Investigating Women’s Entrepreneurial Intention: The Moderating Role of Family Support

Abstract

ABSTRACT The goal of this article is to investigate factors affecting the entrepreneurial intentions of women in Pakistan. In doing so, the article also seeks to understand the relation between family support and the entrepreneurial intentions of women. Data was collected through a survey questionnaire of 498 women in Karachi, Pakistan, through the convenience sampling technique. The study applied structural equation modeling to analyze proposed hypotheses. It is argued that attitude, subjective norms, and work role identity positively influence the entrepreneurial intentions of women, while perceived behavioral control and opportunity identification have a smaller influence, and family role identity has a negative influence. Family support positively moderates the relationship between attitude, opportunity identification, work role identity, and entrepreneurial intent. These findings suggest more effective policies and programs promoting entrepreneurship are needed. Furthermore, the study incorporates the theory of planned behavior and several other variables to better understand the factors affecting the entrepreneurial intent of women, who have never been studied under this model. Keywords: Theory of planned behavior, Opportunity identification, Role identity, Family support, Female entrepreneurship, Pakistan.