International Sociology

http://iss.sagepub.com Social Capital in Female Entrepreneurship

Nalan Yetim International Sociology 2008; 23; 864 DOI: 10.1177/0268580908095913 The online version of this article can be found at: http://iss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/6/864

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Social Capital in Female Entrepreneurship

Nalan Yetim
Mersin University

abstract: The study described in this article has three objectives. The first is to describe female entrepreneurship as a construct based on entrepreneurial personality characteristics, the properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and gender roles. The second objective is to demonstrate the differences between migrant and non-migrant female entrepreneurship in terms of the aforementioned variables as components of the construct in addition to push and pull factors and social capital. Finally, the third objective is to predict high and low levels of social capital among female entrepreneurs according to the variables present in the realm of female entrepreneurship. The research was conducted among 304 female entrepreneurs in Mersin, Turkey. The data are analysed using correlational analysis, ANOVA and logistic regression analysis. The most striking finding is the higher social capital predicted by migrant status resulting from stronger personal contacts and the sociocultural properties of their respective communities. Additionally, age, professional training and work experience were also tied to higher social capital of entrepreneurs. In contrast, non-migrant status, entrepreneurial personality characteristics and pull factors predicted lower social capital. keywords: female entrepreneur ! social capital ! social network ! Turkey

Introduction
Factors such as gender barriers, male domination, low pay, prejudice and discrimination, among others, frustrate women from trying to advance in their careers and force them to initiate their own businesses, mostly in retail and service sectors, both in developed and in developing countries. Commonly women are mired in lower-productivity occupations, which accounts for some of the female/male wage gap where women are paid less for comparable work (Mirchandani, 1999). Women in developing countries like Turkey often find lower positions in private organizations

International Sociology ! November 2008 ! Vol. 23(6): 864885 International Sociological Association SAGE (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore) DOI: 10.1177/0268580908095913

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Yetim Social Capital in Female Entrepreneurship

and their labour is often seen as unqualified compared to their male counterparts (Tabak, 1997). Most of the studies on entrepreneurship are based on male characteristics and are focused on actions that belong to male-gendered area. Only a small number of studies look closely at the female characteristics of entrepreneurship and their typical actions. It is thus a prerequisite to make precise conceptualizations of female entrepreneurship, and only by doing so can one investigate its relation to other domains like social capital and social class. This study develops a new conceptualization of female entrepreneurship by combining features of personality, sociocultural structure and gender. In the following, I describe the construct in detail and determine its interrelations with social capital resources accessed and utilized by female entrepreneurs. Initiating a business and maintaining it require extra effort for women trying to succeed in male-dominated work environments. Consequently, women will need to acquire more assets through their social networks and connections. The studies on the issue emphasize the fact that women tend to make greater use of their social networks as a source of social capital (Aldrich and Zimmer, 1986; Greve and Salaff, 2003). In particular, for migrant women or women from lower classes who start businesses to support their families (push factors), the major sources of social capital for establishing and maintaining a business are their families, relatives and the networks that they establish in their communities, also known as strong ties (Granovetter, 1985). On the other hand, for women from the middle and upper classes who initiate their businesses primarily to be independent and autonomous (pull factors), the main sources of social capital are the extended professional ties or weak ties based on colleagues, members of associations and chambers. Additionally, there may be individual reasons, such as personal ambition and motivation, or external reasons, like the struggle to survive, where women rely on their own social networks and utilize trust relations to shape these networks. Within the framework described above, the present study aims at determining the predictors of female entrepreneurs social capital. I consider female entrepreneurs networks to be different from male networks in the sense that female entrepreneurs networks are constructed through relatively more informal means, and they rely more heavily on strong connections and contacts among family members, close relatives, friends and other related community members, which are important sources of social capital for female entrepreneurs. Aldrich (1989) argues that women need to increase the diversity of their networks by adopting, like male entrepreneurs, an assertive and instrumental orientation to personal networks. Thus, Turkish female entrepreneurs also continuously construct informal networks and delegate work through those networks in order to maintain their businesses and consider these connections as major resources.
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In the first part of this study, I develop a theoretical construct of female entrepreneurship. In doing so, I refer to entrepreneurial personality characteristics, properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and gender roles. In the second part of the study, I present the data and analysis. Data were analysed using ANOVA, correlational analysis and logistic regression analysis. Finally, in the conclusion it is shown that unique aspects of Turkish culture can be found in the female entrepreneurship construct developed in this study.

Entrepreneurship, Gender and Social Capital

Entrepreneurship can be seen as a phenomenon that stems from and is nourished by different sociocultural environments and contexts. Underlying factors that lead to entrepreneurship may differ according to gender. Male and female entrepreneurship could benefit from different aspects of the social context while both may share certain other aspects. Social capital, meanwhile, refers to the resources that are derived from peoples sociocultural networks and personal ties. Main differences, in this respect, are found between the two genders in terms of using formal and informal networks.

Properties of Female Entrepreneurship: Developing a Construct

Many studies on entrepreneurship offer different definitions of the concept of entrepreneurship. Certain personality characteristics of the entrepreneurs are common in various definitions. In studies focusing on the personality characteristics, terms like creativity, competitiveness, achievement, motivation and risk taking are frequently cited (Drucker, 1974; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996; McClelland, 1961). McClelland (1986) explains entrepreneurship through the need for achievement and the demand for power. Similarly, Lumpkin and Dess (1996) propose that the necessary dimensions in entrepreneurship are competitive aggressiveness, autonomy, innovativeness and being active. Since the need for achievement and motivation are among the basic requirements of entrepreneurial activity, in order to initiate and maintain a business, women, as well as men, must possess such personality traits. There are also studies that try to establish connections between entrepreneurial characteristics and the social, cultural and economic characteristics of the regions in which they operate (Begley and Tan, 2001; Shapero and Sokol, 1982). In this context, entrepreneurship is the product of the socioeconomic and cultural structure in which the individual is situated. In studies attempting to explain the ongoing economic growth in East Asia, in particular, the social setting surrounding entrepreneurship has been
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specifically elaborated and is considered in relation to properties inherent to the social setting such as face, maintaining the prestige of the family and close acquaintances and concordance (Tan, 2002). Indeed, these properties identify the characteristics that distinguish western entrepreneurs from eastern entrepreneurs. In western societies, dominated by the individualistic cultural axis, entrepreneurship is characterized by innovativeness, individual gain and individual judgement, whereas in eastern societies it is characterized by social order, harmony and concordance, social status and the family. Interestingly, women entrepreneurs from both western and nonwestern spheres consider these features as defining themselves. Reid (2004) found that a womans well-being is predicted by self-esteem and harmony in relationships. Similarly, Ertubey (1993) indicated that Turkish women entrepreneurs value social prestige over profit, and they are more careful in their business affairs compared to males. Blackburn and Jarman (2006) argued that women are more likely to choose socially rather than economically useful occupations. These findings indicate that womens value orientations are more open to collectivistic values than those of men, and thus, the female entrepreneurship construct should include sociocultural properties like prestige, authoritativeness, cooperativeness, responsibility towards people in the social milieu, mindfulness of harmonious human relations, among others, in its definition. Entrepreneurship appears to be a field dominated by patriarchy and masculine rationality leadership, risk taking, initiative (Mullholland, 1996). Entrepreneurship also includes qualities not strongly associated with masculinity, such as powers of communication, the ability to establish informal social networks, being competent in developing relations of trust, benevolence and sharing. In a sense, entrepreneurship relates to behaviours as establishing strong relationships both within and outside the organization, convincing the parties and properly managing the relations. There is strong evidence to the effect that women are better at establishing communication and convincing others (Ufuk and Ozgen, 2001), which makes them even better at problem solving and especially in providing solutions for interpersonal problems (Eagley and Johnson, 1990). This, in turn, means that it is possible to state that some of the social sex roles of the female entrepreneurs, like good communication skills, interpersonal problem solving abilities, tolerance, altruism, caring and so on, contribute significantly to their entrepreneurial qualities. Hence, it is necessary to incorporate the gender roles in the construct of female entrepreneurship.

Push/Pull Factors of Entrepreneurship

Some researchers (Hughes, 2003) have discussed female entrepreneurs in relation to the push and pull factors. The push factors that lead women
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to establish their own enterprise include the problems of unemployment, business conditions unfavourable for women and gender discrimination, especially in paid professions. Granger et al. (1995) emphasize that women become entrepreneurs due to economic difficulties and they note that flexible employment policies and a reduction in the number of workers push women to establish their own small enterprises. In contrast, the desire for independence and self-realization, to be ones own boss, and the desire to establish a balance between business and family responsibilities are included among the factors pulling the women from traditional business affairs [or normal employment] (Cohen and Mallon, 1999). The studies conducted in the US indicate that the pull factors for the female entrepreneurs include a desire for independence and to control the decisions of the business operation (Hisrich and Brush, 1985; Scott, 1986). Hisrich and Brush (1985) found that female entrepreneurs generally come from middle- or upper-class families and they are motivated by a drive for independence. Scott (1986) also points to the gender differences in initiating a business: while men stress the desire to be their own bosses, women are concerned with personal challenges and satisfaction. In a nonwestern society, Pakistan, Shabbir and DiGregorio (1996) found that personal freedom, security and satisfaction are the primary goals of female entrepreneurs. In this context, women initiate the business on the basis of entrepreneurial objectives in general and only a few state that they are enforced to initiate a business due to gender discrimination (Hughes, 2003). There are thus pull factors as well as push factors that lead women to become entrepreneurs, and the role of such factors is employed in many studies conducted in different countries. In this study, we consider push/pull factors in relation to social class and the migration status of women. Female entrepreneurs from the middle and upper social classes have relatively fewer obstacles to setting up a business. Most of them are well educated and their family background strongly supports their enterprises, and, thus, it is true to say that it is pull factors that motivate them. On the other hand, women from lower classes and who have migrant status experience many economic problems such as low wages, discrimination and poverty. Consequently, in setting up their own business, the close ties with their community are the only possible way to overcome these problems.

The Effects of Migration and Migrant Status of Female Entrepreneurs

Migration and being a migrant have an impact on certain qualities of female entrepreneurship. Migrants develop close and intense ties in order to cope with the new social milieu. Consequently, migrant womens business
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Yetim Social Capital in Female Entrepreneurship

networks often develop around their personal networks, building on their social capital to generate mutually beneficial relationships that satisfy a combination of business and social needs. Portes (1998) argues that many migrants live and work within a close spatial network that results in establishing very close ties and strong forms of community control. Shaheena (2003) also concludes that the migrant community provides a strong foundation for social capital by means of which individuals and families are able to develop their financial and social base and, in turn, fulfil their obligations by offering support through chain migration. Members of a migrant group look inside the group for a means of support, for developing strong bonds of mutual solidarity and for enforceable trust (Portes and Jensen, 1989). This trust mechanism helps generate social capital through which resources of all types are circulated through the community (Mellahi and Wood, 2003). As a corollary, being both migrant and female strongly accentuates the role of social networks and trust relations within which entrepreneurial goals are to be achieved.

Social Capital and Female Entrepreneurship

It is possible to approach the notion of social capital from two perspectives: the relational level and societal-group level. The first perspective focuses on how individuals reach the sources of their networks and use them. For example, a person may mobilize his or her networks to find a better job or aqcuire a better status. The societal-group level is generally accepted as a kind of collective asset, which contributes and supports activities towards group integrity, solidarity and trust. With regard to social capital at the relational level, I focus on how female entrepreneurs activate their networks for accessing resources, what type of resources they access through their personal contacts and what returns they expect from their reciprocal relations. In other words, I assess the concept of social capital as networks of personal contacts and reliance on those contacts for business purposes. Thus, the notion of social capital is constructed as a network of personal contacts and trust relations that ultimately shape these contacts. Network ties are classified into one of three categories: weak, strong and multiplex ties (Carter et al., 2003). Weak ties refer to relatively formal business actors such as foundational service providers (e.g. bankers, lawyers, accountants), professional advisors (financial consultants or business consultants), trade associations, chambers of commerce or service clubs (Davidson and Honig, 2003). The informal side of business, such as support from family, relatives and close friends, and contributions from neighbours and ethnic, local and communal relationships in running or maintaining a business, is referred to as strong ties. Many combinations of formal and informal ties as in the form of fellow business owners or informal mentors
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shape multiplex ties. I discuss these formal and informal network ties within the frame of female entrepreneurship in the following section. Self-employed women have lower levels of weak-tie networking than their male counterparts (Katz and Williams, 1997). Therefore, female entrepreneurs build closer trust relationships with their informal resources, especially with their families, relatives and friends, since their networks tend not to include more formal agents and information sources. Womens lack of access to formal business networks means they create different networks from those of men (Ibarra, 1993), which can be described as an integrated network (Brush, 1992). Aldrich et al. (1989), too, describe womens networks as networks organized around spheres of work, family and social life. Similarly, Neider (1987) reports that womenowned businesses are more likely to be informally structured. Briefly, we may conclude that social capital is the sum of resources used by female entrepreneurs in the stages of initiation and maintenance of the business, and is acquired via their networks, which are shaped by reciprocal trust relations based on strong and weak ties. Thus far, I have presented my conception of female entrepreneurship and its constituents. In the next part of the study, I seek answers to such questions as whether there are essential differences between the migrant and non-migrant status of female entrepreneurship; which variables weigh more in explaining differences, if any, between the two different statuses; and whether it is possible to determine female entrepreneurs social capital on the basis of personal contacts and trust relations in their networks. Furthermore, the study aims at determining which predictors better explain the level of social capital. In the following section, I first briefly present an overview of female entrepreneurship in Turkey.

Female Entrepreneurship in Turkey

Female entrepreneurship in Turkey is influenced by the structural transformations that took place following the economic crisis of the 1970s and the structural adaptation policies offered by international financial institutes such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Prior to the adaptation of these policies, women were supposed to fulfil traditional social and economic roles that are commonly confined to the house and family duties. The low participation of women in urban economic activities was attributed to the role they played in the family, the preferences related to this role and the patriarchal relationship in the family in general (Kandiyoti, 1988). One of the strategies employed in Turkey to increase the household income has been supporting small business enterprises managed by women (Ecevit, 2000). The support for the small business entrepreneurial activities
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of women and the rise in the tendency of women to establish small businesses follows from various reasons. The first reason to initiate a small business relying their own competence is to provide an extra income for the household. The second is the rise in womens desire to work in any paid job in tandem to the decrease in the household income. However, a woman with insufficient training or inadequate skills has very little chance of finding a job. For this reason, working in her own business is considered to be a more appropriate option for a woman who wants to work but cannot find a paid job. In addition to the push factors considered earlier, there are also certain pull factors, such as the potential of women to possess more libertarian and egalitarian values. Pull factors in initiating a business apply only to a small proportion of the women in Turkey, commonly from welleducated middle- and upper-class families in metropolitan areas.

Method
Participants The fundamental problem in current studies on female entrepreneurs in Turkey accrues from the definition of the female entrepreneur, and the exact extent of the category of woman entrepreneur is still a controversial issue (Ecevit, 1993). In this study, the definition of female entrepreneurs is provided on the basis of the following characteristics:
Those who have a business established in their own name at a place other than the house; Those who work in that enterprise alone or with an employee employed by her and/or who work there as the associate owner; Those who execute the activities pertaining to the production of goods or services, who do or contract others to do the distribution, marketing and sales of those goods and services; Those who establish contact with individuals, organizations, institutions and corporations as necessary for the business on their own; Those who make their own decisions in organizing the business processes, the planning of the production of goods and services, the execution of the entrepreneurial affairs, ceasing the affairs or expanding the business; Those who have the power over the investment and use of the income earned by the business. (Ecevit, 1993) The sample used in this research consists of female entrepreneurs who meet these criteria and are registered with the Mersin Chamber of Tradespersons and Artisans.
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Mersin has an important position in the overall economy of Turkey, as it is one of the busiest ports and a free-trade zone. Mersin is also one of the pilot cities selected for the Support for Female Entrepreneurs Project implemented by the Turkish Office of the EU Commission and the Turkish Confederation of Guilds, the goal of which is to provide women with entrepreneurial skills. To this end, a Centre for Professional Education and Technology was set up in the city. The project ran for two years up to March 2004 and provided training for more than 300 female entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. The number of female entrepreneurs registered with the Mersin Chamber of Tradespersons and Artisans is 4991, as of January 2004. However, on closer inspection, one can identify a number of professions that would hardly be practised by women, which include, among others, electrical maintenance, printing/copying, logistics and furnishing. The count of such entrepreneurs is 853 in the overall list. Many women who appear to be the owner of such enterprises may actually be serving as a front or acting on behalf of a male member of the family who is the actual owner of the business. Furthermore, the work of 84 female entrepreneurs falls into the category undefined; 250 enterprises in that category have ceased to exist. Considering all this, perhaps only 3804 women of the total figure should be labelled as properly representing female entrepreneurs. A sample was formed on the basis of the weights of the sectors in which female entrepreneurs actually carry out business activities. Approximately 8 percent of the 3804 women were included in the sample (N = 304). Of these, 44 percent operated in the service sector, 51 percent in the trade sector and finally 5 percent in the production sector.

Materials A questionnaire was developed to determine the sociodemographic characteristics, entrepreneurial characteristics and social capital qualities of the women entrepreneurs in Mersin. In the first part of the questionnaire, sociodemographic questions such as age, marital status, level of education, professional experience, being migrant or not, family background, spouses occupation and the number of children were asked. In the second part of the questionnaire, there was a scale in which the respondents were asked to rate to what extent the listed qualities deemed decisive in entrepreneurial characteristics were most appropriate to themselves. The scale included 18 items defined over three dimensions: entrepreneurial personality characteristics, properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and gender roles. The entrepreneurial personality characteristics are developed on the basis of a framework drawn from the relevant theories. These include risk taking, innovativeness, creativity, independence, competitiveness and self-confidence.
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The characteristics of sociocultural entrepreneurship that are utilized in building our female entrepreneurship construct include being a prestigious person in her social environment, patronage, cooperativeness, responsibility towards the people in social milieu, mindfulness of harmonious human relations and, finally, awareness of the familys prestige. The effects of gender roles on entrepreneurship are considered a distinguishing factor for both male and female entrepreneurship. In addition to the gender roles already discussed, new feminine roles are added to the list: tolerance, altruism, caring and emotionality. The individuals rated whether those items under the three dimensions were appropriate to themselves. Moreover, entrepreneurial personality traits, characteristics of sociocultural entrepreneurship and gender roles are combined to obtain an index. The points for appropriateness (yes = 1, no = 0) for the six items per dimension are added to obtain a composite score. Accordingly, the point for each dimension ranges between 0 and 6. In the third part of the questionnaire, the factors overcoming economic difficulty, the handover of the enterprise from a female family member entrepreneur or from female in-laws, providing extra income to the family and inability to find a paid job with the expected standards are considered to be the factors pushing the women to become entrepreneurs, whereas the factors the desire to work freely, the desire to realize ones independence, the desire to be productive and the desire to balance family and business life are considered to be the factors pulling the women to become entrepreneurs. Push and pull factors rendered two distinct indices. Giving 1 point for each of the items rated by the participants, two indices within the range 04 were obtained. The fourth part of the questionnaire includes a scale comprising five questions to determine the social capital of the entrepreneurs. The social capital of female entrepreneurs scale consists of the following items: I can use relationships in my social milieu to initiate and maintain an enterprise; I have particularly good relations with other female entrepreneurs who are in the same sector; I can collaborate easily with other people when my business necessitates it; I have had support from my family, close friends and relatives in the stages of initiating and maintaining the business; I trust my family, close friends and relatives in affairs related to the business (lending, borrowing, need for liquid money, leaving the business premises when I have to do something outside); when the business necessitates it, I can establish relationships with people I had never met and trust them, in order to improve the enterprise. The participants rated each item on a scale of 15 (1: completely disagree to 5: completely agree). The construct validity of the social capital of female entrepreneurs scale was determined through a pilot study with a sample of 80 female entrepreneurs. The factor
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analysis showed that the items are under a single factor and this factor accounts for 61 percent of the variance (2 = 336.04, d.f. = 2, p < .00). The reliability of the scale is high (Cronbachs alpha = .86).

Data Analysis ANOVA, Pearsons correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis techniques are used in this study. The logistic regression analysis technique can be employed even when the basic assumptions of the linear regression model are violated (Tabachnick and Fidell, 1996). Since a significant portion of the female entrepreneurs have migrated to the province (48 percent), logistic regression analysis is employed with the idea that linearity may be violated due to the differences in cultural backgrounds of the women. This technique also permits evaluating both continuous and categorical variables together. Accordingly, to determine the two levels (high and low) of social capital of the female entrepreneurs, the five-step social capital scale is utilized. Forty-three percent of the sample formed the low social capital group while the remaining 57 percent formed the high social capital group. The mean of the distribution is 3.4 and the median is 3. The female entrepreneurs with a mean value related to social capital questions of 3.4 or above constituted the high social capital group, while those with means lower than 3.4 constituted the low social group. Procedure The research was conducted between January and June 2004. The data are obtained by the questionnaire and a face-to-face interview. In the first phase of the study, as mentioned earlier, a pilot study was conducted with a random sample of 80 female entrepreneurs, and as a consequence of the in-depth interviews with the women necessary modifications were made and the final version of the questionnaire formed accordingly. A statistics software was used to analyse the data.

Results
The Demographic Characteristics of Female Entrepreneurs The sociodemographic characteristics of the entrepreneurs are quite critical in understanding the processes of initiating the enterprise as well as its maintenance by female entrepreneurs. These demographics also play a critical role in forging the identity and cultural background of the entrepreneur. Female entrepreneurs in the middle age group of 3645 years (34.5) outnumber the younger age group of 2635 years (27.8 percent). A similar distribution of age groups is also found in other studies on women entrepreneurs in Turkey (Celebi, 1997).
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More than half of the female entrepreneurs (57.5 percent) participating in this study were born in cities. While approximately 51 percent of the women were born in Mersin, 49 percent of the women had migrated to Mersin from different provinces. About 62 percent of the women entrepreneurs who had migrated to Mersin had done so primarily due to family matters such as a fathers or husbands assignment to an official post, while 38 percent had migrated due to other reasons such as the search for work, the threat of terrorism and the need for security. When the marital status of the female entrepreneurs is considered, it is observed that 85 percent are married and 34.5 percent have two children while 36.4 percent have three children. When the educational attainment of the women entrepreneurs is considered, approximately 44 percent of them are high school graduates or hold an equivalent diploma. The proportion of university graduates is 27.5 percent. The primary school graduates constitute 18.5 percent while middle school graduates constitute 10 percent. The high proportion of high school graduates can be explained by the fact that the women who have difficulty finding a job with their high school diplomas have chosen to become entrepreneurs as a way of integrating into economic and social life.

The Effect of the Different Aspects of Female Entrepreneurship on Social Capital In order to determine the social capital in female entrepreneurship, the results of the ANOVA, correlational analysis and logistic regression analysis that show the relationship between various properties of the women and social capital are presented. Table 1 shows the ANOVA results where means of the variables are compared to the levels of status. The means between migrant and nonmigrant female entrepreneur groups differ significantly for the variables social capital, entrepreneurial personality characteristics, properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and pull factors. The means for social capital and sociocultural properties of the migrant female entrepreneurs are significantly different from those of non-migrant entrepreneurs. In contrast, the means for entrepreneurial personality characteristics and pull factors for non-migrant female entrepreneurs differ significantly from those of migrant female entrepreneurs. No significant difference is found between groups with respect to womens gender roles and push factors. Migrant women seem to hold more social capital compared to native women. The relations of solidarity and trust within this context can be transformed into social capital. The migrant women are able to utilize the strength of the strong ties that they have established as a guaranteeing factor in initiating and maintaining the business enterprise. Thus, the
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Table 1 ANOV A Results with Regard to the Residential Status Variables Social capital Entrepreneurial personality characteristics Properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship Gender roles Pull factors Push factors Migrant (N = 146) 3.8 2.7 Non-migrant (N = 158) 3.0 3.2 F(1,303) 6.74* 4.09*

3.8

2.9

7.68*

3.5 1.9 2.8

3.3 2.6 2.6

1.69 6.55* 1.47

Source: Records of Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2004). *p < .01.

properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship are well developed in migrant women. Higher entrepreneurial personality characteristics of non-migrant female entrepreneurs can be explained by the individualistic tendencies developed by these women. The women who are natives of the city exploit their group relations to a lower extent in building up their entrepreneurial activities and utilize their social networks less frequently. The means for pull factors were also higher for this group. In other words, native women are motivated by more self-directed reasons to start up their businesses than the migrant group. It is possible to state that these women develop their business processes and build up their entrepreneurial activities in accordance with a liberalist-individualistic worldview. These two groups share similar properties with respect to gender roles and push factors. When the correlations are examined with regard to migrant status, the findings show that social capital is significantly correlated with properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial personality characteristics for both migrant and non-migrant female entrepreneurs. In the migrant group, social capital is strongly correlated with properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and moderately correlated with gender roles and push factors. Social capital has a significant negative correlation with entrepreneurial personality characteristics among migrant women. For non-migrant female entrepreneurs, social capital is significantly correlated with entrepreneurial personality characteristics, properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and pull factors. For both groups, there is a significant negative correlation between entrepreneurial personality characteristics and properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship. A significant positive correlation is found between entrepreneurial personality characteristics
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Table 2 Correlations between the Variables According to the Levels of Status Variables Social capital Entrepreneurial personality characteristics Properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship Gender roles Pull factors Push factors 1 .23* .29** .11 .24** .13 2 .26** .34** .01 .21* .08 3 .62** .32** .19* .03 .05 4 .21* .24** .12 .10 .09 5 .07 .44** .05 .10 .26** 6 .20* .07 .09 .11 .25**

Source: Records of Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2004). *p < .01; **p < .00 (two-tailed). Note: Values set in bold type represent the correlations for migrant women entrepreneurs.

and pull factors, and a negative correlation is found between entrepreneurial personality characteristics and gender roles for the migrant female entrepreneur group. Significant positive correlations are observed between entrepreneurial personality characteristics and pull factors, and between properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and gender roles for the non-migrant group. There is also a significant negative correlation between pull factors and push factors for both groups. It is observed that social capital is more related to properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship in migrant and non-migrant female entrepreneurs. This situation is quite clear for migrant female entrepreneurs, and the relationship between entrepreneurial personality characteristics and social capital for this group is negative. The women who migrated to the city due to economical and political reasons or the need for social mobility after 1980, have set up their own businesses via their social group and established the networks of support that permit them to develop their own businesses within those groups. In that sense, the system of relations that stresses mutual dependence is their cause to establish their own businesses and their social capital. In this regard, the finding that the properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship are strongly related with social capital seems plausible for this group. In such a structure, the emphasis on independence, competitiveness and self-confidence can be considered to be a violation of the norms since they correspond to individualistic values. Hence, a negative correlation is observed between entrepreneurial personality characteristics based on an individualistic, liberal worldview and social capital. On the other hand, the social capital of non-migrant female entrepreneurs from middle and upper classes of urban areas in Mersin is related
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to both individualistic entrepreneurial personality characteristics and traditional-collectivistic sociocultural properties of entrepreneurs. The studies conducted at intercultural settings point out the prevalence of collectivistic tendencies in women (Hofstede, 1980). In our research, the female entrepreneurs who had grown up in the city of Mersin reflect this dual structure in a balanced manner. Their social capital and entrepreneurial personality characteristics and properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship have a significant positive relationship. The significant relationships between the gender roles that are supposed to be peculiar to women and the social capital of the migrant female entrepreneurs are remarkable. The emphasis of this structure on group relations characterized by mutual dependence, the support of this mutuality by the gender roles exhibited by migrant women and the positive relationships of these with social capital are quite natural. On the other hand, the relationships between the gender roles and social capital of female entrepreneurs from Mersin are not significant since they belong to entrepreneurial individualistic and mutually dependent structures simultaneously. There is a negative correlation between entrepreneurial personality characteristics and the properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship for both groups. Furthermore, there is a significant negative correlation between entrepreneurial personality characteristics and gender roles for the migrant female entrepreneur group. These two findings confirm my previous arguments. Non-migrant women from the middle classes who are well educated might make it a condition that most of the economical necessities are already satisfied and only then will they want to be independent and selforiented in their own businesses. Thus they might not need as much support from their informal networks as migrant female entrepreneurs do. For these reasons, their social capital is negatively correlated with pull factors. On the other hand, the migrant women will probably need the support of their informal networks. For those women, opening a business with the help of people in their groups might be the only means of finding a job for themselves. Economic necessities, problems arising from poverty and family needs force the migrant women to delegate informal networks. Finding a significant correlation between social capital and push factors for this group is not surprising. While the results of the ANOVA and correlational analysis provide a certain association between the variables, the determination of the variables themselves in predicting the properties of the social capital of the female entrepreneurs is important for this research. A direct logistical regression analysis was performed on social capital as the outcome and 10 predictors of entrepreneurial properties: personality characteristics, properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship, gender roles, education, professional
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Table 3 Logistic Regression Analysis of Social Capital Variables B Wald Significance 11.65 14.05 3.09 0.14 10.56 42.04 12.41 7.74 0.09 13.61 49.26 .004 .001 .566 .66 .001 .000 .001 .01 .77 .001 .000 R .1365 .1721 .0000 .0000 .2451 .2512 .2662 .1122 .0000 .2674 Ex. (odd ratio) 0.372 4.41 1.14 1.12 2.26 4.02 2.56 0.41 1.23 4.12

Entrepreneurial personality 0.952 characteristics Properties of sociocultural 1.392 entrepreneurship Gender roles 1.59 Education 0.42 Professional training 0.773 Work experience 1.39 Age 0.876 Pull factors 0.73 Push factors 0.21 Migrant woman entrepreneurs 0.954 Constant 18.22

Source: Records of Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2004).

training, work experience, age, pull factors, push factors and status level. The 2LL was 324.45 for the only constant model and for the full model with all 10 predictors it was 222.29. The difference between these models was 102.16 (d.f. = 12, p < .0000). It was determined that predictors classified female entrepreneurs with low social capital with an accuracy of 86.3 percent and with high social capital with an accuracy of 74.6 percent. Generally, these predictors classified the whole sample with an accuracy of 80.6 percent. These results show that predictors contribute to social capital meaningfully. When Wald values are considered, with the exception of gender roles, education and push factors, all predictors explain social capital significantly. In addition to these, when odd ratios are examined, a female entrepreneur with a high score on properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship is approximately four and a half times more likely to have a high social capital. Similarly, a migrant female entrepreneur is approximately four times more likely to be in the group with high social capital. Besides, the female entrepreneurs with more professional experience are approximately four times more likely to be in the group with high social capital. Similarly, entrepreneur women with professional training are approximately twice as likely to be in the high social capital group. The likelihood of a female entrepreneurs possessing a high social capital increases by age as much as two and half times. It should be noted that a person who becomes an entrepreneur with the help of pull factors is more likely to be in the group with low social
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capital with a probability of approximately 60 percent. Similarly, the likelihood of being in the low social capital group for female entrepreneurs with higher levels of entrepreneurial personality characteristics is approximately 63 percent. In this research, it was found that the social capital of the female entrepreneurs is predicted significantly by the properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship, social status (migrant vs non-migrant), professional experience, age, professional training, entrepreneurial personality characteristics and pull factors. Having a high social capital is firmly explained by the properties of sociocultural entrepreneurship and migration status. It is revealed that the social capital should be considered as a combination of informal social networks and trust relations within and outside the group. Thus, the results of the logistic regression analysis imply that the solidaristic, mutually dependent group relations accruing from the migrant status are related to the sociocultural properties of the female entrepreneurs. Social capital qualities may be fed by relational, collectivistic-traditional group experiences to a greater extent. It is probably due to such qualities that the solidaristic networks of East Asian communities giving priority to the family and Confucian value system have been considered as the key components of their long-term economic development (Begley and Tan, 2001; Hofstede and Bond, 1988). We should also remember that the work values of a society are forged by the specific culture of that society. In other words, the resources of social capital may vary with respect to societal culture. Studies on western cultures also conclude that the networks developed by women often comprise women (Aldrich et al., 1989) and womanhood necessitates caring for the family, children and close friends (Hughes, 2003; Williams, 2004). Hence, the feeding of the social capital of women by collectivistic tendencies appears to be a general consequence pertaining to female entrepreneurship somewhat universally. That professional experience and age can predict social capital to a higher extent is an expected result and due to several reasons. First of all, as the mean level of professional experience increases, both the social milieu of the individuals and their social networks expand, and consequently their knowledge and skills pertaining to the business increase as well. It is also expected that the number of contacts both of strong and weak ties and the depth of the relations increase with advancing age. To sum up, age and professional experience are variables that go in tandem. Undergoing professional training can increase professional skills, professional expectations and the abilities of the entrepreneurs. All these will allow a female entrepreneur to establish profitable social relations and, by using the networks actively, she increases her self-confidence, self-proficiency and establishes full control of her enterprise. After all, it
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is obvious that the female entrepreneur with an increased level of expertise and proficiency can mobilize her environment more efficiently for her own purposes. In this study, we referred to two variables in explaining low social capital, entrepreneurial personality characteristics and pull factors. As stated in the previous discussion, entrepreneurial personality characteristics are properties exhibited by the female entrepreneurs of middle- or upperclass origin and with higher educational attainment. It may be argued that the reason for this group to initiate their own enterprise lies in the effects of a division of labour based on gender and discrimination in Mersin, and a restriction of available work sectors in general. We can say that this group initiates its own enterprise for reasons such as the will to work freely, the expectation of gaining independence, the desire to be productive and balancing business and family life (pull factors). They are thus individuals who initiate their own businesses with the help of entrepreneurial personality characteristics such as risk taking, self-confidence and innovativeness. It is possible these women who have attained a certain economic and social position have more limited social networks and mobilize the resources in social networks for relatively fewer business reasons compared to the other group. The personal contacts of the nonmigrant group used to establish the business would be based less on a spirit of solidarity and trust than those of the migrant women, who rely on group relations to a higher extent.

Conclusion
The primary aim of this study was to develop a concept of female entrepreneurship as a construct, and to demonstrate its utility in the analysis of a relevant data set from Turkey. The construct also helped to distinguish between migrant and non-migrant groups as these statuses relate to entrepreneurial properties. Within the conceptual framework of female entrepreneurship, the specific predictors of social capital are determined. These predictors, at the same time, distinguish between low levels of social capital such as personality characteristics, pull factors and nonmigrant status and high levels of social capital such as sociocultural entrepreneurial properties and migrant status. The sociocultural entrepreneurial properties coincide with high social capital for female entrepreneurs. These sociocultural entrepreneurial properties automatically permit the female entrepreneurs to form informal contacts in their networks at a relational level. The role of the family of the entrepreneur in the community and of their specific culture contributes to the mobilization of the structure forming the social networks. In this context, collectivistic, mutually dependent community relations
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are the main elements effective both in female entrepreneurship and in social capital. On the other hand, the study found that women entrepreneurs with higher levels of education from the metropolitan areas of Turkey are more strongly connected to modernization and the individualistic entrepreneurial properties underlying urbanization. Individualistic personality characteristics, in accordance with the predictions of modernization in Turkey, are increasingly part of the value system. It is found that these urban women set up their enterprises for motives of independence, self-confidence and creativity, and they have less need of resources of support from mutual dependence. The social relations and group relations of women, at least those that relate to their supposed duties towards their families and children, prompt the question as to what extent their sociocultural entrepreneurial characteristics are also found in other societies and cultures. This study may be considered as a contribution towards a better understanding of women entrepreneurial characteristics in a culture that simultaneously embeds both eastern and western values. Additionally, a number of demographic variables further contributed to our understanding of the social capital of female entrepreneurs. A middleaged migrant with professional experience, especially one who has initiated the enterprise on the basis of the push factors, has higher levels of social capital. The continuities in the relational networks of female entrepreneurs and the intensification in the social networks helping them to achieve their goals can increase with time. Consequently, the age and professional experience of a female entrepreneur are also correlated with high social capital. Professional training is also a significant tool that should be used in social networks more actively to increase cooperation among women as well as to give them the initiative to launch and maintain their own enterprises. It is clear that the female entrepreneurs in Mersin, Turkey have constructed strong-ties-based social networks with close connections with family members, relatives and other women, and they have benefited from these networks as sources of their social capital. The fact that women are excluded from the male-dominated work networks and are obligated to put up with gendered work relations (Moore and Buttner, 1997; Weiler and Bernasek, 2001) means that women in both developed and developing countries are forced to set up similar kinds of networks in order to acquire extra resources for their businesses. The variables used in this study as predictors of social capital may be considered in future studies, which should be conducted with samples of female entrepreneurs in both western and non-western societies. A future study could include male entrepreneur groups and examine the gender factor in acquiring social capital on the road to entrepreneurship.
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Acknowledgements
I wish to express sincere thanks to the three anonymous referees and Melinda Millss helpful suggestions regarding an earlier version of the article.

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Biographical Note: Nalan Yetim is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Mersin, Turkey. Her primary research interests are sociology of work, gender and modernity. Address: Department of Sociology, University of Mersin, Ciftlikkoy Kampusu, 33342 Mersin, Turkey. [email: nalanyetim@mersin.edu.tr; nalanumdular@yahoo.com]

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