Keywords

Attitude , Entrepreneurship , Gender , Sports , Social Norms , Unemployment

1 . INTRODUCTION

In Tunisia, the educational apparatus in Sciences and Techniques of Physical and Sports Activities (STAPS), continues to train unemployed graduates, oriented essentially towards teaching. As a result, the unemployment rate has now reached 100% in the face of a ceiling on public resources (MJS, 2020). At the same time, the private sector is growing and investments in sports and leisure projects are becoming important. These entrepreneurs seem to take advantage of the 82.9% rate of non-practitioners of physical activities and sports in Tunisia (ONS, 2010). This target of consumers of all types constitutes a career opportunity for these investors and a tool for the dynamization of regions with a strong problem of underemployment. 

Indeed, this socio-economic vision supported by Neumaier (2003), who considers that sports science is multidisciplinary and plays an important role in the economy by creating social value. This specificity relative to edutainment entrepreneurship determines not only its quality but also its impact, which goes far beyond purely economic personal wealth, to influence society’s attitudes and behaviors. Thus, edutainment entrepreneurship can be qualified as social, which reconciles economic and humanitarian benefits.

According to Noguera et al. (2015), this entrepreneurial project “builds on local skills held by different stakeholders. Far from a simple aggregation of skills, coordination and integration at the territorial level is required. Therefore, it is a question of projection that creating individual and collective well-being, but also promoting the economic development of the territory.

In this regard, according to Bernard (2006), social entrepreneurship “appears to be a source of resilience, more than making entrepreneurial skills emerge and support a territory, social entrepreneurship actions encourage the integration of young people and the recreation of solidarity actions to help territories avoid the flight of populations, especially of the most important skills so that they can survive and perpetuate themselves”. This is valid for the sports sector, thanks to the characteristics of sport. Indeed, Ratten (2011, 2012) emphasizes the importance of analyzing these projects from an entrepreneurial point of view, innovating business procedures that create social and territorial added value. These edutainment entrepreneurs are supposed to be involved in their territory and must respond to the real needs of their surroundings. This territorial anchoring is characterized by optimal use of local means and resources for regional development. The latter is defined as “a process of mobilization of actors. This process is based on the construction of representations, rules and common indicators of its evolution and environment” (Derycke, 1992).

Therefore, it seems that entrepreneurship is often considered as an engine of territorial development and several regions are currently putting forward policies that help create businesses. These projects can contribute to local development and address underemployment in the regions. Indeed, according to Ben Slama (2011), the dynamics of regions depend on entrepreneurial dynamics and the articulation between them. Regarding this attitude, Défélix et al. (2006, 2009 and 2010), suggested the territorialization of human resource management for better skills and competitiveness clusters. This is only valid through a regional policy adapted to local development. According to Dickson et al. (2008), the growth of the entrepreneurial spirit is necessary for the country’s economy.

This opportunity related to entrepreneurship in the mainly disadvantaged regions, makes more sense in Tunisia, especially since the unemployment rate has exceeded 40% of university graduates and more than two thirds are young people belonging to the age category of 15 to 29 years (INS, 2014). It should also be noted, in this regard, that this underemployment affects not only the Southern and Northern regions, but also the capital Tunis (a rate of 45%). These rates have also reached 100% in the field of STAPS since the revolution. However, edutainment projects could be a more attractive career opportunity, in the face of a continuous social need. This mass practice attracts consumers of all types not only for physical and mental health purposes, but also for social and professional inclusion. Swaen (2008), who underlines the role of the practices of physical activities and sports in the awareness of social and environmental responsibility, supports this double socio-economic purpose. In this regard, Rule 1.1 of the Olympic Charter also indicates that the purpose of sport is “to contribute to the construction of a better and peaceful world, by educating youth through the practice of sport in accordance with Olympism and its values” (Olympic Solidarity, 2010).

Thus, entrepreneurship in the leisure and sports sector makes sense, between social legitimacy and solution to unemployment. This justified strategic direction, concerns both men and women in a Tunisian population composed of 52.2% of women, who are also 64% of the total graduates of higher education (INS, 2014). This inclination towards the entrepreneurial spirit equality between men and women is supported by several researchers in the field and depends on the entrepreneurial intention (Rindova et al., 2009; Alexandre-Leclair, 2013). This entrepreneurial intention refers us to the concept of ‘strategic intention’, defined as “a collective of pending tasks characterized by a mental state that directs the leader’s attention to the search for and implementation of particular means in order to achieve a specific strategic project” (Varraut, 1998). As for Ajzen (1991), he indicates that “intentions are indicators of the will to try, of a real motivation and of the efforts one is ready to make to behave in a certain way”. Therefore, without this will to achieve, we cannot speak of entrepreneurship, but of dream and fantasy (Moreau, 2006).

In the Tunisian context, Fitouri (2019) showed that the entrepreneurial intention among STAPS students depends on gender. In this study, ‘gender’ related to socially constructed system is operating a hierarchy between men and women, and between values and representations that are associated to them. This concept interrogates the ways whose difference of ‘sex” and the social links to ‘sex’ are produced, reproduced and institutionalised at the same social organisations, sports organisation in our context. This is valid for the attitude and influence of the entourage. This positive intention found to be more pronounced in men than in women. As for the variables determining a recreational-sports business project, the results are significant for its three indicators (factors determining a business project; preparation for business creation; obstacles to overcome). These variables are gender dependent and the impact is stronger for men than women.

In a similar vein, according to the International Work Organization¹, the situation of women in Tunisia is paradoxical: “On the one hand, they represent more than two-thirds of higher education graduates. On the other hand, the participation rate of women in the workforce is only 26%, against 70% for men”. This finding is reflected in the level of female entrepreneurship. Indeed, although Tunisian women are not excluded from the labor market of any economic sector, they are nevertheless underrepresented. However, Tunisian labor laws and regulations prohibit all types of discrimination and require that women and men receive equal pay for equal work. Despite this legal equality, women, mainly in the private sector, are discriminated against in recruitment and decision-making positions. These women entrepreneurs represent less than 20% of the total number of companies in Tunisia (CNFCE, 2010). These important gaps between men and women seem to be mainly related to social and cultural codes that are restrictive for women running a business, and/or having the intention to undertake it. The social perception is distrustful and at worst, negative towards women entrepreneurs. It seems indeed that the entrepreneurial culture is not well anchored in Tunisian families, especially when it comes to women.

Regarding the gap in the Tunisian entrepreneurial system, this study aims to establish a socio-economic equality between the two sexes and to boost the entrepreneurial behaviors in economically disadvantaged regions. The main objective of this study is to cross the views in terms of gender, territory and sports entrepreneurship among graduates in STAPS. The results of this research could contribute to raising the awareness of edutainment entrepreneurship throughout the Tunisian territory and enhancing the idea of embarking on the adventure of micro-projects with a strong socio-economic impact on both men and women. This collective approach would allow to elaborate a common diagnosis, to draw tracks of convergences, to advance on the way of the socio-economic equity in terms of gender and territory.

2 . GENDER, REGION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN TUNISIA

Entrepreneurship is “an activity involving the discovery, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities, with the aim of introducing new goods and services, new organizational structures, new markets, processes and materials, by means that may not have existed before” (Pesqueux, 2010). Thus, entrepreneurship seen as a process of self-assessment, planning, action and re-evaluation that encourages people to take responsibility for creation and innovation. Entrepreneurship can be developed inside or outside of an organization with the primary goal of creative and innovative ideas. Shane (2012) states that entrepreneurship is a process that depends on opportunities and individuals. As for Krueger (1993), entrepreneurial spirit is defined as “the creation and development of a new business with new products and processes”. Concerning this idea, Bird (1988) mentions that intention is a process that is born with the needs, values, habits and beliefs of the individual. To this effect, the creation of a business will be considered as “a direct result of the intentions of individuals who are influenced by environmental variables” (Bird, 1992).

Audet (2003) supports this idea of entrepreneurial intention that is constructed, and mentions that “since the creation of a business is not the result of a spontaneous act, but announced and organized, it is possible by analyzing a person’s intention to predict whether he or she will soon create a business”. The two main theories that have inspired researchers to explain the phenomenon of entrepreneurial intention are the theory of the entrepreneurial event by Shapero and Sokol (1982) and the theory of planned behaviour by Ajzen (1991). The first is concerned with the preference of the entrepreneurial act measured by “desirability and feasibility”. As for the second theory, it is interested in planned behaviour, borrowed from the corpus of social psychology, and measured by psychological factors ‘attitudes’, socio-cultural factors ‘social norms’ and contextual factors ‘perceived control’.

This theory of planned behaviour adopted in research (Ajzen, 1991). In general, this study presents the decision to engage in a given behaviour as a function of the attitude towards that same behaviour, the subjective norm represented by the opinion of those around it and the individual’s perception of the control it has over the given behaviour. Thus, Ajzen considers that intentions, through their three antecedents, can predict behaviour.

Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour provides a validated framework that explains entrepreneurial intentions. It encompasses entrepreneurial intention as a cognitive process influenced by psychological, socio-cultural and environmental factors. According to this researcher, perceived behavioral control plays a key role in determining intentional behaviour, while subjective norms are less predictive of intentions for subjects where there is a high locus of internal control.

2.1  Mapping Poverty and Unemployment in Tunisia

As for the territory as a factor of local development, certainly public and political institutions and civil associations play a determining role in their region. In general, a policy of local dynamization and supervision is put in place, enhancing the cultural heritage of the region, so that it is “a source of remuneration for rural families and as a main element of tourist attractiveness” (Trabelsi, 2016). However, public institutions seem to be indifferent to local development and the problems of the region. In the case of Gafsa and Gabes, this lack of involvement ranks the Tunisian south in the poorest category in Tunisia with a poverty rate of 19% (INS, 2014). According to the work of trabelsi (2016), this socio-economic difficulty mainly of Gafsa, is explained according to one of the interviewees by the fact that “The state takes the oil revenues to redistribute them to the inhabitants of the capital and the metropolises. We are working on the exploitation of oil fields and, despite everything, we get nothing. Gafsa is still marginalized, since the time of Bourguiba. It remains so, even after the revolution. In fact, things are getting worse and worse (a speaker from the delegation of Legtar in Gafsa)” (Trabelsi, 2016).

Therefore, unemployment in Tunisia is concentrated mainly in regions far from the capital and coastal areas. The Center-West (Kairouan, Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid) and the North-West (Beja, Jendouba, Kef and Seliana) are the most affected regions by poverty and unemployment (29.3%; 25.8%), as well as the South-West (Gafsa, Tozeur and Kebili) and the South-East (Gabes, Medenine Tataouine), which have average poverty rates, successively of 18.2% and 17.8% (INS and the World Bank, 2016). Results also showed that the correlation between the two variables is positive. In addition, it found out that that the illiteracy rate and the school dropout rate strongly correlated with the poverty rate. On the other hand, the study shows that more the population enrolled in higher education and less affected by this scourge of poverty in the regions.

It seems then that the level of education is an effective indicator to fight against poverty and thus to face unemployment in the whole territory of Tunisia. This fight against this scourge, which mainly affects young graduates, could allow a territorial economic development for a reduction of poverty, unemployment and inequality related to gender and region.

2.2  Gender and Entrepreneurship in Tunisia

Based on the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor country report, only 9% of the Tunisian population, aged between 18 and 64, are involved in entrepreneurial activity. However, men are three times more involved than women. These findings are also confirmed by a national survey conducted by the International Work Organization in 2016. The latter indicates an underrepresentation of women entrepreneurs in Tunisia, and this in all sectors and at all levels. These women entrepreneurs of all types work in the public and private sectors. The age of almost 50% of them varies between 31 and 40 years old (Table 1).

These women entrepreneurs have a secondary level of study (45%) and university (44%) (Table 2). In Tunisia, entrepreneurship is more related to women of high intellectual level, specialized professional training and university level.

In terms of geographical location, 72% of businesses run by women are located in the two regions of North-East and Center-East, compared to 70% for their male counterparts. The capital Tunis, the North-West and the South-West are therefore the least concerned by entrepreneurship (Table 3).

However, the majority of these women creators often work in the public sector, as opposed to men (78%). Therefore, the impact on the economy of the country regarded to be negative. It does not allow the exploitation of the potential of these Tunisian women and their project. It seems that the state is indifferent to this problem and no strategic action is planned in this regard (Table 4).

We, therefore, note that in Tunisia, women’s entrepreneurship essentially characterized by its informal aspect, far from the official economic circle, despite a population composed of 51% of women and 64% of who hold a university degree (INS, 2014).

3 . RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The aim of this research is to move forward in the reflection on issues at the crossroads of entrepreneurship, local development and socio-economic equity in terms of gender. We opted for a quantitative study using a questionnaire sent on social networks, which are more accessible to young graduates. This choice is due to the prohibition of access to the regions because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions taken by the state about gathering in public places such as cafes and stadiums.

The aforementioned questionnaire consists of three parts, in order to address the profile of the interviewees and to evaluate the entrepreneurial intention according to the three indicators of Ajzen (1991), namely ‘attitudes’, ‘social norms’ and ‘perceived control’. As for the study population, it is composed of young graduates in STAPS, leaving the three higher Institutes of Sports and Physical Education of Tunisia (ISSEP). These three university establishments specialized in STAPS are located in the Grand Tunis (Tunis, Ariana, Ben Arous, Manouba), in El Kef located in the North-West and in Gafsa in the South-West of Tunisia.

The table 5  presents the demographic, socio-professional and geographic specificities of each region, by gender. These data sets from the latest Tunisian population censuses allow to have an initial idea of each territory in order to give meaning to the expected results of the research.

3.1 Characteristics of the Three Samples

The study population is composed of unemployed graduates in Sciences and Techniques of Physical and Sports Activities, from these three different regions of Tunisia (North, Capital, South). In total, the study population is composed of 300 individuals (100 individuals/region), divided equally between men and women. In addition, the three samples were homogeneous in reference to the recommendations of Anne (1992). The approach would then be to have three homogeneous samples with respect to manageable variables, namely age, gender and number of years unemployment (Table 6).

The homogeneity test shows that the difference between the two samples is not significant in regards to the variables age, gender and number of years unemployed. Both samples are, therefore, homogeneous which allows not to attribute any differences regarding the impact of entrepreneurship on gender and territory to these directly observable variables.

3.2      Statistical Tests

To develop the results of our research, a statistical program called SPSS 16 used. Thus, the following statistical procedures used for the analysis of the data collected from the experiment:

MANOVA [Multivariate Analysis of Variance] is a test that simultaneously analyzes the relationship between several response variables and a common set of knowledge (Huberty and Olejnik, 2006).

Fisher’s LSD [Least Significant Difference] Multiple Comparison Test: This test used to determine significant differences in means between multiple groups in an analysis of variance. It is a test for separating the means by groups, allowing more significant differences to be found (Winer et al., 1991).

The Arithmetic Mean: This is an index of central tendency that tells us about the center of dispersion of the frequencies of a quantitative variable.

The Standard Deviation: This is an index measuring the dispersion of a set of values around their mean. The lower the standard deviation, the more homogeneous the population.

4 . RESULTS AND INTERPRETATIONS

The present study investigates the possible relationships between the research variables of gender and region and the entrepreneurship intention. The results are presented by entrepreneurial indicator.

4.1 Effect of Gender and Region on Attitude towards Entrepreneurship

The cross-tabulation between gender, region and attitude towards entrepreneurship revealed significant results and the P-values are all lower than the 0.05 threshold. The null hypothesis can be, therefor, rejected which allows to conclude that there are significant differences between region, gender and attitude towards entrepreneurship. Therefore, the obtained results confirm that there is an influence of gender and region on attitude towards entrepreneurship. According to Fisher’s LSD test, this significant relationship revealed a separation of the means into two groups: ‘a’ and ‘b’, with a low dispersion, which confirms the homogeneity of our three samples. Group ‘a’ is composed only of men from Gafsa, while group ‘b’ is composed of Gafsian, Tunisian and Kefois men and women (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Entrepreneurial attitude

For the choice of items identifying the attitude, globally, a decreasing evolution is noted in the degree of classification of the indicators, and this for men and women. We also note this more marked identification of the men of Gafsa compared to the other individuals of the population. These Gafsian men have the highest rates essentially for the following two items: “being an entrepreneur implies more advantages than disadvantages; an entrepreneurial career is attractive”. In relation to women, the results appear similar for the three regions of Tunisia. It seems, therefore, that even if the opportunity presents itself to them, Gafsian women are not interested in starting a business, despite their favorable attitude towards entrepreneurship. These different results by gender and by region are illustrated in table 7.

4.2 Effect of Gender and Region on Perceptions of Entrepreneurship

With regard to the effects of gender and region on the perception of entrepreneurship, the results show that the significance values are also below the 0.05 threshold. Therefore, gender and region have an impact on the perception of the entrepreneurship variable. As for the LSD test, it also informs us of a separation of the means into two groups: ‘a’ and ‘b’, in the same way as that relating to the attitude. The men of Gafsa also form a different group from the others (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Entrepreneurial perception

As for the difference in choice between the items associated with the perception of entrepreneurship, always the men of Gafsa feel more available to start a business. They think that starting a business would be easy and believe that they are ready to create a viable business. This choice explains their solitary grouping, compared not only to their female counterparts in the region, but also to the other interviewees in the capital Tunis and the North-West Kef (Table 8). It seems, therefore, that men in the South are more available to the creation of the project, given that culturally, they are the ones concerned with work and heading their families, regardless of the socio-economic level of the women.

4.3 Effect of Gender and Region on Peer Pressure

This third indicator of entrepreneurial behavior assesses the influence of the environment on the individual. The cross-tabulation between gender, region and this indicator yielded non-significant results for gender. This variable does not seem to be different between men and women in our study. Therefore, the H₀ hypothesis is tested. However, the p-values are significant in the case of region (we accept hypothesis H₁). The region therefore has an impact on the ‘peer pressure’ variable. The Fisher’s F test also reveals two groups: A first group of Gafsois and Tunisians and a second group of Kefois (Figure 3).  

Figure 3. Region wise environmental influence

Thus, the impact of the region on the influence of the entourage seems be marked by friends, regardless of gender.  On the other hand, parents, spouses and colleagues in Gafsa, are the least imposing, unlike individuals in the region of Kef and Tunis, where parents have their opinion in the decision to undertake it.

In addition, the spouse in Tunis and the Northwest has a significant influence over entrepreneurship, both for men and women. As for the children, they represent the most neglected element in the choice of creating a leisure-sports project, and this is shown in the three regions adopted in this survey (Table 9).

5 . DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

It is true that entrepreneurship is the engine of the world economy today. However, unemployment is constantly increasing, mainly in Arab and African countries. This situation of continental underemployment also characterizes post-revolution Tunisia.  This scourge mainly affects female university graduates. It also more pronounced in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Tunisia. Tunisian women are also disadvantaged in terms of entrepreneurial business (OIT, 2016). This observation is also valid in the sports sector, where unemployment among STAPS graduates has reached the peak (100%), and this since 2011. Yet, private edutainment companies are growing and investments in Tunisia are importantly increasing, affecting all regions. These businessmen seem to take advantage of the 82.9% rate of non-practitioners of physical activities and sports in Tunisia (ONS, 2010).

This target of consumers of all types could therefore be a career opportunity for our young male and female graduates and spread across the different regions of Tunisia, resulting in a territorial development. The latter favors essentially the residential economy, which does not necessarily require a technological development of the regions. According to Davezies (2008), “it is the set of jobs that respond locally to the demand of households ...which increase the productive base of the territories, but also the public, social and medical bases”.

On the other hand, Bhattacharjee et al. (2008) point out that work experience in the same creative industry is favorable to success. Thus, the sports career of STAPS graduates could mitigate the risk associated with edutainment entrepreneurship and thus become a competitive advantage over other investors who are not in the field. In the same way, these university graduates with a high educational capital and professional capital (sports experience) well inserted in their environment, which favors the entrepreneurial spirit, but also the durability of the company created (Fairlie et al., 2006).

For his part, Colombo et al. (2001) predicted that “education increases an individual’s basic knowledge and makes him alert to new opportunities. We can indeed conjecture that entrepreneurial firms are created above all by an educated population and that firms based on new technologies tend to have founders and owners with a high level of education”. Thus, these unemployed university graduates can better develop their firms promote cultural diversity, specialization of trades, but also the externality of knowledge in entrepreneurial activity (Lasch, 2007). As for Ucbasaran et al. (2006), they have shown that “the vigilance of the entrepreneur is not, however, independent of an entrepreneurial human capital”, which explains the “entrepreneurial commitment and the success of the new enterprise”. The latter linked to the general level of education and especially to the specific human capital linked to the experience in entrepreneurship. It allows to perceive and pursue an opportunities and it can be increased by awareness, education and experience.

Thus, although the situation in Tunisia is paradoxical, (a high level of investment in knowledge for a mediocre result in terms of reducing unemployment), entrepreneurship among STAPS graduates experienced in sports should be a career opportunity. These unemployed people constitute an entrepreneurial human capital, creating added value and socio-economic wealth in their territory. Boosting this entrepreneurial action at the level of the regions by attractive indicators, thus allows the development of a ‘creative class’ well anchored in their territory (Florida, 2002).

The present study highlights a strong entrepreneurial behavior among men in the Southwestern region of Tunisia, Gafsa (350km without highway), characterized by high poverty and unemployment rates. However, despite the fact that in El Kef (180km) and even in the capital Tunis, the socio-economic situation is almost the same, the individuals of these two regions with the Gafsiennes, had almost similar results and were identified by a group b.

Results show that the territory can have a different impact due, on the one hand to the geographical location (far from the capital) and on the other hand to the socio-cultural factors specific to a different lifestyle. According to Fagnoni (2014), this difference noted between regions can be specifically related to cultural heritage, which could be considered a vector of development. For this, it requires valorization and support from local public and civil institutions for a better visibility (Lazzaretti, 2004). However, in the Tunisian reality, the men of Gafsa culturally more concerned by work than their female counterparts seem to suffer from the indifference of public institutions and political power, in the face of a degrading socio-economic situation compared to other regions of Tunisia. These findings are “continuous challenges issued by the local population regarding their dissatisfaction with institutional actions concerning the local development framework” (Trabelsi, 2016). The results of this study could explain their distinction from other individuals in the population studied in this research. In terms of gender, entrepreneurship is an essentially human action and at the heart of socio-economic equity between men and women. It is a political concern and a will resulting from a social construction of all the actors of the territory. The commitment and contribution of organizations, public and private institutions, but also researchers in territorial projects with social equity objectives. However, in the reality of the field, the underrepresentation of women is clearly observed at all levels, regardless of their education. According to Ben Slama (2011), “it should be noted that, of all the unemployed in these disadvantaged regions, nearly two thirds of them are young people aged 15 to 29 years, and for girls, it should be noted, for example, that these rates exceed 50% in Gafsa, and well over 40% in Kef”. This finding highlights the inequality between men and women in Tunisia, while in the framework of justice and equity, women should have the same opportunities as their male counterparts in terms of employability.

This desired equality is not only for an objective of social justice, but also as an essential condition for sustainable economic development and complementarity, given that the Tunisian society is represented by 51% of women and 68% of all graduates of higher education. In terms of female entrepreneurship in Tunisia, surveys also reveal, that a large proportion of women entrepreneurs work in the informal economy in order to avoid the complex and lengthy administrative process, but also as a result of the lack of female financial procedures encouraging their engagement in the legal market (OIT, 2016). These significant gender gaps seem to be mainly related to the restrictive social and cultural codes for women entrepreneurs, and/or those intending to become entrepreneurs. It seems that the social perception is distrustful, and at worst, negative towards women entrepreneurs. These Tunisian findings are in line with those of Langowitz and Minniti (2007) and Mueller (2004), who have shown that “women’s entrepreneurial intentions are lower than men’s, especially in developing countries”.

On the one hand, these results, related to entrepreneurial intention, are also consistent with those of Linan and Chen (2009) who found that subjective norms of entrepreneurial behavior partially explain attitudes and self-efficacy. On the other hand, other empirical studies consider that the construction of the subjective norm is a weak predictor of intentions (Krueger et al., 2000). Additionally, Ahmed et al. (2010) found that students seem to have less entrepreneurial spirit, due to lack of self-confidence, or lack of encouragement. At the same time, among the variables related to the profile of the enterprises created, we only recorded one significant result related to the sector of activity linked mainly to the service when it comes to women. According to Rindova et al. (2009), this choice, which is limited to local services and traditional sectors, is justified by the obstacles and administrative difficulties that women encounter when setting up their businesses.

Regional awareness is therefore paramount to address inequality in terms of unemployment. It is therefore at the heart of the actuality of sustainable regional development, that we must act in order to hope for a socio-cultural and economic change in terms of gender (Nogueira et al., 2015). Thus, the entrepreneurial act based solely on the entrepreneur himself, is no longer valid today in a general context of underemployment. It must emanate from an environmental concern to become a collective action of social entrepreneurship, soliciting territorial actors for an effective cooperation and synergy. Sports and leisure projects with a strong health and humanitarian impact represent the right model for territorial development, through a strong mobilization of human potential and employability in the regions (Ratten, 2012; Neumaier, 2003; Boutillier, 2009).

Thus, we believe that edutainment entrepreneurship could provide a secure career and allow for local development of regions. It is indeed a social entrepreneurship, well anchored in its territory and valuing the humanitarian and health aspects and moral values. According to Labelle et al. (2012), “the understanding of social entrepreneurship can be done according to a double approach, either by the finalities or by the values”. It should be noted that these results in terms of entrepreneurship, territory and gender, are only a starting point and a consultation, allowing rethinking about the territorial orientations on a participatory and equitable basis between men and women in each region of Tunisia. A more in-depth reflection at the level of each region therefore recommended for parity between men and women in the Tunisian socio-economic universe.

6 . LIMITATIONS AND PROSPECTS OF THE RESEARCH

Due to the lack of cost, means and favorable health situation, the selected sample considered low in relation to the total number of unemployed graduates of the four ISSEPs. This research should also be complemented by a qualitative study in order to study in depth the opinions, attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurship. New perspectives can also be opened up at the end of this research, such as observations over time for a longitudinal study. On the one hand, this study did not compare the impact of gender and territory on entrepreneurial behavior through multiple regression and the Pearson coefficient. On the other hand, it should be completed by an analysis of the obstacles and drivers to entrepreneurship among the creators of the recreational sports projects, men and women. This gendered study of the opportunities of the profession, could identify if there is a change in the traditional male and female role models, for a new balanced socio-economic relationship between the two sexes in each region of Tunisia.

7 . NOTES

1.     International Work Organization (OIT, 2016), Organisation Internationale de Travail (2006). Evaluation nationale du développement de l’entrepreneurial féminin : Tunisie. Equipe d’appui technique de l’OIT au travail décent pour l’Afrique du Nord, Copyright : Organisation Internationale du Travail, Première édition.

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Conflict of Interest

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

References