The role of the family environment in innovative female entrepreneurship in Latin America: cases from Colombia, Peru, and Argentina

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on understanding the distinct roles that the family environment has played in the dynamics of Innovative Female Entrepreneurship (IFE) in Latin America, using the lens of the family embeddedness perspective. The IFE is a new phenomenon which, to date, has been reported scantly in the literature. Through a study of contrasting cases in three Latin American countries, it was found that the IFE emerges in evolving cultural contexts, which affect the family environment by accentuating new values (equity, solidarity etc.) and the empowerment of women. In this context, the family environment and entrepreneurship generate dynamic pull-push circles. In the preliminary stages of entrepreneurship, it roots the women's identity-building processes and their orientation towards entrepreneurship; in the subsequent stages it provides mentoring and tangible and intangible resources (knowledge, networks) nourishing the continuous process of formation and exploitation of opportunities for value generation.