E-commerce Platform and Women Entrepreneurship in China

E-commerce Platform and Women Entrepreneurship in China A study submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Your Degree Title at THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD by LIU YIJUN 2 September 2016

Table of Contents Abstract... 5 Acknowledgements... 7 Chapter 1: Introduction... 8 1.1 Research Background... 8 1.2 Significance of the Research... 10 1.3 Purpose of this Study... 10 1.4 Research Questions... 10 1.5 Research Objectives... 11 1.6 Scope of the Research... 11 1.7 Dissertation Plan... 12 Chapter 2: Literature Review... 13 2.1 Women Entrepreneurship... 13 2.1.1 Entrepreneurship... 13 2.1.2 Women s Entrepreneurship... 15 2.1.3 Challenges to Women Entrepreneurship... 17 2.1.4 Women s Entrepreneurship in China... 19 2.2 E-commerce and Women Entrepreneurship... 21 2.2.1 Advantages from E-commerce for Women Entrepreneurship... 21 2.2.2 Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs in E-commerce Field... 23 2.3 Conclusion... 24 Chapter 3: Methodology... 25 3.1 Introduction... 25 3.2 Method... 25 3.3 Questionnaire Design... 28 3.4 Population and Sampling Frame... 30 3.5 Ethical Aspects... 31 3.6 Data Analysis... 32 Chapter 4: Results and Findings... 33 4.1 Introduction... 33 4.2 Sample Profile... 33 4.3 Chinese Women s Entrepreneurial Motivation... 36 4.4 Current E-business Operational Situation... 38 4.5 Advantages and Challenges for Chinese Women use E-commerce to start a Business... 43 4.6 Impact of E-commerce on Women Entrepreneurs in China... 45 4.7 Results from Open-ended Questions... 47 4.8 Summary of Findings... 48 Chapter 5: Discussion... 50 5.1 Introduction... 50 5.2 Discussion of Motivation and Benefit from E-commerce... 50 5.3 Current Operational Situation and Challenges in E-commerce Field... 52 3

5.4 Impact of E-commerce on Women Entrepreneurs in China... 53 Chapter 6: Conclusion... 55 6.1 Introduction... 55 6.2 Summary of Method and Findings... 55 6.3 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Work... 56 Reference... 58 Appendix A: Ethical approval Form... 64 Appendix B: Ethical approval letter... 69 Appendix C: Consent Letter... 70 Appendix D: Questionnaire (English version)... 73 Appendix E : Questionnaire (Chinese version)... 76 Appendix F: Access to Research... 80 Appendix G: Confirmation of address after completion... 82 4

Abstract Background: More and more Chinese women find e-commerce is a business opportunity for them, so now women not only use e-commerce platforms to buy products, they also choose e-commerce platforms for entrepreneurship. Various studies have been conducted about female entrepreneurs and the challenges and benefits in the e-commerce field. The increasing number of Chinese female entrepreneurs in the e-commerce field can be explained in many ways. Traditionally, it is very difficult for women to start a new business by themselves. E-commerce may provide them with an easier way to do business. Aim: This study aimed to find out whether an e-commerce platform can provide an easier way for Chinese female entrepreneurs to set up a business in China. Samples: The study involved 126 Chinese female entrepreneurs in a Chinese e-commerce platform. Methods: This research adopted the deductive approach and the quantitative research strategy was used to collect data. The questionnaire link was sent to some female entrepreneurs in the Taobao e-commerce platform and they were asked to send the questionnaire to more female entrepreneurs they know. At the end of data collection, 126 responses were received. Results: The greatest number of respondents chooses entrepreneurship in an e-commerce platform because they were attracted by the benefits in the e-commerce field. From the results, we can know most of the respondents have a positive attitude regarding the future progress of e-commerce. Moreover, the majority of respondents think e-commerce can provide a positive influence for them and their life. The results 5

also show it is easy to start an e-business at the beginning, but due to market competition, lack of relevant experience and the challenges in the e-commerce field, so it is not easy to run an e-business in the long-term. Conclusion: The research objectives are achieved by the results and discussion. The results provide evidence that an e-commerce platform can provide benefits for Chinese female entrepreneurs to help them more easily start a business, and e-commerce can positively influence Chinese women and their life. Key Words: E-commerce; Ecommerce platform; women entrepreneurship; Chinese women entrepreneurship 6

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Angela Lin for her assistance, patience, support, and useful comments all through dissertation period. I am very appreciative of your help. Thanks and gratitude is extended to my parents and friends in China, they always supported and encouraged me. Thanks a lot. 7

Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Research Background The era of today has been characterized as a digital era since the role of the internet in the lives of individuals has immensely increased. The importance of the internet is not only confined to organizations rather it has been extended to homes as well (Alon, Misati, Warnecke and Zhang, 2011). In line with this idea, Avgerou and Li (2013) maintained that use of the internet has been observed in every industry whether its education, textile, hospitality etc. Students and teachers use the internet in order to enhance their knowledge. Not only this, but in schools, hospitals, factories etc the entire database is online. These entities cannot even think of functioning without online databases. On similar grounds, Abebe (2014) claimed that the recent era has witnessed a boom in e-commerce industry. It is because of the fact that the internet is the biggest source of connection between and among people. It helps companies to interact with their customers, service providers to their clients and other people to their relatives. This is the reason due to which the use of internet has immensely increased among the masses. Additionally, Halkias, Thurman, Caracatsanis and Harkiolakis (2016) mentioned that the use of an e-commerce platform to start-up a business is greater in developed countries as compared to developing countries. It is due to the fact that developed countries are much further ahead in terms of technological advancements than developing countries. Their people are more aware of technological benefits as compared to the people of less developed countries. Thus, it is clearly evident that more awareness of the use and benefits of the internet lead to an increase in the trend of start-up business. 8

According to Rauth Bhardwaj (2014) not only males but also females have been active users of the internet. As the role of females in businesses is increasing simultaneously their use of internet is also increasing. Individuals are becoming aware of the advantages being offered by the internet and they are taking benefits from it to a large extent. In correspondence with this idea, Halkias, Thurman, Caracatsanis and Harkiolakis (2016) primarily discussed the linkage between entrepreneurship and e-commerce. By conducting the study on the trend of entrepreneurship, the researcher observed that many start-up businesses have come to existence within this digital era. The method which has been employed by these businesses in order to reach the target market is an e-commerce medium. It entails that in order to reach the target market; online medium have been used. While supporting the same idea, Li, Zhang, Chen and Liu (2014) claimed that e-commerce platforms has proved an effective medium of marketing for start-up as well as established businesses. It helps entrepreneurs to create their brand awareness among the targeted market segment. It has contributed to the increase of female entrepreneurship all around the world. In China there are over 1.4 billion people, and 48.73 percent are women. As almost half of the population in China, women have had a great influence on economic development. In the past, the role of women in e-commerce was limited to that of consumers. However, more and more Chinese women have recently begun using e-commerce to start their own business (Iwshang.com, 2015). In recent few years, in keeping with global trends, e-commerce applications and websites have been developing very fast in China. One of the factors which promote the progress of e-commerce is the popularity of the internet and the continuous updating of the information technology. The advanced technology can provide a good environment for e-commerce to achieve future progress. The data shows that by the end of 2012, Chinese e-commerce market transactions reached 7.85 trillion; it is increased 30.83 percent since 2011 (Cnnic,cn, 2016). According to 2012 figures, the e-commerce share of GDP has been as high as 15%; e-commerce is already becoming the new engine of economic development in China (Cnnic,cn, 2016). Due to the program of 9

e-commerce and the big e-commerce market, in the future e-commerce can provide a large amount of opportunity for entrepreneurs. At the same time, the data from Alibaba shows they have more than 500 million registered users, and in China's largest on-line shopping platform Taobao, vibrant female shop owners occupied 50.1% (Iwshang.com, 2015). Half of the shop owners are women. 1.2 Significance of the Research Due to the rapid development of e-commerce and the large number of female e-commerce owners in China and all over the world, people should pay more attention to investigate the possible reasons why more and more women choose e-commerce to start businesses, and to the actual position of Chinese female entrepreneurship in e-commerce. The analysis of the reality of female entrepreneurship in e-commerce field can give Chinese women a better understanding of the future opportunities and challenges for them. Chinese women should have more advice and reference to help them make better business choices in e-commerce. It is also important for e-commerce service providers to understand the reality as it can help them to understand women s needs and to improve their services accordingly. 1.3 Purpose of this Study The purpose of this research is to find out whether e-commerce provides female entrepreneurs with an easier to set up business in China. 1.4 Research Questions Research questions are primarily based on aims and objectives of the study. They also 10

justify the major problem statement of the research. Therefore, the research questions for the current study have been given below: 1. What is the motivation for women to choose e-commerce to start business in China? 2. In e-commerce field, what are the major advantages and challenges for female entrepreneurs in China? 3. Has becoming e-commerce entrepreneurs has improved women s domestic lives in China? 1.5 Research Objectives Research objectives are the goals of the researcher which he or she wants to achieve by conducting the research (Christensen, Johnson and Turner, 2011). Accordingly, the research objectives of the current study are given below: 1. The analysis of Chinese female entrepreneurial motivation. 2. To identify the advantages and challenges for Chinese women using e-commerce to start a business. 3. To investigate the current operational status this is about the Chinese female e-commerce shop owners. 4. To determine the impact of e-commerce on female entrepreneur s domestic lives in China. 1.6 Scope of the Research The scope of the research is primarily concerned with two main dimensions. One is ecommerce platforms and the other is female entrepreneurship. Therefore, the study 11

only focuses on business conducted entirely online and not in physical stores or locations, and only on businesses run by female entrepreneurs and not males. 1.7 Dissertation Plan The research is divided into five different chapters and the focus of each chapter varies. First, e-commerce and female entrepreneurship are analyzed in the literature review section. After the literature review, this research will choose a quantitative method to do questionnaire. After collecting data, the result of this study will be analyzed and discussed. The final part will discuss the limitations of this research, and give the suggestions for future study. 12

Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Women Entrepreneurship 2.1.1 Entrepreneurship The definition of entrepreneurship varies from researcher to researcher. Some view it as processes while others view it as an activity. It is evident from the definition of entrepreneurship presented by Kirzner (2015) that it is process which is employed by entrepreneurs in order to completely utilize their resources while putting in efforts to gain social and economic value from these resources. It states that the entrepreneurs are not only expected to invest resources for the start-up business rather they will have to invest their own time and efforts for the purpose of rendering the business successful. On the contrary, Barringer (2012) highlighted that a number of authors are of the view that it is a set of activities which are organized by entrepreneurs by using services, technology and artifact. They are not required to indulge in these activities personally rather they mainly play the role of a supervisor. From the different definitions of entrepreneurship it is evident that entrepreneurship as an economic activity can be influenced by various factors: individual ability, opportunities, resources, but also economic and technological changes (Reynolds & Renzulli, 2005). Not all types of the entrepreneurship are same, therefore in different situations entrepreneurs may need to consider different factors. Some researchers show that people often start entrepreneurship in response to changes in technology, as well as changes in economic and social trends, people also start new businesses due to business opportunities, market changes and customer needs (Obschonka et al., 2011). There are however also individuals who start 13

entrepreneurship projects for personal satisfaction and passion (Obschonka et al., 2011). In order to have a deeper understanding of the reasons of people choose entrepreneurship, we must divide entrepreneurship into two categories. There are two types of entrepreneurship activities which is necessity entrepreneurship and opportunity entrepreneurship. Necessity entrepreneurship usually occurs when people cannot find a suitable job (Lippmann et al., 2005). This is because people often cannot find opportunities in the existing labor market. Entrepreneurship can become the final option for people to guarantee their income. Opportunity entrepreneurship usually occurs when individuals find new opportunities from the current employment market. This can exist in a poorly served industry or in some newly emerged technology and area of knowledge (Lippmann et al., 2005). It has been known that in many societies most people choose entrepreneurship for necessity, while fewer people choose entrepreneurship for opportunity (Lippmann et al., 2005). This means that most choose entrepreneurship due to of pressure from their working and social lives. Comparing necessity entrepreneurship and opportunity entrepreneurship, opportunity entrepreneurship has more potential for future programs. This is because opportunity entrepreneurship tends to require more human capital. It can provide more employment opportunities so this type of entrepreneurship has more value for the economy and society (Lippmann et al., 2005). Necessity entrepreneurship usually refers to the low cost, low risk, low demand and low profit business. Most of people in society have the ability to choose this type of business (Lippmann et al., 2005). Different people may tend to choose different types of entrepreneurship, but it can depend on their own unique situation. From the concept outlined above, it is evident that entrepreneurship is related to both society and the individual. Considering the social aspect, entrepreneurship is related to economic, technological and social changes, all of these changes can bring opportunities or risks to entrepreneurship (Reynolds & Renzulli, 2005). Considering 14

the individual aspect, entrepreneurship can be summarized as the result of motivation and personal ability. Entrepreneurs as the people who make the decisions about business, they have a great influence on the process of the business operation (Cooper et al., 1989). There are some general characteristics common to entrepreneurs. Most of entrepreneurs have passion for entrepreneurship, and they believe in their ability (Cooper et al., 1989). This characteristic makes people choose entrepreneurship. Then education backgrounds and previous experience are two individual characteristics often be mentioned by other researchers (Millan et al., 2014). Education gives entrepreneurs an understanding of the industry and of management skill. Generally consider personal ability and opportunities are the key factors that influence entrepreneurship at the initial stage. The different personal reasons, ability and the opportunity in society can determine the choice of the business type and the future program (Cooper et al., 1989). 2.1.2 Women s Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is includes multiple factors. Gender is one aspect which is worth analyzing. In today s world, more and more people are encouraged to participate in entrepreneurial activities, such as investing in new companies or creating new business (Shane, 2006). Traditionally most of the entrepreneurs are men. However, nowadays the number of female entrepreneurs is increasing. Female entrepreneurship has already become a key factor which can influence the development of the economy (Sarfaraz et al., 2014). Fifty percent of the entire world populations are women, so the number of women entrepreneurs may continue increasing in the future (VanderBrug, 2013). For example, in American, the data shows that from 1997 to 2014, the number of new businesses increased by 48%, but the number of female entrepreneurship rose by 68% (Nicole, 2015). In 2012, US female entrepreneurs accounted for 10% of the population aged 18-64 (Iwshang.com, 2015). According to data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 126 million women worldwide have started new 15

businesses in 2013 (VanderBrug, 2013). All of this data shows that women s entrepreneurship increased faster than the average entrepreneurship rate. In order to understand female entrepreneurship first the characteristics of female entrepreneurs need to be analyzed. Research shows that some common characteristics are shared by women entrepreneurs. First from Still (2005) study shows that most women choose entrepreneurship for their own interest. Then some researchers have found that a majority of female entrepreneurs have a high level of educational background or experience from previous work (VanderBrug, 2013). However, the negative shared characteristic is that women usually find it hard to access financial support. They usually receive money from family or friends, or use their own savings, so lack of capital is a constraint (Still, 2005). This constraint determines the size of their business; most of the women start their business comparatively small (Cooper, 1989). Normally, most women start in the wholesale, retail and service industries (Coughlin & Thomas, 2002). Studies show that women start their own businesses for variety of reasons. Traditionally women choose entrepreneurship because they want to become financially independent and self-sufficient or meet their family s financial needs (Coughlin & Thomas, 2002). In modern society female entrepreneurs usually choose entrepreneurship because the existence of glass ceilings, the patriarchal nature of organizations and the unemployment rate (Sarfaraz et al., 2014). Some researchers find women start their business because they have a business idea or a passion for solving a specific problem (Reynolds & Renzulli, 2005). Some women start their own business because they want to control of their careers, maintaining a more balanced life and having a flexible work schedule (Orhan & Scott, 2001). Women choose entrepreneurship because entrepreneurship can provide benefits for women. Women can obtain autonomy through entrepreneurship. They can decide the work time, location and orientation of their business, and enjoy all of the freedom and autonomy 16

from entrepreneurship that women cannot have from their jobs (Lippmann, 2005). Along with freedom and autonomy, there are also some challenges for women entrepreneurs. Women still need to face many issues in the process of doing their own business, and gender roles are still a part of their lives. 2.1.3 Challenges to Women Entrepreneurship According to Jennings and Brush (2013) the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs usually come from two major dimensions i.e. society and family. From society, the main challenge is inequality, in terms of capital, wealth and opportunity. From family, the main challenge is to maintain the balance between life and work. As we have seen, female entrepreneurs suffer from financial constraints which limited the choice and size of business (Cooper, 1989). However some researchers think lack of financial resources is not a problem; at the beginning of the entrepreneurial stage, most businesses only have a little capital. For example, in America, most of the entrepreneurs start their business with less than $5,000 dollars in the middle 1990s (Lippmann et al., 2005). So when women start their business they need capital to support their own business. The inequal distribution of the financial resources may not important at initial stage, but lack of capital may bring challenges for women entrepreneurs. If women have no ability to access the resources, probably the business opportunity will be missing (Lippmann et al., 2005). Another challenge from society is not only for female entrepreneurs but also for the entire population this is about inequality of wealth and opportunity inequality. Some of the researchers are of the view that in modern societies that wealth inequality can result in opportunity inequality. They argue that in the different social strata, opportunities for people are different. Wealth and social status can be inherited by the 17

next generation, so some people find it easier to obtain resources and opportunities (Lippmann et al., 2005). The different social status will influence the ability of entrepreneurs, the unbalanced distribution made it more difficult for some of the entrepreneurs more difficult to obtain success. Therefore different female entrepreneurs may need to face different challenges based on their own social status. Also because people in a higher social stratum can provide better educational opportunity for their children, it can increase the possibility for their progeny to become professional and successful entrepreneurs (Lippmann et al., 2005). Therefore, the inequality of wealth can also lead inequality of educational opportunity. If female entrepreneurs have a lower level of education, they may need to face more challenges due to lack of professional knowledge. Traditionally, women have various limitations to keep them from entrepreneurship; there are a lot of issues which is influence women s entrepreneurship, such as financial capital and educational level (Tambunan, 2009). Furthermore, women entrepreneurship still need to face the challenges from their family (Reynolds & Renzulli, 2005), These factors can influence women s entrepreneurship especially marital status and the numbers of children (Zhang&Pan, 2016). Society tells people most of women finally give up their job. The main reason for them to give up their job is still their family (Zhang & Pan, 2016). Especially after women have their children, not only themselves but also their family they all expect women to give up their job to focus on their family (Goyal&Parkash, 2011). How to balance work and life is a challenge for female entrepreneurs. Female entrepreneurship needs to face challenges from society; also some countries have their own traditional culture. Female entrepreneurship is also influenced by culture. The next section will focus on China to have deeper analysis of Chinese female entrepreneurship. 18

2.1.4 Women s Entrepreneurship in China With the advancement of technology and the economy, entrepreneurship has become more popular than before in today's Chinese society. The number of Chinese women involved in entrepreneurship has grown significantly in recent years. From 2004 to 2007, the percentage of Chinese women entrepreneurs rose from 4% to 7% (Deng et al., 2010). In 2008 the percentage of Chinese women entrepreneurs reaches 10% (XueLing et al., 2010). In 2012, Chinese women entrepreneurs accounted for 11% of the proportion of the population aged 18-64 (Iwshang.com, 2015). More and more women have the abilities to develop and manage a business to create value of their own; also more and more women have a passion for entrepreneurship (Gartner, 1990). The reasons that Chinese women choose entrepreneurship can be analyzed from individual, social and educational aspects. The first reason is about individual choice. Some of the Chinese women try to balance their family and work and they tend to find a job which is time flexible, but time flexible is difficult for wage-employment (Zhang & Pan, 2016). Therefore more and more women want to choose self-employment. Some Chinese women want to choose entrepreneurship because it is more likely to provide future career advancement. Some Chinese women have special ability and high educational level, and they want to exert their own advantages (Zhang & Pan, 2016). The second reason is about society. Since China s socialist state treats gender equality as an aim, more and more women are encouraged to have their own career (Zhang & Pan, 2016). The third reason is about education. In Chinese society, traditionally after women get married usually they are expected to give up their job and focus on taking care of their family. In Chinese traditional culture, Chinese society is dominated by men, so that means women s social position is lower than men (Zhang&Pan, 2016). However in 19

the modern Chinese society, the increased educational level of women is resulting in the changes in their life style. Once women have a good education, they have higher standards of living (Goyal&Parkash, 2011). Some of the educated women do not want to waste their lives to staying at home, they want equal respect from their partner, and they want to become economically independent (Goyal & Parkash, 2011). The educated women prefer to be independent instead of relying on men. So there are three different reasons about why women choose entrepreneurship in China. After understanding the reasons of women choose entrepreneurship in China. It is evident that there are some characteristics particular to this group of women. In addition to the characteristics shared by all female entrepreneurs, such as passion for entrepreneurship, higher educational level and lack of financial support, there are also some additional characteristics about Chinese women entrepreneurs. These main characteristics are not about themselves but also their families. Some researchers have found that most of Chinese female entrepreneurs have support from their parents or husband (Hisrich & Fan, 1991). Furthermore, some analysts have found that in China most self-employed women are already married, and that women in China who have young children are more likely to start their own business (Jome et al., 2006). Because of the common characteristics shared by both women in general and Chinese women in particular, the choice of business type is similar. Chinese women are inclined to choose smaller businesses in retail and services industry (Jome et al., 2006). In China, consider about personal and social development, women need to be encouraged to be independent, also the society need to provide better environment and support for women entrepreneurs. 20

2.2 E-commerce and Women Entrepreneurship 2.2.1 Advantages from E-commerce for Women Entrepreneurship Recently, because of the progress of information and communication technology, there are more and more users choosing to shop on-line. This provides a business opportunity for female entrepreneurs (Gundry et al, 2003). Electronic commerce is a type of business model that provides a way for people to conduct business by using the electronic network. Typically electronic commerce includes four major market segments which are business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business (customer can purchase through a catalogue in website) (Wigand, 1997). Almost any products or services can be offered via e-commerce platforms, for example, large numbers of women choose to sell clothes, shoes, and makeup and offer services in e-commerce platforms (Li et al., 2008). For women entrepreneurs, e-commerce is undoubtedly one of the best, the fastest, the lowest threshold entrepreneurial way. Some researchers find that there is lack of financial support for women when they start their own business, so that most women only have the ability start a small business (Still, 2005). E-commerce can provide a cheaper alternative for women to start a business. Most of the women can afford a computer, and because the business process is on-line so they can work at home (Gundry et al, 2003). E-commerce has numerous advantages for women starting small businesses. A previous study mentioned that when women start a business through e-commerce, they need e-commerce empowerment which is means women need to prove they have the ability to make and act on their economic decisions (Tambunan, 2009). After they have e-commerce empowerment, women can choose one field 21

which is of interest and appropriate for them. Take China as an example, most Chinese women choose the Taobao platform to start their business. From previous research can know that half of the sellers in Taobao are women (Iwshang.com, 2015). So take Taobao as an example. Taobao is the biggest consumer to consumer e-commerce platform in China. It provides a way for women to start a business for free, and Taobao also provides services to help people design their online shop, so that people who lack computer skills also can open a shop using the Taobao platform ("What is Taobao? Taobao Field Guide", 2016). Most of Taobao shop owners can have a profit under 2000 RMB every month. From other research we know that most the Taobao shop owners are aged from 23 to 32 years old. Young people are more inclined to start businesses by using Taobao (51CTO.COM, 2016). Focusing on women entrepreneurs, previous research shows e-commerce as a way that can remove the conflict between families and work decisions for women. Women can through e-commerce bring about economic change for themselves; e-commerce is become a more and more important way for women to become independent (Tambunan, 2009). E-commerce as a new way for women to start business, it can provide a channel for women to make action for their decisions. E-commerce can help women exert their abilities to achieve their rights and well-being. Also after women become independent, household poverty can be reduced (Tambunan, 2009). From the previous literature we can know e-commerce is a new business model which can provide a cheaper and flexible way for women to start business. This is the benefit which e-commerce can provide to female entrepreneurs to motivate them use e-commerce, but there are still challenges for women to use e-commerce to start businesses. 22

2.2.2 Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs in E-commerce Field E-commerce can bring benefits for female entrepreneurs, for the reason that the e-commerce business model is different from the traditional business model. But in the process of using e-commerce to do business there are still a lot of challenges for women. It is not easy to start new business, women need to consider about business idea; product; service; market or technology (Gartner, 1990). Therefore, In order to start business by use e-commerce, first of all women need to have basic technological skill. Moreover, female entrepreneurs need to carefully think about their business plan. At the planning stage women may have questions and problems. After the initial stage of the business, it is half way to successful. Good management has become the most important element to decide the future program of the business (Wigand, 1997). The essential conditions to achieve entrepreneurship include the right opportunity, and appropriate resources. Entrepreneurs need the abilities and tools to pursue the opportunities and program a business (Gartner, 1990). In brief, entrepreneurship aims to develop a new business from the ground up with an idea and turning it into a profitable business (BusinessDictionary.com, 2016). In order to successfully make a profit, women need to have fair and equal rights to precede economic activities. Women need to have the ability and rights to make and enact their own decisions by their own, as well as they need to have the ability to control resources and make profits from economic activities (Tambunan, 2009). Because e-commerce relies on technology, so women need to be proficient at using computers and need to be familiar with e-commerce applications. However some of the entrepreneurs do not have the skill with technology. The main challenge from e-commerce is competition, as there are more and more e-commerce businesses on the internet, so customers have multiple choices. In e-commerce field, the successful business does not merely rely on technology. 23

Entrepreneurs need to focus on satisfying the demand of customers. The services and products need to be special and professional to meet customer s need (ke, 2006). Therefore women need to have more knowledge of business management 2.3 Conclusion The literature above outlines the concept of frame about women entrepreneurship in relation to e-commerce. Chinese female entrepreneurs usually starts entrepreneurship for the reasons that to become economically independent. The challenges for Chinese women entrepreneurs are usually from traditional culture, family responsibility, psychological and lack of capital. E-commerce can provide a new way for women entrepreneurs to solve part of the problem from family and capital because of the lower input and the flexible work place and time. Also from the literature it is evident that there are also challenges for women entrepreneurs in e-commerce filed, in the process of running a business, women need to confront challenges from external environment and business management. But people cannot know the reason of why Chinese women choose e-commerce to start business, and the situation of e-businesses operational in China. 24

Chapter 3: Methodology 3.1 Introduction In order to answer the research questions and meet the study s aim and objectives, the most suitable approach must be used for data collection and analysis. This section consists of five parts; the first describes and justifies the research methods. The second concerns the questionnaire design, after design. The third section describes the population and sampling frame. The fourth addresses the ethical issues associated with the methods. The final section describes the data analysis. 3.2 Method For this research both qualitative and quantitative research approaches can be used to answer the research questions. Quantitative research strategy is usually used to collect numeric data; it is usually associated with deductive approach. The highly structured data collection techniques are usually used to test theories. Sometimes quantitative research also uses an inductive approach as well to develop theories (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). Qualitative research strategy is used to collect non-numeric data and it is usually associated with an inductive approach; it is used to develop a richer theory than the old theoretical perspective in the literature review (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). In this study, quantitative research approach is used as it is considered a more appropriate approach to answer the research questions and find the general results from data. The themes of the research questions have been analyzed in the current literature by using quantitative methods. The researcher can refer to a number of testable propositions cited in the literature review. Many research students use 25

qualitative research strategy to conduct the interviews on e-commerce and women entrepreneurship, a quantitative research strategy can be used to carry out questionnaires regarding the women entrepreneurship and e-commerce in China. Therefore, this research can choose a quantitative research strategy to test the results from other studies in order to compare their findings. This study aims to collect numerical data in order to measure and analyses variables which are directly relevant to the research questions (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). It also aims to identify general trends regarding whether women consider it is easy to manage an e-business. It is also important to identify the most important reason for establishing e-business. Numerical data can clearly present factual information as results and therefore a quantitative approach is considered more appropriate for this research. The literature review provides examples of general characteristics of women entrepreneurs and the reasons of women choosing entrepreneurship. From previous research it is possible to determine the benefits and challenges of e-commerce for women entrepreneurship. As there is a large number of studies on women entrepreneurship and e-commerce, there is no need to use an inductive method (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). Consequently, this research selects a deductive model in order to analyses its findings and do the research. Questionnaires are useful for collecting data, it is widely used by researchers to collect data from large amount of people to find out their viewpoint about same questions (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). Because this research aim to find general standpoint from Chinese women entrepreneurs in ecommerce field, hence questionnaire was chosen as data collection method for this study. In questionnaire can involve both structured questions, partially structured questions and open-ended questions (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). Most of the questions tend to be structured questions, as they can save participants time and facilitate analysis. On the 26

other hand, partially structured questions and open-ended questions can generate interesting data and reveal respondents ideas, perspectives, attitudes which could have remained undiscovered. This source of rich data can help explore new concepts and improve the general validity of the research (Designing a Survey, n.a 2016). This study is a web-based survey created using the internet. Web-based surveys are selected as women entrepreneurs often manage their e-business in various locations. As a result, it can be difficult to locate and maintain contact with the research subjects. Therefore the most appropriate method to find the participants is by using web-based surveys. The research consists of five procedures. First, a number of e-business female owners will be identified on a Taobao platform. Second, this group of Chinese women will then receive information introducing the research aims. They are then requested to give their permission to take part in the research. After receiving their permission, the researcher will send the link to the questionnaire to the participants. Third, this research will ask them pass the link to the questionnaire to more female e-business owners. The final step involves analysis of the responses in order to produce the results. This research will take about 30 days; first the questionnaire needs a pilot testing to check reliability of the questionnaire (Riff, Lacy and Fico, 2014). The questionnaire for this study has been passed through pilot testing and the results portrayed that it is reliable. For the pilot testing the five days to test if the methods are applicable, the questionnaire being sent to 10 people to test whether the questionnaire is appropriate. After the pilot study the questionnaire will be sent to participants and record the results will be recorded. This will take for about 10 days. Another five days will be used in case there are some problems as waiting for participants to respond to the questionnaire will take time. Also some of the participants may refuse to take part in the research, so it will take more time to find new participants. Finally, analysis results will take 10 days. 27

3.3 Questionnaire Design The questionnaire is designed based on the research objectives, previous study relevant to this research, and findings from literature review. The questionnaire contains 24 questions. These 24 questions are divided into four parts. This section will explain what kinds of questions are selected and why it is selected. There are two versions of the questionnaire. The English version can be found in Appendix D, and the Chinese version is distributed to Chinese participants (See Appendix E). The questionnaire in the first part questions which are focus on demographic characteristics about participants, including age, occupation, education and marital status and whether or not have children. This last question is necessary as previous studies have found that women having young children can influence the decision of their work choices. The sample for this research is all female, so the gender questions are not included. The second part is intended to answer the first research question, What is the motivation for women to choose e-commerce to start business? Previous studies have found that women choose entrepreneurship usually for some reasons related to opportunity, necessity, their own desires, and benefits of electronic commerce. Therefore structured question is chosen ("Designing a Survey", 2016). Based on previous study the question For what reasons did you choose e-commerce to start your business? needs to be involved in this questionnaire. The third part aims to investigate the current e-business operational situation for each participant, and focuses on the research question In ecommerce, what are the advantages and challenges for women entrepreneurs? In order to investigate the operational situation for their current business and the future plan for their business, there are 10 structured questions and one open-ended question is designed. This part of questions can help the researcher compare the realistic operational situation of 28

e-business with the previous study about e-commerce and women entrepreneurship. There are 10 structured questions in this part. The profit per month, operation time, business type and entrepreneur s attitude about their business will be asked about. Also there is the question Do you want to continue to run your e-business in the future? If participants give the answer No, they need to answer the final open-ended question What are the reasons for you to decide to give up your e-business? After this question the researcher can know more about their difficulties with life, themselves or e-commerce platforms. Then in order to find out the advantages and challenges for Chinese women when they use e-commerce to do business, two partially structured questions will directly ask participants about their choice of the most important advantages and disadvantages from e-commerce. Each option is from a previous study about the e-commerce, because there are some ideas which may not be contained in the previous study, so partially structured questions can explore some new idea about this research question and improve the reliability of the data (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). The final part uses the Liker-style rating to design the question, which is usually used in social science studies (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). This part aims to answer the research question whether becoming e-commerce entrepreneurs has improved women s domestic life? In order to answer this question, the listed options were selected from literature review. The options are about the impact of e-commerce on entrepreneurs and their lives, and the responses are rated by agreement, participants can choose the four-rating scale: strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree for each option (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). In addition there are also two open-ended questions in this part to try to investigate more opinions from participants about the other impacts entrepreneurs may need to face in the process of e-commerce entrepreneurship. 29

3.4 Population and Sampling Frame Sample is referred as a portion of population on which the study is being conducted. The selection of sample is very important as the results of the study are entirely dependent on it. Additionally, there are various ways of collecting a sample which can be bifurcated into two major categories i.e. probability and non-probability based sampling. In the former mentioned one, every individual of the population gets an equal chance to be a part of the sample while in later this is not the case. Moreover, non-probability based sampling is further divided into convenience, quota, judgmental, consecutive and snowball sampling (Riff, Lacy and Fico, 2014). As this study is the exploratory stages, this research can be seen as a survey project (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). The technique used to select the sample from the population is non-probability sampling ; the sample will be choosing by snowball sampling (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). Usually for quantitative research, the sampling technique is probability sampling but based on the research questions and aim. It is therefore not necessary to have a sampling frame. The sample of this research is random selected from the large group of women entrepreneurs in e-commerce field. As mentioned in the method section, this research chooses a web-based survey, so the questionnaires are distributed online. Over hundred were first identified and then requested to complete the questionnaire. After this, they were asked to send the questionnaire to other shop owners. This research used http://www.sojump.com/ to design the questionnaire, after have the questionnaire the link of the questionnaire can be send to other participants. After completing the questionnaire, the data can be downloaded from this website. The research objective is focused on China; therefore the research area will be limited to China. Based on the research question, the target of this research is Chinese women 30

who have had e-commerce experience in China. There is limited time frame for this research: it does not have the resources to survey the entire Chinese women entrepreneurs in e-commerce field. Therefore the minimum number of participants consisted of 100 Chinese women entrepreneurs from TaoBao platform. Choosing Taobao because Taobao is the biggest e-commerce platform in China and in previous research, it is known that the majority of Chinese women tend to choose Taobao when starting their e-business (Iwshang.com, 2015). In the end, 126 participants completed and returned the questionnaires. Compared with the entire female population in China, this sample group is a small sample. Therefore the results of this study may not be fully generalized to the whole population: it can only suggest current trends and compare its results with other relevant study. The study uses a snowball sampling technique, but some of the participants may already know each other and have some common characteristics. It is acknowledged that this may feasibly result in a degree of bias. 3.5 Ethical Aspects Considering the ethical aspects of the entire research process, the most important ethical aspect is to gain the participant s approval for gaining internet-mediated access (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). As the research uses Social Network Service such as WeChat and QQ to contact participants, participants have the right to choose whether to take part in the research. Furthermore, because there is a vast amount of personal information on Social Network, the researcher needs to respect the privacy of participants. After receiving their contact information, the researcher needs to keep it safe and confidential. This also applies to the information collected by the questionnaire. It is also necessary to avoid the questions relating to sensitive topics and respect issues of privacy. If there are any questions the participants feel they do not want to answer, they have the right to refuse to answer. 31

In addition, I have filled ethic approval application on-line (See Appendix A), and I have an approval letter (See Appendix B), which means this study is allowed to collect data. After data collection is complete, the data will be exported from http://www.sojump.com/ and stored on the Information School's research data drive which can be accessed only by this research me and my supervisor. Each survey response will be associated with an arbitrary number; all responses will be anonymous. Any IP addresses associated with the dataset are deleted as soon as the file is downloaded from the web. All of the data will be deleted three months after the completion of the dissertation. 3.6 Data Analysis After collecting the data from online questionnaire, Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS was used to analyze the data. The numerical data was summarized by using a range of data visualization devices, such as: tables, graphs and charts, and statistical analysis. The descriptive data from the open-ended questions were analyzed based on the two main themes. Each of the results from open-ended questions was disaggregated into conceptual units and each result was provided with numeral labels (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003). 32

Chapter 4: Results and Findings 4.1 Introduction This chapter presents the results and findings from the 126 returned questionnaires. The result from the questionnaire shows the demographics characteristics of the participants. Based on the research questions, the primary data is presented. 4.2 Sample Profile In this research, the participants were female only. They were all demographically distributed based on age, occupation, education level and marital status. In order to show the distribution of participants for each variable, bar chart and pie chart are chosen to present data. The following bar charts show the percentages of respondents for each demographic factor. 1) Age 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% 1.59% Less than 20 17.46% 24.60% 18.25% 11.90% 26.19% 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-40 More than 40 Figure 1 Distribution of participants according to their age 33

From the data shown in Figure (1) we can know that most of the participants are aged from 20 to 40. There were 42.06% of participants in the age group of 20-29; 30.15% of participants in the age group of 30-40. From these two percentages we may be able to infer that most young people are willing to start businesses in e-commerce field. In addition, there are also 26.19% of participants in the age group of more than 40. This is not a very low percentage, so it can show older entrepreneurs are also involved in the e-commerce field, e-commerce as a new business model with modern technology can also be accepted by some older women. Only 1.59% of participants were less than 20 years old, the low percentages for this group of women may be due to their need to focus on their studies, and thus for entrepreneurship they may be considered too young. 2) Occupation Others 36.51% Housewife 6.35% Managing e-business only 3.17% Working and managing e-business 40.48% Student and managing e-business 13.49% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00% Figure 2 Distribution of participants according to their occupation The Figure (2) shows that most of the participants started business in e-commerce field and at the same time they had another job. There were 40.48% of participants having their own work and them also do e-commerce. 13.49% of participants are students, so they may treat e-commerce as their part-time job. Only a small number of 34

participants 3.17% treated e-commerce as full-time employment. 3) Educational Level Higher than university 15.08% University 43.65% Vocational or technical school 30.16% Senior high school Junior high school 3.17% 7.94% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% Figure 3 Distribution of participants according to their educational level It is apparent from Figure (3) that most of the participants were well educated. There are 43.65% of participants have graduated from university. There were 15.08% of participants who had postgraduate degrees higher than the usual university qualification. This group of participants had the skills, confidence and ability to start and manage an e-business. There were 30.16% of participants who graduated from vocational or technical school. These groups of people also qualify enough to run business in e-commerce field. There are 7.94% and 3.17% of participants graduated from senior high school and junior high school this group of people may lack of technological skill or knowledge about management. 4) Marital Status 35

Figure 4 Distribution of participants according to their marital status Figure 5 Distribution of participant according to whether have children under 18 From the data in Figure (4) people can see that there were 65.87% of participants were married, so most of the participants need to face the influence from marriage and family. In Figure (5) the data shows there were 61.90% of participants do not have children under 18 years old and 38.10% of participants have young children under 18 years old, so most of the participants are not be influenced by young children. 4.3 Chinese Women s Entrepreneurial Motivation 36

Figure 6 What reasons for you to decide to choose e-commerce to start business? (Multiple choice) Table 1 You start an e-business for your own desires or for the impact from other entrepreneurs? Own desires 43 34.13% Influenced by others 83 65.87% Total 126 100% From the data in Figure (6) people can find out the important, less important reasons for Chinese women to choose e-commerce. From the chart above there are some interesting results can be find. There were 62.70% Chinses women who choose e-commerce entrepreneurship because they want to make additional money. Then, 53.17% of Chinese women chose e-commerce entrepreneurship for the reason of flexible working time in e-commerce field. 34.92% of Chinese women choose e-commerce entrepreneurship because they want to make money to become economically independent. In addition to the three most important reasons for Chinese women, there are some less important reasons for Chinese women entrepreneurs, 28.57% of participants choose e-commerce because they wanted to challenge themselves; 26.98% of participants chose e-commerce because e-business requires less input than a physical shop and 23.81% of participants chose e-commerce 37

entrepreneurship because they want to have their own career. The interesting thing is, in this chart there were only 19.84% of participants starting e-businesses because they had the influence by other entrepreneurs in e-commerce field. However in Table (1) there were 65.87% of participants who chose to start an e-business through the impact of other entrepreneurs in e-commerce field. So the influence of others should be an important reason for Chinese women to motivate them chooses e-business. For the question Does your family support your entrepreneurship in e-commerce field? There were 86.71% of participants who had support from their family, it means most of participants have no pressure from their family; they have agreement from their family. 4.4 Current E-business Operational Situation Figure 7 Where did you gain your money from? From the data in Figure (7), the result shows the majority of participants started their e-business using their own savings, 65.08% of participants used their own savings to start their e-business. Moreover 15.87% of participants choose to become agent, so this part of women does not need to consider about capital at the initial stage. A total of less than 20% of the participants receive money from their family, such as parents and husband. Most of participants who started an e-business did not need the financial support from their family. 38

Figure 8 How long do you spend on your business every day? As show in Figure (8) above, the majority of participants work less than four hours a day, 31.75% of participants work less than two hours, 36.51% of participants spend three to four hours per day on their e-business. Most participants do not need to spend a lot of time on their e-business. Figure 9 How much profit does you e-business make every month? The pie chart above shows almost all of the participants have profit under 5000 RMB per month. The percentage of the participants have Profit from 1000 to 3000 and 3000 to 5000 is 26.98% and 26.19%, it is basically the same. Some participant have low profit from their e-business, 19.84% of participants have profit from 500 to 1000 RMB per month, and 23.81% of participants have profit under 500 RMB per month. Only a very small part of the participants have monthly profit over 5000. 39

Figure 10 Are you satisfied with your current profit per month? The data from Figure (10) shows, that 55.59% of participants are not satisfied with the current monthly income. 44.44% of participants are pleased with their current profit. Table 2 Satisfaction and profit x/y Less than500 500-1000 1000-3000 3000-5000 5000-1000 More than Total 10000 Satisfied 7(12.50%) 8(14.29%) 18(32.14%) 22(39.29%) 0(0.00%) 1(1.79%) 56 Unsatisfied 23(32.86%) 17(24.29%) 16(22.86%) 11(15.71%) 2(2.86%) 1(1.43%) 70 The data in Table (2) above shows, people choose satisfied more than choose not unsatisfied in the group of participants who have profit between 1000-3000, 3000-5000 and over 10000. People chose unsatisfied more than satisfied in the group of participants who have monthly profit 500-1000, 5000-10000 and less than 500. From the data we know that people who have middle-income and high-income are more satisfied with their income and participants who have low income, were not satisfied with their income. 40

Figure 11 Do you feel the market competition is becoming more and fiercer? As can be seen from the pie chart above, 99.21% of participants feel the market competition in e-commerce field is becoming more and more intense. This is a surprising result; almost everyone thinks that intense competition exists in the field of e-commerce. Figure 12 How long have you had your e-business? As shown in Figure (12), half of the participants have had their e-business for one month to six months. In addition, there were 23.81% of participants own e-business between 7 months to 1 year. A small number of participants had their e-business for over 1 year. Only 19.05% of participants have e-business over 1year, 7.14% of participants own e-business over 2 years. Figure 13 Do you want to expand your e-business in the future? 41