Balancing roles: how female entrepreneurs’ self-promotion shapes spousal support and business growth

Purpose This study aims to investigate how female entrepreneurs navigate gender-specific barriers to secure critical support from stakeholders, particularly spousal support, which is vital for business success in traditional contexts. It examines whether self-promotion, when aligned with traditional gender role expectations, enhances spousal support and thereby contributes to business growth. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted with 319 female entrepreneurs in Pakistan. The data were analyzed using a moderated mediation model to examine the effect of self-promotion on both subjective and objective measures of business growth, with spousal support as the mediator and fulfillment of traditional role expectations as the moderator. Findings Results indicate that self-promotion of female entrepreneurs is more effective in securing spousal support when traditional role expectations are fulfilled. Moreover, fulfilling these expectations enhances the positive relationship between self-promotion and spousal support. However, this study found no significant mediation effect of spousal support on business growth, nor a direct effect of self-promotion on growth outcomes. Originality This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by identifying the conditions under which spousal support is granted, and female business growth occurs in traditional societies. It offers a novel contribution by demonstrating that the effectiveness of self-promotion in securing spousal support depends on the fulfillment of traditional role expectations. It also advances research on impression management in female entrepreneurship and underscores the importance of aligning entrepreneurial behavior with societal norms to strengthen support mechanisms.