| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of personal characteristics on
performance of women owned enterprises in open air markets; A survey of Kathiani subcounty.
This study necessitated the fact that women owned enterprises contribute to the
rapidly growing segment of the business population in Kenya creating a variety of new
ventures and contributing to the development of a range of services and products. The
study therefore was guided by the following objectives: To establish the influence of
entrepreneurial training on performance of women owned enterprises; To establish the
influence of use of technology on performance of women owned enterprises; To establish
the influence of level of education on performance of women owned enterprises; and to
establish the influence of entrepreneurial experience on performance of women owned
enterprises in Kathiani Sub-county in Machakos County. This study was based on the
theory of planned behavior. The research study employed the descriptive Survey Design
to target 263 women owned enterprises in Kathiani Sub-County, Machakos County.
Simple random sampling was used to get 78 women owned enterprises. Questionnaires
were the data collection instruments. To establish reliability of research instruments, test
retest technique was used to test the reliability of instruments was done using a pilot
study in neighboring sub-county and then the Cronbach’s coefficient alpha model was
used whose figure was 0.716. To establish Validity of the instruments, the study
supervisor examined the content of the instruments and advised the researcher on
the content validity. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form
of percentages, frequencies standard deviations and means. Linear regression model and
Pearson correlation analysis was also used to analyze data. Data was analyzed using
descriptive statistics, regression and correlation and presented in tables. The results
showed that entrepreneurial training and skills, use of technology, level of education and
entrepreneurial experience had a significance influence on women owned enterprises.
The study therefore recommends: the women entrepreneurs should engage in informal
entrepreneurial education to help them get the prerequisite training to effectively perform
better in entrepreneurial activities. The County Government of Machakos through the
Department of Commerce should initiate the training programs and facilitate its
implementation. Women owned enterprises should invest in technology to help improve
their business performance in terms of sales growth, competitiveness and effective
management of cash flows. Women owned enterprises should invest in internet, mobile
phones and ICTs. Women owned enterprises should continually and effectively do good
and profitable businesses to dispel any doubt on their competence based on their
education. As noted earlier, the women entrepreneurs should take any opportunity to get
additional education. Women entrepreneurs should continue to acquire the necessary
experience that would be helpful in getting the knowledge and expertise of doing
business to improve the business. | en_US |
