Reducing barriers to female entrepreneurship in Oman: does family matter?

Purpose Previous research has found that family characteristics, including family income, entrepreneurship/business experience and family size, can influence offspring’s entrepreneurial potential and perception of the barriers to entrepreneurship. This paper aims to extend this proposition to women in Oman to determine whether family income, entrepreneurship/business experience and family size influence women’s perception of barriers to entrepreneurship Design/methodology/approach This study is based on primary data that was collected through a structured questionnaire from 123 female respondents at an Omani private university. The data was analysed using PCA, correlation and regression analysis to determine the influence of the family characteristic on the perception of barriers to entrepreneurship. Findings The findings concluded that the three family characteristics being tested were not able to predict a change in the perception of barriers to entrepreneurship. This contradicts previous research conducted in Western contexts and highlights the potential weakness in family support for female entrepreneurship in Oman. Originality/value These results challenge some of the extant findings in the literature, thus enriching the current perspectives on female entrepreneurship and the impact of Omani family characteristics, in terms of income, economic background and family size, on the perception of barriers that hinder entrepreneurship among female students