Relationship Between Financial Capital, Social Capital and Women Entrepreneurs' Business Performance

These days, women entrepreneurs are being recognised as an important player in the entrepreneurial field as they contribute significantly to the society. Notwithstanding the important role of women entrepreneurs, they also have significant roles in social and economic development. The involvement of women in entrepreneurship has become a subject of interest in academic research. In this study, the tangible and intangible resources utilised by women entrepreneurs were assessed for the effects on the performances of their businesses. Financial capital is a tangible resource, while the concept of social capital is one of the recent developments in the study of intangible resources. Thus, this study was aimed to examine the role of social capital as a mediator of the relationship between financial capital and the business performances of women entrepreneurs. A quantitative survey was conducted on 184 women micro-entrepreneurs who were under Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM). The respondents were selected via stratified random sampling while the data sets used were originally from "Kajian Impak Enam Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia 2009." The findings of this study indicated that both variables can be categorised. Financial capital comprised microcredit and financial collaterals, while social capital was divided into four: (1) norms and groups; (2) trusts and networking; (3) economic equality; and (4) volunteerism. Microcredit had a significant effect on business performance while volunteerism was a mediator in the social capital-business performance relationship. The research on a combination of different types of resources builds on the existing literature and can be applied for entrepreneurial development.