{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/45629"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/45629","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"The impact of gender differences in social networks on microenterprise performance","abstract":"This study examined how gender differences in social networks affect microenterprise performance. Microenterprise is defined as small-scale businesses that hire fewer than five employees, including the owner. Microenterprise development programs (MDPs), which provide capital, business training, technical support, and access to social networks, were introduced to the United States as an alternative strategy for providing low-income women with economic opportunities. One of the important strategies for U.S. Microenterprise Development Programs (MDPs) is to improve female participants’ social networks for microenterprise start-up and maintenance by providing mentoring, networking services, and referrals to specialized business professionals. However, from the perspective of evidence-based practice, the social networking intervention programs of U.S. MDPs need to be based on rigorous evidence from empirical research. This study sampled 979 nascent micro-entrepreneur cases from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamic (PSED) Wave II (2005-2011), which is a longitudinal dataset. This study tested two research models: A) the mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance, B) the moderation effect of gender on the relationship between social networks and microenterprise performance. This study measured social networks as network size, strength (weak/strong ties), and gained network resources. Microenterprise performance was measured by business profitability and survival. This study found that gender functions as a moderator on the relationship between gained network resources and microenterprise performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). While male micro-entrepreneurs receive significant benefits from their weak ties and gained network resources for improving business performance, female micro-entrepreneurs do not gain enough benefits from their networks to improve their business performance. In addition, this study found that while network structure (i.e. size and strength) is not associated with business performance (i.e. profitability and survival), gained network resources is significantly associated with business performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). However, since there was no association between gender and social network structure and gained network resources, this study did not find a mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance. The findings of this study mainly imply that a gender-sensitive social networking intervention in a U.S. context should concentrate on creating good-quality social networks that can provide valuable business resources for female participants. In addition, this research also asks government to supply funds for U.S. MDPs to develop gender-sensitive social networking intervention programs for women in order to improve female participants’ microenterprise survival rate.","abstract_html":"This study examined how gender differences in social networks affect microenterprise performance. Microenterprise is defined as small-scale businesses that hire fewer than five employees, including the owner. Microenterprise development programs (MDPs), which provide capital, business training, technical support, and access to social networks, were introduced to the United States as an alternative strategy for providing low-income women with economic opportunities. One of the important strategies for U.S. Microenterprise Development Programs (MDPs) is to improve female participants’ social networks for microenterprise start-up and maintenance by providing mentoring, networking services, and referrals to specialized business professionals. However, from the perspective of evidence-based practice, the social networking intervention programs of U.S. MDPs need to be based on rigorous evidence from empirical research. This study sampled 979 nascent micro-entrepreneur cases from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamic (PSED) Wave II (2005-2011), which is a longitudinal dataset. This study tested two research models: A) the mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance, B) the moderation effect of gender on the relationship between social networks and microenterprise performance. This study measured social networks as network size, strength (weak/strong ties), and gained network resources. Microenterprise performance was measured by business profitability and survival. This study found that gender functions as a moderator on the relationship between gained network resources and microenterprise performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). While male micro-entrepreneurs receive significant benefits from their weak ties and gained network resources for improving business performance, female micro-entrepreneurs do not gain enough benefits from their networks to improve their business performance. In addition, this study found that while network structure (i.e. size and strength) is not associated with business performance (i.e. profitability and survival), gained network resources is significantly associated with business performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). However, since there was no association between gender and social network structure and gained network resources, this study did not find a mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance. The findings of this study mainly imply that a gender-sensitive social networking intervention in a U.S. context should concentrate on creating good-quality social networks that can provide valuable business resources for female participants. In addition, this research also asks government to supply funds for U.S. MDPs to develop gender-sensitive social networking intervention programs for women in order to improve female participants’ microenterprise survival rate.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kim, Seonmi"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Social Work","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Zhan, Min","Wu, Chi-Fang","Lough, Benjamin","Jeong, Seonhee","Zhang, Saijun"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-08-22T16:55:57Z","date_published":"2013-08-22T16:55:57Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:36Z","subjects":["Social Networks","Microenterprise","Gender"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2013 Seon Mi Kim"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45629","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Zhan, Min","Wu, Chi-Fang","Lough, Benjamin","Jeong, Seonhee","Zhang, Saijun"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kim, Seonmi"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2013-08-22T16:55:57Z","2015-08-22T10:00:51Z","2013-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Social Work"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Social Networks","Microenterprise","Gender"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2013 Seon Mi Kim"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45629"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["This study examined how gender differences in social networks affect microenterprise performance. Microenterprise is defined as small-scale businesses that hire fewer than five employees, including the owner. Microenterprise development programs (MDPs), which provide capital, business training, technical support, and access to social networks, were introduced to the United States as an alternative strategy for providing low-income women with economic opportunities. One of the important strategies for U.S. Microenterprise Development Programs (MDPs) is to improve female participants’ social networks for microenterprise start-up and maintenance by providing mentoring, networking services, and referrals to specialized business professionals. However, from the perspective of evidence-based practice, the social networking intervention programs of U.S. MDPs need to be based on rigorous evidence from empirical research. This study sampled 979 nascent micro-entrepreneur cases from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamic (PSED) Wave II (2005-2011), which is a longitudinal dataset. This study tested two research models: A) the mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance, B) the moderation effect of gender on the relationship between social networks and microenterprise performance. This study measured social networks as network size, strength (weak/strong ties), and gained network resources. Microenterprise performance was measured by business profitability and survival. This study found that gender functions as a moderator on the relationship between gained network resources and microenterprise performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). While male micro-entrepreneurs receive significant benefits from their weak ties and gained network resources for improving business performance, female micro-entrepreneurs do not gain enough benefits from their networks to improve their business performance. In addition, this study found that while network structure (i.e. size and strength) is not associated with business performance (i.e. profitability and survival), gained network resources is significantly associated with business performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). However, since there was no association between gender and social network structure and gained network resources, this study did not find a mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance. The findings of this study mainly imply that a gender-sensitive social networking intervention in a U.S. context should concentrate on creating good-quality social networks that can provide valuable business resources for female participants. In addition, this research also asks government to supply funds for U.S. MDPs to develop gender-sensitive social networking intervention programs for women in order to improve female participants’ microenterprise survival rate.","Item withdrawn by Mark Zulauf (zulauf@illinois.edu) on 2013-07-12T17:30:57Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 2 Kim_Seonmi.docx: 393227 bytes, checksum: de77c32ef7a5921bc03100a95be5f843 (MD5) Kim_Seonmi.pdf: 837316 bytes, checksum: 2b295b332596e89f45a7fea3b1df173d (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-22T16:55:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4 Seonmi_Kim.pdf: 4602719 bytes, checksum: 81af95af5e53f6f5ea2e85cc4e8a6ee1 (MD5) Kim_Seonmi.docx: 391826 bytes, checksum: c3907f611515727a05a4e87fb371215d (MD5) 1_Kim_Seonmi.docx: 391826 bytes, checksum: c3907f611515727a05a4e87fb371215d (MD5) license.txt: 4058 bytes, checksum: 6c38bcd2073798b1e91cbbc5f4a279d4 (MD5)","Item marked as restricted to the 'Administrator' Group (id=1) by Seth Robbins (srobbins@illinois.edu) on 2013-08-22T16:57:33Z Item is restricted until 2015-08-22T16:57:26Z","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:36:26-05:00 Original Data Group with Access Administrator Release Date: 2015-08-22 11:57:26 UTC Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Limited Restriction Lifted for Item 45611 on 2015-08-22T10:00:51Z."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The impact of gender differences in social networks on microenterprise performance"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Zhan, Min","Wu, Chi-Fang","Lough, Benjamin","Jeong, Seonhee","Zhang, Saijun"],"dc:creator":["Kim, Seonmi"],"dc:date":["2013-08-22T16:55:57Z","2015-08-22T10:00:51Z","2013-08"],"dc:description":["This study examined how gender differences in social networks affect microenterprise performance. Microenterprise is defined as small-scale businesses that hire fewer than five employees, including the owner. Microenterprise development programs (MDPs), which provide capital, business training, technical support, and access to social networks, were introduced to the United States as an alternative strategy for providing low-income women with economic opportunities. One of the important strategies for U.S. Microenterprise Development Programs (MDPs) is to improve female participants’ social networks for microenterprise start-up and maintenance by providing mentoring, networking services, and referrals to specialized business professionals. However, from the perspective of evidence-based practice, the social networking intervention programs of U.S. MDPs need to be based on rigorous evidence from empirical research. This study sampled 979 nascent micro-entrepreneur cases from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamic (PSED) Wave II (2005-2011), which is a longitudinal dataset. This study tested two research models: A) the mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance, B) the moderation effect of gender on the relationship between social networks and microenterprise performance. This study measured social networks as network size, strength (weak/strong ties), and gained network resources. Microenterprise performance was measured by business profitability and survival. This study found that gender functions as a moderator on the relationship between gained network resources and microenterprise performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). While male micro-entrepreneurs receive significant benefits from their weak ties and gained network resources for improving business performance, female micro-entrepreneurs do not gain enough benefits from their networks to improve their business performance. In addition, this study found that while network structure (i.e. size and strength) is not associated with business performance (i.e. profitability and survival), gained network resources is significantly associated with business performance (i.e. business profitability and survival). However, since there was no association between gender and social network structure and gained network resources, this study did not find a mediation effect of social networks on the relationship between gender and microenterprise performance. The findings of this study mainly imply that a gender-sensitive social networking intervention in a U.S. context should concentrate on creating good-quality social networks that can provide valuable business resources for female participants. In addition, this research also asks government to supply funds for U.S. MDPs to develop gender-sensitive social networking intervention programs for women in order to improve female participants’ microenterprise survival rate.","Item withdrawn by Mark Zulauf (zulauf@illinois.edu) on 2013-07-12T17:30:57Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 2 Kim_Seonmi.docx: 393227 bytes, checksum: de77c32ef7a5921bc03100a95be5f843 (MD5) Kim_Seonmi.pdf: 837316 bytes, checksum: 2b295b332596e89f45a7fea3b1df173d (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-22T16:55:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4 Seonmi_Kim.pdf: 4602719 bytes, checksum: 81af95af5e53f6f5ea2e85cc4e8a6ee1 (MD5) Kim_Seonmi.docx: 391826 bytes, checksum: c3907f611515727a05a4e87fb371215d (MD5) 1_Kim_Seonmi.docx: 391826 bytes, checksum: c3907f611515727a05a4e87fb371215d (MD5) license.txt: 4058 bytes, checksum: 6c38bcd2073798b1e91cbbc5f4a279d4 (MD5)","Item marked as restricted to the 'Administrator' Group (id=1) by Seth Robbins (srobbins@illinois.edu) on 2013-08-22T16:57:33Z Item is restricted until 2015-08-22T16:57:26Z","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:36:26-05:00 Original Data Group with Access Administrator Release Date: 2015-08-22 11:57:26 UTC Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Limited Restriction Lifted for Item 45611 on 2015-08-22T10:00:51Z."],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45629"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2013 Seon Mi Kim"],"dc:subject":["Social Networks","Microenterprise","Gender"],"dc:title":["The impact of gender differences in social networks on microenterprise performance"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Social Work"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:36Z"}