Examining the relationship between the courage of women entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial leadership according to the evaluation of the employees

The characteristics of the entrepreneur are important for the effective and efficient use of economic resources. It has been revealed that one of the most important factors that trigger entrepreneurship is courage, and bold steps must be taken for a more effective entrepreneurship. This thesis examines the role of courage in the fields of entrepreneurship and leadership, especially through women entrepreneurs in Antalya Province. In the entrepreneurship literature, courage is considered one of the basic elements of innovation and risk-taking ability. This study analyzes the impact of courage on leadership styles, decision-making processes and business results, using the experiences of female entrepreneurs operating in the Antalya region. The study was applied as an online survey to 386 people working with female entrepreneurs operating in Antalya between 16 September and 31 October 2023. In this context, it has been determined that the level of courage of female entrepreneurs positively affects their leadership qualities and the success of their ventures. There is a significant inverse correlation between age and the entrepreneurial leadership scale and the courage scale, participants under the age of 25 give higher scores to the Entrepreneurial Leadership Scale and Courage Scale than the participants over the age of 55, and considering their educational status, high school graduates are more likely to have graduated from vocational schools than primary school and postgraduate graduates. It was observed that graduates, college graduates and undergraduate graduates gave higher scores to the Entrepreneurial Leadership Scale and Courage Scale, and married participants evaluated these two scales higher than singles. While there was no difference between the scores given to the Entrepreneurial Leadership Scale according to the duration of employment in the same workplace, it was found that there was a difference between the scores given to the Courage scale, and there was a difference between the scores given to the Entrepreneurial Leadership Scale and the Courage Scale based on the duration of employment with the same manager. It was concluded that there was a linear relationship between Courage and Entrepreneurial leadership scores. The results of factor analysis and regression analysis, as well as the difference checks for other variables, were presented and interpreted in tables. This thesis aims to make significant contributions to the entrepreneurship literature, especially on how women entrepreneurs take on courage and leadership roles In addition to contributing to the courage and entrepreneurship literature of this study, it is suggested that practitioners should consider the effect of courage on entrepreneurship and leadership, and that it would be beneficial to examine courage under a separate title in entrepreneurship and leadership trainings, if necessary.