The role of gender as an independent determinant of entrepreneurship (evidence from Poland)
Dorota Jegorow, Judyta Przyłuska-Schmitt, Tamás Szigetvári, Jaroslava Bučková
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF SILESIAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT SERIES,
2023 (176). pp. 169-184
Purpose: The issue of gender in analyzes concerning entrepreneurship is part of numerous items, most of which focus on showing the worse situation of women, often equated with discrimination. Qualitative analyzes are often directly linked to a clear predominance of men in the population of entrepreneurs. This study is of a theoretical-cognitive nature. By emphasizing the prevailing gender discrimination, structural inequalities, and lack of consensus within the scientific community, the article contributes to the ongoing discussion on women’s entrepreneurship and the challenges they face. The quantitative nature of the study aims to determine the ratio of women to men engaged in entrepreneurial activities during the social, economic, and political changes that have taken place in Poland over the past three decades. The research problem was embedded in the conception of natural differences between the number of women and men as entrepreneurs wherein the criteria of sustainable development, with convergent entrepreneurial intentions of both sexes.
Design/methodology/approach: The study is theoretical and cognitive in nature. The article uses statistical tools in benchmarking and regression to present a quantitative pattern of entrepreneurship in Poland. The quantitative analysis was preceded by a review of the literature.
Findings: The obtained results indicate that the quantitative structure of the self-employed in terms of gender is quasi-constant. The dominance of men in the population of entrepreneurs does not change over time, and it remains in constant relative relation to the number of women entrepreneurs, regardless of changes in the external environment. Similar arrangements apply to entrepreneurs’ decisions regarding liquidation, suspension, and resumption of economic activity.
Research limitations/implications: The completed study has limitations related to the adopted time limit of the public reporting system. Research limitations are also present in quantitative terms that ignore the context.
Practical implications: In practical terms, they constitute a considerable incentive to revise the formulated EU development strategies and the programs implemented as part of public policies that influence the Polish economy. he obtained results are part of the literature that undermines the effectiveness of interventionism, in this case related to the creation of preferences for women.
Social implications: The gender issue in entrepreneurship is important. However, too often these issues are presented in public debate, where the arguments are belief, not science. The article is an important voice in current global discussions on inequality, including
discrimination.
Originality/value: The obtained results are supplemented by quantitative research on
entrepreneurship, considering the gender of the entrepreneur. The applied research approach in the area of quantitative material and statistical tools is innovative.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Gender, Small businesses, gender-balanced entrepreneurship, Self-employed, Business activity.
Category of the paper: Research paper, Literature review.
