Opportunities and challenges of digital competencies for women tourism entrepreneurs in Latin America: a gendered perspective

Digital Technology as a Disentangling Force for Women Entrepreneurs

“…It is important to recognize that empowering women's entrepreneurship extends beyond the individual level, impacting nations as a whole. According to previous studies (e.g., [11,12]), governments, particularly in developing countries, have a stake in supporting women's entrepreneurship. These studies highlight the numerous social and economic benefits that women's entrepreneurship can bring about, including job creation, wealth growth, and poverty reduction.…”

“…These studies highlight the numerous social and economic benefits that women's entrepreneurship can bring about, including job creation, wealth growth, and poverty reduction. However, despite the advantages of supporting female entrepreneurship, only 13 developed countries have implemented policies that favor women and provide more supportive approaches towards female entrepreneurs' use of digital technologies [12].…”

“…However, other studies posit that the digital world is not a level playing field for women entrepreneurs [12]. This stream of research propounds that the widespread gender stereotypes and social biases against women will carry over to the digital world [13].…”

“…Thus, these studies declare that regardless of the help and advocacy that digitalization offers to female entrepreneurs, their participation in entrepreneurship, as a marginalized sector of society, results in an adverse outcome: the persistence of the same gender beliefs regarding women-led businesses. This makes women entrepreneurs encounter a legitimacy attainment issue, which sows the seed of being considered less potent, less competent, less reliable, and less profitable than their male counterparts [12,16]. Therefore, these notions will deleteriously affect women's self-efficacy and self-confidence, which are the necessary factors for cultivating an entrepreneurial intention [9].…”

“…Therefore, these notions will deleteriously affect women's self-efficacy and self-confidence, which are the necessary factors for cultivating an entrepreneurial intention [9]. Moreover, some research (e.g., [12]) stated that the employment of digital technology by women entrepreneurs will not guarantee them a way to bypass their gender-related impediments since women are, more often than not, expected to have lower income, face more problems in accessing required education and training, and lack family support, which are significant prerequisites for taking advantage of digital technology.…”