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Abstract

Women are the majority owners in 30% of all privately held firms in the United States. These firms have $2.5 trillion in revenues and employ 19.1 million individuals. However, despite the large number of women business owners, little is known about the motivations that women have for starting their own firms.


This study uses an expectancy theory framework to examine the differences in motivations to start a firm between men and women. We propose that nascent entrepreneurs expend effort toward the creation of a new venture because they believe this will lead to a set of desired outcomes. We further argue that the desired outcomes of new venture creation differ by sex.


Hypotheses are tested using data from the phone surveys of the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (n = 441). Our findings indicate that there are significant differences in motivations for starting a new business, with men being motivated by financial gains, self‐realization, and autonomy, whereas for women status is an additional significant motivating factor. Our results confirm the explanatory power of expectancy theory in examining entrepreneurial start‐up motivations.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PurposeThis study aims to test both customer and supplier performance benefits associated with closer relational exchanges in light of both resource and technological environmental contingencies.Design/methodology/approachThe research involved a survey of 1,170 managers in the pulp and paper industry to understand their relationship with their primary supplier of process control equipment (PCE). Each respondent was asked to provide their views on the closeness of their supplier relationship, the performance gains realized from their supplier relationships, and the linkage between their performance gains and improvements in supplier performance.FindingsThe results indicate that although customers may be achieving better performance through closer relationships, suppliers may not always be reaping reciprocal benefits. Specifically, improvements in customer purchasing performance did not result in improved supplier performance, but customer improvements in production performance resulted in supplier performance gains.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focused on the exchange of one product line, PCE, within one industry. Further research is necessary to investigate customer‐supplier relationships involving other products such as parts and material incorporated into the customer's end product and crossing multiple industries. In addition, further research is needed to develop and test other potential performance outcomes and environment contingencies.Originality/valueSince mutual performance improvements may not always be achieved in relational exchanges, this study suggests some critical considerations for suppliers making decisions to pursue closer customer relationships. These important considerations include the competitive nature of the supplier's market, the customer's desired performance improvement, the customer's level of internal expertise or knowledge, and the supplier's ability to provide differentiated products, services and knowledge.

Purpose
Women-led companies receive less than 5 per cent of early-stage equity investment. This paper aims to explore the disparity in equity funding between men- and women-led companies, using a social identity perspective, complemented by insights from signaling theory. We argue that in the angel group context, which is male-dominated, gender stereotypes may bias angels' interpretation of the signals sent by entrepreneurs, so that entrepreneurial ventures led by men are more favorably evaluated, thus excluding women entrepreneurs from funding. The ideas are tested on a sample of 358 entrepreneurs who applied for funding from a northeast US angel group using perceptual data from both sides of the investment dyad. Findings suggest that angel investors view women-led entrepreneurial ventures as having less legitimacy, even though we see no difference in actual legitimacy across ventures.


Design/methodology/approach
The ideas are tested on a sample of 358 entrepreneurs who applied for funding from a northeast angel group using perceptual data from both sides of the investment dyad.


Findings
The findings suggest that, in the context of angel investing, there is a subtle bias that follows from the perceived stereotype between being female and the ability to lead a legitimate new venture. Thus, this study tests the tenets of the social identity theory by finding that mostly male angel investors act in accordance to their gender prescribed roles when they evaluate businesses presented by women entrepreneurs providing some evidence of "in-group" and "out-group" effects and stereotypes.


Research limitations/implications
The findings continue the conversation about biases toward women in early-stage financing by using a social identity lens to look at the way in which adopted identities lead to particular outcomes and stereotypes. The authors have used the context of angel investing to test these ideas, finding some support for their contention that gender is pivotal when angels are making investment decisions. For researchers, this study suggests that gender should not be used solely as a control variable, but instead should be the focus of the inquiry itself.


Practical implications
For practitioners, this study reminds women seeking angel investment that they are not playing on a level field and so they should do all that they can to enhance the legitimacy of themselves and their ventures.


Originality/value
The authors contend that within an angel group that is composed of predominantly men, role stereotypes of entrepreneurs as masculine will be expected, therefore creating gender biases against women. The authors expect these biases, whether conscious or unconscious, will lead the angel investors to evaluate men entrepreneurs more favorably than women entrepreneurs as they move through the angel investment process. Therefore, for women entrepreneurs in the early stages of investment funding, the authors posit that the dearth of funding is a function of gender identity stereotypes which may be manifested in hidden and often unconscious biases on the part of the angel investor.

Contents: 1. Introduction: programs, policies and practices: fostering high-growth women's entrepreneurship / Amanda Bullough, Diana M. Hechavarría, Candida G. Brush and Linda F. Edelman -- 2. Networks, start-up capital and women's entrepreneurial performance in Africa: evidence from Eswatini / Zuzana Brixiová and Thierry Kangoye -- 3. Absence of opportunities can enhance women's high-growth entrepreneurship: empirical evidence from Peru / Miguel Córdova and Fátima Huamán / 4. Towards a typology of supports for enterprising women: a comparison of rural and urban Australian regions / Robyn Eversole, Naomi Birdthistle, Megerssa Walo and Vinita Godinho -- 5. Stem education and women entrepreneurs in technology enterprises: explorations from Australia / Dilek Cetindamar, Elayn James, Thorsten Lammers, Alicia Pearce and Elizabeth Sullivan -- 6. Exploring gender differences in entrepreneurship: how the regulatory environment mitigates differences in early-stage growth aspirations / Christopher J. Boudreaux and Boris Nikolaev -- 7. Gender gap in perceived financing opportunities for high-growth enterprises / Blaž Frešer, Karin Širec and Polona Tominc vi -- High-growth women's entrepreneurship -- 8. Women's awareness of financial policy and their debt financing activities: evidence from China / Juan Wu, Yaokuang Li and Shakeel Muhammad -- 9. Where do we go from here? Summary of findings / Amanda Bullough, Diana M. Hechavarría, Candida G. Brush and Linda F. Edelman -- Index.

The literature on enterprise system (ES) adoption suggests that companies use different strategies for implementation — some opting to radically reengineer business processes up-front, while others employ a quick-deployment strategy on the assumption that organizational change will follow. In this article we explore how these two different strategies play out in practice and also consider the factors that influence which approach is taken. We use exploratory data from interviews with consultants who have been involved in multiple ES implementations in external companies, as well as interviews with project members involved in an internal ES implementation. Analysis of the data suggests that some level of reengineering is an inevitable outcome of ES implementation. However, attempts to reengineer up-front is difficult and can be problematic. Much of this stems from how the ES is actually used versus its envisioned (or planned) use. The implications for post-implementation exploitation opportunities are explored.

Contents: Part I -- Cross-Country Comparisons -- 1. Entrepreneurial ecosystems and growth of women's entrepreneurship / Tatiana S. Manolova, Candida G. Brush, Linda F. Edelman, Alicia Robb and Friederike Welter -- 2. Women entrepreneurship within the ASEAN economic community: challenges and opportunities / Ulrike Guelich and Siri Roland Xavier -- 3. Women's entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean: a multidimensional approach / Daniela Gimenez, Patricia Gabaldon and Cathrine Seierstad -- Part II -- Country Studies -- 4. Survived, but cannot prosper! Examining the impact of gender inequality on success of women-owned entrepreneurial ventures through a liberal feminist lens / Dev K. Dutta and R. Isil Yavuz -- 5. Assessing the relational embeddedness of women entrepreneurs in entrepreneurial ecosystems: a social network perspective / Xaver Neumeyer, Susana C. Santos and Julia Poncela-Casasnovas -- 6. Socio-economic background: a key element in understanding growth aspirations of women entrepreneurs in the tourism industry in Tanzania / Irene M. Lugalla, Luchien Karsten, and Clemens Lutz -- 7. Understanding motivation of women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia / Atsede T. Hailemariam, Brigitte Kroon and M.J.P.M. van Veldhoven -- 8. Exploring entrepreneurial finance and gender in an emergent entrepreneurial ecosystem: the case of the Punjab, northern India / Navjot Sandhu, Jonathan M. Scott, Jenny Gibb, Javed Ghulam Hussain, Michèle Akoorie and Paresha Sinha -- 9. Chilean entrepreneurial ecosystem: understanding the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity / José Ernesto Amorós and Vesna Mandakovic -- Part III -- Public Policy Implications -- 10. Gender equality in regional entrepreneurial ecosystems: the implementation of policy initiatives / Gry Agnete Alsos, Margrete Haugum and Elisabet Ljunggren -- 11. Women's entrepreneurship policy: a 13-nation cross country comparison / Colette Henry, Barbara Orser, Susan Coleman, Lene Foss and Friederike Welter -- Index.