Title: Innovation and growth ambition of female entrepreneurs: a comparison between the MENA region and the rest of the world

Authors: Mehrzad Saeedikiya; Zeynab Aeeni

Addresses: Faculty of Political, Economic and Social Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: The aim of the current paper was to compare the regional differences in innovation and the resulting growth expectation among female entrepreneurs in the MENA region as compared with the rest of the world. Data on innovation and growth aspirations of 162,752 female entrepreneurs in 109 countries was extracted from GEM annual surveys in 2002-2016. A hierarchical linear modelling technique was used to analyse the data. Interestingly, results indicated that female entrepreneurs in the MENA region are more innovative than their peers in the rest of the world; however, there is no difference between the MENA female entrepreneurs and their counterparts in the rest of the world in terms of growth ambitions and benefiting from innovation for growth. Innovation was found to be positively related to shaping growth ambitions in female entrepreneurs.

Keywords: female entrepreneurs; MENA region; innovation; growth expectation.

DOI: 10.1504/MJCCM.2020.112231

MENA Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 2020 Vol.1 No.1, pp.7 - 19

Received: 30 Apr 2019
Accepted: 28 Dec 2019
Published online: 05 Jan 2021 *