Influence of Motivational Patterns of Women Entrepreneurs on Employment Creation: A Study of SMEs scsrjournals@scholarconsult.com                                     9 | Page     Influence of Motivational Patterns of Women Entrepreneurs on Employment Creation: A Study of SMEs in Enugu State, Nigeria Ogidi, Armstrong E., Abah, Daniel A. and Nyor, Jude T. Department of Agribusiness, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2373, Makurdi, Benue State Nigeria Abstract: Women entrepreneurs in the sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, service and trade struggle to achieve profits. The aim of this study is to determine the motivation of women entrepreneurs that sustains employment creation. Applying Yamane’s formula, 765 responses out of a population of 2150 was the lowest acceptable number of responses to maintain a 95 percent confidence level. The weakness in the relationship between women entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial performance as regards employment creation in the various SMEs probably could have been caused by the trend in the study area especially as the women of Igbo Etiti L.G.A. are more prone to acquiring education than venturing into entrepreneurship. . Even with these challenge, significant t-values exists in our correlations of the study’s hypothesis tests. This implies that the null hypothesis of, “there is no significant relationship between motivational patterns of women entrepreneurs and employment creation,” under study will be rejected and its alternative accepted. Motivation for the women boosted employment creation from fear, power and intrinsic and extrinsic motivational patterns; but stakeholders still need to implement the importance of motivational incentive and attitude motivational patterns in enhancing employment creation within the community (area of study). Key words: Agriculture, employment creation, manufacturing, motivational patterns, trade, women entrepreneurs 1. Introduction Women are becoming increasingly important in the socio-economic development of both developed and developing economies as they account for significant percent of the operators of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (Josiane, 1998; Kjeldsen and Nielson, 2000). This had led to less contribution of women to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. However, works on entrepreneurship motivational models and theories such as Dubini (1988); Buttner and Moore (1997); Yves, McGraw and Alain (2001); Ogundele and Opeifa (2003) have not been able to separate female entrepreneurial motivating factors from that of male. Women entrepreneurs are active in a large number of enterprises and make a substantial contribution to national economies (United Nations, 2006). While women have lower participation rates in formal large enterprises, they often have higher rates of start-ups and growth in small and medium enterprises. Sectors that are traditionally dominated by women are often crowded with SCSR Journal of Development (SCSR-JD) ISSN: 2384-5341. Volume 1, Issue 2 (June, 2014), pp 09 - 21 www.scholarconsult.com