Effect of gender role identity on the entrepreneurial intention of university students

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of gender role identity (GRI) on the precursors of entrepreneurial intention (EI) of university students. Understanding the EI of university students is essential since this is the stage in life when they need to make career choices, including that of becoming self-employed. Most studies in the past have focused on examining the gender gap in entrepreneurial behavior by analyzing EI as influenced by a person’s biological sex, i.e. a binary difference between men and women (e.g. man = 0, woman = 1). That approach for studying the gender gap in entrepreneurial behavior has produced inconsistent results. We argue that the discrepancies in those results are due to the over-simplistic approach involving biological sex instead of their self-perception of their gender. This study devised a mathematical model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and social role theory to examine the influence of GRI in shaping the EI of university students and investigate the mediating role of the TPB’s constructs in the relationship. Research on EI as influenced by GRI leads to a more in-depth understanding of entrepreneurial behavior since both men and women may incorporate higher or lower levels of masculine and feminine characteristics into their self-identities. By analyzing the influence of GRI on EI, this study can explain the gender-related factors shaped by cultural and social dimensions that are absent in previous studies. One of the most important findings of this study is an understanding of the pathways by which GRI affects the EI of university students through the more proximal antecedents of EI. This new understanding can inform universities trying to increase gender equality in entrepreneurship.