Effects of Female Entrepreneurship on Sustainable Development Goals: The Moderating Role of Gender Gap

Josefina Fernández-Guadaño; M. Carmen Ruiz-Jiménez; Elena Melía-Martí

doi:10.5755/j01.ee.36.5.37474

Authors

Josefina Fernández-Guadaño Financial and Accounting Department, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8704-1486
M. Carmen Ruiz-Jiménez University of Jaen, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8912-1997
Elena Melía-Martí 3Business Management Research Centre (CEGEA), Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0417-2139

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.36.5.37474

Keywords:

Female Entrepreneurship, Women, Social SDG, Economic SDG, Environmental SDG, Structural Equations Model (SEM), Gender Gap

Abstract

Female Entrepreneurship (FE) is discussed and examined for its potential to support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recent economic literature has recognized that the contribution of FE to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda is a domain still scarcely explored. The aim of this study is to analyze if FE has a positive impact on Social, Economic and Environmental Development Goals. Our premise is that these impacts are negatively moderated by Gender Gap. To achieve this objective, the research conducts an empirical cross-country analysis with the Structural Equations Model (SEM) for 76 countries worldwide using different databases such as the SDG Index, FE Index, and Global Gender Gap Index, all of which are open access. Our findings show positive and significant effects of FE on social, economic and environmental development. Moreover, the Gender Gap plays a negative and significant moderating role in Environmental Development Goals. Although other studies have proven the relationship between female entrepreneurship and economic, social or environmental sustainability, the integration of all of them into a single model gives rigor to our results. Moreover, it is the first to include the moderating role of the gender gap in this relationship. Policymakers, business leaders and communities should work together to create an environment encouraging and supporting FE, and reducing the gender gap, for the positive consequences that this can have in the form of greater impact of FE on environmental sustainable development.

Author Biographies

Josefina Fernández-Guadaño, Financial and Accounting Department, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Josefina Fernández-Guadaño is an Associate Professor at the Accounting and Finance Department in the Faculty of Economic and Business Administration at the Complutense University. She is Editor-in-Chief of REVESCO, Review of Cooperative Studies. Her research interests include corporate finance, social entrepreneurship, and gender diversity.
M. Carmen Ruiz-Jiménez, University of Jaen, Spain

M.Carmen Ruiz-Jiménez is an Associate Professor at the Department of Business Organization, University of Jaén. She holds a PhD in Business Administration from that university. Her main research interests are focused on: Social Economy and cooperative organizations, gender diversity, family businesses, and teaching innovation in the university environment.
Elena Melía-Martí, 3Business Management Research Centre (CEGEA), Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain

Elena Meliá-Martí holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and is a professor at that University. She is the Director of the Department of Economics and Social Sciences. She is also the Director and chair of business integration of agri-food cooperatives at the Valencian government's Regional Ministry of Agriculture. She is responsible for the Center for Agricultural Economics and Cooperativism Research Group at the Center for Research and Specialization in Agri-Food Business Management (CEGEA), attached to that University. She conducts her research in agri-food economics, gender, and, in particular, social economics and agricultural associations.