SOCIAL COMPETENCE AND WOMEN ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS: A REVISED MODEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

Women entrepreneurs in small businesses are beginning to be seen more than ever as a vehicle for entrepreneurship development, contributing not just to employment and social stability but also become a competitive power. However, the slow and inefficient business performance of women entrepreneur is drawing the attention of scholars towards the traits that should be possessed. Drawing upon the psychological characteristic model, the purpose of this study is to examine the influence of social competence (social perception, social adaptability, expressiveness and impression management) on the women entrepreneurial success and in turn its impact on the business sustainability. The data were collected from January until October 2020 on micro enterprise in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using quantitative research design, a structured questionnaire was used among the women entrepreneur listed in Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select the respondents from each state in Malaysia. Descriptive statistic and linear regression analysis were used to analyse the data, which comprised 500 respondents. Overall, the findings showed that four dimensions of social competence had a significant positive relationship on the women entrepreneurial success. The novelty of this study rests in shedding light on a revised psychological characteristic model in micro enterprise sector and emphasised the crucial role women entrepreneur’s social competence for business sustainability.