Search Here

Men are most likely to start businesses for the money, but women are for social value, according to a new study.

The study reveals that when they start a venture, women tend to use business as a vehicle for social and environmental change and consider individual responsibility, compared to men.

"We found that women are 1.17 times more likely than men to create social ventures than economic ventures, and women are 1.23 times more likely to pursue environmental ventures than economic focused ventures," says Diana Hechevarria, a doctoral candidate in management and entrepreneurship in the University of Cincinnati's Carl H. Lindner College of Business.

Hechevarria, along with co-authors Amy Ingram, assistant professor at Clemson University,  Rachida Justo, professor at the IE Business School in Madrid,  and Siri Terjesen, assistant professor at Indiana University, examined data on different start-up types (economic, social and environmental) on more than 10,000 individuals from 52 counties. 

Their research used 2009 data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, an annual assessment of the entrepreneurial activity across many countries.

The research is a first to provide evidence that women entrepreneurs are more active in social and environmental start-ups than men.

"Traditionally, men have always been more active in start-ups, but that's because we typically have studied economic, social and environmental start-ups all together," the lead author says.

From a policy standpoint, government initiatives are aimed at minimizing the entrepreneurial gender gap to increase equity and economic growth, she says.

"There's a global trend towards narrowing the gender gap in entrepreneurship to create a favorable environment for social entrepreneurship and socially responsible venturing versus traditional conceptualizations of entrepreneurship being solely for a profit venture," Hechevarria says. "Thus, I think we will likely see more policy to encourage women to continue to pursue these types of start ups."

The research-"Are women more likely to pursue social and environmental entrepreneurship?"-is published as a chapter in the book "Global Women's Entrepreneurship Research: Diverse Settings, Questions and Approaches" recently released by Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.