Assessment of motivational patterns of women entrepreneurs in ngo sector and their impact on economic development case Study

Hypothesis 3

Motivational factors do not determine the type of challenges women entrepreneur face in business.
Table 67 Summary of Correlation Coefficient between the Factors that Motivate Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs and Challenges Women Entrepreneurs face in Business.

Variables 1 2 3 4 5

1. Family - 0.83* 0.75 0.72 0.55

2. 
   Psychological - 0.65* 0.81* 0.42
   

3. 
   Financial - 0.61* 0.39
   
4. 
   Environmental - 0.52
   
5. 
   Challenges -
   

P<0.05 (2-tal test)

Source: Field Survey, 2007

The primary meaning of the coefficient of correlation lies in the amount of variation in one variable that is accounted for by the variable it is correlated with. The correlation coefficient for this study reveals a significant relationship among the motivational factors and challenges women entrepreneurs face in business. The result from the testing of Hypothesis 3 shows that the factors that motivated Nigerian entrepreneurs (family influence, psychological, financial and environmental) and the challenges they face in business exhibit moderate positive values with family factor having the highest influence of 0.55, followed by environmental factor (0.52), psychological and financial factors with values 0.39 and 0.42 for respectively. The highest value exhibited by the family factor is an indication that majority of the respondents are married and are probably finding it difficult coping with their family issues and business activities. Also financial factor recorded the least value of 0.39. This probably may be as a result of the financial support the married women entrepreneurs are receiving from their husbands. This confirmed why majority of them did not see finance as the main challenge they are facing in their business. See Table 61. In likewise perspective, the null hypothesis which states that motivational factors do not determine the challenge women entrepreneurs face in business is rejected in preference for the alternative hypothesis.

2. 
   Hypothesis 4
   

Motivational factors do not determine women entrepreneurs’ type of business ownership.

Table 68 Summary of Correlation Coefficient between the Factors that Motivate Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs and Type of Business Ownership.

Variables 1 2 3 4 5

1. 
   Family - 0.89* 0.74 0.66 0.64
   
2. 
   Psychological - 0.68* 0.74* 0.55
   
3. 
   Financial - 0.50* 0.54
   
4. 
   Environmental - 0.77
   
5. 
   Type of business ownership -
   

P<0.05 (2-tail test)

Source: Field Survey, 2007
Table 68 shows that motivational factors determine women entrepreneurs’ type of business ownership. From the above, it is apparent that the null hypothesis which stated that motivational factors do not determine women entrepreneurs’ type of business ownership is not acceptable. This is because there is a positive relationship between the family, psychology, financial, and environmental factors with the type of business owned by women entrepreneurs under this study. The coefficient result revealed that the strongest influence is the environmental factors with the value of 0.77. This is followed by family influence with the value of 0.64, then the psychological and financial factors with the values of 0.55 and 0.54 respectively.
The highest value of the environmental factor confirmed the results in table 61and 62 where majority of the respondents see competition as their major challenge in business and a lot of them entered business because their friends and neighbours are doing the same type of business. Family influence as the second highest value among the factors that determine the type of business ownership among women entrepreneurs is an indication that most women under this study are doing their family business or are in partnership with their husbands. The financial factor’s least value of 0.54 is an indication that most of the women entrepreneurs under this study did not start their business because they obtained financial assistance from the financial institutions or from their relations. This contradicts the accessibility to finance as the major environmental factor that attracted them to entrepreneurial activities. The finding implies that motivational factors determine women entrepreneurs’ type of business ownership.

5. 
   Hypothesis 5
   

There is no significant relationship between the environmental factors and women entrepreneurial motivation.

Table 69: Summary of Correlation Coefficient between Environmental Factors and Women Entrepreneurial Motivation

Variables 1 2 3 4 5

1. 
   Access to finance - 0.43 0.72 0.44 0.52
   
2. 
   Family and community - - 0.54 0.51 0. 42
   
3. 
   Availability of support services - 0.33 0.60
   
4. 
   Government policy. - 0.39
   
5. 
   Factors that motivate women entrepreneurs -
   

P<0.05 (2-tail test)

Source: Field Survey, 2007
The coefficient of correlation specifies that the amount of variation in one variable that is accounted for by the variable it is correlated with. Table 69 revealed the existence of moderate positive relationship between the environmental factors and women entrepreneurial motivation. The coefficient for this study reveals a significant relationship with values of 0.52, 0.42, 0.60 and 0.39 for access to finance, family and community support, business support services and government policy (environmental factors) respectively with the factors that motivate women entrepreneurs. The above result shows that all the environmental factors have positive relationship with the women entrepreneurial motivation but among these factors, the result shows that access to finance (0.52) and support services (0.60) have the highest tendency of motivating women into entrepreneurship. This also confirmed the result in Table 58 where accessibility to finance was seen as one of the major factors that motivated women into entrepreneurship. The lowest value of 0.39 that occurred between government policy (as an environmental factor) and women motivation revealed that some of the government policies in Nigerian business environment are not favourable to women entrepreneurs. As a result, a lot of them are discouraged from starting their own businesses.

4.4 Women Entrepreneurial Traits and Environmental Factors

To find out the relationship between women entrepreneurial traits and environmental factors, related items were used to further explain the dependent and independent variables. The four items (access to finance, family and community support, availability of support services and government policy) used in measuring the independent variables were maintained while nine most commonly used entrepreneurial traits were employed in measuring the dependent variables. These include; risk taking propensity, desire for achievement, tolerance for ambiguity, desire for independence and freedom, creativity and innovation, internal locus of control, competitiveness, self- confidence and energy and strength. The potential correlation between entrepreneurial traits of women entrepreneurs and environmental factors were then examined with a correlation analysis. The aggregate variables of these two variables were then placed in a correlation matrix.

Table 70: Correlations between Entrepreneurial Traits and Environmental Factors

	Pearson Correlation	Accessibility to finance	Support Services	Family/Community	Government Policy
Taking risk.		049	-.005	.055	-.68
Tolerance for ambiguity		.047	.091	.026	-.131
Creative and innovative.		-.77	.261**	.026	-.146
Independence		.080	.008	-.141	-.059
Self confidence		.234**	.066	.141	-.044
Competitiveness		.105	.362**	.090	.277**
Achievement		.087	.034	.020	-.115
Internal Locus control		-.059	-.046	-.251*	-.242*
Energy and strength		-.017	-.035	-.021	-.241*

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

* * Correlation is significant at the 0.01level (2-tailed)

Source: Field Survey, 2007

Table 70 indicates that there is mutual correlation between the variables with a statistical significance. Among all the results, the strongest correlation is between competitiveness and support services (r=.362). This indicates that women entrepreneurial competitiveness can easily be enhanced through the activities of business support services. The result stood out among others showing a more positive correlation than the rest. Second to this was competitiveness and government policy(r=.277); followed by creativity/innovation and business support services (r=.261) and finally self-confidence and financing accessibility (r=.234).

Summary of the Results

The summary of the findings of the study are hereby presented below;

1. 
   The result from the testing of Hypothesis one revealed a significant difference at F _{(3, 419}) =21.958, and p<0.015 at 3 degree of freedom and 0.05 significant level.The result of coefficient correlation revealed that a positive correlation exists between the motivational patterns and SMEs sub-sectors except family influence as a factor which showed a very low significant relationship with agricultural sector at r=0.18. Thus, the null Hypothesis one is rejected. This implies that different motivational patterns do exist among women entrepreneurs across different industrial sectors of the South-West Nigeria.
   
2. 
   The result obtained from the testing of Hypothesis two revealed that there is a positive relationship between motivational factors of women entrepreneurs and their performance in business. The magnitude of the correlation indicates how strong the relationship that exists between variables is. Factors that motivate Nigerian women entrepreneurs are clearly associated with performance in SMEs sub- sectors as indicated in the table. The magnitude of this correlation is r=0.12, 0.66, 0.74 and 0.61 for family influence, psychological, financial and environmental factors respectively.
   
3. 
   The result from the testing of Hypothesis three showed that the factors that motivated Nigerian entrepreneurs (family influence, psychological, financial and environmental factors ) and the challenges they face in business exhibit moderate positive values with family factor having the highest influence of 0.55, followed by environmental factors (0.42), psychological and financial factors with values 0.39 and 0.52 respectively. The null hypothesis which stated that “motivational factors do not determine the type of challenges women entrepreneurs face in business” was rejected and alternative hypothesis retained. The finding implies that motivational factors have significant effect in the determination of challenges women entrepreneurs face in business.
   
4. 
   The coefficient result revealed that there is a positive relationship between factors that motivate women entrepreneurs and their type of business ownership. The strongest influence is the environmental factors with the value of 0.77. This was followed by family influence with the value of 0.64, then psychological and financial factors with the values of 0.55 and 0.54 respectively. The highest value of the environmental factor confirmed the results in table 61 and 62 where majority of the respondents see competition as their major challenge in business. The null hypothesis which stated that “motivational factors do not determine women entrepreneurs’ type of business ownership” was rejected and alternative hypothesis retained. The finding implies that motivational factors have significant effect in the determination of women entrepreneurs’ choice of business ownership.
   

(v) The coefficient for this study reveals a significant relationship with values of 0.52, 0.42, 0.60 and 0.39 for access to finance, family and community support, support services and government policy (environmental factors) respectively with the factors that motivate women entrepreneurs. The result in Table 69 showed that all the environmental factors have positive relationship with the women entrepreneurial motivation. The null hypothesis which states that there is no relationship between environmental factors and women entrepreneurial motivation was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. This implies that there is relationship between environmental factors and women entrepreneurial motivation.


Table 71: Summary of the Findings from the Hypotheses Formulated

Title: Motivational Patterns of Women Entrepreneurs in SMEs: A Case Study in the South West Nigeria

Hypothesis	Variables	Statistical Tool	Findings	Literature Indication
Different motivational patterns do not exist among women entrepreneurs across different industrial sectors of the South-West Nigeria.	Variables such as risk taking, pursuit of moderate goals, tolerance of ambiguity,creativity and innovation, self-confidence, self-achievement, gender discrimination, social recognition, desire for extra income, freedom and independence were used in measuring motivational factors.	Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Coefficient correlation (which measures the relationship between variables) were used in testing hypotheses one.	The result from the testing of Hypothesis one revealed a significant difference at F (3, 419) =21.958, and p<0.015. The result of this correlation coefficient revealed that positive relationship exist between different motivational patterns and different industrial sectors in the South-west Nigeria.	Literature such as Scott (1986); Fisher, Reuber and Dyke (1993); Bartol and Martin (1998); Gracle (1998); Parboteeach, (2000); Hisrich, Micheal and Shepherd, (2005), Mansor, (2005); Brunstein and Maier (2005) suggested motivational factors such as difficult conditions at place of work, role model, desire for change of life style, ‘glass ceiling’, death of spouse, divorce and desire for extra income for women entrepreneurs.
There is no significant relationship between the factors that motivate Nigerian women entrepreneurs and their performance in SMEs sub- Sectors.	Variables such as sales volume, business profitability, market, products quality, personal income, business revenue, business assets, investment in equipment, no. of employees were used in measuring performance	Chi-square and Coefficient correlation were used to test the relationship between women motivational factors and their performance in business	The result obtained from the testing of Hypothesis two revealed that there is a positive relationship between women motivational factors and their performance in business. The magnitude of this correlation is r=0.12, 0.66, 0.74 and 0.61 for family influence, psychological, financial and environmental factors respectively. The Pearson Correlation also revealed that X^2 calculated= 82.626 which is higher than X^2 tabulated.	Women entrepreneurs’ motivational factors determine their performance in their businesses. This was in support of these works; Stoner and Fry (1982); Buttner and Moore (1997); Yves et al, (2001) and Akeredolu-Ale (1975). Others authors whom the result of this work supported their work include; Shapero and Sokol (1982); Kent, Sexton and Vasper (1982); Hisrich and Brush (1986) Aldrich and Zimmer (1986); Carsrud, Gaglio and Olm (1987).
Motivational factors do not determine the challenges women entrepreneur s face in business	Variables used in measuring challenges women entrepreneurs face in business include; combining family responsibilities, lack of access to finance, lack of support from spouse, customers’ complaints, sexual harassment, lack of power supply, gender discrimination etc	Coefficient correlation was used in testing hypotheses three. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) measures the degree of linear relationship between two variables (independent and dependent).	The result from the testing of Hypothesis three showed that the factors that motivated Nigerian entrepreneurs and the challenges they face in business exhibit moderate positive values with family factor having the highest influence of 0.55, followed by environmental factors (0.42), psychological and financial factors with values 0.39 and 0.52 respectively. The highest point from family influence revealed that majority of the respondents were married and probalbily were having family problem.	Women entrepreneurs’ motivational factors determine the challenges they face in business. Literature such as Kickul, Welsch and Gundry (2001); Kuratko and Hodgetts (1995); Kutanis and Bayraktarogh (2003) argued strongly in support of this. The result of this work also supported the findings of Soetan, (1991); Finnegan and Danielsen (1997); Finnegan and Danilsen (1997); Dhaliwal (2000); Ryan and Deci (2002); Barwa (2003); Ogundele and Opeifa (2003) and Gelin (2005).
Motivational factors do not determine women entrepreneurs’ type of business ownership	Variables used in measuring choice of business ownership include; achievement of self-independence, involvement in family decision making, government support, low capital requirement, convenience, low risk involvement, improvement in quality of life.	Coefficient correlation was used in testing hypothesis four. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) measures the degree of linear relationship between two variables (independent and dependent).	The coefficient result revealed that there positive relationship between factors that motivate women entrepreneurs and their type of business ownership. The coefficient result revealed that the strongest influence is the environmental factors with the value of 0.77. This was followed by family influence with the value of 0.64, then psychological and financial factors with the values of 0.55 and 0.54 respectively. Competition was chose in Table 61 and 62 as one of the major challenges facing the women entrepreneurs under this study.	Women entrepreneurs’ motivational factors determine the type of their business ownership Phizacklea (1990); Ram (1992); Ram and Jones (1998). Allen and Truman (1988); Brush (1992), Carter and Evans-Jones (2000) argued that ‘push’ factors are more likely to be identified with women entrepreneurs in Street Based Business’ (SBB), ‘Home Based Business’ (HBB) or Corridor Based Business’ (CBB). While ‘pull’ factors are more likely to be identify with women in medium and large enterprises.
There is no significant relationship between the environmental factors and women entrepreneurial motivation.	Enviromental factorsmay include accessibility to finance, labour, market, customers, suppliers, transport, and supporting service	Coefficient correlation was used in testing hypothesis five. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) measures the degree of linear relationship between two variables (independent and dependent).	The coefficient for this study reveals a significant relationship with values of 0.52, 0.42, 0.60 and 0.39 for access to finance, family and community support, support services and government policy (environmental factors) respectively with the factors that motivate women entrepreneurs. The highest value of 0.60 indicated that there are some of the government policies that are not favourable to women entrepreneurs under this study. And second higest point on the family as a variable is an induication that a lot of them were in family-related business.	Literature such as Morris and Lewis (1991); Mansor (2005) and Familoni (2007) argued that entrepreneurial traits can be influenced by someone’s environment either negatively or positively. Environmental factors such as availability of infrastructures, training programmes, availability of finance and family support (ILO 2003). The findings however, contradicted the views of Stevenson (1986); Zellner, (1994); Greenberger and Sexton (1988); Taylor and Kosarek (1995) on this regard.