There is an increased focus on female entrepreneurship globally in light of tangible evidence of the significance of new business creation for economic growth and development (Bergmann, Müller & Schrettle 2014; Jamali 2009; Langowitz & Minniti 2007; Lock & Lawton-Smith 2016). Besides the contribution to economic growth and job creation, female entrepreneurs augment the diversity of entrepreneurship of any economy (Huarng, Mas-Tur & Yu 2012; Reed, Storrud-Barnes & Jessup 2012) in addition to making inroads into female expression, fulfilment (Bahmani, Sotos & García 2012; Huarng et al. 2012), agency, emancipation and empowerment (Goss et al. 2011; Ramadani, Hisrich & Gërguri-Rashiti 2015). As female entrepreneurship talent and potential remain poorly tapped in many contexts, there remains a great deal of benefit to be leveraged (Baughn, Chua & Neupert 2006; Ramadani et al. 2015).

Studies of female entrepreneurs in developing countries (particularly black female entrepreneurs) are still relatively few compared to those in developed countries (Brush & Cooper 2012; Link & Strong 2016). This is possibly because, historically, most entrepreneurs in the formal sector have been male (Saridakis, Marlow & Storey 2014), and an awareness of the importance of female entrepreneurship has only relatively recently been highlighted (Moses et al. 2016). This lack of visibility is of concern, as female entrepreneurs in developing countries may follow an entrepreneurial path that differs from that of the developed countries because of sociocultural factors (Baah, Amani & Abass 2015; Mboko & Smith-Hunter 2009). For example, in Pakistan, a patriarchal society like Zimbabwe, many women choose entrepreneurship over formal employment for flexibility as a coping mechanism to meet family and community obligations in addition to being economically active (Rehman & Azam-Roomi 2012). In many countries, sociocultural factors do not act in favour of women, where their traditional role is subordination to men, often in patronising relationships in which the woman’s place is in the home rather than the workplace (Hechavarria & Ingram 2016; Yusuf 2013).

Approximately 52% of the population of Zimbabwe are women (ZimStat 2012). They are therefore potentially major participants in Zimbabwe’s economy by virtue of their number. Whilst some studies on female entrepreneurs have been completed in Zimbabwe (Chitsike 2000; Mboko & Smith-Hunter 2009; Nani 2013; Nyamwanza et al. 2012; Van Eerdewijk & Mugadza 2015), there is limited knowledge about the role of culture and social structure on female entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurship in this particular context. In this study, it has been assumed that studies conducted in other parts of Southern Africa may have some relevance. Zimbabwean women had an especially torrid time during the 2007–2009 period of hyperinflation (Siziba 2010) and many of them elected the daily income of the entrepreneurial option, as it was impossible to survive with inflation at 231 million percent and price increases at least three times per day. Thus, the primary entrepreneurial motivation relates to ‘push factors’ as articulated by Ramadani et al. (2015), and therefore fits into necessity, rather than opportunity, entrepreneurship. This is in line with other reports about transitioning and developing economies (Maden 2015).

Furthermore, studies on how the challenges experienced by female entrepreneurs could be overcome, worked around or turned into enablers are under-researched in Zimbabwe. The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of how female entrepreneurs in a patriarchal African society can work within cultural constraints to achieve success within their own terms of reference.

Zimbabwe is a patriarchal society, with men having more (social) rights to ownership of resources and decision-making authority (Matondi 2013). This is despite a great deal of legislation around women’s rights having been embedded into the 2013 Constitution (Gaidzanwa 2016), which has resulted in a female representation in parliament of 33%. Thus, many of the determinants of female entrepreneurship lie in the interaction of micro-individual, meso- and macro-level factors (Baughn et al. 2006; De Bruin, Brush & Welter 2007; Henry et al. 2015; Lock & Lawton-Smith 2016). The interconnectedness of these factors can be detected even in making distinctions between these levels (De Bruin et al. 2007). The way that the embeddedness and context specificity shape the experience of female entrepreneurship (Langevang et al. 2015) appears to have been underestimated (Van Eerdewijk & Mugadza 2015). Fayolle et al. (2015) reached a similar conclusion to De Bruin et al. (2007), who suggested that existing theoretical debates overlook possible gender disparities in entrepreneurship, which points to the value of harmonising diverse views on female entrepreneurship in different contexts.

As Mboko and Smith-Hunter (2009) note, some entrepreneurial behaviour can be attributed to environmental factors. An integrated approach that is sensitive to the differential effect of micro-, meso- and macro-level factors will facilitate the study of female entrepreneurs (ILO 2009). An adaptation of the relational framework suggested by Syed and Ozbilgin (2009) and reinforced by Henry et al. (2015) is proposed as the basic theoretical framework for this study, with the incorporation of Hofstede’s six and the nine GLOBE (Ozgen 2012) dimensions of culture (Figure 1).

The national context includes structural and institutional conditions, including social ideologies, education, socio-political factors, legal frameworks and religious dogma; it is the all-inclusive area inside which all others exist (Henry et al. 2015; Syed & Ozbilgin 2009). For this study, the outer circle represents a single component of Syed and Ozbilgin’s model, that of national cultural dimensions. The meso-level involves both organisational and social practices that intercede between employment opportunities based on individual capabilities and contextual circumstances (Bullough, Renko & Abdelzaher 2014; Syed & Ozbilgin 2009). This level, which includes policy frameworks, has been very favourable towards women in Zimbabwe in the past 10 years or so, at least in leadership and management positions because of legislation specifically geared towards getting women (particularly black women) into senior positions in organisations (Booysen & Nkomo 2010; Gaidzanwa 2016). However, this does not necessarily translate into favourable entrepreneurial conditions because of societal influences and micro-level gendered behavioural expectations; Vossenberg (2013:2) surmised that:

The micro-individual domain includes factors like individual agency, motivation, and identity, and influences individual capabilities and opportunities. At this level, family (nuclear and extended) plays a significant role, together with other social contacts.

The characterisation of different levels of analysis as interdependent and inter-related implies that entrepreneurship is socially (meso-level) and historically (macro-level) embedded, but also at the micro-level, individually constructed and negotiated (Jamali 2009). It is in this context that the research explores female entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe, using an adapted relational multilevel framework design.

Research suggests that cultural context can shape entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions (Shinnar, Giacomin & Janssen 2012), particularly in the early stages (Zhao, Li & Rauch 2012) and less so in established ventures. This implies that knowing how culture shapes entrepreneurial intentions could be useful to understanding the gender gap in entrepreneurship and possibly for identifying strategies to reduce it. A definition of what constitutes culture is necessary at this juncture. A UNESCO declaration (2001:4) states that:

This definition is not dissimilar to that of Hofstede (2011:3), who offers, ‘culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes members of one group or society from those of another’.

Accordingly, culture is, therefore, a combination of social practices, traditions and beliefs that influence the mindset of individuals, groups and nations (Baah et al. 2015; Hofstede 2011; Liyanage, Dale & Dulaimi 2016). A culture informed by the underlying value systems that are unique to a group or society and that motivate individuals to behave in certain ways, such as when starting a new business (Stephan & Pathak 2016).

Concerning gender relations, cultural and social traditions help influence who becomes an entrepreneur (Espíritu-Olmos & Sastre-Castillo 2012). For instance, social circumstances in some countries restrain women from starting their own businesses (World Bank 2014) and shape social gender roles and stereotypes in terms of occupations considered suitable for women (Azmat & Fujimoto 2016; Maden 2015), such as personal services (e.g. beauty salons and child care), web design, education and retail.

In Zimbabwe, the prevalence of gender-based discrimination is still a predicament for female entrepreneurs (Mutanana & Bukaliya 2015). Before 1980, females were considered to be minors, with no acknowledgement of their role in the overall development of the country. This situation changed in 1982, with the inception of the Legal Age of Majority Act (1982). Whilst the law (at the meso-level) now recognises women as adults, cultural barriers still exist, and these negate the intended use of this law (Chitsike 2000). Traditionally and informally, in Zimbabwe, women are perceived as inferior to men irrespective of their age or educational status (Booysen & Nkomo 2010). Evidence from other patriarchal countries (Azmat 2013; Maden 2015) also suggests that women are expected to be subservient, supportive and submissive. It is easy to see that these conventional feminine qualities are in direct conflict with the more masculine cultural indicators required for a traditionally defined entrepreneur and required to succeed in business (Hechavarria & Ingram 2016).

In addition, for traditional patriarchal reasons, women are not readily accepted as entrepreneurs running and managing an enterprise (Van Eerdewijk & Mugadza 2015). The patriarchal system of social structures and practices allows men to dominate, oppress and exploit women (Hechavarria & Ingram 2016; Shinnar et al. 2012), negatively affecting women’s self-assurance and achievement motivation, and contributing to barriers to female entrepreneurial success. A woman is typically not expected to make economic decisions such as opening a business of her own. Those who make it find it difficult to circumvent cultural barriers (Ewoh 2014). In a way, women’s subconscious resistance to taking opportunities is embedded in their upbringing (Brush, De Bruin & Welter 2009; Fayolle et al. 2015).

Amoako-Kwakye (2012) and Azmat (2013) suggest that the patriarchal society expects women to be both producers and reproducers, carrying a double load of full-time work and domestic responsibilities. Social structures rather than individuals are made responsible for this systematic oppression. The indications of this systematic censorship can be observed in women’s unequal opportunities to enjoy rights, goods, and resources (Rubio-Bañón & Esteban-Lloret 2016; Shinnar et al. 2012).

The greatest barrier for female entrepreneurs in developing countries is to overcome resistance from family (Sätre 2016) and prevailing cultural conditions (McKay 2001; Shinnar et al. 2012). According to Amoako-Kwakye (2012), women usually rely upon family support to get time for the business, but that the needs of extended family and the robust tradition of co-operation and reciprocity place an enormous burden on women to help relatives. McGowan et al. (2012) found that firms owned by women were at a commercial disadvantage because of pressures on them to prioritise family responsibilities over their entrepreneurial career. As a result, they were often discriminated against when applying for finance, seeking resources or getting permissions (Amin 2016). Nyamwanza et al. (2012) had observed that female entrepreneurs’ businesses in Gweru, Zimbabwe, were both smaller and grew much more slowly than those of their male counterparts, possibly attributable to cultural barriers.

Women have shown that they can overcome challenges arising from cultural context, and they should therefore not be seen as ‘victims’ in an inflexible system with little or no power over their lives (Ezzedeen & Zikic 2015). Female entrepreneurs are drawing on their cultural attributes such as the importance of family and community, hard work, thriftiness, religious beliefs and conformity to social ethics in their entrepreneurial activities (Dhaliwal, Scott & Hussain 2010; Leung 2011).

The cultural dimensions, proposed by Hofstede (2011) and extended in the GLOBE study (Ozgen 2012), have been analysed and studied further by various authors, including in the GEM research, which is updated annually (Bosma 2013). A note of caution is that questions have been raised about the validity of Hofstede’s VSM94 questionnaire in South Africa (Kruger & Roodt 2003), which may apply to other Southern African nations such as Zimbabwe. In addition, Zhao et al. (2012) have pointed out that various empirical results investigating the relationship between culture and entrepreneurship are contradictory (as seen in the points below), which they posit may be at least partly due to GDP as a moderating factor, and that the effects of culture on female entrepreneurship differs whether the venture is early stage or established. Thus, it is quite difficult to draw definitive conclusions from the literature about the cultural dimensions in Zimbabwe.

In the section below, the descriptions of each dimension are drawn from Ozgen (2012). Based on these studies, the following outline of the dimensions as they apply to entrepreneurs in various developing countries is given, although still inconclusive because of paucity of data about individual African countries, particularly split by gender:

Hechavarria and Ingram (2016) recently pointed out that the cultural dimensions of high power distance, high assertiveness and high inequality are strongly associated with gender issues in entrepreneurship, so it is difficult to discuss the dimensions as being fully independent of one another.

An interpretive, qualitative research design was chosen to facilitate understanding of culture and its effects on female entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe. The philosophical worldview used to guide this study is social constructivism, which highlights the distinctiveness of situational and contextual depth (Hay 2016).

The backdrop against which this study was carried out was turbulent for Zimbabwean women seeking emancipation. In the decade after independence in Zimbabwe (1980), the government appeared to be working towards formulating policies to address discrimination against women, but the many women’s groups that had formed for support, empowerment and development (Van Eerdewijk & Mugadza 2015) became frustrated with the direction and pace of change. Although policies have become more liberal in terms of women’s rights, there is still much change needed in day-to-day exchanges that reveal the cultural inequality plaguing Zimbabwean women. The economic situation in Zimbabwe has continued to worsen since independence, and today the country ranks 125 out of 140 countries on the Global Competitiveness Index (Schwab 2015) and ranks last in the world in the availability of basic requirements.

Ethics approval was obtained from the University of the Witwatersrand Non-medical Ethics Committee #R14/49.

Whilst the research is on the female entrepreneurs’ experiences as they transitioned to the formal economy, an issue that came to the fore was the historical and cultural context in which they were embedded.

The foremost cultural factors that emerged from the analysis were: dedication to work, (to deliver a ‘double workload’ (Azmat & Fujimoto 2016:19), conformity to social value patterns, dependability, thrift and reliance on family values, which helped to explain their priorities, choices and behaviour (Watts et al. 2007). Perceptions of the role of cultural factors in moderating their values and behaviour determined whether these factors acted as enablers or barriers to success (Azmat 2013; Dhaliwal et al. 2010).

Gender-differentiated cultural studies focusing on black female entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe are scarce, although there are some reports. It is evident that the cultural dimensions, described by Hofstede (2011) and expanded in the GLOBE studies (Ozgen 2012), do play a role in female entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe, although it would be beneficial to conduct research into the cultural profiles of a greater number of specific African countries, taking gender into account. It is evident from the literature that, although there are some commonalities between African countries and between developing countries, specific contexts vary considerably, and these affect the ways in which cultural variables are perceived and handled.

Women entrepreneurs’ identities were initially disenfranchised as they were shackled by patriarchy, inequality and high power distance. This identity is not static and changed with changing circumstances, that is, it is constantly being reconstructed. Identities are linked with the different social roles (e.g. public vs. private) that women entrepreneurs must play, and these identities interact with one another. Public identities incorporate the entrepreneurial identity, including those linked with previous occupational experiences, with entrepreneurial activity of the enterprise, community roles and occupational gender related issues. Private identities include childhood experiences and family roles such as those of mother and wife. It is also evident that, although the vast majority of the women willingly demonstrate adherence to the cultural expectations of a patriarchal society, they nonetheless can display characteristics of assertiveness, PO and long-term orientation when running their businesses; however, they do this in such a way as to never emasculate their male partner. In this way, they work around the barriers to entrepreneurship of the cultural norms and use them to their advantage where possible, for example, to raise funding (Azmat 2013), in addition to demonstrating (even covertly) atypical cultural attributes.

Thus, despite the attempts to empower Zimbabwean women at the meso-level in terms of policies, the cultural norms at the macro-level still influence behaviours at the micro-level. However, Zimbabwean women have balanced their dual roles by shifting identity roles as required, enabling them to reconcile the inherent contradictions therein.

Importantly, these women view entrepreneurship as self-fulfilling, allowing them the flexibility and freedom to balance work and family obligations, whilst earning an income to better the lives of their families and the community.