Do different determinants affect differently across gender and location in handloom entrepreneurship development?

Abstract

Based on the primary data collected from 471 respondents, this paper analyses the determinants of entrepreneurship developments in the handloom industry in Assam separately for male versus female, and rural versus urban respondents. Work experience has a positive influence in the female entrepreneurship development while distance to the nearest business center has a negative influence. The gender effect is nullified in both the rural and urban entrepreneurship development. Work experience and education play a crucial role in entrepreneurship development in the rural areas compared to that in the urban areas. The study suggests for the development of rural handloom markets which will further develop the handloom micro-entrepreneurship.

Sur la base des données préliminaires sur 471 répondants, cet article analyse les déterminants du développement de l'esprit d'entreprise dans l'industrie des tissus artisanaux dans l'État d'Assam, séparément pour les répondants masculins et féminins, et pour les zones rurales et urbaines. L'expérience professionnelle s'est révélée comme facteur d'influence positif sur le développement de l'esprit d'entreprise chez les femmes, tandis que la distance à parcourir jusqu'au plus proche centre d'affaires avait une influence négative. L'impact du genre est annulé en ce qui concerne le développement de l'esprit d'entreprise, aussi bien en zone rurale qu'en zone urbaine. L'expérience professionnelle et le niveau d'éducation jouent un rôle crucial dans le développement de l'esprit d'entreprise dans les zones rurales, comparativement à celui des zones urbaines. L'étude suggère que le développement de marchés des tissus artisanaux dans les zones rurales renforcera celui du micro-entreprenariat dans ce domaine.

Keywords:

• entrepreneurship development
• handloom
• male and female
• rural and urban

Mots-clés:

• Développement de l'esprit d'entreprise
• tissage artisanal
• masculin et féminin
• rural et urbain

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The word ‘Handloom’ derives its meaning from the process of operation by hand of a country-made wooden structure called ‘Loom’ (Rao 1991).

2. The states with higher proportion of male handloom workers are Uttar Pradesh (50%), Andhra Pradesh (49%), Tamil Nadu (47%), and Karnataka (46%) (NCAER 2010).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alin Borah Bortamuly

Alin Borah Bortamuly is presently working as a consultant, destination. Her research interest is development economics.

Kishor Goswami

Kishor Goswami is presently working as an associate professor of economics in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur. His research interest is development and agricultural economics.

Bhabesh Hazarika

Bhabesh Hazarika is a research scholar in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur. His research interest is development economics.

Kalpana Handique

Kalpana Handique is a research scholar in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur. Her research interest is development economics.