The impact of culture on small tourism businesses’ access to finance: the moderating role of gender inequality

Access to finance to stay competitive is a salient challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Few studies examine how cultures (i.e. social norms and customs) in different countries influence various channels for SMEs’ external financing (i.e. formal and informal). In particular, gender inequality, such as in terms of gender disparities in health, empowerment, and the labor market in each country, can bias lenders’ perspectives of female SME owners. By incorporating pecking order, information cost, and lack-of-fit theories, this study uses the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor dataset and other secondary datasets to investigate the impact of culture and gender inequality on tourism and hospitality SME owners’ access to formal and informal financing. The results show that cultures that are more masculine than feminine encourage both formal and informal financing; however, cultures with high power distance boost informal financing and hinder formal financing. In addition, gender inequality moderates these cultural influences on access to finance. This study contributes to the SME literature and provides insights for governments and policymakers.