Stefan Apostol

University of Pecs,

Pecs, Hungary

E-mail: steffapostol@poliss.eu

ORCID 0000-0001-5341-6673

The early-stage entrepreneurial activity of women in individualistic versus collectivist country groups: Motives, drivers and inhibitors

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether differences in female entrepreneurial rates are explained by inherited cultural, societal, and technological factors. Women's early-stage entrepreneurial activity in two groups of countries is examined in this study. As part of the analysis, we used data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and employed Logistic Regression, the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique, and Firth logistics for rare events. Collectivist countries have higher rates of early-stage entrepreneurial activity among women, but these occur in less technologically advanced sectors. Women’s primary motivation for entrepreneurship in countries with lower disposable personal income is necessity. New technology adoption rates in early-stage entrepreneurial activity are significantly higher in collectivist countries. Young women's entrepreneurial rates are slightly affected by the loneliness phenomenon. study's weaknesses are the overconfidence of interviewees in their ability to self-assess their skills, the low rate of women entrepreneurs, and the omission of essential variables due to missing data. This study tests the adage that individualistic behavior promotes entrepreneurship and examines the impact of societal variables on women's entrepreneurship, contrary to certain assumptions made in the GEM report. The study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding female entrepreneurship.

Received: March, 2022

1st Revision: November, 2022

Accepted: December, 2022

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2022/15-4/7

JEL Classification: L26, C40, J16

Keywords: entrepreneurship, women, gender, collectivism, individualism, technology, logistic regression, SMOTE, Firth, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor