Female Managers, Informal Enterprises, and Their Perceived Financial Performance in Togo

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the determinants of financial performance as perceived by Togolese female managers operating in the informal sector. The analysis is conducted using the partial least squares methodology based on data collected from 208 female-managed enterprises throughout Togo. The results indicate that business environment constraints, stereotypes toward females’ managerial abilities, female entrepreneur’s risk appetite, and being part of a network are associated positively and significantly with perceived financial performance, while difficult access to finance and cultural factors influence it negatively and significantly. Furthermore, the age of the enterprise is a significant determinant of the perceived financial performance. The positive effect of the business environment constraints is contrary to our expectations. This may be explained by the number of enterprises operating informally.

KEYWORDS:

• Informal enterprise
• female manager
• perceived financial performance
• Togo

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Almost all the women surveyed in this paper are not formally registered with an official authority. Most of them are self-employed or run micro, small, or medium size enterprises (MSME). Notwithstanding this fact, throughout the paper, we will use the term ‘enterprise’ to qualify all of them.

2 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) definition, August 1982.

3 The other enterprise’s characteristic (NETWORK) has already been included in the model as an independent variable.