Institutional approach and competitive behaviours of informal Ghanaian women entrepreneurs

Micro-entrepreneurship, sustainable development goal one and cultural expectations of Ghanaian women

“…According to functional contextualism, issues should be examined within one's reality or world as it serves as the basic analogy for behaviour. The realities of Ghanaian women are based on a patriarchal social system where the family is the portal around which women's private and public lives revolve; within it women are expected to play marginal roles (Quagrainie, 2016). These arrangements according to feminist perspectives hinder women's entrepreneurial drive (Galloway et al, 2015).…”

“…For example, women as the "other person" (Ahl, 2006), forces them to be boxed in caregiving activities, which makes them spend most of their economic time caring for their children (Sullivan and Meek, 2012). The Ghanaian cultural system generally constraints women micro-entrepreneurship, in the sense that it may not create an enabling environment for economic venturing (Quagrainie, 2016). It allows them to tap into their relational resources by relying on their relations for support to grow their businesses (Vossenberg, 2013).…”

“…It allows them to tap into their relational resources by relying on their relations for support to grow their businesses (Vossenberg, 2013). Although micro women entrepreneurs have limited capital resources and entrepreneurial education, their cultural setting provides a platform and becomes a critical part of the entrepreneurial activities (Quagrainie, 2016). Thus, women have braced the odds by taking their economic lives into their own hands through micro-entrepreneurial activities (Boohene et al, 2008) by creating jobs for themselves and others (Bourne and Calás, 2013).…”

“…and services (florists, sewing, cooking, etc.). Majority of these activities are conducted within the informal sector and carried out in close proximity to their homes (Quagrainie, 2016;Boohene et al, 2008). The informality of micro-entrepreneurship makes it difficult for them to attract cheaper capital, as well as access public and private business support services and information (Vossenberg, 2013).…”

“…Despite, the apparent theoretical causal link between MWE and the achievement of sustainable development goal (SDG) 1 targets, empirical literature reports that through economic development achievements have been made possible with micro-entrepreneurship (Ruchkina et al, 2017). The 2017 Sustainable Development Goals Report, posits there is still a high level of inequity among women (Quagrainie, 2016). This raises concerns about how MWE actually works in practice as a strategy for women's sustainable development (Torri and Martinez, 2014).…”