Abstract
The goal of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurial activity and to analyze the incentives of female participation in the labor market. Female entrepreneurial activity is closely related to social and economic issues. They represent a driving force, active and effective members of economic, political, professional and managerial societies. On the other hand, they have families with serious maternal responsibilities and inelastic household obligations, roles which they are trying to balance effectively. To that reason, specific actions and carefully designed measures are essential in encouraging and promoting them to engage into entrepreneurial activity. To investigate the issue of entrepreneurial activity, personal characteristics and various motivation incentives are examined in order to determine the major factors that may influence female entrepreneurial spirit in Greece. Obtaining data from 1600 industrial firms located in the prefecture of Piraeus over the period 1999–2009, this study makes use of the panel methodology approach to provide evidence about the main determinants of female entrepreneurship. What is found is that a combination of pull and push motives and effective mentoring framework, in addition to a set of personal characteristics such as risk of failure, educational level, creativity, innovativeness, ambitiousness and marital status, seem important for the encouragement of women entrepreneurship in Greece to start up a new business. The implications seem very substantial for the formulation and implementation of effective support policies and measures for female entrepreneurs’ vital start up and early stage period.
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Paper presented at the 69th Atlantic Economic Association meetings in Prague, March 2010. The authors wish to thank the participants in the session of Issues in Financial Markets I organized by Professor Nicholas Apergis for their constructive comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper. Needless to say, the usual disclaimer applies.
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Apergis, N., Pekka-Economou, V. Incentives and Female Entrepreneurial Activity: Evidence from Panel Firm Level Data. Int Adv Econ Res 16, 371–387 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-010-9277-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-010-9277-9