterprises -- South Africa
- Date
- 2023-06
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/28569
- Identifier
- vital:74421
- Description
- Developing countries are increasingly recognising the need for promoting women entrepreneurship. Within Africa, women’s contribution tends to be ignored. Thus, gender discrimination, the lack of finance, limited education, limited technical skills, role conflicts, and culture are among the most cited barriers for women entrepreneurship. Recent literature challenges the notion that all aforementioned factors are barriers to entrepreneurial action. To contribute to knowledge, this study sensitises the culture element. Accordingly, there is a growing body of knowledge that is viewing culture as an enabler (and not a barrier) of women entrepreneurship. Two factors are at the core of this argument: (1) culture, as it is understood, in the contemporary literature is not appropriately conceptualised from an African perspective. (2) The definition of entrepreneurship as it relates to the developing countries is restrictive. These definitions ignore various economic activities undertaken mostly by women, which if carefully considered are indeed entrepreneurship. Therefore, it was appropriate for this thesis to explore the issues of both culture and entrepreneurship within the existing body of literature with the intention of gaining a knowledge of the dynamics of women's entrepreneurship in Africa. The scant research that has been done on the entrepreneurial dynamics of women and, in particular, how culture influences the latter, was recognized as a lacuna in the existing body of literature. Consequently, this study considered cultural determinants of entrepreneurship as well as the transmission of entrepreneurship across generations. The thesis was undertaken using a qualitative methodology. Using snowballing sampling technique, female entrepreneurs from 3 provinces (i.e., Gauteng, Limpopo, and Eastern Cape) in South Africa participated in the study. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed, among others, that there is a misconception on what constitutes “true African culture.” Thus, results suggest that the conceptualisation of culture in the African context, contrasts the conceptualisation in previous (non-African) literature. Furthermore, some elements of culture are indeed barriers. Interestingly, personal factors such as characteristics of women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial intentions have also contributed to the barriers to women entrepreneurship. Finally, the study proposes a framework for leveraging culture to be an entrepreneurial enabler for women entrepreneurship.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2023
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (xvii, 249 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Management and Commerce
- Language
- English
- Rights
- rights holder
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
UFH Department of Business Management
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Karasi 201928033.Business Management.pdf | 84 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |