Women and Men Entrepreneur's Motivations in Industry Sector: Similarities and Differences

Introduction/literature review/ one of the influencing factors in entrepreneurship is entrepreneurs'' motivations. Some studieshave shown that men and women become entrepreneurs with different motivations. However، entrepreneurs'' motivations in the industry sector، especially consideringthe sex factor، have been less studied. This study aims to identify similarities and differences in women and men entrepreneurs'' motivations usinga mix method research in a sample of entrepreneurs in the industry sector atthe Golestan province this is a mix method of qualitative exploratory research in order to identify entrepreneurs'' motivations. Data was gathered by deep interviews with 20 entrepreneurs. Then، a quantitative descriptive study was undertakenin order to compare and prioritize women and men entrepreneurs'' motivations based on data gatheredthrougha predefined questionnaire. Results/discussion/analysis: the results of the qualitative study showed that entrepreneurs'' motivations in the industry sector are earning money، creating jobs، opportunity exploitation، helping the society، proving competencies، internal satisfaction، and independence. The results also showedthat there is asignificant difference between women and men entrepreneurs for two motivations of «proving competencies» and «earning money». These results help policy makers to further focus on the development of women''s entrepreneurship in Iran.