Mapping the global landscape of mentorship in women’s entrepreneurship: A bibliometric review (2000–2025)

Abstract

Mentorship is increasingly recognised as a critical enabler of women’s entrepreneurial participation and success. However, existing scholarship remains fragmented, conceptually inconsistent, and unevenly distributed across global contexts. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of mentorship in women’s entrepreneurship, examining peer-reviewed literature published between 2000 and 2025 globally. To enhance methodological robustness and address limitations associated with narrow keyword selection, a multi-stage search strategy was employed using the Scopus database. A total of 878 records were identified through the Scopus database. The final dataset includes 621 articles, allowing for a detailed analysis of publication trends, geographic distribution, authorship patterns, and thematic development within the field. The findings reveal a significant concentration of research output in the Global North, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, with comparatively limited representation from developing regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Thematic analysis indicates strong clustering around mentorship, coaching, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and capacity building, highlighting both conceptual convergence and fragmentation. Furthermore, the results show that mentorship is frequently embedded within broader entrepreneurial support frameworks rather than examined as a standalone construct. In response, this study advances a Gendered Social Capital and Learning framework to provide a more integrated understanding of mentorship processes in women’s entrepreneurship. The study contributes to the literature by offering a robust, data-driven overview of the field, identifying key gaps in geographic and theoretical coverage, and highlighting the methodological implications of keyword selection in bibliometric research. The findings provide valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to design more inclusive and contextually relevant mentorship interventions for women entrepreneurs.