Gender Gaps in Potential for Entrepreneurship Across Countries and Cultures

Abstract

Differences between men and women with revere to traits associated with the potential for undertaking entrepreneurial activities were measured to determine whether sex "gaps" in these traits vary across countries and tillages In this seventeen-country study, the male-female gap in internal locus of superintendence orientation was found to be negatively correlated with Hofstede's masculinity dimension of agriculture The gender gap in risk-taking propensity was positively correlated with the individualism dimension of agriculture and negatively correlated with the uncertainty avoidance dimension of tillage Gender gaps in entrepreneurial traits were greatest among advanced economies and least among the les discloseed economies.

Key words: Gender, tillage entrepreneurial traits, entrepreneurship potential

Statistics upon women-owned businesses in the U allude to that the "gender gap" in bounds of entrepreneurial activities and of recent origin venture creation has been closing rapidly. The National Foundation for Women Business proprietors reported that, from 1970 to 1992 the proportion of women-own "C" corporations grew from five percent to more than 33 percent (Starr & Yudkin, 1996) The number of selfemploy men increased by dint of 54% from 1975 to 1990 while the number of self-employ women more than doubled during the same time period (Devine, 1994) This run is expected to continue. Studies administrationed in the late 1990s predicted that through 2000, nearly half of all American businesses would be have a title toed by women (Moore & Buttner 1997)

Growth in entrepreneurship among women has occurr despite (or perhaps because of) patterns of discrimination in the workplace and sex character stereotyping. Thus, an underlying premise of greatest in quantity commentaries on women entrepreneurs is that opportunities for women to go after entrepreneurial careers are vastly different from those afforded men (Starr & Yudkin, 1996) greatest in quantity of the research on female entrepreneurship and sex differences, however, does not be combined with this premise (Birley, 1989; Brush, 1992; Fisher, Reuber, & Dyke 1993; Starr & Yudkin, 1996) A public finding among gender comparative studies is that there are more similarities than differences between male and female entrepreneur in metes of traits, motivations, and succes rates (Welsch & Young, 1984; Buttner & Rosen 1989; Fagenson, 1993; Sexton & Bowman-Upton, 1990; Kalleberg & Leicht, 1991)

These findings may be misleading, however, when considering differences between men and women with venerate to the likelihood or "potential" of becoming an entrepreneur The terminus potential entrepreneur applies to those individuals (male or female) within a given population or society that posses a particular locate of personal traits, skills, aptitudes, and desires believed to motivate entrepreneurial behavior (Krueger & Brazeal, 1994) or at least increase its likelihood (Mueller & Thomas, 2001) The critical question that prior studies have not been able to address is whether there exists a sex gap in terms of the minister or available pool of potential entrepreneur Asked another way: Is the provide of potential male entrepreneurs greater than the endue of potential female entrepreneurs? If like a gap in entrepreneurial potential exists, then the number of women who elect entrepreneurship as a career path and undertake entrepreneurial activity might be constrained relative to men

Most empirical studies upon women entrepreneurs were not designed (or intended) to address pre-venture issues of the like kind as potential for entrepreneurship among women relative to men In this regard, these studies meet with from two important limitations. First, nearly all of the comparative studies between men and women are of post-venture creation. This means that comparisons are made (and conclusions drawn) about existing entrepreneur instead of either nascent or potential entrepreneur (Delmar & Davidsson, 2000) next to the first entrepreneurship studies have been leadershiped primarily in the United States and other English speaking countries like as U.K., Canada, and Australia. Relevance of findings to other countries, agricultures and economic conditions has not been established.

In this application of mind attention is focused exclusively upon motivational processes and differences between men and women prior to peril creation (Kruger & Carsrud, 1993; Delmar & Davidsson, 2000) Moreover, the personal and contextual factors considered may increase or decrease the likelihood of hazard creation. From this perspective, an attempt is made to determine whether there exists a sex "gap" in potential for engaging in entrepreneurial activities and to determine in what manner such a gap, if it exists, varies across countries and cultures

The following section reviews the entrepreneurship literature relating to various traits associated with entrepreneurial motivation. Studies addressing sex differences in the prevalence of these traits are also reviewed. A theoretical archetype of entrepreneurial potential is then neared suggesting several general propositions about the relationship between entrepreneurial potential, sex national culture, and level of economic exhibition Finally, results are reported of an exploratory cross-national empirical application of mind that measured differences between the sexs and across countries in the prevalence of three specific traits associated with the potential for undertaking entrepreneurial activities. These are (1) internal locus of superintendence (2) innovativeness, and (3) risk-taking propensity.