Mirror, mirror—A gendered lens on female entrepreneurs’ facial attractiveness in reward-based crowdfunding

Benedikt David Christian Seigner and Hana Milanov

Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 2023, vol. 20, issue C

Abstract: Scholars investigating women's attractiveness have documented its disadvantages (the “beauty is beastly” effect), especially in male-typed domains, including entrepreneurship. However, reward-based crowdfunding research demonstrates that these platforms reverse gender biases typically found in traditional entrepreneurial finance. Thus, in reward-based crowdfunding, the adverse effect of women's attractiveness needs to be re-examined. In a sample of 7447 Kickstarter projects, we find that facial attractiveness increases funding success for women more than for men and that sex differences in attractiveness effects are greater in male-typed categories like technology. A post-hoc reveals a surprising attractiveness penalty for men in the technology sector and offers insights for future research.

Keywords: Gender stereotypes; Facial attractiveness; Reward-based crowdfunding; Entrepreneurial finance; Women's entrepreneurship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:20:y:2023:i:c:s2352673423000288

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00399

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