Global Journal of Management and Business Research, A: Administration and Management, Volume 23 Issue 9

aims to understand social processes by looking at how individuals and social groups experience them. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 45 women entrepreneurs, who were given the floor to talk about their individual stories and experiences. Our aim was to collect data that would provide details on the individual and contextual factors that stimulate or hinder women's entrepreneurial activity. We recorded and transcribed the responses before analysing them. Our sample does not cover the informal sector and includes the three categories of women entrepreneurs in Tunisia: firstly, women entrepreneurs operating in different sectors of activity. Secondly, women in the liberal professions. Finally, women who have set up a cooperative business. Details of the qualitative sample are given in Table 1. Table 1: Details Related to the Qualitative Sample of the Study The data we collected was subjected to thematic content analysis. This involves coding the text into different themes in order to understand and interpret the discourse. For Roussel and Wacheux (2005), content analysis is partly formatted, since certain themes are determined before the interview. Throughout this approach, we are proceeding with a contextualised analysis, since we are considering the gender context in which women's entrepreneurship is taking place in Tunisia. We have sought to understand the place occupied by women at different levels: individual, family, professional, institutional and socio- cultural. First, to get an idea of their content, we did a summary reading of the interviews, and then reread them to break them down into themes. We carried out a vertical and a cross-sectional analysis of the content. The purpose of the vertical analysis was to analyse how the participants dealt with all the themes in the grid. The second aims to determine how each theme was addressed by all the interviewees. IV. R esults We structure our results around five categories of factors that can influence the activity of women entrepreneurs. These are individual, family, professional, institutional and socio-cultural factors. As far as individual factors are concerned, this concerns women who set up on their own in order to make the most of the qualifications they have obtained (doctor, lawyer, etc.). A married respondent with 2 dependent children said: "I chose to study pharmacy so that later I could work for myself". Many women began their working lives as employees or civil servants (Hobad et al., 2023; Kone, 2021). Professional experience plays an important role in the decision to set up one's own business. Very often, women decide to change their status, out of a concern for self-recognition and in search of the autonomy to choose their working hours. One interviewee, aged 32, married with one child, said: "For me, setting up a business was a dream, not a way of making a living! We can see that motivation is certainly linked to frustration and dissatisfaction with working conditions as an employee, but also to a desire for fulfilment and professional autonomy: "my boss really exploited me, I gave my heart and soul to my work without seeing my situation improve, so I decided to work for myself", says an interviewee who works in the transport sector. The absence of qualifications and lack of professional experience qualify women in cooperatives. They are generally widows or divorced. They were on average 40 years old when they set up their businesses. The difficult economic situation and poverty pushed them into business (Hamdi and Hamdi, 2021; Hobad et al., 2023). The cooperative enables them to get out of the informal sector. Features of the Sample Co-Operators Liberal Professions Company Directors Age Min/Max 25-60 Years Old 29-50 Years Old Age 31-52 Average Number of Children 4 2 2 Number of women in Couple 7 12 14 Sectors of Activity Artisanal Medical, Paramedical, Financial and Legal Service, Commerce, Industry Average Level of Education Primary or Secondary University Secondary or University Geography of Surveys Sfax Sfax Sfax Interview Dates May 2021 June/July 2021 March-April 2014 April 2021 July-August 2013 Number of Employees 11-19 1-5 1-2000 Minimum/Maximum Dates of Creation 2008-2010 1995-2013 2000-2010 Total Number of Interviews 15 20 10 Challenges and Prospects for Women Entrepreneurs in Tunisia Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) XXIII Issue IX Version I Year 2023 44 © 2023 Global Journals