AN ANALYSIS OF GENDER-BASED DIFFERENCES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP’S MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS: A FIELD STUDY FOR MICRO-SCALE ENTERPRISES

Micro-scale enterprises constitute 96% of all enterprises in Turkey. In this paper, the motivational factors of entrepreneurship are quantitatively analyzed based on gender difference as a part of a project in which micro-scale enterprises in Eskisehir are explored with their socio-economic characteristics. Within the scope of the project, the data of 1769 micro-enterprises registered as members in Eskişehir chambers of commerce and artisans, were collected by a questionnaire form. A workshop was organized and opinions of the administrators of chambers of commerce and artisans were taken for the questionnaire development process. Research findings show that general profile of male entrepreneurs in Eskişehir can be defined as; 42-49 age range, graduated from primary school, with average monthly income 2000 (₤). In addition, male entrepreneurs have learned their profession predominantly in the apprenticeship process, and their basic entrepreneurial motivation is earning income. Female entrepreneurs, on the other hand, draw a different profile in some ways, such as at age range of 32-41 years, graduated from a high school and with an average monthly income of 2000 (₤). The source of vocational training and basic entrepreneurship motivation for female entrepreneurs are same as male entrepreneurs. According to the results, male and female entrepreneurs have different characteristics in terms of age range and education levels. Analysis results show that income generation is the first entrepreneurship motivational factor for both gender, male and female entrepreneurs, second entrepreneurship motivational factor for males is dynastic compliance and being independent for females. In this study, frequency analysis, cross tables, Mann-Whitney Test and CHAID analysis were used in data analysis of. The main finding of the study is that according to the Mann-Whitney Test, among the motivation factors for entrepreneurship,only dynastic compliance, valuating spare time and obtaining social status factors showed statistically meaningful differences according to the gender variable. The results of the CHAID analysis show that there is no statistically significant difference between the genders for dynastic compliance motivation factor, but there are statistically significant differences for valuating spare time and gaining social status motivations. Mikro ölçekli işletmeler, Türkiye’deki tüm işletmelerin %96’sını oluşturmaktadır. Eskişehir’deki mikro ölçekli işletmelerin, s