Women entrepreneurship: The role of education, national culture, and various supports

Abstract

Encouraging women to get involved in entrepreneurship is key to women empowerment and wellbeing. This study endeavours to contribute to this cause by investigating the role of education, national culture, and various supports (financial support, government support, and social support) in shaping women's entrepreneurial intention. PLS-SEM was used on a sample of 351 women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. This study finds that education and financial support play a significant role in encouraging women's entrepreneurial intention, but not government and social support and national culture. This in turn highlights the importance of empowering women to be independent (education and financial support) rather than dependent (government support) or interdependent (social support), even in developing and collectivist countries like Bangladesh (national culture), in order to promote and support women entrepreneurship. Copyright © The Author(s) 2024.