Social Capital in Female Entrepreneurship

The study described in this article has three objectives. The first is to describe female entrepreneurship as a construct based on entrepreneurial personality characteristics, the properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and gender roles. The second objective is to demonstrate the differences between migrant and non-migrant female entrepreneurship in terms of the aforementioned variables as components of the construct in addition to push and pull factors and social capital. Finally, the third objective is to predict high and low levels of social capital among female entrepreneurs according to the variables present in the realm of female entrepreneurship. The research was conducted among 304 female entrepreneurs in Mersin, Turkey. The data are analysed using correlational analysis, ANOVA and logistic regression analysis. The most striking finding is the higher social capital predicted by migrant status resulting from stronger personal contacts and the sociocultural properties of their respective communities. Additionally, age, professional training and work experience were also tied to higher social capital of entrepreneurs. In contrast, non-migrant status, entrepreneurial personality characteristics and pull factors predicted lower social capital.