Gender Differences in Business Record Keeping and Planning: Evidence from Informal Enterprises in Iraq

Gholipour Hassan F. (), Goodell John W. (), Iman Cheratian, Goltabar Saleh () and Lahmar Oumaima ()
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Gholipour Hassan F.: School of Business, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
Goodell John W.: College of Business, The University of Akron, Akron, USA
Goltabar Saleh: Economics Research Group, Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research (ACECR), Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Lahmar Oumaima: Department of Management, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Hassan Gholipour Fereidouni

Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, 2023, vol. 19, issue 3, 187-208

Abstract: Business record keeping, along with business planning, are foundational steps in businesses moving from informal stature to contributing to the capitalization of assets. Thus, the transitioning of informal businesses to business record keeping and planning is significant for economic development. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a relationship between the gender of informal business owners and their engagement in business record keeping and planning in an emerging economy. We take advantage of a unique data set on informal enterprises in Iraq to show that women, versus male, leaders of informal businesses are more likely to adopt business record keeping and formal business planning. Following the foundational theories of Max Weber (Gerth and Mills 2014), we attribute our results to groups that are excluded from dominant relationship networks relying more on rational bureaucracy. Results will be of great interest to scholars and policymakers interested in the impacts of gender differences on financial development.

Keywords: informal enterprises; gender differences in business; women as leaders; economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D14 D21 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1515/rmeef-2023-0017

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