Women’s roles in family businesses: some empirical evidence from Italy

Purpose: As women are still promoted to C-level roles at far lower rates than men, this paper examines whether there is a clear and direct relationship between women's formal roles and the effect of the socio-cultural context on their participation in strategic decisions in family businesses. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a quantitative research design and logistic regression to analyze empirical data from a randomly selected sample of 800 firms in Sardinia. Findings: In general, the results show that women's formal roles and participation in the decision-making process are not related, except in a specific sector (agriculture and farming), and that the local context plays an unquestionable role in terms of replicating local customs and traditions in the workplace. Research limitations/implications: Although limited by the sample of firms in the same territory, this study shows that women participate in strategic decision-making both when tasked to by virtue of their leadership role and when playing a minor role by way of implicit decision-making power. However, the sector can hinder women's participation, especially when strongly rooted in local culture. Originality/value: The study shows that the socio-cultural context has a strong influence on women's involvement in strategic decision-making, highlighting the “silent” way women make the most relevant decisions. Therefore, this study questions whether it is still relevant to discuss the formal role of women or whether it is more pertinent to investigate their explicit or implicit power in making strategic decisions in family businesses

Intra-family succession in South African townships: women’s account of the desirable attributes.

Focused on women, this article investigates the qualities and attributes that family-owned businesses desire in a potential successor. This paper is the outcome of quantitative data that was solicited and collected from 120 participants using a semi-structured questionnaire. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was utilised to analyse the quantitative data and was complemented with the elements that were drawn from the qualitative data (open-ended questions). The results suggest that the incumbents prefer the potential successor to have management skills; leadership skills; the ability to relate well with other members of the family; show interest in becoming a successor, possess greater aptitude than other members of the family; understands the business vision, be trustworthy; be committed to the business; has management experience; must be related by blood or law and able to harmonise the interests of the family with those of the business. Overall, this narrative highlights the woman’s position in a male-dominated discourse, besides suggesting that an understanding of the attributes desired by the incumbent will positively impact on the succession process in South African townships

Motivational Trajectories of Women Entrepreneurs as Successors to the Family Business

Family enterprises are the most important contributors to Indonesia’s economic resilience. However, the issue of family business succession persists. Female heirs are capable of carrying on the family business. Female entrepreneurs and family business successors in Indonesia and around the world are uncommon. The motivations of female family business heirs will be investigated using self-determination theory. Interview protocols and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis are used in this qualitative investigation. According to the study, female motivations for developing relationships and self-development exceed women’s autonomy. All three female informants desired cash guarantees as well as repayment to their parents and the family business. Self improvement and family business collaboration are the third motivational trajectory. According to the study, family business players must create possibilities for Indonesian female entrepreneurs’ successors to have careers, build skills, and continue the family business in order for them to feel financially secure and motivated to take over the family firm

ULOGA OBRAZOVANJA U POVEĆANJU RAZVOJA TRŽIŠTA I RAZVOJA NOVIH PROIZVODA U KONTEKSTU ŽENSKOG PODUZETNIŠTVA: PRIMJER HRVATSKE

Female entrepreneurship is a rapidly expanding academic topic in the field of entrepreneurship. Many researchers claim that female entrepreneurship represents a new stream of economic growth because higher inclusion of women in entrepreneurial activities generates new jobs, enables the exploitation of new business opportunities, and provides new perspectives and solutions to managerial, organizational and business problems in general. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to further explore the impact of gender, experience and education on the entrepreneurial performance. More specifically, by using the linear regression analysis the paper will explore direct and moderating effects of gender, experience and education on the market and new product development in the context of Croatian SMEs. The results of this study did not confirm any positive effects of gender, experience, or education on market development and new product development. Moreover, the results did not confirm the existence of moderation effects between gender and experience on market development, nor on new product development. On the other hand, this study produced a very interesting finding, that the relationship between education and market development, and education and new product development is moderated in such a way that it is stronger for women than for men. This means that business performance, in this case considered as market and new product development, is higher with the increase in level of education among female entrepreneurs. Therefore, these findings provide another layer of evidence to policy makers that tailor-made educational business programs are more than necessary and useful to prepare women for entrepreneurial projects, which in turn brings many benefits to the national economy and society as a whole.Žensko poduzetništvo sve više postaje važna akademska tema unutar područja poduzetništva. Mnogi istraživači tvrde da žensko poduzetništvo predstavlja novi izvor gospodarskog rasta jer veća uključenost žena u poduzetničke aktivnosti dovodi do stvaranja novih radnih mjesta, omogućuje iskorištavanje novih poslovnih prilika, te općenito pruža nove perspektive i rješenja za menadžerske, organizacijske i poslovne probleme. Stoga je svrha ovog rada dodatno istražiti učinke roda, iskustva i obrazovanja na uspješnost poduzetnika. Konkretnije, korištenjem linearne regresijske analize, u radu će se istražiti izravni i moderirajući učinci roda, iskustva i obrazovanja na razvoj tržišta i razvoj novih proizvoda u kontekstu hrvatskih malih i srednjih poduzeća. Rezultati ovog istraživanja nisu potvrdili pozitivne učinke roda, iskustva niti obrazovanja, kako na razvoj tržišta, tako ni na razvoj novih proizvoda. Štoviše, rezultati nisu potvrdili postojanje moderatornih utjecaja spola i iskustva na razvoj tržišta, kao i na razvoj novih proizvoda. S druge strane, ovaj rad je producirao jedan vrlo zanimljiv nalaz, a to je da su odnosi između obrazovanja i razvoja tržišta, te obrazovanja i razvoja novih proizvoda moderirani na način da su odnosi snažniji za žene, nego za muškarce. Znači, poslovna uspješnost, u ovom slučaju promatrana kao razvoj tržišta i razvoj novih proizvoda, veća je s povećanjem razine obrazovanja među poduzetnicama. Stoga, rezultati ovog istraživanja pružaju još jednu razinu dokaza kreatorima javnih politika da su prilagođeni obrazovni poslovni programi više nego potrebni i korisni u pripremi žena za poduzetničke projekte, što zauzvrat pruža mnoge koristi, kako nacionalnom gospodarstvu, tako i društvu u cjelini

Decision-making challenges of women entrepreneurs in the family business succession process

The decision-making process concerning succession issues for family businesses is crucial as it affects long term performance and sustainability. However, while succession issues in family business has been extensively studied, the decision-making process for women-owned family businesses is sparse, particularly in transition economies. This is despite the growth of women-owned businesses worldwide. This study explores the succession decision-making process in women-owned small family businesses in Kosovo using a qualitative approach. The findings suggest that group decision making is important in family businesses and plays a role in determining how gender influences succession planning. Managerial and policy implications are discussed

Gender issues in family business research: A bibliometric scoping review

Purpose – The current review aims to examine the growth trajectory, most influential documents, intellectual and conceptual structure of the literature regarding gender issues in family business research. Design/methodology/approach – The bibliometric analysis was performed using 224 documents from 1991 to 2020 extracted from the Web of Science database. Findings – The review finds that this field’s knowledge grew exponentially during the last three decades, mainly after 2003 and the last several years. Based on the co-citation analysis, three major research lines are identified: “Women’s challenges and opportunities in the family business”, “Gender diversity in the family business corporate board”, and “Gender and family SMEs management.” The temporal co-word analysis reveals that “Gender diversity in the family business corporate board” is the latest research line. Originality/value – By reviewing prominent cited references and documents that cited them, the authors provide the landscapes and research gaps of three major research lines for further development

Building bridges between gender and family business literature to advance women's empowerment

This study underlines the importance of addressing gender issues in family firms. It reinvigorates research in this field by revealing its current state, identifying research gaps, and suggesting future agendas. A bibliometric approach using a co-word analysis of 376 papers from the Web of Science database and their 885 keywords was performed to reveal the thematic structure of gender and family firm research, research topics, associations among them, and their evolution over the last 30 years (1991–2021). This review provides an extensive literature base and suggests research topics that facilitate the adoption of a gendered lens in family firm literature and business practice. This review demonstrates how gender issues are intertwined with management, leadership, and family business approaches. Our observations inform scholars, policymakers, and practitioners on the need to integrate gender issues into organizational culture and to connect empowerment strategies with the sociocultural environment. This study shows the need to address women’s empowerment in business, considering different sociocultural contexts in addition to a Western focus. It also calls for embracing gender and feminist perspectives in research.This research was partially supported by the Consolidated Research Group funding by the Basque Government under the grant number IT1641-22. It also receive financial support from the Spanish MICIU/AEI/FEDER-UE under the grant number RTI2018-097579-B-100. Amaia Maseda also received a Salvador de Madariaga Grant (PRX19/00636) from the Spanish MECD for a research stay at the University of Edinburgh Business School (UK)