How to Study Women Entrepreneurs, Leadership, and Cultural Practices

This workshop discusses how to study the business challenges of woman entrepreneurs. Research has shown that women entrepreneurs face several significant barriers. These include cultural a<tudes towards women leaders, lack of access to capital and networks and not least work-life balance. Tradi?onal cultural a<tudes o@en view women as being responsible for caring for the family and home, which can make it difficult for them to pursue entrepreneurial careers (Jennings & Brush, 2013); (Bullough, Guelich, Manolova, & Schjoedt, 2022) Studies of entrepreneurs across cultures are s?ll scarce due to the challenge of contextual knowledge, local culture and language (Nummela & Welch, 2006: 134). In this workshop we discuss how to study women entrepreneurs as business leaders. How do we get access to document their dreams and drivers as well as the work-life reali?es of women entrepreneurs? The methods include quan?ta?ve longitudinal and survey studies, and ethnographic methods of observa?on and interviews and focus groups. Our experiences are from Portugal, Denmark, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Bali and Japan.