The influence of gender and social attention to gender equality on applicant acceptance into venture development programs: competing perspectives

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to add to the small but growing body of research examining the influence of founder gender on new venture access to venture development programs.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were tested utilizing a sample of 482 nascent technology ventures which applied for admittance into a venture development organization headquartered in the southern region of the United States from March 2004 through February 2016.FindingsFindings suggest that female-founded applicant ventures experience a higher likelihood of acceptance into venture development programs than male-founded applicant ventures. Results further suggest that social attention to gender equality reduces this effect for female-founded applicant ventures. Findings extend the understanding of the gendered nature of high-technology venturing and venture development organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study may not generalize to new ventures operating in other contexts (e.g., non-U.S., low-tech, and other venture development programs). Additionally, this study's design and data limitations do not allow for the establishment of causality or address founder motivations to apply for acceptance into venture development programs.Originality/valueThis study adds to empirical findings regarding the influence of founder gender on new venture acceptance into venture development programs by developing and testing competing hypotheses. This study also extends extant research by examining the moderating effect of social attention to gender equality on the hypothesized relationships between founder gender and acceptance into venture development programs.

Effects of gender equality and social costs of failure on early-stage entrepreneurship activity

“…Autio and Acs, 2010;Estrin et al, 2013a), cultural psychology (see, e.g. Autio et al, 2013) and gender role congruity (Reutzel et al, 2023;Vracheva and Stoyneva, 2020). Collectively, these prior studies find that systematic variation across cultures and social structures impact entrepreneurship (Cheraghi et al, 2019;Klyver et al, 2008;Simmons et al, 2019;Thomas and Mueller, 2000).…”

“…The relationship between the institutional environment and the rate and types of entrepreneurship activity that emerges or succeeds has been a continuing subject of scholarly investigation. Of particular interest have been the effects of institutions on the entry and growth decisions of women entrepreneurs (Henry et al, 2016;Reutzel et al, 2023;Simmons et al, 2019). In many societies, the under-representation of women in economic, political, educational and health institutions has been shown to negatively impact the legitimacy and start-up activities of women entrepreneurs (Brush et al, 2017).…”

“…Vracheva and Stoyneva, 2020), specific contexts, such as high technology (e.g. Matricano, 2022;Reutzel et al, 2023) or the industry sector (e.g. Khan et al, 2021;Ringblom and Johansson, 2020).…”

“…Indeed, an implicit assumption is that individual entrepreneurs embedded within a specific institutional environment will have comparable opportunities to start and grow ventures (Brush et al, 2019). However, the research has shown that heterogeneity in firm attributes can lead to heterogeneous legitimacy concerns (Young and Makhija, 2014;Reutzel et al, 2023), which, in turn, can cause variation in the impact of institutional pressures on entrepreneur's decision-making. In this regard, gender equality in the institutional context plays an important role (Henry et al, 2016;Marlow, 2002) in the early-stage entrepreneurship activity.…”

“…In addition, gendered social roles allocate different responsibilities to men and women that influence their career perceptions (e.g. Lent et al, 2002;Reutzel et al, 2023). Conformity to social roles impacts the level of stakeholders' trust and hence, the likelihood of starting a business (Dheer et al, 2019;Reutzel et al, 2023).…”