Understanding nascent women entrepreneurs: an exploratory investigation into their entrepreneurial intentions

Purpose: Women entrepreneurs are having increasingly profound impacts on the global economic landscape, although little is known about what supports or restricts women’s entrepreneurial attempts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptual (i.e. presence of role models and fear of failure) and cognitive (i.e. opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial knowledge) mechanisms that influence a women’s choice of an entrepreneurial career. Design/methodology/approach: A transnational sample of 9,716 women participating in global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) survey was examined using logistical regression analysis. Findings: The results indicate that role models, opportunity discovery and entrepreneurial knowledge have a significant and positive influence on female respondents’ entrepreneurial intentions. Interestingly, fear of failure is not related to their entrepreneurial intention, which challenges the prevailing assumption that the worries about new venture outcomes are the primary suppressor of women’s entrepreneurship. Originality/value: This study sheds new light on the intention of becoming women entrepreneurs, which has multiple implications for originality/value. This study sheds new light on the intention of becoming women entrepreneurs, which has many implications for policymakers. Moreover, theoretical contributions and directions for future research are discussed.