Exploring Cultural Factors Impacting Female Digital Entrepreneurs in Underdeveloped Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Introduction

The field of entrepreneurship has been a popular topic in modern literature. The advantage of doing what interests you and establishing a business by putting your skills and capabilities to the best of its use has attracted many to pursue entrepreneurship as a career. In conjunction with entrepreneurship, adopting and implementing global strategies is a key factor in conducting cross border trade and businesses. The convenience that information age provides, has created a new economy and therefore given rise to “digital entrepreneurship” amongst all genders. This concept further explains the growth of an economy in relation to modern business processes and digitalization.

An entrepreneur is a person who has the willingness and capacity of developing, organizing, and managing a business. Entrepreneurship, specifically that incorporates innovation, is a vital component in fostering the growth of an economy (Fang and Collier, 2016). However, based on the following factors: political, technological, human resources and natural resources, it has been recognized that entrepreneurial activities differ in different economies.

The European and Asian regions are two such economies that have been identified, that differ from each other based on these factors. While it is noted that these factors may cause interruption with entrepreneurial activities, they will further result in obstruction of operating businesses across borders. A comparative study of these economies provides us with a comprehensive understanding of the impact on their respective economies and ultimately its results on conducting cross border trade and businesses. Research shows that the effect of the economies’ socio-cultural dynamics and governmental support has had a great impact on the activities for conducting businesses within and outside, for its population. The difference in operations with regards to their human resources in the case of entrepreneurship has been observed closely in both the European and Asian economies (Kamberidou, 2020).

This chapter explains the socio-cultural aspect that has led to comparison of the entrepreneurial intention and activity in a digital environment, particularly with regards to women of the Asian region i.e., the underdeveloped region, with that of the European region i.e., the developed region. Majority of the females in underdeveloped countries undergo cultural and societal pressures along with the unsupportive economic environment, limiting them from progressing in conducting businesses.

Though the digital age has come about opening doors to many opportunities, the required infrastructure has not been adopted or established by many of the Asian countries, as opposed to European countries. Hence, digital activities have been severely constrained (Nambisan, 2017). This chapter explores the cultural factor from a view of the famous Dutch psychologist Greet Hofstede’s cultural dimension. In particular, individualism and collectivism, with briefly incorporating the element of gender disparity to support the concept of having a wider perspective in conducting businesses globally.

Further to that the difference in literacy rates amongst women in the two societies, proves that education contributes greatly towards success of women being able to progress in different fields in developed countries as opposed to underdeveloped countries (Islami, 2019). Therefore, another challenge in conduction of cross border trade is little or no implementation of global strategies and policies in conducting business, the lack of technological know-how and ignorance of the issues the lack of knowledge can bring about. Though the digital age has come across many negative psychological and behavioural outcomes. The feeling of exclusion on digital platforms, a phenomenon known as cyberostracism, has shown a drastic decline in the well-being of people who are unable to handle this issue (Schneider et al., 2017). Therefore, our research question is: How do cultural factors impact female digital entrepreneurs in underdeveloped countries and the possible effects of cyberostracism on them?

It is firstly imperative to identify the existing gap between desired activities of female digital entrepreneurs and the socio-economic condition. Secondly, the possibilities of these females facing cyberostracism, a potential issue due to lack of ICT and STEM education and finally the impact on the country’s economy to thrive and sustainably perform.