Entrepreneurship, poverty, and crisis: grounded-theoretical essays on small-business ownership in South-West Cameroon

Castellanza, Luca

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URL:	https://madoc.bib.uni-mannheim.de/61073
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-610733
Document Type:	Doctoral dissertation
Year of publication:	2021
Place of publication:	Mannheim
University:	Universität Mannheim
Evaluator:	Woywode, Michael
Date of oral examination:	14 December 2021
Publication language:	English
Institution:	Business School > Mittelstandsforschung u. Entrepreneurship (Woywode 2007-)
License:	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Subject:	650 Management
Keywords (English):	poverty , entrepreneurship , low-income countries , resilience , grounded theory
Abstract:	The three studies included in this dissertation address the determinants, consequences, and dynamics of entrepreneurial behaviour in poverty settings. The first study develops a retrospective processual framework of poor entrepreneurs’ transitioning out of poverty through the participation in farming cooperatives and business groups. The study’s main finding is that the rigidity of the rules and structures of different groups conditions the extent to which poor women entrepreneurs are able to overcome poverty. The second study delves deeper into whether and how poor individuals may decide to challenge normative constraints. Building on an analysis of women farmers' behaviours, the second study shows the dynamics of influence and reversal of the power exercised by the normative constraints of class and gender discrimination. The third study furthers our understanding of the antecedents of entrepreneurship in poverty settings by inquiring as to how poor entrepreneurs adapt and continue their businesses after encountering life-threatening adversity.