Differences in familism and economic decisions between female and male entrepreneurs: The case of fish traders in Dar es salaam, Tanzania
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Date
2005
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mzumbe University
Abstract
Many studies attempting to explain income differences between self employed men and women in developing countries have focused attention on differences in the two sexes to access critical resources such as credit, education, time and networks, factors which are external to the subject. Little, however, have been done in terms of factors ingrained in the subject’s belief system. Although this study is exploratory and views familism as a cultural factor embedded in a person’s belief system it assesses the influence of familism on economic decisions made by men and women fish traders.
The study finds that while the level of familism is equally high for men as it is for women, it leads to involvement in longer term expensive projects among men and shorter term ones among married women. The study suggests that effective interventions aimed at Promoting African entrepreneurs should take the entrepreneur’s accepted obligations to the extended family into account.
Description
This book was sent to DRPS for publication
Keywords
Familism, Familistic values, Entrepreneurship, Gender differences, Female entrepreneurs, Male entrepreneurs, Economic decision-making, Economic behavior, Household context, Family support, Family obligations, Cultural norms
Citation
APA