Title: Gender and opportunity recognition: does social capital rank higher than human capital among poor women?

Authors: Caroline Kinya Mbaya; Glòria Estapé-Dubreuil

Addresses: Business Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici S 08202 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain ' Business Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici S 08202 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: In many developing countries, it has been noted that women lack human capital in the form of education and work experience and consequently create social capital and networks to account for the deficit. This paper seeks to find if women are more inclined to utilise social capital to identify opportunities. The study is based on a comparison of male and female micro-entrepreneurs from Kenya. The results showed that while both forms of capital were equally important, men and women utilised different aspects of human and social capital to identify opportunities. Culture was noted to contribute to formation of social capital among women.

Keywords: gender; opportunity recognition; human capital; social capital; culture; entrepreneurship; Kenya; poverty; poor women; developing countries; education; work experience; female entrepreneurs; micro-entrepreneurs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.075018

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.27 No.4, pp.542 - 559

Received: 23 Apr 2015
Accepted: 28 May 2015
Published online: 29 Feb 2016 *

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