Challenging What We Think We Know: Theory and Evidence for Questioning Common Beliefs About the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurial Confidence

Jennifer E. Jennings, Zahid Rahman and Dianna Dempsey

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2023, vol. 47, issue 2, 369-397

Abstract: Skeptical of prevailing depictions and recommendations regarding the gender gap in entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE), our aim is to raise and examine alternative interpretations and inferences. We question the common belief that women are under-confident with respect to entrepreneurship and whether this is a “problem†that needs fixing. The findings from two distinct datasets indicate, instead, that women are as likely as men to possess accurate entrepreneurial confidence, which is less likely than over-confidence to be associated with proclivities potentially detrimental to business venturing. Our analysis therefore calls for revised portrayals of—and suggestions for—the ESE of both women and men.

Keywords: gender; entrepreneurship; critique; entrepreneurial self-efficacy; entrepreneurial confidence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:entthe:v:47:y:2023:i:2:p:369-397

DOI: 10.1177/10422587221102108

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