26 research outputs found

    Can female entrepreneurs boost social mobility in developing countries? : an institutional analysis

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    Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICSebastian Aparicio as a Serra Hunter Fellow at the UAB acknowledges the Serra Hunter programme and the Catalan Government for constant support. Additionally, Sebastian acknowledges COLCIENCIAS Ph.D. programme (617/2013), as well as Sapiencia-Enlaza Mundos (Municipio de Medellín) for financial support during Ph.D. studies. In addition, Sebastian Aparicio, Maria Noguera and David Urbano acknowledge the financial support from project ECO2017?87885-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy & Competitiveness). David Urbano acknowledges 2017-SGR-1056 (Economy & Knowledge Department, Catalan Government) and ICREA under ICREA Academia programme.Altres ajuts: COLCIENCIAS (617/2013)Entrepreneurship has been linked to economic development at the regional and national levels, yet the microeconomic nuances of entrepreneurial diversity and the challenges that different entrepreneurs face in producing social benefits remain unexplored. Numerous studies have recognised that a gender gap exists not only in entrepreneurship but also in development outcomes, such as firm performance and poverty alleviation. Few, though, have considered the role of institutions in incentivising women and men in the generational improvement process, such as social mobility. Hence, does the institutional environment framing gender differences constrain or enable potential effects of female (compared with male) entrepreneurs on microeconomic outcomes such as social mobility? We investigate the institutional influence on the probability of becoming a female entrepreneur and the effect of this decision on social mobility in developing countries. We test gender comparisons through two-stage probit least squares (2SPLS), showing that post-materialism, autonomy, network membership, democracy, and respect for human rights have positive effects on both women's and men's self-employment jointly as well as female self-employment specifically. We also show that the decision to become an entrepreneur has a greater influence on social mobility for female than for male entrepreneurs. Policy implications regarding gender equality are discussed

    Contextualising mainstreaming of disaster resilience concepts in the construction process

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    Purpose: Construction industry and the built environment professions play an important role in contributing to society’s improved resilience. It is therefore important to improve their knowledge base to strengthen their capacities. This paper aims to identify gaps in the knowledge base of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. The paper also provides a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reports the findings of 87 stakeholder interviews with: national and local government organisations; the community; non-governmental organisations, international non-governmental organisation and other international agencies; academia and research organisations; and the private sector, which were supplemented by a comprehensive analysis of key policies related to disaster resilience and management. The findings were validated using focus group discussions that were conducted as part of six organised stakeholder workshops. Findings: The primary and secondary data generated a long list of needs and skills. Finally, the identified needs and skills were combined “like-for-like” to produce broader knowledge gaps. Some of the key knowledge gaps identified are: governance, legal frameworks and compliance; business continuity management; disaster response; contracts and procurement; resilience technologies, engineering and infrastructure; knowledge management; social and cultural awareness; sustainability and resilience; ethics and human rights; innovative financing mechanisms; multi stakeholder approach, inclusion and empowerment; post disaster project management; and multi hazard risk assessment. The study also identifies a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process. The recommendations are set out in five key themes: education, policy, practice, research and cross-cutting. Research limitations/implications: This study is part of an EU funded research project that is seeking to develop innovative and timely professional education that will update the knowledge and skills of construction professionals in the industry and enable them to contribute more effectively to disaster resilience building efforts. Originality/value: The paper provides an extensive analysis of the gaps in the knowledge base of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. Accordingly, the paper recommends major changes in construction education, research, policy and practice with respect to mainstreaming disaster resilience within the construction process

    Pasar Petang Jemat

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    Taking Steps to Combat Barriers to Ethnic Minority Enterprise in Scotland

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    While it is widely recognised that Ethnic Minority-led Businesses (EMBs) make a variety of economic and social contributions to their communities and the wider society in Scotland, there are longstanding concerns that Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurs (EMEs) do still experience relative disadvantage in a number of areas. This report highlights ten areas of such disadvantage amongst EMEs in Scotland by examining statistics from three key entrepreneurship and small business databases (the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS), and the SME Finance Monitor (SMEFM)). The report also draws on actual experiences of ethnic minority entrepreneurs in Scotland gathered from interviews with 45 business-owners from various ethnic minority backgrounds, and five key informants from local government agencies, charities, community associations and other organisations that work with entrepreneurs from ethnic minority communities

    Cultural antecedents of green entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia : an institutional approach

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    Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the anonymous Editor and reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions. In addition, Wafa Alwakid acknowledges Jouf University for financial support for Ph.D. studies. Sebastian Aparicio acknowledges Durham University Business School for constant support. Additionally, Sebastian acknowledges COLCIENCIAS Ph.D. programme (617/2013), as well as Sapiencia-Enlaza Mundos (Municipio de Medellín) for financial support during Ph.D. studies. Finally, David Urbano acknowledges the financial support from project ECO2017-87885-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy & Competitiveness), 2017-SGR-1056 (Economy & Knowledge Department, Catalan Government) and ICREA under ICREA Academia programme.Recent decades have brought cultural changes toward the increase of environmentally-friendly initiatives such as green entrepreneurship. Some countries are failing to develop environmental initiatives, whereas others are transitioning and advancing toward this new trend. In particular, Saudi Arabia has initiated efforts toward becoming an ecologically-friendly society. Motivated by this, we explore whether cultural characteristics are associated with green entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. Institutional economics is adopted to frame our hypotheses and analysis. The hypothesized relationships were empirically tested in a sample of 84 observations from 21 cities during the period 2015-2018. Data were collected from reports by the Saudi General Authority and analyzed through regression models. The main results show that cultural characteristics, such as environmental actions, environmental consciousness, and temporal orientation, increase the level of green entrepreneurial activity across cities in Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study contribute to existing knowledge on green entrepreneurship, as well as to the discussion of implications for policy and practice related to environmentally-friendly productive activities
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