Factors affecting Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam

l becoming an entrepreneur rather than a predictor of Entrepreneurial success. - Basic resource theory: Basic resource theory is related to human capital and financial capital for entrepreneurial process and success. Human capital is related to education level, previous work experience Financial capital is related to financial capability and level of financial capital mobilization for entrepreneurship. - Social capital theory: Social capital of entrepreneurs is defined as the value attached to their social network or the relationship with other entrepreneurs. Social capital includes social network and the mobilized resources from that. - Entrepreneurial environment theory: Entrepreneurial environment includes existing resources, universities and nearby research institutions, government intervention and people's attitudes toward entrepreneurial activities. Each theory will explain some factors affecting entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial success. Explanation of the factors affecting entrepreneurial success from the research theories also encountered many disagreements about the research results in different research contexts and subjects. Research results in this research subject and context is not applicable for another research subject and context. 1.3. Overview of research on Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs 1.3.1. Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs - Women entrepreneurs: Women who start business are called women entrepreneurs when they perform entrepreneurship, which means they establish and operates a new enterprise. Basically, these activities are related identify opportunities, mobilize resources to develop a new enterprise, continue activities to create growth and successful development of these enterprises. - Reasons for Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs: A model by Orhan and Scott (2001) explained reasons for Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs are originated from from "push" and "pull" factors. According to this theory, the impact from environmental circumstances and individual awareness creates factors that motivate women to become entrepreneurs on both positive and negative sides. The reason to motivate Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs are different, leading to the business objectives and success viewpoint of women entrepreneurs will be different in each research context. From that, it leads to the results of the impact of factors on Entrepreneurial success also will be different in different research context. - Difference in entrepreneurship between women entrepreneurs and man entrepreneurs: Analysis showed that there are differences between man entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs in terms of entrepreneurial behaviors, financial capital, differences in social situations and differences in confidence. Therefore, enterprises of women entrepreneurs are SMEs in traditional business areas. Women entrepreneurs are limited in accessing to and building business network. - Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs for SMEs: From analyzing characteristics in Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs, enterprises of women entrepreneurs are usually Small enterprises operating in the traditional field. Because this scale and business areas is suitable for the capacity of women entrepreneurs, bringing time flexibility, helping women entrepreneurs to achieve balance between work and family responsibilities. Research scope of the thesis will focus on research on Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs for SMEs because this type of business is specific to Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs. - The role of entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs in developing economics: They use mainly locally available materials and simple tools, machines and equipment that use less capital, they create jobs and participate in vocational training. On the social side, the creation of SMEs can create a balance between work and family responsibilities for women entrepreneurs, therefore, contribute to the family and improve social cohesion. - The role of women entrepreneurs to Vietnam’s economy: Women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam are playing an increasingly important role for socio-economic development in Viet Nam. The contribution of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs is creating jobs, using many female laborers, contributing to the state budget. 1.3.2. Researching factors affecting Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs - Characteristics factors of women entrepreneurs: include demographic characteristics and personality characteristics. Researches on individual characteristics are more appropriate to explain how an individual become an entrepreneur than a successful entrepreneur. - Resource factors of entrepreneurs include human capital and financial capital and social capital: Human capital has an important role in Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs. However, in different research context, the conclusion of each Human capital factor’s impact on Entrepreneurial success is different. Financial capital of women entrepreneurs is mainly from individuals, families and friends. Access to finance to women entrepreneurs is a big trouble. Research on social capital to Entrepreneurial success of entrepreneurs has not reached consistency. Researches have not clearly confirmed the impact trend from social capital factors to Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs. This is also the gap in research on women entrepreneurs in developing countries. - Enterprise factors include entrepreneurial orientation and organizational structure. Research on the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on Entrepreneurial success in different enterprises will have different results. To SMEs, generally agree on a trend to have a positive impact on Entrepreneurial success of entrepreneurs. However, researches entrepreneurial orientation have not interested in women entrepreneurs. Organizational structure is recorded to be not researched on women entrepreneurs. Research results on the impact of factors on Entrepreneurial success are not consistent, are different in each different research context. Therefore, researching these factors affecting women entrepreneurs is still the gap for next researches. Especially research in the context of countries with transitioning and developing economies. 1.3.3 Research on Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam Research results on Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam identify the factors driving entrepreneurial decisions, success factors, and factors that hinder business of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs. Researches mainly use qualitative research method. Limitation of researches in Viet Nam is the small sample, mainly study women entrepreneurs in rural areas, where it is identified that the motivation for women entrepreneurs’ Entrepreneurial success are “push” factors derived from the need to force women entrepreneurs to participate in the business. These research results are not representative of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam. Next researches need to focus on objects in both urban and rural areas. Factors from these research results also need to be reevaluated through quantitative researches to ensure solid base. 1.3.4. Research gap on Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in the context of Vietnam’s economy - Research context Researchers on entrepreneurship often observe the effects of processes in different research contexts. With context changing from developed countries to developing countries, the concept of Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs’ changes (Bamberger, 2008; Calas et al., 2009) depending on reasons for the decision of Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs. Measures to identify Entrepreneurial success also have no consistency in previous researches. The inconsistency is shown in different entrepreneurs, business size and different research context. The theory of applied analysis on Entrepreneurial success of entrepreneurs also is determined to have no consistency in previous researches. Explanation of the factors affecting entrepreneurial success from the research theories also encountered many disagreements about the research results in different research contexts and subjects. - The research model about Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs Some researches specify that the research model about Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs is different from the research model about man entrepreneurs (Bird and Brush, 2002). The research model about Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs have no consistency between previous researches. Previous researches mainly focus on explaining characteristics factors of entrepreneurs. These factors are suitable to explain how an individual become an entrepreneur than a successful entrepreneur. - The practical gap in the context of Vietnam’s economy From researches on Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial success of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs mainly focusing on small enterprises in rural areas of Viet Nam. The assumptions about the reason of Entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs are quite similar from their desire for income and satisfaction - personal freedom. Participation in entrepreneurial social networks helps women entrepreneurs become more effective. In addition, studies also identify the support from knowledge training or financial support to help women entrepreneurs develop their business activities. However, Vietnamese women entrepreneurs face obstacles such as access to support programs from the government and training organizations, capital and opportunities to connect with business networks. Women entrepreneurs also face competitive pressure, unreliable employees. Researches on women entrepreneurs in Viet are incomplete, not representative of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs because they focus on researching mainly in rural areas. Research results are determined through qualitative research method. The above research results need to be verified by quantitative method in next researches. Therefore, research on Entrepreneurial success of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs still has the practical gap and comprehensive research is needed. Therefore, the thesis focuses on Entrepreneurial success of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs. CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL BASES, THE RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES OF FACTORS AFFECTING ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN VIET NAM 2.1. Theoretical bases about Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs 2.1.1. Concepts and definitions of Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs - SMEs concept: In the research scope of the thesis, SMEs is identified by the author according to Decree 56/2009/ND-CP supporting the development of SMEs. - SMEs of women entrepreneurs: Vietnamese women entrepreneurs’ enterprises are women-owned enterprises and have been established and operated from 3 to 7 years. The thesis determined the time period from 3 to 7. This is the determined time for women entrepreneurs’ enterprises to successfully survive in entrepreneurship period. - Defining Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs to SMEs: The method of determining Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs is determined to be a newly established enterprise in operations and achieve the performance goals of SMEs. The performance of SMEs is determined by financial and non-financial indicators, focusing on basic growth indicators such as market share, sales, profits, customers, and employees. - Research theory about Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs: Research objective is to focus on researching resource factors of women entrepreneurs and enterprises to Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam. Therefore, the main research theory of the thesis is basic resource theory, combined with other research theories such as social capital theory, the theory of entrepreneurial environment to identify a set of factors affecting Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam. Basic resource theory and entrepreneurial environment theory identified the factor Human capital, Financial capital and Access to finance. Basic resource theory and social capital theory identified the factor Networking capability. Basic resource theory identify the resources of enterprises created by women entrepreneurs such as Entrepreneurial orientation and Organizational structure. These factors will be analyzed in more detail in the later sections of the thesis. - The research model on Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs: The author used a model by Bosma to be the base for building a model about Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam in SMEs, choosing two factor groups belonging to entrepreneurs and enterprises in the research on Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs. Because the model by Bosma is suitable for the objectives of the thesis. However, based on research overview, the author will choose suitable research factors for present research context in Viet Nam. 2.2. Propose the research model and research hypotheses on factors affecting Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam 2.2.1. Research model Figure 2.2. Research model of the thesis (Source: The author’s recommendation) 2.2.2. Hypotheses Table 2.2. Consolidation table of research hypotheses Hypothesis Contents H1 Human capital has a positive effect with Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam H2 Financial capital has a positive effect with Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam H3 Easy access to finance has a positive effect with Entrepreneurial success Human capital Financial capital Access to finance Networking capability Organizational structure Entrepreneurial orientation Entrepreneurial success Control variables - Age - Family background - Marital status - Education level - Field of activity - Area of activity of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam H4 Networking capability has a positive effect with Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam H5 Entrepreneurial orientation has a positive effect with Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam H6 Organizational structure has a positive effect with Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs in Viet Nam CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHOD 3.1. Research design 3.1.1. Research method Research process has three steps which are qualitative research, preliminary quantitative research and official quantitative research. Table 3.1. Research method Step Method Technique Time 1 Qualitative research In-depth interview 02 months (October and December 2017) 2 Preliminary quantitative research Collect data via questionnaire 02 months (January and February 2018 3 Official quantitative research Collect data via questionnaire 05 months (March to July 2018) 3.1.2 Process of building the questionnaire - Define the theoretical concept of the variables and measurement of the variables in theoretical model based on previous research. - Build Vietnamese version of the questionnaire by translating the scales from English to Vietnamese. - Translate Vietnamese version back to English to compare and amend the Vietnamese version. - Vietnamese questionnaire was given to 10 subjects in which 10 are women entrepreneurs, 02 are experts in the field of research about Entrepreneurial success to assess, comment to ensure that there is no misunderstanding in words and contents of questions. The results are used to adjust sentences, ideas in the questionnaire to be more clear and correct. 3.1.3. Research sample - Overall research sample: Overall research sample of the thesis are Vietnamese women entrepreneurs but limited to SMEs. - Choosing research sample: Research samples are 230 or more observations. The author built an initial sample of 800 observations. The author made a list of operating SMEs of women entrepreneurs (women-owned SMEs operating from 3 to 7 years) based on the Ministry of Planning and Investment's documents, then checked operation status of these enterprises at local tax authorities. Areas with the number of people interviewed are: Hanoi 200 women entrepreneurs, Ho Chi Minh City 200, Hai Phong 100, Nam Dinh 30, Bac Ninh 20, Hung Yen 20, Hai Duong 30, Vinh Phuc 20, Hoa Binh 20, Da Nang 100, Can Tho 30, Binh Duong 30. To achieve a high success rate in collecting data, the author used relationships such as friends and relatives to directly distribute questionnaires. Some questionnaires will be distributed email for places without direct survey assistance. 3.1.4 The scale of research variables 3.1.4.1. Dependent variable – Entrepreneurial success or performance The scale of Entrepreneurial success includes 05 observed variables built from reference of the research by Calontone et al., (2002), Keskin (2006); Lin et al. (2008), Suliynato and Rahab (2012). The author has adjusted these scales to be suitable with the research topic. 3.1.4.2 Independent variables – Factors affecting Entrepreneurial success (1) Human capital The scale of human capital includes 04 observed variables built from reference of the research by Huang (2014). The author has adjusted these scales to be suitable with the research topic. (2) Financial capital The scale of financial capital includes 04 observed variables built from reference of the research by Winborg & Landstrom (2000), Chen et al. (2009). The author has adjusted these scales to be suitable with the research topic. (3) Access to finance The scale of access to finance includes 10 observed variables built from reference of the research by Claessens (2006); Beck et al. (2008), Ardic et al. (2011). The author has adjusted these scales to be suitable with the research. (4) Networking capability The scale of Networking capability includes 07 observed variables built from reference of the research by Ostgaard and Birley (1994) Baron and Markman (2000), Lee et al. (2001), and Chen et al. (2009). The author has adjusted these scales to be suitable with the research. (5) Entrepreneurial orientation (or Entrepreneurial strategy) The scale of entrepreneurial orientation includes 09 observed variables built from reference of the research by Covin and Slevin (1988). The author has adjusted these scales to be suitable with the research topic. (6) Organizational structure The scale of organizational structure includes 08 observed variables built from reference of the research by Covin and Slevin (1988). The author has adjusted these scales to be suitable with the research. 3.2. Qualitative research 3.2.1. In-depth interview objectives The objectives of in-depth interview are to test and screen independent variables and initially specify the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable. The next step after in-depth interview is to test the rationality of the scale to see if it is suitable for Vietnamese conditions. 3.2.2. In-depth interview method 3.2.2.1. In-depth interview subjects In-depth interview subjects are: - 10 women entrepreneurs in SMEs in Ha Noi area selected by non-probability method. - 02 Reputable experts in the field of research and training about Entrepreneurial success. 3.2.2.2. Data collection and processing Based on qualitative research objectives, the author designed a discussion layout including many open questions related to the research model and scales. Interviews are conducted at home or in the enterprises of the interview subjects. Each interview lasts for an average time of 45 minutes for all questions in the questionnaire. The technique is observed and direct discussed. The contents of the interviews are recorded, stored and encrypted in computers. This content is removed and analyzed to draw conclusions. The conclusion is based on a general opinion of the interviewees with similar views. The results found will be compared with the original theoretical model to determine the official model for the research. 3.2.3. Qualitative research results * Research variables Through qualitative research, independent variables have been screened and tested in its relationship with the dependent variable, independent variables are kept and continued to be studied. * Variables scale Through qualitative research, some observed variables of the scale Access to finance and networking capability have similar meanings to other observed variables. With observed variables that have a similar meaning to other observed variables, the author will consider, and do preliminary quantitative research before removing from the scale. If in preliminary quantitative research they do not guarantee reliability, the author will remove observed variables from the scale. 3.2.4. Express and encode the scales 3.3. Quantitative research 3.3.1. Preliminary quantitative research 3.3.1.1. Preliminary research objectives and methods - Preliminary research objectives: Preliminary research are to assess the reliability of the scale and eliminate inappropriate observed variables. - Methods of preliminary quantitative research implementation: Trial survey was done on 100 survey subjects selected by random sampling method. Preliminary research results will be used as a data to assess the reliability of observed variables of the factors affecting Entrepreneurial success of women entrepreneurs. 3.3.1.2. Preliminary quantitative research results Of the 100 questionnaires collected, 84 were usable, reaching 84%. The remaining 16 questionnaires are unusable due to lack of information. Preliminary assessment results of scales have Cronbach's alpha coefficient greater than 0.6, which means there is reliability and are used in official quantitative research. The observed variables of the scale Access to Finance such as AF3, AF4, and AF5 have a correlation variable of components - the total variable is less than 0.3. The scale Networking Capability with observed variable CN6 has a correlation variable of components - the total variable is less than 0.3. Therefore, this observed variable does not guarantee the reliability of the scale. In qualitative research, this observed variable also overlaps with other observed variables. So the author removes this observation variable from the scale. The scale Access to Finance was verified for reliability after the removal of AF3, AF4 and AF5 variables and the scale Networking Capability was tested again for reliability after the CN6 variable was removed. The testing results show that the Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the scale is increased compared to the scale before eliminating variables. Thus, after preliminary testing, all scales of the model have Cronbach Alpha coefficient greater than 0.7 and the correlation coefficients of variables are greater than 0.3. It can be concluded that the selected scale is sufficiently reliable. 3.3.2. Official quantitative research 3.3.2.1. Official research objectives - Testing the value of the scale by exploratory factor analysis EFA. - The reliability of the scale is assessed through Cronbach Alpha's coefficient. - Multiple regression analysis to test research hypotheses and assess the impact of independent variables on the dependent variable. - Testing group comparison by Anova and T test 3.3.2.2. Official research method After collecting questionnaire answers, the author started to screen questionnaire, clean the data, encode the necessary information in the questionnaire, input data and analyze data by SPSS software version 22. Next, the data that has been cleaned and input into the software will be analyzed according to the following steps: (1) Descriptive statistics of collected data by comparing frequencies between different groups by control variables (2) Testing the value of the scale by exploratory factor analysis EFA (3) Assess the reliability of the scale (4) Analysis of multiple regression models The multiple regression equation for the original proposed research is as follows: ES = β0 + β1*HC + β2*FC + β3*AF + β4*CN + β5*EO + β6*OS +
(5) Implement group comparison by Anova and T test between different groups with components of the structure model to find meaningful differences of some specific groups. 3.3.2.3. Questionnaire statistics The au