South african female entrepreneurs’ motivational factors: Differences between young and established businesses owners

Natanya Meyer, Niël Krüger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has been pointed out as a contributing factor leading to increased job creation, sustained economic development and, ultimately, economic growth. However, many young businesses strug-gle to survive the first three years, subsequently jeopardising the full potential they may have in terms of contributing to the economy. The literature suggests that motivational factors may play a contributing role in business sustainability and that the reason people decide to start or remain in business might play a part in the survival of a busi-ness. The purpose of this study was to determine which motivational factors female entrepreneurs deem most important and whether these factors differ between young and more established entrepreneurs in the South African context. The study made use of primary data ob-tained through self-administered questionnaires. A convenience sam-pling technique was used, resulting in a final sample of 515 female owners of small to medium-sized business in South Africa. Various statistical techniques were employed to analyse the data including internal-consistency reliability, descriptive statistics, factor analysis and an independent sample t-test. Results indicated that one’s con-tribution to others and independence as motivational factors yielded the highest means, followed by self-fulfilment and having high status in the community. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference between entrepreneurs with less than three years of experience and those with more than three years of experience was only observed for motivation derived from self-fulfilment. In more established business-es, the entrepreneurs had greater motivation to focus on self-fulfilment aspects. The study showed that South African female entrepreneurs could be considered more socially motivated and less profit-driven, which is also supported by the literature to an extent.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-90
Number of pages16
JournalForum Scientiae Oeconomia
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Business sustainability
  • Female entrepreneurs
  • Motivation
  • Small and medium enterprises
  • South Africa

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Strategy and Management
  • Marketing

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