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An intuitive entrepreneurial gender ceiling and its impact on entrepreneurial success and access to finance

Project description

Intuition’s role in the entrepreneurial gender ceiling

Gender equality in the business world has a long way to go. Women-led businesses show slower growth and less profit compared to businesses run by men. Based on the theory of feelings-as-information, subjective experiences provide specific, vital pieces of information. Questions concerning the differences between women and men-led ventures remain unanswered. The EU-funded ROLLER COASTER project will apply the stereotype content model of social-psychology theory to research the intuitional impacts among entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Some 200 reports of men and women entrepreneurs will be studied to explore how their emotion-driven decisions vary depending on gender in situations crucial for the survival of their businesses. The main goal is to find and break real hidden barriers hindering women entrepreneurship.

Objective

Despite the growing number of female-led firms in Europe, such entrepreneurial ventures tend to be smaller in size, have more limited access to finance, and show slower growth and lower profits than male-owned businesses. Because of the nature of entrepreneurship, it is postulated, in line with emotions-as-information theory, that intuition affects decision-making. How intuition affects profits and growth of female and male ventures as well as access to finance, which are crucial for survival, has not to date been objectively investigated.

Applying the social-psychology theory of the stereotype content model, ROLLER-COASTER’s aim is to investigate entrepreneurs’ and venture capitalists’ (VCs) intuition and its impact on success.

Three research objectives are targeted:
1) to create a solid interdisciplinary framework
2) to explore the ‘entrepreneurial gender ceiling’
3) to enhance related theories and concepts

Two study phases focus on achieving the objectives:

Study 1: Does intuition among entrepreneurs facilitate profit and growth similarly for men and women?
Based on Orbis data, self-reports and biophysiological, and behavioral data relating to at least 200 entrepreneurs of both sexes, it is proposed to analyze if female entrepreneurs show higher attributions to intuition but use it less effectively in realizing firm profit and growth than males do.

Study 2: Does VCs’ intuition influence investment decision preferences in either female- or male-led ventures?
Based on Study 1, pitches will be produced with switched genders and shown to at least 200 VCs to explore whether VCs with high attributions and use of intuition are more likely to invest in male than in female ventures.

ROLLER-COASTER will support European educators and policy-makers as they develop instruments to support entrepreneurs --- in particular females as an under-exploited source of economic growth and jobs --- to use their intuition to make faster, more accurate, and more confident decisions.

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

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Coordinator

EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 260 840,64
Address
Raemistrasse 101
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland

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Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Zürich Zürich
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 260 840,64

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