Exploratory Factor Analysis of Institutional Environment: An Evidence from Gender Perspective in China’s Microebusiness

School of Economics and Management, Hefei University, Hefei, 230601, P. R. China

^a E-mail address: 23244955@qq.com
^b E-mail address: knerr@uni-kassel.de
^c E-mail address: 1724152019@qq.com

Abstract

This study proposes regulatory, normative, and cognitive dimensions and empirically investigates how these three dimensions take form in a measure of institutional environment from gender perspective. The study carried out the work within the micro-ebusiness sector in China and collected the data with 689 females and 357 males. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used to test the dimensionality of institutional environment. It also used Cronbach’s alpha to check the reliability of the intended measure. The findings show that the early scholars’ measurement of the institutional environment in regulatory, normative, and cognitive dimensions still applies to Chinese males in the micro-ebusiness sector. However, the specific items regarding regulatory and normative form distinct factors of what mixed the two dimensions in female group. From the evidence of China, it challenges the widely recognized measurement of institutional environment, which need to be redesigned for females in regulatory and normative dimensions. The study outcomes provide a better understanding of how different the institutional environment was evaluated and functioned to female and male. It can help government departments reconsider and improve institutional environment to promote entrepreneurship from gender perspective. This new perspective would add some insights into the literature of micro-ebusiness and enhance the knowledge of the dimensionality of institutional environment.