Women and Entrepreneurship: An Analysis of the Determinants in the Tourism Sector

Women and Entrepreneurship: An Analysis of the Determinants in the Tourism Sector

Ruben Lado-Sestayo, Milagros Vivel-Bua
Copyright: © 2018 |Pages: 12
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-2936-1.ch009
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Abstract

This chapter studies the determinants of women in entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry using a sample of individuals participating in the GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Global) project. This is important because of the obvious difference between the rates of male and female entrepreneurship. Specifically, this research arises in the hospitality sector because of its importance in the Spanish economy which can generate relevant results for other economies with an important tourism sector. By means of logistic regression models for entrepreneurs – female and male – this chapter considers demographics, economic variables, social and intellectual capital and perception variables, allowing a comparative analysis of the results. This holistic approach contributes to identifying the determinants that influence the propensity to entrepreneur in men and women and their differences. The findings point the relevant factors to policymakers in order to promote female entrepreneurial intention and consequently favors equal opportunities.
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Background

Recent studies argue that differences in entrepreneurship rates between men and women can be related to differences in attitudinal characteristics after considering other factors (Wagner, 2007). From an opposite perspective, previous studies found that the determinants of entrepreneurship do not differ between men and women (Langowitz & Minniti, 2005). This controversy could be explained by considering external aspects. In this sense, previous studies highlight the need for the comparative study of entrepreneurship between men and women considering the same environment and sociocultural factors because it can affect entrepreneurship (Minniti & Nardone, 2007). Therefore, the study of differences in the determinants of female entrepreneurship in the same sector and country could contribute to deep in the existence of differences in gender determinants. Thus, differences could be due to sectoral issues, and therefore the study of the determinants of entrepreneurship in a specific sector involves interest to literature and to the policy-desing process.

Focusing on the tourism sector, there are studies which analyze the determinants of entrepreneurship (Ateljevic & Page, 2009; Ramos-Rodriguez et al, 2012). These researches consider the tourism sector including accommodation or restoration activities. However, there are specific barriers to the hotel firms that do not affect with the same intensity to the restaurant firms, and consequently, the drivers and barriers of hotel entrepreneurship can differ from other tourism activities (Lado-Sestayo et al., 2016).

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