Exploration of Key Success Factors that Influence Business Performance: The Experiences of Women Micro-entrepreneurs from Mazovia Voivodeship of Poland

Abstract

Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing categories of firms in the world, but they are greatly understudied in countries from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) [Zapalska et al., 2005]. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between business success predictors and the performance of female-owned micro-enterprises from the Mazovia Voivodeship in Poland during the period 2011–2013, using an Internet-based survey questionnaire. The data were collected by the CAWI (computer assisted web interview) and CATI (computer assisted telephone interview) methods. Exploratory factor analysis, correlation coefficients analysis and multivariate regression models were deployed to investigate the empirical data.

Keywords

• business performance
• micro-enterprise
• poland
• success factors
• woman micro-entrepreneur
• c21
• l10
• m19
• m21
• m31