Determinants of women-owned micro- and small tourism enterprise growth in Bale Zone, South Ethiopia

ABSTRACTGender gaps in tourism entrepreneurship are wide in Ethiopia, and women entrepreneurs underperform more often than men entrepreneurs. This study aimed to explore the determinants that affect the growth of women-owned micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the tourism sector. Stratified random sampling was used to select 238 women-owned enterprises and analyse the data collected from them using a logit regression model. The findings show that being an older operator and operating a micro- (instead of small) enterprise have a negative effect, but family size, operator’s experience, credit access, and training received by the operator have positive effects on growth. These findings give useful information to relevant stakeholders, the Government of Ethiopia, and governments in other African countries to promote and empower women to grow their tourism MSEs.KEYWORDS: Women's tourism enterprisegrowthgrowth constraintsmultiple regressionsurvey Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1 The definition of micro- and small enterprises (MSEs) varies considerably across countries, and different institutions within the same country (Ali and Ali Citation2013). In Ethiopia, the current definition of MSEs was revised in 2016 (Andaregie et al. Citation2022). In the revised definition, a firm is (i) micro-enterprise if it has ≤5 employees and has a total asset of ≤US$4,630 if it is an industrial sector, and ≤US$2,310 if it is a service sector; and (ii) small enterprise if it has between 6 and 30 employees and has a total asset of between US$4,630 and US$69,500 if it is an industrial sector, and between US$2,310 and US$23,150 if it is a service sector (MUDH Citation2016).Additional informationNotes on contributorsZemin Guadie TegegneZemene Guadie Tegegne is a lecturer in tourism management at Injibara University, Ethiopia. His area of research interest is tourism development.Tess AstatkieTess Astatkie is a professor of statistics at the Faculty of Agriculture of Dalhousie University, Canada. He is also a professional statistician accredited by the American Statistical Association and the Statistical Society of Canada. He conducts collaborative research with researchers in 31 countries.Desalegn Degu TebejeDesalegn Degu Tebeje is an economics lecturer at Injibara University, Ethiopia. His research areas are related to economic efficiency, small business, livelihood security, and development issues.Sintayehu Aynalem AseresSintayehu Aynalem Aseres is an assistant professor of tourism management at Madda Walabu University. His research interest is tourism branding, sustainable tourism, tourism and the environment, tourism and women’s empowerment, ecotourism, and conservation.Versavel Tecleab HaileVersavel Tecleab Haile is a lecturer in the department of Marketing Management of Madda Walabu University, Ethiopia. Her research is mainly focused on gender-related matters in different aspects, including in service marketing, agriculture, and innovation.