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Encouraging Female Entrepreneurship in Jordan: Environmental Factors, Obstacles and Challenges

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Entrepreneurship and Management in an Islamic Context

Abstract

The number of female entrepreneurs and their contribution to the economy is steadily rising. Yet research suggests that female entrepreneurs face more challenges and barriers than their male counterparts. This is expected to be even more prevalent in Islamic contexts, which are characterised by conservative and patriarchal societies. In this research, 254 female business students from a private and a public university responded to a questionnaire that gauges their perceptions about potential barriers to entrepreneurship in Jordan and whether the business education they are receiving helps to prepare them for future entrepreneurial activity. Our results help to form a basis on which a deeper understanding of the phenomena can be achieved through more in depth future research. Among the main environmental factors that worry potential female entrepreneurs are the weakness of Jordanian economy, lack of finance, fear of risk, gender inequality and inability to maintain a work and private life balance. Our results also show that students are really not aware of the opportunities available to them and are unable to make a proper assessment. We call on both universities and the Jordanian government to put more emphasis on practical entrepreneurial education and encouraging women to play a much more active role within the workforce.

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Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this research was presented at the MAC-EMMT 2014 conference in the Czech Republic and also in part at the ICERI 2014 conference in Thailand. The authors would like to thank the conference participants for the useful comments that have helped to further develop this study and shape this book chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan

    Salime Mehtap

  2. Lincoln Business School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK

    Andrea Caputo

  3. The Claude Littner Business School, University of West London, London, UK

    Massimiliano M. Pellegrini

Authors
  1. Salime Mehtap
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  2. Andrea Caputo
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  3. Massimiliano M. Pellegrini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Salime Mehtap .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. South-East European University, Tetovo, Macedonia

    Veland Ramadani

  2. Montpellier Business School, Montpellier, France

    Léo-Paul Dana

  3. American University of Middle-East, Egaila, Kuwait

    Shqipe Gërguri-Rashiti

  4. La Trobe Business University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Vanessa Ratten

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Cite this chapter

Mehtap, S., Caputo, A., Pellegrini, M.M. (2017). Encouraging Female Entrepreneurship in Jordan: Environmental Factors, Obstacles and Challenges. In: Ramadani, V., Dana, LP., Gërguri-Rashiti, S., Ratten, V. (eds) Entrepreneurship and Management in an Islamic Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39679-8_13

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