Vol. 4, No. 11 International Journal of Business and Management 184 Women Entrepreneurial Innovative Behaviour: The Role of Psychological Capital Sunday Samson BABALOLA Department of Psychology, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan Ibadan, Nigeria E-mail: ss.babalola@mail.ui.edu.ng; ssbabalola@yahoo.com Abstract This study investigated the influence of psychological capital on women entrepreneurs’ innovative behaviour with 405 female entrepreneurs from Ibadan, Nigeria. The result indicates that women with high self-efficacy and internal locus of control scored higher on entrepreneurial innovative behaviour than women with low self-efficacy and external locus of control. There was also a significant relationship between highly educated women and lowly educated women. Women are encouraged to belief in themselves while their acquisition of higher education will provide impetus for growth and achievement in entrepreneurial innovative activities. Further studies in relation to task specifics are recommended. Keywords: Innovative behaviour, self-efficacy, Women entrepreneurs, Psychological capital 1. Introduction The tremendous significance growth of small firms towards the end of 20 th century has robed on women‘s employment status (Loveman & Sengenberger, 1991; Acs & Audretsch, 1999; Quince & Whittaker, 2003). Initially, women’s work has been centered in the home, whereas, these days women are now involved in income generating ventures that contribute economically to the family and community growth. Although, entrepreneurship is perceived as a “male” domain because its task are often associated with masculine behaviour (Dickerson & Taylor, 2000; Verheul, Uhlaner & Thurik, 2005). Females are however, now involved in entrepreneurial activities possibly not only as a means for economic survival but also as a means of positive social repercussions for themselves and their social environment (UNIDO, 2001). Thus, according to Lee and Venkataraman (2006), the involvement of females entrepreneurship may have arose from the disequilibrium between their aspirations and the perceived valuation of the labour market offers. Despite many shortcomings and constraints, contemporary women are setting up their own enterprises, even in countries where economic decisions would normally be taken by the male head of the households. According to World Bank (1995) report, Nigeria is a good example of this phenomenon. This is because according to Hoffman (1974), women employment has some effect upon her domestic roles and her personality factors. Although, many of the problems reported for American women are common to those faced by Nigerian business women (Parikh, 1987). Nigerian female entrepreneurs, however face problems attributable to socio-cultural factors (Ehigie & Idemudia, 2000; Ehigie & Umoren, 2003; Kitching & Woldie, 2004; World Bank, 1995). This is because some cultures and social traditions (like Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa, Bini) play a significant role in determining who becomes an entrepreneur. For instance, women are not expected to be involved in occupations that will take them outside their matrimonial home; rather they are expected to manage the family and “be submissive to their husbands” (Ehigie & Idemudia, 2000). Nevertheless, women are increasingly expected to work due to completion of educational careers and decline of domestic work as an occupation (Ehigie, 2000). In addition, small-scale businesses are perceived as ventures that require less demand (Babalola, 1998). Possibly, this is why Berger and Byvinie (1989) found that female entrepreneurs are higher in informal sector than male entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Although, Kitching and Woldie (2004) opined that female entrepreneurs in Nigeria are hindered by a variety of barriers despite having made considerable advances. However, not all women that are involved in entrepreneurial venture turn out to be successful as possibility to make poor decisions regarding the factors relating to little or no innovative behaviour abound. Innovation is the generation of ideas, its acceptance and the implementation of such ideas, which are either novel, or modification of existing processes, products or services (Babalola, 2006). Studies showed that it is one of the most critical capabilities that successful entrepreneurs should possess because it relates to the production or adoption of useful ideas and idea implementation (Kanter, 1988; Van de Ven, 1986) including re-structuring of existing or old products or ideas. Significant innovations allow companies to establish dominant competitive positions and afford newcomer companies an opportunity to gain an edge in the market (Erdil, Erdil & Keskin, 2004). Researchers were of the view that innovative behaviour is related to the ability to generate ideas and the willingness and skill to work with these ideas (Scott and Bruce,