Developing a comprehensive characterization framework behavioral traits of rural womenpreneurs in Sabah, Malaysia

Currently, the involvement of rural womenpreneurs in Sabah has increased to 22,740 registrations, compared to 219,015 womenpreneurs out of 1,226,494 registrations in Malaysia. There are obstacles and challenges for rural womenpreneurs to be active when taking on the responsibilities of being mothers, wives and rural womenpreneurs at the same time compared to male entrepreneurs. Although previous researchers have studied the success factors of female entrepreneurs, there is limited research on the factors that cause female entrepreneurs to lag behind male entrepreneurs and the success factors of rural womenpreneurs in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to look at the behavioral characteristics of rural womenpreneurs focusing on the context of Sabah, Malaysia. Specifically, this study will be conducted on 10 rural womenpreneurs from 5 rural districts including Kudat, Kota Belud, Pitas, Tuaran and Beaufort, Sabah using face-to-face interviews registered with local agencies. In addition, the focus group interview study focused on 4 experienced mentors in collaboration with researchers from the Koperasi Nelayan (Ko-Nelayan) and the Richgrads Academy. As a result, this study identified the key cognitive, emotional and social factors that influence rural womenpreneurs in decision-making and resilience. Therefore, the findings of this research contribute to the development of targeted interventions and policies that enhance the success and sustainability of rural womenpreneurs which will be used to develop a comprehensive characterization framework for the behavioral characteristics of rural womenpreneurs in Sabah, Malaysia.