This study investigates the possible funding gap for women-owned compared with menowned new businesses. With longitudinal data from new businesses in Norway, gender differences in funding perceptions and behaviors, as well as in actually obtained amounts of funding, are explored. While there are few detected gender differences with respect to funding perceptions and behavior, women obtain significantly less financial capital to develop their new businesses. Moreover, the results indicate that the lower levels of financial capital that women business founders achieve are associated with lower early business growth compared with their male counterparts.

No abstract

This paper examines how the social identity of an entrepreneur influences his or her behaviour when engaged in new venture formation. Building on the typology of entrepreneurial identities developed by Fauchart and Gruber (2011), this study examines the relationship between the social identity of the entrepreneur and subsequent entrepreneurial behaviour using a mixed method approach. Based on interviews with entrepreneurs in six start-ups within the tourism sector and on previous literature, three hypotheses were developed regarding the relationship between entrepreneurial identity and entrepreneurial behaviour (causation, effectuation).Consequently, the hypotheses were tested using a survey among a sample of entrepreneurs who registered a new firm in 2013. The study finds that the entrepreneurial identity influences whether the individual predominantly engages in effectual or causal behaviour. Hence, the study contributes by focusing on entrepreneurial identity as an important factor shaping the behaviours of entrepreneurs. In addition, we add to the understanding of entrepreneurs as a heterogeneous group. Entrepreneurs vary in terms of their identity, and this variation has consequences for their entrepreneurial behaviour. Finally, by adopting a mixed method approach, this study benefits from and contributes to the interaction of qualitative and quantitative data in entrepreneurship research.

Building on studies that have stressed the importance of context and the role of the family in business growth, this study explores the role of the entrepreneurial household in the process of business development and growth. We seek to understand how household strategy influences the development of new businesses, the ways in which household characteristics and dynamics influence business growth strategy decisions, and how business portfolios are managed and developed by the household. To examine these questions, comparative case studies were undertaken drawing data from four entrepreneurial households located in remote rural regions of Norway and Scotland. The data reveals the role of the entrepreneurial household in the evolution of business creation and growth, examining the processual aspects of entrepreneurial growth, the interactions between business activities and entrepreneurial households, and how business portfolios are developed in practice. Three analytical themes emerged from the analyses: the tightly interwoven connections between the business and the household; the use of family and kinship relations as a business resource base; and how households mitigate risk and uncertainty through self-imposed growth controls. While prior studies have viewed entrepreneurial growth largely as an outcome of personal ambition and business strategy, these results reveal the importance of the entrepreneurial household and the household strategy in determining business growth activities.

ABSTRACT