TY - JOUR
T1 - Language and market inclusivity for women entrepreneurship
T2 - the case of microfinance
AU - Drori, Israel
AU - Manos, Ronny
AU - Santacreu-Vasut, Estefania
AU - Shenkar, Oded
AU - Shoham, Amir
PY - 2018/7
Y1 - 2018/7
N2 - Inclusive markets are key to fostering female entrepreneurship, and the microfinance sector has recognized and acted on this. Existing research has studied how institutions and organizational factors facilitate the process by which microfinance and other financial intermediaries tackle gender-based financial exclusion. But while the role of cultural institutions has been recognized as important, little research has systematically integrated culture in the study of gender-based financial exclusion. We posit that language is a cultural institution that influences the extent to which financial intermediaries are successful in outreaching women and supporting female entrepreneurship. Inspired by a performativity approach, we develop a set of hypotheses that delineate how a specific feature of language, gender marking in grammar, moderates the role of institutional (state capacity) and organizational (NGO status and global ties) factors in shaping microfinance outreach to women. Using the ratio of female to male borrowers in 2361 microfinance organizations from 115 countries during the period 1995–2015, we confirm that market inclusion of women depends on organizational and institutional factors, and that gender marking in grammar influences those relationships.
AB - Inclusive markets are key to fostering female entrepreneurship, and the microfinance sector has recognized and acted on this. Existing research has studied how institutions and organizational factors facilitate the process by which microfinance and other financial intermediaries tackle gender-based financial exclusion. But while the role of cultural institutions has been recognized as important, little research has systematically integrated culture in the study of gender-based financial exclusion. We posit that language is a cultural institution that influences the extent to which financial intermediaries are successful in outreaching women and supporting female entrepreneurship. Inspired by a performativity approach, we develop a set of hypotheses that delineate how a specific feature of language, gender marking in grammar, moderates the role of institutional (state capacity) and organizational (NGO status and global ties) factors in shaping microfinance outreach to women. Using the ratio of female to male borrowers in 2361 microfinance organizations from 115 countries during the period 1995–2015, we confirm that market inclusion of women depends on organizational and institutional factors, and that gender marking in grammar influences those relationships.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.02.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.02.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85045563933
VL - 33
SP - 395
EP - 415
JO - Journal of Business Venturing
JF - Journal of Business Venturing
SN - 0883-9026
IS - 4
ER -