Fuelling Entrepreneurial Orientation in Enhancing Business Performancea: Women Entrepreneurs’ Contribution to Family Livelihood in a Constrained Context, Bangladesh

Women entrepreneurs’ performance in connection to their contribution to family livelihood in developing countries is yet an under-researched potential for addressing poverty and its roots. Their performance can be characterised as multi-dimensional. Next to business performance (e.g. profitability and growth), women entrepreneurs aim at a personal- and a societal performance as well. Although such a multi-dimensional performance reflects the interplay between the individual and the communal nature of entrepreneurship, especially in developing countries, the conditions for women to achieve this performance in such challenging contexts seem still unfavourable. This study analyses how entrepreneurial orientation (EO), distinguished in its three dimensions, of women entrepreneurs operating in a constrained context can leverage their business performance so that they can enhance their societal performance, in this case, their family livelihood. In particular, antecedents of EO, determinants of business performance and its influence on family livelihood are researched. The results of a structural equation model on data collected from Bangladeshi women entrepreneurs suggest that the financial capital and education level are antecedents positively influencing innovative- and pro-active EO, whereas risk-taking EO is positively influenced by financial capital only. EO, financial capital, business training and experience have a direct positive influence on women’s business performance, whereas barriers in the social environment exert a direct negative influence. Apparently, women entrepreneurs appear to fuel and shape their EO in such a manner that through their business performance, a strong contribution to their family livelihood is given.