Contextual Embeddedness of Women's Entrepreneurship

by Shumaila Y. Yousafzi (Author), Adam Lindgreen (Author), Saadat Saeed (Author), Colette Henry (Author)

Contextual Embeddedness of Women’s Entrepreneurship brings together a range of research that provides powerful insights into the influences and restraints within a diverse set of gendered contexts including social, political, institutional, religious, patriarchal, cultural, family, and economic, in which female entrepreneurs around the world operate their businesses. In doing so, the contributing authors demonstrate not only the importance of studying the contexts in how they shape women’s entrepreneurial activities, but also how female entrepreneurs through their endeavours modify these contexts.

Collectively, the edited collection’s studies make a substantial contribution to the contextual embeddedness of women’s entrepreneurial activity, provide numerous insights, and provoke fruitful directions for future research on the important role of the contexts in which women’s entrepreneurial activities take place.

This innovative and wide-ranging research anthology seeks to reframe and redirect research on gender and entrepreneurship and will appeal to all those interested in learning more about female entrepreneurship

Review
"This book breaks new ground by widening the contextual focus of women’s entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship research. From recognition of a 7th century business woman in Mecca to the construction of a gendered scientific Business Model Canvas, the collection of studies will inspire readers to think differently about theory, patriarchy, trade systems, adoption or transformation, and strategies to create inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. This is a must read for those who seek to understand the spectrum of gender influences in the context of entrepreneurship." - Professor Barbara Orser, Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises, Telfer School of management, University of Ottawa, Canada.

"This collection of research studies situates women entrepreneurship within a variety of contexts (e.g., social, political, institutional, religious, patriarchal, cultural, family, economic) that demonstrate the innovative and creative ways that individuals are able to act entrepreneurially. By focusing on such a diverse set of situations in which women start and manage different kinds of businesses and organizations, the book provides powerful insights into how specific contexts shape entrepreneurial activity, as well as how these contexts are modified by entrepreneurial action. By studying a multitude of gendered contexts in the entrepreneurial process, the book shows how the field of "women entrepreneurship" provides a more comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurship, in general." - William B. Gartner – Bertarelli Foundation Distinguished Professor of Family Entrepreneurship, Babson College

"We know that women entrepreneurs are indeed a formidable force of economic growth and social change, while we still often question the "how" and "why." The authors in this volume capture the fluid nature of gender differences in the entrepreneurial arena through highly contextualized studies considering such things as history, geography, and religion. By examining institutional power structures and social environments through a variety of methodological approaches, this volume helps us reach beyond the existing research to support the asking of new questions, leading to changes in practice as well as innovative and evidence-based policymaking around the world." - Patti Greene, Babson College, USA

"The editors pulled together a knowledgeable group of international scholars who provide novel insights into women’s entrepreneurship in under-studied cultural, spatial and sectoral contexts. The book’s contributions tease out the more invisible contextual influences on women’s entrepreneurship, shedding new light on their interplay with laws and policies. Definitely a book which I can recommend to all those interested in learning more about female entrepreneurship in very different contexts." - Friederike Welter, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn (IfM), Bonn, and University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany.

About the Author
Shumaila Yousafzai is Associate Professor at Cardiff University, UK. Her research focuses on the contextual embeddedness of entrepreneurship, institutional theory and entrepreneurial orientation. She has published in various international journals and has co-edited a special issue on Women’s entrepreneurship for Entrepreneurship & Regional Development.

Adam Lindgreen is Professor of Marketing at Copenhagen Business School and Head of the Department of Marketing. He has published in California Management Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Product and Innovation Management, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of World Business.

Saadat Saeed is Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Durham University Business School, Durham University, UK. His past research efforts have included the global study of supportive institutions and women’s entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship in adverse conditions, corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance in multi-county context.

Colette Henry, FRSA, is Head of School of Business & Humanities at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland, and Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at UiT-The Arctic University of Norway. Colette holds the Diana International Trailblazer award for female entrepreneurship, and the Sten K Johnson European Entrepreneurship Education Award.

Alain Fayolle is Professor of entrepreneurship, the founder and director of the entrepreneurship research centre at EM Lyon Business School, France. Alain published thirty-five books and over one hundred and half articles. In 2013, Alain Fayolle got the 2013 European Entrepreneurship Education Award and has been elected Chair of the AOM Entrepreneurship Division for the 2016-2017 academic year. In 2015, he has been awarded Wilford L. White Fellow by ICSB.