Abstract

In Egypt, women's total early-stage entrepreneurial activity is 3.7% out of female adult population coupled with one of the world's lowest women's economic participation rate. As the government is no longer the haven for women's jobs and the private sector is not filling the void, promoting entrepreneurship amongst women can prove effective in creating employment opportunities as well as empowering women with financial and social autonomy to allow them to become equal decision maker within the family and or household. In this research, the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intention among non-entrepreneurs was investigated. The research shed light on the possible reasons of why women are less likely to start their own business compared to men. There is a body of literature that argues that the perceptual factors, namely self-efficacy, fear of failure, ability to recognize opportunities, and knowing an entrepreneur, might be the answer. Therefore, this thesis established a mediation analysis using a nationally representative sample data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in Egypt from 2008 to 2015 to investigate if perceptual factors mediate the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intention. This study validated the hypotheses among the non-entrepreneurs showing that the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and gender is mediated by the perceptual factors investigated in this thesis.

Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Degree Name

MA in Public Policy

Graduation Date

6-1-2018

Submission Date

February 2018

First Advisor

Barsoum, Ghada

Committee Member 1

Khadr, Zeinab

Committee Member 2

Ali, Hamid

Extent

70 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

Comments

To my Mother: You are the reason of my mere existence. Thank you for your kindness, love and patience, I wouldn’t have gone so far without you. To my sister Gigi: I consider myself lucky to have you as my sister, my mother and my friend; you are Dad's voice when I need it. My brother Omar, my oldest friend and the person who is always there for me no matter what. My beautiful family, thank you. To Hazem, my soulmate and backbone, I consider myself the luckiest person on earth that I have met you and I will cherish you forever after. To Yousef Jameel GAPP Public Leadership Program, thank you for generosity and believing in me, and for your indefinite support. I would like to thank namely the one and only Dr. Laila Elbaradie, Mrs. Amira El-Biltagy and Mrs. Iman Nabil. I would like to also thank School of GAPP for exerting every effort in supporting me through the journey. I would like to thank namely Dr. Shahjahan Bhuiyan and Mrs. Mariez Wasfi To my advisor, Dr. Ghada Barsoum, you were the voice of persistence when I couldn’t find it in myself. Thank you for your guidance and for your support from start to finish. I would like to express my gratitude to my readers and mentors Dr. Zeinab Khadr and Dr. Hamid Ali. To my friends, who stood by me in the darkest times, I’m forever grateful. I would like to namely thank my childhood friends Alaa Sameer and Eman El-Labbad. To my best friends Nada Baher, Basem Wagdy, and Ola Baher: Thank you for always having my back. To my favorite family in the world, to my big brother Nima Shirazi, my sister from another mother Natasha Shirazi, my god son Leo Ray and baby sister Ellie Nora: Thank you for always being there for me. I’m forever grateful to Rana Rizk and Deana Orieby for their support during my final steps. Last few months I have been lucky to be loved and pampered by old and new friends and colleagues: Dr. Mona Mowafi, Sarah El-Nashar, Yomna Emad, Jaylan El-Shazly, Noran Abdo, Sally Mansour and Engi Gamaleldin. This work and this phase of my life would not have be possible without the direct and indirect influence Mr. Bassem Sabry, God rests his soul, had on my life, he continues to shower me with kindness even after he left our world. Last but not least, I would to thank Yasmin Fahim, Dina Abdallah, Mostafa Adel, Mahmoud El-Refai, Nada Awaga, Ahmed Zaki, Amani Gamaleldin, Soha Hany, Sherif Saleh, Magdy Maurice, Adel Ahmed, and Mireille Aziz. I would be forever grateful to my professors, Dr. Khaled Amin Zakaria, Dr. Amira El-Haddad, and Dr. Hisham Wahby for always pushing me forward. Thanks to Dr. Ayman Ismail, Seham Ghalwash for providing GEM Data 2015 and for Dr. Hala Hattab for her guidance and previous work collecting GEM data for Egypt.

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