From leadership research to district action: Cultural dynamics in entrepreneurial education: Barriers, perceptions, and transformation pathways

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. Proposed district actions are separate from the original authors’ findings and recommendations. Independent peer review of this guide is not asserted.

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Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: systematic-review. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

Women’s entrepreneurial education has been increasingly recognized as a mechanism for promoting gender equality and economic participation in rural contexts. However, persistent cultural, symbolic, and structural barriers continue to limit women’s access to training, leadership opportunities, and innovation ecosystems, particularly in Latin America. Methods A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Searches were performed in Scopus and Web of Science between January and September 2025. Studies published between 2015 and 2025 in English or Spanish were included if they addressed women’s entrepreneurial education, leadership, or cultural barriers in rural or comparable contexts. A total of 842 records were identified, and after screening and eligibility assessment, 129 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis and 45 in the in-depth analysis. Results The findings indicate that institutional constraints, educational inequalities, and persistent gender stereotypes are the most frequently reported barriers. Facilitating factors include sociocultural support, visible role models, inclusive educational programs, and gender-oriented public policies. Women’s leadership is commonly described as collaborative and community-oriented, with documented associations to entrepreneurial self-efficacy, economic participation, and community resilience. Conclusions Entrepreneurial education functions as a mediating mechanism within rural ecosystems, transforming structural and symbolic barriers into opportunities for empowerment and leadership. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural and institutional conditions shaping women’s entrepreneurial education and leadership in rural contexts.

Study methods

The research employed the PRISMA 2020 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology as a guide for the systematic review, in order to ensure transparency, rigour, and reproducibility in the search, selection, and synthesis of scientific evidence. This methodological approach provides a structured framework that facilitates the identification, evaluation, and coherent presentation of results obtained from verified academic sources, guaranteeing the traceability of the entire process. The application of the PRISMA model enabled the analysis of studies on cultural barriers, entrepreneurial education, and female leadership in rural Latin American contexts, following the four phases outlined in the protocol: identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion. These phases enabled the refinement of the information and the final selection of the most relevant articles ( Page et al., 2021).

Limitations

Microsoft Excel was utilised as the primary tool for systematically documenting, organising, and structuring the data obtained during the review process. This approach ensured the implementation of a structured procedure that facilitated the traceability of the analytical process. The data were coded using precise variables, including author, year of publication, country, type of study, methodological approach, main results, and identified barriers, which enabled consistent classification and control of the consulted sources. The information was organised into pivot tables that facilitated comparative analysis and the generation of descriptive graphs to visualise trends. The findings were grouped into four thematic areas, namely cultural barriers, transformation strategies, entrepreneurial education, and women’s leadership, which facilitated the identification of recurring patterns, knowledge gaps, and emerging lines of research related to women’s participation in entrepreneurship and rural leadership processes.

A 90-day district inquiry

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
Days 16–30 · Design. Choose one school improvement question with teachers. Protect a short shared planning cycle, agree an instructional change and use a common rubric for examining student work. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Review implementation fidelity, teacher time and independently scored student work against a recorded baseline. Examine access differences and competing explanations before attributing changes to leadership. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Alejandro Valencia-Arias; Ada Gallegos; Jackeline Valencia; Ledy Gómez-Bayona; Rutsmy Angel Manuel Gallegos Pacheco. Cultural dynamics in entrepreneurial education: Barriers, perceptions, and transformation pathways. F1000Research (2026-08-03). https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.178134.3

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.