Maria Bogren

Networking women entrepreneurs: fruitful for business growth?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the kinds of contacts and networks women find supportive in their role as business leaders, and which also support their willingness to grow their business. The approach is to investigate the context of women entrepreneurs and the kinds of supporting social networks of which they are part. This is seen in relation to their willingness to grow.Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires were sent to women entrepreneurs in mid‐Sweden and mid‐Norway, relating to supportive assets and willingness for growth.Findings – The results show: that personal networks are seen as a more supportive asset than business networks; that personal contacts with other entrepreneurs are regarded as valuable; and that women entrepreneurs who are positive towards new networks already have a more heterogenic network than those who do not express this willingness.Practical implications – Without a relational attitude and a willingness to put oneself into a relational interplay, wom...

Trust-building processes in women’s entrepreneurship

Purpose - – Social capital is perceived as an important driver for entrepreneurship. To support development of social capital in women’s entrepreneurship, the Swedish government supports development projects with the aim of stimulating business growth. Recent studies show that trust is an essential ingredient when designing such projects. The purpose of this paper is to further develop a theoretical model of trust-building processes by developing and trying out questions regarding trust elements and to study how projects have addressed these various trust-building elements. Design/methodology/approach - – An exploratory approach was used, and a survey was conducted. A questionnaire about trust was sent to the project leaders of all 165 development projects in a Swedish government-funded programme with a response rate of 73 per cent. The data were analysed in SPSS. Findings - – The results show that contextual and relational aspects should be taken into account in the trust model, and that some of the questions regarding trust elements need to be elaborated more. Originality/value - – This paper further develops the construction of a proposed theoretical model of trust-building processes.