Gendered Institutional Adaptation: Decolonizing the Igbo Apprenticeship System For Female Entrepreneurial Sustainability and Community Wealth in South-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Eurocentric management scholarship has rendered African women’s entrepreneurial institutions analytically invisible. This study decolonises management theory by examining how the Igbo apprenticeship system, _Imu Ahia_, is adapting institutionally to accommodate female agency in South-Eastern Nigeria. Drawing on survey data from 356 apprentices in Anambra State, a gender-disaggregated subset of 100 female respondents was analysed. Anchored in Human Capital Theory and Social Role Theory, the study tested five hypotheses using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation in SPSS v25. Five apprenticeship dimensions were examined, duration, mentorship quality, settlement strategies, skills/knowledge transfer, and social trust, against five measures of female entrepreneurial sustainability, survival, intergenerational transfer, revenue growth, operational continuity, and market adaptability. Women constitute 45.5% of apprentices, signalling endogenous institutional adaptation. All five hypotheses were rejected at p < 0.01. Duration predicted survival, r = 0.541, p < 0.001, though weaker than the full sample, suggesting extra-institutional barriers. Mentorship quality predicted intergenerational transfer, r = 0.612, p < 0.001, exceeding the full-sample coefficient, indicating that relational capital is a salient mechanism for women. Settlement strategies predicted revenue growth, r = 0.487, p < 0.001, but was attenuated relative to men, r = 0.602, confirming gendered capital constraints. Skills/knowledge transfer emerged as the strongest predictor of operational continuity, r = 0.658, p < 0.001. Social trust predicted market adaptability, r = 0.523, p < 0.001.The study demonstrates that _Imu Ahia_ is being reconstituted from within through female mentorship and agency. It extends Human Capital Theory into gendered institutional contexts and recommends gender-neutral settlement standards, formal recognition of female mentorship networks, and digital documentation of apprenticeship contracts to decolonise SME policy in Africa.