Gender differences in Entrepreneurship
During the launch of the Center of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, the award for the best master thesis was given to Jeanne Marie Wittelsbürger for her leading edge work on Entrepreneurship.
Jeanne Marie is a German student Catolica Lisbon, who did her undergraduate program in business in Germany and then joined Catolica for her MSc. She did her exchange program in Colombia. She now works in Consulting at Roland Berger in Germany. I am happy and proud to say that Jeanne Marie was my student!
Her thesis is one of the 220 thesis defended at Catolica Lisbon School of Business & Economics in 2017. Out of those, only a few (20) were eligible for this Prize (a grade superior to 17 out of 20, a focus on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology Management). Out of those 20, the jury (three Catolica professors) chose the thesis of Jeanne Marie on “How Perceptions Influence Actions — Gender differences in Entrepreneurship”.
The importance of women as an untapped pool of entrepreneurial talent has been widely recognized by academics and practitioners. Their continued underrepresentation in the workforce as well as the tendency to lead smaller ventures with slower growth and lower risk propensity is impairing proper economic growth due to the underutilization of women’s full economic potential.
Based on Social Feminist and Liberal Feminist Theory, the thesis argues that women’s lower level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, the confidence in one’s ability to start a business, is a key factor influencing their business decisions regarding growth and risk.
Building on data provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on gender and resulting business decisions is analyzed. Findings indicate significant gender differences in entrepreneurial decision-making regarding growth, innovation and export propensity. Furthermore, entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a higher effect on growth intentions of women, whereas its influence is more significant for men regarding innovation and export. In addition to making valuable contributions to the existing female entrepreneurship literature, the results have important implications for public policies and management.
Jeanne Marie’s work is very relevant to entrepreneurship! She went around campus and asked her fellow students “Do you feel like you have the necessary abilities to start your own business?” And 82%of the men and 69% of the women said they did. This is astonishing, considering that this is a business school where all students should leave thinking they could start their own business.
Congratulations Jeanne Marie! I hope that your work inspires a lot of young women entrepreneurs!
Article by Celine Abecassis Moedas originally published here!
