Institutional Theory in Women Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is one of the most essential factors for the development of a country where the involvement of women as entrepreneurs has grown in popularity and may be considered the world’s fastest rising entrepreneurs around the world. It has drawn the interest of numerous academics due to the fact that women can contribute significantly to entrepreneurship activities and economic growth. However, the participation of women in entrepreneurship can be influence by the supports that their received. The supports could be from formal and informal institutions which should be explained better using institutional theory. Institutional theory could be use to investigate women entrepreneurship as formal institutions may be able to influence women to venture in entrepreneurship while informal institutions may encourage or prevent their engagement in business activities. This paper is expected to be useful in enriching the understanding of formal and informal institutions and women entrepreneurs.