Women driving Philippine entrepreneurship: Social and governance issues as mediated by economic development

This article offers a discourse on institutional factors relating to micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) incidences in the Philippines. The analyses in this study utilized data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This study analyzes data for a 14-year observation horizon from 2008 to 2021. Manifest variables in the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) are regulatory quality, the tertiary school enrollment gender ratio, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and incidences of unemployment. From the PLS-SEM path model, the social and governance construct positively and significantly influences economic development. In turn, macroeconomic development significantly increases the number of MSMEs in the country. In particular, the female-to-male enrollment ratio at the tertiary education level and per capita GDP are significantly influential variables. Implications from these findings inform government policies that affect women at the tertiary education level and economic development policies. Findings from this study offer evidence that legislators may craft laws and government programs that benefit not only women and businesses but, more so, the overall economic growth of their nations. To the knowledge of the authors, there is not yet a study that empirically tests the relationships between social and governance issues, economic development and MSME frequency using the PLS-SEM technique.