Bastida Domínguez, MaríaOlveira Blanco, AnaVázquez Taín, Miguel Anxo2023-06-192023-06-192022Bastida, M., Olveira, A., & Vázquez Taín, M. Á. (2022). Are cooperatives gender sensitive? A confirmatory and predictive analysis of women's collective entrepreneurship. Ann Public Coop Econ, 00, 1– 26. https://doi.org/10.1111/apce.124051370-4788http://hdl.handle.net/10347/30710The literature on entrepreneurship has developed a huge body of fruitful research to explain why women do not engage in business as often as men. However, relatively little is known about the role that different business models may play in driving women's entrepreneurial activity, which is examined in this study. In this paper we develop a model to empirically test the relationship between women's motivations to become entrepreneurs and their willingness to embark on business through cooperatives, a particular organizational model. We find that the fit between women's needs and expectations and the guiding principles of cooperatives is decisive for the materialization of female entrepreneurship. Furthermore, we explore the role that institutions can play in fostering this link. In doing so, we extend the literature on women's entrepreneurship by highlighting key factors to better channel the development of this potential resource for economic development. Our confirmatory model highlights the role of cooperatives as a type of organization particularly suited to the interests and needs of women entrepreneurs. Thus, the promotion of this business model can be useful to improve the number of women entrepreneurs and, in turn, enhance economic developmenteng© 2022 The Authors. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Edgard Milhaud Foundation. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Collective entrepreneurshipCooperative enterprisesWomen entrepreneurshipjournal article10.1111/apce.124051467-8292open access