Women entrepreneurial intentions in subsistence marketplaces: The role of entrepreneurial orientation and demographic profiles in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Subsistence women in developing economies are largely marginalised yet their circumstances could be improved through entrepreneurship. The study sought to establish the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation on entrepreneurial intention and the moderating and direct effects of demographic profiles as an oasis of establishing a predictive model on prospective rural women entrepreneurs. Data were collected from prospective women entrepreneurs in the rural markets of Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe. A sample of 192 women was used. Data analysis was done using structural equation modeling to address the research hypotheses. Convenience sampling was applied to test the hypotheses relying on consenting women.The adequacy of the sample was tested using Kaiser-mayor-olkin and also the Bartlett’s test for sphericity. Initially, exploratory factor analysis was done using Principal Component Analysis. The rotated component matrix was also extracted. Data analysis was performed using Smartpls program. The results of analysing data show a significant relationship between innovativeness and risk-taking ability on entrepreneurial intention. However, data analysed did not confirm the hypothesised relationships between proactiveness and demographic profiles on entrepreneurial intention. It is recommended that entrepreneurship financiers, Non-Governmental Organisations and Governments should consider rural women’s innovativeness and risk-taking ability in screening potential entrepreneurs for funding and training.

Keywords

• entrepreneurial orientation
• entrepreneurial intention
• proactiveness
• innovativeness
• risk-taking
• subsistence women