Factors Affecting Omani Women Entrepreneurs: An Exploratory Study

The provided assignment content discusses various factors affecting women entrepreneurs, including education, family support, and societal barriers. The articles and studies examined highlight the importance of education and training in enhancing entrepreneurial skills and self-efficacy among women. Additionally, the impact of family obligations, male dominance, and societal hostility on women's entrepreneurship is also explored. The questionnaire provided seeks to gather information from Omani women entrepreneurs regarding the factors that affect their businesses, including lack of support, financial constraints, and regulatory issues.

Running Head: WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
Research Proposal
Factors Affecting Omani Women Entrepreneur In Muscat in Establishing Their Businesses
Student Name:
Student ID:
Course Name:
University Name:

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
1
Abstract
Women entrepreneurship activities is one of the driving force of economic, community and
nation development. Women in some part of the world are still left behind in the
entrepreneurship activities due to some barriers such as family support, capital and
background knowledge which stands as the stumbling blocks preventing the from taking part
in entrepreneurship activities. The scope of this research focuses primarily on the barriers
that are affecting entrepreneur women in establishing their businesses in Muscat. There are
various mediating factors affecting entrepreneur women in establishing their business in
Muscat. The literature review of this study indicates that more efforts are needed to help and
encourage and support women to be entrepreneur.
KEYWORD: Women, Entrepreneur, Support, Barriers, Knowledge

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
2
Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................4
1.1 Background of Study........................................................................................................4
1.2. Statement of Problem......................................................................................................6
1.3 Objectives of Study..........................................................................................................6
1.4 Research Question............................................................................................................7
1.5 Research Hypothesis........................................................................................................7
1.6 Significance of the study..................................................................................................8
1.7 Scope of the Study...........................................................................................................8
1.8 Limitation of Study..........................................................................................................8
1.9 Summary..........................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Literature Review...................................................................................................10
2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................10
2.2 Women entrepreneurship...............................................................................................10
2.3 Gender in entrepreneurship............................................................................................12
2.4 Lack of family support and women entrepreneurship....................................................13
2.5 Capital in Entrepreneurship............................................................................................14
2.6 Educational Background and women entrepreneurship.................................................15
2.7 The Arab World outlook on Women’s Involvement in Business..................................15
2.8 Theory of Entrepreneurship...........................................................................................16
2.9 Conceptual Framework..................................................................................................17
2.10 Summary......................................................................................................................18
Chapter 3: Research Methodology...........................................................................................19
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................19
3.2 Research Framework......................................................................................................19

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
3
3.3 Research Design.............................................................................................................19
3.4 Population......................................................................................................................20
3.5 Organization of Study....................................................................................................20
3.6 Research Instrument.......................................................................................................20
3.7 Data Collection...............................................................................................................21
3.8 Data Analysis.................................................................................................................21
3.9 Research Instrument Validity and Reliability Test........................................................22
3.10 Ethical Consideration...................................................................................................22
References................................................................................................................................23
Appendix..................................................................................................................................27

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
4
Chapter 1: Introduction
This paper is concerned with understanding the barriers that are affecting entrepreneur
women on establishing their business in Muscat.
1.1 Background of Study
There are various barriers that have been identify in Oman that are affecting entrepreneur
women on establishing their business in Muscat, barriers such as Educational background,
Business ideas, ICT knowledge, family support and capital . Many of the local women are
affected by having no knowledge of business. Having little knowledge of business is one of
the major factors which make it difficult for women to acquire capital to establish businesses.
Educational background on the other hand is a major factor because if how business is
established and run these days is considered, then it can be found that it is needed to be well
educated to make business successful. Education in terms of business idea, business
knowledge on bookkeeping and recording, advertisement, sale, spending and many more is
required for operating successful business. A good business woman needs to have good
leadership skill. Apart from being educated, innovative technologies are now being used to
promote businesses around the globe today. Entrepreneur women should possess a good skill
of computer knowledge. According to Montanye (2006), entrepreneurship is considered as a
factor of production, linked to innovation and risk taking, where entrepreneurial
compensations are tied to uncertainty and profits. It can also be understood that traditionally,
entrepreneurship has been a male-dominated field. Moreover, several of today's most
impressive and rousing entrepreneurs are women globally, but in Muscat, it is not the same
story. It can be seen that majority of women are not oriented towards entrepreneurship. The
people of Oman understand that women are better as house wives. Therefore, most women
who want to venture into business do not get adequate support from family. It is true that

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
5
women have broken down the glass ceiling of traditional thought that long prevailed around
the globe and have emerged as successful entrepreneurs. Women are increasingly becoming
conscious of their existence, their rights, their work situations and their role in the society.
There have been many promises from the Omani government to make certain changes to help
the Omani women with support in establishing their own businesses. According to Weeks
(2009), the long term development strategy, “Vision 2020”, adopted by Oman has provided
an encouraging environment for women entrepreneurs to participate and contribute towards
this effect. Availability of education as mentioned earlier is one of the major factor to train
and make aware the Omani women to start their own business. Oman has a significant
number of women entrepreneurs in the male dominated Arab society. Women-owned
businesses are on the rise, but not as expected. Omani government should understand that
women entrepreneurship represents a vast untapped source of innovation, job creation and
economic growth in the developing world. Omani women need to realize their strength,
weakness, opportunities and threats and move forward to come out of their own shell in order
to achieve their goals through self-development and with the full support from the family,
government, and other stakeholders. The education is a major key that the researcher will like
to encourage the Omani women in Muscat to acquire. Knowledge in the field of Business
Administration, Commerce, Business Accounting, Economics, Public Policy, Bookkeeping
and Information Technology can help in increasing the numbers of Omani women
entrepreneur in Muscat. These can be able to enlighten women at the grassroots level on
entrepreneurship orientation program across the communities in Oman. On the other hand,
the school curriculum in Oman can also be helpful. According to Atef and Al-Balushi (2014),
the growing number of youth seeking to enter the labour market is putting great pressure on
educational institutions to reshape curricula, equip graduates with the right skills and
qualifications, and reconcile the discrepancies between educational programs and labour

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
6
market needs. The school curricula were also identify as one of the factors affecting
entrepreneur in general in terms of education and knowledge background of the individual. It
will be wise to start teaching business studies at secondary level that will create background
knowledge for the teenagers without any gender discrimination and as they grow up they can
be able to develop themselves in the field of business investment and establishment. The
capital to start a business is another issue and in a society where preferences is more given to
male than female, woman face challenge to show her credentials to prove her knowledge of
business venture. If the women successfully does so, the capital to establish a business won’t
really be an issue and women will no more be seen as an ordinary housewives.
1.2. Statement of Problem
Understanding the factors that are impacting the orientation of the women towards or away
from business is important as it can guide the government to bring appropriate change in the
education mechanism. It will help in improving the position of women in the society of
Oman. It has been found that the lack of understanding of the key issues that are guiding the
suppression of entrepreneurship ability in the women is the major challenge that needs to be
handled. These key issues that warrant the investigation of this research topic is the call for
urgent attention to understand the barriers affecting the Omani women in Muscat as an
entrepreneur to be able to establish their own businesses in Muscat. Some of the problems
faced by the women are Educational background, Business ideas, ICT knowledge, family
support, and capital .This study will look into three major barriers, namely, capital, family
support, and background knowledge. The paper will conduct full-scale scrutiny from
statistical perspective to answer the research questions.
1.3 Objectives of Study
The objective of this study is:

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
7
1. To identify barriers affecting entrepreneurs Omani women in Muscat.
2. To identify if capital is a barrier affecting Omani women in Muscat to establish their
businesses.
3. To identify if family support is a barrier affecting Omani women in Muscat to
establish their own businesses.
4. To identify if background knowledge is a barrier affecting Omani women in Muscat
to establish their own businesses.
5. To investigate and analyse the problems faced by Omani women in Muscat on
establishing their businesses.
6. To suggest strategies to effectively overcome these barriers.
1.4 Research Question
In order to understand some of the barriers affecting Omani women in Muscat on business
establishment this study will answer the following questions:
1. What are the types of factors affecting Omani women in Music to establish their
businesses?
2. Does capital affect Omani women in Muscat to establish their businesses?
3. Does family support affect Omani women in Muscat to establish their own
businesses?
4. Does background knowledge affect Omani women in Muscat to establish their own
businesses?
5. How can we improve the participation of Omani women in Muscat to start their own
businesses?

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
8
1.5 Research Hypothesis
The data collected and the statistical analysis will be used to prove or disprove the hypotheses
built below in relation to the research topic:
Hypothesis #1: There is a significant correlation between capital and intention to set up
business among Omani women.
Hypothesis #2: There is a significant correlation between family support and intention to set
up business among Omani women.
Hypothesis #3: There is a significant correlation between the background knowledge and
intention to set up business among Omani women.
Hypothesis #4: There is significant correlation between the trainings provided to the women
in the country and the intention to set up business among Omani women.
Hypothesis #5: There is significant correlation between the hostile orientation of society
towards women entrepreneurs and the intention to set up business among Omani women.
1.6 Significance of the study
The study is based on primary data, which is likely to provide current position of the society
towards women entrepreneurship. This study is significant in many aspects as it will
investigate and highlight the barrier affecting Omani women in Muscat to establish their
businesses. There are no researches on this topic that have yet been conducted, so this paper
can act as the guiding light for the policy makers to strategies sound policies based on the
gaps identified in this study. In addition, it will likely to bring positive orientation in the
women population of Oman in general and Muscat in particular towards entrepreneurship by
understanding all of the barriers.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
9
1.7 Scope of the Study
The scope of this study is to focus on the factors affecting Omani women in Muscat on
business establishment. The study will examine the role of capital, family support and,
educational background in business establishment of the Omani women in Muscat. The study
is limited to Omani women in Muscat to develop new ideas to help the Omani women in
Muscat in business establishment.
1.8 Limitation of Study
The study has some limitations that are important to be considered. Firstly, because of the
time limit, the researcher will be traveling from Malaysia to Oman to collect data for the
study and will not be able to cover the entire province in Muscat. The study will only cover
few provinces in Muscat. Due to the collection of limited data from few respondents, the
study can’t be generalized to the whole group of women in Muscat.
1.9 Summary
The chapter has provided sufficient background information about barriers affecting Omani
women in Muscat to establish their businesses. The gap in the study will be further studied in
the literature review in greater detail. It might be possible that the literature review brings
some more factors away from the above considerations. The chapter two of this study is the
review of textbooks and journal articles about this very topic and will compare the
similarities and differences of all the articles that has been review on this study.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
10
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This section reviews various research papers conducted by researchers in the associated with
this field of study. The purpose is to come up with the suitable framework that can guide the
further research steps. The literature review covers the factors affecting the women to start or
own a business, information about entrepreneurship, and other trends on entrepreneurship
development. Entrepreneurship is considered to be a key factor to community, human
development and growth. A good example of the positive impact of entrepreneurship is best
seen in the South-East Asia region especially looking at the countries like Singapore,
Malaysia and Thailand. The time period covered by this study dates back to 1980.
2.2 Women entrepreneurship
James et al. (2006) revealed that the women are actively drawn on role models from different
domains and prefer to learn from external role models. Petridou et al. (2008) stated that
women running businesses and co-operatives in Greece should analyse the impacts of factors
that help in their entrepreneurial aptitudes such as attitudes, co-operative viability, and
development prospects, and work-family balance. Their study shows that participants
recognise factors positively in terms of ability improvements, identification and capturing of
business opportunities, effective cooperation and flexibility in decision making, more positive
attitudes towards entrepreneurship, and development and growth prospects for the
cooperative and better work-family balance. Women entrepreneurship in the Arab world has
certain peculiarities and demand specific attention (Petridou et al, 2008). Employers give
priority to males in employment and promotion even if women command higher merits.
Women, despite their interest, lack work opportunities and represent only 9.7% of the labour

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
11
force (AlMandhry, 2000: 20; McElwee and Al Riyami, 2003). Jamali (2009) observes similar
differences in Lebanon, a relatively liberal country, and conclude that gender differences in
identification of opportunities are, however, linked to differences in human capital that
include education and work experience as important variables.
Women entrepreneurship in the Arab world has certain peculiarities such as businesses
priority for males, regardless of the woman being of high merit. Entrepreneurship is
important for economic growth, productivity, innovation and employment (“A United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development”, 2004). Entrepreneurship should be given
priority by policy makers and stakeholder in developing countries. The world market is
currently wrestling with recession, with some expected economic and global event which
poses uncertainties and challenges to our world. Under such situation, the global focus should
be on entrepreneurships as a supportive solution towards the uncertainties and challenges. An
entrepreneur is any person who starts and manages any form of business either small scale or
large scale business. Naser et al. (2009) point out that an entrepreneur is a person who can
find an opportunity and develop it into a profit-making business. Gartner (1988) stated that an
entrepreneurship engages in many activities including the creation of an organization.
The importance of entrepreneurs in economic development has been documented by many
researchers. Mazzarol et al. (1999) contend that emerging and transitional economies can rely
on small businesses in replacing state owned organizations and stimulating Personal and
External Factors Effect on Women Entrepreneurs economic growth. Similarly, Costanza et al.
(2003) stated that women’s and men’s entrepreneurial activities can help in creating
employment opportunities and support the economic growth. Lerner et al. (1997) emphasized
the role of women entrepreneurs in developing small businesses in emerging economies. In
fact, the theoretical role of entrepreneurship in social and economic development is well
recognized. However, factors that affect wide-spread women entrepreneurs in developing

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
12
economies, in general, and more specifically the Arab countries, are still indefinite and this is
the reason why conducting the study on Omani women in Muscat is important.
The International Labour Organization (2006) pointed to four personal and four external
factors that impact women entrepreneurs’ success. The personal factors include: (i)
motivation and commitment; (ii) abilities and skills; (iii) ideas and markets; and, (iv)
resources. External factors include: (i) business development organizations; (ii) broader
enabling environment; (iii) economic/market environment; and, (iv) sociocultural context. In
the current study, the focus will be on all personal factors and three of the external factors.
One external factor, economic and market environment, is excluded from the current study
because the Kuwaiti economy is relatively stable. Fluctuations in inflation, exchange rate and
interest rate are minimal. In this study the factors such as family support and background
knowledge is considered as personal factors and Capital is an external factor
2.3 Gender in entrepreneurship
The gender space is usually characterized as the contrast between men and women. As far as
the numbers of involvement in entrepreneurial activity is concerned, motives to establish and
run a business is important, along with the decision-making, business execution, and
development. Women entrepreneurship in the Arab world has certain peculiarities and
demand specific attention. Employers give priority to males, in employment and promotion,
even if women command higher merits. According to Kleinrichert (2013), the vitality of
women’s entrepreneurial work and its socioeconomic context has moral import as a
hypothetical concern. The entrepreneurial endeavour of women includes gendered moral
issues of equality, access, and capability for women looking to create a private enterprise in
many marketplaces. The act of entrepreneurship marks an isolation for work role for

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
13
individuals, but more for women because of gender identity in the market and absence of
accessible market, along with the absence of economic and political networks.
2.4 Lack of family support and women entrepreneurship
According to McElwee and Al-Riyami (2003), the factors such as family support and
encouragement have positively influenced women in emerging as entrepreneurs.
Investigations with respect to business women in Ethiopia and Nigeria discovered “support
starting with family, society, and, government”, ‘presence of surroundings of fill in culture,
awareness, also trust and education. Murphy (2013) stated that family-to-business support
was more positively related to women’s business performance, growth in employment,
satisfaction with employee relationships, and satisfaction with status than for male
entrepreneurs. Affective family-to-business enrichment was more positively related to
women’s business performance, satisfaction with employee relationships, and satisfaction
with status than for male entrepreneurs. Family-to-business enrichment was more positively
related to women’s satisfaction with status than for male entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the
research claimed that more than 250 entrepreneurs who founded small- to medium-sized
enterprises responded to a survey mailed by the researchers to measure factors associated
with work and family, business performance, growth in employment, satisfaction with status
and satisfaction with employee relationships.
Overall, researchers found that affective family-to-business enrichment (the transfer of
positive affect, for example, positive mood or happiness, from the family domain to the work
domain), instrumental family-to-business enrichment (the transfer of skills and behaviours
acquired or nurtured in the family domain to the work domain) and family-to-business
support (interpersonal support from family members) were positively related to

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
14
entrepreneurial success and satisfaction for female business owners but not male business
owners.
2.5 Capital in Entrepreneurship
The capital is more or less the availability of fund to invest or establish a business and it can
also be seen as machinery, tools and buildings entrepreneur use to produce goods and
services. Scarborough et al (1991) defines capital as an important variable that keeps the
business running. The presence of all other factors and the absence of capital will severely
impact the business flow (Zimmerer et al, 2005). In order to qualify as capital, the
merchandise must provide a progressing administration of the benefits of the business with
make wealth. Capital must be consolidated with labour, the work of skill labourer who
contributed their skills and time in exchange for money, to create value and make profit for
the development of the business. By investing in capital and foregoing current consumption,
a business or an individual can regulate those efforts into future wealth for the development
of the business and community. In today’s business world, Capital in entrepreneurship has
been categorised in so many ways for entrepreneur and entrepreneurship development which
also co-exist with economic growth.
Today, there is a need for social capital for business development, the need for educational
capital in the organising of the business and rich knowledge of understanding situation to
identify when problems arise and to be able to make decisions that will make the business
profit more and stable (Tsai and Ghosal, 1998). The human capital and the need for a debt
capital are important because a business can acquire capital through the assumption of debt.
Debt capital can be obtained through private sources, such as friends and family, financial
institutions and insurance companies, or through public sources, such as federal loan
programs. And lastly, the equity capital which is based on investments, unlike debt capital,

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
15
does not need to be repaid. This can include private investment by the business owners, as
well as contributions derived from the sale of stock.
2.6 Educational Background and women entrepreneurship
The impact of education on venture growth is moderated by firm size, positive for larger
firms and negative for smaller firms. The study conducted by Dolinsky et al (1993) uses a
national longitudinal sample of women to examine variations in the likelihood of entering,
staying, and re-entering self-employment by level of educational attainment by women
entrepreneur. Furthermore, the study found that each factors’ likelihood increased with
increasing levels of education. The investigation supports the notion that less-educated
women may face financial or human capital constraints which limit their business pursuits.
On the other hand, the study also identified to what extent differences in each factor’s
likelihood to contribute to the overall difference in the likelihood of being self-employed
between more and less educated women. Of the three, differences in the likelihood of entry
accounted for most of the overall difference in the like hood of being self-employed between
the more and less educated. The education is the key to understand various challenges that are
confronted by the business and the way to handle them effectively (Lamsa et al, 2008). It has
been identified that even after the presence of capital, the lack of educational background,
particularly associated with business, lead to the failure among women entrepreneur
(Dolinsky et al, 1993). The lack of even formal education generally translates into poor
understanding of worldly actions necessary to make ways (Reay, 2003).
2.7 The Arab World outlook on Women’s Involvement in Business
The Arab world has its own outlook on women’s involvement in business activities. Sidani
(2005) presents varying discourses between Muslim scholars and active feminists pertaining
to women's work and how it is impacted by interpretations of Islam, and argues that

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
16
developing the status of women in Arab societies needs a major reassessment of Muslim
history and tradition. Amid all the setbacks, women in the Arab world look further to
establish their careers and identities. The Arab world faces a different politico-economic
setup, culture, and family structure, where people are highly conscious of each other, and of
family memberships, identities, and status.
McElwee and Al Riyami (2003) argue that gender differences are enshrined in the Islamic
holy book and Shari’a law, limiting woman’s role in the family to either that of a wife or a
mother. Some Arab women managers have succeeded in creating their social identities even
with their traditional clothing attire, in pursuit of managerial careers Omair (2009). Although
various sectors of the economy are open to Omani women for work, their participation is
limited and does not exceed 12% of the total effective institutions (Omani Women Workshop
2009). Collectively, in Arab states, 28% of the women participate in the work force (Nayeem,
2010).
Although woman have benefitted from the recent initiatives, they still represent a very small
percentage of business owners in the Sultanate Omani Women Workshop (2009). However,
Oman marks a significant departure from its traditional and exclusive male dominated
decision-making situation. The era of exclusive patriarchal dominance in leadership positions
is changing to an evolving phase of women’s empowerment (AlLamky, 2007). Omani
Women Workshop (2009) observes that legal, educational, training, and financial support
have offered some opportunities to Omani Women in the field of entrepreneurship. They note
also that increased educational opportunities for women and the level of education have led to
increased productivity. Although the experience of women's entry in the field of
entrepreneurship is a relatively new experience in Oman, it has not been free from challenges
and difficulties. Task-related issues such as funding difficulties, access to business
information and technology, and personal issues such as self-reliance and the need for change

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
17
and continuous innovation to ensure the ability of competitiveness impose major challenges,
especially in the light of rapid advances in various sectors at the local and the global.
2.8 Theory of Entrepreneurship
Wright and Wallis (2015) stated that previous studies have noted a proliferation of disparate
theories of entrepreneurship. This makes it difficult to find the best theory for application in
teaching, practice, and research. Choosing the right entrepreneurship theories to teach and
encourage is critical to providing entrepreneurs with the knowledge they need to succeed.
The diagram above was taken from Wright and Wallis (2015). It is the integrative
propositional analysis for evaluating entrepreneurship theories. More stock of knowledge can
be refer to background knowledge in this study in other words we can say that Omani woman
in Muscat will require more stock of knowledge in other to engage in entrepreneurship
activities .furthermore, if more young women have solid educational background, there is a
possibility of breaking through the barriers that sees women as just ordinary house wife
whose job is to stay at home and take care of the children (Acs et al., 2009). The less
regulation, administrative barriers , government intervention can be seen as a means of
government support in terms of loan for small scale businesses establishment or the role of
stakeholders creating opportunities for more women entrepreneurs .

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
18
2.9 Conceptual Framework
Based on the study above, the conceptual framework has been developed. There are three
variables capital, family support, and background knowledge that are likely to impact the
women in Muscot in establishing their business.
In the current framework, the internal factors are family support and background knowledge
about opening the business. Based on the study so far, there are five independent variables
that have been selected for the study. These variables are identified as having important
impacting element on the intention towards the business in Omani women. The internal
factors are capital, family support, and background knowledge. On the other hand, trainings
and hostile society are the external factors.
2.10 Summary
Entrepreneurship in general has intrigued researchers over the years, resulting in the
development of a number of theoretical models. It has generally been assumed, however, that

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
19
the entrepreneur is male. There have been so many review done on this topic, there are
similarities at some point where in some point all over the world human race conclusion is
that entrepreneurs are male, these has made the female to be behind the scene in the field of
entrepreneurship this is the similarity that can be seen in every part of the world and one set
of researchers even suggests that entrepreneurship is a way of demonstrating "maleness."
historically and traditionally, women have been confined to the private sphere of domesticity,
and hence have been denied access to the requisite resources for entrepreneurial entry--access
to capital, business and technical education, and prior management experience. But, in some
part of the world like the South America many businesses are operated by women
entrepreneurs. Most of the study review posited that education, capital, family support are
motivation for women entrepreneurs and also proposed the needs of government support for
more women engagement in entrepreneurship activities for the socio-economic, community
and personal development .Furthermore, the chapter three of this study will discuss the
framework of the study and how the data will be collected and analyse.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
20
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
In this chapter the research methodology is discussed, starting with the research framework,
followed by hypotheses development based on research variables. The design, population,
and instruments will also be discussed with justifications as why and how the research sample
were chosen, this research adopts survey based on questionnaire to obtain data, then to be
analysed using a descriptive and correlation analysis on SPSS and the outcome of the result
will be reported in chapter four of this study followed by discussion of the result in chapter
five.
3.2 Research Framework
This study is based on the entrepreneurship theory with the assumption of relationship
between the Omani women in Muscat as a dependent variable and the factors that is affecting
the Omani women in Muscat from becoming an entrepreneur as independent variables, as the
tool to become an entrepreneur for Omani women in Muscat are the independent variables
assumed to influence the decision as we can see in the diagram below

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
21
3.3 Research Design
This research is a quantitative based research to explain the factors the factors that is
affecting the Omani women in Muscat from becoming an entrepreneur, the factors are seen as
barriers which by turn influence the participation of women entrepreneur in Muscat. In order
to meet the objective of this study the researcher has selected the most appropriate research
design to answer the research questions. The quantitative approach enable researcher to study
human problem and variables in human behaviour, it’s proposed that this survey study will
collect details of the current situation about the Omani women in Muscat to engage in
entrepreneurship activities in Muscat .
3.4 Population
The target population of this study will Omani women in Muscat, the research will travel
down to Oman and the population sample one from Alkhoud in Muscat will be used in the
selection of the respondents and the questionnaire will be distributed among the women. The
sample size will be derived from the target population for this study.
3.5 Organization of Study
The study will be conducted in three stages and the methodology that will be used will be
discusses separately. The diagram below is the descriptive of the process of the study.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
22
3.6 Research Instrument
According to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), attitude is an important concept that is often used to
understand and predict people's reaction to an object or change and how behaviour can be
influenced. After reading and reviewing different articles on this study samples of
questionnaire, the researcher prepared her own questionnaire guided by the knowledgeable
people in the field .the research has come up with enough Items to collect the data that will
answered the study research objective and questions and it will be inform of Likert scale
which was developed by Rensis Likert in 1932. A set of questions were divided into 5 parts.
They are: Demographic (1) Family, self and Social Domain (2) Financial & Economic
Domain (3) Background Knowledge (4) and Political & Environmental Domain (5). The
sample of the questionnaire can be found in the appendix.
3.7 Data Collection
The systematic gathering of information relevant to our research objective and research
questions, Muscat. This study will measure the variables using questionnaire and the data will
be collected according to the structure plan seen in the diagram figure 4 organisation of study.
We will use self-administer questionnaire with question that has a predesigned options for
our participants; the questionnaire will be distributed to the respondent in Alkhoud, Muscat.
3.8 Data Analysis
The data collected will be compute and translate into numeric code by the researcher for the
exact percentage using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for the descriptive
analysis of the variables. The analysis will present the report for result in chapter four and the
discussion in chapter five of this study. The statistical tools that will be used on the collected
data are descriptive statistics, and correlation analysis. The descriptive statistics will help in
viewing the data in concise form and the correlation analysis will help in understanding the

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
23
relationship between the different variables identified for the study. The results will help in
understanding whether it satisfies the hypotheses.
3.9 Research Instrument Validity and Reliability Test
The questionnaire was given to 35 women for rating and 10 of them returned the
questionnaire with the rating score and the researcher compute the score. Below are the tables
showing the result of the analysis.
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha
N of
Items
.407 25
The Cronbach’s Alpha is .407 which is shows lower reliability result.
3.10 Ethical Consideration
According to Gajjar (2013) Ethical norms also serve the aims or goals of research and apply
to people who conduct scientific research or other scholarly or creative activities. There is
even a specialized discipline, research ethics, which studies these norms. The main ethical
principle guiding this study are as follow : Respect for the participant, Confidentiality, Using
inappropriate sample sizes, Editing or making up data and Failing to report negative findings.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
24
References
Aldrich, H and C Zimmer., 1986. Entrepreneurship through social networks. In The Art and
Scienceof Entrepreneurship, D Sexton and R Smilor (eds.), 3–24. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger
Publishing Company.
Amhara TVET strategy., 2006.ANRS TVET Agency, Bahirdar
APEC, 1994. “The APEC Survey on Small and Medium Enterprises: Member Report of
Malaysia”, retrieved on retrieved on 26–5–10 from
http://www.actetsme.org/archive/smesurvey.html,
Assaad, R and F El-Hamidi, 2002. Female labor supply in Egypt: Participation and hours of
work.In Population Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa: Toward the Twentieth
First Century, Sirageldin I (Ed.). Cairo: ERF.
Atef, T. M., and Al-Balushi, M., 2014. Entrepreneurship as a means for restructuring
employment patterns. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 1467358414558082.
Birley, S. J., 1987. Britain’s new enterprise programmes. Journal of Small Business
Bruni, A, S Gheradi and B Poggio, 2004. Entrepreneur-mentality, gender and the study of
women entrepreneurs. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 17(3), 256268.
Bruni, A. Gherardi, S, and Poggio, B., 2004. Entrepreneur-Mentality, Gender and the Study
of Women Entrepreneurs. Journal of Organizational Change Management.
Burt, R, 2000. The network entrepreneur. In Entrepreneurship: The Social Science View, R
Swedberg (ed.), 281–307. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
25
Buttner, EH and DP Moore, 1997. Women’s organizational exodus to entrepreneurship: Self-
reported Motivations and correlates with success. Journal of Small Business Management,
35, 34–46
Carter, N., Brush, C., Greene, P., Gatewood, E., and Hart, M., 2003. Women entrepreneurs
who break through to equity financing: the influence of human, social and financial capital.
Venture Capital: an international journal of entrepreneurial finance, 5(1), 1-28.
De Groot, TU, 2001. Women Entrepreneurship Development in Selected African Countries.
Vienna, Austria: UNIDO.
DeLollis, B, 1997. Today’s female passion for entrepreneurship. The American Enterprise, 8,
42–45.
Devine, TJ, 1994. Characteristics of self-employed women in the United States. Monthly
Labor Review, 117, 20–34.
Dolinsky, A. L., Caputo, R. K., Pasumarty, K., and Quazi, H., 1993. The effects of education
on business ownership: A longitudinal study of women. Entrepreneurship: Theory and
Practice, 18(1), 43-54.
Dolinsky, A.L., Caputo, R.K., Pasumarty, K. and Quazi, H., 1993. The effects of education
on business ownership: A longitudinal study of women. Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice, 18, pp.43-43.
Erogul, M. S., and McCrohan, D., 2008. Preliminary investigation of Emirati women
entrepreneurs in the UAE. African Journal of Business Management, 2(10), 177.
Gajjar, B., 2013. Ethical consideration in research. International Journal for Research in
Education, 2(7).

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
26
Hattab, H., 2012. Towards understanding female entrepreneurship in Middle Eastern and
North African countries: A cross-country comparison of female entrepreneurship. Education,
Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 5(3), 171-186.
Kleinrichert, D., 2013. Gender Issues in Entrepreneurship. In Handbook of the Philosophical
Foundations of Business Ethics (pp. 1155-1176). Springer Netherlands.
Lämsä, A.M., Vehkaperä, M., Puttonen, T. and Pesonen, H.L., 2008. Effect of business
education on women and men students’ attitudes on corporate responsibility in
society. Journal of business ethics, 82(1), pp.45-58.
Mathew, V., 2010. Women entrepreneurship in Middle East: Understanding barriers and use
of ICT for entrepreneurship development. International Entrepreneurship and Management
Journal, 6(2), 163-181.
Murphy, C., 2013. Family Support Linked to Entrepreneurial Success Among Women. O&P
Business News.
Naser, K., Rashid Mohammed, W., and Nuseibeh, R., 2009. Factors that affect women
entrepreneurs: evidence from an emerging economy. International Journal of Organizational
Analysis, 17(3), 225-247.
Reay, D., 2003. A risky business? Mature working-class women students and access to
higher education correspondence: Diane reay, kings college London, UK. E-mail: diane.
reay@ kcl. ac. uk. Gender and Education, 15(3), pp.301-317.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
27
Robinson, P. B., and Sexton, E. A., 1994. The effect of education and experience on self-
employment success. Journal of business Venturing, 9(2), 141-156.
Roomi, M. A., and Parrott, G., 2008. Barriers to development and progression of women
entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Journal of Entrepreneurship, 17(1), 59-72.
Scarborough, N.M., Zimmerer, T. and Naumes, W., 1991. Effective small business
management. Merrill Pub. Co..
Tsai, W. and Ghoshal, S., 1998. Social capital and value creation: The role of intrafirm
networks. Academy of management Journal, 41(4), pp.464-476.
Ufuk, H., and Özgen, Ö., 2001. Interaction between the business and family lives of women
entrepreneurs in Turkey. Journal of Business Ethics, 31(2), 95-106.
Weeks, J. R., 2009. Women business owners in the Middle East and North Africa: a five-
country research study. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 77-85.
Wilson, F., Kickul, J., and Marlino, D., 2007. Gender, entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy, and
entrepreneurial career intentions: Implications for entrepreneurship Education1.
Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 31(3), 387-406.
Wright, B., and Wallis, S. E., 2015. Using Integrative Propositional Analysis for Evaluating
Entrepreneurship Theories. SAGE Open, 5(3), 2158244015604190.Management, 23(4), 6-12.
Vol. 17 No. 3. (pp. 256-268). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Zamberi Ahmad, S., 2011. Evidence of the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An empirical investigation. International Journal of Gender and
Entrepreneurship, 3(2), 123-143.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
28
Zeidan, S., and Bahrami, S., 2011. Women entrepreneurship in GCC: A framework to
address challenges and promote participation in a regional context. International Journal of
Business and Social Science, 2(14), 100-107.
Zimmerer, T., Scarborough, N.M. and Wilson, D., 2005. Essentials of entrepreneurship and
small business management. Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Appendix
Questionnaire
The researcher from department of human resource management is conducting a factors
affecting Omani women entrepreneur in Muscat on establishing their businesses. Gathering
information from Omani women in Muscat is a vital part of this process. Please answer the
questions in both parts of this questionnaire. Thank you.
PLEASE CIRCLE A RESPONSE FOR EACH QUESTION
Demographic (1)
Marital Status: (Single) (Married) (Divorced) (Widow)
Education Level: (Below Secondary) (Secondary) (Diploma) (Bachelor) (Masters) (PhD)
Experience
1–5 Years
6–10 Years
More than 10 Years
Age

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
29
Less than 21 Years
22–35 Years
36–50 Years
More than 50 Years
Country of Education Degree Obtained:
Oman
Jordan
Egypt
UK
Others
Factors affecting women entrepreneurs:
This survey is to be answered anonymously. Ratings please give your assessment of Factors
affecting women to be entrepreneurs in Oman.
Strongly
agreed (1)
Agree
(2)
neither
(3)
Disagree
(4)
Strongly
disagree (5)
- Lack of family support&

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
30
orthodoxies
- Family obligations
- Male dominance
- Hostility of society towards
engagement of Women in
businesses
Non-Cooperation of male
counterparts
- Difficulty in dealing with
males
- Weak bargaining position
- Harassment
- Lack of experience
- Lack of proper trainings
Family, self and Social Domain (2)
Financial & Economic Domain (3)
Strongly
agreed (1)
Agree
(2)
neither
(3)
Disagree
(4)
Strongly
disagree (5)

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
31
Poor credit facilities for
women
Lack of finances
- Heavy taxes/fee/ duties etc.
- Inflation
Background Knowledge Political & Environmental Domain (4)
Strongly
agreed (1)
Agree
(2)
neither
(3)
Disagree
(4)
Strongly
disagree (5)
Lack of Experience
Lack of Proper Trainings
Stringent regulations and
policies
Red-tape/bribery etc.
Lack of Governmental support
Improper Training &
Development Facilities
Content Validity Item rating

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN MUSCAT & THEIR BUSINESSES
32
YES NO
The item captures the concept
that is intended.
The item is relevant to all
members of the target
population.
The item is worded in a manner
consistent with the expressions
used by patients.
The item reflects different levels
of magnitude,
e.g., severity, frequency.
The item represents a single
concept, rather than a
multidimensional concept
The content of the items is
appropriate for the recall period.
The content of the item is
appropriate for the
mode of administration