Women's informal entrepreneurship through the lens of institutional voids and institutional logics

Abstract

In this conceptual paper, we respond to the calls for broader theoretical approaches that can coherently demonstrate a high degree of conceptual sensitivity to multiple combinations of institutional factors influencing women's informal entrepreneurship (WIE) and related agency. We do so by integrating constructs of gender and gender inequality with those of institutional logics and institutional voids. We find that a refined understanding of institutional voids is required to pave the way for a meaningful theoretical integration and empirical application of the related conceptualizations. We offer such a revised definition by placing formal and informal logics (rather than institutions) at the heart of it. In our theorizing, we propose that gender interplaying with formal and informal institutional logics create varying degrees of obscure and unique institutional voids that shape WIE prevalence. The proposed harmonized theoretical lens provides researchers with flexible yet consistent guidance for conducting context-specific empirical work that can coherently advance understanding of underlying logics shaping WIE and related agency.

A review of and future research agenda on women entrepreneurship in Africa

“…Such synthesis furthers our understanding of the enabling and/or constraining role of multiple embeddedness of African women entrepreneurship in interconnected systems of relationships (Brush, 1992), institutional facets (Welter et al, 2017), household-family and spatial contexts. Though a 5M framework features, in part, an essentialist assumption to identifying similarities and differences between men and women when enterprising (Henry et al, 2016, it also allows capturing the socially constructed nature of women entrepreneurship and the influence of formal (rules, regulations) and informal (religious beliefs, traditional norm and practices, and patriarchal systems) institutions (Ejaz et al, 2023). This study is guided by an overarching research question: What is the state of research knowledge on women entrepreneurship in Africa?…”

Fostering Women’s Entrepreneurial Success: The Significance of Informal Institutional support in Venture Creation

“…Institutional theory emphasizes that gender, interacting with both institutional principles, generates distinct and complex institutional voids, significantly influencing WIE prevalence. This proposed integrated theoretical perspective offers researchers a flexible yet cohesive framework for conducting context-specific empirical studies, thereby enhancing comprehension of the underlying logics that shape WIE and its associated agency (Ejaz et al, 2023).…”