Abilities and skills: a theoretical review

The study of the concepts of abilities and skills involves the consideration that both items belong, along with the knowledge, to the broader field of competence (^{Olaz, 2011}).

Regarding the concept of competence and its definition, there have been and are a multitude of approaches. The first approach may be as to ^{McClelland (1973)}, who posed competence as anything that allows improved performance of a task. In an attempt to collect the many definitions of this concept, ^{Moreno, Pelayo, and Vargas (2004)} have considered other ones that belong to authors, such as ^{Boyatzis (1982}, p. 21), which defined the competences as “characteristics underlying the person who can relate to their skills, traits or a set of knowledge”; ^{Spencer and Spencer (1993)} that considered latent personal characteristics that allow the effective exercise of a task; or ^{Cantera (1999)}, who delineated personal characteristics - knowledge, skills and attitudes - that may favour success.

This paper elaborates on the analysis of two of the elements that make up the area of competence: the abilities and skills. Regarding abilities, it can be said that they are particular elements of an individual’s personality that allow the execution of tasks and determine the successful development of such a task or activity. In the words of ^{Olaz (2011}, p. 610), they are seen as “the potential associated with the natural characteristics of the individual to manage certain situations.”

That said, it can be understood that skills are only related to the innate characteristics of the individual. However, skills are socially conditioned by the family and the school as fundamental agencies of socialization. Moreover, not only are they manifested in the proper execution of the task but also in the design of it and in the process leading to the formation of competencies (^{Suárez, Dusú, & Sánchez, 2007}).

In terms of skills, they can be defined, as does the ^{European Commission (2009)} on the European Qualifications Framework, as the ability of the individual to the application of knowledge in order to perform tasks and solve problems through the use of any technique. ^{Sennett (2008)} believes that skills are practices that are a result of training and not by inspiration. And in the words of ^{Olaz (2011}, p. 610), they are considered as “not necessarily innate skills, not even suspected by the individual, who, being «discovered» and trained, allow a better development of the person in their relationship with the environment”.

^{Cobo (2012)} establishes the existence of hard and soft skills. The first are acquired through training and through them specific knowledge and skills are applied. Soft skills are acquired through training and practice, being related to the tacit knowledge gained through the process of socialization.

As can be seen, it is not easy to distinguish clearly between skills and abilities and in fact terminological imprecision leads sometimes to confusion. It is also important to note that although both capabilities and skills are elements or characteristics of the individual, they cannot be acquired if not through a training process of learning and training whether formal or informal, nor can they manifest only when they are applied in a given context.

Women and entrepreneurship: skills and abilities as differential factors

The act of undertaking is not universal and unchanging over time, and so the start of the subsequent development activity follows different contextual elements - opportunities offered by environment, and personal and individual characteristics possessed by the entrepreneur - that analyzed together help explain the actual rates of entrepreneurship in a certain region and historical moment (^{Ormeño, 2014}).

Both factors, exogenous and endogenous, seem to differentially affect women and men, since as noted above from the data of the ^{GEM Report (2012)}, the entrepreneurship has a gender bias, women being less active in this task than men. This is so to such an extent that some authors note that the approximate global ratio is 70-30 (^{Ortiz, Duque, & Camargo, 2008}). But it is also different not only in the overall rate of entrepreneurial activity in men and women, but also in the desire or intention of starting a business, motivations and brakes faced by women and men at the time of undertaking and attributes associated with entrepreneurial profile by gender (^{Fuentes & Sánchez, 2010}).

From an extensive review of the literature on women and entrepreneurship, ^{Castiblanco (2013)} agreed to emphasize that gender is a moderating element of entrepreneur ship, since the activities of self-employed men and women have characteristics that are conditioned by cultural factors (assumed roles, differentiated socialization) and social factors (institutional support, expectations), and certainly also individual factors, as the capacities and skills that have one and the other finally determine and characterize their projects.

In a similar vein, ^{Álvarez, Rebollo, and Rodríguez (2013)} stress that when women face the task of undertaking they face facilitator and blocker elements, both individually and socially, that generally are specific factors and distinct from those barriers and opportunities that men have. Among the blocking factors are mainly external factors, such as difficulties in reconciling work and family life, while among the facilitators those that mainly stand out are individual cutting issues, as some skills and abilities are developed mainly by women as management practice, a sense of responsibility or versatility, and which moved to vision and business management as added values.

Elaborating on this issue related to the individual aspects, ^{Romo, Suárez, and Llamas (2007)} identify common features in the profiles and skills of women entrepreneurs: commitment, intuition, adaptability, discipline, the tendency to cooperate, the ability to delegate authority, tolerance to frustration or finding efficiency and effectiveness, among others, which are factors present in the projects of women who have started a business and that, overall, could be collaborated to develop successful projects. In any case, there is agreement to emphasize that men and women do not start with higher or lower capacities and skills, but that they tend to be different, so that sometimes they would collaborate and others may hinder the task of undertaking.

In this sense, for ^{Ferreiro (2013)}, women do not feel less capable to develop entrepreneurial projects, but it seems that man develops in higher grade capabilities that could be seen as more related to this activity: higher risk tolerance, greater competitiveness, ability to perceive business opportunities or to develop business networks, etc. All this could help explain, among other factors, most entrepreneurial activity of men.

In addition, not only is there a difference in measuring actual skills acquired and developed by women and men, but even seemingly informal factors, such as own perception of both society and women; the perception that women themselves have of their skills as entrepreneurs is different. This is no small matter, since according to ^{Álvarez, Noguera, and Urbano (2012)}, the perception of entrepreneurial skills has a positive effect on the final decision to start a business, and this is especially true, according to these authors, in the case of women.

It is curious, however, that these perceptions vary when asked to the population in general and when the question is made to the entrepreneurs themselves. Thus, ^{Ruiz, Coduras, and Camelo (2012)} conclude that although higher levels of self-confidence, risk tolerance, ability to recognize business opportunities and a greater entrepreneurial intention in the male population than in the female are observed in the population in general, when the question is made directly to men and women with entrepreneurial projects underway, no significant differences were observed in these perceptual factors. Or put another way, women entrepreneurs see themselves in similar terms to their male counterparts, equaling to them by overcoming the socially constructed stereotypes.

The self-perception of its attributes is also being studied in the work of ^{Sánchez and Fuentes (2013)}. The differential aspect of this research is that the answers of university students are analyzed, that is to say, investigated for the perception of their own abilities with those who could be future entrepreneurs. The differences here are also relevant, since men are considered with biggest initiative, creativity, selfconfidence, optimism and tolerance against a possible failure, while women are seen as more self-disciplined and willing to endure longer to get results, more rigorous at work and with more risk aversion. Therefore, and as seems to be concluded from these results, men and women have self-confered competences that could contribute to entrepreneurial activity. The point is that, in general terms, the results of this study show that entrepreneurial predisposition remains lower among women, perhaps because of the increased risk aversion that is recognized, or perhaps, as indicated by ^{Ventura and Quero (2013)}, because the intention of undertaking in the case of women depends on a greater number of variables. Put in other words, the attitude conducive to entrepreneurship is more affected by conditions in the case of women than in men.

Finally, like any social phenomenon, the explanation to the different intentions and entrepreneurial activities of men and women has many causes, but among the most important seems to be the perception, acquisition and development of skills and abilities, that if not determined, then at least must result in moderating the business project by gender.

The speech of managers about skills and abilities perceived in the woman entrepreneurship

The analysis of the narratives of businessmen and businesswomen on the characteristics of female entrepreneurship allows to observe what are the terms used by each of them and how women and men are associated with certain capabilities and skills - not always coincident - to women entrepreneurship.

Starting with the abilities that allow understanding and assessing the current female entrepreneurship (Fig. 1), it should be noted first that both businessmen and businesswomen mention a significant number of capacities, which unveils that in the social imaginary of entrepreneurship, women appear as a trained agent to perform its function. In addition, all the mentioned capabilities are facilitators of entrepreneurial activity, both those that are specific to a male norm entrepreneur as those that are more typical of female norm.

Source: Authors.

Figure. 1 Relation of abilities that businesswomen have. Orange: outstanding abilities only by women; Green: outstanding abilities only by men; Brown: abilities highlighted both by women as by men. 

Among the abilities considered more frequently in women as in men’s discourse are perseverance (displayed on 2 occasions in the female discourse and 6 in the male one), empathy (3 and 2, respectively), organizational skills (2 and 1, respectively), efficiency (1 and 2, respectively) and diversification (1 and 2 respectively).

In the women’s discourse the abilities most marked are self-security (appears 4 times), and the courage and ability to assume risk (appears 3 times).

The self-confidence, the trust that you are able to do, and take the risk, to say that although I cannot get it right, I will do it (E3-Women).

Meanwhile, in the men’s speech, the most important skills to understand female entrepreneurship are inquisitiveness and self-sufficiency, and perseverance (shown 6 times each).

Persevering, insistent, it cannot leave the project at the first moment because surely are going to come many bad times and will have to overcome them (E6-MAN).

Therefore, although some matches are appreciated, we found a significantly different association in the discourse of women and men when referring to the abilities that businesswomen believe they have. Only men set out abilities like social sensitivity, the ability of personal attention and patience that have traditionally been associated with the acquits of female abilities.

The woman certainly has, I think in general, and of course talking about maximum and not of absolute truths, more social sensitivity (E10-MAN).

This may indicate the persistence of a male speech in which gender stereotypes have an important role. While on the contrary, it is only women who consider their own abilities, such as self-improvement and, above all, courage and risk-taking, which are recognized as male capabilities, according to multiple studies collected by ^{Ruiz et al. (2012)}. This could indicate that women entrepreneurs have begun to renounce the traditional discourse influenced by gender stereotypes.

Ability to self-improvement, that is to say, be present, plant yourself and know that every day you will learn something new. everyday someone poking you in your comfort zone and you are the whole day testing yourself (e4-women).

The main competence is to swallow the fear, saying, “I will take the step, I’m going to risk, the risk.” (E3-Women).

Regarding the skills that enable to understand and appreciate female entrepreneurship, it has also been considered both terminology repetition and its association with the traits that characterize the entrepreneurial female profile (Fig. 2). Thus, it has been observed that the most important skills for both men and women are the leadership skills and those relevant to the organization of a company (both appear on 2 occasions in the women’s discourse and 1 in the male one).

Source: Authors.

Fig. 2 Relation of skills that businesswomen have. Orange: outstanding skills only by women; Green: outstanding skills only by men; Brown: skills highlighted both by women as by men.  

The woman proved to be more effective than the man in the organization of personnel, organization of the accounts and, ultimately, to organize A business (E1-Women).

Some women have shown great capacity of command (E8-MAN).

In any case, although both businesswomen and businessmen indicate different skills, businesswomen have not always agreed in their analysis. When women think and verbalize the businesswomen’s skills, they are referring to communication and the use of new technologies. Two interesting skills, by its importance in the job performance of most business leaders today, but paradoxically are not made visible as belonging to businesswomen, according to the men interviewed. In any case, although women set out their own technology skills, they dedicate their entrepreneurial activity in service sectors rather than technological, which are more typical of men (^{GEM, 2012}). Meanwhile, men link to businesswomen the skill to treat employees. However, this quality does not appear on the female discourse.

I think it’s easier to find a good female director of human resources than a good man director of human resources. I believe that women have more empathy and may be better personnel director (E10-MAN).

In what does seem to be a coincidence, it is that all outstanding skills in the male and female discourses can be considered facilitators of entrepreneurship, including those that can be understood more as belonging to the female norm of entrepreneur, such as communication and dealing with the employees.

Besides knowing the perception of the current competencies that holds women entrepreneurs, the analysis seeks to go a step further and try to uncover which are the ideal traits that managers consider to have the perfect entrepreneur.

In this regard, and starting again by abilities, it could highlight various significant results as regard to the profile of the entrepreneur 10 or the perfect one (Fig. 3). Thus, it is seen that the most important ability for both women and men is the one that corresponds to the assumption of multiple roles at the same time efficiently (appears on 2 occasions in the women’s discourse and 4 times in the male one) but we should also mention the capacity referred to perseverance (1 and 4, respectively). These two abilities are the most significant in the male discourse; however, the most important in their repetition in women’s discourse are, beside the ability to take on several roles at the same time, creativity, the ability to manage frustration and failure and self-confidence (shown in 2 occasions).

Source: Authors.

Fig. 3 Relation of abilities that the businesswoman 10 should have, explicit by gender. Orange: outstanding abilities only by women; Green: outstanding abilities only by men; Brown: abilities highlighted both by women as by men. 

The entrepreneur 10 is someone who can balance their work and family life very well and do well in both cases (E5-Women).

You have to organize your frustration but that goes into creativity (E5-Women).

So, in terms of the abilities that should treasure the businesswoman 10 or the perfect one, the discourse underlying the capacity mentioned more often in the male and female discourses is remarkable. Both men and women considered the ability of women to conciliate family private space and the public space of their entrepreneurial activity essential. This fact is indicative of the persistence of a gender discourse, more common in men than in women. It is anticipated that the perfect businesswoman should know to conciliate, which can become a problem for the female entrepreneurship, to devote part of their time away from a productive space.

Finally, the repetition and association of entrepreneurship skills related to the businesswoman 10 or the perfect one (Fig. 4) were also measured. It is noted that for both women and men interviewed, the ability to treat people and workers is the most important (listed on 1 occasion in the women’s discourse and 2 in the male one). The leadership abilities are relevant for women (appearing on 3 occasions in his discourse), while for men the skills to manage the enterprise and achieve profitability, and management skills (are spoken in 2 occasions) would be significant. All of them would be relevant facilitators of female entrepreneurship.

Source: Authors.

Fig. 4 Relation of skills that the businesswoman 10 should have explicit by gender. Orange: outstanding skills only by women; Green: outstanding skills only by men; Brown: skills highlighted both by women as by men. 

Again differences can be seen in relation to the nature of the skills outlined in the female and male discourse. In the last one, the skills while not hard are close to this, while skills considered by women are all of the soft type or deal with tacit knowledge.