PurposeAs the number of women businesses owners grows worldwide, it is increasingly important to understand the factors which contribute to their success. While entrepreneurship research identifies access to human and financial capital as being important, fewer studies explore the role of sociocognitive factors such as self‐efficacy or confidence in one's abilities to perform a particular task. This paper aims to examine gender‐related attitudes toward financial management drawing from existing studies education, cognitive psychology, and entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study creates a measure of financial self‐efficacy (FSE) and highlights the importance of age and racial differences among experienced, nascent and aspiring women entrepreneurs. Firm and individual‐level data were obtained from a web survey and subsequent factor analysis and analysis of variance statistical methods utilized.FindingsEmpirical findings only partially attest to the lack of confidence combined with anxiety about dealing with financial management. Age and racial differences are significantly related to FSE.Research limitations/implicationsSample size is relatively small and geographically concentrated.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests the need for more research regarding women entrepreneurs and their confidence with regard to financial management. It also suggests the need for possible interventions for women entrepreneurs to increase FSE.Social implicationsThis research examines gender differences with regard to learning math/financial management subjects and the potential need for single‐gender entrepreneurial training programs that focus on finance‐related activities.Originality/valueThe paper developed a construct for FSE that is robust and significantly related to age and racial differences.

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This article proposes that sustainability represents a paradigmatic shift from traditional perspectives in entrepreneurship education. This “call to action” argues that it is imperative for entrepreneurship scholars and practitioners to add sustainability to academic curricula and consulting support activities. The evolutionary development of entrepreneurship from the traditional profit-oriented perspective to sustainable entrepreneurship is described. A case study of an academic institution, which has successfully incorporated sustainability principles into its curriculum, is provided.This article is among the first that details the importance of a paradigmatic shift because “business as usual” is no longer effective in the twenty-first century.

Access to financial resources remains an important aspect of new venture start-up and growth strategies. While women still obtain a small amount of total private equity investment, they are increasingly involved in developing high growth ventures which may be attractive investment opportunities for venture capitalists and business angels. Contract, or term sheet, negotiation is an important stage of the investment process. Although gender-related differences in negotiation styles are well documented in other fields, they have not been examined in entrepreneurship. This research utilizes a mixed method study of gender and negotiation strategies employed during the private equity investment process.

Women increasingly start and lead growth ventures yet receive a small proportion of external equity funding. Term sheet negotiation is a pivotal moment for obtaining growth capital. We employ a multi-method, mixed mode research design to explore strategies of women entrepreneurs who have negotiated term sheets and discuss our quantitative findings. Results indicate that women entrepreneurs in our sample worked hard to achieve optimal outcomes yet come up short because of exogenous and endogenous factors linked to second generation gender bias in the negotiation process. Propositions for future research are generated given the results of this exploratory research.