Institutionalizing Women’s Enterprise Policy: A Legitimacy-Based Perspective

Abstract

Despite efforts to increase the quantity and quality of women-owned business, enterprise policy has enjoyed only modest success. This article explores the role of legitimacy in these outcomes by examining how and when individual stakeholders evaluate and then influence the legitimacy of women's enterprise policy. We draw on 45 interviews with actors in the UK enterprise policy ecosystem and an ethnographic study of the policy process. We present a multilevel model of two opposing legitimacy processes: a legitimacy repair loop and a delegitimizing loop. In doing so we provide a novel perspective on policy institutionalizing.

Moving beyond financial remittances: The evolution of diaspora policy in post-conflict economies

“…The research employed a purposeful snowball sampling strategy (McKeever, Jack and Anderson, 2015; Fletcher, Zhao, Plakoyiannaki and Buck, 2018), initially utilising the extended professional networks of the research team to access respondents in senior policymaking roles, before leveraging interviewee recommendations to initiate further introductions, akin to the approach used by Arshed et al (2019). Information-rich examples for study were selected, which were likely to yield substantive information about the research questions (Singh, Corner and Pavlovich, 2015).…”

“…Information-rich examples for study were selected, which were likely to yield substantive information about the research questions (Singh, Corner and Pavlovich, 2015). The sampling approach was used to capture data from respondents with relevant knowledge and generalize to theory rather than to a larger population (Arshed et al, 2019). In total, twenty-four interviews were conducted, 12 in Kosovo, 7 in B&H and 5 in Montenegro.…”

“…In taking forward theory on institutions and diaspora entrepreneurship, Figure 1 demonstrates the interplay between diaspora entrepreneurial activity and institutional change in the home country. It demonstrates how by taking a processual view of entrepreneurship policy making (Arshed, Chalmers and Matthews, 2019), the institutional reforms of the homeland are impacted through a combination of the diaspora activity as well as policy changes. The figure shows that there is circular flow between the activities of the diaspora and policy making, with the two interacting to inform each other.…”

“…Through a focus on post-conflict economies, the study adds to calls for more contextual variety in entrepreneurship research (Welter, 2011;Welter et al, 2017), as well as the policy dimensions which impact entrepreneurial activity (Arshed et al, 2019). Examining policy in post-conflict economies is a potentially fruitful focus for research, as they are often seen as the country of origin of the diaspora but not yet as target countries wherein they want to invest and work (Williams, 2018).…”

The hidden price of free advice: Negotiating the paradoxes of public sector business advising

“…Yet, this overlooks the complex environment within which advisors operate and does not adequately reflect the knowledge and reflexivity of each individual advisor. As a consequence, we know little about the contradictory demands advisors encounter (Mole, 2002a), or the agency they exercise to navigate these difficulties as they attempt to deliver on higher-level policy objectives (Arshed et al, 2019).…”