Drawing on a systematic review of the key literature, this study develops a conceptual framework for studying the influence of gender on environmental entrepreneurship in women led SMEs from developed and developing countries. Among the grand societal challenges, climate change, air-water pollution and insufficient energy are seen as major problems all over the world. Regarding to these environmental problems, movements towards environmental entrepreneurship have increased rapidly (Harini and Meenakshi,2012). Therefore, for many SMEs especially in developed countries green entrepreneurship is a competitive advantage because it does not only help exploit existing markets more effectively, but it also allows to explore new markets. Moreover, the action of SMEs towards environmental issues might help solve global environmental problems by contributing the society as a whole and balancing the economic and environmental goals within business activities. This supports some of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, such as decent work and economic growth and responsible consumption and production for better and more sustainable future. In this vein, contributing to solving environmental problems and creating economic value in terms of environmental entrepreneurship lead to sustainable entrepreneurship where societal and environmental problems are solved and aligned with business activities. Therefore, costumers are likely to reward companies which are socially and environmentally responsible. Environmental entrepreneurship is conducive to companies and the society which forces companies to make more commitments in terms of environmental entrepreneurship (Sumathi et al.,2014). Environmental entrepreneurship in SMEs has become a popular topic for researchers and public policy managers, specifically in terms of managing sustainable development goals. Although there have been many studies on environmental entrepreneurship and sustainable entrepreneurship domain specifically in developed countries (Outsios and Semaab,2017), according to Braun (2010) little is known about the relationship between gender and environmental entrepreneurship especially its relations to sustainable development goals in both developed and developing economies (Kyro,2015). Moreover, recent studies related to gender and environmentalism indicate that women are found more concerned in terms of environmental issues rather than men (Zeleyn et al.,2000, Davidson and Freudenburg(1996). Therefore, the influence of gender on environmental entrepreneurship is a crucial and inevitable topic to interrogate. Hence, this study aims to critically review the relationship between gender and environmental entrepreneurship as a starting point to examining how female entrepreneurs engage in environmental entrepreneurship in developed and developing countries.
Topic-Aims- Applicability to Conference
This study is applicable to The Gender and Enterprise track at ISBE. This track seeks to facilitate greater understanding of the ways in which gender affects the entrepreneurship experiences of men and women and the conference will show the requirement for a new type of innovative and dynamic entrepreneurial leadership, this paper is applicable to conference theme. In particular, it will increase the understanding of the relationship between gender and environmental entrepreneurship by strengthening the importance of the commitment to environmental entrepreneurship and its contribution to managing sustainable development goals which is possible with new innovative ways in business activities.
Previous studies reveal that whereas the portion of men to women is higher in commercial entrepreneurship, the portion of women to men is higher in environmental entrepreneurship (Horisch et al.,2017). According to Zeleyn et al. (2000) it is because women are more expressive, compassionate, interdependent and have strong ethic of care while men are more independent and competitive which affect their business activities. This might also explain why it is found globally, women favour social goals over economic goals while male entrepreneurs focus on bottom-line outcomes and competitive advantage, seeing their goals as an opportunity for leaner business practices and operational savings. Yet, to achieve sustainable development, entrepreneurs should not focus only one side of their businesses like in traditional entrepreneurship where the only profit is to make money. To manage sustainable development goals in environmental entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs should put the social, economic and environmental goals on an equal footing in their business activities (Hoogendoorn et al.,2015).
Since women have been reported to be more engaged with environmental and social issues so far (Zeleyn et al.,2000), it puts female entrepreneurs in the centre of sustainable development which is linked to the protection of ecological systems and resources as the basis of life for current and future generations. Therefore, when the significance of environmental entrepreneurship and its relation to sustainable development goals are considered, there may be a trend that women will be a driving force of environmental entrepreneurship growth which will pave the way for sustainable entrepreneurship and economic growth. However, there are still some factors that inhibit women from being entrepreneurs, such as a lack of finance, gender inequalities, religion concept, limited training, the issue of legitimation and access to professional networks (De Vita et all.,2014). These barriers for female entrepreneurs vary across countries. For instance, the influence of religion can be seen as an inhibitor for female entrepreneurs in East Asia and Pacific Region, while the need for professional training and the role of networking are hinders for female entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The solutions to that inhabitations should be examined to bring new perspectives to the difficulties female entrepreneurs face in terms of environmental entrepreneurship. Therefore, the study aims to discover how female entrepreneurs overcome the inhibitors in their way to doing business in developed countries to develop a comprehensive strategy to help female entrepreneurs in developing countries in the area of environmental entrepreneurship by asking two research questions: (1) How can the relationship between gender and environmental entrepreneurship be theorised? (2) How do female entrepreneurs engage environmental entrepreneurship in SMEs in developed and developing countries?
Methodology
Since entrepreneurship is multi-disciplinary in nature, there is a need for methods which provide knowledge to be synthesised in a systematic way. Systematic literature reviews differ from traditional narrative reviews because they are more objective, more focused and more accessible. Moreover, there are various articles on Environmental Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and the Female Entrepreneurship separately (Yadav and Unni,2016; Johanna et al.,2017). However, there are few studies about the influence of gender on environmental entrepreneurship and its relation to sustainable development goals. Since the intersection of gender and environmental entrepreneurship is undertheorized, a systematic literature review (SLR) helps identify the gaps in our knowledge of new phenomena and can inform future empirical research. Systematic Literature review will aid to develop robust theoretical constructs by synthesising the existing literature. Also, it will provide an opportunity to use a range of citation databases from different disciplines. In this vein, it will reduce the chance of partial reviews based on only one subject. Therefore, SLR is essential to the gender and environmental entrepreneurship topic.
Contribution
This study provides two contributions to the literature on gender and environmental entrepreneurship. Firstly, it provides the first systematic literature review on gender and environmental entrepreneurship topic which will be relatively useful for scholars. In recent female entrepreneurship and environmental entrepreneurship studies, scholars mostly focused on SMEs from developed countries specifically from the USA, however this study will be cross country study where England and Turkey will be compared within the influence of gender on environmental entrepreneurship which will guide policy makers, researchers and entrepreneurs who are interested in environmental issues. Thus, this study theorises the intersection of gender and environmental entrepreneurship which will be a significant progress in entrepreneurship domain for scholars. Secondly, the study identifies the themes with empirical analysis for the understanding of female entrepreneurs’ engagement with environmental entrepreneurship in Turkey and England. I will interview environmentally friendly female entrepreneurs in SMEs in Turkey and England. Moreover, I will provide a critical reflection on qualitative and quantitative perspective for future research in the area of gender and environmental entrepreneurship which is crucial for scholars in entrepreneurship domain.
REFERENCES
Braun, P. (2010) ‘International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship’. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2(3), pp. 245–259.
Davidson, D. and Freudenburg, W. (1996), “Gender and environmental risk concerns: a review and analysis of available research”, Environment & Behavior, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 302-39.
De Vita, L., Mari, M., & Poggesi, S. (2014). Women entrepreneurs in and from developing countries: Evidences from the literature. European Management Journal. 32(3): 451-460.
Harini, V. and Meenakshi, D. (2012) ‘Green Entrepreneurship Alternative (Business) Solution to Save Environment’, Asia Pacific Journal of Management & Entrepreneurship Research. Bangalore: Lebanon International Foundation, 1(3), pp. 79–89.
Hoogendoorn, B., Guerra, D. and Zwan, P. (2015) ‘What drives environmental practices of SMEs?’, Small Business Economics. New York: Springer US, 44(4), pp. 759–781. doi: 10.1007/s11187-014-9618-9.
Kyrö, P. (2015). Handbook of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development Research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Outsios, G. and Farooqi, S. A. (2017) ‘Gender in Management: An International Journal’. Emerald Publishing Limited, 32(3), pp. 183–202. doi: 10.1108/GM-12-2015-0111.
Sumathi, K., Anuradha, T. and Akash, S. (2014) ‘Green Business as a Sustainable Career for Women Entrepreneurs in Indian Opinion Survey’, Advances in Management. Indore: Advances in Management, 7(5), pp. 46–51.
Zelezny, E., Chua, P. and Aldrich, C. (2000), “Elaborating on gender differences in
environmentalism”, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 443-57.
Yadav, V. and Unni, J. (2016) ‘Women entrepreneurship: research review and future directions’, Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 6(1), pp. 1–18.
Aim
Building on a sociological perspective of embedded social actors and by asking what impacts entrepreneurs’ behaviour and reflexivity in their engagement of entrepreneurial activities? This research aims to utilize our understanding of place and embeddedness to explore how distinctive LEs, TEs, and REs behaviour are towards economic activities.
Embeddedness
Granovetter (1985)theory of embeddedness explains institutional forces and the role they play on surrounding actors indicating that the choices available to actors are constrained by the institutions they are embedded leading to a threat of sanction or lead to an opportunity and privilege.
Entrepreneurship research has shown the importance of embeddedness for entrepreneurs and their businesses (Thornton, 1999). Different studies focused on different aspects of embeddedness, as there are different ‘levels of embeddedness’ or ‘mixed embeddedness’ in which economic activities and actions takes place (Welter & Smallbone, 2010): Political embeddedness indicates the regulation and boundaries for economic actions (Zukin & DiMaggio, 1990), such as gender-specific formal institution include ensuring equal opportunities for women and men (Welter & Smallbone, 2010). Cultural embeddedness refers to the collective understanding of the society influencing economic behaviour (Denzau & North, 1994)such as cultural norms and traditions. Anderson (2000)argues the relevance of the social, cultural and political impact on women entrepreneurship. Social embeddedness reflects interpersonal relations and networks (Burt, 2004; Granovetter, 2005; Polanyi, 2001), such as family resources for enabling starting and developing a business (Liao & Welsch, 2005). Therefore, social network enable the identification and recognition of opportunities (Jack & Anderson, 2002). Cognitive embeddedness highlights the ways in which structured mentalities hinds the exercise of economic reasoning and behaviour (Zukin & DiMaggio, 1990, pp. 15-16), such as the type of information institutions provide on particular actions and behaviours influencing the way individuals perceive and process these information (Dequech, 2003). Spatial embeddedness looks at regional institutional infrastructure (Welter & Trettin, 2006)where location play a role in allowing the entrepreneur to acquire resources and information (R. C. Kloosterman, 2010)or routinize and constrain business expansion and access to resources and information (Jack & Anderson, 2002; Uzzi, 1997)such as rural entrepreneurs where their entrepreneurial activities are based on the immediate interaction with the rural context setting (Müller & Korsgaard, 2018). With this in mind, spatial embeddedness encompasses other forms of embeddedness such as social (Welter & Trettin, 2006)institutional (Welter & Smallbone, 2010)and cultural (Spigel, 2013). Family embeddedness perspective where family affect entrepreneurial opportunities and practices (Aldrich & Cliff, 2003). Welter, Brush, and De Bruin (2014)offer gender-aware framework to explicitly address the social embeddedness of women entrepreneurs and the influence it has on their entrepreneurial actions.
A number of studies have examined the spatial context of entrepreneurship by considering entrepreneurs’ geographical location. The argument stresses on the embeddedness of local, transnational, and returnee entrepreneurs. Local entrepreneurs (LEs) are defined as individuals who are embedded in one context and within one national boarder, where, Transnational Entrepreneurs (TEs) are defined as actors who are embedded in at least two contexts and become socially embedded in the contexts they travel to; and Returnee Entrepreneurs (REs) are defined as individuals who return home after living aboard for a period of time whether for work, education or business (Drori et al., 2009: 1005).
The spatial context of LEs differs from TEs as well as REs. It has been argued that LEs tend to be embedded in a single social structure. Jacks and Anderson (2000)argue that LEs embeddedness is a mechanism where the entrepreneur is part of a local structure, and their businesses are managed and created as a result of entrepreneurs’ embeddedness in a local setting. Their business relates to local opportunities that fits particular market. LEs share the same institutional and cultural characteristics as other individuals, which affect their pursuit of entrepreneurship (Michelacci & Silva, 2007).
In contract, TEs exposed and due to their exposure and mixed embeddedness of diverse cultures, policies, and traditions, they are able to adapt to new ways of doing things. According to Drori et al., (2009) TEs are capable of overcoming constraints that exist in their two localities, as such, they are alert in the sense that they employ appropriate coping strategies with respect to different social structures. Therefore, it is possible to argue that TEs actions are not fixed to one code or system but adapted with respect to the context within which they operate.
As mentioned earlier, REs are individuals “who return home after a period in education or business in another country” (Drori et al., 2009: 1005). REs brings back with them new ideas, experiences, and skills that give their venture competitive advantages. REs’ exposure to a new context allows them to achieve things that LEs cannot achieve, especially when returning from developed to developing/emerging economies filling new unrecognizable opportunities in the home country (Filatotchev et al., 2009).
Building upon this, it is possible to argue that the spatial context provides opportunities as well as constraints for entrepreneurs (Welter, 2011), which indicate differences in institutional context (Zahra, et al., 2014). For instance, issues of gender (see Blackburn & Ram, 2006; Marlow & Patton, 2005); entrepreneurs’ passion and motives to pursue entrepreneurship (Cardon et al., 2012); as well as entrepreneurial perception (Kor et al., 2007) areinfluenced by the context within which women entrepreneurs are embedded. This study argues that considering the spatial contextclarifies the connection between the spatial embeddedness of LEs, TEs, REs and their entrepreneurial reflexivity.
Entrepreneurship requires close-up analysis where qualitative approach is considered crucial and useful (Davidsson, 2004). By employing a qualitative approach, the study pays a close attention to the institutional (e.g. institutional norms) spatial (e.g. location, geographical environment) and individual (e.g. social, cultural) factors (Terjesen & Elam, 2009). By conducting semi-structured interviews, entrepreneurs tend to be interested to tell the story of becoming entrepreneurs where the storytelling aspect reveals how entrepreneurs negotiate social construction of their businesses and entrepreneurial activities. Therefore, this study used participant narratives to allow for the exploration of how individual view their surrounding environments (Boje, 1991).
In order to understand entrepreneurial behaviour, this study considered the accounts’ participants give to the context within which they operate including entrepreneurial reflexivity. By reflexivity we mean the process in which individuals express their perception of their choices and behavior in relation to their social and cultural environment (Archer, 2007). By doing so, the study examines entrepreneurial behaviour through inner reflexive deliberation of particular behaviourswith respect to LEs, TEs, and REs and their similarity and difference within the process of reflexivity.
In order to understand entrepreneurial behaviour, this study considered the accounts’ participants give to the context within which they operate including entrepreneurial reflexivity. By reflexivity we mean the process in which individuals express their perception of their choices and behavior in relation to their social and cultural environment (Archer, 2007). By doing so, the study examines entrepreneurial behaviour through inner reflexive deliberation of particular behaviourswith respect to LEs, TEs, and REs and their similarity and difference within the process of reflexivity.
Considering the spatial context in entrepreneurship aids reflection on how entrepreneurs give reasons to their behaviour of entrepreneurial activities.This paper found that the spatial context of women entrepreneurship influences entrepreneurial reflexivity. I found that since local entrepreneurs experienced a single embeddedness in the context within which they operate, their behaviour tend to be context-centered. When it comes to transnational entrepreneurs in particular, they experienced disembeddedness from the home context due to spatial experience in multiple contexts, which made their behavior autonomous- centered. Finally, returnee entrepreneurs became reembedded and their behaviour tend to adaptive or adapted-centered. With this in mind, we argue that entrepreneurial reflexivity of LEs (context-dependent centered) are in contrast with TEs (autonomous preferences) and different from REs (adaptive preferences) due to being embedded in single contexts.
Based on the figure (1), our central contribution is to begin to reconceptualise entrepreneurship as socio-spatial embedded phenomenon. Informed by the location and mobility of the entrepreneur, LEs stress on and conform to the social habitus of normalized behaviour, while TEs are oriented toward the capacity to exhibit new habitus and behaviour, and REs are forced to adaptation and adjustment of behaviour to normalized habits (within the contingencies of the returning context). Such perspective lays the basis for a richer and more dynamic understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour where individuals immediate interaction is embedded in the context within which they operate and where actions, practices and activities unfolds. We refer to this perspective as socio-spatial-relational context parameter where it means that a behaviour that are seen as legitimate and make sense in one field can be seen as illegitimate in another field. For instance, NB choice to avoid going to male dominated area in the home context because she’s a women, might not be as pronounced to women in another context as the case of NA. Therefore, entrepreneurs are individuals who are able to navigate rules and norm with respect to the context within which they are embedded, disembedded or reembedded, which signal internalized knowledge of the field and location in a single or across multiple fields. Nonetheless, these women share in common a particular “national gender culture”(Elam, 2006)that is pronounced in their natal context.
Building upon this, this study emphasizes on the institutional context in providing a unique practical implication for entrepreneurial behaviour of women. Embeddedness is put forward to inspire theory building and enhance studies of women entrepreneurship. With that in mind, policy-maker might benefit from the results of this study in acknowledging the impact of micro-level embeddedness on the entrepreneurial behaviour of women entrepreneurs, therefore, the impact it has on their economic activities. It alert policy-maker of enhancing national gender culture in ways that better support women entrepreneurs in their natal context.