Commercial Proficiency is the Key to Success: An Analytical Purview of Women Agropreneurs

Abstract

Women entrepreneurs are often motivated by a deep desire to positively impact the world and create something meaningful. They are driven by a clear vision of how their products, services, or ideas can solve problems, improve their lives, or contribute to society. Entrepreneurial motives vary across gender, culture, and the economy (Fauziah et al., 2023)1. This study investigates the motivational factors underlying the selection of entrepreneurship by female Agropreneurs from the Kanyakumari District. Primary data were collected from a group of 240 women using an Interview Schedule. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient derived here was 0.943 for the 20 variables under consideration and proved to be reliable for further analysis. The SPSS and AMOS packages were used for the analytical model, along with the Sobel calculator. The 20 variables were filtered into three major components with the help of factor analysis: Commercial Proficiency (.921), self-subsistent (.826), and Technical Proficiency (.820), consisting of 10, 4, and 4 variables, respectively. The association is significantly strong and positive between Technical Proficiency and Commercial Proficiency (.722**), Self-Subsistent and Commercial Proficiency (.627**), and Self-Subsistent and Technical Proficiency (.617**). The value of the Sobel test is 4.57, which is highly significant as the p value becomes 0.000 which is within the standard limit of 0.05, and the value of the VAF value is .23, which is within the limit of .20 to .80, and the same is proved through the interaction chart. It is concluded that the mediation is prominent between technical Proficiency and Commercial Proficiency, and so it is suggested that women Agropreneurs should improve their proficiencies both commercially and technically to possess self-sustained entrepreneurship. Future studies can be carried out to probe the generation gap and technology adoption by women entrepreneurs in the prime areas of agricultural production and business.