When does market hostility curtail competitive performance through diminished entrepreneurial efforts? Buffering effects of women entrepreneurs’ family business support

Abstract

Abstract: This article investigates the mediating role of women entrepreneurs’ reluctance to adopt an entrepreneurial strategic posture in the negative relationship between their perceptions of market hostility and competitive performance. It also notes a potential buffering role of family business support. According to survey data collected among women entrepreneurs in Ireland, beliefs about unfriendly competitive environments undermine business success, because these entrepreneurs refrain from pursuing entrepreneurial business activities. This mediating role is less prominent for women entrepreneurs who can count on family members who help them with their business. For entrepreneurship stakeholders, this study specifies a key mechanism—namely, a preference for conservative instead of entrepreneurial strategic approaches—by which ruminations about adverse market conditions translate into strategic choices that undermine firm performance. Yet it offers some good news too, in showing that this harmful process can be subdued by the presence of adequate family support.