Abstract
Entrepreneurship has been pointed out as a contributing factor leading to increased job creation, sustained economic development and ultimately economic growth. However, many young businesses struggle to survive the first 3 years subsequently jeopardising the full potential they may have towards contributing to the economy. Literature suggest that motivational factors may have a contributing role towards business sustainability and that the reason people decide to start or remain in business might play a part in business survival. The purpose of this study was to determine which motivational factors female entrepreneurs deem most important and whether these factors differ between young and more established entrepreneurs within the South African context. The study made use of primary data obtained through self-administered questionnaires. A convenience sampling technique was used resulting in a final sample of 515 small to medium female business owners in South Africa. Various statistical techniques were employed to analyse the data including internal-consistency reliability, descriptive statistics, factor analysis and an independent sample t-test. Results indicated that contribution to others and independence as motivation yielded the highest means followed by self-fulfilment and having a high status in the community. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference between entrepreneurs with less than 3 years’ experience and those with more than 3 years’ experience was only observed for the self-fulfilment motivation. In more established businesses, the entrepreneurs had higher motivation to focus on self-fulfilment aspects. The study showed that South African female entrepreneurs could be considered more socially motivated and less profit-driven, this is also to some extent supported by literature.