While there has been an increasing focus on the entrepreneurial experiences and strategies of women, there remains a lack of research into the area of firm growth as it relates to female entrepreneurs. That is, research still largely focuses on economic barriers and gendered approaches to female entrepreneurship while not looking more closely the factors that enable the growth of small and medium women owned firms. Moreover, despite researchers advocating for the use of more sociocultural approaches, research in the firm growth area specifically and female entrepreneurship more generally has not broadly embraced Activity Theory as an analytical framework.

This article examines the business growth experiences of urban female entrepreneurs in Bangladesh using a combination of the Diana model and Activity Theory. It is argued that applying Activity Theory as an additional framework to the Diana model provides further insight into the success factors and growth processes for female entrepreneurs. By applying third generation Activity Theory, it can help reveal the broad range of contextual factors and processes that impact on growth oriented women entrepreneurs.

A pragmatic epistemology was adopted in this research with a focus on discovering the ‘truth’ of the situation as viewed by the participants. As such, a mixed-methods case study approach was used to conduct the research with urban female Bangladeshi entrepreneurs in growth oriented businesses. Specifically, quantitative methods were used to identify growth oriented businesses then qualitative methods, primarily interviews and document analysis, were used to identify the factors influencing growth and the process of growth for the case study participants. The data was then analysed using the framework of the Diana model and case reports constructed for each participant and group of participants. Third generation Activity Theory was then applied to the same set of data.

Significantly, the application of Activity Theory revealed invisible contradictions within the women entrepreneurs’ business growth activity systems. That is, by applying Engeström’s expanded activity system model to the interview data, it was found that social norms around women’s expectations of success in applying for bank loans constrained them from applying for external funding to grow their businesses. This is argued to be an example of an invisible contradiction in that it has not resulted in change and disabled progress around women entrepreneurs having greater access to external funds for business growth. Moreover, the women entrepreneurs in the study seemed to accommodate this social norm and comply with the unspoken rule thus obstructing potential business growth.

In conclusion, the application of a second theoretical framework to the research data proved fruitful in providing new perspectives on the experience of urban female Bangladeshi entrepreneurs in growth oriented businesses. Specifically, applying third generation Activity Theory revealed hidden contradictions around social norms for external funding thus demonstrating the continued lack of evolution of this part of the business growth activity system and highlighting the importance of identifying invisible contradictions within the data to provide a complete picture of the experience of participants.