A nudge in the right direction? Gender-informed support by female business-incubation managers for female STEM-entrepreneurs

Lorna Treanor and Susan Marlow

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2025, vol. 37, issue 1-2, 92-112

Abstract: This article critically analyzes the influence of gendered ascriptions and assumptions upon support offered by female business incubation (BI) managers to female STEM entrepreneurs. We draw upon the concept of nudges to illustrate how female managers guide female clients to behave, so as to navigate gendered challenges during the investment-readiness (IR) process. Using an interpretive ontology and social constructionist feminist epistemology, we draw upon in-depth, semi-structured interviews with female BI managers and female STEM entrepreneur clients. The findings illustrate that the gendered BI context encourages gender-aware managers to nudge clients towards behaviours congruent with prevailing masculinized norms, navigating rather than challenging gender-bias, to secure investment.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2024.2362838 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:entreg:v:37:y:2025:i:1-2:p:92-112

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TEPN20

DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2024.2362838

Access Statistics for this article

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development is currently edited by Professor Alistair Anderson

More articles in Entrepreneurship & Regional Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().