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Iuliia Pinkovetskaia et al// Gender differences in solo entrepreneurship in modern countries , 224-238

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46925//rdluz.34.14

Gender differences in solo entrepreneurship in modern countries

Iuliia Pinkovetskaia *

Natalia Neif **

Aleksandra Navasardyan ***

Tatyana Treskova ****

Marina Yashina *****

ABSTRACT

Aim of the study is to evaluate the indicators describing the level of solo entrepreneurship

among women and men who are beginning entrepreneurs in different countries. Empirical

data provided in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring Project for fifty-nine countries

were used as initial information in calculations. Economic and mathematical modeling was

based on development of density functions normal distribution. In the study, three

indicators describing solo entrepreneurship in 59 countries were evaluated: share of solo

entrepreneurs-women in the total number of women who participate in the creation of

their own businesses in different countries; share of solo entrepreneurs-men in total

number of men who participate in creation of their own businesses in different countries;

ratio of the above-mentioned shares of solo entrepreneurs of women and men. Average

values and ranges of changes in considered indicators were determined, which are typical

for most countries. In addition, national economies that are characterized by high and low

values of each of the three indicators were identified. The study showed that there is a

gender gap in the values of indicators in most countries. It is proved that share of women

involved in solo entrepreneurship in most countries is higher than that of men.

KEYWORDS: Entrepreneurs; women; men; gender roles; self employed; business

management; mathematical models.

*

4

Department of Economic Analysis and State Management, Ulyanovsk State University, Ulyanovsk,

32000, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8224-9031 . E-mail: pinkovetskaia@gmail.com

Department of Finance and Credit. Ulyanovsk State Agrarian University named after P. A. Stolypin,

**

Ulyanovsk, 432017, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2758-6684 .

***

Department of Economic Security, Accounting and Audit, Ulyanovsk State Agrarian University

named after P. A. Stolypin, Ulyanovsk, 432017, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0129-7099 .

****

Department of Finance and Credit, Ulyanovsk State Agrarian University named after P. A. Stolypin,

Ulyanovsk, 432017, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7478-0095 .

*****

Department of Finance and Credit, Ulyanovsk State Agrarian University named after P. A.

Stolypin, Ulyanovsk, 432017, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7133-1793 .

Recibido: 14/06/2021

Aceptado: 02/08/2021

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46925//rdluz.34.14

Diferencias de género en el emprendimiento individual en los

países modernos

RESUMEN

El objetivo del estudio es evaluar los indicadores que caracterizan el nivel de

emprendimiento individual entre mujeres y hombres que son emprendedores en ciernes en

diferentes países. Los cálculos se basaron en datos empíricos presentados en el marco del

Proyecto Mundial de Vigilancia de la Empresa para cincuenta y nueve países. El modelado

económico-matemático se basó en el desarrollo de funciones de densidad de distribución

normal. En el estudio se evaluaron tres indicadores que caracterizaban a las empresas por

cuenta propia en 59 países: la proporción de mujeres empresarias por cuenta propia en el

número total de mujeres que participan en la creación de empresas por cuenta propia en

diferentes países; la proporción de hombres empresarios por cuenta propia en el número

total de hombres que participan en la creación de empresas por cuenta propia en diferentes

países; y la proporción de mujeres y hombres empresarios por cuenta propia. Se

determinaron los promedios y los rangos de variación de los indicadores examinados, que

son comunes en la mayoría de los países. Además, se identificaron las economías nacionales

que se caracterizan por valores altos y bajos de cada uno de los tres indicadores. El estudio

reveló que en la mayoría de los países hay diferencias de género en los valores de los

indicadores. Se ha demostrado que la proporción de mujeres que trabajan por cuenta propia

es mayor en la mayoría de los países que en los hombres.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Emprendedores; mujeres; hombres; roles de género; trabajador por

cuenta propia; gestión empresarial; modelos matemáticos.

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is considered in most national economies as the main direction of

their development, providing not only an increase in the volume of production of goods and

services, but also using innovation, increasing efficiency, creating the prerequisites for

structural transformations, reducing the unemployment rate (Lee & Rodnguez-Pose, 2021;

Schneck, 2020; Szerb et al., 2019). As you know, there are two main organizational and

legal forms of entrepreneurial activity, namely solo entrepreneurs and legal entities. Our

study focused on solo entrepreneurship, which has developed significantly in recent years

(

Mababu & Merino-Hijosa, 2015; Pinkovetskaia et al., 2020; Toivanen et al., 2015). Even in

the context of the 2020-2021 pandemic, solo entrepreneurs in most industries continued

their activities, often remotely.

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Solo entrepreneurs not only earn money (Ruzzier & Konecnik Ruzzier, 2015), but

also produce goods, provide services, that is, increase national wealth, and create jobs. It is

important that this form of entrepreneurship reflects work preferences and creates an

effective, work-life balance, ensuring the social well-being of entrepreneurs (Gottschalk &

Niefert, 2013; Gudmunson et al., 2009). Often, solo entrepreneurship acts as a side business

that supports a person working elsewhere.

Solo entrepreneurship provides flexibility, allowing the solo to work when and

where it is most convenient, to work part-time, and to fill temporary employment gaps

(

Mababu, 2009). Solo entrepreneurs have a high degree of freedom and independence (Van

Gelderen & Jansen, 2006). Solo entrepreneurship is characterized by low barriers to entry,

it does not require significant initial capital, experience in managing firms with a large

number of employees, and a number of other competence, that characterize firms (Vries et

al., 2020).

Our article makes two main contributions to the existing knowledge about the level

of development of solo entrepreneurship. First, the prevalence of solo entrepreneurs in

modern countries is considered, that is, it is determined how often entrepreneurs conduct

activities without the formation of legal entities. At the same time, the corresponding

indicators are studied not for one, but for a large number of countries. The second

contribution is related to the analysis of the gender aspects of solo entrepreneurship. That

is, the study of the features of such activities of women and men. In addition, it is logical, in

our opinion, to determine whether there are gender differences in the behavior of women

and men involved in the process of creating their own businesses without the formation of

legal entities. It should be noted that the study of the gender characteristics of solo

entrepreneurship has not been given sufficient attention in scientific publications to date.

The purpose of the article is to evaluate the indicators describing the level of solo

entrepreneurship in the total number of women and men who are beginning entrepreneurs

in different countries. Our article responds to calls for a more in-depth study of the

development of solo entrepreneurship, which according to a number of authors (Hipp et al.,

2015; Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2021; Bogenhold, 2019) is an insufficiently studied type

of entrepreneurship. In addition, the article responds to calls for the study of the gender

dimensions of solo entrepreneurship (Mababu & Merino-Hijosa, 2015).

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In our research, we answer the following questions:

1

. What is the share of women solo entrepreneurs in the total number of women who

are involved in setting up their own businesses in different countries?

. What is the share of men solo entrepreneurs in the total number of men who are

involved in setting up their own businesses in different countries?

. Was there a gender gap in the proportion of solo entrepreneurs of women and men

who participate in the creation of their own businesses in different countries?

2

3

1

. Literature review

The relevance of the study of solo entrepreneurship is emphasized in many scientific

studies carried out in recent years. The following works are of the greatest interest among

them.

As shown in the article (Boeri et al., 2020), the structure of entrepreneurship in most

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries has changed

over the past 20 years, with the share of solo entrepreneurs increasing. They account for

between 4 and 22 per cent of the economically active population in OECD countries.

Similar conclusions about the growth of the share of entrepreneurs working without the

formation of legal entities, on the example of the United States, are made in the works

(

Katz & Krueger, 2018; Abraham & Amaya, 2019). There were almost four million solo

entrepreneurs in the UK by the end of 2019 (Giupponi & Xu, 2020). It should be noted that

the share of solo entrepreneurs in the UK according to these authors increased from 11.5%

to 14.1% in the period 2000-2017.

The study (Dvoulety et al., 2019) shows the positive role of solo entrepreneurship on

the example of the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). It

is proved that solo entrepreneurs who do not attract labor earn an average of 6.7% more

than employees. The paper (Van Stel et al., 2020) examines the peculiarities of the activities

of solo entrepreneurs with higher education and their reluctance to use employees. The

article (Box & Segerlind, 2018) examines the creation of new businesses on the example of

Sweden. The study (Koe, 2016) describes the activities of solo entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

The article (Schummer et al., 2019) examines various options for entrepreneurs to set up

their own businesses in Germany and concludes that many of them prefer to be solo

entrepreneurs.

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A number of studies (e.g., Fritsch & Wyrwich, 2014; Millan et al., 2012) highlight the

differences between individual entrepreneurship in various countries. It should be noted,

that solo entrepreneurship is carried out by citizens of different countries at their own

request and in the presence of appropriate opportunities.

Gender characteristics of entrepreneurship in the United States are analyzed in the

article (Yang et al., 2017). The gender differentiation of new businesses created in Germany

is studied in the article (Gottschalk & Niefert, 2013). Using the example of the European

Union countries, it was shown that there are gender differences between solo

entrepreneurs (Cowling, 2000). Based on the analysis of data for the period 1997-2014 for 32

European countries, the article (Van Stel & Van der Zwan, 2020) suggests the

predominance of highly educated women in solo entrepreneurship.

2. Methodology and design

The study used the results of surveys of entrepreneurs aged 18-64 years, conducted in

9 countries, during the implementation of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring

5

Project (2019). The report on this project included information on two rounds of the survey

of respondents: in 10 countries, entrepreneurs were interviewed in 2017, and in 49 countries

-

in 2018. In each of the countries, responses were received from at least two thousand

respondents, including men and women. The total number of respondents in all countries

exceeded 120,000 entrepreneurs. The countries in which the survey was conducted differed

in terms of the level of income of the population. According to the World Bank

classification, 32 countries had high incomes, 17 countries had average incomes, and 10

countries had low incomes. The geographical location of the countries is as follows: Europe

–

22 countries, Asia - 17 countries, Latin America - 11 countries, Africa - 6 countries, North

America - 2 countries and Australia. The countries where the survey of entrepreneurs was

conducted included all the largest economies in the world, as well as other countries.

During the surveys, entrepreneurs answered, in particular, the question of whether they are

solo entrepreneurs. These surveys provided information on the proportion of solo

entrepreneurs of women and men in the total number of relevant gender groups. The share

of solo entrepreneurs was defined as the ratio of entrepreneurs who indicated during the

survey that they did not create legal entities to the total number of entrepreneurs surveyed

for each of the countries.

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The study included five stages. At the first stage, the formation of empirical data sets

describing the specific weights of women and men belonging to solo entrepreneurs in the

total number involved in the creation of their own business was carried out. At the second

stage, the formation of arrays of empirical data describing the ratio of the specified specific

weights of women and men related to solo entrepreneurs was carried out. At the third

stage, the distribution of the values of indicators characterizing the share of solo

entrepreneurs of women and men in the total number involved in the creation of their own

business by country was determined. At the fourth stage, the countries that are

characterized by high and low levels of the considered indicators were identified. At the

same time, both the territorial location of such countries and the average income of the

population in them were taken into account. On the fifth stage was carried out comparative

analysis of level development solo entrepreneurship in Russia and other countries.

Our study examined the evaluation of three indicators that characterize the gender

aspects of early solo entrepreneurship in 59 countries:

-

the share of solo entrepreneurs-women in the total number of women who

participate in the creation of their own businesses in different countries;

the share of solo men entrepreneurs in the total number of men who participate in

the creation of their own businesses in different countries;

the ratio of the above-mentioned shares of solo entrepreneurs of women and men.

Our study included testing the following three hypotheses:

hypothesis 1 - the values of the three indicators under consideration have a

significant differentiation between different countries;

hypothesis 2 - the geographical location of countries does not significantly affect

the values of each of the three indicators;

hypothesis 3 - the level of income of the population in the countries under

-

consideration does not significantly affect the values of each of the three indicators.

The estimation of the values of the three indicators under consideration was based

on the economic and mathematical modeling of the initial empirical data. As models, we

used the density functions of the normal distribution, the method of development of which

for estimating the values of specific indicators was proposed by the author. Some aspects of

the use of the technique are given in the author's works (for example, Pinkovetskaia et al.,

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2

021). Note that in the process of developing the functions, the initial empirical data were

grouped according to the ranges of changes in the values of the indicators. These data

groups can be geometrically represented as corresponding histograms. Data approximation

using normal distribution functions was performed using generally accepted statistical

methods. It is important to note that the average value of the considered indicators, as well

as their standard deviations for the density functions of the normal distribution, were

displayed in the formulas of the developed functions themselves. Therefore, having

constructed a specific function, we get the specified parameters of the considered

indicators without additional calculations.

The obtained functions allowed us to determine the average values of each of the

three indicators for the countries under consideration, as well as the ranges of their

variation that are typical for most countries. In addition, the study identified countries in

which the indicators under consideration have values higher than the upper and lower than

the lower limits of the ranges. The boundaries of the indicator ranges for 68% of the

countries were determined based on the average values of the indicators and the

corresponding standard deviations. The lower bound of the interval is equal to the

difference between the mean and the standard deviation, and the upper bound is equal to

their sum.

3. Results and discussion

In the course of the computational experiment, economic and mathematical

modeling was carried out on the basis of empirical data. The models that describe the

distribution of the three indicators across all 59 countries are shown below:

-

the share of solo entrepreneurs of women in the total number of women who

participate in the creation of their own businesses

2

(x 0.33)

1

0.190.19



2

7

.01

y (x ) 

1

e

;

(1)

1

0

.19 2

-

the share of solo men entrepreneurs in the total number of men who participate in

the creation of their own businesses in different countries

2

(x 0.27)

2

0.150.15



2

6

.38

y (x ) 

2

e

;

(2)

2

0

.15 2

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the ratio of the values of indicators for solo entrepreneurs to women and men

2



(x 1.38)

3

2

1.53

20.620.62

y (x ) 

e

.

(3)

3

0

.62 2



The quality of functions (1)-(3) we tested using such criteria: the Kolmogorov-Smirnov,

the Pearson and the Shapiro-Wilk. Calculated values of criteria are given in Table 1.

Table 1. Calculated values of criteria

Criteria

The

Indicators

Shapiro

Kolmogorov- Pearson

-

Wilk

test

Smirnov test

test

The share of solo entrepreneurs of women

in the total number of women who

participate in the creation of their own

businesses

0.05

1.54

0.98

The share of solo men entrepreneurs in

the total number of men who participate

in the creation of their own businesses in

different countries

0

.06

.08

1.91

0.97

0.95

The ratio of the values of indicators for

solo entrepreneurs to women and men

0

2.58

Source: The data in the table are based on the results of calculated functions.

Information given in column 2 of Table 1 showed that all calculated values are less

than the critical value by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (0.174) at significant level equal

0.05. Data in column 3 are less than critical value of Pearson criterion (9.49). Data in

column 4 exceed critical value 0.93 Shapiro-Wilk test with significant level of 0.01. Thus,

the computational experiment showed that all nine developed functions have high quality.

The density functions of the normal distribution (1)-(3) make it possible to identify a

number of significant patterns that characterize the levels of solo entrepreneurship among

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women and men in the countries under consideration. The average values of the indicators

are shown in column 2 of Table 2. Column 3 of the same table shows the intervals of change

in the values of the indicators for most countries.

Table 2. Indicators that characterize the level of solo entrepreneurship for women

and men

Average Values typical for

Indicators

values

most countries

1

2

3

The share of solo entrepreneurs of women in the total

number of women who participate in the creation of

their own businesses

0.33

0.27

0.14-0.52

The share of solo men entrepreneurs in the total

number of men who participate in the creation of their

own businesses in different countries

0.12-0.42

0.76-2.00

The ratio of the values of indicators for solo

entrepreneurs to women and men

1

.38

Source: The author's calculations are based on functions (1)-(3).

The data shown in table 2 (column 2) show that, on average, in the countries under

consideration, one third of new businesses were created in 2017-2018 by women who

became solo entrepreneurs. At the same time, for most countries, the corresponding

indicator was in the range from 0.14 to 0.52. Slightly lower was the share of solo men

entrepreneurs in the total number of men who participate in the creation of their own

businesses, which was 0.27.

In general, for men and women, the share of their participation in solo

entrepreneurship was about 0.3 of the total number of the corresponding gender groups.

Based on this, it can be assumed that about 70% of entrepreneurs chose legal entities as an

organizational and legal form, that is, they were the owners of their own firms.

Consequently, in modern national economies, entrepreneurs were more than twice as likely

to create legal entities as those who were solo entrepreneurs.

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In most countries, the proportion of women who are solo entrepreneurs is higher

than that of men who are solo entrepreneurs. The opposite trend was observed in 11

countries, namely Poland, Peru, Australia, Puerto Rico, Luxembourg, Iran, the United

States, Mexico, Switzerland, Thailand and Panama. In five countries - Estonia, the Republic

of Korea, Latvia, Slovenia, and Brazil - the share of men and women solo entrepreneurs in

the respective populations is approximately equal. Average value of the ratio of the shares of

solo indicators in the creation of new businesses for women and for men reaches 1.38.

To test hypothesis 1 on the differentiation of indicators by country, an analysis of the

extent of variation of each of the indicators presented in table 2 was carried out. For this we

used standard deviations. Variation indices are as follows: for the first indicator - 58%, for

the second indicator - 55%, for the third indicator - 45%. This analysis showed a significant

differentiation of the values of each of the three indicators in the countries under

consideration, that is, the hypothesis 1 was confirmed.

The next step was to identify the countries where the maximum and minimum

values of each of the indicators were noted. Maximum values are those that exceed the

upper limits of the ranges specified in column 3 of Table 2, and the minimum values are

those that are less than the lower limits of the specified ranges. The results of this analysis

are shown in table 3. Along with the lists of countries, this table also provides a division of

the identified countries by their geographical location and income level.

Table 3 provides information on the geographical location of countries with high

(

column 2) and low (column 3) values for each of the three indicators evaluated in our

study. The analysis of this information showed that there are no links between these values

and the territorial location of the countries, as well as the level of income of the population

in these countries. That is, both high and low values of indicators are observed in countries

located in different parts of the world, as well as with different levels of income of the

population. This allowed us to conclude that hypotheses 2 and 3 were confirmed.

It is of interest to study the data describing the values of the considered indicators in

Russia:

-

the value of the first indicator is 0.38, which is 15% higher than the average value for

other countries;

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Table 3. Countries with high and low indicator values

Indicators

1

High values of indicators

2

Low values of indicators

3

Guatemala, Argentina, Spain,

Germany, Ecuador, the

Netherlands,

Colombia, China, Mexico,

Qatar, Cyprus, Peru, Poland

Republic of Korea.

The share of solo

entrepreneurs of

women in the total

number of women

who participate in

the creation of their

own businesses

Sweden, Brazil.

Located in Europe (two

countries), Asia (three

countries), Latin America

(three countries).

Located in Europe (four

countries), Latin America (four

countries).

Income of the population: high Income of the population: high

four countries), medium (four (four countries), medium (four

(

countries).

China, Qatar, Cyprus,

Egypt, Mexico, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, India, Bulgaria,

Malaysia.

Sweden, Estonia, Spain,

The share of solo

men entrepreneurs

in the total number

of men who

Netherlands, Panama, Argentina,

Ecuador, Brazil.

Located in Europe (three

countries), Asia (four

countries), Africa (one

country).

Located in Europe (four

countries), Latin America (four

countries).

participate in the

creation of their

own businesses in

different countries

The income of the population is

high (five countries), medium

Income of the population: high

(two countries), medium (five

countries), low (two

countries).

(

three countries).

Colombia, Poland, Peru,

Australia, Puerto Rico

Luxembourg.

China, Germany,

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria

The ratio of the Egypt, Qatar, Taiwan. Located in

values of indicators Europe (three countries), Asia

Located in Europe (two

countries), Australia (one

for solo

(three countries), Africa (one country), Latin America (three

entrepreneurs to

women and men

country). Income of the

population: high (three

countries).

The income of the population is

high (four countries), medium

(two countries), low (two

countries).

countries), medium (three

countries), low (one country).

Source: Developed by the author on the basis of data from Table 2 and the Global

Entrepreneurship Monitoring project.

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the value of the second indicator is 0.32, which is 18% higher than the average value

for other countries;

-

the value of the third indicator is 1.20, which is 13% lower than the average value for

other countries.

The analysis showed that the level of solo entrepreneurship in Russia is higher than

the average in other countries. In addition, the trend of women's greater propensity for solo

entrepreneurship in comparison with men, which is typical for most countries, was

confirmed in Russia.

Conclusion

The goal of the study, namely, to assess the indicators describing the level of solo

entrepreneurship in the total number of women and men who are beginning entrepreneurs

in different countries, was achieved. The conclusions of the study, which contain scientific

novelty and originality, include:

1

. An assessment of the indicators characterizing the share of men and women

involved in solo entrepreneurship, respectively, in the total number of men and women

starting their own new businesses in different countries was carried out.

2. The distribution of three indicators describing solo entrepreneurship in 59

countries was modeled.

3. It is shown that solo entrepreneurship has received significant development in

most modern national economies

4

. It is proved that entrepreneurs often create legal entities for conducting their

business, than they are solo entrepreneurs.

. It is proved that the share of women involved in solo entrepreneurship is higher in

most countries compared to the same indicator for men.

. It is shown that in most countries there are gender differences for each of the three

indicators.

5

6

7

. The average values of each of the three indicators under consideration are

established, as well as the intervals of their change that are typical for most countries.

8. It shows that there are significant differences in the values of the three indicators

considered by country.

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. Countries with high and low values of each of the three indicators are presented.

0. A comparison of the values of indicators for Russia and other countries was

carried out.

The results obtained are of theoretical and practical significance for governments

1

and entrepreneurs. The methodological approach to the assessment of gender differences in

solo entrepreneurship presented in the article can be applied in further research. The new

knowledge gained is of interest and can be used in the educational process at universities.

The study had limitations on empirical data due to the fact that only 59 countries

were considered.

References

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