“Think entrepreneur – think male”: the effect of reduced gender stereotype threat on women's entrepreneurial intention and opportunity motivation

Abstract

PurposeEntrepreneurship, which traditionally has been a male occupation, still attracts fewer women than men. Challenging gender stereotypes within entrepreneurship is one avenue to increase women's entrepreneurial intention and promote women entrepreneurship. This study adapts the “think manager – think male” leadership perspective to the entrepreneurship context and explores gender stereotype's implications for both entrepreneurial intention and motivation to become an entrepreneur.Design/methodology/approachA total of 902 Spanish non-entrepreneurs, both male and female, were randomly asked about the representation of successful entrepreneurs (no-gender-mention), successful men entrepreneurs or successful women entrepreneurs (reduced stereotype threat condition vs no-gender-mention or men entrepreneurs' conditions). Then, female participants' entrepreneurial intention, its antecedents (i.e. attitudes toward entrepreneurship, subjective norms and entrepreneurial self-efficacy) and necessity vs opportunity motivation were measured and compared to their male counterparts' scores in those three conditions.FindingsFemale participants reported higher entrepreneurial intention, self-efficacy and opportunity motivation when assigned to the successful women entrepreneurs' condition. Younger participants – compared to older ones – also exhibited higher entrepreneurial intention and opportunity motivation, more positive attitudes toward entrepreneurship and higher scores in subjective norms. Furthermore, findings suggest a woman entrepreneur seems to be less accessible (or more counter-stereotypical) to male participants than to female participants and, thus, the “think entrepreneur – think male” bias is more noticeable in male participants. Therefore, reducing negative stereotype threat for women in entrepreneurship may increase women's entrepreneurial career aspirations. This is of utmost importance to optimize training courses and mentoring programs to strengthen women's self-efficacy in their entrepreneurial skills and capabilities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature about gender, entrepreneurial intention and motivation by adapting a leadership paradigm (“think manager – think male”) to entrepreneurship (“think entrepreneur – think male”). These findings shed new light on the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention and motivation and have implications for policy measures. Acknowledging that exposure to successful women entrepreneurs as role models potentially facilitates entrepreneurship among women, governments should provide tailor-made incentives and support for women entrepreneurs in the form of awareness raising, networking and in the mass media.

Do enterprise education competitions have gendered outcomes amongst STEM early-career researchers?

“…However, we reveal a significant EEC impact upon all gender-barriers among female participants. In particular, those women who reported stereotype threat as a greater barrier also recorded lower ESE and EI following the competition (Laguía et al, 2022). Accordingly, to effectively enhance STEM women's entrepreneurship through EEC interventions, entrepreneurship educators are encouraged to consider gender-related issues and representation when designing EEC interventions (Türko, 2016).…”

Disentangling the roles of academic major and gender in determining entrepreneurial intentions among students

“…The extant research, both that cited above specifically with respect to field of study and more general male/female comparisons, is nearly unanimous regarding the effect of gender on entrepreneurial intent (Dabic et al, 2012;Sarmah et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2020;Lagu ıa et al, 2022;Marvel et al, 2015;Harris and Gibson, 2008;Al Bakri and Mehrez, 2017). Males tend to express a higher degree of EI than females.…”

How the interplay of gender and culture shapes crowdfunding performance: a multilevel study

“…, 2016). Regarding the reasons for these widespread biases against female entrepreneurs, much of this literature has argued that the entrepreneurship field is male-dominated (Laguía et al. , 2022; Balachandra et al.…”

“…Pfefferman et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2022;Brush et al, 2018;Eddleston et al, 2016). Regarding the reasons for these widespread biases against female entrepreneurs, much of this literature has argued that the entrepreneurship field is male-dominated (Lagu ıa et al, 2022;Balachandra et al, 2019;Ahl, 2006), that women are traditionally thought to play family or social roles rather than business or entrepreneurial roles (Bullough et al, 2022), and that the low participation of female investors in traditional financing markets limits female entrepreneurs' seeking capital from female investors (Brush et al, 2018). There is also emerging evidence that the disadvantage of women is gradually diminishing or even having more favorable outcomes when they apply for funding (e.g.…”