Investigating the Impact of Women Entrepreneurs’ Competencies on Firm Performance in an Emerging Economy

Abstract

The study of female entrepreneurship is picking up steam all around the world with the number of women entrepreneurs increasing. A recent development in the field of women entrepreneurship is research on their entrepreneurial competencies. Entrepreneurial competencies have been studied earlier, however past studies have not considered gender or have not taken women as their focus. To better understand how the competencies of women entrepreneurs affect the performance of their businesses, this study constructs and examines a conceptual framework wherein the impact of competencies (a)Innovativeness and (b)Business and management, on financial and non-financial performance of the firm is examined. Data was obtained from 158 female entrepreneurs operating in India through a survey. The study has utilized PLS-SEM to analyze the data. The findings show that the Innovativeness of women entrepreneurs have a positive significant impact on both financial and non-financial firm performances. Business and management competencies have shown a positive significant impact on the firm’s financial performance, However, the impact of Business and management competence on non-financial performance of the firm was not significant. The results of this study will have ramifications for both theory and practice. Theoretically, it will improve our comprehension of the distinctive elements affecting women entrepreneurs’ firm performance in developing nations, particularly in the Indian setting. From a practical standpoint, the research’s findings will give policymakers, business support groups, and women entrepreneurs themselves insightful information that will help them identify strategies to improve business management skills, foster innovativeness, and ultimately improve firm performance.