Women's entrepreneurship from an institutional perspective: The case of Uzbekistan

This paper aims to make a contribution to our conceptual understanding of women entrepreneurship under 'early stage' transition conditions, by researching the nature of it in Uzbekistan. Institutional theory is used as a guiding frame of reference because the specific characteristics of the external environment under transition conditions make the latter a particularly strong influence on entrepreneurship. Empirically, the paper draws on data which was collected in Uzbekistan, within a collaborative research project (INTAS 00-843). The empirical material demonstrates that informal institutions dominating Uzbek society contribute to the prevailing forms of female entrepreneurship. © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.