Women entrepreneurs’ persistence at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: a decision-making perspective

Abstract

Purpose Decision-making is of utmost importance for entrepreneurs. One of the most important entrepreneurial decisions is the decision to persist, which under certain circumstances such as a high level of adversity may seal the fate of entrepreneurs’ businesses. Nevertheless, the main antecedents of the decision to persist among entrepreneurs have remained understudied. This dearth of research is more obvious with respect to women entrepreneurs, especially in developing countries. To address this gap, this paper aims to explore the main antecedents of the decision to persist among women entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach By adopting a narrative approach, data were collected through a combination of semi-structured and in-depth questions with a sample of Iranian women entrepreneurs founding and running small businesses offering services in a variety of sectors and analysed by narrative data analysis. Findings According to the findings, the pandemic-emanated uncertainty, personal attachment to one’s venture as well as the reluctance of being blamed by one’s family, and the fear of the unknown future were the main drivers of the decision to persist among the entrepreneurs. Originality/value This paper offers two novel contributions to the extant literature. This paper is a pioneer not only in exploring entrepreneurs’ decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic but also in studying the decision to persist in the context of the developing nations.