Determinants of Women Entrepreneurs’ Business Performance: Evidence from Micro and Small-Scale Enterprises in Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia

Women’s business performance is influenced by individual, legal, economic, and technological factors. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify determinants of women’s business performance with reference to MSEs in Arba Minch town. To achieve this objective, the researcher used an explanatory research design with a quantitative research approach, testing six hypotheses. Primary data were collected from 281 women entrepreneurs who were selected using stratified and simple random sampling techniques through structured questionnaires. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS version 21.0. According to the findings of the study, the descriptive results indicate that variables such as access to technology, access to land premises, communication skills, and tax amount have moderate/medium means because the mean score of the variables ranges from 2.60 to 3.39 (average value). In other words, the two remaining variables, access to finance and lack of training, have low means because the mean score of the variables ranges from 1.80 to 2.59 (low value of mean). Based on the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis of the study, lack of training and an increase in tax amount have a negative and significant relationship with the business performance of women entrepreneurs, whereas the rest of the variables, such as access to finance, access to land premises, access to technology, and communication skills, have a positive and significant relationship with the women’s business performance of the MSEs in Arba Minch Town. According to the multiple regression analysis of the study, access to land was the best predictor of women’s business performance, and lack of training was the least predictor of women’s business performance.