Influence of Networking on Female Entrepreneurship in Patriarchal Societies: Empirical evidence regarding Role of Cultural effect as moderator

Abstract

The main aim of the study is to explore the difficulties and barriers female entrepreneurs encounter in patriarchal societies. The paper intends to study the influence of networking towards female entrepreneurs specifically in developing economies and patriarchal societies. The study further anticipates examining the role of cultural influence on mainstreaming the female entrepreneurs to overcome the difficulties and barriers. The millenary distribution of tasks between genders constitutes the foundation of patriarchal society and this widening gap can be attributed to deeply-rooted gender stereotype. Female’s right to become entrepreneurs and legacy has a dynamic role in the social and economic empowerment of women folk. There is no civilization that is free of female discrimination and befalling one way or the other. The target population of nine hundred fifty-eight women entrepreneurs involved in SMEs all over Pakistan. (N = 950). The sample size of this study is four hundred twenty-eight (n = 428) comprising women entrepreneurs engaged in the SMEs. The current study applied snow balling technique for data gleaning. The current study followed deductive approach. The strategy applied in this study was survey. A survey-based questionnaire was used for data gathering. SPSS and SEM were applied for data analysis. The study portrays that there networking is positively and significantly correlated with all variables, i.e., networking and social norms (0.296), networking and legal barriers (0.312) networking and institutional barriers (0.364), and networking & family support (0.336) level of significance.